Filed under Bright Ideas, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
“Dusting is a good example of the futility of trying to put things right. As soon as you dust, the fact of your next dusting has already been established.” ~ George Carlin
I’ve told you before that I’m a slob. I’m not ‘dirty,’ but housekeeping is not my life. I have so many wonderful things I want to do. Cleaning and dusting are almost NEVER at the top of my priority list – unless I have guests arriving. :0)
I use any excuse to avoid cleaning. I can simply ignore things for a time. It’s a good thing my husband is a ‘champion-ignorer,’ giving me a lot of slack, a good thing ALSO because he almost never does any of the cleaning himself. It’s my belief that if you live somewhere, you have a responsibility to try to keep it clean. Are you spouses and children listening out there?
I’m either a total mess or ready for “House Beautiful” to come and photograph. Maybe I’ll catch the dusting-enthusiasm bug that might be flying around.
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
Filed under Funny Signs - Humor, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
I spent several days going through everything in my art room. This was brought on by necessity, not any ‘cleanliness’ or high organization motivation on my part. I’m a slob and I tend to stash things. The shelf just above the counter top in the above picture ‘gave up.’ The supporting brackets failed, and I found the shelf hanging at half mast, having dumped its too-heavy load on the counter below and all over the floor.
I ordered new brackets and I moved everything to other areas so we could put the shelf back up. Then the first priority was to get heavy things down from the remaining shelves all over the room and make sure they were relocated to bottom shelves or in low cabinets, with the rest of any weight distributed as evenly as possible.
The second priority was to throw away as much as I could. I’m a pack rat and I agonize when I think of something that would be perfect for something I’m trying to make and realize I have thrown it away. I forced myself to get rid of a bunch of stuff which will go out in the trash today. I actually ended up with some empty parts of shelves!
There is a certain point, though, where organization can go too far. The only time my art room is truly ‘neat’ is when there isn’t anything going on in there. I guess I have to have some ‘mess’ to be able to function. :0)
So, the ‘reorganize-the-art-room’ project is now officially finished for now. It will always be a work in progress. I’m trying to continue to go through things as I play in there to see what else should go.
I’ve started work on another wood burned sign, and I have received some key chain blanks, and they will get some attention very soon.
I’m trying to rehydrate after another session trying to get the center section of our entertainment center clean.
I freaked out when we moved one end of our 48 inch TV out to try to set up to install the YouTubeTV and finally admitted defeat. The sight was appalling to say the least.
There are at least a gazillion wires running all over the entertainment center. If I could REACH to clean behind the TV, I would be afraid the process of cleaning and vacuuming would unhook something or mess it up. (This morning while I was cleaning I barely touched the clock and it turned off.) There are no words to describe how much dog hair had accumulated, as well as the dust that blows through up here on top of our ridge line.
I’ve been working since I finished my post to you this morning. I’ve rested for 10 minutes in between sessions, except for a longer one when we ate lunch; but, otherwise, I’ve been moving things and cleaning under and behind, first with the whisk broom, then the vacuum, and finally Swiffer Dust & Shine spray and cloths. I just finished vacuuming the carpeted areas on the first floor (our office, the foyer, and the living room) and will do one more session to vacuum the tiled areas ( two half baths, the dining area, the kitchen, the pantry and the utility room.)
I’ve logged 2511 steps so far today, even though MOST of what I’ve been doing involves being up on a ladder, stretching as far as I can to get to the very back of the shelf, moving stuff from one side to the other, etc, as I clean, and then getting down on hands and knees for the three bottom shelves of the center section of the entertainment center. The center covers the whole wall of the living room. I only tackled the center section today. The other two sections will have to wait until another day.
The work has involved ALL my muscles, made me strain to get up and down the ladder, made me almost laugh as I strained to get down on my hands and knees and then up again – followed by vacuuming the whole first floor -a good, thorough workout for this old lady. I will try to do at least a short yoga stretches session this afternoon to try to stretch out and relax as much as possible.
Okay. One more session…
Filed under Challenges, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
I am definitely in the running for ‘worst-housekeeper-on-the-planet’ and I’ll continue to show you – embarrassing though it is – examples. I’m not ‘dirty,’ but I tend to do a lot of stuff at once, like reading several books at the same time, and the ‘stuff’ piles up.
