we need an ongoing thread to share our failures ond / or accomplishments each day. some of them could be pretty humorous. remember in morgan county indiana we say " it aint braggin if ya done it.
Accomplishment: Had to hit the ground running today. Already got a days worth of activity finished, not the least of which was finally getting my big security light installed by the power company after catching a man standing on my front porch a week ago...also, turned myself into a ravishing 8 1/2 Champagne Blonde out of a box...well, at least a blonde out of a box....Mama's sleeping, has had a great morning, and I am about to get myself a nice hot cup of coffee and put my feet up for a spell.
Thanks yall!...Now why has that been so hard til now? lol know what you mean about getting outdoors. I find it is IMPERATIVE for my sanity to get out at least from the house and do something, anything...for me here it is the lawn...I am working on clearing out the woods a lot more to dissuade predators like coyotes and bobcats...so clearing away the underbrush is supposed to help....plus it sure feels good to get all that word done, get a good hot bath and then enjoy the fruits of my labor while I enjoy some coffee on the deck....I have always loved doing these things..for some reason drifted away from it all...for one thing...it is HARD...lol...and feeling tired all the time it is pretty easy to talk myself out of it...but...if I push on through and just don't over do, then it is so personally rewarding to me to actually see myself accomplishing something...because sometimes as strange as it sounds, caregiving can feel so invisible...except to the two or few people involved....
Now that I have my pool open I have to vaccum it everyday, so that's what I did.. I like being able to do it, it gets me outside. Along with the usual laundry..
Accomplishment: My friend texted me yesterday saying she was coming to town and asked iof she could come by for a short visit. (Short for her usually turns into the remainder of the day)....nonetheless, I let her know I was working in the yard, a short visit would be nice and if she arrived and I did not come to the door, gave her the info she needed to get in. Also, I asked her was she going to be close to a fast food place where she could grab me a burger and fries. She said sure. As mundane as all this sounds, the reason it is an accomplishment for me is 1. I continued on with what I was doing i.e. working in the yards...instead of following my old MO and stopping what I was doing and "preparing " for guests...2. I asked for something i.e. my lunch and then 3. because she still had not arrived anywhere near the time she said she was coming, I went right ahead with my bath and didn't miss a beat. We had a pleasant visit, BUT the short visit turned into four hours and was moving into the evening when she said, I guess you wish I'd go home....and I said...girl...I love you and I love to see you, but I am tired and maybe we can do this again soon. I am learning the older I get the more I have rights same as anyone else. ....and I do not feel like entertaining all afternoon long. So for me , today went pretty well. BTW...I did pay for my lunch...She tried to dissuade me but I insisted there....
Accomplishments: I've rarely cooked all these years. I've decided with my pay cut, I can no longer keep buying take outs. Time to start cooking and bought several very simple cookbooks. All our pots, pans, utensils, bowls are mom's. And she stopped cooking 25 years ago. Time to get new ones. I have a gift card from Macys. I was able to get a 7pc utensil set, metal colander, cutting board, meat thermometer... can't believe all that cost $67!!! Went to other discount stores and bought the cheapest spices (yes, I know McCormick is the best but $4.59- $6.95 per spice bottle!?) which was $1.90 each for garlic powder, oregano leaf, paprika, cayenne pepper and italian seasoning. I still have left over money in the Macys gift card but I didn't know what other basics I needed.
Failure: I didn't get to check my Life Insurance and couldn't find the Diatomaceous at Home Depot. So, I bought more ant killer sprays and again sprayed our walls.
Febreze Air Effects kills all kinds of bugs BUT do not use it around pet birds or reptiles. A safe insect spray would be spices infused in water: clove, cinnamon, and mint leaves in a "tea". And the commercial sprays for bedbugs are simply extracts of geraniums. Lavender is well known for protecting linens and sweaters from bugs. Cedar is good too, clip some young branches, make a tea and spray around your baseboards, or just put some sprigs of it in your closet.
