Little mistakes that turn out very well

[AylaM]

Ever messed something up and later became glad that you did?

For me it is a small thing that happened recently, but it still makes me smile.

I am a fish tank addict.   I love fish tanks and fish.  I can waste a lot of time lost in thought staring at my tanks.  I got a new fish tank, a bigger one, that I've placed in my bedroom.  I got it all set up and one of the last installments was a blue LED light feature to run at night.  This feature was attached to the aeration stone.  It didn't stay where I put it, as I hadn't taken much care in securing it.  It dislodged a day or so later.  I was annoyed, but fixing it involved draining some of the tank and using a ladder. I was lazy and it wasn't super obvious from the front of the tank.

That night I went to bed, and as I turned out the bedroom light I noticed that instead of the "night-light" glow that the tank originally had, the LED feature had started projecting onto the ceiling.  It was annoying, and I decided I'd fix it the next day.

Then I looked at it and realize I basically had a "window" perfectly frames by aquarium plants and gravel. And when fish swam by their silhouettes were projected onto the ceiling.  Now I watch my fish as I fall asleep.

Coolest fish tank ever.

 Right now?  My angelfish is hovering in the spotlight.  I love this tank.

What are your happy little accidents?

[MiseryLovesYou]

I love the term Happy Accident, I think I first heard it from Bob Ross on the The Joy of Painting.  I have happy accidents with quilting (crafts of all types really) when I run out of one type of material and have to either alter the pattern or incorporate a different material.  I'm always amazed when people are able to follow a quilting pattern exactly and all the colors and seams are just perfect, my quilting is more of the patchwork style for sure. 

My quilts might not be perfect, but each corner seam is triple stitched, which means you can wash them over and over and they never come apart, so there is something to be said for finding your style and not worrying about whether it's perfect to someone else's standard.

[WillyNilly]

My DH and i drove from NY to Maine for our honeymoon.  We decided in advance we'd stop at any fun points of interest, but in general its a long drive so we wanted to keep to somewhat of a schedule.  In order to avoid known traffic jam areas, and to be a somewhat straighter line, we had a route planned that didn't keep us simply on 95 the whole way.

Well we missed an exit.  We were still in the correct general direction but not following our mapped out route.  DH was so angry (he doesn't deal with last minute changes, especially errors, well) until he realized our new route, really only about a 20 minute detour all together took us through Lowell, Massachusetts.  Well one of DH's absolute life goals, a bucket list item, was to visit Jack Kerouac's grave in Lowell.

It was an easy detour, and a perfect sunny, brisk but not cold autumn day with some leaves on the trees and some fallen on the still green grass; the cemetery was lovely. It was such a happy accident (well... as "happy" as anything involving a grave visit can be!)

[shadowfox79]

Searching for a house for our final year as students, my friends and I went to see a place in a local student area which was landlord-owned (as opposed to university-owned, which was generally better). We'd made an appointment, but when we got there nobody answered the door and the landlord didn't show up.

As we left, annoyed, we were joined by another friend who had been living off-campus for a year. He and his housemates were about to move out - did we want to look at their house? It was exactly the right size, had a much nicer kitchen and living room, was university-owned and had a great security system.

For the rest of the year, everything related to that house had the word "Serendipity" in front of it. We celebrated that night with cocktails we named "Serendipity Dips".

[Minmom3]

I love the term Happy Accident, I think I first heard it from Bob Ross on the The Joy of Painting.  I have happy accidents with quilting (crafts of all types really) when I run out of one type of material and have to either alter the pattern or incorporate a different material.  I'm always amazed when people are able to follow a quilting pattern exactly and all the colors and seams are just perfect, my quilting is more of the patchwork style for sure. 

My quilts might not be perfect, but each corner seam is triple stitched, which means you can wash them over and over and they never come apart, so there is something to be said for finding your style and not worrying about whether it's perfect to someone else's standard.

That's the thing I LOVE about quilting - there's a style for everybody!  I think that's the coolest thing ever!  And it's so much fun to play with colors and material.  Quilting is a blast.  Even if I do end up to perforated fingers.   

[Luci45]

Ft. Larned, Kansas. The only national park - or historic site - in that state. 1974

We were heading south out of Nebraska and took a wrong turn. Lucas never turns back.

