Light House Life Lessons ⋆ Page 6 of 62 ⋆ Sharing life lessons learned through experience.

August 22 2019

Review: Aqueon Aquarium Water Changer

We did one of our least favorite tasks this past weekend and I realized that it wasn’t nearly as dreaded as it used to be. The task has been made immensely easier because of Hubby shopping on Amazon. He ordered this thing and I wasn’t sure it would work, but I stand corrected. We have used the Aqueon Aquarium Water Changer with the addition of the ATP Vinyl-Flex PVC Food Grade Plastic Tubing, Clear, 1/2″ ID x 5/8″ OD, 100 feet Length hose to siphon the water out of our aquariums and then fill them back up. This entire set up was less expensive than a nice dinner out and has saved us so much trouble and pain.

The water routine changes are so much easier since we started using it. We simply get it off the hook in the basement where we store it when it is not in use and attach it to the faucet in the laundry tub. The the other end of the hose goes up the two flights of stairs into the room with the turtle tank. Hubby hollers down for me to turn it on and I just turn the cold faucet on all the way with the valve open so the water goes through the part that attaches to the faucet and the suction begins. Soon there is dirty turtle water flowing into the sink and straight down the drain. It works so much better than the ones we used in the past where the siphon was a squeezable section and the hose was only about five foot long, so we siphoned the water into a bucket then emptied the buckets into the toilet. These buckets were heavy and awkward and sometimes sloshed water through the house on the way to the bathroom to empty them.

This tool vacuums the gravel off without sucking it up, cleaning it while leaving it safely in the tank. When the right amount of water has been siphoned out of the tank, all you have to do is reverse the valve and the water begins to fill the tank. This is the point where I usually turn the hot water on full blast also so it doesn’t get too cold for the fish or turtle. when the tank is full, Hubby has me turn it back to the siphon setting so he can safely bring the hose back down to the basement, wind it back up and hang it on the hook.

According to the manufacturers, “While vacuuming gravel, the key to thorough cleaning is water flow. Just the right amount of water flow will meticulously agitate the gravel to remove loose dirt while reducing the amount of water that dispenses into the sink. The easy-grip molded handle on the gravel tube includes a built-in on/off valve for total water flow control at your fingertips. The same valve on the sink attachment can be adjusted to reduce splashing of dirty water in the sink.”

Below are some photos of the wonder tool in action from the basement side. Since Hubby always mans the top and I always man the bottom, I can’t tell you what it looks like from the other end, but Hubby loves it and thinks he has the better end of the deal and I think the bottom is easy too. The last photo shows how we store our hose assembly between uses. Pay no attention to any mess shown in these photos, it is all an optical illusion. Yes, really.

We got the version with the twenty five foot hose because at the time that was the only one available and Hubby thought it would be plenty long enough. I think at the time he was also thinking we could attach it to the kitchen sink or the bathroom sink faucets, but it wouldn’t have been an easy connection to either of those and was much cheaper and easier to just get the one hundred foot food grade hose we bought to switch out for the original hose. We ended up cutting about twenty five feet off so it wasn’t quite so unwieldy, and that still left up plenty to cover the three floors in our house.

If you have pools or aquariums or other things that you fill or empty water in and out of you should really consider getting this handy little tool. It might just save your life. Actual life saving assumes wet slippery floors and steps and slipping and sliding or pulling something from lifting and emptying heavy buckets of water. Results may vary and are not guaranteed but seriously, avoid the strain and mess of lifting heaving buckets of dirty fish or turtle water and get one of these, you will be so glad you did. Please note that the links in this post are affiliate links and if you choose to buys something after clicking on one of them, I might ear a penny or two without any additional cost to you.

Category: Review | Comments Off

August 15 2019

Organize Your Brain

Have you ever found yourself making the same mistakes again and again? Maybe you bought something you were sure you were out of at home only to find that you have three on the shelf in your pantry when you were unpacking the items you just bought. Not to worry, it happens to everyone at some time or another.

Perhaps you just need to organize your brain. Well, maybe not exactly your brain, but all the things your brain is in charge of like remembering what was on the list you left on the desk when you walked out the door. There are ways to train your brain to remember things when writing them down is not an option. You have probably already used a few of these methods. Remember the game you likely played in the car on those long family road trips. The first person says something like, “I’m going to the grocery and I’m going to buy apples.” Then the next person says, “I’m going to the grocery and I’m going to buy apples and bananas.” The next person says, “I’m going to the grocery and I’m going to buy apples, bananas, and chocolate.” You get the idea. Maybe you repeat your list out loud all the way to the grocery store desperately hoping you don’t forget anything you really need.

