Archive for March, 2006
March 31st, 2006 - How to Stay Warm II- Make Window Insulators
We might need this next winter: How to Stay Warm II- Make Window Insulators. I’m thinking about painting them black and leaving them up in unused rooms all day long.
Did I mention we are definitely moving? It’s been a busy week. The one new, big thing the inspector told us is that the one working furnace is about 22 years old and probably hasn’t been serviced since at least 1990. Oh, and it heats only the first floor. You know, the old furnace was also the worst thing about our current house. ::Sigh::
March 23rd, 2006 - Answers to comments
To answer a few suggestions and comments from the house post
A) unfortunately, I put in the bulb garden only last fall, so no pictures of it in bloom! However, if spring ever comes here, it would be in bloom when people start looking at the house. So here’s hoping. We do have some nice photos of the house and yard from summer time that I hope he’ll use. Because right now everything is brown and muddy and yucky looking.
B) I did plan to ask the new owners if they were interested in the bulb garden. If they said no, I’d offer to come back in the fall and dig it all up (and cart off the stones for them). And buy grass seed if they want it. I’m trying to decide whether to plant the cannas and then say I have to come back and dig them up or see if I can plant them at the new house. These flowers came from my grandfather’s garden. While I can get more from my Dad, I hate to waste them this year. Or, maybe a friend would plant them at their house for me.
C) We aren’t currently foster parents. We want to wait until Maggie goes to school, with the hope of fostering children her age or younger. If we do, we’ll be 3rd generation foster parents. My husband’s grandparents were the first and his parents still do foster care (once again, they’ve sworn R is the last one, but we’ll see….) having started when Eric was only 2. We’ve been planning on being foster parents since before we were married!
March 22nd, 2006 - To keep in mind once we get this far….
Paint Strippers - New, Easy, and Safer Ways
March 22nd, 2006 - Shipping furniture
Has anyone shipped furniture to someone? If so, how did you do it and how much did it cost? I have a piece of furniture we need to get to Pennsylvania. It won’t fit in a car; needs a trailer/UHaul. None of our family has a hitch already installed, and the last time we did that it cost something like $150 or $200 + the trailer rental.
March 22nd, 2006 - Forgot to mention
The house was built in 1891. It’s about 9 years older than our current house (est. built in 1900 [the courthouse burned in ‘49 or ‘50 and most tax records were lost; the majority of houses in Oshkosh are listed as 50+ or probably 55+ now).
March 22nd, 2006 - A new old house
Eric and I just did something completely nutty.
There’s a big old Victorian home I pass on my way to/from work every day. I’ve always liked it, and enjoy dreaming of living in such houses. It contradicts my desire and love for the Not So Big house, but….
A number of weeks ago, they started cleaning out that house. I couldn’t tell from the stuff whether it was “we’re moving,” “we’ve got junk and need to clean up,” or “someone died and they had a lot of junk.” It’s a house I’d dreamed of owning, so I kept an eye out to see if it would go up for sale. It would be fun to at least see the interior. On Friday, the sale sign went up–sort of. It was only the post, not the actual sign. I called up our agent who helped us uy our present house, and he couldn’t find it listed yet. aaargh. I haunted the house all weekend, and the sign went up Sunday morning. I called after church, and the agent called me back 15 minutes later.
It’s an old, big Victorian, so I figured it would be out of our price range. But it was right at what I said was the biggest mortgage we could possibly afford without killing ourselves!!!! Of course, that probably meant there was some issues….
We got to see it that afternoon. And, indeed, there are some issues. The house has not been maintained (but on the good side, that also means there aren’t 6 layers of paint or 3 layers of wallpaper glue!). The bathrooms are pretty bad–one of tubs/shower is compeltely unusable. The other, the shower probably isn’t although the tub looks like it is. Paint is falling off in many of the closests. The upstairs enclosed porch (yes!, although it’s small) is sloping). The furnance may or may not heat the whole house (it is an estate sale, so the trustee doesn’t know details). The electrical wiring is the old kind. The place needs a deep, deep cleaning. The belongings for the estate sale aren’t even organized yet. (We figure the last two being taken care of alone would add at least $5000 to the sale price.) We’ll have to put a lot of work into it, but if we do, it could be a great investment! Most of the work (we believe) we can do ourselves–it’s not like it’s falling down. It just needs some cleaning, paint, some cracks repaired. (For the most part, there are some small areas in worse shape.)
But, oh, the YARD! It’s on about 1/2 an acre. The backyard is like a small park. It has a ton of trees. And the backyard is already fenced (requirement with 2 dogs!). There are flowers and veggie gardens (although not fenced away from our dogs). Without the yard, we wouldn’t have considered it.
It has 5 bedrooms upstairs. There’s supposedly one downstairs, but we wouldn’t use it for that. There are 2 full baths (well, except that one isn’t usable). There are two living rooms and a dining room. Plus a kitchen. It’s so big that we can easily work a room at a time w/o disrupting our lives.
