ants

We have carpenter ants again. I hate them. We have a HUGE pine tree near our house that has been infested for several years...ok at least since we bought the house. The tree needs to come down, unfortunately it is really too big for us to do ourselves, way too big actually. The other problem? It isn't actually on our property, technically it is on the neighbors property, conveniently left outside of his fence though...And I'm not sure I can go over to his house and say, "hey, can you pay the $3k to take that tree down?"

Last summer my mom came up and sprayed a bunch of chemicals around our house because I had told her we had ants (she was very well meaning, but I wish she had asked first!) After she sprayed, instead of having an ant here and there, we had HUNDREDS, and they were everywhere...surprisingly not in the food...luckily. We waited for the poisons to work, but these suckers are tough. Ant traps don't touch these bad boys either. So I did some research online and found that Borax is supposed to work.

I guess they think that the Borax is food and bring it back to their queen who ends up dying, and then then the other ants either leave or die as well. Luckily we use Borax for our homemade laundry soap, so it is always available. I put a thin layer of the stuff at the back of our counters, and within a few days we noticed that the ants were gone. Or maybe they were hiding, since they are back this year. Today I will be putting Borax around the counters and hoping that they disappear again...especially since we are to have company Friday afternoon. Nothing says "Welcome!" like big fat carpenter ants crawling on your walls!

rain and community

It is still raining out...and I expect it to continue until Sunday. I'm glad that we had a couple nice days last week, but it is not enough! I need some Vitamin D! It's probably good that it has been so rainy though, it has given me a chance to catch up on some reading. Also, with Emma sick, and now me coming down with something as well, obviously sunny days would make me sad since we are all huddled on the couch cuddling and watching movies. I think I have watched every version of Pride and Prejudice they have out there...including Lost in Austen, which I highly recommend if you haven't seen it.

I really shouldn't complain as much as I do, especially with all that is happening in the rest of the world. I tend to get stuck in my own little bubble and forget about everyone else having problems. I think not watching the news adds to that bubble. I have been feeling the need for more community as of late, which is definitely difficult for me.

How do you manage community? I think that my problem is that I want all that privacy, I don't want the nosy neighbor (who is actually extremely nice and very giving), I want to put up a fence around my yard so that I can have privacy. But, if I keep putting up fences...I will just be in isolation and that is no fun either. I am actually very outgoing in social situations. I have no problems talking to people I have never met. Yet, when it comes to my own neighborhood it doesn't seem to work like that. Maybe because I don't have anyone that is a carbon copy of my family right around me. Of course my BFF lives about a quarter of a mile down the street...but I don't count that since we would get together regardless of where she lived :-)

I think that I need to change my thinking. Get out of my comfort zone. Really try to be more involved. There are a lot of awesome things happening in my town. A group of people are putting together a co-op downtown with all local foods that will be available year round. We already have the farmers' market year round, but to have a store to go to will be awesome. I hope that it opens soon! I am very lucky to live in a town where the downtown is really close by, it has everything that I need within walking distance. I think that we have a pretty good shot of surviving the apocalypse :-) So this summer I will be outside more, walking downtown more, talking to my neighbors more. We shall see how that goes! And as soon as it stops raining I will take pictures of the big mud pit/garden in our yard :-)

sick kiddos...again

I probably should stop planning on doing things, because my plans never seem to come to fruition! I was already to go this morning, unfortunately babe number 1 seems to have some crazy horrendous bronchitis cough thing, and babe number 2 doesn't want to sleep. So I have one on the couch watch "Care Bears II: A New Generation" and babe number 2 on my back finally asleep. Now if I can manage to not get sick once the kids get better, well that would be nice :-)

Instead of the organization plans that I had for this week, I am spending some time on the computer. Something that I can get up from easily enough. I really want to take the time to organize everything. Seeing as how I have over 4500 pictures...and probably about half that in videos, it might take me a while. I'm also attempting to actually network all of my electronics, and that is not so easy when I have no clue what I am doing. I used to know things about electronics, but I feel that it is slipping away from me! And alas, my computer genius brother is just a little too far away to set it all up for me...so I trudge along.

At least it isn't really nice outside! Then I would feel slightly bad for just being inside watching movies and cuddling.

rain...

I love it, but right now I am not loving it so much. It looks like we will have rain for the next 7 days straight. Not just drizzle, and not the passing thunderstorm...nope...rain...heavy rain...for 7 days. I can't say that I am pleased with the prospect of being in the house again, but it should give me some much needed time to organize.

Hmm...it seems like I am constantly attempting to organize. I guess with 2 kids and a husband that is normal. I would like to say this is the week that everything is accomplished. What are the chances? I think my mom will be pitching in a bit, which is always extremely helpful, yet I tend to want to just chill and catch up on blogs when she takes the littles. Why is that?

On my agenda for the week? Getting the kids bedroom cleaned out so that we can paint it. Not the most exciting thing, but definitely exciting for me. Unfortunately this means that I need to figure out what to do with all the crap we have been putting in there while moving upstairs. I'm thinking a yard sale is on the horizon. I would actually like to use Tsh's Organized Simplicity but I don't think the kiddos will let me have that much dedicated time...But, we can always hope right?! How do you stay motivated to complete large projects? I'm thinking red wine should help me ;-)

new computer

Yes...I have a new computer. It isn't entirely set up yet, and probably will take me ages to get everything from my old computer to this new one, but at least it turns on and I can use the internet :-) I am hoping to start blogging regulary again now, so we shall see how it goes! Hopefully my littles will keep their water bottles away from this laptop...or maybe I need to keep it in a locked cabinet..

It has been a great weekend so far though! We had a wonderful 3rd birthday for my baby girl...the time is going seriously fast and is slightly depressing. I also (well Matt actually) was able to get the garden situated, now we just need to figure out what to plant. We were lucky enough to aquire 6 rubarb plants from a friend and those are in the ground. I have my peas and spinach planted in a little garden bed that Emma helped with. Everything else will be waiting until Memorial Day weekend. Typical planting season in this part of Maine. Last year I was planting in March, but since it has been so cold here, and rain just about everyday, no planting for me yet. Hopefully the green house will have some really good seedlings that I can use, since I think our growing season is going to be seriously short this year.

I also started going through my lists of what we need to "put up" this year...and came up with 56 pints of salsa...does that seem like too much to anyone else? I knew we ate a lot of salsa, but I guess I didn't expect it to be that large a number! Better start buying more jars! Is anyone else planning their gardens? Or have you already started planting?! I'm itching for warm sunny weather!!!