Many have asked....

I have had several people ask me if my ants are gone in the house. The answer is Yes...so far so good!!! I have killed a total of 20 in the past weeks so I consider them gone:) I however have not put my clothes back into the closet and continue to live out of the closet downstairs. I just don't want to take the chance of them returning and then having to rewash all again. So for now my clothes will remain in the downstairs closet.

We just got back from a 13 day trip to Indiana. The boys and I went and stayed a few days with waibels then on to my parents house for the remainder of the trip. Elijah had spring break and I knew nick was going to be busy with work so I decided it was a great time to get away. Good thing I did cause nick put in 88 hours of work while I was away(and thats only one weeks' worth!!) We have several more weeks of nicks schedule being hectic. I just smile and know that when this is all said and done the closer it will be for us to move back north:)!!! What a joyous day that will be for the most part. I will miss lots here, but family comes first.

Well, for now thats it. Im not the most interesting person out there...so sorry!!! Wish I had entertaining things to say, but life around here is quiet and I guess thats a good thing. Warm weather is on its way and I am looking forward to that. Had 72 degrees today and it makes me anxious for flowers and planting my garden. Yippeee.

Have a blessed day!!!

AUNTS or ANTS?????

ITS ANTS!!!! For the past week I have been noticing groups of ants in different spots throughout the house. First it started in the upstairs bathroom there was a pile of them and I followed a trail around the corner and into a corner of the wall....what did I discover, but a tiny little nerd candy. So I got the vacuum and swept the upstairs and threw out the tiny little nerd candy. About a couple days later I discovered some more in the half bathroom downstairs and I quickly swept them up and also at that time noticed this odd looking bug. It looked like an ant, but yet it had wings. Had never seen that before. Thought nothing of it, picked it up and flushed it down the toilet. The next day I found ants crawling on the floor in Caden's room and down the hall??? How can this be??? I just swept here a few days ago???? So I got the vacuum again and swept the upstairs once again. Weekend came and weekend went and no ants to be found.(that I noticed anyway). Well, boy was I wrong....I woke up this morning went to my closet to pick out some clothes and when I entered it I saw about 4 ants in the middle of the closet. I thought that was weird so I turned on the light for better seeing and discovered not 4 ants but 100's of them!!! They were crawling in and out of all our shoes, on the wash basket clothes that needed to be washed, and even a few on the hanging clothes!!! I immediately started crying and getting creeped out. I called nick and was crying uncontrolably to him asking him what to do, who to call, how to get rid of them, etc. I just wanted him to come home cause I couldn't deal with them. Of course he didn't and I had to step it up and take care of the situation at hand. I first called Orkin. They asked me what they looked like and how big they were so I went upstairs to get a closer look and measure them. I was bitten by one as I was measuring it and then looked down to see that 3 had already crawled up onto my pant leg!!! AGHHHH!!! I started to get choked up on the phone, but they told me they couldn't come till tomorrow. So I said "Id call them back if I needed them". I then called Terminex and the nice lady on the other end could tell I was freaking out and was so sweet and said she would get someone out at 3pm today!! I was willing to pay any price at this rate cause I just wanted them GONE!!! So anyway after measuring these guys, the lady on the other end thought maybe they might be carpenter ants. So after hanging up the phone I googled carpenter ants to find that if they indeed were carpenter ants we could have a problem. This type of ant burrows into wood(they do not eat wood), but chip it away and make lots of paths thru it causing wood to be ruined. They like damp wood and we have had leaking in our house a few times when it rains alot and I was certain it was due to that and we would have to have some guy come look at our roof and probably have it replaced or something crazy. I learned alot about carpenter ants today, but when the Terminex guy arrived and came upstairs to check out the closet infested with ants, he bent down to pick one up and immediately it bit him which he knew was NOT a carpenter ant but a FIRE ANT!!!! So you northerners might not know what those are, but they are ants that HURT when they bit you and can also cause paralitic(?)shock in small children (esp. if they are allergic to bee stings and such things like that). And for those southerner's you know how terrible this is!!! This terminex guy had never dealt with Fire Ants in the house before, and had to call his boss who had not dealt with them indoors either. But they had a spray that was to work on this type of ant and so he sprayed really well. So far they are slowly dying and I have the joy and privilage of cleaning out the closet and taking care of the shoes and clothes. The guy told me the best thing was to wash the lower hanging clothes(the ones that touched the floor or shoes) and to clean out those shoes cause you don't want to put your foot into a Fire Ant. I bagged all the shoes and put them into the freezer(thankfully we have a garage freezer that isn't full) to kill the ants. They stayed there for 6 hours:) Then I bagged all the hanging clothes which was 4 trash bags full and took them to the laundry room to be washed. I have to say after washing 4 loads and discovering that the ants were still alive even after a washing just made me sick, but after I stuck the clothes into the HIGH HEAT dryer they came out with not a single ant on them(so far:)). I have two more loads to do tomorrow, but for now the clothes are sealed tightly in trash bags in the laundry room. Oh What A Day!!!!! I think if I see any more ants I might be willing to just sell this house and buy a new one!!!! Or maybe it would be best to burn it down??? I know thats drastic, but its gone thru my head. These guys are so fast and get all over so quickly and I keep seeing them....kitchen curtain, bedroom curtain, climbing the door frame in the laundry room....you name it...its just out of control and I want them gone!! The terminex guy told me to call in 7 days if I still see them and they will come spray more. They said this will get under control and that they should and will get this problem solved. Now just HOW LONG WILL IT TAKE????? If you don't mind say a prayer or two that these ants go find another home to invade:)

Here is to you Mindy!!!

I know you told me not to post anymore about the good ol' Bruster's, but I could not resist these cute photos of Caden and his Bruster's Ice Cream. This past saturday was "wear your pj day" and recieve a FREE waffle cone. You really have to wear your pj's or you won't get it free....so we all trecked up to Bruster's...even my parents since they were in town got to enjoy this outing. They gave everyone who came with pj's a HUGE waffle cone even to the little guys like Caden!! I am hoping these pictures will entice friends and family to come visit us so we can treat you to a waffle cone at Brusters. You know you want to come again mindy....I know you do:)