Of This And That . . .

Every spring I wait. It is a time of suspense and intrigue!

It isn’t a fun, butterflies-in-the-stomach wait, like on Christmas Eve when you’re seven years old. And it’s not a gut-churning, butt-burning-before-it’s-even-smacked wait, like when you’ve been told “Wait til your father gets home!”

It falls somewhere in between, but it’s still a mystery waiting to be solved! I have no control over it. I can only wait. Patience has nothing to do with it. You can’t rush it, so being patient is irrelevant.

Only Mother Nature can answer the question, and we have this year’s answer!

What is the answer, Alex? I’ll take “I Hate Nature” for $1000 please!

ANTS!

The question is: What will invade my home this year?

I’m not talking about an ant or two that happens to find it’s way into the sugar container.

I’m talking about a total invasion.

They are in the microwave. They are on the stove. They are in the dog food bin. They are in the “junk” drawer — and what they found in there to snack on, I’m almost afraid to look!

But, that’s not all!

They’re in the living room, the bathroom, and the bedrooms!

They’re everywhere!

But they’re also sneaky!

We have only found one true ant trail. That’s right — just one.

So, apparently, they’re in the walls and in the floors, too — ’cause they’re not traveling via a route that we can follow!

One year it was crickets. One year it was grasshoppers. One year it was roaches. We’re out in the country, so you can always count on a few wood roaches — but one year it was *really* bad. One year it was mice.

This year, it’s ants. A week ago — nothing. This morning? They’ve totally taken over the place.

Now, since you have to wait until the culprit is revealed each year, you can’t stock up on the proper poisons — and yes, I have no qualms about killing them dead, dead, DEAD! They have acres and acres outside where they can flourish and live happy lives. If they are adrenaline junkies who insist on invading my space, they deserve what they get.

Now fully armed with weapons of, hopefully, mass insect destruction, I am off to commence the massacre.

Thank you, SwapADVD!!

We’re still doing family night, though sometimes it’s tough coming up with things to do! Not anymore! You are not going to believe the great score I made!

I’ve belonged to PaperbackSwap for quite awhile and while I’ve received some nasty books, most of them have been in great condition and a considerable number of them look like they’re brand new. I was hesitant to try the same thing with DVDs, though. I don’t have much luck with those when I buy them at the store, and I wasn’t sure I’d want one someone else had taken a crack at.

As an aside — who decided this was “the” format for movies — or data storage of any kind? I mean, seriously, I have VHS tapes that are 25 years old that still play like they’re new. DVDs? They’re so temperamental — and same with CDs. I don’t buy many CDs but the ones I do buy are copied several times “just in case.” I’d love for them to sue me so I can tell anyone and everyone how I’m tired of being ripped off. Alas, I’m not into “file sharing” so they’ll probably never even know I exist.

But — that’s not really my point.

Okay, so I was cleaning up the bookcase one day and there were dozens of DVDs that we’ll never watch again. So I joined SwapADVD, posted ‘em, sent ‘em out, and put a few things on my wish list, one of which was Six Feet Under — the complete series. Check out that kewl box!

Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine anyone would actually send it to me.

Usually what happens with these swap sites is someone comes along, posts something really neet like this, realizes a lot of other people want it and then think, “Hey — if this is so great, maybe I better hold on to it!” So it gets posted, but it never gets sent. Swapper’s Remorse.

Not only did this get posted, it was sent, received and it was brand new!! Still shrink wrapped! I couldn’t believe it! How kewl is THAT?!

When I PM’d the guy to let him know how thrilled I was, he says, “Yeah — I thought you might like to have a new one.” Talk about an understatement! I received this a couple of months ago and I’m still lovin’ it.

Okay, so anyway — our family night is “covered” for months — years? — to come.

Forget putting them upside down in a warm oven — my preferred method for the longest time. It’s a mess, not to mention the fact that the only fire we’ve ever had in the kitchen was started when my son (then a wee lad) turned on the oven without looking inside first. It was never serious, but it sure scared him.

I wish I knew where I read this, so I could give proper credit. It certainly wasn’t my idea. But, since I’m de-waxing a neet jar right now, I figured I’d write about it ’cause it’s easy peasy. And I’m especially happy because I hate to throw things away — my family is going to want to kill me when it comes time to clean up my stuff after I’m dead. I’m sure they will be happy to throw it away!

But . . . I digress . . .

Boiling water. Just pour boiling water into the jar — or anything else you want to save after the candle is long gone. That’s it.

Hate surprises? Okay — I’ll tell you what happens.

The boiling water melts the wax, and also does a pretty good job of getting the other ickies out of there, too, like the black stuff that collects on the side when the candle gets burned down so low you can’t trim the wick.

Leave the jar, let the water cool, and what do you have? A nice, neat glob of wax that you just lift out of the jar. Of course, most jars are smaller on the top than they are on the bottom, so the disc of wax you end up with won’t come out in one piece. Stick a table knife in there, break it in half, and remove the pieces.

That’s it.

I usually do this twice to get any bits that really really don’t want to leave home.

It’s cleaner, faster, easier and more effective than the warm oven method, and you don’t have to mess with wax in your sink or worry about it getting into your septic tank.

Kewl, huh?