Category Archives: Our House

How to Clean with a Moderately Severe Dust Allergy

I’m allergic to dust. Yes, you read that properly, dust. Everyday house dust. (Read post 1 and 2 about this allergy.) As you can imagine, this makes things very complicated. Doctor’s orders say I’m supposed to stay away from dust, especially airborne dust, which also means keeping my house as dust free as possible. Do you see the catch?

Cleaning is very complicated due to the dust issues. First of all, let me emphasize the importance of good air filters if you have a dust allergy or sensitivity. Air filters are CRUCIAL!!! They are also necessary when cleaning. airfilterI have two different types of air filters, three filter units total. I have two Winix True HEPA filters, and love them. After we got them, we cleaned thoroughly, and it took significantly less time for a dust layer to accumulate. They also automatically sense air quality and will adjust the fan speed as necessary (if on “auto”) and can be put on a quiet “sleep” mode for overnight. We have one Winix on the main level of our house, and one in our bedroom. We also have a small Holmes HEPA mini-tower air purifier (I bought it from Target about 5 years ago). We buy the best filters we can for the Holmes, and it runs 24/7 in the office. All the air filters run 24/7. I’m not getting anything for these links, but these are the ones we use and I definitely recommend the Winix ones.

How to Clean and Dust Your House When You’re Allergic to House Dust

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The Space to Write

When talking about where and how I write, my answer is really two-fold: what I do now, and what I want to do sometimes in the near future.

Currently, I write on my couch. I either sit or lie on the end next to my plants, or I sit on the chaise. I have to be comfortable. Well, I prefer to be comfortable. Right now I spend so much time in doctors’ waiting rooms that I’ve gotten quite good at writing just about anywhere.

couch

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October Update: Post-op, Chronics, Life

I had my post-op on October 6th, so a while ago now. Oh wow, time flies. I’m sorry I haven’t had a chance to update those of you that have been reading all of the surgery updates, school has been extremely time consuming (more on that later).

Nervous

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Just Keep Going and Going and Going: How I Wish I Could Do My Housework

Dan and I are working on some house stuff this weekend! We spent pretty much all day Friday and most of Saturday running errands… We got doors for the shelf unit that is holding the overflow kitchen stuff, because it’s been driving me nuts with how cluttered it looks (since it’s a functional shelf, not a pretty shelf). We also got wall shelving for the office and bedroom (the kind with the metal tracks on the wall that make adjusting shelf height really simple), figured out which air filter we would like to get (and noticed that we have a 20% off coupon for it, thankfully), found a tower fan we like, found a container for wallets and keys, new and low flow toilets for the upstairs bathrooms, and other such things. We’ve been cleaning and organizing the house, which is why we knew some of what we needed.

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The Heat of Summer

I live in Colorado, the Denver area. People around here tend to rate how hot summers are based on how many days get over 90°F, so it doesn’t get very hot here. Before the POTS, I thought this heat was absolutely nothing. My car doesn’t have A/C (and hasn’t since before I got my license), and the apartment I lived in with Dan was my only residence in CO with A/C (the house before that had a swamp cooler, but it didn’t work too terribly well). So yeah, my house doesn’t have A/C.

I also want to replace the blinds with blackout curtains

I also want to replace the blinds with blackout curtains

My house, a townhouse, is oriented north to south (front door north, back is south). Well, the north side stays cool, well, cooler. But the south side gets HOT. We have a window in the kitchen, one in the powder room, one in the office, technically two in the master but they are connected to form one giant window, two venting skylights in the master bedroom, and a sliding glass door. Continue reading →

My Little Piece of Home

Like I’d mentioned on “Busy Bee,” Dan and I own our own townhouse!

First Anniversary and Our House

It’s fantastic having a place to come home to and realizing that you own it 🙂 Every time I think about it, and really let it sink in, I’m just in awe. I realize that my life can be really crappy sometimes, thanks to all the stupid stuff going on in my body, but fully realizing that I own a house reminds me that my life is also pretty amazing!

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