Hello everyone:
Today’s Missive is all about Taking out the Trash
Do you know what day the trash is collected in your area? How about knowing when the recycle folks show up? What time do you need to have the trashcans out at the curb? Where should you place them? How much time do you have to bring them back to the house? (This could be an issue with your homeowners’ association.) Are there any special restrictions on what you can place at the curb?
If you haven’t been paying attention to these details, talk to your neighbors or observe what they are doing. Your local county is also a good source of information on trash. Visit their website or give them a call to find out what is or is not acceptable.
Garbage cans can be extremely heavy when they are full, so either do not fill them completely, use more than one garbage can so that the weight is more evenly distributed, or get a dolly to roll the can to the curb. I do not recommend putting the garbage can in the back of your car; even if you could lift it (this sounds like a hernia operation waiting to happen).
If the trash spills out, you could end up with a very smelly trunk. Make every effort to get rid of your trash on a weekly basis. The longer it hangs around, the more likely you will attract bugs, rodents, or other small animals. Trash does not get better with time. It also does not go away on its own. (Think Alice’s Restaurant by Arlo Guthrie, here!)
You can also purchase garbage cans that have wheels. They come in very handy if you need to pull your garbage can to the curb for pickup. You may wish to put your house number on the side of the can so that you can identify it from those of your neighbors; a magic marker usually works well on providing the cans with permanent identification. Again, be sure to follow the homeowners’ association rules for when you’re your garbage can be placed at the curb and the deadline by which it must be removed.
In my present neighborhood, I am required to turn my trash can a certain way, so that the wheels are facing the street. The city has a special truck that picks up the cans and dumps them into the back of the vehicle but they will only pick up the trash can if the wheels are properly aligned.
I also have to have a city sticker on the top of the can, or they won’t stop. The sticker costs $40-80 per year, depending on the size of the can. It has an expiration date that is easily read. I must pay the bill to get a new sticker or the city won’t pick up the trash!
Interestingly enough, my new city does not recycle. If I want to recycle anything, I have to take my empty bottles and cans to a recycle center and pay to have them take the empty containers off my hands.
I hope my trash talk has helps smooth your transition to the single life. Do you have any tales to tell?
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
A clogged drain is not a particularly difficult challenge. All you need for a simple clog is a wire clothes hanger, opened up to its full length. Keep the hook crocked, so that you have something to hang on to. Put a smaller hook in the opposite end of the hanger. Thread the end with the smaller hook down the recalcitrant drain, twist it in circles several times, and pull the entire glob of gunk out of the drain.
You might have a buildup of hair and other items in the drain. You might actually be surprised by what you find down there, clogging up the works. You can also buy a Drain Devil, which is a piece of plastic that has serrated edges that allow it to pick up the gunk in your drain as you snake it down the pipes. You do basically the same thing as you would with the hanger, but you don’t have to destroy a hanger to do it.
(Keep a paper towel handy, to wrap the mess in. You won’t want to touch it any more than necessary.) You will want to throw this gunk in the garbage immediately; make sure you seal it in a Ziploc bag when you dispose of it or it will stink up the house.
Keep whatever you used to unclog your drain; don’t throw it away because this will happen again.
Do not EVER use muriatic acid on your pipes. When it is poured down a drain, it smokes, it smells, it gives off dangerous gas, and it doesn’t always work. It can kill you and yours. Do not take a chance on it.
What is the other option? If you don’t unclog your drain, the water in the bathtub will back up and it will be soapy. It will get on the floor of your shower or bathmat and it will become slimy. (Note that, if it is already slimy, time will not improve its condition. You will need to clean the mat or shower floor after you unclog the pipes, or you could have a slipping hazard.)
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
Yes, you truly love the color you painted the living room eons ago, but it is time to repaint, if you want to sell the family homestead.
One of our family friends died recently and his children decided to put his condo up for sale. Their emotional attachment to the property was immense, so much so that they decided to put it on the market for $40,000 above the price of comparable units. They did nothing to it, mind you.
The condo had not been painted since the parents moved in and its age was obvious. The flooring was old and worn out, the carpeting was threadbare in places and stained in others. The kitchen had the original builder-grade quality cabinets and linoleum; the condo was on the ground floor of a property that had been flooded by several big storms.
The property did not meet the upgraded standards of other units in the same complex. They were selling it as “for sale by owner” to save the real estate commission. After several unsuccessful months on the market, they reduced the price and then they reduced it again.