I also must toot my own horn here as my brother asked me how on earth did I cut all those trees down? I told him with my handsaw of course...he looked astonished...he has all that fancy expensive power equipment....so he was most impressed with all my efforts...I was pretty happy with myself .....patting self on back here....and had a rib eye and some onion rings I have been saving for a special dinner for me...tonight was the night!!
wooo hoooo! A great day here! I got in the back yard today and got it all raked, pruned, and mowed and just as I was about to finish up, saw my brother rolling up the hill...Initially having a moment of "Oh $**t, I told myself to chill out, calm down and just be firm about what you need and don't need. He came and first thing he told me was how hard it looked like I was working and he asked me what he could do to help me.... then he told me he had brought his blower and if I wanted him to he could blow off all the sidewalks, patios, etc. (that is the one thing I really needed to do) so I was very excited for him to do it for me...we worked well together....and Mama had such a good day..she was laughing and talking and enjoying herself, and I know it was seeing my brother and I working together that made her happy...so that is why I'm doing this, I must remind myself...nothing major happened adn we actually enjoyed our visit...so I'm going to unsquinch my eye enough when he comes and try to look for the good in his remarks and see if we can't keep working through this together...sure made Mama happy...and that makes me happy....woooooo hoooooo.. Happy Dance!!!
I took a tablespoon every morning in juice about 15 minutes before breakfast or eating food, for several months, until my glass jar that I put it in fell on the tile floor. What a mess. I do think it helped a lot. It felt good going down.
I took a tablespoon of the DE FOOD GRADE, to combat parasites, worms and such. It worked great, although I also saw a naturopath and doctor and took other herbal things to help them die off. You can give your pets it too. Do your research first!
Thank you, all of you wonderful, helpful people. I looked up the Diatomaceous earth (that's a mouthful), wasn't familiar with it. I love the idea of a non-toxic product to use.
Yes, the flying ants are in their swarm mode. Last year I only had to deal with them for about 1 week and then they are mostly gone. But what a week of tiny flying ants EVERYWHERE. So after they swarm this year, I will be figuring out how to access under front porch (I know that's where they are but its not really humanly accessible, just bug accessible) and again attempt to put an end to them taking up residence under there. I got up on top of drop ceiling in basement last year, poked my head and hands up in area of front foundation wall and put some poison down, it clearly didn't work.
CM, thanks for heads up on termite awareness. I'm positive these are standard run-of-the-mill black ants and flying ants. I have hundreds of their little corpses to inspect, haha.
Assandache, you hit the nail right on the head. I couldn't stop "feeling" ants on my legs for hours. Of course, it was imaginary - but I just kept feeling them!
JessieBelle, it sounds like you are describing a powder product? Or is it a spray? I have some of the spray, and have been using it, but I don't care for the toxic chemical smell that seems to linger. Outside would be fine, but these guys are getting inside en masse, so I'm having to spray more than I'd like to indoors.
Today I cleaned up all the corpses, put a few dozen more that were trapped inside the house out of their misery and warned my dad about the ant problem. He's so oblivious to everything, and its just so odd to me... I had to point out the dozens of bugs all around front door and by window sills and he's looking at it and saying "Oh. Oh, those are ants?" He doesn't seem the least bit bothered, and that's fine, but his unawareness means he will be squashing them underfoot and smearing them throughout the house... :-P
Accomplishment: my house is temporarily ant free.
Failure: now that sun is down, the flyers will fly towards the light inside the house and I will have some nocturnal visitors again. Rinse, repeat.
Allison - Captain is right about the diatomaceous earth. It's fantastic stuff. It's kind of like a form of revenge against the critters that torment us. It contains the crushed exoskeletons of ancient critters (diatoms) that are *extremely* sharp - it's like the death of a thousand cuts for insects. It causes them to dehydrate and die.
It's a completely naturally-occurring product and can be used for many things. Many people who keep a large quantity of flour in their home use it to keep bugs out of their pantry - a small amount of FOOD GRADE diatomaceous earth mixed in with the flour will not harm humans and will kill any bugs or eggs that end up in the flour. (Sounds gross, but you have no idea how many insects or eggs we actually ingest annually because they're already in our food.)
And on a humorous note....you reminded me of the Pink Panther theme song, Jessiebelle....deadant...deadant...deadantdeadantdeadant deadannnnnnnt....
Alison, the Raid Ant & Roach Killer works pretty well. You put a line down anywhere that might be on their crawl path. I use it here when we have problems.
