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I need to replace a ceiling fan

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Some time in the next few weeks I really have to shopping for a new ceiling fan.

I know some people don’t like ceiling fans, but they really do help cool your house and save you money on your heating and air-conditioning costs if you use them properly.

We have a few ceiling fans in our house and naturally, the nicest one, the one in the living room the one with the three speeds, reverse, remote control lighting and a dimmer switch on the light just stopped working in the Fall. Now that we’re well into Spring and the weather will be getting warm soon I’m definitely going to want a ceiling fan in the living room that works – let alone a replacement light. I’ve been missing that light too!

I plan on looking at Hunter ceiling fans first, probably because that’s what the old fan’s brand is and I really like the style. It lasted 11 years and was used regularly so I don’t think I can complain that it wore out too fast.

Do you use ceiling fans in your house to stir the air in order to cool or warm your home?

When did changing a light bulb get so hard?

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I went to walk into my kitchen a couple of hours ago and it was in complete darkness. The light in the oven exhaust hood finally went out.

Off I went to find a new light bulb for the fixture. I knew it took a normal light bulb but what I didn’t know was that I was about to have a lot of trouble getting the light in place! All the have just a little bit of light in the kitchen without having all the overhead lights on. Sigh … In the end I had to get a screw driver and take out a couple of screws and flat washers just to get at the area with the light.

Now I’m not happy with the light that I put in. I put in CF bulb and I think the box said “day light” color .. but my kitchen now has a greenish light cast and I HATE it. I don’t think I want to use the rest of the lights in the box. Too bad they’re so expensive! Maybe I can trade them for some I like better.

Great deal on a new microwave

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It seems like just about every Monday is shopping day. I’m sure most people have their shopping day on a Saturday or Sunday, but for our household it seems to almost always fall on a Monday.

Yesterday was a particularly busy shopping day. The night before the microwave died as I was making dinner! Ahhhh! No I wasn’t making “microwave dinners” or anything like that, but I do tend to use the microwave pretty much daily when I cook. I use it to heat things, steam vegetables, cook foods – it’s a well used appliance. I couldn’t live a day without my microwave or at least I didn’t think I could.

So … after doing the usually things like picking up some of my prescriptions (man I hate having Crohns!) and then getting groceries we started looking in a few stores for microwaves. I didn’t want a tiny microwave. Our previous one had been a 1.6 cubic ft microwave. Yes- big enough to put a good size dish, bowl or plate in. See I told you I cook in it. Unfortunately most of the stores that we went to had only .9. 1.0 or 1.2 cubic ft microwaves. I never realized how hard it was to find larger ones!

Finally we found the one we were looking for in two different stores – we’d gone back and forth doing a price comparison since the stores were close together. The store we eventually bought from had the microwave that we wanted listed at a higher price, but when we told them the other store had them for about $25 cheaper they immediately told us they’d match the price … then they said that oh .. the only ones we have of that model are in open boxes. So .. they said that if wanted an open box microwave that they’d drop the price a further $50 and then add a 3 year store warranty. We looked at all three open boxes and picked the one that looked like it had only been opened in the store. I’m so happy we got that deal! It was easy on our debit cards – that’s for sure!

The microwave worked just fine when we got it home and set it up so so far so good! It was a busy shopping day as I said .. but a very successful one!

Clearing out the clutter

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I’ve been spending a little bit of time cleaning out drawers and closets and other storage areas in my house lately. Unfortunately there’s a lot of stuff to clean out and go through since we’re kind of pack rats or so it seems looking at the stuff we’ve stored away.

My greatest problem is that I don’t know where to start. I suppose I should just start in one room and work my way through the house, but so far I’ve just been doing a little bit of cleaning and clearing out here and there. Oh don’t worry the house isn’t overly cluttered or anything … it’s just that we’ve accumulated a lot of stuff that we just don’t use and that I’m sure we won’t ever use again.

The other day I was looking in an upstairs closet where we keep things for the bathroom, hair care and so on and I came across some older straightening irons. I think I’ve had those for twenty years or more. I keep my hair short these days but a long time ago I used to have it longer and when it’s longer it gets wavy and sometimes I’d use the straightening iron to straighten my hair for a sleek look. I probably should get rid of them but lately I have been thinking of growing my hair longer again so maybe this was a good find after all?

How often do you go through your closets and drawers to clear out the clutter? Regularly or almost never?

Thinking about a second cellphone?

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I’ve been sort of thinking of getting a second cellphone lately. I’m not 100% sure that we need two cellphones in our home since we don’t use our current one all that much … but it seems that whenever I need a cellphone my husband is out and he’s got mine. So … yeah – maybe a second one wouldn’t be the worst idea.

If we were going to get a second cellphone I have no idea which kind to get. Something simple or another smart phone? I love my current smart phone and so does my husband … so maybe something like a Atrix 4G might work? But then if we want to keep thing simple since it’s a second cellphone that we’ll barely be using maybe a really bare bones cellphone might be better? Any ideas?

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