Ants Marching…

About a week ago, Bitty knocked over a cup full of juice in our dinette room.

It took a couple of passes with the mop to clean it up.  And by mop, I mean my swiffer thingy. 

The next morning, I stepped barefoot near the spot and realized it was still a little sticky, so I got down on the floor and gave it another good scrubbing, this time by hand. 

The morning after that, little black ants were on the dinette floor.  Since there were only about six, I enlisted Bitty and we picked them up and carried them out back. Later that afternoon, we found some more on the floor and a few on the counter.  These too, we set free in the backyard.

{I’m the reason the ants came into the house}

 

The next morning, I took five more ants outside, turned around and there were now ten more on the counter.  I gave up trying to capture and moved on to squishing. 

 

But my heart wasn’t in it, so I was only half-squishing them.  I quickly realized that half-squishing wasn’t all-the-way killing them, and they were now lurching morbidly all over my counter.  Horrified, I smooshed them all the way.  Half-dead ants are way worse looking than real live ants.

 

After that, I thoughly cleaned the kitchen and dinette and made sure there were no crumbs available for the ants to snack on and tell their ant friends about.  But it didn’t matter; I was now involved in an epic battle for domination of the kitchen. 

 

I told the BLT* that they were to squish on sight and show no mercy. 

 

*Not the sandwich.

 

Squishing commenced full force and we could tell we were gaining the upper hand.  By Sunday morning, there was nary an ant to be found, even when chocolate donuts sat opened on the kitchen counter all day.  We were victorious.

 

I should note that we have a ‘live and let live’ for ‘all of God’s creatures’ philosophy around here that pretty much applies to everything except spiders*. 

 

*Spiders aren’t included because they have eight eyes and that’s just not right. 

 

What about you?  Do you squish immediately or try to set things free? 

 

Bathroom Love…

Let me state for the record:  I love my neighborhood (and neighbors!).  I love my yard.  And I love my house. 

However, I do not love my master bathroom.  It’s tiny, and by tiny, I mean miniscule.  Maybe in 1976 people were smaller and didn’t need a lot of space.  I really don’t know. 

*Sigh*

See what I mean? There’s not even a tub in there!!! 

Now, if I were to design a bathroom, it would have two things:  A claw foot tub and double sinks.  The claw foot tub needs no explanation.  It’s just awesome.  As for the double sinks…  Do you live with a significant other?  Then you know what I’m talking about.  Shaving stuff (his), hair stuff (mine), tooth stuff (Bitty’s)… all on that tiny little sink. 

Wait a minute.  I just designed a bathroom with no toilet. 

Okay, if I were to design a bathroom, it would have three things:  A claw foot tub, double sinks and a fabulous porcelain throne. 

And because I designed it and didn’t let MC have any say, it would look something like this:

{source}

Perfect!

What would your ultimate bathroom look like? 

Cake Boss? Maybe Not…

Having a Master Chef in your house is generally an awesome thing.  And if it’s your birthday, then you’re really in for a treat. 

{Bitty’s 5th Birthday}

He comes up with the most incredible ideas for cakes.  Bitty’s brief love affair with dolphins (it’s horses now) resulted in a dolphin cake.  T Bub’s long time obsession with planes has produced not one, but two plane cakes.

{T Bub’s 12th Birthday}

One of my all-time favorites was this cake that MC came up with for Lovely L.  Three Bundt cakes and one chocolate cake later, and we had this:

{Lovely L’s 9th Birthday}

I’m generally on board with his ideas.  Since I have to decorate whatever it is that he’s baking, I should at least have some say, right? 

{Bitty B’s 3rd Birthday}

Probably not, now that I think of it.  Left to my own devices, this is what I came up with:

{Lovely L’s 10th Birthday}

That’s right, people.  Lovely L asked for a cake that had something to do with her pet gerbil, Nutmeg.  But MC was not going to be around to design/bake her a cake.  I’m sure he would have made a cake that looked like a actual gerbil.  Instead, she got a plain rectangular cake with an edible picture of Nutmeg on it. 

(Did you even know Target does that?  I just took the picture of Nutmeg to the bakery and they printed out the edible picture.  Cake Wrecks would not be pleased lol)

Most of those cakes were a huge undertaking.  But I think they were worth it.  Long after the toys are outgrown, they’ll still remember the surprise of seeing the cake Dad thought up for them.

