This weekend we arrived back at the condo feeling inspired by my cousin and ready to conquer some unfinished tasks. The first thing on my list was to unclog the the sink in our bathroom. The drain has been slow for a long time and while it was annoying, it was never terrible enough to motivate us to do anything about it. Finally I decided to pick up the Zip-It off the floor and give it a try.
I decided to spare you by not taking any photos of the ick that I pulled out of the sink. Overall, the tool was easy to use but in our case it was no where near as simple as they make it seem. On my first attempt, I inserted the Zip-It into the sink and pulled it out. There were teeny bits of grossness attached but I didn’t actually pull anything, other than the Zip-It itself, out of the sink. I tried it again, this time fishing around a bit–still nothing. After a few attempts I finally managed to pull up some hair but the Zip-It didn’t bring it all the way out. I actually had to use my hand and fish yuck out of the drain. It was horrible. Then I realized that there were minor clogs in each quadrant of the sink stopper.
(Illustrating three of the four quadrants. Note: This is not my actual hand.)
Each required the Zip-It to loosen up the clog and bring it to the surface. But more importantly, each required me to touch (albeit wearing gloves) the grossness that was clogging the sink. I’ll be honest: it was horrible but I thought you deserved fair warning. This tool is not glamorous my friends–but it did work. Our sink now drains without a flaw. Have you tried using the Zip-It? Did it work like it claimed or did you end up with an unfavorable process like I did?
Images courtesy of Amazon and Handyman How-To.
I often read about elements that contribute to beautiful design, but less frequently do blogs and magazines address the root of what make a space comfortable to live in: organization. I will be the first to admit that I’m not an organized person. I never have been. My mother used to pretend to be shocked if she could see just a square inch of the carpet on my floor. Since I’ve moved out, I’ve cleaned up my surroundings, but anyone who knows me well can tell you that I keep clutter. (Let’s please refrain from analyzing what this really means about me.)
Over the holidays during our cross-country drive Peter and I stopped to stay with my cousin, Shawna, in Arkansas. Shawna and her fiance, Ryan, just bought a house and I was shocked by how unbelievably clean and organized everything in their house was. On our way home they let us stay there while they were in Vegas and even though they weren’t home everything that we would possibly need was so easy to find. The placement of items in their house was logical. Here’s a picture or Shawna and me together:
The sense of order that Shawna has may be something that comes more naturally to some than it does to others but I am confident that it is something that, with a lot of effort, I will learn. I’m so inspired by my cousin and her fiance’s gracious hospitality and ability to make a house a home.
Anyone can shove their things behind couches, under beds, and in drawers to make a house appear clean for a photo but it takes true thought and organization to create a space that is easy to live in. Every item in the house needs a place to go so that when we come home from a long day it will be natural to put things where they belong. If I can master this then I will have a better designed home. What about you? Are you like Peter and I am and frantically clean before people come over (or just tell them, “You can come over but the place is a mess and we like you to much to clean before you show up.” Manipulative–I know.) or do you maintain an organized clean house? If you fit into the latter category, what are your best secrets?
Image courtesy of The Container Store.
Over the holidays Peter and I drove from Austin, TX to Rockford, IL and back. Let me show you just what that looks like:
We spent 19 long hours over the span of two days (each direction) sitting in our beloved Fit. Why’d we do it? We couldn’t bare to spend the holidays knowing that our two little dogs were stuck in a kennel. When my mom got wind of our trip, she insisted on having an early Christmas. Cue Emily. Still confused? Emily is the name of the female British voice on our brand new Garmin GPS. We decided that her voice was more soothing than the rest.
Throughout our journey, Emily told us exactly where to go and what restaurants and attractions we could stop at along the way. We ran into a few mishaps, like when we decided to go to Mama Josie’s Southern Kitchen somewhere in Oklahoma and it turned out that Mama Josie’s no longer existed (We were on vacation. Bad food choices are totally forgivable!), but all in all she was a huge help. It was an extremely thoughtful gift from my mom and we’re really excited to have Emily as a new addition to our family. If you’re anywhere near as bad as Peter and I are with directions then I recommend that you follow the link below to Amazon and buy one instantly! Does anyone already have a Garmin? If so, what’s your favorite part about it? Have you tried uploading celebrity voices? Tell us everything!
Images courtesy of Google Maps and Amazon.
