Grinding Garbage Disposal

When I was growing up, I didn’t really like washing the dishes, but like everyone in my family I had to take my turn during the week. One of the things that I didn’t like to do (and forgot to do a lot) was to empty out the strainer that was in the bottom of the sink drain. We didn’t have a garbage disposal, so if we forgot to put this strainer in before we started cleaning up, then the drains would get plugged and my dad would not be very happy! Those days have passed and I got used to not having a garbage disposal. My husband had one growing up and thought he wouldn’t be able to adjust if he didn’t have one.

When we were looking for a home to purchase, we just couldn’t seem to find anything that fit the list of things that we wanted. When we found one that came pretty close, we knew that we needed to get it-even though it didn’t have a garbage disposal-like my husband wanted. Since I didn’t know the difference, it wasn’t that big of a deal to me. As the years passed and we started to make a little more money, my husband convinced me that it was time to get a garbage disposal. He said he could figure out how to install it and that he had a friend who could get him one for a reasonable price. He talked with his friend and watched some tutorials, like this one, to help him know what he needed to do in order to install the disposal.

It took him longer than he or I would have liked to get it installed, but once it was in properly, it worked great! Although we have only had it for a few months, it has been so awesome! Instead of having to empty the strainer in the drain every time we wash off a few dishes (to prevent the sink filling up with gross water), we just turn on the water and with the flip of a switch the disposal turns on and grinds the food up so it won’t clog our drain! I have also noticed that the garbage usually doesn’t smell as bad since we aren’t throwing the “leftovers” from the dishes we clean away. After all the kids had moved out of the home and started having families of their own, my parents moved into a newer home that had a garbage disposal pre-installed. My mom is always saying that she wonders how we ever lived without one! And I am starting to understand why she says it so much!

Even though it’s not the most exciting thing that we have done to improve our home, it is the most recent improvement and one that I use pretty much every day (except when my husband pitches in and does the dishes). Any time the sink starts to fill up without having a plug in the drain, I just flip the “magic switch” and down goes the food along with the water!

Bidet Toilet Seat!

For some time now I have been wanting to get a bidet in our bathroom. I had a friend whose parents had one growing up and I was wondering how it worked. Since her dad was a contractor he explained to me how they worked and how nice it is-that was about the extent of the conversation because knowing what I know now, that could have been a very uncomfortable conversation! My husband and I have discussed working on this project a few times, but we never moved forward because of the renovations that we would have to do in order to get one installed. I didn’t think about it for months and then my husband surprised me.

One day when I went to a movie for a “girls night out” I came home to find a different looking toilet seat on the toilet. When I first got home, my husband was watching TV and acted like he was really tired (he usually does things like this to throw me off). I called out to him and inquired about the new toilet seat. He came in to tell me all about it! It was something that he had heard about when he went into a plumbing supply house asking about bidets. The salesperson that was helping him told him about the bidet seat and he got a quote for one. He thought that the price may be a little too high until we figured out how much it would be for us to rip out our existing bathroom and to put in a separate bidet unit.

He went about his sneaky planning, got a seat ordered and kept it a secret for a week or two until he knew I would be out of the house long enough for him to install it. Before he installed it, he watched this video several times to make sure he knew what he was doing and so he could get the seat installed without running into any problems. He checked and double checked to make sure all the parts and pieces he would need were available. He was happy to find, that for once, everything worked out the way he needed it to and he still had time to catch some of the game before I got back from being with my friends!

I was excited to hear that it was a bidet seat, but then my husband explained all of the other features that it had! In addition to having the bidet component, the seat also had a built in warmer-which will be great for the cold winter months that we have here. In addition, there is a remote that controls the pressure that the bidet shoots the water, as well as temperature control for the water coming out. Although I have only had it for a few weeks (it was an early Mother’s Day Present), I love it so much already! Not only do I feel clean after using it, we don’t have to buy as much toilet paper now!…So awesome (I know, I’m kind of a nerd)!

