I bet I am the only person who gets a real kick out of vacuuming and carpet cleaning. I have yet to understand why but I find performing either task to be very relaxing and satisfying. There is nothing like pushing the on button, seeing the light turn on and slowing pushing the instrument back and forth. It is almost hypnotic.
In fact I love it so much that my vacuum, of which I am inordinately fond of, has a prominent place in the main hallway. About once a month I have to empty the very heavy bag, wash all the filters, and then (here is the real kicker) I wipe it down with a soapy rag and get it free of dust and dirt.
I got my vacuum as a very rare impulse purchase. I was picking out new appliances and figured that by purchasing them from an outlet, I had saved a ton of money. As I am standing there, I looked over and saw a display of discontinued vacuums for $90. Before I could even figure out if it was a good vacuum my mouth shot out, "I'll take one of those too!", BAM! It was on the bill and in the trunk of my car. I barely had it in the house and I was putting the handle to the body. It took me all of about three seconds to decide that I LOVED that vacuum.
What I got was a Kenmore Progressive Upright. It has this really neat dirt sensor on the front of it. As you vacuum, it lights up when it is sucking up dirt and turns off when it isn't. I also love that it has a bag. Yes, a bag. With the bagless vacuums you have to keep those things empty or there is no suction, when my bag is full the vacuum makes a different noise. All I have to do is open the little door, grab the bag, slap a sticker over the hole and put another in its place. I have never gotten a face full of dirt from emptying it, I have never missed the can and had dirt all over, and I have never had issues with suction.
For about a year I was without my vacuum, it had broken. My mom graciously gave me her vacuum. I was and still am grateful that I got to use it, but it wasn't my vacuum. It was missing the heft, the suction, and the dirt sensor. Finally I got the money to replace the broken parts and I got my trusty Kenmore back up and running. Now keep in mind that there are some day's I vacuum the main part of my house two or three times, quite thoroughly. When I was able to use my Kenmore, that little dirt sensor stayed on for the first two weeks that I vacuumed. I thought it was broken, but when I put it on a clean tile floor it turned off, the minute the vacuum touched the carpeting it came back on. I do love my vacuum.
About four times a year I work on cleaning the carpets. You are probably wondering if we are exceptionally dirty people or if I am excessively neat and tidy. The answer is neither. We moved into our house roughly five years ago. The carpeting was probably close to 20 years old at that time. It is a tan colored Berber. This carpeting has gone thru wars in our house. We seem to be kid central for our neighborhood. The kids run from the front door to the back door all day long. Usually I keep the whole house open and as airy as possible. Between the kids, the open house and just basic living, it gets dirty. I have yet to run a carpet cleaner over it without the water/solution being chocolaty.
When I finish cleaning the carpets the whole house feels lighter and cleaner. I just love the feeling. I do believe it is time to clean the carpets.
Wednesday, March 27, 2013
Tuesday, March 5, 2013
snow day
6 o'clock in the morning I found my self jolted out of bed running to the phone in a panic wondering who I knew was in an accident, who was hurt, who died and what was going on. What I found out was our school district pulled a surprise out of their hat, they canceled school for the whole district. That left me with two kids who were out of school.
All I can say is..... What a day!!!
All I can say is..... What a day!!!
Saturday, February 23, 2013
Unplugged
A couple of years ago my other half was complaining about the utility bills being so high. I was embarrassed and angry that he was taking me to task for the high cost of the bills. Of course I defended myself with the whole, "I am constantly turning off lights, what do you expect when you have two toddlers home all day" and the "Think of all the money I am saving by being home with the kids?" After this conversation I got to thinking.
I thought of all the times that I really hadn't paid all that much attention to the lights, what about the TV being on "for noise", my computer being plugged in and running -- waiting for me to come back to it, and the fact that often we would have a kid in one room, another in the living room, me in the kitchen with the dining area lights on, and the hall lights on connecting each of us. I started asking myself, "could all these things be changed?" "What kind of a difference would it really make?" "How long would it take to see a difference in the bills?"
I decided to try an experiment. I decided that I wanted to shut us off from using unnecessary electricity. What??? That is right. I unplugged the TV, DVD, Wii, the main computer, put my laptop away, taped over all the light switches and electrical outlets, put the toaster, blender, and coffee pot away, unplugged and covered up the microwave -- for two weeks. The only thing that was left plugged in was my electric stove (had to have something to cook on, especially in the winter) and the refrigerator.
