Hugs the Bug Slayer

When we first moved into our humble new abode it was easy to see the spiderwebs in all of the corners of every room. It was also easy to see the giant spiders in all of the spiderwebs in all of the corners of every room. They reminded me of daddy-long-legs, but a smidge smaller. I call them sonny-long-legs.

The first Monday that we were here I declared war. I had a fuzzy duster and I went from room to room getting all of the webs down and whacking the spiders. Seriously, I whacked them with the duster. Usually I make Chicks do all of the spider murdering, but this was war! I suppose, as general of the household, I could have sent Chicks into spider combat but I wanted to intimidate the spiders into surrender.

The next day I found three more sonny-long-legs. The day after that I realized that about 1/3 of the spider webs had returned. So I pulled out the vacuum and extensions and sucked up the spiders and their webs.

I spent about a month killing at least one spider every day. It was hardcore.

They did get some revenge. I woke up one night with something biting my back. I had the welts to prove it. And there are spiders outdoors that make those gorgeous webs you see in pictures. I walked right into one of those webs one day.

The spiders seem to have retreated. They've sent in the troops though, the ant troops. The land lady mentioned that 'when it gets cold, there might be a few ants in the kitchen.' Turns out that she means if it gets below 60 there will be ants everywhere.

It started out with ants outside. The ant line honestly went around half of the property, from the front corner to the back corner. I mentioned this to her, she didn't care and muttered something about ants being good.

As it became colder, there was an ant here or there. I didn't like it, but put out the ant traps she left for us. Then I sprayed the perimeter of the house with spray she left us. I mean, I saw how many ants there were trooping across the driveway to get to the compost pile out back and I didn't want them marching their way in here.

Those ants are resourceful little buggers. As the temperature drops and rain appears, they get inside everywhere. This weekend I found some on the changing table and then realized that an entire line marched along the wall of the kids room. I vacuumed them up and put a trap in there with the door closed. However, there isn't a good place to leave the trap where the kids won't get it.

The next morning we woke to ants streaming out of the utility closet across the dining room. You probably are thinking that they found crumbs, but I've swept (with images of those ants in mind) and we followed them, they weren't getting food. One line meandered into the kitchen but didn't find anything in there even.


Then I walked back into our room and saw the ants on the floor there, wondering where they came from. Well, obviously the ceiling is the perfect place for ants to come in. We actually stuck sticky tack in that hole which helped for a little while.

This morning the ants were tracking from the closet (right past two ant traps) to underneath the couch. Once again, no crumbs so we don't know what they found interesting.

I'm giving a conservative estimate to killing 800+ ants in the past three days.

Since we're renting, we are trying to get help but are hitting a wall. I don't think I can say much more than that right now. Hopefully we can take care of it because I don't like having to clean ants out of the crib before I lay Josie down for a nap.

Give Me a Break

Last year I had a nice, cushy part-time job that required dropping the kids off at the sitter's house for about an hour and a half each day. It was a perfect little break for them to see other kids and for me to teach for forty minutes.

Since moving, I have no job. And I have no sitter. So there is no break and Xander and Josie get to feel my endless love all day long. Which sounds great on paper but comes with a lot more temper tantrums and crying in reality. I'll let you guess who is having the tantrums and crying.

Within two weeks I sat Chris down and told him I needed a night off. It's not for me, it's for the kids! They are getting too attached and needy by being with me all of the time. All. Of. The. Time. Chris quickly saw the sense in my words, and possibly a little crazy in my eyes and agreed to take care of the kids on Thursday nights and I could go about my merry way.

So I get Thursday nights free! I can do what I want! Go where I want! Unless Chris has to work late. Or Chris misses his workout. And what am I going to do, really? Shopping? Nice, but we only have so much money. Sit at Panera and read? Yes, unless I don't have an interesting book. Walk in the park? Except it's really dark out.

Yesterday Chris actually came home a little early, bless him. So I went and saw a movie all by myself. I saw Red, which I really liked. It's been a while since I've seen a good action-comedy movie. Of course, it's been a while since I've been to the movies. Um, maybe a year and a half. I think the last one I saw in theaters was the second Twilight movie. Or was it Marley and Me. Anyway, I enjoyed relaxing and laughing in the company of strangers. Chris did not enjoy his evening quite so much. I can't say I'm sorry not to have been there.

