Yesterday my husband and I tackled a job that many people do not even think about.  However it is one that is imperative that you do.  This could save your home and/or a life.  

Yes, you guessed it we cleaned the dryer vent.  This is one of the most overlooked chores there is.  Probably because it is such a pain to do.  That being said it is also one of the easiest jobs to do.  If you really can't do this your self then find someone that can do it for you.  It is that important.  

Think about, each time you dry a load of clothes you clean the lint trap.  That lint trap does not get everything.  As a matter of fact, it catches very little.  You now have all that fuzz going down into the dryer exhaust pipe.  It is damp and therefore sticks to the sides of the pipe.  Every time you dry another load more and more lint is going into that pipe and building up.  It begins to take longer for you clothes to dry, you don't even notice because it is just a little longer.  Eventually that pipe will completely clog and one day will spark a fire.  

According to FEMA there are 2,900 fires from clothes dryers every year.  Those fires result in 5 deaths, 100 injuries and million in property loss.  You don't wan to be one of those statistics.   And this is the time of year when most of these fires occur, now is the time to do it.

So here is what we did:

We turned the dryer on, We taped a big round brush to the end of a pole and ran this all around the exhaust pipe and pulled it out.  We did this about 5 times.  We have a rather long pipe so we had to keep adding to our pole.  We used a fishing pole (not one for catching fish but one for fishing wires in hard to reach places).  We wanted to get right to the bend in the pipe so we attached a broom handle to the end of that.  After we felt we had this area cleaned, we moved into the house and the area behind the dryer.  We moved the dryer from the wall and took off the pipe that is attached to the dryer.  We cleaned this in much the same way that we did the outside pipe.  Take care not to puncture this vent pipe.  If you do then you can patch it with duct tape.  (how do I know this, well we did it).  We also took the attachments off the vacuum and vacuumed as far down the pipe as possible.  We also vacuumed all around the dryer making sure to pick up any fuzz that came out as we were working.  Once this was done we reattached the exhaust with duct tape and turned the dryer back on.  We then went back outside and pulled the fuzz that came out of the pipe and ran our brush back through the pipe one more time.  

This really is very simple it just takes a little time.  

We probably do this every 6 months or so.  Please consider doing this if you have not.  

Oh yea, remember to clean that lint trap after every load!!!

​To learn more about clothes dryer maintanence and safety go to FEMA's web site at https://www.usfa.fema.gov/prevention/outreach/clothes_dryers.html

The entryway is the first thing your guests see when they enter you home.  I like to make an impression here.  I use the same garland that I use throughout the house.  I run the garland from the balcony to the floor.  This is very time consuming and very heavy.  I use extra large plastic ties to keep it on the rails.  I also use three per side.  As each side is 3 pieces of garland I separate it into two pieces so that they can be plug into separate outlets and it also makes it much easier to handle.  I also have one of my three life size Santa's in the entryway.  There will eventually be a Christmas tree in the middle but we don't put that tree up until the day after Thanksgiving.  The only thing that I leave until that late. 

The holiday decorating is coming along.  I like to have a few surprises in my decorating.  This year I thought that elves would be the thing.  I have sprinkled elves  throughout the living area.  My husband never even noticed them.  Not saying they were hard to find, they were right our at eye level, just saying he may be a little blind.  This wasn't hard to do.  I wanted to attach them to the poles in the living room and put another one somewhere you wouldn't expect it.  I first tied fishing line around the top of the pole, where there are rings, then I positioned my elf and tied the fishing line around him and secured to the pole.  It was surprisingly easy to get him the way I wanted.  The one on the light was just as easy.  Because this light had a wide top I let him sit on the light and just tied him to the cord that comes down.  A note on the elf at the light, never leave the light on for extended periods of time or when no one is home.  I wouldn't want to take the chance that it would start a fire.  #thebellyoftheem

I feel like I am behind in decorating already.  I lost 2 days to an ear infection that kept me from doing anything.  Now that that is better I have decorated the two fireplaces.  I love these garlands that I use but they can be a pain.  the lights were not working on one of the garlands so I had to take the old lights off and restring new lights.  I just did this a couple of years ago so I should not have had to redo them again, but what can you do.  I also added a few touches to the mantels.  A Santa on each and some light up presents on one and light up trees on the others.  Very full but not over done I think.  

I still have so much to do.  I will be tackling the banisters and the balcony next.  The balcony is the hardest as the garland is the heaviest and largest to work with.  

November 1st is here and in my book that means the start of the holiday season.  Retail stores have been loading up on holiday decorations for some time now, so now it's my turn.  Today I started!  I am starting slow as I always do (ok, not always).  My husband does not like this happening this early.  I am betting he won't even notice what I did today.  Tomorrow will be a different matter.  

I thought I would start in the kitchen.  I have high ceilings and even with the over-sized cabinets there is still plenty of room above them for some decorating.  This year I have had to switch where I normally place my large garland and I thought this would be a great place for some garland.  It will even give off a little light (that is the best part).

I put the lights on a timer so they will come on automatically each evening (and morning).