Most of the things on my chair table actually belonged elsewhere and had gravitated to the table over a period of time. I’ve also won championship stars for ‘IGNORING’ and ‘PROCRASTINATION,’ two things that aid and abet my ‘worst housekeeper’ title.
Every once in a while the chaos finally gets on my nerves and I decide something is my project for the day. Right now I’m amazed at how much SPACE I have on my table. Monster Cat even looked at me in amazement when she walked around on it last night, big-eyed, obviously wondering where everything went.
SO – today I bask in the glow of having a pristine table beside my chair in the living room, and will choose from a myriad of other candidates for my cleaning out-cleaning off-re-organizing efforts.
SO MANY CHOICES – SO LITTLE TIME OR ENERGY… :0)
Filed under cleaning, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
I’ve told you before that I’m a slob. No amount of good intentions seems to change it. I’m either ready for Good Housekeeping to come photograph – and woe betide anyone who messes anything up – no cooking going on – etc., or it’s our ‘regular’ house status, where the above sign is true.
Sometimes I can simply ignore the problem. When the hairballs start being wafted across the floor by the air conditioning vents, some of them trying to grab your leg as you pass, it’s time to vacuum. Amber, our 95-pound yellow lab, is the major contributor to showing how bad a housekeeper I am. I’ve tried using a ‘defurminator’ tool on her to preemptively collect hair she will shed. I’ve even tried running the vacuum tool over her back, though she really didn’t like that. More frequent baths don’t help, either. She walks through a room – sometimes right after I’ve run the vacuum AGAIN – and sits down. The hair scatters as she plops down, carried by the breeze.
So at the top of today’s list is vacuuming the tiled areas on the first floor AGAIN this morning and the carpeted areas AGAIN this afternoon. If this would STAY done at least ONE day, I wouldn’t get so hostile…
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
We have had to wait so long to have our driveway repaired that we got USED to bumping up and down, trying to drive around the worst spots, etc. We also got USED to the greenery almost forming a tunnel overhead, scraping the sides of the truck as we went up or down. The driveway was getting narrower by the day. We finally saved up the money to get the repair done, and then couldn’t find anyone to DO it! :0(
“Big Joe” and “Little Joe” Comer work together in Greenwood and the surrounding area and have for years. Our friend Bud Nelson recommended them and they did a fine job, even having to work around Mother Nature, who was constantly bringing not only rain, but severe weather. We now have a really good base of the chat the city uses on the streets.
When we got that done, Little Joe told us about a man who works with them, Johnny, who calls himself “The Tree Man,” who could help us with all the greenery that was trying to bury us. He came, gave us an estimate, and was here the next morning working. He brought another man the second day (yesterday) and they finished.
I can’t believe this is OUR driveway. It looks so civilized! You simply drive down or up without bumping or being jostled from side to side. There is nothing scraping the truck on the sides or on the top. HOOORAY!
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance
The man came yesterday just before dinner to look at our driveway. The greenery on both sides of it is trying to merge into a tunnel above, as well as scrape the paint off our vehicles as we try to go down and up.
We used to cut the greenery back ourselves. I drove the truck with my husband in the truck bed with the loppers. I would drive with the windows open so I could hear him yell, “Stop!” He would then lop off the worst offenders and try to pitch them off the side of the driveway as best he could. We went up one side and down the other several times each growing season. Now I don’t even want to THINK about him trying to stand, balance, reach up and lop off troublesome branches and then try to heave them. (He has just started an over-the-counter med that is supposed to help with his balance. He ordered this since he has noticed a problem trying to walk.)
The ‘Tree Man’ as he calls himself, is in his low 60’s, quite healthy looking, and extremely nice. He works a lot with the men who just repaired our driveway surface, and was recommended by them. We talked about what was needed, he gave me a price, and he said he would be here about 9am today, if Mother Nature was cooperative. He said is is fast, and does good work.
My husband has a haircut scheduled for this morning. I’m hoping he can get out and then back up again when he needs to. I’ll talk to Johnny before he starts, if possible.
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance
Lil Joe Comer, Joe S. Comer Trucking, 479-806-3069 and his dad, Joe Comer, Sr. came at 7:30 yesterday morning and performed a miracle – transforming our horribly rutted, extremely bumpy, skid-y driveway into a civilized, smooth, easy to drive up and down driveway! This is the first time in several years that it is in good shape.