Because One Person Asked

Here it is in all of it's orange-y glory!



So far I've made peanut butter cookies, white bread (which turned out a little flat), pizza dough (so much better than frozen) and oatmeal cookies. I've realized that it's not doing anything I can't do, but, really, I don't have the forearm strength to knead dough or cream butter and sugar well. Therefore I am happy to have this stand mixer.

Xander likes it too. And Josie, she makes me pick her up to watch.


Now the big question is what to pick for the rebate. The current rebate is to get an extra bowl, a food grinder attachment or a shredder/slicer attachment. I'm thinking the extra bowl would be good for when I make and frost a cake. But then I think of the fun I'd have slicing and shredding vegetables. And then I think of how I don't feel like grinding food, so I'm striking that from the list. Should I get the bowl or slicer/shredder?

It's here, it's here!

Some of you may recall that back in July I had The Challenge. Brief refresher - do all of my chores in July and I could get a fancy stand mixer. And, if you couldn't guess by the lack of follow up, the result was Challenge Fail. I blame it on Chris being gone for a week in July and going on vacation for a week in July. I really didn't take that into account when I thought of the whole thing. Hey, I did get more of the house cleaned than usual, so it wasn't a complete waste of time.

In August it occurred to me that my birthday was coming up in September, so I started dropping subtle hints to Chris. Like when he asked me what I wanted for my birthday I would say "A KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer in Tangerine." Yeah, he didn't get the hint.

So after my birthday I asked if we could use his hotel reward points to get the mixer. It didn't come in the color that I wanted, but it would still be free. Much like the Dyson vacuum cleaner I received last year using his hotel reward points. Darn, I miss that vacuum.

Anyway, there were not enough points to get the stand mixer. Argh! But there were enough to get a gift card. And there were enough credit card reward points to cover the rest of the cost. So can you guess what I ordered and arrived earlier this week? Did you guess a KitchenAid Artisan stand mixer in Tangerine? Because, believe me, Majestic Yellow and Green Apple also caught my eye.

Ok, I did get the Tangerine! I'd post a picture, but I figure that would move me from the 'slightly obsessed' side of the line to 'completely lost it' side.

I broke it in earlier with a batch of peanut butter cookies. Some bread and pizza crust will follow this weekend. I will probably take pictures of those.

For Fun

There's this website called Woot! that sells one item a day, usually technology related. It has a related site for shirts called Shirt.Woot! where there is a new shirt everyday. There are also some ongoing contests that artists can submit and possibly get their shirts up for a day.

I'm sure if I spent time I could get lots of shirts from lots of websites that I want. Here are just a few that I found on the Woot site. Instead of showing the entire shirt, I'll just show the design (because that is how I saved them).

Because I do love math:

Order of operations is so important in real-world applications:

This one is called "The Four Little Ponies of the Apocolypse."

I just find this one amusing:

Trying Something New

Anyone who has met Chris knows he loves the band Pearl Jam.

Side story: Our 13 year old babysitter does not know who Pearl Jam is. I told her it was a band and not to tell Chris that she didn't know them. Then I felt old.

Chris has gone to many PJ concerts and gotten a t-shirt at most of them. And every once in a while someone will give him a PJ t-shirt. As time goes by the shirts get worn out or shrink and get retired to my craft closet or my pajama drawer.

Before we left Ohio, I decided that the time was ripe to begin The Project. I would create a quilt out of the Pearl Jam shirts!

First step, talk to my Grandma V about quilting. She has lots of experience at hand quilting and gave me a basic run through. She scoffed at people who use machines to quilt, so that's a little intimidating.

Second step, cut up the t-shirts. I kept looking over my shoulder at this point, waiting for lightning to strike me down. After much deliberation on my part, I decided to cut out 9.5" squares.



Then after more deliberation, I cut the bigger pictures in 9.5" by 15" rectangles.


There is one that will be 15" by 15" when I am done. I think I found all of the shirts that were retired, worn as pajamas or worn for workouts except for two that were shipped off to California.

The third step was to cut out matching shapes of lightweight, woven interfacing. Interfacing is ironed on to things to give it more stability. It will make the squares and rectangles a little thicker than I'd like but they won't pull and bunch as easily when doing the actual knitting.

