Category: Home life

I got home this afternoon, and walked into the livingroom only to spot a mouse in the fireplace. Apparently disturbed from its rodent activities it scurried away. It peeked out a little while later and had a good look at me. As soon as I moved it did another runner. As anybody would, I found  ... [More]

Memo to self (and anybody else listening): Only put rugs with rubber backing onto wooden floors. They’re extremely slippery otherwise, as I discovered this morning, when getting ready for work. I was in a bit of a rush and attempted to run to go turn off the computer. I had shoes on, and my grip  ... [More]

Most places of work regularly have fire drills. So do schools. A couple of weeks ago I decided to have an evacuation briefing at home. Seriously. To show the kids the alternate ways of getting out of the house in an emergency. It strikes me that this is something missing from many homes. You’ve got  ... [More]

A new era has dawned in the City of Glen Eira. New recycle bins, with bright yellow lids, have been distributed (originally with crime-scene-style “Do not use until July” tape on them), and yesterday the new recycle truck did its first fortnightly run down our street. There are three bits of good news associated with  ... [More]

An article in Saturday’s Age mentioned a UN International Energy Agency study that said if every old light globe was replaced by an energy-efficient one, it would save 16,000 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions in the next 25 years — the equivalent to taking every car in the world off the road for six  ... [More]

The other day I found a coathanger sitting on top of the hedge at the front of my house. Not one of those wire coathangers used by drycleaners, but a metal and plastic one like you might get when you buy a coat. Perfect condition. Odd place to find such a thing, I thought. Attempted  ... [More]

As a parent, I know one of the worst things is unwanted parenting advice. As such, it’s generally a topic of conversation I avoid like the plague — even in my blog when it’s directed at nobody in particular. But this has been bugging me, so just this once I will offer my opinion on  ... [More]

Happy 6/6/6. The early morning noises in the roof have been back, a regular fixture at about 4am most mornings in the last couple of weeks. Is it a possum? A rat? I don’t know, but some mornings it’s scurrying around and making scratching noises in the wall between my bedroom and the bathroom, up  ... [More]

I’ve finally figured out how to fix the washing machine when the outlet hose gets blocked up, thus avoiding a $75 call-out fee and the inconvenience of having to arrange to be at home when the repair man goes. 1. Take clothes dryer off the top (it’s slightly lighter than it looks) and move it  ... [More]

Things I have to do tonight: Tidy up the damn place. Do the (non-dishwasher) dishes. Run a quick errand down the street. Done Figure out how to get that burn off the bottom of my nice Le Creuset enamel pot. (Been postponing that for about two weeks.) Go to the supermarket and get some milk,  ... [More]