Joe, Sr. does the shaping, scraping, and smoothing and Joe Jr. hauls in the materials added, in this case, a road grade of chat which has at least two sizes of gravel, allowing it to adhere better.
They worked competently and quickly, finishing the whole job before lunch. Joe Jr. brought an invoice after lunch. We talked about the fact that greenery from the trees on both sides of the driveway is encroaching. Joe said there is a guy who works with him when needed who can remove this for us.
I texted Joe Jr. this morning, telling him that we drove down and up the driveway yesterday to get the mail and that my husband had said, “Great job!” as we went up and down smoothly for the first time in about 2 years. Joe said that the branch man was trying to get to our place today to look things over and give us an estimate.
This photo is taken at the bottom of the driveway looking up. If we can afford to hire the branch man, we might actually look civilized! I haven’t walked around at the bottom of the driveway yet, so I won’t know how ‘skid-y’ it is until we’re dealing with our trash can again.
I’m thrilled. It even rained yesterday afternoon, and things still look good. :0)
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance
We bought this in 2007 and have loved it. I like the fact I can move some of the shelves up or down a bit to accommodate a weird size of something. It has two pull-out bins for produce and one full-size ‘deli’ pull-out tray with a lid. Each of these has a separate temperature control for those who know what they are doing – or THINK they do. (Like me :0) )
Lately we’ve been having trouble pulling out the deli-tray bin. It’s like it was STUCK on something or had something behind the tray.
We went grocery shopping earlier today. As always, I tried to do at least a quick clean out of the fridge, adding things to the shopping list as I do. When we got home and were putting things away, I noticed water in the bottom of the two produce bins. I pulled them out to dump the water out. When I did that, my husband decided to see if he could pull the top off the deli tray and get the tray out. He did get the top off, but couldn’t figure out how to get the tray out.
I pulled the tray part out as far as I could and we could then see that under the deli tray was ICE – a THICK layer of ice from one side of the fridge to the other. I couldn’t find an ice pick, so took my hammer and used it and the claw part to loosen some of the ice. I then spent about half an hour chipping, hammering and clawing ice out from under the tray. I cleaned the bottom as well as I could and dried it, and the tray now slides easily. We got the top back on, and the produce bins back in. I started the dishwasher and announced I was going to take a break and relax and drink cold water. I’m STILL over-heated from all the labor involved. It’s amazing how hard it is to loosen a thick sheet of ice and that many, many trips back and forth with bowls of ice and then the clean up wears an old person to a frazzle.
We have no clue why we had the problem, but it looked like it had been building up for a LONG time.
Now the afternoon is half gone and all I’ve done today is hard boil some eggs, get the fridge cleaned out of the ice, put the groceries away and run the dishwasher. I haven’t touched my to-do list for the day or done any exercising, other than standing on my head to clean the ice out of the fridge.
I’ll rest a bit and see if my energy comes back as my temperature decreases.
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance
This image gives you an ‘idea’ of our driveway, though this one only shows what amounts to 1/4 of the length and steepness of ours. Ours also doesn’t have any of the egg crate stuff shown here. Ours is STEEP, 650+ feet, gravel, rutted from all the rain, worse and worse as you get closer to the street, etc.
Last year we got an estimate for repair. We had a couple of people who worked together. The guy who would have done the work had his equipment burn up – down to the ground. So the project was essentially delayed until further notice. Well, further notice never happened, so we have started over.
At the beginning of the week a friend of ours recommended a guy and his dad. He said the younger man did the hauling of materials and his dad did the actual work. I called and left a message on his home phone – the only number I could find for him.
Today he called my cell and left a message that he had just gotten the message. I now have his cell phone number, the one he uses all the time. :0)
He and his dad – BOTH named Joe Comer (they are called “Joe” and “Little Joe” in Greenwood) texted me that they could come today. They have just left.
It looks like they can help us! We accepted the estimate for the materials and the work. They will try to be here next Friday, May 17th, (weather permitting) or the following Monday to do the work. HELP IS ON THE WAY!!!!!
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance
Gem Voyager
Our wonderful plumber is here. The installation of our replacement tankless water heater has begun. The water to the house is off until further notice.
I know without a doubt that I wouldn’t be a good burglar. When I get stressed, I need to find a bathroom, and that’s a real problem if you’re trying to get away with something, be quiet, or cooperate when the water is off. The only ‘comfort’ today, since I have no clue how long the water will be off, is that we have two bathrooms upstairs that I can use and leave to flush later.