The next step will be to actually iron the interfacing onto the squares and rectangles. However, the project was left in Ohio and will be put on the back burner until August.

The hardest part is picking what color material to use as border. Chris said black, but he also wants to hang this quilt on the wall and black will probably show cat hair and dust pretty easily. Any thoughts, what color would go well with all of those shirts?

For me? I shouldn't have!

In the house where we are living, the kitchen has these nice greenhouse windows. I'll show them to you sometime when I give you a 'tour'. I considered buying some herbs to grow in the windows and then I'd always have fresh herbs when I cook. Back home I can't do that because of the cats. But if I did that here, would I even use the herbs? And what would I do with them when we move back?

Instead, I decided that I will just always have fresh cut flowers in the window. Chris grabbed a bouquet when we went grocery shopping the first week here. Some of the flowers died after a few days, but the rest lasted nearly three weeks.

While I was out today I decided to pick up some gerber daises. I love these flowers. They are so big and so bold. I tried growing some in flower pots back home but they never flourished.


There is something about having flowers around the house that just always makes me smile. I used to have a hang up about having Chris get me flowers, but I've gotten over that. If I want flowers, then I'll just get them myself. Although, Chris is always welcome to bring home some for me.

MyPhone

In preparation for our big trip, Chris and I decided to get new, fancy phones. iPhones, in fact. Our old phones were fine, but we wanted easier texting and liked all of the features and decided to splurge. It turned out to be an even bigger splurge because the only ones available were the phones with more memory. I actually don't know how I made it through the process without having an anxiety attack.

Chris's has been great. He loves it.

I seem to have troubles though. First, my account was set up wrong and instead of being on a family plan with Chris I was set up individually. This was corrected but we still received a bill for the wrong account. Chris fixed that. Then we received a notice that my service would be discontinued if I didn't pay that bill. Chris fixed it again. I'm waiting to see what happens.

Then there is my bad luck with the phone itself. Less than two weeks after getting the phone I was talking to Chris when the call dropped. (This happens a little too often for me, but we don't have great service in either house.) I waited for him to call back and about ten minutes later I figured I would call him. But my phone was dead. Nothing came on. Nothing turned off. Nothing charged. It was just a nicely assembled pile of parts.

I took it to the store the next day and they agreed. Dead. They replaced it with no charge and no hassle, which was great. It was not great that I lost photos, contacts, calendar information, etc. But I picked myself up and moved on.

Last week I was finally able to hook up my iPhone to my iTunes to sync up the information. It asked me if I wanted to restore. Like a ninny, I agreed. I thought "It will warn me if it deletes anything, all programs give warnings." No, it did not. This time it was hundreds of photos lost. Family and friends pictures I took specifically before leaving Ohio. Pictures of the house in case something happens and so I can plan remodeling. Pictures of the kids. Pictures of the beginning of the Pearl Jam quilt I will make for Chris. Gone! I also lost all of my contacts again.

I may have cried a little. Chris didn't know what to say to make it better.

I called and talked to the help people, they agreed it was gone.

I think I've recovered from that loss. I have my contacts back because I did bring my old phone and was able to get some from Chris's phone. There is nothing to be done about the pictures though. When I see you all next year, I may not recognize you.

Update!

You thought I stopped blogging, didn't you? You can admit it. I know I'm not the best at following through and I've had this blog for a couple of years.

But I didn't stop, I was just unable to blog. This was due to my computer being in a different state from me and having two life forms that formed an alliance to keep me away from any other computers. But now I am in the same state, even the same house, as my computer and can hopefully focus on updating my blog and the kids blog a couple of times a week.

Oh, squirrel!

In case you haven't heard, we moved to California. We are here for a year and will return to Ohio soon after. Although, if you talk to anyone else they think we will end up pregnant and staying here. Seriously, I was going to hit the next person who said 'pregnant' or 'stay in California.' Well, not hit, but at least give a death glare.

There's the black squirrel!

We are renting a house here and it's quite an adjustment. The kids have to share a room, there is less space inside and outside, and it was already furnished so we are using someone else's furniture, cooking utensils, etc. There's also several things that need to be fixed still. And I was told that, by good fortune, the house was baby proofed. It's sad that having half of the outlets with covers is calling a house baby proof. Now I actually have to interact with my children.

