When we were planning our house with the architect we got to the stage where we picked out locations of all the light switches. My husband and I thought about how we might enter spaces, which lights we envisioned having and from there we got a map of the house lighting plan. At the time our builder told us not to worry too much about it because everything would change when we got into the framed house and saw things in three-dimensions.
He was right, we changed a lot of things once we were walking around the wooden framed house. We moved switches, decided what needed to be three-way circuits so the lights could be turned on and off from more than one location and eliminated some things we realized we didn’t need. We had this one place—one large place—we decided we needed a four-way switch.
Our builder told us it was rarely done but I was certain we’d have definite needs to turn on or off the upper hall lights from each end of the hall, the top of the stairs that arrives in the middle of that long hall and the bottom of those same stairs on the floor below.
So, how many of those switches do we actually use? There are two of them we use regularly and those two are at the top of one flight of stairs and at the bottom of a second flight of stairs. If that gives you any indication on how far apart these four switches that control the same six lights are, then let me tell you why it annoys me so.
I will start off by saying I’m particular about some things—well, a lot of things. With the light switches I think up should be on and down should be off. This is fine and always works with a single switch, but throw in two switches in the same circuit and you can get them out of whack. Turn up on one switch to turn the light on. Go to the second switch and flip the switch up and the light goes back off. Now you have two switches in the up position but the light is off. And this bothers me.
Now imagine four switches across two floors and a long hallway and me going from switch to switch so I can turn off the one switch that’s currently in the up position. Any of the other three switches would have worked, but no, I have to find the right one.
The only thing that ameliorates the frustration from having to find the right switch is the relief I feel when I do find it, knowing that all four switches are properly in the down position. Next time, there will be no damn four-way switches though.
The Big Boy Update: This morning on the way to school my son said, “I smell pink”. I sat there and listened to my daughter ask him what pink smelled like. He answered, “I smell pink and it smells so princessy”.
The Tiny Girl Chronicles: While in Detroit my daughter was carrying around a small stuffed turtle in her hands. This turtle has a name, but at that point she decided to rename her turtle to, “Turdy”. She then decided to call out “Turdy, Turdy” repeatedly…in public. I smiled my mother smile and we went on as if it didn’t sound like she’d named her turtle something that sounds like a toilet word.
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