Nontarget Pests
My husband was watching Dirty Jobs on Discovery or something a couple of weeks ago. This particular segment was about a team of exterminators. They used the phrase "nontarget pests" to refer to the "pests" that you don't necessarily want to kill, such as kids and pets. I just love that phrase. My husband was annoying me today and the phrase popped back into my head. The phrase so accurately describes him. The cats, too.
Labels: family, fun stuff
What flower are you?
Labels: fun stuff
Cleaning House
I went on a blitz-clean this weekend. I'm not very good at getting myself motivated to clean house, I'd rather read blogs, especially when it's just about cleaning. Sunday, though, I was racing the clock. I had certain things that I especially wanted to get done, so I challenged myself. Our apartment complex has a laundry room downstairs, so while the clothes were washing, I challenged myself to get certain things done before the clothes were ready to go in the dryer. I sprayed the bathroom down with Scrubbing Bubbles (OK, not the most eco-friendly choice, but it does the job) and closed the door. While it was doing its job, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, cleaned out the kitchen sink and cleaned out the fridge. After that I went back and wiped down the bathroom and then went to clean the litter box. I was just finishing up when hubby called time. Two rooms and a litter box clean in 25 minutes. Not bad.
Even better, I followed up yesterday. While my lunch was in the microwave, I unloaded and reloaded the dishwasher, grabbed a rag and wiped down the bathroom and scooped the litter box. Less than 10 minutes.
That doesn't mean my house is clean, far from it. I still have piles everywhere. But when I set myself a time limit and try to accomplish just as much as I possibly can, I'm always amazed at how far I get.
Labels: cleaning
My Peculiar Aristocratic Title
I was cleaning out my inbox and ran across this. I liked the "Undefeated" part. I've been through a lot in my years, but I truly am... undefeated.
Labels: fun stuff
Cats and gardens do not mix
I live in an upstairs apartment, so my "garden" consists of a few potted herbs. It also included a windowbox with romaine lettuce, but the cats have pretty much chewed that down to nothing. My husband has been wanting me to put the herbs in a sunny window since they started coming up, but I was afraid that the cats would eat them before they had a chance to get established. I have heard that cats hate the smell of onion and garlic, so I figured I'd try it. My husband cut me a nice thick slice of onion, and I put half-rings of onion around the inside of the edge of the pot and put the pots in the window. Sure enough, the cats were curious, but not for long. My whole apartment smells like onion, but my cilantro hasn't been eaten!!
I've heard the same is true of oranges, but we didn't have any oranges. We did have an onion. I want to expand my garden and I'm thinking of using orange oil to spray down the outside of the pots. Stay tuned to find out how well that one works.
Labels: gardening, pets
Change the World
Hubby and I were talking this morning. We were once again solving all of the world's problems (we do this a couple times a month or so) and he got a little frustrated because that's all we ever do. We talk, but we don't actually do anything. And he's right, we don't. We have a lot of wonderful ideas, but we never act on them. Part of it is that we both work full time and we're still scraping by. Part of that is because I just graduated last spring, and I just finally got a decent job a few months ago, so we're still catching up, but I digress.
We may not be very well off, but we're still far better off than many. We may not have a whole lot of leisure time, but it only takes a few hours to make a huge difference. We have some good ideas for a community center, but we only plan on being in this area for a couple more years at most, and seems like it would take at least that long to get anything really established. So we're looking for a good volunteer opportunity that we can donate a couple of hours to each weekend. Any ideas?
Labels: giving