Hmm, none of the squirrels are eating the rotten apple Chris put out. Smart little critters.

It is great to have Chris back. He took a week to drive out with our clothes, toys, computer, etc. and then worked for nearly three weeks. It was lonely for him and lonely for me, Xander and Josie. I would have blogged about it, but once again there was no computer for me. I do see that Chris blogged about it. Give him Husband Points!

Hummingbird!

So I will be updating more often and sharing about our adventures here ($30 for a carryout pizza!) and the usual (teaching, crafts, etc.).

The Challenge

For some time I have (irrationally) desired a stand mixer. As time has gone by this has developed very specifically into a Kitchenaid Artisan stand mixer in tangerine orange or buttercup yellow. Not that I plan to redecorate the kitchen to match. That's just insane.

But as you may or may not know, those mixers are a little expensive. It's not something I'm comfortable asking for as a gift. Chris, being awesome, said I could go ahead and get one. My subtle hints that I needed one really made his eyes roll though. However, it's not something I'm just comfortable walking into a store and buying.

So I have issued myself a Challenge. Now, I've never been great at motivating myself. Workouts and diets fall to the wayside after a couple of days. So when I discussed this Challenge with Chris, I'm pretty sure he was chuckling on the inside.

Many of you have seen this cork board at our house in the dining area. It contains little hanging envelopes for coupons, the calendar and, among other things, the CFO list.

(wow, I need to clean that up)

I can't remember if I've told you about my Chief Family officer list or not, but it's a list of chores that I made so I can keep track of what I've done and what I haven't done for a while. In my world I always just dusted, until I check the CFO list and see it's been an embarrassing amount of time. The list is split up into weekly chores (with five columns for the four to five weeks in a month), monthly chores and seasonal chores.



Here's where the Challenge comes in. I have never once completed every chore on a CFO list. You know, things just get prioritized and polishing the silver just doesn't happen four times a year like it should be.

My goal this July is to completely finish my CFO list, even the seasonal items that don't need to be done until the end of August. Then I will claim my prize!

(And I haven't mentioned this to Chris, but maybe each month after July I will have additional challenges that will result in fun mixer attachments like an ice cream maker)

Let them eat butterfly cake

For Josie's first birthday party, I wasn't obsessed with having a theme. I did, however, figure I would use the colors pink, orange and yellow. And I would also use butterflies. And so I began looking for ideas for butterfly cakes.

I thought to possibly just use a cake mold. But that would entail buying a cake mold.

I thought about cutting and carving a cake to look like a butterfly. There is a great suggestion of using a round cake, cut it in half and switch halves, then trim a little to make the two semi-circles into the butterfly. However, I seem to have massive crumb trouble whenever I level or trim a cake.

I thought about making a sheet cake and just drawing and decorating a butterfly on it. Boring!

And it was suggested to me to make a cupcake cake. I've read too much Cake Wrecks to even attempt a cupcake cake.

One of the first suggestions to me was to make chocolate butterflies out of melted chocolate. At first I dismissed that idea as too fancy, but after not liking any of the other ideas, I decided to go for it. I bought some white melting candies and melted them in the microwave. I drew template of a pair of separated wings on a piece of paper. I also drew antenna but decided not to attempt them. I put the paper underneath wax paper. I put the melted candies in a pastry bag and drew over the wax paper using the template for a guide. Once I finished one set I would move the paper template underneath the wax paper and draw another set of wings.

Even with the air conditioner running, it was a hot day. So I stuck each sheet in the refrigerator while I made the next sheet. I think I made 16 sets of wings all together. It was the first time I've done anything like this and it took a little practice. They turned out very fragile and I broke more than one while getting them off of the wax paper. Ok, I broke like six. Then I realized I probably shouldn't use a dinner knife to peel them off. Once I used a spatula, they came up nice and neat.

Next I placed a piece of wax paper with a crease into an open book. I put a small strip of melted candy down for the body, stuck the wings in and globbed more candy on top. Back into the refrigerator until cake decorating time.

I decided to make box cakes, fun-fetti for the sheet cake and chocolate cupcakes. The cupcakes just had frosting swirled onto them and butterflies randomly added.