Removing Flood Water

A few years back we had a really rough storm, it rained a lot more than anyone had seen for years! The winds from the storm knocked out the power for a few days and a lot of food went bad in people’s fridges. With all the rain came flooded basements, damaged homes and cars (the standing water loosened up some trees and caused them to fall). Among the basements that flooded was ours. We had a pump installed years before the flooding started to remove any water that would be in the basement, but it ran off of electricity. Since the electricity was out, it was completely useless. There was a great response from the community-those who weren’t affected as bad from the storm came out to help those who had bigger problems.
Someone heard about our situation and they brought over a gas powered pump. Since gas was a little more available than electricity in the neighborhood, this is just what we needed. The pump was fired up and within a few hours the water was all out of our basement. Of course we had a lot of other damage to deal with, but it was nice to at least have the water out of the way. After pulling up some carpet and running some fans on the ground, we were able to salvage some of the carpet in the rooms downstairs, other ones we weren’t so lucky with. After a few months we had everything put back together-almost the way it was! This is when we decided that maybe we should also get a gas powered pump. They were pretty expensive so we didn’t get one immediately.
For months-when we had a little time here & there-we looked at different prices, different supply houses, and on the internet. We found a great deal on a new pump and purchased it. We haven’t had to use it yet, but if we have another crazy storm we will be prepared for flood water for ourselves and our neighbors. I feel like we will be able to pay back the person who helped us by helping others that will need of the pump. Even though we have had some bad storms lately, they haven’t even compared to that one storm that everyone still talks about. Sometimes my husband will go to a hardware storm and hear some older gentlemen talking about the weather. They will talk about the storm we had a couple of days and then, without fail, one will mention how it was “nothing compared to the storm we had a few years back!”-that makes me laugh every time! The best though was when I heard one of them say it myself!
If you are looking for a gas powered pump, try visiting https://www.plumbersstock.com/category/60/gas-powered-pumps/ to see the selection that they have. There is anything available from a basic gas powered pump to more heavy duty pumps. You can also learn more about the pumps by reading the information found on the page!

Luxury Tub

I grew up in a large family. I was the number 6 of 10 kids and we all shared one bathroom. This rarely happens in the present day and age. I remember waiting hours for the bathroom (I had three older sisters) and by the time I was old enough for a shower by myself, there was never enough hot water from everyone before me. When I was younger I would take a bath with two other siblings and although it was crowded at least the water was warm!

When it was just five of us left in the house, I was the first to use the bathroom. I finally could take my very own hot shower. I loved just letting the water spray over my body. Now that I am an adult, a shower is just a shower. What I really love is soaking in the bath. The first place my husband and I moved in to did not have a bath and after a long day at work I longed for a hot bath. That was when I decided that I wanted a deep freestanding bath tub. You know the type, claw legged and deep. Then after I had a few kids, this “want” soon became the top priority in my forever bathroom.

Luckily when we found our house now, the master bath was set up perfectly for a free standing tub. However, there was some work that needed to be done, including buying a new tub. I knew what I wanted but I didn’t know what a great deal I was getting.

A free standing tub, is not attached to any walls but are instead installed through the floor. The sides are usually higher than a normal base tub and they hold much more water. If you are going for a luxury look in your master bathroom, you might want to consider a free standing tub. Although I chose a tub like this because of my past and my desires, I realize now that it really added value to our master bathroom. Not only value to the master bath, but they are so much easier to clean! I hate cleaning the conventional tub in my children’s bathroom (it also doesn’t clean up as pretty as my free standing tub).

                                   

I have been so happy with this tub! The deep sides are perfect to emerge my entire body in water. After a long day with kids, dinner and messes it is just what I need. I love having this tub in my own space. One end of the tub has a high arch area to rest your head. It wasn’t exactly the “claw foot” I dreamed of as a newlywed (pretty close), but it was perfect to fit our needs (and our wallet!).

If you are looking for a great deal on tubs visit www.plumbersstock.com. I was so happy to find such an incredible price for such a beautiful tub.

(more) Nursery Decore

I had so much fun decorating my little girl’s nursery I wanted to share one more thing. Like I said before I wasn’t able to find really anything in the colors I was wanting, so I ended up making almost everything. I had shelves that I found in storage that I never had used before. I painted them white (the colors of the furniture in her room are white and oak).  I then had to decide what to put on them. I didn’t have a lot of money and I wanted things on the shelves that incorporated the colors. I made blocks with “ABC’s” of them and painted little boxes and a flower pot purple and yellow. But one thing I saw done once (and always wanted to do) was picture frames with a patterned fabric. I loved this idea and I was super easy and inexpensive! 

I went to my local craft store and found a thick would frame (for about 99 cents each!) and then I got fabric squares that were the colors of the bedroom, purple and yellow. Sometimes it is hard finding the “perfect” fabric when looking through fat squares. If you can’t find what you need, but find fabric somewhere else you will want to get only about ¼ yard. You then take each frame and paint them in the color desired. For me, I did two purple frames and one yellow. The frames that I bought made it easy because they had a cardboard center piece. I just took the cardboard and covered it with fabric and glued. If you want a puffier look you can add some batting or cotton balls to the front of the cardboard. I really loved the way these turned out!

