I Go Girl

Since we bought our condo new, it came with many builder's grade items, a.k.a. "crap". One of the first things we decided we would upgrade was the lighting in the kitchen. We have lived here for 5 years...guess what we JUST did this weekend!
I really like doing home improvent projects myself...great sense of accomplishment, money savings, and usually better results. I looked on as Tim installed the pendant light over the sink...but when it came time to install the new track light at the VERY HIGHEST point in our condo (about 14 feet), I decided I wanted a piece of the action.
Don't ask me why, but we only invested in a 6 foot ladder...you'd think with 14 foot ceilings we would have gotten something bigger. So, when it came time to work on the track lighting, we had a bit of a predicament. We solved this problem by propping the ladder up on the 4 dining room chairs. We also inserted planks of wood under the ladder legs to steady it...it still wasn't steady enough, so we also inserted 2 of lorelai's sesame street books under the legs. OSHA would have been proud, huh?
Once our ladder was "properly" rigged, I stepped up on it with the intent of doing a good chunk of the work.
I made it half way up and new there was NO way I could go up any further. It's one thing to stand on a shaking ladder, but to stand up on a shaking ladder on the step that says "this is not a step" AND have to use both your hands to work on something over your head (without hanging on) is a completely different thing.
Ugh! Defeat!
Here is Tim being his typical hero self:

And, just to toot Tim's horn even more, there was actually a point when he stood on the very top of that ladder. Why he never had a stint in the circus is beyond me.
Once we got the new lights installed, we spent 10 minutes going back and forth about how each of the 4 lights on the track should be aimed. I have to admit, it is great to finally have some light cast on our dining room table! Our lighting situation was so shoddy that guests actually started making comments, such as, "I have some lamps in my basement...would you like them?" So, I was geeked to finally have a nice bright fixture!
Tim's respone?
"I had a feeling these lights would be too bright...we need to install a dimmer switch."
Is there any kind of test you can take to see if you are part vampire?
Anyway, regardless of my inability to agree with Tim, I was on board with the dimmer switch idea because I will not say no to ANY kind of home upgrade we can possibly do. We picked up the dimmer switch that evening at Lowe's. It looks quite a bit like this one:

While Tim was out of town last night, the bag from Lowe's with the dimmer switch in it caught my eye. "Hmm...I bet I could install that!"
For the record, I have never attempted any electrical work solo and have minimal training. I figured I'd take a look at the directions to see how in depth the installation would be...and when I saw that they were pretty much on the skill level of a chimpanzee, I dove right in. After Lorelai went to bed, I cut power to the kitchen and got to work. I will admit that for the first 10 minutes, I was really nervous that I'd get electrocuted...but in the end I just told myself that even if I did get zapped, it would happen so fast that I wouldn't even have time to react.
I'm still not sure why that was comforting.
Anyway, we now have a brand new dimmer switch that works perfectly!
I also have a bit more girl power.