The cake turned out gorgeous but still home-made looking. I loved it!

Here was the one butterfly that broke one wing. I thought it looked cute sitting on the flower.


Turns out that everyone else liked the cake and cupcakes. All of the cupcakes were gone and only a little corner of cake was leftover. There is no better compliment than that when backing.

He Is Their Father

My Darth Vader imitation is bad enough, so I'm sure having it typed out totally obliterates the reference.

So! For Father's Day I bought Chris something ultra-special. Well, I think it's ultra-special, everyone else may roll their eyes at me. It's Star Wars Pancake Molds! Oh, how I nearly shrieked when I found these. I had stumbled across the cookie presses, but was hesitant because actually decorating Star Wars cookies would be time consuming. Then I found the pancake molds and just bounced in my seat and giggled madly.

They worked surprisingly well even if they don't look as nice as the package. I did buy the fancy 'pancake pen' to squirt the batter into the mold. You can see where the different squirts overlap. I think it just makes Vader look scarier.

The molds don't sit flush against the griddle but didn't leak everywhere, so I'm cool with that.


The best thing is that when you put the pancake on the plate and pour syrup on or slather on the jam, it puddles up in the eyes and mouth and looks really cool and tastes fabulous.


Now every holiday will be celebrated with Yoda. Xander and Josie will find it strange that no one else gets clone pancakes for Flag Day.

For Sale

We're having a garage sale this weekend. During the past year we have slowly piled up things we haven't used. Then, a little over a month ago, Chris made me clean out clothes that I haven't worn in .... a while.

When I think "Hey, I had two kids" it's ok that I haven't worn those clothes. When I think "Hey, it's been four years since I've worn those and they don't fit", well, it's a little harder to justify everything. Plus, some of the clothes were a little dated. And Chris pointed out that other people could be wearing these nice clothes. So, with a few tears, I purged my closet and drawers.

My sister also is selling stuff at the garage sale. Apparently she had a friend come over to help and her friend had to take the role of Chris.

For my mom, who I know will read this, T and I are not becoming you and Aunt K. Even if we do have the same pair of shoes on the garage sale.

Every time one of her shirts was sold today, T would get all nostalgic and teary eyed. I'm happy to say, I didn't miss the clothes a bit. Even letting go of my Reality Bites CD was ok. Wait, did I just date myself?

Happy Spring!

I love spring time in our yard. The daffodils were especially nice this year. They are spread out in patches all around the back yard and, even on a gloomy day, they seem like little spots of sunshine. Every year, without fail, the daffodils will bloom and then get snowed on. I used to worry about them, but I've come to realize that the flowers probably expect the snow, this being Ohio and all.


Our front plots have tulips. Our first year, the tulips were all bright red and yellow with a couple of purple hiding in the corners. However, we take advantage of the 10 free bulbs from a local nursery and have added in some white ones.

Yeah, there must be some cross-pollination thing going on. This year there are some gorgeous color combinations coming up. Yellow with red edges, red with yellow edges, white with purple edges, they are all so fun.

I have no idea where the pink tulip came from, but it is a beautiful shade and I want more.

And below is the picture of the really weird ones. They are shorter than the rest, possibly because they are further under the tree. At first glance they look diseased, but if you look closer they are just a strangle mottled white and purple combination. We definitely did not plant these and I have never seen anything like them (I say like I am some sort of tulip expert).

I hope everyone has had a chance to 'stop and smell the roses' with the some of the gorgeous weather we have had this spring.

Emergency!

Yesterday at about 4 pm Chris calls me and the following ensues.

Chicks: Stop what you are doing and get on the computer now.

Hugs: Ooooookay. But my student will be here for tutoring at any minute.

Chicks: Well, she will have to wait!

I do not question this but assume something monumental has happened like a plane into a tower or landing in a river, or possibly the death of someone. So I apprehensively wait for the computer to boot up. And I try not to make a crack about how the new RAM in the computer does not seem to be making it faster, because joking would have been inappropriate in the face of the unknown disaster I am about to read about.

Hugs: I assume I need internet?

Chicks: Yes. (You can hear the tension.)

Hugs: Ok, where do I go?

Chicks: pearljam.com

At this point I assume that Eddie is hospitalized or Stone is dead. Then it clicks.