The last reduction was accompanied by placing the property with a real estate agent, but they are still overpriced for the area and have had no takers for this well-worn condo. I saw the property recently and it still needed new carpets and a fresh coat of paint throughout.
Also, although you may absolutely love the mermaid you personally (and without any artistic training) hand painted on your kids’ bathroom wall, prospective buyers may find it horrid. You absolutely need to paint over it in a neutral tone.
The bright yellow hair and crooked smile may be charming to you, but it could gag the people walking into your bathroom for the first time. (I actually saw this on a make-over show. The woman was almost in tears as she removed the huge mermaid, while her husband stood by to comfort her.)
If you decide to repaint, keep in mind that any pictures you take down may need to be rehung when you are finished. Get someone at your local hardware store or a friend who has experience in hanging pictures to teach you how to find a stud in the wall, how to use the proper screws and anchors, and how to get things perfectly level so that you can do the job right. If you do the work incorrectly, the area behind your pictures may look like the shoot-out at the OK Corral when you are finished. You want things to stay in place, be secure, and look great, so ask for help if you need it.
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
Please visit a love story with me for a few moments. He was a catch- 6’2″ tall, black hair, and bright blue eyes. She was on the Homecoming court at Akron U. Gorgeous, with light brown hair and root beer eyes!
They met on a blind date, after her sister and her boyfriend set them up when the gal’s boyfriend broke up with her so that he wouldn’t have to take her out to dinner and buy her a gift. I’m glad the former boyfriend was a cheapskate for reasons that will become obvious very soon.
So they were introduced. They talked all evening. She found out later that, when he got home, he called all the girls he was dating and told them he couldn’t see them anymore. He had one girl he liked to take dancing because she was a good dancer, another he liked to take bowling because she always had a great game, and another the liked to take to movies because she was fun to hold hands with in the dark.
He told them all the same thing: “I can’t see you any more because I’ve just met the woman I’m going to marry.” Three days later, he brought over an engagement ring and his proposal was accepted. They got married seven months later.
Four children, six grandchildren, six great grandchildren, and sixty-seven years later, they were still wildly in love. After a brief illness, she died. He was devastated. I know this special love story well because it is the story of my parents.
Do my widows or widowers have any special tales they would like to tell? I would love to hear from you.
Best,
Dr. Sheri
P.S. This picture is not of my parents; it is a sock picture from unsplash, but aren’t they a cute couple?
Hi folks:
One of my friends had an elderly grandfather who grew up during the depression and he didn’t trust banks. As a result, he kept a great deal of money at his house.
One day when she was vacuuming, he told her to be careful around the drapes. When she asked why, he told her that he had money pinned to the bottom of the inside of the curtains. He also had additional money hidden throughout the house but he refused to say exactly where it was.
When he died, he still hadn’t told anyone. His wife and family never did locate the hidden stash. It is still hidden. He was a good hider! If you are hiding money, make sure that someone in your family knows where it is or the money could be lost to your family forever.
When cleaning out my aunt’s house, we discovered money hidden in magazines. She had tucked over $1,000 away for a rainy day, but none of it was in the same place. There was a $20 bill here, another there, all over her house.
She also grew up during the depression and realized it was important to have money in case the banks were not open. We also found family members’ death certificates in old magazines, so be very careful when going through an older person’s belongings.
Also, some of the elderly person’s furniture might be valuable. If you are not good at valuing antiques, find someone who is. Don’t just throw things out.
Do you have tales of woe regarding hidden treasures? I would love to share your experiences with my readers!
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
Have you ever sat down on the toilet, only to keep sliding?
It’s not you or your weight. It’s the blasted bolt that holds the toilet seat on. They can fall off without notice and, suddenly, your toilet seat won’t stay in place.
You can try sitting down holding onto something so that you don’t end up in the toilet bowl, or you can fix it. Having done both, I suggest the latter rather than the former.
Here’s what you do: Go to the hardware store and ask for a bolt that holds the toilet seat to the toilet itself. Come home and, squatting before the toilet bowl, replace the bolt that goes through the back right or left side of the toilet seat (you’ll see a hole) and screw the seat to the underside of the toilet. You can do this yourself in less than a minute and it requires no tools. Fasten it snugly and you are good to go. Literally.
What about toilets that keep running and running? Turning themselves off and on at all hours of the day and night? Well, I will confess to not finding out about them yet. Do offer your suggestions! I will publish the best ones.
For now, I close the door to the bathroom at night, so that the blasted thing won’t wake me up in the middle of the night. It’s worked so far (hey, if I knew everything, I’d be perfect and that woudl be boring. And annoying.)