I guess it is my perverse nature that I react this way. Usually hours and hours can pass and I can easily wait – but turn off the water and tell me I ‘can’t’ and my system goes into ‘high production.’
I’m hoping that this will be a smooth, relatively quick installation. We are so lucky to have Travis Hawkins as our plumber. 479-461-8347. It is beyond price to know that someone knowledgeable will come when needed, and that we’ll get a fair price and can trust the work done.
I’m going to work in our office, write posts for the blog, and then work in my art room to stay out of the way. :0)
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Housekeeping - Maintenance
“Branch Manager and Assistant Manager” – @Buitengebieden On X
Well, I’m feeling quite happy now.
Our plumber just came to take some measurements for the replacement of our tankless water heater.
I had told my husband that I wanted HIM to handle things, since the two of them speak the same language, and that I would just try to stay out of the way, but available, if needed.
Travis, the plumber, said he would be back tomorrow at 8:30 for the installation.
The best part of the whole thing is the resolution of the question of the chimney for the unit, which has to be vented through the roof. My husband had gone on chat (with me typing) to ask if we could use the stainless steel chimney we already have with the new system. The chat people couldn’t help us and gave us the number of the more technical folks. We talked to them, and they basically said to use the PVC pipe they wanted. My husband wasn’t convinced.
When Travis and he were down in the basement taking measurements and talking details, they talked about the chimney. They have agreed that the stainless steel chimney should be fine for the new system, and that they don’t need to run the PVC pipe. This will save Travis a LOT of time and labor, and should save US some money.
We had agreed that we would do what Travis wanted to do, since HE was the one who was doing the installing, HE was the one who had experience with this new unit, and HE would be the one we would call about any problems.
Since Travis is fine with this, it’s a win/win for everyone. :0)
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Housekeeping - Maintenance
StorAmerica Self Storage
I have about 10 minutes to relax with a cup of coffee before it’s time to make our lunch. Just in time – after getting the beef stew ingredients in the crock pot for our dinner and just after I’ve pretty much gotten the kitchen clean. The crock pot is going. The dishwasher is going. And now, after lunch, I’ll need to do what I can to clean it up again. This is why I’m such a slob. When things are clean, I just want to stand and admire them. When things are not, I want to ignore them and do something else.
The pest spray guy will be here between 3 and 5 this afternoon. He usually hits the earlier part of the time frame, so I’ll have until about 3 to try to move things off the floor so that he can have a chance to do a good job spraying for us. We’ve been doing pretty well on bugs this year, but I REALLY don’t want to ever worry about scorpions in the house again after being stung by one in our bed several years ago. It still gives me nightmares and makes my skin crawl.
HighlandLakes.com
Added to this, I saw an article about a “Red-Headed Centipede” that really got my attention. When we first moved here, about a hundred years or so ago now, I was sitting in my recliner watching TV. All of a sudden I detected movement on the wall next to me. A CENTIPEDE was crawling up the wall! EEEEWWWWWW! I don’t remember if it was red-headed, blond, brunette, or what, but I freaked out. I insisted the pest people come out the next day and spray for EVERYTHING, including elephants, and have had them come quarterly ever since. Since they’re really good, we hardly ever have bugs that we can see in the house. Every once in awhile, we’ll find a dead one in the paper traps the man leaves in good places.
Got to run fix lunch. Hope you’re having a fine day!
Filed under Challenges, Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
There is nothing to vote for or against in my county today, so I won’t be collecting and wearing a sticker such as the one above today. My SIL, who lives in Charlotte NC, is not only voting today, she is a poll worker for the first time! I applaud her motivation and energy to do this. I am always thankful to the volunteers who help with our elections here, and I always thank everyone who isn’t actively helping someone at the time I’m there. If you have an opportunity to vote today, I hope you take advantage of it.
Kelley Blue Book
Our 2006 Honda Ridgeline Truck looks mostly like this one, but we changed out the grill my husband didn’t like and ours is not nearly as shiny as this one after 17 years.
For the first time in that time, we put our mounted snow tires in the back of the truck and I drove it to the tire place in town to have THEM take the regular tires off, put the snow tires on, and air them up. It was two hours or so very well spent, in my opinion. We had trouble just heaving the tires into the back of the truck and rolling them from and to the place we store them in the shop. I’m really glad my husband honored his agreement to let the experts do the job this time.
