Janade

For my daughter's wedding, we have purchased some can lights that were relatively inexpensive. The store said that they recommended PAR20 50 watt bulbs (floodlights) for them. We need pink lights and, in looking online, I found that the PAR20 are the halogen lights (and more expensive). I've also found R20 (incandescent) 50 watt bulbs (also in pink) and they are half the price. I understand that the only difference in these bulbs are the fact that the halogen bulb gives has a clear white light (before it goes through the pink glass of the bulb) and it's twice the lumans (and can be used outdoors – which is not a factor in our situation). My only concern is if the yellow cast that an incandescent light normally has would "taint" the pink at all -- and if the incandescent lights would be bright enough for our purpose (uplighting). We don't want these lights to be super bright (as it will be an evening dinner/dancing reception), but we want them bright enough to be noticeable and be pretty. Any thoughts?

We live in an area where swamp coolers (evaporative coolers) are used. The water line that goes to the cooler taps into the incoming cold water line that feeds into the water heater. We had a "self-tapping" part that appeared to be fine, but a week after hookup, we found a small leak at the self-tapping valve and water was spraying everywhere. Turned the water to the water heater off, turned the water heater off, and turned the water to the house off -- called the plumber.

The plumber replaced that part with a permanent valve. He turned everything back on and we have no leaks, the water heater is heating water, the swamp cooler is working, the fan is drying out the utility closet. HOWEVER -- I noticed today that when I touched the incoming cold water line (which has been cool every other time I've ever touched it) it is now hot -- all the way to the wall (feels just the same as the hot water line that leaves the water heater).

Is that normal? Does it matter?

We're trying to start up the evaporative cooler -- first time we've started it up ourselves. We watched the plumber start it up last year and we did some research, so we felt fairly confident. Everything is clean, pads are in, pump is plugged in and we hooked up the water line on both ends (to the cooler and where it attaches near the water heater). However, only a few drops of water came out of the line into the cooler pan.

Any idea why the water is not flowing? Oh -- the float is in the right position to allow for water to turn on, so that is not the problem.

We bought a 10 year old house with horrible garage. It looks like the old owners poured oil onto the floor and let it soak into the concrete. We have large (3'x8') areas of stains of these types. We have tried the following, with no success: 1) Powerwashing with Krud Cutter degreaser 2) Scrubbing by hand with Oil Eaters oil remover/degreaser 3) Cleaning with 1 part muriatic acid, 3 parts water, scrubbing, then rinsing. After the muriatic acid cleaning, things looked good, for about a day. Then the oil from deep within the concrete migrated to the top again, so the stains look just as they did before. I then tried 4) Pour n' Restore (cost a fortune, did nothing), and 5) Oil Eater again, this time poured on full strength, scrubbed well, covered with plastic, and allowed to soak in for 90 minutes, then poured boiling water on that, scrubbed well again, and pressure washed/rinsing. Again, looked good for about a day, then back to normal. We want to epoxy, so the oil has to come out!

We purchased a pre-owned home that needed a LOT of work -- more work than we imagined, which meant more money than we had figured. We have done much of the work ourselves and the house is being transformed into our home -- which we love. The house has a Mediterranean/Italian style for the most part -- and I thought it would be fun to give our house an Italian name (and get a plaque to put in our entryway with that name on it). I wanted something that reflected the fact that buying the house may have been a mistake in the beginning, but now it is beautiful.

I was thinking something like "Beautiful Folly"

Could an Italian speaker give me the translation for that phrase – or if there is another phrase that would have a similar meaning and/or convey the story that would work/sound better – I'm up for suggestions!

Thanks!

- Jana

My husband was expected to buy lunch for clients and buy some office supplies for his office (at work). He submitted forms to be reimbursed for these expenses and his employer did pay him back. However, we got his W-2 and all of that reimbursed money is now showing up as INCOME on his W2. So, his W2 shows that his income is actually $2500 MORE than he actually made last year.

What can we do about this? Is there a place on the tax return where we can deduct these expenses? We were under the impression that since he had to put that money out for business related stuff, when he was reimbursed that was considered "even." That is, they would not show that money as EXTRA wages (which it really wasn't -- it was just reimbursement for stuff they had him buy for the company).

