Ant problem

I've noticed ants crawling on my peach tree and I want to nip in a bud before it's too late.

So I did a search on how to keep ants off of a peach tree. I went to a Yahoo! Answers site where a woman has the same problem and was asking for solutions. There were several...whitewash the trunk, ring of vaseline at the base, Tanglefoot, soapy water spray, etc. And then the best one:

Aardvark.

Nice.

Never felt more inadequate

I happened across a blog today while doing research on coupons.

This woman had a cleaning to-do list in a sidebar where she listed things she had already and still needed to clean. She had it divided up into rooms. I was just so floored by what was listed. Vacuum behind the fridge, clean tops of cabinets, etc.

Hmmmm...I wish I had motivation to do that. I consider it a good day if I vacuum period.

An aside: I cannot clean the house until I write each room on a slip of paper, put all slips in a container, and whichever one I pick, that's the room I clean--until all rooms are done. It makes it fun for me (weird, I know) and much more manageable.

Happy spring cleaning!

P.S. I got notice today that I'll receive for free, the satellite layers (for my research) that normally cost $3200. Woo! Yay for $3200 freebies!

My new kick

COUPONS!

I was watching the CBS Early Morning Show this morning and they did a segment on clipping coupons and how much you can save. $79 worth of groceries for $26. Apparently the trick is to gather multiple coupons for the same item and wait until that particular item goes on special at the grocery store. Makes sense. That means you'll be stocking up though, and there's the potential to get a bunch of stuff you don't need/want if you're not careful.

My mom used to use coupons a lot and I was always kind of embarrassed because we'd hold up the line while we fished for them and then while the cashier scanned them. I'm beginning to see the usefulness in them though and want to try it out. My first problem: finding the coupons. I don't get any mailings really and I'd hate to use my own paper and ink to print off coupons you can find online. My second problem: how to organize the coupons. Okay, so this is what this post is really about. The real reason I want to start using coupons is so that I can carry a cute little coupon organizer with me to the grocery store. :oD

I did a search on Etsy for coupon holders and came across Crunchycute's shop. I think her organizers are awesome! And even though though they're really cute and fairly priced, I still can't bring myself to spend more than $5 on one. I know, I'm really cheap. Hey! I just spent $420 at the vet thankyouverymuch!

So then I did a search on how to sew your own organizer. I'm a novice sewer and thought this would be the perfect time to put myself to the test. Fun! I came across a post on isew's blog. I'm disappointed there's no pattern, but I like her design so much I might contact her to see if she could draw up a pattern or even maybe make me one (I'm curious how much she would charge). And the little tabs!! How cute is that?! I'm in love...*sigh* Oh, looks like iSew has an Etsy shop too--closed while she moves to Seattle. :o(

Oh I'm so excited. That'll probably change once I see how crappy the organizer I make is compared to the others. :oP

No late freeze, please.

Against my better judgement, I bought and planted some fruit and vegetables. I think we're out of the chances for any more freezes, but who knows what can happen...what with this global warming going on and all. ;o)

I planted:

• strawberries
• watermelon
• tomatoes
• lettuce
• serrano peppers
• green bell peppers
• cilantro
• yellow squash
• zucchini
• cucumber

Hopefully things go better than last year--I think the problem with last year was that I wasn't very attentive. But now I'm ready and armed with my diatomaceous earth and pepper spray.

WORMS! Glorious WORMS!

I planted some petunias yesterday evening but didn't have enough potting soil. My first thought: gotta get some soil when we go to Wal-Mart tomorrow. Second thought: Silly me! I have a compost pile! I can get it for free from there!

So this morning I go to rake the big stuff off the top to get to the lush dark organic stuff on the bottom and what do I find?!?! Worms! Fat ones! Lots of 'em! Oh man I was so excited. I even woke C up to tell him. His response was less than enthused. When I started the pile there weren't many and whenever I'd come across any while I was digging in the yard, I'd transplant them to the compost pile. And for those of you who don't know, worms are very important in breaking down the debris. Woo! Here are some pictures:

The compost pile in all its glory (it's actually kind of ghetto--I used leftovers from the fence).

Two wormies

Yum!

7:00 AM & a pet peeve

I can't seem to sleep past 7:00 in the morning. I've gone to sleep at midnight the past two nights and I still wake up at 7:00. :oP I want to sleep...feel like I need it, but I just can't. So maybe I don't really need it. It doesn't help when my back starts to hurt after so many hours in the bed.

My pet peeve: I can't stand misspellings and sloppy grammar. I'm not saying I'm perfect. There's a church down the road that has one of those signs where you put up letters...they had "christain" up there. You'd think a church would at least know how to spell that. There's also someone at work who can't spell. "Corperate" is written everywhere. Kinda odd considering how much that person reads. I used to think readers were pretty good about that kind of thing. Apparently not.

Alright, I probably should start doing something productive with my day. I hope the mower starts today...if not, well, I just don't want to think about that.