Handbook to Life. Air duct Cleaning.

Sometimes I feel like I need a handbook to life. I mean the practical aspects of life. (I just had flashforward of someone giving in a talk at church, "I read this woman's blog saying she needs a handbook to life and I thought---the scriptures! That's what you need!" Yes, I know. And I do need them.)

I was speaking about the more mundane aspects of life. Like cleaning.

I'm good at doing what needs to be done, once I know what needs to be done. For instance . . . because of some questionable (and we think illegal) smoking habits of our neighbors, I've been annoyed (alarmed, etc.) by the fact that some second-hand smoke was wafting into our house. You know, the place where my children breathe. So the neighbors finally moved away and I decided we needed to have the air ducts in our house cleaned out. COIT came with their mighty vacuums.

I learned all sorts of things when I did this, some of which I wish I didn't know concerning just what possible yuck can be hiding in a furnace or air conditioning unit. The yuck we found is now gone. In it's place is left the residual Mom Guilt that I didn't know to get the yuck out sooner.

So, for the three people that actually read this blog (thank you, you are so devoted), here are my two cents about what I learned.

1. When you run our air conditioner or furnace, the air goes through the AC or furnace. If the AC/furnace is dirty inside, the air will be dirty when it comes out. I knew that before, but now I understand why.

2. Before we move into a new place in the future, one of the first questions I will ask will be "Has a smoker of legal or illegal anything ever lived here?" If the answer is "yes", we will walk away and find someplace else to live.

3. Before we move into a new place I will ask when the last time the air ducts were cleaned out. If I'm met with a blank look, I will ask if anything has ever happened to make this necessary. I'm not sure that ducts always need to be cleaned out (it's debatable by the EPA), but I want to make sure there's no yuck there.

4. Air conditioner filters should be changed every three months. Good thing Eric knew this one because he's been changing them---I'm so lucky he's so clever.

5. If there's a stinky smell coming from the furnace or air conditioner, this isn't just house smell. It's yuck. Get it out.

6. Getting air ducts cleaned out was WTM to me because it's good to have all that stuff out.

There. Now you know more than I knew up until yesterday. Now you know.

And knowing is . . . well . . . you know. (Thank you, GI Joe.)