Doing housekeeping. As I've said before, I sometimes almost enjoy this, as long as there's plenty of time to do it. I get over my procrastination by setting a timer for 15 minutes. When the fifteen minutes is up, I stop. Later today there will be more 15 minute intervals.

( I can haz clean kitchen )

I can now report that Guardsman Water Ring Remover Cloth (linked to on Amazon but available by order from your local ACE Hardware) and Guardsman Furniture Touch Up Kit are miracle workers. I highly recommend ( Read more... )

All my news seems to be domestic these days. Oh, well, at least work is quiet.

( In which NP turns out to be handy around the house )

If you own cats, I heartily recommend the following:

The Litter Champ Pet Waste and Odor Disposal System

Jack, I learned shortly after I got him, likes a pristine box.  And I live four flights up, and we don't have in-building garbage collection or a waste chute.  And the garbage compactor is all the way across a parking lot -- not fun in winter ( Read more... )

If you live in a house with cats, and are trying to change a bed, it is a given that a cat will sit on the bed and make "pet me!" eyes at you, every step of the way ( Read more... )

( Diary of a procrastinating housewife programmer )

The "Cool Breeze" mini personal electric fan being sold at CVS. It costs about $12, and it's very effective. I find that it works nicely in hot corners to augment the air conditioning by getting the air moving.

I wouldn't run one all day, but if your desk is in a hot room (as mine is) it's very handy to have.

I have done Useful Things today:

• Found a phone plan that will cost me $20 less per month but get me higher-speed broadband.
• Lugged (with S.'s help) a dead scanner, a dead printer, a dead keyboard, and a large box full of cables, wires, mice, drives, circuit boards, and things I couldn't even identify anymore to the local Electronics Recycling event.
• ( Read more... )

You can't just throw out compact fluorescent bulbs when they burn out, because they contain small amounts of mercury. Fortunately, Home Depot offers a recycling service.

Home Depot Eco-Options IndexI didn't know that until tonight. Yikes. I've been using them since the early 90s, and while very few of them have ever burned out, some of them ( Read more... )

Why is it that, regardless of how forgiving you are on the subject of Things Not Matching, how many times you've picked up a pack of patternless extras in the housewares section at Target, or how recently you've done the washing-up, there are never enough spoons?

Or forks. But most noticeably spoons.