Sometimes it doesn't take a big remodeling project to make your house or home nicer. Some of my favorite "improvements" are very inexpensive items. When I first moved here, it was before the electrical service in the area had been upgraded and hot days or rainy weather often resulted in our electricity going off unexpectedly. I found some "emergency" lights that plug into a wall socket, they can be used as a flashlight, but what I like best, is that they automatically come on when the power goes off.

Since then some of the original ones have mysteriously disappeared, which could probably be traced to a couple of children that live in my house playing hide and go seek with them. I have found a much better version to replace them with. This is one neat gadget. It is a battery recharger <holds two double A batteries>, an emergency light, a flashlight and best of all, an auto on/off nightlight. Believe it or not, this little gem didn't cost a bundle of money, I found them at our local Wally World <Wal-mart> for about 12 dollars each. I figure just one time of them coming on while you are in the shower when the lights go off is worth 12 bucks <g>. I have one in every room and in the hallway leading to the kid's bedrooms.

Although I am a grownup, and have been for a few years <g>, I still like having nightlights on throughout the house. I got over my fear of sleeping in the dark a few years ago, and actually don't sleep well if there is too much light in the house. But, having one in the bathroom, is a lifesaver at night.

I also found out, and I am still not sure why my mind made this intuitive leap, that in a pinch, you can use them to check an electrical outlet for power. When my kitchen was being remodeled, the plumber installing the dishwasher needed to have the power to the electrical box for the dishwasher shut off. The circuit box out in the garage is not very well marked, some very ancient pencil scribblings don't help much when you need to be sure you have shut the power off to a particular circuit. I took one of the emergency lights, turned it to the auto setting, which makes it only come on if there is NO power at the outlet. I then plugged it into the outlet for the dishwasher, and told the plumber to let me know when the light came ON! I then went out to the garage and turned off the circuits with pencil scribblings that could possibly mean "dishwasher". Bingo, the light came on and we knew it was safe for the plumber to disconnect the electrical box so the new dishwasher could be hardwired to the circuit. (The old dishwasher had a plug, the new one was designed to be connected straight to the electrical wires.)

I have also found the emergency lights useful in figuring out when the GFI in the bathroom has been tripped, but that would have to be a whole 'nother story.....