Our Little Girl’s Lamp

Sometimes when you are trying to decorate a room or make other improvements in the home, you won’t always find what you are looking for. This was true for the nursery that we were getting ready for our little girl. I decided that the colors I would do for her room would be yellow and purple. The main color of purple that I wanted to use was a light, pastel color. I had already picked out fabric for a quilt that my mom was making for me and I wanted to base the rest of the room off of it. It was hard to find the other things to complete the nursery! I really wanted a purple lamp for the room, but couldn’t find one in the color I wanted.

One day my mom was doing some cleaning and found a small lamp that she wasn’t using anymore, it wasn’t the right color but that wasn’t going to get in my way! I went to the store and got some light purple spray paint and enlisted my husband to paint it for me. He taped up the cord and the light bulb base and applied a couple of coats of the spray paint. We were both amazed at how well it turned out! Then one day while he was at work and the lamp was dry, I decided to paint little yellow flowers on it. Using a small paint brush I painted some flowers and when my husband got home he really liked them! We both felt a small sense of pride in our work and knew the lamp would look great in the nursery!

 

Helping My Hubby Stay Cool

My husband is the type of person that likes to work on things himself and doesn’t mind getting his hands dirty to get a job done. To help him with all his projects, many of which are “honey-dos” for me, many years ago we built him a shed in the backyard where he could store his tools and have his workbench. Throughout the years we have purchased new tools to do certain projects and have made improvements to make the workspace a little more comfortable. When my husband would be out there working hard, especially during the summer months, he would always talk about how hot it got in his work shed.

We purchased some outdoor fans, and they made it a little less unbearable, but sometimes it felt like it was just blowing the heat around the workspace instead of cooling it. We looked into installing an A/C unit, but at the time that we were thinking about putting one in, we just couldn’t afford it. I started saving my money here and there when I could stash some away so that I could surprise my husband with the unit that would help keep him cool while he was working so hard. After many years of saving, I got enough money to buy the unit for him this past Father’s Day!

This seemed to come at the right time. My husband had been working on a lot of projects and every time he would mention how hot it was getting out there. He wasn’t complaining really, just making the statement. I just had to remind him that we just couldn’t afford to get an A/C unit, but maybe one day we would have the money. Man, did I fool him! With the help from my brother, I purchased the unit and kept it at his place until the Saturday before Father’s Day. My husband was working on a project when I came into the shed and told him that I needed him to work on something else. Like always, he came to a stopping point to see what I needed him to do.

He came out to the yard to see my brother standing next to a new A/C unit! He was so excited that he lifted me up in the air and gave me a great big kiss! He opened it up and with my brother, they got all the parts and tools that they needed to install it. Once it was installed, they turned it on and cleaned up the mess they made in the process. Although it has only been in for about a week, my husband has never been so happy to do all the projects he tackles! Just the other day he came inside talking about how cool he stayed while he was out there and that he hardly broke a sweat! Now when I ask him to do a project, like sand down a dresser so we can paint it a new color, I will be certain that he will stay cool while getting it done!

Things to Look for When Buying a Toilet

When we were in the market looking for a new toilet, we were asked a lot of questions about what kind of toilet we wanted.  We weren’t aware that there were so many options out there!  Not only did they ask if what brand we wanted, we were also asked about different colors, specific types, and other styles that were available.  Needless to say, we started to do some research and look for reviews on the internet before we decided on which toilet we wanted to get.  I can’t explain how shocked I was at the different options that were available.  Although I don’t know everything about toilets, I will share what I learned.

You can buy toilets in a number of different colors.  The basic toilet, as everyone knows is a white color and is the same across the board with most brands.  The second most common toilet color is bone or some brands refer to it as “cotton”, but the colors don’t stop there.  Depending on which brand of toilet you purchase, some models have up to around ten different color options to choose from!  Some of the surprising colors were black or even pink.  We weren’t really looking for a toilet in a different color, especially since they cost more money than a white toilet.  I guess it’s good to know for the future if we ever want to buy a fancy toilet like that!

Toilets have specific features, such as water saving models, as well as toilet tanks that come in different sizes and shapes to fit in tight or specialty designed bathrooms.  Some tanks were designed to fit in corners and others are just 10” instead of the standard 12” length.  There are also designer tanks that have what look like crown molding!  Once again, not something that we were looking for or needed, but good to know.

The next thing that we had to consider was the style of toilet that we wanted.  The styles that are available are round, elongated, and the ADA type toilet.  The round toilet is the basic toilet that is installed in most residential applications.  The bowl is round, like a circle, and shorter than the other options available.  The elongated and ADA bowls both have an elongated shape.  As the name implies, this type of bowl is longer than the standard round bowl toilet.  Some of the reviews we read said that it is more comfortable type of toilet to sit on.  As can be expected, the elongated type toilet is more expensive than the round bowl toilet.  The ADA toilet is different than the elongated toilet in the fact that it is a few inches higher off the ground.  The height difference also makes a difference in the price.