The flying ants are swarmers that are leaving their nest. When they get to the new place, the wings fall off. They are only good for a single flight. The thing is to let them know that they haven't reached a good place. RAID .!!! (The .!!! is a dead ant.)
alison , ive seen diotomecious earth mess up termites and flying ants . any waxy bug is screwed when you throw that stuff around . its cheap / non toxic . my accomplishments arent happening right now . spending a few days with edna . she isnt supposed to be left alone -- placement at a NH is in progress . im going to chicago when edna gets settled , prob'ly ridin ike . last day of hepc tx is this wednesday . i shant miss the constant headache -- might miss looking at sondras behind when she aint lookin tho . he he
Alison-you may want to consider having an inspection done under the house. A colony is not easy to rid of....hopefully it is just ants.....termites can look similar.
Well, here comes another one. So far so good. Going to try to keep it that way. A good moment to start my day...Mama and I used to love our coffee time together...since her last surgery and the rapid mental decline, she just totally gave it up...one day this week, and now again this morning, I was sitting beside her with my coffee and asked would she like a cup...she said "yay" so I myself a refill and got her a cup...she enjoyed that cup of coffee so much..it really made my heart happy. I sat her cup down for one moment to get myself a sip and she said "hey, wait a minute...where is my coffee?" she is so cute.....she even had a second cup...these simple tiny moments mean so much to me....and such a sweet way to start my day....all cleaned up, resting cozy in her bed, I'm having a third cup and what a beautiful morning. I hope everyone has a blessed and cozy day!
Book, one of first things I thought about today when there were flying ants everywhere and regular ants crawling all over my feet - is how glib I was to tell you "Oh, book, get some ant bait traps, that's all you need," or whatever I said. Yes, I get it. Oh boy, do I get it. I'll come up with something. We can't be the first ever to have to combat ants. I successfully cleared out a bedbug infestation myself, I can handle some ants... ;-)
See, what I meant, ABB? Those bug baits that Supposedly kills them at their nests Don't Work! Tried it. Like you, that's on my to-do list. Glad that you are now a pro on changing the clip. Don't know what that means, but kudos to you. All I can say is that this last change of my dad's catheter, I can Feel the Tube through his manpart! It kind of grosses me out more than anything. Gross as in Eeeewww. I find myself cleaning him less down there. Gross feeling, know what I mean?
Someone please send evil thoughts to the flying ants and regular ants that are swarming in my house right now, please! I dealt with the horrible flying ants last year, learned a lot about them... they nest under concrete (front porch) and swarm once a year as it gets warm. Somehow they get in the house by the hundreds. I thought after last year - and spraying under porch and putting ant bait down - it would help the issue. NO.
Just a few minutes ago I was in kitchen and heard sound like rain drops. I looked out window, its not raining. I keep hearing it, I walk into front room, I open front door... and then I see the sound I hear is dozens of flying ants behind the blinds in big picture windows in front room flying into the glass over and over, trying to get out. As that image is sinking into my brain, I realize I feel something on my feet. I look down and there are dozens of regular little ants crawling all over my feet and up my legs. I'm NOT HAPPY RIGHT NOW. As much as I hate spraying poison bug spray in the house, I doused the whole front door area with it. Will try to calm down and plan what to do next. An exterminator would be good but how much will it cost...?
Failure: I have ant infestation big time.
Accomplishment: I will deal with it. Its just little bugs, no big deal. HALP!!!
Snake pit, demonshow about hallucinations and illusions? I did see a lizard in the yard the other day or was that a hallucination? Now I am scared? Does anyone know if we can send evil thought through this website?
Accomplishment, I survived another completely busy and crazy day! Why would mom, who when I was a kid leave doors and windows open until after midnight to let in cool air, do a complete 180 and want everything locked up tight at 6:30?! And naturally not just once did I do this battle, but at least 8 freaking times. And most of the time she just kind of lumbers along, but can sure make a beeline to close and lock up doors!
Failure for today - still have a LOAD of stuff to do in preparation for our trip and for the workers and housesitter to be here during our absence. I am dragging my feet on this trip and I don't know why. Usually when I get that way, there's a darn good reason for it, and it's like someone is telling me not to move forward - and if I ignore that gut instinct, it usually means trouble. However...I can't cancel the plans now, so darn the torpedos, full speed ahead!
Accomplishment: I did a HUGE amount of work for my clients today, and more to do tonight. Should mean a nice paycheck for next week. I even pulled more work out of one of my clients by wowing her with my project management skills. Rather pleased with that.