Do you have any special traditions that you do for birthdays? What do you remember most from your birthdays growing up?

Inspired by Gussy Sews…

Maggie over at Gussy Sews has created an ‘Inspiration Workshop’. 

I think this is a fabulous idea and here’s why:

I didn’t have to make/create/sew something to show off!  All I had to do was go find pictures on the Internets of what inspires me… and lemme tell you , I spend enough time on said Internets to be inspired for a lifetime. 

To make it even easier on those of us whose brains work at a less-than-quick pace, she even gives a prompt:  an idea to go out and be inspired by.  This weeks prompt is: Kitchens. 

Join me (if you’re so inclined, which I’ll assume you are since you’ve gotten to this point) as I drool over Kitchens That Are Awesome.

Being inspired, for me, is all about pulling ideas from these pictures that I could possibly implement in my own kitchen.  Since I doubt the Master Chef would be on board with those bird’s egg blue cabinets, that’s out.  And although I love.love.love the range hood above that retro stove, my microwave currently resides there and that’s not likely to change due to a lack of counter space. 

SO… What can I take from this picture?  The legs on the bottom cabinets.  I am totally digging those.  And the moulding on the top of the upper cabinets.  Super chic and do-able.  Moving on…

Well… this kitchen is approximately the square footage of my entire downstairs.   I am currently too overwhelmed by the sheer vastness of this space to actually think.  Please excuse me while I walk away and give my brain time to remove its chin from the floor. 

ACK…Soooo. oooo. ooo awesome!  I’m not even sure where to start with this one, because people, I am in love.  This kitchen and I are staring admiringly at each other and batting our eyes (yes, it loves me back!  Why would you even question that?!?)  Feet on the lower cabinets, baskets, corbels on the shelf above the range, moulding on the top cabinets… swoon…  

I don’t want to be inspired by this kitchen.  I just want it.  I think I could fit it in my front room…

Sigh.  Alright.  Begrudgingly moving on…

HA!  Had you at that one, didn’t I?  Pink cabinets, orange paint and grass-like carpet… what’s not to love?!? *Snort laugh*  Can you just see the Master Chef cooking in here?

Seriously, no one could have ever cooked in that kitchen.  They’d be too busy having a seizure from the combination of all those colors thrown together.

Thank you for joining me for my first Inspiration Workshop.  As a treat for sticking around, I will leave you with a picture of my actual kitchen, which you are not allowed to make fun of.  It’s already feeling a little depressed because of that whole, ‘I want the kitchen with the baskets and corbels’ business.

Now, I have two questions for you:  What do you like/dislike about your kitchen? and

What inspires you?  Whatever it is, go be inspired today!

Dennis Hopper is Destroying My Garden…

Let me explain:  In my family we have a tradition of giving things names… I drive a Yukon that we call Mr. T, praying mantis’ are all called Oscar, those big black carpenter bees are Albert…

And the bunnies that live in my yard are all called, you guessed it, Dennis Hopper.

And Dennis Hopper is eating everything in my yard:

Sure he looks all soft and fuzzy.  Look at those cute little ears standing up at attention, those clear bright eyes, his sweet little mouth munching on… MY FLOWERS! 

He tries to hide when he realizes he’s been spotted:

But we know he’s there, grazing on my flowers and vegetables in the garden.  We even left a ton of dandelions in the yard for him to chew on; we know he loves those…

He’s gotten pretty bold too.  Almost any time of day I might hear one of the kids yell, ‘Dennis Hopper!’  Usually followed by, ‘can I chase him out of the yard?’ 

Now, please note that I am a wildlife lover.  Last year when a six point buck walked just outside our yard, I called all the kids to quietly come watch him.  When ducklings cross the road on their way to the pond, I’ve stood in the road to ensure their safe passage.  Why, just yesterday, I picked up this thing and put it back on the grass to get it out of the road:

Which, by the way, I will never do again. 

Note to readers: Do not be stupid like me and attempt to pick up a snapping turtle, unless you don’t entirely enjoy having all ten fingers firmly attached to your hands.  (Yes, I managed to keep all of mine.  Barely.) 

