Let's Check A Few Things Off The To-Do List

We've all got those tasks that we've been meaning to get around to but we don't for ...months. Just me? ;)

Tonight I finally did a couple!

Let's make a holder for the litter scoopers so they don't leave a litter mess all over the floor. You need a plastic jug (mine was a whey protein jar) big enough to hold the scoop, tin snips for cutting through the thick plastic (it's possible scissors might do it? It probably depends on the plastic you're cutting, but tin snips work a treat if you have them), and something to start the hole so the tin snips can get through to cut (I used this punch and a mallet, you could probably use a nail and a hammer too).

Punch a hole into the plastic big enough to put the snips through, about where you want the cut to be. Cut off the top narrow part where the lid would screw on (you see two rings cut off of mine, the initial cut and then a second one to even it out and make it smooth) using your tin snips.

Et voilà, you now have a handy dandy holder for your litter scoopers, no muss, no fuss!

Next little project!

I've been wanting to put up a hook for my washcloth in the shower, but I was thinking I would need to buy another suction cup or Command strip type hook, since there are tiles in there almost to the ceiling. I remembered though, that I had a spare regular hook that goes into drywall in my stash of tools and hardware and such, and there is a small bit above the tile near the ceiling where it's drywall, so I decided to do that instead rather than buy another thing.

First, I installed the bracket using my regular-sized screwdriver. Then I realized I'm an idiot and it needs to go vertically, so I changed that, lol.

Then I mounted the hook onto the bracket and used my small sized screwdriver to tighten it onto the bracket.

Ta da! I finally have a washcloth hook.

You can see that the towel I use as my bath mat is up on a Command hook, and the soap dish is a suction cup, both on the tile itself. That's what I thought I was going to have to do for the washcloth, but now I don't! I'm glad I remembered I already had a solution. :)

Finally, I realized that there was a smell coming FROM my air purifier, which has never happened before. I tried cleaning the filter with a damp cloth to get all the dust off it, but that didn't get rid of the smell.

The prior filter lasted six months without developing a smell, which makes me wonder what exactly the pollution stink I've been smelling for the past few months is, exactly. It's definitely coming from outside, since I can smell it outside far from my apartment sometimes, and it isn't constant. The only way I can think to describe it is seriously strong, burnt black tea. Tea smells good but this doesn't. It's weird. Anyway, that's my best guess as to how there was a stink embedded in my air purifier filter after only a short time.

So I put in a new one. It's a good thing I had spares! Don't worry, the green on the last one was supposed to be that way - it was a HEPA + chemical odor/toxin absorber specialty filter, which I got because of the stink invading my apartment from the neighbors on the regular (they smoke a lot of pot and it was giving me migraines, but there are other mystery smells too). This white one is a regular HEPA purifier without the added whatever it is specific to toxins. I turned it back on, and no more smells, so it was definitely embedded in the filter itself.

We've had a lot of pollution here - from wildfires to oil refineries to occasionally being downwind from cattle feedlots - but this year was the first time I smelled that burnt tea smell that I don't know what it is. At least I know that my air purifier was catching it? o.O

So there was my tackle-the-odd-chores productiveness today. I hope it inspired you to tackle a few of your own (and maybe make a holder for your litter scoops, lol)! :) Thanks for reading!