So there are a few ways to fix this if you just don’t trust yourself with the memory game method. You could write out a list on a piece of paper and actually remember to take it with you when you leave the house. As a member of the over fifty club, that second part of that one is the toughest. You can also download and use one of the many free apps on your smart phone to keep track of your lists. Many of the chain grocery stores build this right into their app hoping your will remember to use their app in the store or shop only at their store since they made the list thing so easy for you. Again, there is the problem of making sure your phone has enough battery life to get you through the shopping trip.

Maybe your solution is to shop online and have your groceries delivered thereby avoiding the likelihood of losing your list before you get to the store. You could do one of my personal favorites and just slowly meander down each aisle tossing anything and everything that strikes your fancy. Please note you will save a lot of money if you eat BEFORE you use this method.

Maybe the issue is not forgetting what to buy at the store but forgetting appointments or to buy gifts for the occasion you remembered but not in time to actually get and wrap a gift. This one is easy enough to solve if you remember to add it to your phone calendar and turn on a couple of reminders while you are in there. Suppose you have been invited to a party in a couple of months and know that you will need to take a dish to share. When I add this sort of event to my calendar, I set up a reminder for two weeks before so I have time to think about what I want to make and take. Then I add a reminder for one week before so I remember to buy the things I need to make what I am taking. Then I set a reminder for one day before so I can actually make the thing I am taking. Depending on how long it takes to get there, I set a reminder for one hour before so I can gather everything up and loaded up and out the door in plenty of time. I set a reminder for five minutes before I need to leave so I can make the requisite trip to the restroom before leaving the house and another for the time I need to leave in case I get sidetracked and lose track of time so I won’t be late.

Alright, so now you think I am a senile old lady who sets a million timers for everything, and if that is what you want to think, I am fine with that because honestly it is not all that far from the truth. But hey, I have to do what works for me. This method works well for busy mothers who get involved in things and might forget to leave early enough to pick their kid up from school on time or other notable mom blunders. Setting timers and letting your technology remember things for you frees your brain to relax and actually fall asleep at night or to remember other more important things.

The most import life lesson here is to find a system that works and makes sense for YOU. If what you are doing isn’t working, try again with a new system until you find something that works. You can’t organize your brain but but you can make it feel more organized by not asking your brain to remember everything.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Again
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Five Minute Friday, Organizing | Comments Off

August 8 2019

Take Five for Bengal Spiced Iced Tea

Take five and enjoy your favorite cold beverage. A couple of times a week, at least every four or five days, I make a gallon and a half of iced tea. I don’t just make plain brewed tea, I make Bengal Spiced iced tea. So you probably are wondering how I make this delicious tea.

I put ten regular tea bags and two Bengal Spiced tea bags in the eight-cup Pyrex measuring cup. Then I pour boiling water over the tea bags until the water level is about half and inch from the top of the large measuring cup. Then I cover it with a glass plate and leave it on the kitchen counter until it cools completely. Once it cools, I fill a half-gallon jug two-thirds full of cold water and then pour tea concentrate into the jug until it is full. The rest of the concentrate gets poured into a one gallon jug and I rinse the tea bags and pour it into the jug until the jug is full. I then add the tea bags I just used to the compost bin.

This is the iced tea that I take to work with me every day. I don’t sweeten it in any way. I have been complimented on its spicy unique flavor.

What is your favorite home-made beverage? Can you make it instead of buying it and thus save some money? I like to take five minutes to sit down and relax with a refreshing glass of this wonderful iced tea.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Five
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links”. 
This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, I may receive an affiliate commission. 
However, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers.

Category: Five Minute Friday, Recipes | 1 Comment

August 1 2019

What I have been watching…

In the past, I have watched almost entirely movies on NetFlix. One of my kids has a subscription and allows me to watch for free. Yes, I am cheap and frugal. I never wanted to watch series shows because I know my limits when it comes to stopping after an episode or two. Recently, I started watching a series because I didn’t want the time commitment of a movie, so a series seemed like an excellent alternative. So, without a doubt, you are wondering what I am watching. I saw a show that peaked my interest because I remembered a similar show from way back. I have been watching Queer Eye. I have to say I have really been enjoying the show. I like how they not only update the victim’s wardrobe, but also fix up the person’s living space or workplace, and teach them how to make a few dishes to liven up their food choices. Often, the person whose life is getting made over has issues in their lives they haven’t dealt with and the Fab 5 take turns counseling the person by using experiences from their own lives. This is cool because in the process they let the viewers get to know them a little better too.