I particularly noticed that the tire guy just picked up each tire and put it in the back of the truck like it was no big thing. I had to stop and tell him that I resented that a bit, but was grateful for his strength and expertise. We laughed together over it. The whole job was $32, so that was certainly a win/win as far as I’m concerned. Now we will be as able as possible to get down our driveway – and up again – if we have to – when it gets slippery this winter.
Navien Tankless Hot Water Heater
My husband stayed at the house while I went to get the tires changed, waiting in case the people who might deliver the tankless hot water heater our plumber ordered for us came. They called right before I left, so I was able to leave a check for the unit. The tankless is expensive, but we’ve learned the hard way that it’s no fun to run out of hot water when you’re in desperate need of a nice hot shower after working. We spent more on the installation of the current heater than we did on the unit itself, with a lot of expensive rules about venting and the use exclusively of stainless steel on the pipes. We’ve had the current unit, a Rheem, since July of 2014, so it has lasted almost 10 years with only one problem for which we had to call our plumber.
123RF.com
Since the new unit is about $1,000 more than the previous one, I’m HOPING that the installation will cost a lot less.
Today I’m hoping to weed the last 2 planter boxes in my square foot garden and cover them with tarps for the winter.
I wish you a very nice Tuesday.
festivebazaar
Actually, I’m better today, but still creaky, crunchy, and corroded.
We’re still finding things in our house that are showing how long we’ve lived here – 36 years. I guess we can’t really gripe. Things are long out of warranty. Though we can’t replace EVERYTHING, we are replacing what needs to be, one thing at a time.
Last night my husband took Amber out for her last outing, then came back in, saying that the garage door wouldn’t close when he pushed the button. He had to decouple it from the electricity and close it manually. This morning he looked at the situation and the wiring for the control was corroded. He was able to fix it (hooray!), but we’re having to deal with something not working a lot these days.
We’ve almost replaced all the fluorescent lights – my husband is having to remove the old ballast transformers, rewire the fixture, and then we add the newly purchased LED tubes. This is due to the government requirement not to make our fluorescent tubes anymore. Same with the lights in our lamps. When we started switching the old bulbs for the new, we were told the new ones would last a lot longer – even years. Apparently our lamps didn’t get the memo. So far, we can’t tell a difference. The new ones just cost a fortune.
We’ve talked to our plumber about replacing our hot-water-on-demand equipment as soon as he can get to it. It’s trying to die. After looking at it, it’s the same corrosion, hard water type problem that is getting to everything else, even though we haven’t had it nearly as long. He cleaned it out as well as he could and we have our fingers crossed each time we need to reset the system. I keep reminding myself ‘one-thing-at-a-time.’
Filed under aging, Challenges, Changes, Housekeeping - Maintenance
YouTube
My husband has always been our fix-it person. He can look at something, figure out how it works, see why it ISN’T working, and FIX it. This has saved us untold money over the years and won my admiration years ago, since “I” look at things with a glazed look in my eye and think, “Magic.”
He is still able, to some degree, to do this. Two years ago, however, he had a stroke. And then another one later. He has recovered largely, but has trouble typing and intermittently has trouble speaking, etc. He is many times looking at ME, the most non-technical person on the planet, to figure out why something isn’t working and fix it. We’re in big trouble…
Last night he wanted ME to reprogram our two irrigation system controllers in the well house, switch them to ‘manual’ for a test, and then switch them back. Tonight we’ll work on where the water on the floor in the well house is coming from.
This morning he mentioned that there was a red flashing light on the floor under the dishwasher. When we turn the dishwasher on, there is a red light that shines on the floor showing it is on. (This is the one that is flashing now when the washer is NOT running.) I got out our paperwork, but there is no troubleshooting information. I got on the net and looked up ‘troubleshooting’ for our make and model of dishwasher. The only information I could find readily was information on cleaning the filter. Since I didn’t realize we HAD a filter, I figured I should start there. :0)
I actually found it, removed it, washed it and put it back in. The light was still flashing. I held the ‘start’ button for 3 seconds, in effect resetting the system. The flashing light went off. MAYBE cleaning the filter and resetting the system was all it needed. Fingers are crossed, but the jury is still out at this point. I’m declaring victory, though, until the flashing light starts again…
Filed under Challenges, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Vintage Hardware and Lighting
We just finished changing out the fluorescent tubes for LED T8 tubes and rewiring the fixture in my art room. We had the easiest time yet, with absolutely no problems – no accidents, no harsh words, no bloodshed. :0)
I spent yesterday afternoon moving stuff out of the way and putting the ladder under the fixture so it would be ready. I did well because the ladder went right where he needed it to work as comfortably as possible.
