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November 2014
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Archive for November 2014

10 Things I Have Learned to do Around My House

Posted on November 11, 2014 by Renee Spindle

There are times when my Travel Man cannot be home, and some little thing needs to be fixed around the house. Of course, with Murphy’s Law waiting in the wings, nothing ever breaks when he’s home, just right after he leaves. So when something of a minor proportion goes wrong around the house I try to fix it on my own. That means I may then be forced to learn a new skill out of necessity. I have also been known to place a phone call to a certain Travel Man that talks me through the fix over the phone.

You see we always have an ongoing honey-do list, but I try to keep it very short and sweet. When my Travel Man is home I do not want him spending his days at home fixing things. I want him to be able to spend his time with me. I am selfish that way.

Since acquiring my title of Domestic Goddess, there are a few new things I have learned how to take care of around the house. This is my list of 10 new skills that I have acquired, learned and/or taught myself while my Travel Man has been on the road. A good portion of the things on this list I would have previously left for the hubby to take care of or for the two of us to do together.

1. Cleaning the pool filter. This is usually just a weekly thing, but I am able to keep it on track by myself. We have an above ground pool, nicknamed “big bag of water” by my brother.

2. Maintaining the pool chemicals. I can do this, but in the middle of a hot summer this one drives me nuts! Oh how I loathe algae.

3. I learned how to use a roto-hammer to take up some flooring in our hallway. I got the floor completely prepped so Travel Man could come in and install the laminate flooring. This one was exhausting!

4. Taking the car in for service. I always felt like the service writer would take advantage of my lack of knowledge where the car is concerned. I never liked doing this one, but now I just do.

5. Cleaning the air filter on the air conditioner. Our filter is removable, and reusable. you just spray it off, let it air dry and replace. Voila!

6. Adjusting the sprinkler timers. I have had to learn how to program two different controllers for our front and back yards. Now I feel like I am an expert.

7. Replacing some drip nozzles on the lines out by our fruit trees. This one was surprising quite easy.

8. Repairing our thermostat. You can read the details of that story here. Travel Man was actually at home when this one happened. This was a must-fix critical situation!

9. Fixing our lawn mower. I learned how to clean out this little teensy-weensy carburetor jet. You can read all of the details here.

10. I have learned how to light the charcoal grill. It took me awhile to get past this one. I would always just light the gas grill for a quick summer meal. But now if I want a really great hamburger I definitely light the charcoal grill. The flavor is so much better, and now I love to do this.

All of the things that I have learned to do on this list make it easier for Travel Man to be away from home. He knows I’m not afraid (nowadays) to try to fix something I feel is within my “comfort zone”. And you know it’s also a confidence builder for me. I can still learn new skills, and be just a tad more self-sufficient when I need to be. However, Travel Man and I do have an ongoing agreement that if there are any plumbing problems when he is on the road, I simply call our resident plumber!

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Can you fix a Lawnmower? – I did.

Posted on November 5, 2014 by Renee Spindle

A few weeks ago we were having some lawnmower difficulties. Difficulties meaning the darn thing would not start. Now if you are an avid follower of my blogging stories you know that my hubby is a Road Warrior (aka Travel Man). This means that his “honey-do’s” have to be very well defined and we have to try and keep the list as small as possible as his time as home is usually limited. However, my oldest son, Bryan, still lives with us and he is a tremendous help around the house and with the gardening/yard work. With the combined efforts of Bryan, myself, and Travel Man’s “honey-do’s” we get the fixes done around the house that need fixing. Teamwork!

Back to my lawnmower story now. The lawnmower decided not to start on this particular yard work day, and the boys ultimately determined that it just needed to get taken to the shop for repairs. Travel Man was on his way the next morning and the yard could not wait for him to get back from his trip to get the grass looking beautiful. I was the one taking the mower to the shop the next day, and I was not looking forward to doing this by myself. I get that way sometimes. I can do a lot of things on my own or by myself, but for some reason this task was just not appealing to me.

