Tag: household

Small Things

Several small “fixes” in different parts of my life, nothing special, but feel nice.

  • Installed a new light fixture in the living room using the same electric company. That was the only one that I didn’t replace when I was replacing “everything.” The usual effect: OMG, how much better it feels now!
  • Renewed Siskel membership. I forgot to renew it almost a year ago, and they changed the system and everything, so I could not even renew online. I went there just before I got COVID, and now I have an online account and everything, and I can even put my tickets into my Apple wallet. Hurray! And I already started using this membership again!
  • Emailed OMD and told them I decided against participation this year. I told them I realized I did not have time, but the real reason was that I sat through the orientation and realized that nothing changed. All the issues I observed several years ago, the ones which prompted me to leave, are still there.
  • It looks like two other mentoring organizations that I applied for and was accepted to are going to do better and more meaningful jobs. I am giving it a try, and we’ll see.

It is going to be a very intense week. I was planning for Labor Day to be a fresh start, but the Universe decided differently. Well, I guess Rosh Hashanah is an even better start :).

Waste Reduction

This was a small thing, but I am very proud of it.

Sometimes, things break, or you lose a part, and then it appears to be very difficult to find this one small part that you need to replace, and it is very tempting to replace the whole thing.

Recently, I accidentally threw a percolator tube into the garbage. And I didn’t realize I did it until it was too late, and the garbage was already in the dumpster. I started to look for a part on Amazon, and I couldn’t find it. A couple of years ago, I had to buy a new percolator for Milwaukee when the lid of the coffee basket went missing, and I could not find a replacement for such a simple thing and ended up ordering a new percolator.

This time, I was almost ready to do the same, but when I checked the percolator’s price on Amazon, I saw that it had gone up almost twice since I purchased it last time. Most likely, that won’t stop me because I wanted the problem to be solved ASAP, but then I thought about the conservation efforts and what a waste it would be to throw away the whole percolator with only this tube missing!

I made an effort :). I found the company website and ordered the replacement perk tubes. Two of them :). Because it’s not the last time I need one. And it was not as fast as Amazon delivery. And two tubes plus shipping cost only a little bit less than a new percolator. But I was so happy I did the right thing 🙂

Small Home Improvement

Did you ever think that a small rolling desk would be so useful in the kitchen?! Boris was hesitant to get this one (he uses it for work when he needs peace and quiet and the house is occupied by our granddaughters, but I told him if he gets it, I know very well how I am going to use it!

Yes, I know that people these days do everything from their phones, but I still prefer to consult my recipes using a bigger screen!

Kitchen Update

I won’t call it remodeling, but two things out of the three I wanted to do are completed.

The kitchen was the last space that needed painting, and I held off last summer because I didn’t decide on the color. This spring, I was ready, and I love the way the kitchen looks now!

It also worked perfectly that now I work in the office where they feed me:), so I had no problem with not having a kitchen for two days. It was for the third time that these painters did some job in my house and each time I admire the quality of their work. The trimming, and all these small details – everything is perfect. Also, they clean up the area after the job is done. They even take down the pictures and put them back!

Continue reading “Kitchen Update” →

Beautification

I am moving through my To-Do list. 

After all the lights were put up, I asked the handyman to change the wiring of the lights so that I won’t have a string of lights down to the plug, which he did. Also, Boris replaced the remaining locks, and now finally, I have all four locks opening by one key, and all the locks are working!

I finished planting, and the flowerbeds look amazing. And I have the artwork on the wall, something I have wanted to have since I moved here! 

Most of my neighbors have some artwork, but the people who lived in this apartment before removed whatever they had on the wall, so I could only see the remaining screws. I was looking for something I could place on the wall for the past two summers and finally found something three weeks ago at the Greenleaf Art Center Open House.

This art was absolutely not like what I envisioned when I was thinking about this hypothetical art on my wall, but I saw it and loved it! Initially, I eyed another piece, which was monochrome, but when I talked to the artist and showed her a picture of the wall and a balcony, I suddenly thought that the other board, with pink elements, would look better. 

Angela (that was the artist’s name) agreed to put an extra protection coating on the board, and we agreed that I would pick it up in two weeks. Now, the board is there, and my balcony looks perfect, and I am ready to enjoy the summer!

Lights And Other Home Improvements

I finally have the lights on my balcony! All my neighbors had the lights, and I didn’t – that’s because the people who lived here before stripped off pretty much everything possible and impossible.