Our lives dramatically changed in a very short period of time. The teenager and the first grader came home and immediately did homework by the window to get the last of the fading light, we ate by candlelight, the kids (ages 4 and 6) ended up teaming up to get themselves ready for bed (they didn't want to be alone at that time). During the day we worked hard to get everything done and ready for the evening, after the kids had everything done they could play. Once darkness set it, the candles around the house were lit and we all congregated around the dining room table and we talked, read, and played card games. We went to bed at a decent time, without complaint and we ended up waking up a bit earlier.
The first couple of days were the hardest, especially for the kids. They wanted their TV fix, didn't know how to entertain themselves and in general they wandered about the house looking a bit lost and forlorn. Soon after the creativity started to flow, they picked up the Barbies and baby dolls and started to play, the crayons got dusted off and my house was filled with art work. I found that I got a ton done. I found time to get little projects done, I no longer had piles of laundry laying in rooms either waiting to be washed or put away. The house was more picked up and I was feeling less stressed.
At the end of the experiment we pulled the tape off the wall switches and squinted at the glaring lights, the kids didn't even think of turning the TV on, but instead continued on with their Barbies and babies. It was nice being able to nuke a mug of hot tea in two minutes and not have another pan to clean, but as the weeks passed I found that my levels of stress increased, I escaped into my laptop far too often, the house looked a little more worse for wear, the kids spent more and more time with the TV and argued a little more often. I missed some of the aspects of our experiment and looked back upon that time a bit more fondly.
Since the start of our Minnesota winter the kids have been asking about unplugging ourselves. I keep saying sure, we need to figure out a good time. I have to ask myself, "Why does it need to be a good time?" The last week I have been telling myself, "It needs to be now". I haven't been happy with our family dynamics. As my shoulder heals and I try to take on more, the kids have been less helpful and mindful. I realize that we need to unplug and work on regaining our creativity, our productivity, and our connections to each other.
You ask, "What did our bills look like the next month?" Our electricity bill was half what it was the prior month, however our water bill went up, no doubt because I was getting a ton more laundry done! After we looked at our bills for that month I did eat a bit of crow and I became a whole lot more concerned about what was plugged in and what lights were left on. We changed out some of our light bulbs from incandescent to CFL's and now we are changing the CFL's to LED's.
I am going to see about making a trip to the store and see about getting an old fashioned gas lamp and a new box of crayons and paper for the kids. If you happen to stop by our house and it looks dark, don't drive by thinking we are gone but stop and knock real hard. We would love to have you stop by and pull up a chair around the table with us.
I thought of all the times that I really hadn't paid all that much attention to the lights, what about the TV being on "for noise", my computer being plugged in and running -- waiting for me to come back to it, and the fact that often we would have a kid in one room, another in the living room, me in the kitchen with the dining area lights on, and the hall lights on connecting each of us. I started asking myself, "could all these things be changed?" "What kind of a difference would it really make?" "How long would it take to see a difference in the bills?"
I decided to try an experiment. I decided that I wanted to shut us off from using unnecessary electricity. What??? That is right. I unplugged the TV, DVD, Wii, the main computer, put my laptop away, taped over all the light switches and electrical outlets, put the toaster, blender, and coffee pot away, unplugged and covered up the microwave -- for two weeks. The only thing that was left plugged in was my electric stove (had to have something to cook on, especially in the winter) and the refrigerator.
Our lives dramatically changed in a very short period of time. The teenager and the first grader came home and immediately did homework by the window to get the last of the fading light, we ate by candlelight, the kids (ages 4 and 6) ended up teaming up to get themselves ready for bed (they didn't want to be alone at that time). During the day we worked hard to get everything done and ready for the evening, after the kids had everything done they could play. Once darkness set it, the candles around the house were lit and we all congregated around the dining room table and we talked, read, and played card games. We went to bed at a decent time, without complaint and we ended up waking up a bit earlier.