Then a light bulb went on for me. I remember both of my sons telling me about doing “research” on YouTube to find out or figure out how to fix things. So I thought, why not me! I searched for our brand of lawnmower, and the problem we were having. Lo and behold 5 or 6 short videos came up, and I was on my way. I watched two or three videos, which were all fairly simple to understand.

I collected my supplies, went out to the shed and got the lawnmower out. Then I had to recall my video instructions, as I did not take any of my electronics out to the shed with me. I worked on cleaning out this little tiny carburetor jet on the lawnmower, tried to start it, and nothing. I was a little disappointed, as I thought I would have immediate success. So, I did the same thing again, cleaning out this tiny little pinhole in the carburetor jet, and voila! The lawnmower started!! I was giddee with excitement so I mowed a few rows of the back yard. Then I sent a text message to my youngest son to share my good news. Bryan was at work, and Travel Man was on a plane so I could not talk to them directly.

Yay- I fixed our lawnmower just by watching a YouTube video! Now I can add this one to my list of things that I CAN fix. For the record I’m two for two with my fixes. First the thermostat, and now the lawnmower. It’s always good for me to know I can be resourceful if needed. Believe me I would always rather add another “honey-do” to the list whenever possible.

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Birthday in a Box

Posted on November 3, 2014 by Renee Spindle

My nephew lives a few hours from us and we do not get to see him very often. For his birthday last month I wanted to send him something a little different to celebrate. I combed through quite a few Pinterest pictures and found this adorable birthday box idea. I decided this would be the perfect gift for a long distance family member, and set out to make one myself.

First I gathered my supplies:

An empty shoe box. The shoe box had the lid attached so it made my gift box decorating all the easier. I did not have to do any finagling to hinge the lid together.
Scrapbooking paper with a birthday theme.
Glue – I used tacky glue and my crafters’ tape.
Mod Podge.
Sponge brushes for the Mod Podge.
Washi tape.
A paper-cutter.
Brightly colored crochet thread.
A set of free printables that I found with a Pinterest link at 100directions.com. The printables were really the thing that inspired me to get going and create my box. they are adorable.

Next I planned the paper placement and cutting, and the placement for the printables for my box of fun.

I cut the paper pieces for the inside of the top of the box first and glued them in place. Then I added the trim pieces to embellish the edges.

Then I cut the paper pieces for the bottom of the box and the sides on the inside and glued them in place.

On the top of the outside of the box I cut squares to make a little patchwork look. I used a colorful scrapbooking paper here and some plain brown crafting paper.

Then I embellished the top of the box with the printables, and washi tape.
The washi tape really helped to make the edges looked finished, and like they had a uniform border.

On the sides of the outside of the box I used the same paper that matched the paper that had been used on the lid.

Decorating for the inside of the lid was quite fun.

I cut the pieces out for the banner, and then punched holes in the corners of each piece so they could be strung together.

I used some brightly colored cotton crocheting thread to string the banner inside of the box.
Then I added the embellishments to complete my “Happy Birthday” message.

When I was done decorating the entire box I painted a thin coating of Mod Podge over the top of the outside of the box to keep all of the paper in place and give it a box a bit of a glossy sheen.

Now for the contents of the box I wanted to do something fun for the birthday boy.

I baked a little lemon cake.
Sent a can of frosting with sprinkles, and a couple of plastic knives for him to decorate the cake and share with his friends.
Sent some birthday plates, spoons, and napkins.
Added some candy – M&M’s and Cracker Jacks
Threw in some party decorations, and he was all set to celebrate.

This project was a ton of fun. I would do this again in a heartbeat. You can change the contents so easily to give any sort of themed gift; baseball, a night at the movies, favorite coffee’s. The possibilities are endless. I’ll be confiscating shoe boxes from all of my family members from now on to build up crafting/gifting supply.

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