Updates

For those of you eager for an update on installing our dual flush toilet attachment: I tried. I failed. I called a plumber.

Actually, I think I installed it correctly. It just didn't fix our toilet problem. One complication is that there is a large box on the handle (the part of the handle that is inside the toilet tank. The way my toilet is configured, it bumps into the refill valve. So I'm not sure if we are going to be able to keep it in or not. We'll see what the professional says.

In better news, my marigolds are already sprouting. I didn't realize they are so quick. I hope they keep away the mosquitos because the rosemary doesn't seem to be doing the trick by itself (I bought those as plants rather than seeds).

I once was LOST

So...I did manage to make it to Home Depot today to pick up "just a few things." We have a mosquito problem and I looked into mosquito repellent plants. Apparently they don't like the smell of rosemary, catnip, and marigolds. So now these plants are all over our front porch. Or at least they will be once the seeds sprout. I'm curious about whether the catnip will start attracting all the neighborhood cats. We already have one that seems to like our house.

The other big news is that we bought our vacation tickets today. Ireland here we come!

And of course the LOST finale. Very good, although still many questions. I made these cookies for our own little finale party of two. Part light, part dark, with a mystery in the middle.



(In case you can't tell, that's a chocolate kiss inside a walnut cookie).

Random

This morning we planned to remulch our front yard. It washed away during the flood and we never had a chance to replace it yet. I went outside to pull some weeds before going to Home Depot to buy the mulch and a few other things I've been wanting. DH came outside and said he was going to buy.

I said, "Oh, I was going to get the mulch and a few other things in a little bit."

He replied, "I was going to buy the mulch so you wouldn't be tempted to get a few other things."

He knows me so well. I did convince him to buy a tomato plant so I can try out my Topsy Turvy planter.

More randomness

My second acupuncture appointment is done. Today he tried something different and had me lay on my stomach while he put needles in my back. Still very relaxing.

I have two daffodils blooming in my yard! Last fall was my first attempt at planting flowers for spring color. I'm so proud. They look great. The only problem is that I can't figure out why only the bulbs I planted on the right side of the house are sprouting, none on the left side. It's a puzzle to me. I haven't seen any budding on my blueberry bush, so I hope that survived it's first winter in my yard. It was a very cold winter.

Speaking of cold winters, our heating bills have actually gone down due to insulation we put in last fall. Our February bill went down 17%, even though the number of days between readings was 10% higher and the temperature was colder this year. So our investment was well worth it.

Marathon training has not been going so well. My left hip muscle is hurting me. Ugh.

Termites

So we have termites. Obviously this can cause some problems in our house. But you know what bugs (pun intended) me the most? Termite control people have no sense of landscaping. Yeah, sure their first priority should be to get rid of the termites. But can't they put a little effort into not making the front of your house look like a big termite trap?

I discovered the termites in our mulch while planting some seeds and bulbs, in hopes of having a beautiful house with great curb appeal in the spring when everything blooms. They put not one, but three of those in-ground tubes right where I planted the bulbs, as well as where I planted the seeds. First, I don't know why they had to put 3 in one place. But more to the point, why couldn't they put them slightly to the side so they would be behind existing bushes? There is another spot in our front yard where they put them behind a bush, so they are less noticeable.

I was so looking forward to my flowers. Oh well, I guess now I can just look forward to a termite-free house.

Busy weekend

We had quite a busy weekend. Friday night I started cleaning out this big closet that is basically my "throw it in there" place where I put things I don't think about. I also put tons of boxes and packing supplies in there whenever we get a package. I had to clean it out because at some point right before Christmas last year, my mom sent us our present early: a Roomba! We loved it. And it worked great for about 9 months. Since our 1 year warranty is hitting the endpoint, we need to get it fixed. That meant I needed to pull out a year's worth of junk thrown in the closet to find the original box and packing slip with proof of purchase. Fortunately it was still there and it gave me a chance to organize the closet.

I am also taking this opportunity to get rid of some packing popcorn and various bubble wrap. A lot of this is leftover from when we moved to this house 2 years ago and some we acquired from various packages. I have a hard time getting rid of boxes and packing supplies. I think it has to with how much I moved around throughout my life. I never want to get rid of boxes because before I know it, I'm moving again. But we definitely plan to stay in this house for a while, so I guess I can let go of some of these moving supplies.