I was checking the new map trying to figure how to get out of our fix and saw 'FORT' - our magic word. So we drove on, found the fort. It wasn't officially open yet, but it had a ranger, so we visited. I think he and wife were glad of the company. We got the most fantastic tour of the fort, our 3 year old son was attacked by a litter of Irish setters (as in licked to pieces - one of our favorite pictures ever).

We stood just outside of the compound, the sun shining, a light breeze. We could feel what is was like then. I was waiting for the calvary to return.

We visited again several years later. It had much restoration done and was just like so many other US Nat'l Park forts, which are really great, but it lost something. I guess seeing a newly 'discovered' fort as it had lain untouched for 100  years held a special magic for us.

[VorFemme]

I ran out of vanilla when baking chocolate chip cookies with a newborn (couldn't drive yet in that state).  Substituted almond flavoring for the rest of the vanilla.

I've made them with half vanilla and half almond flavoring ever since - just ask Ambrosia Hino (the newborn in question) or VorSon.  Even my brothers & sister & the in-laws ask for them over the "original recipe"!

[MrTango]

One thing that just happened about 5 minutes ago:

I was making Mashed Potatoes for Thanksgiving Dinner (we're bringing them to MIL's house tomorrow night), and I realized that I was out of milk.

Oh, well.  Sour cream works just as well!   

[VorFemme]

One thing that just happened about 5 minutes ago:

I was making Mashed Potatoes for Thanksgiving Dinner (we're bringing them to MIL's house tomorrow night), and I realized that I was out of milk.

Oh, well.  Sour cream works just as well!   

Add chives.....or put some on the table to be addd by those who like sour cream & chives.

[asb8]

Not me but my best friend....

Forgot an important scabble componant

And 9 months later I got the world's most awesome godson!

[Rohanna]

I registered late for grade 10 (just moved back to the country) and was super upset that music class was full, so I had been slotted into art class. However, I did end up later marrying the boy sitting beside me in that class- so it did work out in my favour

[Thipu1]

Tiny thing here but a bit of fun.

A few years ago I made a mistake and roasted a chicken with the breast side down.  That bird had the most juicy and tasty breast meat ever.  Since then, we've cooked our birds upside-down. 

[RebeccainGA]

I mentioned this in a recent thread, but I've discovered that if you misread 1/3 of a cup of oil as 1/2 cup and put it in your cake mix, not only is the cake moister than usual, but seems to be denser and holds up better (less crumbs when cutting/icing). I do it routinely now!

[jpcher]

My mistake was one of procrastination.

Since we're having guests on Friday and it's going to be chilly, I really needed to replace my propane heater head. I put it off all summer long.

In the midst of chopping/food prep for Friday I mumbled "I still need to go to store! I can't believe I put this off to the last minute!"

DD#2 and BFbob offered to go for me. Great!

When they got to the store they called me and asked me which one I wanted and described one that I was seriously looking at (during my summer research) but was more than twice the price that I wanted to pay.

They told me that it was the last one left, the guy was just clearing the shelves to restock for Black Friday and told them that he'd give them 60% off!

Squeee!

Due to procrastination and luck of timing I got the higher-end heater that I really wanted for the price I was willing to pay for a not-so-good one!



I do love those little mistakes that turn out very well!

[squeakers]

Mistake: agreeing to a king sized bed in the bedroom.  I can sleep on a single with 3 cats and a dog.  But my husband needs a king to himself, it seems.

Thus I have just enough room on my side of the bed to sidle down it to get into bed and, oops, my butt bumped the gumball machines that are in the window seat.

There is also not enough room to have a nightstand next to my side of the bed and can't have one on his side of the bed (the door opens there).

We were at an auction and I saw this cute corner nicknack holder.  It has 5 shelves and is made of solid wood. It is about 3 ft. tall and the bottom shelf is much wider than the tiny top shelf.

I made hubby drill it and screw it to the corner near the floor on my side of the bed.  It holds the tv remotes, my water, my book I am reading ATM and I clamped a nice flexible light to it so I can read/we can have a light on besides the overhead lights.

Recycle/reuse/reduce.. re-purpose!