Category: Around the House

Cleaning out My Closet- The Final Chapter

For the love of Pete, this better be the last post about my closet.  If that wasn’t where I hung my clothes, I would never go back in there.
I’m not going to lie, this one kicked my butt.  I spent several sleepless nights trying to figure out how to finish this stupid closet.  It looked a whole lot better than when I started, but I just couldn’t get it to be magazine cover worthy.  And then it hit me, screw your magazine cover!  I’m not trying to be perfect.  Which is a good thing, because I would fail miserably.  I just want to be comfortable.  I just wanted to be able to “walk in” to my closet without breaking my neck.  Done and done!
I got rid of the clothes that I didn’t wear anymore.  I gave away the purses that I would never use again.  There are no more banana clips or spare fridge parts.  I have the clothes that I still wear, some shoes and that’s still where I keep the medicine.
Yes, I still have many bins of memories, but they bring me joy.  Any time I want, I can go into my closet, open up a bin and go back in time.  I can relive the fun parts of my youth.  The ones that without pictures I wouldn’t know existed.  I can laugh at the pictures of me and my glorious 80’s hair.  I can remember how I felt when I first met The Man.  When I was pregnant with each kid.  When we moved countries and states all those times.
I am going to call this one a win.
Join me in my walk down memory lane….

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Cleaning out My Closet- Part Two

Here is Part One of our story, in case you missed it.

First I’d like to apologize if The Man contacted you to ask you to harass me about finishing up the closet.  I’m sure he hunted down a few of you.

Here’s what I did this week:  The way that I do a lot of unwanted chores is by having other, even less appealing chores to do, and in order to postpone those, I do the first unwanted chore.  Take for example today, I really should be cleaning a bathroom or two, but that’s way lower on the scale than cleaning the closet, so I’ll work on the closet instead.

I’m starting to see some progress.  And the floor.

I have collected all of the unused and expired medicine that I found.  After a little research, I discovered this from the FDA and that from the DEA to help you decide what to do with them.

You may have already seen that I happened upon 18 Oregon Ducks t-shirts and 8 sweaters.  I also came across a pair of Oregon Ducks shorts and a sports bra.  For any of you that don’t know me yet, NO! I did not give any of them away.  I have a plan to make a T-shirt quilt out of them.  Stay tuned for that.  Some day.

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Cleaning out My Closet- Part One

The whole family is gone for several days, and after an entire day of watching the Rugby World Cup Sevens and eating as much as I could, I decided it was time to clean out my closet, and allow it to live up to its name, “walk in” closet.


Day 1: This is really going to surprise The Man.  He’ll probably ask me again if we’re moving.  I am not a clean freak.  There are better things to do than clean.  But every few years I’ll get the energy to clean something.  This year will be our closet.  Luckily, we moved here just over three years ago, so there is just over three years of mess to work on.

When I do clean, I like to make sections to help me get organized.  There is a spot for anything that can be recycled (I may be a slob at home, but I still want a clean planet), things that need to be thrown out (toiletry items that expired in 2001), things that need to be given away (the bright yellow banana clip for hair that I purchased at the Goodwill last year, hoping to relive my glory days) and for things that should be in another room (why is there a drawer from the spare fridge in here).

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Change the Air Filters in your Home

I live in the desert.  The desert is dusty. So very dusty.  And all of that dust ends up in my house.  We have to change the air filters in the HVAC system quite often.  They can be changed every month or two, depending on how dusty it gets where you live.  Sadly, I’m not sure if I can remember when these were changed last.

Today was my turn to change them, because I called  “NOT IT” last.  I guess this is another chance to learn how to do some adulting.  

The first step to changing them is to vacuum all the dust from the cover grate.  You do this so you don’t get a face full of dust when you open the cover.  This should probably be done whenever the vacuum comes out to clean the floors, but to be honest, I only bring the vacuum out when we have people coming over to visit, and it’s been a quiet couple months.  Oh, and that whole “I’m really lazy” thing, too.

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Smoking Ribs on the Traeger

Clearly I gave our baby a bath before the picture, but I think a well-loved grill should be dirty!

We made plans to have some wonderful people over for dinner on a Friday night.  Their favorite meal; ribs.  Smoked ribs on the Traeger!  It’s one of my favorites, too.  I start making plans to buy ribs, prepare the rub and let The Man do his thing.  Only when I realized that Friday was a day that The Man actually works and that I would have to be doing it all myself, did I wonder why I hadn’t planned it for Saturday.    But I didn’t, so I guess I had to learn how to smoke ribs on the Traeger.  It’s a good thing I am in the mood to learn how to adult.

Step one- Ask The Man to write down exactly how to do it.  I mean, exactly.

Step two- Tell myself that I am a grown-ass human that will indeed be able to figure it out.  And if not, we can order pizza.

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Unplugging the Garbage Disposal

I see you’re hooked on becoming a legitimate grown-up.  Good for you.  Let’s continue.

Studies show that putting 30 egg shells down a garbage disposal all at once may plug your kitchen sink.  Carrot peels tend to do the same thing.  What now?  Here’s what I found…..

Hey, did you know that in Canada (at least Manitoba) they call it a “Garburator” instead of a garbage disposal.  Now you do.  You’re welcome.

First step to unplugging the garbage disposal in your kitchen sink, is to find that metal ‘S’ shaped thing.  You know, that thing you’ve seen around but never knew what it was for.  Now is its time to shine.  You open the cupboard door underneath the sink with the disposal and locate the thing (ours is black) that is right under that sink.

That’s the garbage disposal.  At the very bottom of it there is a hole.  Making sure the garbage disposal is OFF, you place one end of the metal thing into the hole and jiggle it back and forth.  Back and forth.  It may take a while.  You can alternate jiggling that, taking out the tool and turning on the water and the disposal.  Just DO NOT do those two things at the same time.  Keep trying, you’re doing great.

 

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Here’s Where our Journey Begins

Let’s start on this road to Adulthood with some basic things you need to know.  Things to keep you safe around your home.

**some of the links below are affiliate links, meaning, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase.

How to Put Out a Small Fire

This is how to put out a SMALL fire.  If it is NOT a small fire, don’t do this.

Call 9-1-1 and let the pros handle it.

You should own a fire extinguisher.  Seriously!  What do I have to do to convince you of that?  After you buy one, you need to teach everyone in your home how to use it.  Also, keep it in a spot where everyone knows where it is and can get to it quickly.  Let’s learn how to put out a small fire.  Here’s what I found…..

 

  1. P- Pull out the pin on the handle of the extinguisher.
  2. A- Aim the hose nozzle low toward the base of the fire, NOT at the top of the flames.
  3. S- Squeeze the handle to spray out the stuff inside.
  4. S- Sweep the nozzle back and forth at the base of the flames until the fire is out.

 

Seems easy enough.  Say it with me; P-A-S-S.  Pull, Aim, Squeeze, and Sweep.  Say it again…..  Okay, fine, don’t.  But if you sing it, you’ll remember it easier.

Again, if it’s a big fire, just call 9-1-1.

 

We’re on a roll here.  Let’s keep it going with learning how to:

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