The company is saying that the W2 stands, as they show they cut him checks for that amount last year (whether it was salary or reimbursements).

We bought a house about a year ago and noticed that whenever someone showers upstairs in the morning, there is a knocking that sounds like its coming from the wall/ceiling area below the bathroom, downstairs. It starts off fairly loud and fast, and then slows down and gets quieter after a few minutes, finally stopping altogether. Subsequent showers that morning do not cause it to make the same sound (unless someone showers in the evening -- then it does it again).

We did replace the fixtures in that shower before we moved in. As we never used the shower before we moved in, we don't know if it made that sound before then or not. There is a small access panel in the next room and I can reach the back portion of the on/off faucet, a small portion of the pipe that leads up to the showerhead, and a small area of the pipes that lead downstairs. For reference, these are poly pipes, but the plumber spliced in apex for that small portion when he installed the fixtures. Any ideas/solutions?

A few weeks ago, my radiator started leaking badly while on a road trip. We took our 2000 Mazda MPV to the dealer, who replaced the radiator and thermostat (we felt pretty comfortable with that, as they confimed an earlier opinion from PepBoys). We picked up the car and drove it home on the highway with no problems. However, once I got home and started driving around town, I noticed that the car would occasionally "hiccup" while stopped at lights -- just a second of rough running and then back to normal. This would happen more frequently when the car was cold, and it would stop if I put the car into park or neutral. It has been getting progressively worse, and I noticed it for the first time while driving up a hill yesterday (chugged along roughly the entire time we climbed). As this wasn't doing this before the radiator replacement, I'm wondering if the dealer could have disconnected something by accident? Any ideas on what it could be?

I'm making some throw pillows and I wanted to use up some extra home decor fabric that is 54" wide (on the bolt) and 3" long -- so I figured it was just about enough to cover the cording for one or two pillows. However, everything I am reading says that I have to cut the cording fabric on the bias. Obviously, with only three inches to work with -- I don't have enough to cut it on the bias (or I would end up with a gazillion seams in the cording, which is not cool).

WHY do I have to cut the fabric for my cording on the bias? What would happen if I didn't? (I don't want to buy more fabric for the cording (trying to be frugal). I asked a woman working at my local fabric store and she said something about needing stretch and also so that it did not shrink and pucker when I washed my pillow coverings. However, I have already washed all of this fabric, so why would it shrink? And why do I need stretch when I cover the cording?

I'm planning on buying some fabric Roman shades for our kitchen. Two of the windows are odd/large sizes, so we are getting custom shades. However, with the window over the sink, I can buy a stock shade to fit the width for a lot cheaper. However, the shade is 64" long when my window is only 34" long. Has anyone had experience with altering a too-long Roman shade? I just did not know if it could be done, as they raise from the bottom up.

I would like to transform a rather boring planting bed that lies beneath my front room windows and raise it up about a foot with a small retaining wall. However, that would mean I would have about a foot depth of new soil that would then be against the house. Would that damage the house in anyway? (We have a stucco exterior).

My front yard has about a 3-4 foot slope from house to street. The old owners put in a couple of trees and planting beds, but nothing of real interest. I would like to add a partial retaining wall about halfway down to create some "flow" and interest. Problem is, there is a 10-year-old ornamental plum tree about where I want to put the wall. My preference would be to place the wall about 2 feet in front of the plum tree, but then I would need to backfill with soil (basically building up the soil around the tree by about a foot). Will that damage the tree?

We adopted a cat from the pound who ended up having an upper respiratory infection. Long story short: we have made many visits to the vet. Cat went downhill and vet started once a day antibiotic shots and pills for congestion for five days (in addition to the sudafed and benadryl he told me to give him earlier). He then stopped eating and drinking. Vet said it was due to congestion. He said the cat did not appear dehydrated, but he gave me a bag of saline, showing me how to administer sub-cutaneous fluid. Also gave me a syringe and some food, telling me I could force feed the cat if I wanted. We did this for one day and the cat perked up. Who knows if due to meds, fluids, or because illness is clearing up? However, he is still not eating/drinking on his own. Congestion is pretty much gone. He seems energetic and alert, but I can't seem to tempt him with any type of food (he seems interested, but only licks it sometimes and then ignores it. Last shot was today. Should I be concerned?

