Make it Monday - That's make it do, make it last or simply make it! 11/12 Edition

I've decided to try to make these Make it Monday posts a series for as long as that works! Making good use of our resources is good for our finances and good for the environment. Here are some things I did this past week.
- made a substitute for a maple Pilates dowel
- fixed our leaking dishwasher
- made Berry Applesauce to use as an oatmeal or waffle topping.

Make it do - To do my physical therapy exercises I need 2 pillows, a rolled up hand towel, a shoulder pulley and stool. The shoulder pulley was lent to me by the therapist and the rest I have on hand. However I also need a 3 foot dowel like this maple one which lists online for $19 plus tax and shipping.
So I went down the basement and found a piece of cabinet trim leftover from our long ago kitchen remodel. It is not round and one end is mitered making is quite uncomfortable to hold. Take two old washcloths and 2 rubber band (helpful poodle is optional) and the ends are now the right size with now cost.

Make it last - Just as I was thinking about doing some routine maintenance on our 12 year old dishwasher as my next little Make it Last project, Hubby walked in and reported that it was leaking water and we might need to buy a new one.  It turned out to not be a very large leak. I turned to the internet for advice. This article (How to repair a dishwasher ) suggests cleaning and carefully inspecting the door seal as a first step. Guess what? The seal wasn't all the way to the bottom on one side and did in fact need cleaning to make it more pliable. I cleaned and worked it down to fill the gap.

The trap over the drain is supposed to just pull out for cleaning. Neither one of us can get it out without potentially breaking it and it looks like it has collected a film of soap which may hinder draining. The manual recommends cleaning by adding 2 cups of white vinegar to the bottom of the dishwasher once it reaches the wash portion of the pots and pans cycle with the hot water setting on. We took off the decorative cover at the bottom of the dishwasher front so we could hopefully see where any leak was coming from and ran it through a cleaning cycle.

No leaks! Love the internet for advice on how to fix things yourself.

Simply making it - What to do with half a large  but mealy apple found in the fridge and frozen strawberries that looked appealing in the store but not so tasty when thawed? I peeled the leftover apple, cut it in small pieces and added some frozen strawberries, cinnamon and water. Cooked it slowly for a bit, cooled in the fridge and it turned into a tasty Berry Applesauce oatmeal topper. Any suggestions for the remainder of those frozen strawberries?