Thursday, September 17, 2009

a better Thursday

Turns out, my blinds are not sheathed in suede. That is the appearance they took on as what I now know to be dust accumulated over the last, oh, three years. (and they are actually delightfully white!) I know it is three years of dust because that is how long we have lived here and I have never thought to dust them before. Or, rather, I've thought, "Should I dust those? Maybe I'll bake cookies instead." Except that today while performing my latest housewife-with-a-wrench activity, I managed to get as far as shutting off our water and pulling some pipes apart, but not actually having the physical strength to pry off the defective PRV (pressure reducing valve for those not in the plumbing-know). So there I was, without water, waiting for my Resourceful Neighbor (he has just about every tool ever, and knows how to use them - everyone should have one) to drop everything and help me. And my vacuum was out. Where I had left it to quietly remind me that it could serve more purpose than just carpet. So I embarked.

I am both horrified and delighted at the amount of dust in the canister now (and I've only done the downstairs). And while I was at it, I vacuumed the windowsills and the tracks and the baseboards. GOOD GRIEF MY BASEBOARDS! All this time I've thought that someone did a careless job on our neutral-tan paint job when, in reality, it was DUST on the tops of those and not paint (I am ashamed to say I have never closely examined my baseboards *hang head*). Like with my children's ears or the dryer lint trap or the grout between my stovetop and the backsplash, I love to clean things and have visual confirmation of my hard work. It is both disgusting and pleasing.

My Resourceful Neighbor came over and even HE found it difficult to get that PRV off - but he succeeded where I did not, and then proceeded to fix my issue. So hip hip hooray for avoiding a blown pipe and a flooded basement. And he also mentioned that he could replace the brake pads I was whining about (or at least show Joel how to do it). Which is awesome.

So let's review: fixed plumbing, brake pads scheduled, and de-furred blinds. Everything's coming up Sarah.

1 comments:

Tennille said...

Make your kids clean the baseboards. Mine do it with baby wipes.