Back to Dennis Hopper.  I love the idea of sharing our yard with the critters that naturally live there.  When we see bunnies hopping around the backyard, minding their own business and not eating my plants, the kids are not allowed to run outside and freak them out.  After all, our backyard is their home.  But…

Would it be too much to ask for you to QUIT EATING MY PLANTS!

Since I’m pretty sure that Dennis Hopper can’t differentiate between wild plants and the plants that I’ve put there for the express purpose of my personal backyard enjoyment, I imagine we’ll be chasing him around the yard quite a bit this summer. 

Hopefully, he’ll leave enough of my plants alone so that I’ll actually get to see some of them bloom.  Maybe.  ; )

Got Wine…

More importantly, if you’ve got wine, then shortly after that you should have an empty wine bottle.  Or maybe not too shortly, I guess it really depends on how fast you drink it.  However, I find that the best wine is always drunk (drank?) with friends.  This generally results in several empty wine bottles pretty quickly.  Moving on…

A year or so ago, I attended a birthday party for one of Bitty’s friends, Little A.  It was a fabulous party.  Little A’s mom had made the most amazing cake and Little A’s grandmother was a most gracious host.  After presents were opened and while the kids played, the adults got to chat and catch up with each other.  As I chatted with Little A’s mom L and her mother-in-law C, I noticed an awesome thing on C’s countertop. 

See the pretty glowing wine bottle with the cutesy little grapes hanging off?  That’s what I spotted and then was gifted with!  Yep, Little A’s grandmother let me take one of her awesome creations home with me.  LOVE it!  Of course I had to know how to make them, and C gave me her simple directions.  Which I will now share with you, but with a Kadbury Spin* on them.

*A Kadbury Spin is when I receive instructions from someone, forget half of them, and then try to muddle through on my own.

Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

• empty wine bottle
• drill bit thingy from Home Depot or Lowes’ (I’ll explain in a minute)
• cutesy little grapes (I found mine at Michael’s)
• raffia (it’s that straw looking stuff, which I also found at Michael’s)
• mini Christmas lights, with no more than 25 lights on the strand.  Make sure the lights only have one plug dealie.  (go here for an idea of where to find these)

I’m pretty sure that C told me to find the drill bit at Lowes, but I ended up at Home Depot anyway.  This is what MC picked: 

It’s a glass and tile bit.  It looks nothing like the thing that C used, but it got the job done. 

The picture is crooked and fuzzy because I just finished that yummy bottle of Cupcake Riesling.  Okay, not really.  It’s just a super bad picture.  Not everything I do can turn out great 100% of the time, although I know that’s what you’ve come to expect of me.

NOT!  ; ) 

I got MC to drill the hole in the back of the bottle.  He put the bottle in a sink full of water so that the glass wouldn’t fly out and hit him in the eyes.  Because that would be bad.  I would have also worn safety glasses, but that’s just me.

Applying firm (but gentle) pressure will get the drill bit through the glass.  Once the bit is through, slowly work the bit around the hole you’ve created until it’s big enough to fit the lights through.

After MC finished drilling, I cleaned the bits of label up and then sanded the drilled area so there weren’t any sharp edges.  Holding the bottle upside down, I inserted my strand of lights (I used a strand of 10) and shook them around a little to get them evenly distributed. 

I then took a thin little strand of raffia and tied it to the grapes.  Using my handy dandy glue gun, I glued the raffia together at the back of the bottle.  On the right is my lovely gift from C, and the one on the left is my mine.

Woot!  Later I added a little raffia bow.  Later than that I decided I didn’t like it and removed it, but didn’t take another picture.  Wanna see the the blue one all lit up? 

Of course you do:

Ooh!  Aah!  Sooo purdy! 

Now go out there, find some friends and open up a bottle of your favorite wine… Just don’t forget to save the bottle when you’re done… ; )

Sharing the love and linking up here!

Skip To My Lou                       Tip Junkie                        The Lettered Cottage

Sugar Bee Crafts                    Centsational Girl                Designer Garden

The Stories Of A 2 Z                Shabby Nest                    Tatertots and Jello

Lovely Crafty Home                 Fingerprints on the Fridge

Nifty Banana Holder…

I was at a friend’s house recently and saw something that I knew I wanted.  It was… wait for it… a banana holder.  I know.  It’s the little things that make me happy. 