So we put in a bid on Monday afternoon and it was accepted Tuesday morning. We’ve MOVING!!!!!
We have an inspection scheduled for next Tuesday. We can see all the obvious problems. We want to be certain it won’t fall down around us. And we want to get a quote on replacing the wiring, and find out if we can do it room by room or if the whole house needs to be done ASAP.
Eric always said he wouldn’t move farther north. The house is 6 blocks south of our current house! (And one block farther south than our apartment.) The first time we moved about 10 blocks. Now it’s 6 blocks. I guess next time, we have to move less than 2 blocks away! LOL
Because of our frugal living, we’ll be able to afford this house. And to even afford to carry both houses if Bent Ave doesn’t sell right away. Luckily, we’d paid off my education loans 2 years ago and the second mortgage last year. Because of our aggressive payments, we’ll be able to either put 20% down, or carry a second mortgage to give us enough money to redo the bathroom and the electrical work. To keep saving money towards upgrading the house, we will need to cut some areas. Oddly (to me), we are probably going to cut down on our retirement savings. However, we expect the house to be an investment. The redone Victorians in the area have gone for $250,000+ (and that was 5 years ago). And those houses didn’t have the yard this one does.
The oh-so-very-large house also means two other things for us. A) We definitely have room for our sister to come live with us (she’s 11 now and we will become her guardians when necessary). B) We will still have 2 bedrooms for foster children.
Oh, I forgot to mention: The huge attic which could easily be made into more rooms. And the large basement with high ceilings. And one other drawback: the ceilings in the house are something like 12 feet high! Heavens that far too high for my tastes.
We’re not prepared to sell our current house. Luckily, we keep it fairly clean and uncluttered. My biggest disappointment is the work and money I’ve put into the gardens. The $500 fence for the new garden is probably compeltely wasted. And the $200 I personally spent on my flower garden, including those stones I love. At least I’ll get to see the bulbs bloom this spring. Hopefully, the new owners will love the flower, veggie, and fruit gardens. That would make me feel a LOT better about it.
March 16th, 2006 - I don’t agree with Slither, but it’s still funny
Boy on a Stick and Slither discuss “organic” (from my brother Michael)
March 16th, 2006 - Flashlight longevity
Katie asked in a comment how long my new flashlight keeps its charge. So yesterday, home due to Eric being sick, I did some testing.
Shaken for 1 minute and left on, the flashlight stays well-lit for 5 minutes. The light fades to nearly nothing aroung 30 minutes of being on continuously without being shut off. To completely drain the charge takes an hour or more.
Shaken for 1 minute and then turned off except for hourly testing, the flashlight remained well-lit over 12 hours later. I tested houly for 5 hours then went to bed. 9 hours later, it was as bright (to me) as when I’d first shaken it. I refrained from using it this morning and will see how the charge is in the morning.
You do not have to shake it for a minute straight. You can shake it for about 30 seconds then start using it. Shake occasionally while in use and you’ll recharge it. I haven’t tested this part, but know it from my morning usage.
It has an LED light, which I think is plenty bright, and not harsh. Eric has a halogen flashlight that he prefers because it’s brighter.
I saw shakeable flashlights for sale at Menard’s (WI-based store like Lowe’s or Home Depot) for $19.95 for two, one large and one small. (Michael, would you share where you got this one and how much it cost?) I don’t think I would have noticed them, however, if I hadn’t had one already. I’m tempted to get more–I’d put one in the tornado emergency kit downstairs and the other one on my bedside table, or in the car. These flashlights are mentioned in the latest Reader’s Digest, in their annual review of “As Seen on TV” products. Their reviewers weren’t impressed with them, mainly because of the shaking involved. Too bad I wasn’t a reviewer. I think the extra bit of exercise required is a bonus! If I recall correctly, they thought the light wasn’t bright enough either. I’ve used them outside (the light goes all the way to the back of our yard, probably 30-50 feet) as well as in a dark closet (excellent!). Another advantage to the LED is that you don’t get circles of light and dark like with a regular bulb. (I’m not sure if halogens give the concentric circles; I can’t recall.)
March 13th, 2006 - Counteracting the flashlight
I’m very proud of myself for using the shaking flashlight in the mornings to let the dogs out. It reduces the use a lightbulb for about 5 minutes per day.
But I believe I’ve counteracted that reduction in electricity: I vacummed the dining room and kitchen instead of sweeping. The entire time, I was thinking about how this went against my desire to not use electricity if I can do it without. But the floor has need to be swept for at least two weeks. And I guess I just don’t like sweeping. (One problem is that there are dust bunnies of dog/cat hair and they are really hard to sweep up.) When I don’t sweep on the weekend, then I don’t dustmop during the week. I say to myself “I’ll sweep tonight or tomorrow. So why bother dustmopping?” So of course, the situation just gets worse and worse.
