Twice every year it happens. When they didn't show up last fall, I thought they must've given up or...something.
I was wrong.
My tiny black friends are back.
Kylie thinks they're friends. She catches them, feeds them, and lets them crawl on her arms.
Julia screams "Bug! Bug!" and runs away.
And I kill them by the thousands.
I have become a very experienced ant exterminator. My best weapon? The dishwasher. Simply let the chocolate milk and apple juice drip from the plastic cups on the top rack and wait til supper time. Open the door and, ta-da!, thousands of ants merrily giving themselves major sugar highs, oblivious to the danger. Finish filling the dishwasher, dump in soap, close the door, and push two small buttons. Rejoice that it is so easy to kill so many tiny little creatures with no dangerous chemicals. And if you need to get rid of some frustration, smash all the escaping ants running out the steam vent they climbed into in the first place. Only problem: tiny ant body parts plastered to the inside of my cups. Hmmm... Rewash?
I've learned some valuable lessons:
-Ants can crawl into the tiny holes of a sippy cup, through the plastic thing that makes them not spill and have a apple juice pool party.
-Ants LOVE ham. Eat ham for Easter, drop a piece on the floor, and take a two hour nap. See how many you can attract.
-Ants also love monster cookies. This was the last straw! Don't mess with my chocolate!
Here's my dilemma. I need to kill enough ants to keep them out of my food. But I can't kill them all because the termite guy said the termites weren't in our house because they were having underground battles with the ants and the ants were winning. I'd rather fight over my chocolate with ants than have termites eating my walls. So I need a (dangerous-chemical free) way to kill my sugar-stealing invaders without letting in the termites or poisoning my children.
Ideas?
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Jane Austen by Peter Leithart
I love Jane Austen. Books. Movies. I’m not picky. So when given the opportunity to review a book about her life, I was excited! Jane Austen by Peter Leithart is an extremely detailed biography of Jane’s life from childhood through death. I enjoyed reading her letters, written in the same style as her books.
Although I learned many facts about Jane, I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. Maybe I’m not so much a fanatic about Jane Austen as I am about her books. Leithart wrote in college-essay type prose, crafting a book filled with information. I would loved to have learned about Jane in a more lighthearted way. I was overwhelmed with dates, names, times, and places that are unfamiliar to me. I had a hard time keeping them straight.
Also, the description of the book led me to believe that the emphasis was on how Jane’s faith influenced her writing. I found very little about this subject in the book.
If you’re looking for a thorough, intellectual account of Jane Austen’s life, read this book. You’ll gain insight into the influences that shaped her life and writing. If you are looking for a lighthearted reading, stick to Pride and Prejudice.
I wrote this review as part of Thomas Nelson’s booksneeze.com book review blogger program.
Although I learned many facts about Jane, I have to admit, I was a bit disappointed. Maybe I’m not so much a fanatic about Jane Austen as I am about her books. Leithart wrote in college-essay type prose, crafting a book filled with information. I would loved to have learned about Jane in a more lighthearted way. I was overwhelmed with dates, names, times, and places that are unfamiliar to me. I had a hard time keeping them straight.
Also, the description of the book led me to believe that the emphasis was on how Jane’s faith influenced her writing. I found very little about this subject in the book.
If you’re looking for a thorough, intellectual account of Jane Austen’s life, read this book. You’ll gain insight into the influences that shaped her life and writing. If you are looking for a lighthearted reading, stick to Pride and Prejudice.
I wrote this review as part of Thomas Nelson’s booksneeze.com book review blogger program.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Swimming lessons
If you need a laugh, just come visit me on Wednesday night. Ethan and Kylie started swimming lessons last night, and I spent 40 minutes watching while feeding Ava. Wow! Funny! Who knew swimming lessons could be so entertaining.
Kylie was in a group of 5 girls - all who seemed to share Kylie's fun-loving, talkative personality. Their teacher - get this - was a 19 (?) year old boy! Ha ha! =) He spent the entire time saying things like, "That's nice. Now we're going to try this." And, "Come back this way please." I wish you could've seen it. Those little girls swarmed around him chatting and laughing in constant motion. They flopped and spun like uncoordinated underwater ballerinas. He wiped his eyes and grinned this small little grin that seemed to say, "Thank God this only lasts 40 minutes." What else was the poor man supposed to do with countleess Mommy (and even Grandma) eyes on him. If I had an 18 year old sister....
Ok, then Ethan was in a group of five boys. Boys are so different. They had a college aged girl teaching them. And they wanted to prove thier manliness. At one point, their teacher asked them to jump in to her and then she would help them swim out to a marker, turn around, and swim back to the side. So the first little boy jumped in to the teacher, she put her arms under him, and he swam to the marker. He clung to it for dear life for a second. They he took off back towards the side with her arms under him again. Then it was Ethan's turn. He's SO independant! I could just see him thinking, "Well, I can do THAT myself." He jumped in past the teacher, almost all the way to the marker and then turned around by himself and raced back to the side. The teacher was still wiping water out of her eyes as he climbed back to the edge. And it was ON. Those little boys jumped as far and swam as fast as they could. Although, I have to say, I didn't see any go as far or as fast as Ethan. Ok, I might be a little biased. =)
TOO FUNNY!!! I can't wait for next week.
Kylie was in a group of 5 girls - all who seemed to share Kylie's fun-loving, talkative personality. Their teacher - get this - was a 19 (?) year old boy! Ha ha! =) He spent the entire time saying things like, "That's nice. Now we're going to try this." And, "Come back this way please." I wish you could've seen it. Those little girls swarmed around him chatting and laughing in constant motion. They flopped and spun like uncoordinated underwater ballerinas. He wiped his eyes and grinned this small little grin that seemed to say, "Thank God this only lasts 40 minutes." What else was the poor man supposed to do with countleess Mommy (and even Grandma) eyes on him. If I had an 18 year old sister....
Ok, then Ethan was in a group of five boys. Boys are so different. They had a college aged girl teaching them. And they wanted to prove thier manliness. At one point, their teacher asked them to jump in to her and then she would help them swim out to a marker, turn around, and swim back to the side. So the first little boy jumped in to the teacher, she put her arms under him, and he swam to the marker. He clung to it for dear life for a second. They he took off back towards the side with her arms under him again. Then it was Ethan's turn. He's SO independant! I could just see him thinking, "Well, I can do THAT myself." He jumped in past the teacher, almost all the way to the marker and then turned around by himself and raced back to the side. The teacher was still wiping water out of her eyes as he climbed back to the edge. And it was ON. Those little boys jumped as far and swam as fast as they could. Although, I have to say, I didn't see any go as far or as fast as Ethan. Ok, I might be a little biased. =)
TOO FUNNY!!! I can't wait for next week.
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