I still didn’t fix everything which was broken at the time I moved in, but I am getting closer and closer. I had a list of small repairs for which I tried to hire somebody to fix. That was one more never-ending project. The handyman who fixed the mice holes in my kitchen kept promising to find time and come over but kept pushing the date. Then I remembered that when I was looking for an electrician, somebody called me after I already found an electric company, and they said that they could do other repairs. This person was late the first time when we agreed he’d come over, and then he kept coming too late to start work, not showing up at all, etc. Each time, he apologized profusely and promised it would never happen again.

Somehow, I knew that he was not an imposter but had a problem with being on time. On Friday, he finally came here, if not entirely on time, but early enough to be able to do most of the things I hired him for. I knew he underestimated the amount of time it would take him to put the lights up (it took three times longer than he thought), so I paid him more than he originally asked and told him that we could finish the rest after the holidays.

Among other things, he replaced the lock on the back door, so I do not have a lock that can’t be opened with a key anymore (yes, I had it for two years!). And – he bought and put up the lights on the balcony. I need to replace the rest of the locks so that there would be one key for all, but not until everybody who has keys from my house has a new one. Hopefully, by May 31, everybody will have it! Meanwhile, I am thrilled to have the lights! They are operated by light sensors, so the light can either automatically turn on at dust and turn off at dawn or be on for a specified number of hours after dusk. Also, I have a remote to turn it on and off from the inside.

Simple Solutions

For a while now, I thought I needed a new fridge because the one I have now is most likely as old as the house after the rehab, that’s circa 2005, and also, it was generating some weird noise. The noise stopped a couple of weeks ago, but still- I do not want to be in a situation where I need to buy something immediately because the old one is broken.

I knew that I would have a problem with the fridge height – there is a shelf right above it, and the existing fridge just – barely-makes it. And I had a similar problem in Palatine, but there it was an actual hard limit.

I spent a lot of time on the internet (it turned out that you can’t ask Google “less than 67-inch height!” I mean, you can ask, but the results will be unsatisfactory).

So I spent a lot of time looking for a suitable model, and then I finally limited my search to three, and I asked Boris to help me to make a final selection. When we got on the call, I started by saying that I couldn’t get all the cool new features I wanted because all the newer models were higher than 67 inches. For that, Boris replied: why won’t we just lift the shelf several inches up? It’s plenty of room above it! And then I realized that I was subconsciously led by my Palatine experience where there was nothing to lift! I checked how this shelf is attached, and it turned out it’s just four screws on each side and one board on each side!

We decided to wait till Boris comes at the end of the month and move the shelf up, and then I can choose the fridge of my dreams!

More Gifts :)

One of the speakers brought gifts for organizers and speakers!

They blend really well with my other dishes 🙂

One More Time About My Cup Holder

The only cups that fit perfectly in this cup holder are IKEA cups! It was made for IKEA and designed to hold any IKEA cup model! And any non-IKEA (aka US) models just hang unevenly…

Light Fixtures Fixing

One of my significant accomplishments in December was fixing all the light fixtures and ceiling fans that didn’t work. I tried to approach this problem a couple of months after I moved in. Still, I had a hard time finding an electrician, and when I finally found one, he fixed a couple of things, and we agreed on what was next, a supply chain crisis broke, and they never got the ordered part, and I think they ended up going out of business. And after that, I never had time to start searching again.

I resumed my search when two more kitchen light fixtures died, including the one over the sink. I went to the NextDoor with one more cry for an electrician, got several recommendations, and started contacting them one by one, honestly trying to support the local business. At this point, I didn’t hold a hope somebody would be able to fix the fans for which there were no remotes, no instructions, and models unknown. I wanted to fix the lights in the kitchen.
After more than a week and several unsuccessful attempts (I called, texted, and emailed, people either would not respond or responded they were not available at the times which worked for me, or they would even come but not be able to fix things) I gave up and messaged a relatively big company which was also mentioned in response to my post on NextDoor.

And they were the best! They called me back right away and scheduled the evaluation service call promptly. During this first service call, they actually fixed several things right away, and we agreed on the next steps, which were also scheduled within two weeks. No supply chain crisis, no problem. Comparing what was promised to me in the summer of 2021 and what was done now, and prices, I’d say there was no significant difference. Oh, and when I found that one thing stopped working a day later, they came to fix it right away, and then it was even better. So the moral of the story: sometimes shopping local is not the best option.