Now, it’s important to note that I already own a banana holder.  Years ago I got tired of the bottom of my bananas getting all brown and bruised, and I headed over to Target and bought this:

      

Way back when I bought the banana holder, it matched all the blonde wood cabinets in my house. I also had no problem letting it take up space as I had so much countertop realty that I could have parked a small VW bug on my counters.  Okay, I’m exaggerating, (just a little bit) but those countertops did seem to stretch on forever. 

Since moving to our new home in Minnesota a few years ago, my little banana holder no longer matched anything in my kitchen.  If you’ve read this post, you know how much I like things to coordinate.  And so, every time I pulled it out of the cupboard, I would glare menacingly at it while trying to figure out how to make it go with the rest of my kitchen.  Not to mention it was taking up valuable space on my much smaller countertop area.   After two years in this house, I realized my options were to either buy a new, smaller banana holder, or spray paint the one I had. 

And then I saw the coolest thing.  While at my friends house, I saw that her bananas were hanging  suspended from under her cabinets.  A quick peek confirmed that, yep, the banana hook was simply screwed into the bottom of the cupboard. 

I went home inspired, and searched my house for a little hangy hook to hang my bananas from.  Realizing I didn’t have what I needed in the house, I wrote down ‘banana hangy hook’ on my Home Depot list and then went to take a ‘before’ picture of my banana holder from Target. 

It was then that I saw that the hook on the banana holder was just screwed into the holder.  After making sure that the screw was not longer than the thickness of the bottom of the cabinet (did that make any sense?), I screwed the hook into a hole that was already in the bottom of my cabinet.

 

Please ignore the red paint smudge on the bottom edge of the cabinet.  I’ll fix it later, promise. ; )

I think the previous owners of our house must have had a whole array of things hanging from the bottom of these cabinets, based on how many holes I found.  If you don’t happen to have any handy predrilled holes in the bottom of your cabinets, it should still be pretty easy to just screw the hook in, or drill a smaller sized hole for the hook to go into.

IMPORTANT:  Before trying to drill/screw anything into the cabinets, make sure the screw is not going to go all the way through the bottom of the cabinet and make an appearance on the inside.  I will not be held responsible for pokey things sticking out of the top of the bottom shelf. ; )

I love my new banana hanger.  You don’t know how happy I am that:

1. I don’t have to look at the old mismatched banana hanger

2. I don’t have to store the banana hanger when not in use and

3.  I didn’t have to spend any money. 

Woot!  That’s a good day, people. : )

 

Parenting Moments, No. 1…

I have been a parent for a little over twelve years now.  And if there’s one thing I’ve learned in all those years, it’s that I have no idea what I’m doing.

Occasionally, I’ll fall into believing that I’m in charge and have it all under control.  Everything is running smoothly, everyone is behaving, so I must be the Best Parent Ever. 

And then I do something so dumb, that I wonder how I have any credibility with my kids at all.

On Wednesday, Lovely L got herself into some trouble while at a friends house.  When called out on it, she stormed out of the neighbors house and slammed their front door so hard that it bounced back open.

By the time Lovely L got back to our house, the other parent had already called and filled me in on the situation.  Due directly to Lovely’s actions, a comedy of errors ensued of epic proportions.  An almost literal domino effect had caused all sorts of other issues and I was furious with her.  Not to mention that slamming doors is a big no-no at both the neighbor and our houses. 

But I am the Best Parent Ever.  So I took a deep breath, and calmly asked Lovely to explain what happened.

*silence*

Again, I went over everything that had been told to me and asked for her version of the story. 

*silence*

I’m getting more frustrated by the minute and still she hasn’t said a word.  Finally, I am fed up with her silence and I tell her exactly what she should be saying (an apology) what she should be doing (apologizing) and why is she just sitting there making me crazy and not answering anything, why won’t she just talk so we can at least have a conversation and discuss this because she’s a big kid and we can TALK so quit just sitting there crying and not saying anything…

*silence*

Fine! I say.  I’m going out to the garden, join me when you feel like talking! and I walk into the garage and slam the door shut. 