After we did that – in record time – I showed him one of the lights that is attached to my drafting table. In moving the table a bit to get it out of the way, I broke the plastic thingie that the light fits into in order to attach to the table. :0(
Thankfully, we had another one in the shop. I was able to put the replacement part on myself – with some fumbling around – but he doesn’t need to know that.
This afternoon I’ll work on getting my art room back together. If I can get that done, I’ll continue working on the Christmas presents for my friends, sort my new marker collection, and more!
Since it’s raining off and on, this is a good ‘stay-at-home-and-be-happy-we’re-dry’ day.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Good Housekeeping
Since the heat index is creeping up, (115 today) – I’ve been working on choosing an area to if not make ‘wonderful,’ at least improve – by throwing away stuff, re-arranging what’s left and doing deeper cleaning.
Today’s choice was our dining area. We have a huge Lazy Susan in the center of our glass dining table. It was overflowing with meds we decided to try and then lost interest in, plus do-dads of all flavors, plus…. It was completely filled and the area AROUND the Lazy Susan was filling up, as well. We had SO much ‘stuff,’ it was making it harder to clean the table. I decided that today was the day on the dining area table and the top of the buffet next to it.
The next area to be tackled is what we call, “The Go-Out Table” where everything in the world (give or take a FEW things) go to live. (You can see it in the background of the upper picture of the dining area.) It’s a mess. I have studiously ignored it due to laziness and ‘other priorities,’ but it’s getting to the point things will start avalanching soon.
I’ll see if I can at least get started on that before I’m planning to mix Killzall and spray for more weeds around 5pm today. Wish me luck?
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
Go Beyond
We have some of these, but mostly it’s ones that spread their arms far and wide, trying to cover the top of the rock beds. The soil is dry and hard right now, but I don’t want a muddy mess, either, trying to get the weeds out.
Olallie Daylily Garden
THESE above are mostly what has taken over our rock gardens. They’ve done a GREAT job of spreading their arms and now are almost covering the rocks.
I have found the best way for ME to get them out is to get down on my hands and knees, using some nice foam knee pads, covering my hands with weeding gloves that are thin and allow me to root around and find the roots of the spreading weeds, and then pull them out. I’m wearing a sweat band, sunglasses, bug repellent, and a hat (that keeps falling off.) I have some EIGHT handy in case I undercover a swarm of ants with my weed pulling, and I’ll spray the whole bed with KILLZALL when the weeds are out.
I’ve just finished the first session of the day – just 20 minutes. I’ll do some serious resting and drink a glass of cool water before I head out again.
I would like to finish the rock beds in the back and the front by the end of the weekend. Since the sun is trying to fry me like an egg, this means LOTS of short sessions with LOTS of resting and water in-between. I’ll get exercise just by going out and coming in again so many times, and the heat ensures I drink more of the water that I should be doing on a daily basis. :0)
Filed under Gardening, Housekeeping - Maintenance
Today’s project will be a more thorough cleaning of the kitchen and dining areas.
We recently finished changing out the fluorescent tubes in the kitchen and pantry for LED tubes, requiring my husband to figure out how to remove the ballast transformers, bypass that system and rewire each fixture to accept the new tubes. I was the stalwart dogsbody, schlupping around finding tools, figuring out what he would need next and handing him stuff, receiving things and putting them ‘somewhere’ quickly, and most importantly, making him rest a bit and rehydrate and eat on some sort of regular basis. We changed out 1 two-tube fixture in the pantry and 3 four-tube fixtures in the kitchen. It took us two long days. There was a LOT of cleanup after this.
I do the ‘normal’ pickup, dishwasher, wipe-down, vacuuming stuff on a regular basis, but basically ignore a lot until I CAN’T anymore.
Speech Righter
__________
Today is the day I heal the area, or at least get a good start on it.
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance
We have the first floor now almost completely converted from the old-style fluorescent fixtures, ballast transformers and tubes to the new-style LED tubes. We put fluorescents everywhere when we built because we liked the fact that they last a long time and give a really good amount of light.