Since there were different shapes of bowls, it also meant that there were different types of toilet seats and they needed to be purchased to match the shape of the bowl.  Ultimately after all our research and looking at all the different options we decided to go with a round bowl toilet.  To browse some round bowl toilets, click here.

Water Storage Tank

My husband and I have been talking and we recently decided to put in a storage shed in the back for extra food and water. We have a storage room in the basement but it is not large enough to hold food for our family for more than a month or two. We want the extra storage space for extra food by especially water.

With so many natural disasters happening all over the world every year, we want to be prepared to handle something like that best we can. We don’t want to be worried about not having the things that we need to survive. One thing that most people don’t think to store is water. It is a commodity that we use every day and don’t realize how much we rely on it. Not only is water used for cooking and drinking but we use it for bathing and washing dishes and other things. If a natural disaster strikes in my area and we were without water, I always wonder, would we have enough?

This is one reason my husband and I have decided to put in a storage shed big enough to hold one or two large water storage tanks. We thought about building our own storage unit but decided to just by a manufactured one. Once we had the storage shed, we got to work on how we would fill it.

The main purpose for the storage shed was the holding of our large water tanks. We wanted a tank that was able to be mounted on the wall or on a shelf so it is easy accessible and gives more room to the storage shed. There are several different kinds of storage tanks on the market. We went with a Norwesco horizontal storage tank because it is also elliptical and is able to sit on a shelf.

As far as water storage tanks come, there are about three different types; horizontal, vertical and pickup truck water tank. Depending on what you are using the storage tank for, will determine what shape and size of tank you want to buy.

When deciding on a water tank you want to make sure that the tank is both portable and secure (stored in a safe manor). All the tanks that we looked are plastic and come in either black or white. You will also want to know how much space you have and how much stored water you will need.

The water storage tank that we chose is corrosion resistant and light weight with no seams, tears or joints to rust or leak.  You can get this particular tank anywhere from 12 gallons to 15,000 gallons depending upon your needs. We went with 35 gallons. There is a screw on cap at the top of the tank for easy filling. Obviously the larger the tank the more money you will spend but we came across Plumberstock.com and got some amazing deals. We got two water storage tanks for exactly what we were looking for AND a great price. 

Pot Fillers

I love to cook. It is one of my passions. I don’t feel like I am that creative as a person but when it comes to cooking, I feel like I can be/am creative. I spend a lot of time preparing meals (especially now I have kids) and I like to have a nice sit-down dinner every night.

One of my favorite things to cook is pasta. My kids love pasta especially spaghetti. What is it about spaghetti that kids love? I know it is the one meal when all my kids will eat. The thing about cooking spaghetti is the boiling of the pasta. When you have a true pasta pot it NEVER fits in the sink (unless you have one custom made). I hate not being able to get my entire pasta pot in the sink and then when I get it in the faucet doesn’t quite reach… Man it’s annoying.

Anyway, I must have complained a lot about it because guess what I got for Mother’s Day?! A Pot filler faucet! My husband is a practical gift-giver (none of these roses that die in two days or chocolate that just makes you fat…) but when he hears something that I want or would make things easier for me he listens and comes through.  So he got me a pot filler faucet. If you are a little confused about what this is, read on and I will explain a bit.

A pot filler faucet is a specialty faucet that has the ability to fold out to the height needed to fill a large faucet. If you are not building a house and do not have the luxury of designing a sink large enough for a pasta pot and other large pots and buckets, a pot filler faucet can give you the same advantage as a large sink. Most kitchen sinks tend to be smaller than say a utility sink that can fill a nice large pot (my mom actually would go fill our large pots in our utility sink). Although they do have a different look to them, you can find one that doesn’t stick out or become an eyesore to your kitchen.

Pot filler faucets come in all colors and styles. You can find one that fits in with your kitchen décor and because they fold in, most people won’t even notice much of a difference. There are several brands to choose from such as Delta, Danze and Moen. Each brand gives you a variety of options. When you are choosing a faucet make sure it has enough room to fold out .

Of course one of the best things about a pot filler faucet is the filling of pots! Can I just say that in the few weeks of having my new faucet, I have noticed the difference in the easy of my cooking? It is so nice to just pull out my faucet and let my pot fill why I prepare other things. Call me crazy but I swear it has cut down on my cooking time!