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Household News Update

Jan. 12, 2002

For Christmas this year, Matt and I got a "Homeowner's Tool Kit" - nothing like a "Homeowner's Such-and-such" to make you feel adult and intimidated all of a sudden. However, as some of you know, I really like tools, and this kit has some surprisingly useful ones.

Speaking of surprisingly useful tools, we used the saw in the "Homeowner's Tool Kit" last night for the first time. No, we didn't have any lumber we spontaneously decided was too long and we're not building a treehouse. We used the saw to open the bottle of apple juice I bought this week. I know it's a bit peculiar, but neither Matt nor I could open the apple juice by twisting the lid, no matter how hard we tried. In fact, the plastic of the bottle started twisting when Matt really got into it, but the lid never budged. So we thought maybe the little plastic ring thingy that's supposed to let you know whether the bottle's been opened hadn't been perforated in the factory. So I got out a screwdriver and tried breaking the ring perforations, and Matt jumped and got out the saw and just sawed the ring apart from the lid. Then we tried the lid again and it still wouldn't move. So much for the useful tools, right? Well, eventually we got it open the old-fashioned way, by running hot water over the top and using the two-person twist-off method, not forgetting the bath towel for grip. There's nothing like misusing a "Homeowner's Such-and-such" to gratifyingly remind you that you're still college students. :)



And speaking of the vicissitudes of packaging, another odd result of this week's grocery trip came from my desire to finally get the hard water stains out of our toilet. I went to the cleaning aisle and squinted at the three million different products which all claim to do the same thing with differing levels of ease and security, and I finally bought one chosen completely at random. I got home and got ready to follow all the directions on the box. I got to the part where it tells you to take the capsule out of the box and put it in the tank, and I opened the box... to find it was empty! I don't know who would need toilet bowl cleaner so very much that they'd steal the capsule out of the box, but I just thought I'd share that strange experience with whoever's listening.



And if you read this rambling post to the very end, you deserve a prize. That doesn't mean I'll give you one though. Well, actually, mention it next time I see you and maybe I'll buy you a cookie. Or else I'll look at you funny and laugh. Take some risks!