Tempting Tulip

For my cyberfriend Michelle, who likes this sort of filth.

Claw trimmers, steak knife -- ahh, the perfect electrical tools!

I got a surprise jolt from one of my electrical switches last week, so replacing that switch and two others (the other two just for fun) became a weekend project.

Now, I have worked a little with electrical stuff before. I've installed a couple of indoor and outdoor light fixtures -- things like that.

Things went smoothly for the first two switches. The last -- the one with the newest wiring -- gave me the most trouble. I ended up cutting the wire to get it loose from the old switch. For that I used real honest-to-goodness wire cutters (not pictured).

Ahh, but how to strip the wire. Hmmmm. How about the cat nail trimmers? (see thing w/yellow handles above) Brilliant! It'll make a nice score all the way around the wire and let me slip the covering right off.

Well, nice thought, but it turns out the nail trimmers are way sharper than my old wire cutters. They sliced through the copper wire like it was nothing. So, you now know that if you're in a pinch, cat nail trimmers can be substituted for wire cutters.

And that's when I turned to the steak knife to get the covering off the wire. It worked, eventually.

I'm Invited!

Oh, what to wear!



Hmmm, is that a donkey on the fake wax seal? (note to the former Brooklyn Hillbilly: If you host a really formal gathering, you should totally do the donkey seal on the envelopes)



A donkey indeed. In case you can't read the fancy script, I'm invited to vote in the Democratic primary. *Sigh*


"Here's why...There are more candidates from which to choose. The presidential race is ---"

WHOA, buddy, stop right there -- you had me at "from which"!

Seriously, though, I'd been pondering doing this anyway. I'm just a little surprised to be formally invited. Why, I wonder, do the Democrats really want Independents voting in their primary? Because it might make us more likely to vote for their candidates in the fall?

Spring!

Thanks to my house's previous owner, I look like a brilliant gardener in the spring when all of her daffodil, tulip, and grape hyacinth bulbs are in bloom.

Note the gnawed off leaves toward the bottom of the photo. The deer have been really bad this year.

Hindsight is 20-20

Techie Person, upon hearing what certain English profs make: "Oh my God, how can you major in English when you know you're not going to make any money?"

Me: "Uh..."

Techie Person: "I mean, don't they warn you you're not going to make any money?"

Me, stifling a snort: "Um, no. But I recall some talk about doing what you love."

But 15 years later, I'm not going to lie: I often wish I had loved math, biology, physics, or chemistry instead.

April: Tear up the House Month

Last April, I did myself in putting laminate flooring in my living room and master bedroom. It was such an ordeal that I haven't done much of anything in the way of home improvement since.

I'm finally forgetting the floor torture enough to undertake some minor projects -- well, let us hope they are minor.

Tonight is bathroom border must go night.



I actually like this border (I picked it out, after all), but it didn't adhere properly. After looking at the rolled up edges for 4+ years, I decided it was time to take it down.



I already had the removal supplies. Bought those 5 years ago when I got the house and the bathroom was an utter pink-green-the-70s-exploded disaster. It didn't take long to determine it needed more work than I could do myself, so I hired someone to re-do it and the Dif was never needed.



I take back what I said about the it not adhering properly. Ugh...



Somehow I hadn't imagined this much of a mess. Eh, at least it cleaned up quickly.

No more wallpaper for me -- not even a border.

I'll probably paint -- white, because I'm boring -- and add some molding.