Watching a series has been an exercise in self control. In the past, I would watch episode after episode until I had binge watched the entire series. In some cases we would check the seasons of a particular show out on DVD from the local library and need to watch them all before the 21 day checkout period was over because they were due back and we couldn’t renew them. We couldn’t just stop in the middle of a season. I like watching shows that were once on television and full of commercial breaks, but now take only 45 minutes or less to watch each hour long show with all the commercials removed. I find I can fit an episode in easily without having to stop in the middle because it is bedtime or dinner time.

As I write this post, I am in a co-working space where we meet regularly to write together. On the other side of the glass windows that divide our conference room from the lobby of the next area, is some sort of musical dancing group practicing a huge part of my childhood. I realize I am dating myself now, but you already know I am a member of the over fifty club, but they are practicing various songs from School House Rock! So far, I have heard “A Noun Is A Person, Place Or Thing”, “Conjunction Junction”, and “Elbow Room”. This seems oh so appropriate when we are sitting around a big conference room table typing away at our laptops. Here I am in the middle of writing and wanting so badly to go home and binge watch my complete collection of School house Rock on DVD.

So, what have you found yourself in the middle of lately? What was your favorite School House Rock song? What series or movie do your recommend I watch next on NetFlix?

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Middle
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Category: Depth Year, Five Minute Friday, Learning, Review | 2 Comments

July 25 2019

Top 10 Money Books I’ve Read

I’m just going to say it. I’m sure most of you have realized this by now anyway. I am a woman of a certain age. I am a proud member of the over fifty club, and as such, I hope to be financially able to stop working in the not so distant future if I so desire. I am spending more of my time thinking about ways to earn extra money. The actual goal is that by the time Hubby turns sixty, we will have hit the magic number that only he seems to know that will mean we can afford to retire. So, in roughly four years, I hope to have learned to invest well enough to earn a million dollars and be able to afford to retire. I also want to have a job I enjoy so much that I won’t actually want to retire, but instead keep working and add to the nest egg so we can afford to be generous with our time and/or money when we actually do stop working full time for a paycheck.

In the past couple of years I have had money on the brain. I didn’t realize how bad it had gotten until I was browsing through Goodreads at the books I have read so far in 2019 and those I read in 2018. So I decided to make a list of the top ten books I have read about money for you today. Just so you know, the links for books below are affiliate links, because, like I said, I have spent a lot of time thinking about ways I could possibly earn some extra money. It hasn’t worked so far, but you never know.

1) Invested: How Warren Buffett and Charlie Munger Taught Me to Master My Mind, My Emotions, and My Money (with a Little Help from My Dad) by Danielle Town (and Phil Town)
2) Retire Inspired: It’s Not an Age, It’s a Financial Number by Chris Hogan
3) Get Money: Live the Life You Want, Not Just the Life You Can Afford by Kristin Wong
4) Rule #1: The Simple Strategy for Successful Investing in Only 15 Minutes a Week! by Phil Town
5) Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey
6) Everyday Millionaire by Chris Hogan
7) Refinery29 Money Diaries: Everything You’ve Ever Wanted To Know About Your Finances… And Everyone Else’s by Lindsey Stanberry
8) Fight for Your Money: How to Stop Getting Ripped Off and Save a Fortune by David Bach
9) Profit Sharing: The Chapman Guide to Making Money an Asset in Your Marriage by Gary Chapman
10) You Are a Badass at Making Money: Master the Mindset of Wealth by Jen Sincero
11) The $100 Startup: Reinvent the Way You Make a Living, Do What You Love, and Create a New Future by Chris Guillebeau

Just because I couldn’t decide which book to cut from the list to make it just ten, you get a bonus book.

This post is part of the weekly Five Minute Friday link-up!
The prompt this week is: Distant
The assignment: Write for five minutes on the word of the week. This is meant to be a free write, which means: no editing, no over-thinking, no worrying about perfect grammar or punctuation. Just write.

Because I am a visual person, and really like to see the covers of books before I read them, enjoy the affiliate linked covers to the eleven books listed about. I really enjoyed reading all of them and learned different things from each one. If you were going to read just one of them, I would recommend it be Invested, because it just might change your life. If you have a money related book that you think I should read, please leave your recommendations in the comments below.