Realised ive got a bigger BRAIN than any "shrink". Yep feeling quite chuffed yep mum fooled them all! but she cant fool me! Who needs a degree eh give me a phoney degree and ill just get an office and start charging big money to tell you youre not nuts!!!
Failure: I didn't get to check my Life Insurance and couldn't find the Diatomaceous at Home Depot. So, I bought more ant killer sprays and again sprayed our walls.
It worked great, although I also saw a naturopath and doctor and took other herbal things to help them die off. You can give your pets it too. Do your research first!
Yes, the flying ants are in their swarm mode. Last year I only had to deal with them for about 1 week and then they are mostly gone. But what a week of tiny flying ants EVERYWHERE. So after they swarm this year, I will be figuring out how to access under front porch (I know that's where they are but its not really humanly accessible, just bug accessible) and again attempt to put an end to them taking up residence under there. I got up on top of drop ceiling in basement last year, poked my head and hands up in area of front foundation wall and put some poison down, it clearly didn't work.
CM, thanks for heads up on termite awareness. I'm positive these are standard run-of-the-mill black ants and flying ants. I have hundreds of their little corpses to inspect, haha.
Assandache, you hit the nail right on the head. I couldn't stop "feeling" ants on my legs for hours. Of course, it was imaginary - but I just kept feeling them!
JessieBelle, it sounds like you are describing a powder product? Or is it a spray? I have some of the spray, and have been using it, but I don't care for the toxic chemical smell that seems to linger. Outside would be fine, but these guys are getting inside en masse, so I'm having to spray more than I'd like to indoors.
Today I cleaned up all the corpses, put a few dozen more that were trapped inside the house out of their misery and warned my dad about the ant problem. He's so oblivious to everything, and its just so odd to me... I had to point out the dozens of bugs all around front door and by window sills and he's looking at it and saying "Oh. Oh, those are ants?" He doesn't seem the least bit bothered, and that's fine, but his unawareness means he will be squashing them underfoot and smearing them throughout the house... :-P
Accomplishment: my house is temporarily ant free.
Failure: now that sun is down, the flyers will fly towards the light inside the house and I will have some nocturnal visitors again. Rinse, repeat.
It's a completely naturally-occurring product and can be used for many things. Many people who keep a large quantity of flour in their home use it to keep bugs out of their pantry - a small amount of FOOD GRADE diatomaceous earth mixed in with the flour will not harm humans and will kill any bugs or eggs that end up in the flour. (Sounds gross, but you have no idea how many insects or eggs we actually ingest annually because they're already in our food.)
And on a humorous note....you reminded me of the Pink Panther theme song, Jessiebelle....deadant...deadant...deadantdeadantdeadant deadannnnnnnt....
The flying ants are swarmers that are leaving their nest. When they get to the new place, the wings fall off. They are only good for a single flight. The thing is to let them know that they haven't reached a good place. RAID .!!! (The .!!! is a dead ant.)
my accomplishments arent happening right now . spending a few days with edna . she isnt supposed to be left alone -- placement at a NH is in progress .
im going to chicago when edna gets settled , prob'ly ridin ike .
last day of hepc tx is this wednesday . i shant miss the constant headache -- might miss looking at sondras behind when she aint lookin tho . he he
Just a few minutes ago I was in kitchen and heard sound like rain drops. I looked out window, its not raining. I keep hearing it, I walk into front room, I open front door... and then I see the sound I hear is dozens of flying ants behind the blinds in big picture windows in front room flying into the glass over and over, trying to get out. As that image is sinking into my brain, I realize I feel something on my feet. I look down and there are dozens of regular little ants crawling all over my feet and up my legs. I'm NOT HAPPY RIGHT NOW. As much as I hate spraying poison bug spray in the house, I doused the whole front door area with it. Will try to calm down and plan what to do next. An exterminator would be good but how much will it cost...?
Failure: I have ant infestation big time.
Accomplishment: I will deal with it. Its just little bugs, no big deal. HALP!!!
Does anyone know if we can send evil thought through this website?
Accomplishment: I did a HUGE amount of work for my clients today, and more to do tonight. Should mean a nice paycheck for next week. I even pulled more work out of one of my clients by wowing her with my project management skills. Rather pleased with that.