The last time (that is, the first time) I vacummed a non-carpeted floor, there was such a racket I couldn’t imagine every trying it again. But I saw my MIL do it and it wasn’t all that loud. I think it is louder than on carpet, but everyone else was sleeping so I don’t have a second on that. I think I will try to vacuum at least once a week (I do the living room 2x/per week–I don’t even have to move the plug to get to the kitchen). I should still sweep at least once a month, since the vac doesn’t do edges nor under furniture.
Now if I could just get the upstairs vacummed. The problem there is that I can’t do it while Maggie’s sleeping. And I tend to only think of it then!
March 13th, 2006 - Dried veggies
Another reason I love my dehydrator: It helps me get my kid to eat her veggies! LOL Last month, Maggie had a cold and for two weeks, she preferred carbs (bread, pasta, etc) almost exclusively. The previous week, I had ground up some dried veggies to use in her homemade crackers. Eric suggested putting them on her pasta instead of sauce (usually, pesto). She loves this! (I also put her nutritional yeast on there.) I think it’s pretty awful; I still prefer pesto. It’s much healthier than pesto, however! I also added a tablespoon to our whole wheat bread for the week. It’s not enough that I can taste it (so next time I might try more), but the bti of added veggies is good for us!
March 7th, 2006 - Why I live a simpler life
**Warning: This entry deals with throwing up.**
Another reason I’m glad I live more simply and with fewer activities and things to do: So that when I get up in the morning and find a message that a dog threw up all over the pillows in the den,* I can change my plans and spend 20 minutes cleaning it up. My plans were pretty simple otherwise (fold the laundry, watch TV, and do some excersizes). I still had time for the latters ones and the laundry will get folded tonight instead. Because we keep up on it, no one needed anything (except my sweater, which I’d already taken out and could have lived without anyway). Because I get up 100 minutes before I have to leave for work, I was not in a rush to leave. I had to vacuum afterwards and easily had the time to vac the entire living room and den, which I would have done tomorrow.
*Although as a child, I was unable to deal with people throwing up, we have found that as an adult I am able to deal with cleaning it up (at least from dogs and cats, Maggie hasn’t really thrown up yet). I heard somewhere that if you hum, you can’t throw up (it was an EMT who said so). I have found it to be true. It’s sometimes hard to hum when you want to gag, however, so it’s not a fool-proof solution. But I have found that I do pretty well humming, singing, or talking while cleaning up the grossest parts. Eric, on the other hand, usually ends up gagging and nearly throwing up himself. He tries to clean it up if I’m not around, but often it’s just too hard. Yet another reason we are good for each other! I’ve had a lot of practice lately, as our dog Jedi has been sick off and on for the last 8 months. Most recently, they think he might have hyperthyrodism (or is it hypo?). One clue is that he’s gained about 10 pounds even though he eats only 2 out of 3 meals and throws up at least once a week; one week he threw up daily.
March 7th, 2006 - Composting vacuums
Well, not really. I didn’t put my entire vacuum in the compost pile, but I did put the dirt from inside the bag in. This is the first time I’ve composted this. I don’t know why it hasn’t crossed my mind before. I guess it’s just one of those things that no one ever mentions so you never think of it. I figure most of what’s picked up by the vac is hair (dog, cat, and human) and dirt (from dogs paws, as well as shoes but I think the dogs are more likely to be dirty and them come in and out more than we humans do. Until Maggie’s older, at least!). Both of those are compost items, so why not put them in?
I know some people recycle their bags after emptying them. I had to open up one end to get the dirt out. It’s possible I could have shaken it out of the already-there-hole, but it’s only 10 degrees F and I was standing in a foot of snow with one mitten off. I went for the more expedient route! I’m also not sure I wanted the dust and dirt all over me instead of in the compost pile. I have heard of taping it back together, but there is a risk of the bag bursting open since the taped seam isn’t as tight as the factory glue. I’m not ready to deal with that mess (and I have dealt with burst bags before; it’s not fun). But I believe I will go rescue the bag from the garbage. It would make a perfect first layer of mulch–the hole would be perfect for a tomato or pepper plant! Now I wish I had a bunch of them to use….
March 6th, 2006 - NRDC: A Shopper’s Guide to Home Tissue Products Made with Recycled Paper
NRDC: A Shopper’s Guide to Home Tissue Products Made with Recycled Paper
I plead completely guilty. We use Puffs tissues and Charmin toilet paper. I love my Puffs particularly as I blow my nose a lot. I’ve never liked off brands (and I grew up with them). I resolve to try buying 7th generation and/or whatever other brands our natural foods store offers. If I can find a tp and a tissue that are nearly as soft as these, I will switch. Not sure if Eric will switch. Which would mean multiple rolls of tp everywhere. But I was very disappointed in myself when I read the NRDC charts. Very disappointed.