Saturday, January 23, 2010

Oh the germs, germs Germs GERMS! -and- a cockamamie plan

About a week after my last post I contracted a cold, spent Christmas break on the couch, started feeling better, visited Candice over the New Year, and then promptly developed a sinus infection and spent even MORE time in bed. My birthday had to be postponed for at least a week. Last week was a May Festival concert, which was taxing, and not conducive to recovery, and I didn't even sing in most of it, but it's really my job to stand there and look cute, right? Right.

This is the first weekend I've felt like I have energy to do basic things like laundry and sweeping, and blogging and etc. and so I have a story for you:

Last weekend the light burned out in the ceiling fan in my second bedroom. Mid-week I decided to tackle the situation, but found it was nearly impossible to get into. Much research on the interwebs and at Lowe's later, I was at my wits end and talking to my parents. It came down to a need to twist a nearly flat piece of glass counter-clockwise and I just couldn't get it to budge. Dad suggested suction cups first, then duct tape. Dad also maintained nearly until the end that I probably wasn't doing it right (although not in so many words). Mom suggested 3M Command strips, which I liked because I knew they stick really well to my walls, but come off equally well. It turned out that the strips didn't work because the hooks they connect to wouldn't stick well to the curved glass.

The next suggestion I was going to try was hot glue, the theory being that it could be re-melted to remove it if necessary. But what to hot glue to the glass? A hook? A handle? How about some Yoplait yogurt cups.
Looks good, right? It'll be the next trend in home decor, I promise. Yes, I did think for a moment "What if they won't come off?", and that's when I took the picture.

And you know what? It worked swimmingly. The globe came off nearly immediately, and the yogurt cups (and glue!) just popped off without leaving a mark. Then, miracle of miracles, I had purchased the correct specialty halogen lightbulb.

Another home maintenance challenge met.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Necessity truly is the mama of invention! What an unanticipated challenge.

I was wondering how the previous owner changed the bulb (not half as cleverly, I'm sure!), then I realized that this might be the first time the bulb needed to be replaced.

It's helpful that you have a blog and a photograph so this particular wheel won't have to be reinvented sometime down the road. :-)

Jenn said...

It sounds like you had a rather trying holiday! I'm glad to hear you're on the mend now, and what creativity to get the light bulb replaced.

happy belated birthday (I never seem to remember, do I?)