The first couple of days were the hardest, especially for the kids. They wanted their TV fix, didn't know how to entertain themselves and in general they wandered about the house looking a bit lost and forlorn. Soon after the creativity started to flow, they picked up the Barbies and baby dolls and started to play, the crayons got dusted off and my house was filled with art work. I found that I got a ton done. I found time to get little projects done, I no longer had piles of laundry laying in rooms either waiting to be washed or put away. The house was more picked up and I was feeling less stressed.
At the end of the experiment we pulled the tape off the wall switches and squinted at the glaring lights, the kids didn't even think of turning the TV on, but instead continued on with their Barbies and babies. It was nice being able to nuke a mug of hot tea in two minutes and not have another pan to clean, but as the weeks passed I found that my levels of stress increased, I escaped into my laptop far too often, the house looked a little more worse for wear, the kids spent more and more time with the TV and argued a little more often. I missed some of the aspects of our experiment and looked back upon that time a bit more fondly.
Since the start of our Minnesota winter the kids have been asking about unplugging ourselves. I keep saying sure, we need to figure out a good time. I have to ask myself, "Why does it need to be a good time?" The last week I have been telling myself, "It needs to be now". I haven't been happy with our family dynamics. As my shoulder heals and I try to take on more, the kids have been less helpful and mindful. I realize that we need to unplug and work on regaining our creativity, our productivity, and our connections to each other.
You ask, "What did our bills look like the next month?" Our electricity bill was half what it was the prior month, however our water bill went up, no doubt because I was getting a ton more laundry done! After we looked at our bills for that month I did eat a bit of crow and I became a whole lot more concerned about what was plugged in and what lights were left on. We changed out some of our light bulbs from incandescent to CFL's and now we are changing the CFL's to LED's.
I am going to see about making a trip to the store and see about getting an old fashioned gas lamp and a new box of crayons and paper for the kids. If you happen to stop by our house and it looks dark, don't drive by thinking we are gone but stop and knock real hard. We would love to have you stop by and pull up a chair around the table with us.
Thursday, January 31, 2013
Crack, Crunch, Cry!!!!!!!
Well, so much for my "Great Goals Of 2013" Everything that I wanted to do has been seriously sidelined the last two weeks and will be on the sideline for about eight more.
You know how you are in the middle of doing something and you get that nagging feeling like "stop and run". Well, I should have listened to that voice. I didn't and got hurt pretty seriously doing something really really stupid.
So I was horsing around one afternoon and ended up taking a fall on to my shoulder with my arm extended. I ended up breaking my upper arm, near the shoulder and probably ended up doing some soft tissue damage to my joint. So for now, my arm and shoulder are immobilized and I am left sitting around a very cluttered house unable to do much of anything.
For now, about all I can do, is think of projects, dream of a neat tidy house, topics to be written, and wish for time to fly and my shoulder and arm to heal fast.
You know how you are in the middle of doing something and you get that nagging feeling like "stop and run". Well, I should have listened to that voice. I didn't and got hurt pretty seriously doing something really really stupid.
So I was horsing around one afternoon and ended up taking a fall on to my shoulder with my arm extended. I ended up breaking my upper arm, near the shoulder and probably ended up doing some soft tissue damage to my joint. So for now, my arm and shoulder are immobilized and I am left sitting around a very cluttered house unable to do much of anything.
For now, about all I can do, is think of projects, dream of a neat tidy house, topics to be written, and wish for time to fly and my shoulder and arm to heal fast.
Friday, January 18, 2013
Craftiness?
Like most people, before there was Pinterest, I already was crafty. Maybe not as crafty as I have become, but it was still within me. However now, it has become almost an obsession. What can I do to update the house while spending nothing? What can I do with an empty can? What can I do with plastic milk jugs? Don't like the color of that candlestick, what color should I spray paint it? The kitchen table is looking pretty sorry, how can I make it look presentable again? These thoughts and questions swirl around in my head in a dizzying fashion all day long as I wander the house trying to get it into some order.
Some of my crafty challenges have worked out great, others haven't. Take for instance, my photo wall in my front entry/living room.
The frames were a dollar a piece that I spray painted white, and then put photos of the kids into. I always have issues with getting photos hung up perfectly, so I used Velcro to adhere them to the wall. It worked great!
Another project that I have done many times is to make wreaths for my front door. I always have something on the door that is seasonal. I have done the coffee filter wreath, a did a patriotic wreath out of old clothes that I tied onto a wire frame, and I have hot glued flowers on to a foam wreath.