We have a few more remodeling jobs to finish in our pre-owned, new home. I just got a full time job -- so we now have the money to hire someone to do the master bathroom. However, I'm a bit baffled by the logistics.

If both my husband and I are working full time -- do we just give the keys to the contractor and let him handle things? We are both a bit leery to just let strangers have access to our home and to do work when we are not here to supervise and make sure things are done to our specifications.

We only have one working shower (as the other bathroom is being remodeled). My husband slipped in the "working" shower/tub last night & grabbed the soap dish (which was attached to the tile wall). It came off & he found that it had never really fit, as it was bigger than the opening in the tile. They had just attached the thing over drywall (yes, no backerboard in this shower/tub) & then they had heavily motared & caulked around it.

The drywall behind the soap dish is slightly damp (there was a bit of mold on the paper, which we cleaned/killed with a bleach solution, but most of the drywall paper came off. The drywall is not at all spongy or mushy.

I need a quick fix here, as we can't remodel this bathroom for 6-12 months. We must have a shower in the meantime (and the other one won't be done for another 2-3 months). I would like to put some replacement tile in this spot for now. Can I just tape/skim coat over the drywall, then tile? More stress, guests are coming tomorrow.

I got a prescription for bifocals about a year ago. At that point, I could see the computer screen with no problem through the top of my glasses. However, in the past few months, I've caught myself tilting my head up so that I can look through the bottom of my bifocals to see the computer screen.

My mother suggested that I get reading glasses to do my computer work (as that is what she does). However, when I went to the store, I had trouble finding any that made things clear.

The bottom part of my bifocals seem to be just right. So how can I match that up to a pair of reading glasses? My prescription has the following information:

DV OD Spherical -250/Cylindrical -075/Axis 011

DV OS Spherical -100/Cylindrical -125/Axis 125

NV +150 (written at an angle to cover both OD and OS)

Does that mean I should get reading glasses at 1.5 strength?

I was watching some show on HGTV weeks ago (can't remember which one now), and as part of the re-decorating/organizing, they put in a filing cabinet that looked like old leather luggage. I thought it was great and I have been looking for something similar. The only things I can find so far are from homedecorators.com -- but their suitcase filing cabinets are more "square" and not exactly what I'm looking for. Anyone have an idea where else I can look? I've been all over the HGTV website and haven't been able to find information.

In the back of our new home, near the pool, we have a line of Italian Cypress. Apparently some have died over the years, as there are bare spots. We also have one tree that is totally dead that we need to take out. Currently we have five on one end and three on the other. Ideally, what I would like to do is to transplant one of the five trees and place it near the three trees (so we have an even look). However, these trees are probably 9-10 years old and about 12-13 feet high. Is this even possible (we could rent equipment to do it if needed, but prefer to do it ourselves). The althernate solution would be just to plant additional Italian Cypress to fill in the gaps -- however, we don't know if that would look strange -- to have small trees next to the larger trees (or how long they take to grow or if they would ever catch up to the others). Any suggestions?

We purchased a home this winter that had a 10-year-old plum tree in the front yard. When it got warmer and the tree began to leaf out, we discovered that the old owners had apparently planted some other bush/tree around the plum tree -- so from the ground up to three feet the foliage is green and then the purple plum tree foliage takes over. We just want the plum tree there (and to be able to see the trunk), so I pruned back the foliage on the interloper. However, I found that the trunks of this bush/tree are rather hefty (say 2-3 inches across) and, as they are right next to the plum tree, I'm afraid to dig up/pull up the roots, for fear that they have intertwined with the plum tree and will do some damage. How should I deal with this?

I recently bought a potted plant and, after putting it in my house, I now really notice a musty smell. It's like the smell of soil, but not as pleasant -- almost moldy smelling. The soil looks fine -- nothing appears to be growing on/in it. The plant appears to be thriving. I have not over-watered the plant. The smell is there even if the soil is pretty much dry. The smell is quite strong (I can smell it in my bedroom, even though the plant is downstairs in the entryway) What is causing this and is it healthy (for me or the plant?) Just wondering if I should take it back and get a new one.