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
I told a friend I was going out for lunch with a friend yesterday and her eyes got wide as she said, “With a fella?” I was horrified. “Nope,” I told her, “a long-time female friend.”
I got to thinking about it. This gal has been suddenly single for a while. Perhaps she is thinking that it might be time for her to find a new man for her life and move on. Good for her! Bad for me.
Then I thought about things a bit more. Sometimes women feel like they are “put out to pasture” or simply too old for the dating scene.
Maybe you are “over the hill and partway down the other side” but, if you think that you’d like to jump back into things, go for it. There is a certain caveat: even old men like younger women. If you are, say, mid to late sixties yourself, you may find that the only men who are interested in you are in their eighties or nineties. I’m not trying to discourage you, but you should look at this with your eyes open.
For the gentlemen: Keep in mind that the best bananas to use in banana bread are the ones with freckles (aka: age spots). Don’t discount the value of a woman just because she may have a few miles on her. The cute young thing that you might think makes you look younger just makes you look like her father. Or grandfather.
What do you think? Go for it or forget it?
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
I saw a cute saying this afternoon. It said, “If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.”
Perhaps you have lost the future you always thought would be yours. Maybe you now live in a place you never expected or you are facing situations that you’ve never had to contemplate, like toilets that won’t stop running or carpenter bees that threaten the stability of your front porch or doors you can’t open or doors that won’t close or or or.
Friends, this, too shall pass. You will get back up on your feet, emotionally and personally. Hang in there. You can’t imagine what’s in store in the future, but hold on.
I saw a picture taken of me in early January. The signs of stress were all over my face. I looked tired, beaten down, exhausted. I kinda looked like someone getting ready to “view the body,” as I often say.
Then I saw a photo that was taken today. It was amazing. What a transformation! I looked relaxed, had a broad smile, and (if I may say so) looked ten years younger. What a difference four months had made.
It reminded me of a lovely widow I have known for years. Before her grouchy hubby died suddenly, you rarely saw her smile. After he passed, she lost 20 years off of her face. She has never remarried, though she did date for a while.
What are you holding onto that you are afraid will change? Let is go, if at all possible. Change is not always bad. Sometimes it can be very good.
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hi everyone:
This coming Sunday morning, I will be on WLNI, finishing my first interview (which was started last weekend) with radio and television host Andre Whitehead.
If you would like to listen live, it can be found at WLNI.com at 8 am. This was my first venture into a long conversation, and was seen via television twice last weekend, along with the first half of our conversation. for a first endeavor, the feedback was fairly positive. I would covet your feedback on this continuation of that conversation.
So far, the most popular part of the first discussion was the story about how I killed a mouse that was trapped in a mousetrap in my garage.
I am available for interviews in your area, if you are relatively close to Virginia, and would love the opportunity to share about my book Suddenly Single. I am also available for church conferences on singleness.
If you would like more information, please post a comment herein and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
Best,
Dr. Sheri
Hello everyone:
I told this story on the radio and television show this past weekend and thought you might enjoy it.
You know those weird sounds that you have been hearing, the ones that sound like scratching? Do you sometimes find strange brown turds on your countertops? Have you ever found Christmas ornament boxes full of destroyed, formerly stringed ornaments? Have you ever reached into a cardboard box that you had in the shed and saw something move out of the corner of your eye?
My dear, you have mice (or, at the very least, mouse). Keep in mind that these critters are very fertile and letting one live with you can lead to your having a whole colony of mice. You need to get rid of them ASAP.
There are various ways of doing this; we have effectively used baited traps in our garage and basement. The upside is that the traps can be baited with peanut butter; the bad news is that you have to get rid of the mouse after you catch it and it may still be alive, just stuck.
When a mouse threatened the sanity of my time working in our garage a few years back, we put out a snare, only to find that the mouse survived the entrapment. When the little critter showed up for the peanut butter feast, my hubby was out of town, so I managed to get the mouse and trap into the middle of the garage, covered it with a layer of cardboard (to protect my tires), and drove back and forth over the covered mouse until there were no more signs of life underneath.
I then swept the entire contraption outside and moved the car back into the now-mouse-free space. The deceased rodent thoughtfully remained under the cardboard until my husband returned home, though it might have looked a bit odd to the neighbors.
I don’t mean to hurt the feelings of mouse-lovers everywhere but this did rid my house of the problem at hand. And, no, his name wasn’t Mickey.
Best,
Dr. Sheri