We just learned that the tubes we have been using will no longer be made starting this August (!) so we really had no choice. My husband ordered a box of LED lights (count of 30). He got antsy waiting for the delivery, so he went to our local Yeager’s and bought the 6 tubes they had that were the color we had ordered online. We laboriously put the six in and then the box of 30 more arrived.
We have now finished the kitchen (above). Last night my husband sneaked in and converted the one in the pantry. (He said the last two tubes were “calling to him.”)
The only fixture left to be converted on the first floor now is the back bathroom, beyond the utility room.
Yesterday we spent all day converting these three fixtures in our office. We worked well together. In fact, my husband complimented me on what a good job I did helping him, anticipating which tool he would need when, etc., plus “helping him stay calm.” He cooperated with my insisting we take breaks, hydrate, eat lunch, etc. and this, I think, helped both of us a lot.
I’ve been having to flip the switch in the office 5 or 6 times each morning in an effort to get all three fixtures lit at the same time. Now, one flip and the room is ablaze in light! I keep finding myself expecting a light to suddenly go off. :0)
The tubes are expensive, but the regular fluorescents weren’t cheap, either. They are supposed to last 50,000 hours. They use less energy. They allowed us to get rid of the ballast transformers which were failing. Even though the conversion is a lot of work, these tubes may last longer than we do. :0)
We have another box ordered, but we have agreed (at least right now) to replace the upstairs tubes as they fail, rather than continue the race we’ve been on lately. Having been married to this man 54 years now, I know that this agreement will probably last until the delivery of the box of tubes, but at least I’ll get a break until the 20th, when the delivery is estimated.
Filed under Challenges, Changes, Housekeeping - Maintenance, Lewis projects
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I just came in from weeding. I finished the other two planters in the trio of brick planters running between our front yard and the driveway. I’m sitting here with my sweatband still on, drinking like a camel, and trying to cool off while patting myself on the back. That’s IT for outside today.
While I was weeding, the UPS man came up to deliver a package! That is amazing in that most of the drivers now just leave packages by our robot at the bottom of the driveway. Some let us know. Some don’t. I thanked this man profusely and made sure he had another bottle of water. We laughed together when he showed me that the package had ‘FEDEX’ on the side… :0)
He brought us the replacement for our air pump for our mattress. My husband just put it in and it seems to work fine. The next step is trying to find and repair leaks in the mattress before putting things back together.
My husband went to town to return a box of fluorescents. He discovered that yet another insult to how old we are and how long we’ve been here in this house is that our fluorescent tubes and the ballast transformers that go in the fixtures will no longer be made starting in August of this year. He read a bunch of stuff and figured out that LED tubes don’t use ballast transformers. If you take out the transformers and rewire the fixture, you can then use the LED tubes in the existing fixture. So this starts a pretty big project for us, changing out the transformers and wiring in each fixture. I’m hoping that we’ll do this in a calm fashion, but I’m dealing with EverReady Man who thinks he’s still 25…
Filed under Gardening, Housekeeping - Maintenance
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Wow. I’ve just finished my second session weed whacking outside and I’m bushed. It’s 97 right now with a heat index of 110 or so. Since I’m not as stupid as I look, I’m keeping my work sessions out there short and then resting and cooling off while drinking a bunch of water in-between sessions. Unless the weather is uncooperative, giving us a thunderstorm, I’m planning to get out for a third and last session for the day soon. I think I should be able to basically finish the back yard. The job is never really finished, but it’ll definitely look as if someone cares about the yard between the efforts of my husband and me.
When I finish the work outside for the day, a great shower awaits. AHHHHHH!
Filed under Gardening, Housekeeping - Maintenance
This isn’t our driveway, but my husband just asked if it were, so you get the idea of what we’ve been trying to clear.
Each storm makes more branches hang down, making the driveway more of a tunnel, to the point we’ve caught ourselves bending down inside the truck to avoid the branches. :0)
We’ve been carrying the loppers in the truck and each time the weather is cooperative, we try to clear a bit of this. We don’t last long, but we’re persistent and we ARE making some progress.
Today after we took our trash down for pickup tomorrow, my husband decided that today was the day he would try to pull down some much larger, dead or almost-dead branches from a tree right beside the upper part of one side of the driveway.
He attached a tow strap to the trailer hitch on the back of the truck and the other end to each branch we were trying to bring down. He drove down slowly and I watched and yelled at him – either to stop him from running over a planter or let him know that the branch was down. We would then drag the branch to the burn pile we’re accumulating.
