Thanks for all the replies....the voltage discussion was a welcome piece of humor to my morning 
I'm comfortable around 120VAC, no worries there. I've been tickled enough to know how to be safe, and yes, it's for girliemen, and I'm a girlieman when it comes to voltage, I'll admit it. 120VAC is as high as I go. I've been wanting to build a nixie clock for a long time and the voltage is keeping me away. Something about 180V and DC that doesn't sit well with me.
And you know, I thought of that charger power supply idea and I wouldn't have to hack up the power supply. The current here is tiny, so I could just get a female plug at the hardware store, put it on a piece of lamp cord, and attach the other end of the lamp cord to what I want to monitor. Then when that 120VAC is on, so's the plug. Then I just plug in the 5V wall wart and attach the other end (I'd chop that off, but's 5V) to my pin.
That windings idea is neat though, and virtually free. I'll have to check that out THANKS!