Before starting this post, I’d like to give you some background information. Marty would complain about my Irish storytelling, but I think it’s essential so you know who I was and who I am.
When I was a newlywed or a young homemaker, I used to read Martha Stewart Magazine and watch her TV show.
I loved every detail of her homes, gardens, and everything and anything she baked or cooked.
She filled my head with ideas, hopes, and dreams. She made me want to reach the unachievable. She made me want to be her in the sense of the word.
Then I got smacked in the face of reality and realized how many peons must have worked hard for her creating her lifestyle that was unattainable to most people.
I realized all of the things I loved cost a lot of money, time, and more effort than one person could ever do.
I said fuck that shit and went about my life with what I had the money for, the time and effort to make our home nice.
With all that being said, this is still kind of post that people can react to in several different ways.
A few of these things I do around the house at this point in my life cost very little, take little time and effort.
First question, is there a difference between light and bright or clean or dirty light?
Light is one of the most important things in our lives without it nothing would thrive and too much of it makes living things go berserk.
Light is important to me in our home. I love candlelight that is just bright enough to see what you need to. I love the bright sunshine shining through our windows.
In our kitchen, I like clean light for food prep and cooking. The light also affects how my food photos look.
I like soft, warm light bulbs, but nothing with a blue tone. I even purchased two hygge bulbs in our back room when we need more light.
We used to have intense bright bulbs in the back room pendant lights which made us squint.
Now when we need significant lighting, it helps us see things but not make us need sunglasses at night.
This winter whenever I was setting my dining room table for guests, I couldn’t figure out why it was so dark when I used lots of candles and the chandelier dimmed low.
This used to be the perfect about of light for dining, but over the holidays I had to turn the dimmer up making a weird light. Low and behold I figured out why this morning. 🤦🏻♀️
The led chandelier bulbs were filthy! They were cloudy from grease and dust was sticking to them even though I dust my chandelier usually without the lights on.
I took out the bulbs and cleaned them with a little vinegar and water. Presto! I screwed them back in and had that perfect amount of warm light. Duh!
I guess it didn’t occur to me that led lightbulbs last longer than incandescent one and basically get dirty.
These light bulbs were a few years old and I never cleaned them I don’t think. I guess I never thought about it or maybe I didn’t look up.
Now some people may say good for her if light is that important. It is important since it sets the stage for dining and the mood. People eat with their eyes.
Some may say, good for her but I don’t give a shit what the light looks like while we are eating. I get that.
Some may think I need a second job because I have too much time on my hands to notice such trivial details. I get that too.
To me, it doesn’t matter what other people think when something makes my life feel warmer, brighter, cleaner, happier, cozier, etc.
Everyone who does walk into our home at night always comments how cozy or charming it looks. I beam a little because coziness is something I love.
Coziness gets me through winter, rainy, or gray days. I am also huge into aromatherapy which also helps to create a certain kinds of atmosphere especially if it’s seasonal.
I love simmer pots, naturally scented candles or essential oils to defuse. Spending a little bit more on well-made naturally scented hand soap is another one of my must haves for a cozy life.
I went for years not having the time or energy to care about these things, but at my age I’ve learned that I deserve to indulge in small things that bring me joy or that special feeling.
House stagers are masters of this as are good real estate agents. Home designers and ads sell people that feeling of home.
This is why some realtors bake ready-made cookie dough before an open house or showing.
Personally, I’d prefer a this “place is clean” smell but not in a mothball kind of way. Mothball smell in my opinion is one of the worse smells.
Years ago, we once did a gig at someone’s old home and all I could smell was a musty mold smell which made it hard for me to perform. Ugh!
As I am typing, the globes to our kitchen lights are in the dishwasher. I use the fast setting and the globes are clean and dry in under 40 minutes.
This afternoon, I went around and cleaned all of our mirrors and other light bulbs. All of them were dirtier than I thought. It’s too early to spring clean, but this made me feel good.
Am I being ridiculous for caring? Yes and no. That’s up to you to ponder or not care at all.
Will some of you look to see how clean your light bulbs are? Will some of you clean them and be shocked by how different everything looks?
I’m sure some of you don’t give a rat’s ass and go back to whatever you were doing and never give it a second thought.
This isn’t about shaming people with filthy lightbulbs like mine were, or to inspire people to run around with ADD/ADHD behavior tendencies like me.
This post is more like the Seinfeld show where I am writing about silly or stupid things that make people tick.
Have a great rest of your weekend. I’ve put down my cleaning rags for a while to sit with my girls.