All of these with great success. I just wish that I had photos of some of the wreaths that I have done, before I tore them apart to create some other masterpiece.
One crafty thing that I am not sure how to categorize is my kitchen table. It is a simple oak round pedestal table with a leaf. I have had that table for twelve years. It had gotten pretty beaten up. The finish on it was peeling up, it had paint stains, water marks, scratches, etc. You name it, it had it. It got to the point where for the last four years I kept it covered with a table cloth simply because I was so embarrassed about it. Well, I kept seeing all those photos on Pinterest about refinishing or painting your battered kitchen table. I decided, what did I have to loose?
One beautiful bright sunny day, I rolled that table out my front door and started to sand. I sanded and sanded until I sanded all my finger nails down to stubs. That table top was a thing of beauty! I decided that there was no need to sand down the pedestal or the legs, as those were fine, and that any marks there were just "character" marks. So, what is a girl to do with a table with a raw wood top? I had seen a photo of a pedestal table that had been painted white. That is what I wanted, only I only wanted the top painted. All the rest of it was going to stay its Honey Oak finish. I got the paint and slapped a coat on it. It dried, I sanded it again, painted again and waited. Day two, I sanded and painted a third coat, stepped back and looked. I looked and looked and looked. I decided it looked nothing like what I imagined it was going to be. Hideous!!!
Day four dawned and I went back and studied that table some more. I decided that it needed one more coat of paint. I got half the table painted with a fourth coat and found that the paint was pulling up and I had a terrible mess on my hands.
I decided that it just wasn't meant to be a two toned table. I ran to the hardware store and bought my first can of stripper. I slathered the stripper on, watched it bubble and ooze, got buzzed by the fumes and then started to scrape. I had no clue was what a job it was to strip paint. I learned fast. It took me a whole day to strip, another day to clean and sand and re prepare the table top. YUCK!
Meanwhile my two kids Frick and Frack were quite happy and content to be eating on the living room floor 'picnic' style, however the other part of the family wasn't quite so enthusiastic about the whole process.
Finally I was back down to a beautiful smooth raw wood oak pedestal table. What to do with it? Stain it and put a clear coat polyurethane on it and just be done. Back to the hardware store I went and bought a can of stain. I put my first coat on, let it sit and then very carefully wiped it off. What did I find? That only half my table was taking the stain, the other half repelled it! I ran over to my next door neighbor and racked his woodworking brain what was I doing wrong? His answer: the prior finish on my table had been so bad for so long that any oils from cooking, or being spilled had soaked into the wood and was repelling any new oils from being absorbed. He came out with an arsenal of mineral spirits, other finishes, sandpaper, etc. He tried everything he could and nothing worked. The only solution that we could come up with is to sand and sand and sand some more. That I did.
Finally tired of sanding I decided enough is enough, I put a couple last coats of stain on it, wiped it off and declared it good enough. Time to put the polyurethane on it. I hightailed it back to the hardware store and bought an aerosol can of polyurethane. It is supposed to give you a really nice even finish with no fuss or muss. <snickering> Right..... What I got was about a half a table. The can petered out on me mid spray. Back to the hardware store I went, to get another traditional can of poly. With a sponge, I put that on, let it sit and dry. Three day's I waited, watched and and got anxious. Finally, I declared it done and I carted that sucker back into the house, up a flight of stairs and put it in the kitchen.
We ate a lovely meal and marveled at my refinished table. It was beautiful. I had such a great feeling of accomplishment that I had done this. My very first time working with wood and that I had overcome all these problems and difficulties. Good for me!!!!!
Two weeks later Frick and Frack were doing a school project at my beautiful, uncovered table when I discovered that Frack had stuck tape the the table. When I peeled up the tape, it peeled up the poly. That night when we sat down to eat dinner I put a serving bowl on the table and slid it slightly, I made a scrape across the surface.
Yes, I have learned much from my table project. I know that when I go to strip that table this summer and refinish it, I know what a mess the stripper will be, I know what color to stain it and how many coats it will take and what kind of poly I will need. I also know that I should leave it sit in the garage for about the next 10 years, or until the kids are in college, so that it will have enough time to cure.
Some of my crafty challenges have worked out great, others haven't. Take for instance, my photo wall in my front entry/living room.