Saturday my nephew had this robotics competition and we saw him use the robot and tried to watch him do the oral presentation, but that was closed to the audience. But we were there to give moral support. Even my IL's came, even though my nephew is from my side of the family. His team did well, although they didn't make it to the next round. But considering they were mostly 6th graders and the competition went up to 12th grade, they did pretty well.

We also went with my ILs to a home tour in the area. DH and I love home tours and open houses. Basically we love getting inside other people's homes and snooping around. This particular tour had a bunch of homes in our neighborhood that had always intrigued me. But then we went inside and found out there wasn't much there to be jealous of. This one house had this historic entry way with an elaborate staircase. But then you move into the living room and see a bed in the next room on the way to the kitchen. There were no doors separating the room, just a bed right in the middle of the room. And the house got weirder from there.

Today after church we went to an art show and then I spent the day working in the yard. I planted some more flowers and trimmed the front lawn. Then I tried out our new blower/vaccuum and love it! Our yard looks so much neater and I was able to pick up a whole bunch of leaves. But I still can't wait until our fall yardwork is done. I enjoyed doing our front yard, but now the leaves is just work. We were even talking about it and the type of leaves we have are not even the pretty leaves like maple leaves. They are small and just shrivel up and make the yard look ugly rather than something you want to pile up and jump in.

Yard

So I spent this weekend working in our front yard. Shortly after we moved into this house, everything in the yard died. (Well, except for the weeds on the side of the house. We'll get to that later.) This past spring I decided to address our pitiful yard. Having never done anything outside before, I was at a bit of a loss. I saw some other houses in the neighborhood that had flowers lining the walk and thought I'd give that a try. I found some bulbs to plant that said plant in the spring and bloom in the summer. Well, they did bloom. Boy did they ever bloom. From just one little bulb a rootmass of about a foot in diameter grew and the flowers grew four feet tall. The whole thing took over the whole walkway.

I was very happy that something I planted actually grew, but had to pull it up because it just didn't work in that area. We planted some new bushes by our porch and some tulips and daffodils. I'm optimistic those will do well where I planted them. It already looks much better by getting rid of the overgrown flowers and planting the bushes.

The other task I accomplished was getting rid of some overgrown weeds/shrubs/trees. I'm not even sure what to call them. They got so big they really were trees (some were reaching our roof. But I think they start out small and just grow quickly like weeds. These particular weeds formed the border between our house and our neighbor's house. At one point there might have been some decent shrubs there, but the weed trees took over. I spent a good bit of time on Sunday cutting them down and clearing them out. Not all the way, so there is still some divide between our houses, but this looks so much better. The funny part is that two other neighbors actually stopped as we were doing it and said how they had really grown way too much.

I learned that I actually do like working in the yard. It is good meditation time and you accomplish something. Now if only I can get the lawn to actually have grass in it.

Rash

Well, summer is here, which means it is time for me to get sick.

See, I've lived in this state for almost 3 years. The summer we moved here, I got poison sumac the first week (reaction is like poison ivy, but a slightly different plant).

A few weeks later, I was bitten by a brown recluse spider. This was incredibly painful, not only at the bite site, but affected my whole body. I itched all over, generally felt sick, and the bite hurt so much it was hard to sit down (I was bit on my rear end). A brown recluse spider bite decays the flesh, so I was put on the same medication used to treat leprosy. I was not completely healed for a couple months. This happened the week I started my new job and before my health insurance forms were completed.

Last summer, I had viral meningitis. Raging headache that lasted over a week, nausea, and a stiff neck. Fortunately I did not have bacterial meningitis, which is the real dangerous kind. Unfortunately, there is no real medication; they only treat the symptoms. This happened right before we spent a week at my mom's house and we still took our vacation. Although our activities were limited since I didn't want to leave the couch. My mom actually liked taking care of me, but I did have to put up with her saying repeatedly I could be confusing the nausea of meningitis with morning sickness.

Now, I was bitten by something over the weekend and have another rash. It does not appear to be a brown recluse spider as the rash is different, not painful other than itchy, and there are no whole body symptoms. But I was thinking of going to the dr tomorrow if it doesn't go away and looked up pictures of similar rashes. The closest I could find is a tick bite. Great, lyme disease. Just what I need. And we leave for vacation on Friday. Although the most outdoor thing I did for the past several days is weed our front lawn. I guess I could have a gotten a tick bite, but it's not exactly out in the woods.

The good news about my gardening: We have flowers blooming. This was first attempt at planting flowers and it seems to have been a success!