Hugs: You need me to order tickets, don't you?

Chicks: Yes! Hurry!

Where resolutions last one and a half months

I never told you what my New Year's resolution was, did I? Nope, I didn't think so.

It's to be nicer.

Now I imagine there are several of you out there who are thinking that resolution is crazy. "Hugs is the nicest person ever." While I appreciate that thought, I'm not perfect. The rest of you are thinking "It's about time."

Anyway, my resolution was, specifically, to tell people to have a nice day. Like at the grocery store, the bagger puts the last bag of groceries into my cart and mumbles something to me. I look him in the face and reply "Thanks, you have a good day." And I mean it. I want him to have a nice day.

While there isn't always a reaction, it's been nice to see people give me a genuine smile. They can tell I'm saying something sincere and I'm taking the time to notice them.

This has actually been a good resolution in that it's lasted a bit longer than others from years past. Last week I realized I'd driven away from the bank drive through without more than a distracted "Thanks, you too" when the teller told me to have a nice day. Ah, I guess I'm still not perfect.

Anyway, I just thought I'd share this in case any of you'd like to try it.

Where my head is warm

For Christmas I received Luxury Yarn One Skein Wonders. I was ok with it but didn't think I'd get much out of it. I mean, I'd have to either special order the yarn or make the drive to an actual yarn shop and bring both kids with me. And I'll let your imagination play with the idea of Xander in a yarn shop.

However I stumbled across a pattern for a hat. And I could easily picture the hat in a color I need and I could picture me wearing it.

I really don't knit much for me. As you've seen from previous posts, I like making things for friends and family. Heck, my sister even asked for another pair of pajama pants for Christmas this year, so I must not be making bad things.

So I actually did trek to a yarn shop with both kids (Xander was distracted by the yarn balls so didn't make a big mess) (the balls were not just piles of yarn, they were purposefully made into balls) (that being said, the yarn balls were supposed to be decorative and not play things). The store did not have the specific type of yarn that the pattern called for, so I pondered over the assortment they did have. I bought some and went home and practiced to make sure I had the right size needles.

And I made myself a hat. With a lace pattern even. Just in time for Snowmageddon to strike!



It's by no means perfect, but you can't see the mistakes unless you're looking. So this picture distracts you from the mistakes by the presence of my nose looking huge. Not flattering, but you're supposed to look at the hat.


Oh, and if for some reason you are knitting a pattern from a book, always check for corrections on the internet first. I had to undo two rows to fix the decreases in the top.

Where no returned mail gets lost

While sending out Christmas cards this year, I realized that we were out of return address labels. The reason is probably because I didn't donate to the causes that sent me return address labels.

And by the way, let me say that I always have guilt when I use return address labels sent by causes that I didn't donate to. But it's such a waste to throw the labels away. But the labels were sent in good faith that I would donate. It's a conundrum. And half of it is Chris's fault because half of the labels are actually his.

Back to the story. We received a couple of Christmas cards that had these awesome stamps used for return addresses. One was a little bird silhouette with the address going around it, the other a letter with some decoration and the address going around. I immediately thought "I want!"

So I tried to find some on the internet, which was more difficult than I first thought it would be. The ones I found were ok but expensive, especially since I wanted a self-inking stamp (the better for Xander to stamp our address on all of the walls).

Then I remembered Etsy! If you like shopping, don't go to the link! Aw heck, I just lost three of my four readers. Ok, for the one person still reading, I found a plethora of stamps there and decided on this one:
Stamp

I'll let you know how it turns out. If it turns out really well, I'll send you a blank envelope with a fancy return address.

It's been too long

Wow, almost two months since I posted. Oops!

I haven't finished any big projects, so there isn't too much to post there.

I posted about the holidays in the other blog. But here's a funny conversation from while we were opening gifts.

Hugs: Oh, a gift card!
Bub: To....?
Hugs: (in a totally chipper voice) To ME!
*silence*
Hugs: Oh, you mean where to! Did I just have a blond moment? Is the camera still on? (My dad was video recording the event)

Teaching is going pretty smoothly, especially with the awesome babysitter. I'm tutoring two students who are both motivated, so that brings in a little extra spending cash.

My little brother was married last weekend, so I'll post some pictures of that soon (there are some already on Facebook).