The frames were a dollar a piece that I spray painted white, and then put photos of the kids into. I always have issues with getting photos hung up perfectly, so I used Velcro to adhere them to the wall. It worked great!
Another project that I have done many times is to make wreaths for my front door. I always have something on the door that is seasonal. I have done the coffee filter wreath, a did a patriotic wreath out of old clothes that I tied onto a wire frame, and I have hot glued flowers on to a foam wreath.
All of these with great success. I just wish that I had photos of some of the wreaths that I have done, before I tore them apart to create some other masterpiece.
One crafty thing that I am not sure how to categorize is my kitchen table. It is a simple oak round pedestal table with a leaf. I have had that table for twelve years. It had gotten pretty beaten up. The finish on it was peeling up, it had paint stains, water marks, scratches, etc. You name it, it had it. It got to the point where for the last four years I kept it covered with a table cloth simply because I was so embarrassed about it. Well, I kept seeing all those photos on Pinterest about refinishing or painting your battered kitchen table. I decided, what did I have to loose?
One beautiful bright sunny day, I rolled that table out my front door and started to sand. I sanded and sanded until I sanded all my finger nails down to stubs. That table top was a thing of beauty! I decided that there was no need to sand down the pedestal or the legs, as those were fine, and that any marks there were just "character" marks. So, what is a girl to do with a table with a raw wood top? I had seen a photo of a pedestal table that had been painted white. That is what I wanted, only I only wanted the top painted. All the rest of it was going to stay its Honey Oak finish. I got the paint and slapped a coat on it. It dried, I sanded it again, painted again and waited. Day two, I sanded and painted a third coat, stepped back and looked. I looked and looked and looked. I decided it looked nothing like what I imagined it was going to be. Hideous!!!
Day four dawned and I went back and studied that table some more. I decided that it needed one more coat of paint. I got half the table painted with a fourth coat and found that the paint was pulling up and I had a terrible mess on my hands.
I decided that it just wasn't meant to be a two toned table. I ran to the hardware store and bought my first can of stripper. I slathered the stripper on, watched it bubble and ooze, got buzzed by the fumes and then started to scrape. I had no clue was what a job it was to strip paint. I learned fast. It took me a whole day to strip, another day to clean and sand and re prepare the table top. YUCK!
Meanwhile my two kids Frick and Frack were quite happy and content to be eating on the living room floor 'picnic' style, however the other part of the family wasn't quite so enthusiastic about the whole process.
Finally I was back down to a beautiful smooth raw wood oak pedestal table. What to do with it? Stain it and put a clear coat polyurethane on it and just be done. Back to the hardware store I went and bought a can of stain. I put my first coat on, let it sit and then very carefully wiped it off. What did I find? That only half my table was taking the stain, the other half repelled it! I ran over to my next door neighbor and racked his woodworking brain what was I doing wrong? His answer: the prior finish on my table had been so bad for so long that any oils from cooking, or being spilled had soaked into the wood and was repelling any new oils from being absorbed. He came out with an arsenal of mineral spirits, other finishes, sandpaper, etc. He tried everything he could and nothing worked. The only solution that we could come up with is to sand and sand and sand some more. That I did.
Finally tired of sanding I decided enough is enough, I put a couple last coats of stain on it, wiped it off and declared it good enough. Time to put the polyurethane on it. I hightailed it back to the hardware store and bought an aerosol can of polyurethane. It is supposed to give you a really nice even finish with no fuss or muss. <snickering> Right..... What I got was about a half a table. The can petered out on me mid spray. Back to the hardware store I went, to get another traditional can of poly. With a sponge, I put that on, let it sit and dry. Three day's I waited, watched and and got anxious. Finally, I declared it done and I carted that sucker back into the house, up a flight of stairs and put it in the kitchen.
We ate a lovely meal and marveled at my refinished table. It was beautiful. I had such a great feeling of accomplishment that I had done this. My very first time working with wood and that I had overcome all these problems and difficulties. Good for me!!!!!
Yes, I have learned much from my table project. I know that when I go to strip that table this summer and refinish it, I know what a mess the stripper will be, I know what color to stain it and how many coats it will take and what kind of poly I will need. I also know that I should leave it sit in the garage for about the next 10 years, or until the kids are in college, so that it will have enough time to cure.
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