Good News!

If you haven't heard, we are moving and have sold our house!  And we have a contract on a beautiful disaster in Graham, TX.  You can count on lots of blog entries as we work to:

De-Purple

Disinfect

And try to find our home behind all the chaos.

Switching a Switch

Having hung light fixtures and ceiling fans, I decided to embark on a new project - replacing our restroom light switch that doesn't work very well.  This switch has been having real problems lately - it is finicky when you turn it on, then will go out at any given moment.  If you have ever been mid-shower when someone comes in the restroom, then leaves and turns out the light, and you are stranded with fully lathered hair in pitch darkness, screaming, "HEY I'M IN HERE!!!"...if this has happened to you...then you can relate to our plight on a small scale.

Step one - watching internet tutorials of handy men changing out light switches and making it look very simple.
Step two - trip to TrueValue to purchase a lightswitch.  Kids acted way too excited at store.
Step three - kids in timeout.

 The crew: my newly purchased light switch, pliers, flathead & phillips screwdrivers

Step four - remove old light switch plate, which should've come off very easily, but SOMEONE painted it to the wall because he/she didn't wish to do any prepwork before he/she painted the bathroom one evening in about an hour with some leftover paint from a botched job in the living room.  That's another blog entirely.

***ALERT - I forgot a step!  A very important one!***

Step three and a half - TURN OFF ELECTRICITY at the breaker box!  This is the most important step.  At least 15 people, plus old handy internet man, told me to do this first.  Dear Daughter got to come out of timeout to help me on this part.  It helps to have someone scream across the house when you hit the right switch!

Step five - remove lightswitch and take out wires. 

 Remove the top and bottom screws to take out the switch.

Step six - put wires in new holes on new lightswitch.  Wires didn't fit.  It appears that I purchased the wrong thingy.

 But they look exactly alike.  Shouldn't that count for something?

Step seven - kids get to come out of timeout for bonus trip to TrueValue.  Good for them - they will have a chance to redeem themselves. 

 30 minutes later....

I just returned from the trip and these were the happenings:

• I explained my situation and showed my switches to a lady at Higginbotham-Bartlett TrueValue who offered to help/blame me for everything.  She told me, "WELL, it doesn't work because YOU NEED A 15 AMP Switch."  She was very know-it-all-like.  I replied, "This is a 15 amp switch."  That ticked her off.  Then I explained that the wires wouldn't fit in the slots and she just said, "Well, we don't have those."  So I returned my switch and received a credit of $3.98, while thinking to myself words that rhyme with "switch."

• We went to ACE hardware, where I once again gave the low down to a worker, this time an older, handy-type man.  He explained that all I had to do was:

use my pliers to make a loops in the two wires:

wrap the loops around the screws:

 and tighten the loops and the screws.

 

• Then he proceeded to sell me the exact switch I had just returned to TrueValue.  However this time it only cost $0.98!  I guess by "True Value" they meant "if you enjoy paying 300% extra and getting made fun of."

Step eight:  I completed the project just as handy ACE man told me to - in about 1 minute (no kidding.)  Now, we have lights!  

Thought for the day:  Sometimes old men are less grouchy than old women.

And I have a lightbulb that I need to replace.

Got Gross Grout?

"GROUT" is such an ugly word.  And unfortunately, it is sometimes an ugly, dirty part of your home.

I noticed that the grout in our living room had absorbed every little drop of liquid that had been spilled on it over the years.  Despite my efforts, I could not get it clean.  I could easily blame the kids or Rex, but I was just as guilty since I generally rush out the door each morning carrying two tons of school stuff and my much needed cup of coffee.  The coffee never makes it to the car without spilling a little here and there.  Once, I even left it on top of the car and didn't realize it until I stopped at a red light.  "What is that noise?  What is rattling on top of the car?  And where is my coffee?"  That mystery took at least 10 blocks to solve. 

Anyhoo, grout + spilled stuff = gross and impossible to clean.

 Take your eyes off that precious cat and feast upon the tile:  

Something about the tile just doesn't look clean to me.

I decided to tackle this problem last summer.
I visited Lowe's and purchased these products:

Then I spent the next several hours removing rugs and small furniture, scouring my grout with the cleaner and the brush, which was about as thrilling as it sounds.  I meticulously vacuumed the tile, swept the tile, mopped the tile, steam-mopped the tile, steam-mopped again, and collapsed from exhaustion.  But just for a sec because I knew I had to work quickly before the grout soiled itself again.

The next step will sound familiar to you if you read my "Patio Painting" blog.  I simply poured the grout sealer into a paint tray and rolled it on the tile and grout.  I did half the floor, let it dry for 24 hrs, then moved the heavy furniture to the "done" part and finished the remaining section.

The result was beautiful, somewhat glossy (which appeals to my Type A semi-clean freak nature) tile.

Ignore the backpack thrown in the middle of the floor; I said I was "SEMI-clean freak."

See the "wet look?"  The best part is, we can drop Popsicle (the kids,) spill an entire jar of salsa (me,) or spill coffee (me again,) all we want...and it mops right up!  Well, it doesn't mop itself up, I still have to do that part.