So we have ants. We had them a couple of years ago, and had to get an exterminator in here to fix the problem, it was so bad. And they fixed it pretty well. They cautioned that we might need another treatment in 30 days, but I never saw another ant until two weeks ago.

They show up on my kitchen table now. There is no trail going up one of the legs, or up a chair and onto the table cloth. Just a handful of ants milling around on the tabletop. Wierdest thing ever.

So, I've been trying to keep the breakfast area meticulously clean, which is no small job due to a certain child who shall remain nameless, but can't seem to get food from plate to mouth without dropping a handful. But even in the face of my heretofore unseen housekeeping skills, the handful of ants appear, leaving no trail to follow. Until last night that is. Someone dropped a noodle from our Chinese food on the floor, and the ants found it, and I could see that they were coming from under the cabinet where the sink is.

So, I pulled out my handy "Clean House, Clean Planet" book and mixed Borax with powdered sugar, per their recipe. I sprinkled it on the kitchen table and on the floor by the cabinet from where the intruders seemed to be coming. I went to bed actually looking forward to waking up this morning to trails of ants diligently carrying the sweet poison to their evil queen. I was doing a little victory dance even as I fell asleep.

But, alas, I awoke this morning to powdered sugar and Borax on my table and floor, but no ants. No trail of ants, no dead ants. Nothing. It's like they know what I'm up to.

I'm starting to feel a little like this:

To kill, you must know your enemy, and in this case my enemy is a varmint. And a varmint will never quit - ever. They're like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong. So you have to fall back on superior intelligence and superior firepower. And that's all she wrote. -Carl Spackler, Caddyshack

Incidentally, the Borax/powdered sugar mixture is sitting in an unlabeled dish on my counter. You might want to be careful what you put on your French Toast around here.

Only one, but she'll have to climb the stairs three times before she remembers why she keeps going up there.

Oy.

We dropped Bud at the airport earlier today for his mission trip to Brazil. Up until 5 years ago, the first 9 years we were married, Bud travelled almost weekly. I'm used to that. But now I'm used to having him home. With me. And I cried when I hugged and kissed him goodbye. Because I'll miss him and because I'm so excited to see what God has done to this wonderful man's heart.

If you'd like to see what he is doing, here is a link describing the trip. Within this link, there is a link to a blog for the trip. I hope they will be able to update regularly, but I understand internet access may be fairly limited.

HeroMakers

Anyway, if you don't mind, please pray for Bud and his fellow travellers, that they will be safe, and that the construction will go well, and that many children and adults will be touched by how much Christ loves them because of the time these people are spending in Brazil.

Okay, so you don't want to peel off wallpaper. Me neither. This is what I did in my bathroom.

First, peel off any wallpaper that is easy to get off with your bare hands.

Second, patch any holes (in my case where I took down the towel racks).

Third, if your final paint color will be light, go ahead and prime over the wallpaper.

Fourth, get a bunch of white tissue paper, the kind that you stuff gifts with. Rip off the edges so you don't have straight lines, and crumple it all up. Then straighten it out again. Edited to add: you want to leave some of your paper with one straight edge for lining up with the ceiling and against any cabinets or trimwork.

Fifth, mix half Elmer's white glue and water, and roll it onto a section of wall. Then apply the tissue paper to the wet area. Continue section by section, overlapping your tissue paper. Let it dry. You may get some bubbly areas. After it dries, just use a paint brush and cover the bubbles with glue/water mixture. It'll stick to the wall.

Sixth, paint in your choice of colors. Mine is Benjamin Moore's Ambience. Cabinets are Benjamin Moore Georgian Green. The final step which won't be completed till after the baby gets here is to rag glaze Mink Brown over a floral stencil covering the walls, so it looks like very aged wallpaper.

This is EASY AND CHEAP. Here are the photos.

They know me and love me!

We are in the final stages of redoing the upstairs of our house. You know, things like painting switchplates, arranging books on bookshelves, etc. This evening I was busy moving stuff all over the place and got super hot. So I plopped my big ol' self onto Peyton's bed and let the breeze from the window and the ceiling fan do their best to cool me.

This room was Bud's office until our recent rearrange. It had all his office stuff, a pretty ugly paint job, and the nasty shag carpet in there. Now it has hardwood floors, beadboard paneling, and pretty pink walls. I love it in there. But while I lay on that bed looking out the window, that room became my favorite in the house. Look at Peyton's view (ignore the photography and look at the view):



I want to move into this room. The house in the background belongs to our sweet neighbors. Peyton can keep an eye on the park in front of our house for any friends who might be out to play with. It's really the perfect room!

So, do tell, what is your favorite room in your house?

I'm doing much better today. The kids had a campout with Bud last night, so I got some shopping done at IKEA, and then watched Sixteen Candles with the other moms whose families were on teh camping trip.



The tears have stopped and I'm happily going about my business this morning. Please explain why, when the house is silent and empty, I wake up at 5:30 a.m. and can't go back to sleep? I've been busy assembling some of my IKEA goodies and surfing the net this a.m.



So, thank you all for your kind words and prayers. Some of life's memories are difficult, but they do teach us some great lessons.



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So, to bring this blog back to the upbeat, please share your favorite Brat Pack movie, and if you have one, your favorite line from it. Mine are in the comments.