We did this four times and got most of what we needed to do on that tree accomplished. We still need to go out and put things we moved back in place and neaten up a bit, but the majority of this project for the day is done.
Good thing, because it’s 84 degrees and bright sun now, and is supposed to get to 95 this afternoon. UGH.
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance
4Knines
It’s overcast and only 75 degrees outside – perfect for working, BUT it doesn’t make the work any easier.
I’ve just finished session # 1 (of several planned for today – weather permitting). I took a bunch of the worm castings fertilizer I’m using for the first time this year and spread it on the veggies in my square foot garden boxes. Then I started trying to empty the Mel’s Mix from the veggie box whose bottom finally gave up after several years and fell through, dumping about half of the Mel’s Mix in it on the ground below.
I decided the first thing to do on repairing the box is to get the rest of the Mel’s Mix out. I’m putting it in large trash cans. One half of the plywood sheet that made up the bottom of the box gave out, so I’m emptying the mix from the remaining intact bottom. I got one side emptied. I moved another trash can to the other side for another session later today. It looks like it might take 3 large trash cans to hold all the mix. I’m NOT looking forward to getting the stuff up that’s on the ground. We have a flat-bottomed shovel that should help with that after I’ve finished emptying the rest of the box.
I discovered that we have ANOTHER box that is READY to lose its bottom, so I’ll empty that one out, as well, and we’ll repair both of the boxes at the same time. Luckily, these were the two boxes that I had not planted this year, so we’re not under the gun to get them fixed quickly.
This is a large project for me, so I’m trying to pace myself and not ‘hurt anything’ in the process. :0)
Also, later today, I’ll spread the fertilizer in the tomato planters, but those are on the other side of the house. I’ll do that, and then head out to do session 2 in the garden.
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Things are finally to a stopping point so I can write again. I told you I would write “later,” and the working day is almost over!
I got a haircut and I now look as if ‘someone-had-a-plan,’ rather than my hair flying in all directions. Michael, my stylist, is truly a miracle worker, I’m so lucky to have found him. His birthday is Friday, so I took him a birthday card that was made by an artist who was on my Creative Artworks website years ago. I also included a bookmark made by another artist. He seemed to really like both.
I was delighted to find that the UPS package I wanted to send FIT into the receptacle on the square, saving me a trip to Ft. Smith with my husband in his Vette. HOORAY! He has NOT mellowed with age, and in fact has lost the small residual calm he had with others’ driving, so it’s hair-raising, to say the least. I’m really glad we don’t have to do it.
When I got home, my husband was trying to find some paperwork in order to fill out a form online. I found one of these, but not the other. I ended up pulling everything out of the shelves beside my computer chair and searching until I found what my husband had asked for. When I handed him the two pieces of paper, he said, “Oh, the website was screwed up and I blew them off.” (URGE TO KILL….)
I ended up cleaning up the shelves and reorganizing. I went ahead and did the December bookkeeping for my spreadsheets online and then filing everything. So now I have a clean desk top, a couple of clean table tops beside my chair, and am feeling much more organized. I even called the court house before they closed to assess for the coming tax year.
Things are good here. I hope you’ve had a good day, too, and will have a pleasant and relaxing evening.
This vent is on the wall in the kitchen. It’s about 18″ square and is between the kitchen wall and a central ‘shaft’ that goes down to the basement and is between the kitchen and a wall in the living room. A complicating factor is that it’s almost at ceiling level, so I have do to the cleaning up on a ladder.
It’s like there was a steady gale or breeze that goes through the house. I don’t know why this vent is a magnet for every bit of dirt and fuzz on the planet, but it is what it is. The fact that it’s in the kitchen makes the dirt and fuzz also be permeated with cooking oil residue, or other sticky stuff, and of course, our dog Amber’s hair is everywhere in our house, no matter what I do.
I started with the portable vacuum with the brush attachment. Then I soaked a micro cloth with bleachy cleaner. A scrub brush, more cleaner, over and over, and then rinse after rinse after rinse with clean micro cloths. Then dry.
It looks better now, which makes me feel like less of a slob, but won’t ‘stay’ done. I’m trying to designate one spot like this each day, figuring I’ll get to everything in time…
Filed under Housekeeping - Maintenance, I'm a slob
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