Yep.  I did.  I slammed the door. 

Almost immediately I realized what I did.  I am no longer the Best Parent Ever; I am most certainly the Hypocritical Parent of the Year and I lean, defeated against the door. I feel angry with Lovely L and sad and disappointed in myself. 

So standing in the garage, with Lovely on the other side of the door, I said a prayer:  Lord, I am so not the parent I want to be.  Please help me out, because I feel like I’m doing this wrong and I’m am just going to mess this kid up…

And I went in and said said an apology to Lovely L, still silent and sobbing.  My brain completely went haywire at the thought of saying sorry for my actions to a child that didn’t seem sorry and had still not apologized for the huge mess she had created. 

And then it popped into my head:  My slamming the door had just provided me the perfect opportunity to show  Lovely L how to behave when we do something we shouldn’t have done. 

Right now I still don’t feel like the Best Parent Ever.  And I don’t know if what MC and I decided on is the The Best Consequence.  The only thing I know is that everyday is a new chance to try to be the best mom I can be, to love these three kids with all my heart – and if I mess up today – well, tomorrow’s a new day.

{Oh my, how I love this girl!}

Have you ever had a parenting moment that you wish you could rewind or erase altogether?  What would you have done differently?

My Greenhouse is My Actual House...

Let me take you to a beautiful place where green plants grow and flourish, the air humid and ripe with the expectation of blossoming flowers and juicy vegetables.  That place is not my where my plants live.

Let's visit my garden, shall we?

What? Your garden doesn't have pencils stuck in it? How else are the peas supposed to grow?

Look at how healthy those things are! I am clearly a master at indoor gardening. (Let's see... that makes me Patch Queen of the Universe and Indoor Gardening Master. If I keep up at this pace, who knows what other titles I might acquire? ; )

Why is my garden indoors, you might ask...

This post pretty much explains it all. Most vegetables like warmer temps, so mine have to stay indoors another week or so.

In the meantime, my baby tomatoes

                                                                            

                                                                          carrots,                                                                             

  

basil,

 

 and other little vegetables that I haven't killed yet will reside in my front room, absorbing what meager sunlight makes it way in. And dreaming of the day when, like normal plants, they too get to soak up actual sun in the real life outdoors.

Five Things on Friday: Front Porch...

Let's sit back and take a look at my front porch:

Hey now, I didn't say point and mock!

Yes, my porch is looking a little neglected and sad. But hey! Check out that cool flower basket, isn't that awesome?

I needed some inspiration before I tackled the porch so I turned to, where else... the Internet. And I found tons of incredible ideas. So let's get right to some lovely front porches and see just what it is that makes them not sad and neglected.
Our first one is courtesy of Between Naps on The Porch.

First off, I love the red door. Second, I love the symetrical-ness (if that's not word, then it should be) of the lights and urns.
Did I mention I love the red door?
My only problem here is that I don't own any urns and having looked at the cost... let's just say that the Master chef is not on board with urn purchasing at this time.

Okay, next up is this porch:

Source

Oh. My. Awesomeness... Geraniums? Ferns? Comfy seating?
I want to live on this porch. I want to sip tea and read in the shade while my gardener works in the yard.
Alas, my porch isn't even a fraction of the size of this, so I can't really use any ideas from it. Plus, anything under my supervision that resides in a pot is soon dead. And dead plants aren't really nice to look at. Oh. And I don't actually have a gardener.

Next up:

Source

How welcoming is that? I love all the different varieties of coleus and did you see the rocking bench? Way cool.
Except that the coleus are in pots. And the rocking bench might be the actual dimensions of my entire porch. I need smaller ideas.

Source

Okay, too small.

Source

Again, beautiful... and oh, so too big for my tiny porch. Why did I pick these?!?

Okay. I give up. It's apparent to me that what I want is a full length porch with lots of seating and plants. And my poor little porch is now seeing a therapist over what can only be described as my overwhelming disappointment in it's diminutive size.

I guess I'll just have to come up with something that is lovely and welcoming all on my own, so wish me luck (Oh! And just maybe you have a great idea to help beautify my little porch? Tell me about it!).

And there you have five ideas for someone who has a lovely full length front porch.