It's Tuesday and I'm installing

Hello Everyone,
Today, I have decided to replace some light switches from old, cream colored toggles to white flat push switches. Some of our old switches have some brown coloring near the center of the switch. Not good. That's a sign they are old and in need of replacement. It's very simple. Turn off the power! That's a must. Test the switch you are going to replace turning if off and on to make sure it's off. Then unscrew the switch. Two wires are attached inside and need to be "pushed" out. Right below each of the wires attached to the back of the switch is a tiny opening. I used a small needle nose tool (like a wire cutter tool) and used one of the noses to push inside the hole. You must push hard and then the wire pops out. Pushing in releases the wire. Do both wires. My home was built in 1967 so inside our switch outlet does not have a green ground wire. Because both wires are safely installed behind the switch, and we have a circuit board, the circuit board will trip before any loose or unsecured wires gets hot ultimately causing a fire.
So, take the new switch and push each wire inside the holes the tiny round holes until you feel a catch. They sort of snap in. Then push wires and switch back into the outlet box and screw in place. I usually test the switch before screwing back into place because on switch I exchanged was a double toggle meaning the one box had two different lights assigned to each switch. The one wire had to be wrapped around the screw instead of locking in and that was loose at first. When I went to test it, it tripped my circuit box which made me double check the wire connections. Sure enough, that one was loose. Anyway, it's all in the directions in the switch box! Once you've done one, you're a pro! It takes less than 10 minutes granted you can get the old wire boxes separated from the box. Forty years is a long time for a wire to settle in its little home.
If you want to install dimmer switches in place of regular for the bathroom or dining room, read the box! It's easy!

Another Day, two more projects

Today is Friday and I'm excited to report what I'm doing today in my home. My husband layed new tile in our kitchen. We re-located part of our kitchen cabinets, the island with cooktop and our double oven to different places within our existing kitchen. We wanted to create the footprint for newer cabinets later but wanted to get the tile in now since it's less expensive. We had to pull off the "fake"baseboard underneatht he cabinets (you know, that white or beige rubbery stuff) to lay the tile. With the dried up glue right up aganist our new tile, it distorted the beautiful tile. So, I bought a can of flat paint and painted that base board area (on top of the dried glue) with a dark, dark brown. WOW! My tile looks so much better because that's the first thing you look at is the floor and then move your eye up. So, the dried glue looks like the texture in wood. You would never know! This is my happy and inexpensive fix for my favorite place in my house, the kitchen!
And then after I pick up my daughter from pre-K, my friend is coming over to help me put on a mirrored privacy film on my front family room window! We opened a wall between our kitchen, breakfast room and our family room. Now our front window exposes our insides. With this film, people from the street will only see a mirrored effect. We have a nice honeycomb shade for the sun in the mornings and for evenings when it's dark. This is a fantastic and cheap way to keep the light in your house plus have privacy! When I was 8 years old, my dad put this type of film over our windows on the second floor as we looked out over a greenbelt. I would have my window opened a little bit and then say something silly to folks walking by and just stand in my window area. They could not see me because it was reflective. That was so fun and cool and now I'm applying that to my own house! These are my two projects for a Friday!
I don't do much over the weekends because my husband is in and out and when he see's me doing stuff, he gets concerned. I say hey, you want to do it? He's always pleased with the finished results.
Have a happy weekend! I have more projects to do Monday so stay tuned!

For all those stay at home moms!!!

Hello to everyone reading a blog written by an 8 year now stay at home mom with an 8 year old in 2nd grade and a 4 year old in pre-k. My purpose for blogging is to reach out to all those mom's who are waiting for their husbands to get on their "honey-do-list". Either wait for hubbie OR pay lots of dough out of pocket (unless you have friendly connections).
My honey-do-list in my home has become the "honey I'm doing it list". And over the years with help from good ole' u tube and home depot, I've done tons and tons of simple home improvements. It's been fun and rewarding plus my kids get a kick watching mom switch out old light switches for new ones with dimmers, paint walls, install faucets, run speaker wire under and through the attic, texture ceilings; etc. So, when you are sick and tired of looking at all that needs to be done, let's get started! You can do it! All the tasks I've done have all come with some kind of instructions. So, my take is if there are instructions, anyone should be able to do it! But the key is to follow the instructions carefully and ask questions if you are unsure.
My husband works two jobs. Weekdays 40 hours and then weekends whatever he can get done. Ironically, he owns a small constructions company who works on weekends so he cannot possibly get to my things, especially those I need now and I know I can do. Yes, he's pretty pissed off at times because he wants to take the credit but he's simply too busy working so I can stay home and raise our two awesome kids! He's in a catch 22. I don't brag about what I do but I'm just glad to have things done. My home feels better and then I'm better mom because of it!
So this morning after walking my kid to school, I'm out tending to our pool. Yes, I'm our swimming pool gal too! I keep the pumps working and the pool maintained! Now, I have a stack of papers I've neglected to file this year to go through and either file or destroy. This will take a few hours.
You know, my husband wonders what I do all day. I'm tempted to keep a time log one of these days as know one knows what it's like to be a stay at home mom until you are one! It's tough, rewarding and tiring. I have no housekeeper, landscaper, pool manager guy and no accountant to manage my tight budget! I do it all!
Anyway, gotta go and do my paperwork! UGHH!!!!!!!!!!!!