Digging in to put the house back together..

It always amazes me how things can be moving forward in getting a handle on the house.  After selling the Maryland house, I was completely overwhelmed with the stuff from there that I brought to this house.  I have been eating that elephant ever since and making great strides.  But one day of bad storms and having to run down where in my system the break had happened to keep my office from having power has scattered stuff from rooms I had not intended to get into until later this year..  So I am now in the place where I might just as well sort though the office as I now need to test the surge protectors and replace some that have probably weakened and could fail the next time we have a bad electrical storm.

I have ordered a new whole house surge protector.  The one that is there has only one light and not two, indicating that it is no longer protecting the house.  A customer at Home Depot, when I went there, hoping to find one in stock, said that it would need to be installed by a professional and I said, not really, just four wires.  It is the exact same one that I have now, so I can use the old one for cutting lengths of wire and stripping the ends and then screw them in where the old ones were.  I have pictures, so I will be doing that myself.

Today, I will be sending a letter to my alarm service, terminating their services.  I will not be paying them $700 to $800 to replace the module that fried.  I will be investigating other possibilities for service, but I may just not replace the system and save the money.  I may need that to put aside for the ever increasing property taxes here at the house.

Tomorrow will be a fun day.  One of the ladies who lived at Indian Acres (Janet Flower) is being treated to lunch at Shaffer's Canal House in Chesapeake City.  Marji was invited, so I will pick her up and we will enjoy lunch with friends I have not seen in a while.

I did, however, actually try one of those 'miracle cleaners' that pop up on Facebook from time to time.  It called for blue Dawn detergent and Cleaning Vinegar.  I have been having trouble finding the vinegar which is a tad stronger than cooking vinegar and finally found it at Home Depot, of all places.  You mix equal parts Dawn with slightly warmed vinegar (makes it easier to mix with the Dawn but I am sure you could use cold vinegar and just let it mix over time).  Put the mixture in spray bottle (mine holds close to three cups, so 1 1/2 cups of each) and then spray it in the bathtub after the solution is well mixed in the bottle..  The bubbles are thick and stick to the surface.  I let it sit for a couple of hours, it is OK for even longer, and then used the spray hose that I have in my tub/shower and without rubbing or scrubbing at all, rinsed the blue stuff away, the soap scum and yucky film that seems to build up in a place that you use to get clean just washed down the drain.  I have a couple of places where my ground-in foot prints can still be seen, but they are much less visible, and after my shower this morning, I will spray again and see what happens.  It took the whole 3 cup spray bottle to get my tub cleaned, but at $1.67 for 64 oz. of the cleaning vinegar and the low cost of Dawn, it is still cheaper than buying the 'scrubbing bubbles' stuff and better for the environment, too.  Give it a try.  *Note to self* and anyone else... the spray sticks better to the tub when it is dry!  Just an FYI.....