A Queen Size Air Mattress Can Come in Handy

My wife and I like to travel as often as possible, and we have found that there are certain must-haves whenever we decide to leave town. We always take a fan with us, in case there are none in the hotel or bed and breakfast where we stay. We always bring plenty of drinking water in case the tap water is not any good, and we always make sure to bring our queen size air mattress. The reality is that this has come in handy on more occasions than I can remember, and I would never leave home without it.

One of the first things that my wife and I noticed about the queen size air mattress was how firm and comfortable it was. We both expected for it to sag, or pop, but it really doesn't. I spent about $50 on it when I originally bought it, and had some terrible misgivings about the thing as soon as I left the store. All it took was one night of sleeping on it, however, for me to realize that this was a great investment and would probably be useful for years to come. It has definitely proved to be just that.

The first time that the queen size air mattress really came in handy was when we were on a trip with another couple in the mountains. We were staying in a beautiful log cabin with great amenities, but the beds in each of the cabins were terribly uncomfortable. The other couple we were staying with said they were not sure they were going to be able to sleep through the night, and they opted to sleep on the couch and a chair. Fortunately, my wife and I had the queen size air mattress with us, and we slept like babies on that the three days we were there.

On another occasion two years ago, we were having a family reunion and had a number of people show up that we did not expect to be there. Never ones to turn anyone away, we managed to make sleeping arrangements for everyone who did not already have a place to sleep except for my cousin and his wife. That was when we remembered the queen size air mattress and aired it up for them. Both of them commented the next day on how comfortable it was and how grateful they were that we had it.

A queen size air mattress can really come in handy. It is not something that most of us would think about as a must-have on a trip, but my wife and I bring it with us wherever we go these days.

The Summer Window Air Conditioning Units Saved People's Lives

I live in the great state of Texas, and to say that summers get hot here would be a massive understatement. In my community, most of us have central heat and air conditioning, which works out very well for everyone involved, because it allows us to keep the temperatures inside our house at a cool and constant temperature. There was an occasion, however, about three years ago when I had to loan out about four window air conditioning units, and in hindsight, those units may have saved some lives.

Through a bizarre turn of events, we had five neighbors have their air conditioning systems go out over the summer a few years back. One of them was fairly old and just finally gave out. Two others had been vandalized. A fourth had just been fixed, but evidently had not been repaired properly and would not cool at all. I can't remember what happened to the fifth neighbor's air conditioning system, but he, too, was trying to endure 100 degree temperatures without air conditioning. That is not the smartest thing to do. None of them had window air conditioning units, either.

The worst part about it all was that they all refused to get a hotel until their air conditioning was fixed. They all said that they were going to tough it out. I had seen a few stories on the news recently about people who had died from the heat because they did not have air conditioning, and I certainly was not going to run the risk of that happening when I could help. My father had worked in air conditioning and heating for a number of years, and I probably had about a dozen window air conditioning units in my garage that were in perfect running order.

I contacted each one of the neighbors and pretty much insisted that I bring them over to their house and put them in. Predictably enough, they did not require much convincing. I encouraged them to stay in the room where the window air conditioning units were located for the next few nights until their systems were repaired, and to shut all of the other doors beside the ones to that room. Within an hour, they all had a cool room where they could escape, and I had some very grateful neighbors.

Once their systems were fixed, they all gave me back my window air conditioning units and thanked me profusely. I am not sure if those units saved their lives or not, but I was not going to run the risk of hearing about one of them on the news when I could do something to help.

I Often Use White Vinegar For Cleaning

My wife and I are pretty big on keeping our house clean and spotless. It is not to the point where people are not comfortable coming over, but we don't like for it to get messy or grimy. We have gone through an assortment of cleaners over the years, and while I use certain products for certain jobs, I use white vinegar for cleaning on a regular basis. It is something that has consistently done the job for me over the years and I have no intention of ever going away from it.

The best part about using white vinegar for cleaning is that it can clean and deodorize almost anything. It was one of the first things that my grandmother ever taught me about cleaning. She said that there were all kinds of products on the market to clean with, and many of them were good, but she said to always make sure that I had a bottle of white vinegar and a box of baking soda, as those had been used to clean for years and had always worked like a charm for her.

The first project I decided to use white vinegar for cleaning on was my kitchen sinks. They had a tendency to get a really foul smell after a couple of months, and even though I would do everything I could to prevent food from going down the train and water from sitting in the sink, it did not seem to matter. I decided to do something I had read in a magazine, which was to pour a cup of white vinegar down each drain and not to run the water in the sink for an hour. I did that, and it took care of the problem immediately. Now, I make it a point to to that each month.

Another project I decided to use white vinegar for cleaning on was two rust stains I had on my front porch. These had developed because I rather stupidly decided to water two of my Boston ferns out on the front porch one day, only to find that they had left two big rust stains on the porch. I had some rust remover, but it was designed to remove rust from metal, and I did not know how it would effect the cement of the porch. My mother suggested using the white vinegar, and that did the trick. The rust was gone after just a few applications.

Using white vinegar for cleaning is something I have done for years now, and will likely continue to do for the rest of my life. It has worked well for me over the years and I have no plans to stop using it any time soon.