I saw this on Craftzine today and I want ‘em. I may know how to knit, crochet, and make soap and lotion, but damn it, I can barely sew on a button.

Categories: crafts, home
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I have a not-so-secret desire to be a gardener. (Or at least not kill every single plant I try to raise.) With the fact that I now have two houseplants that are, surprisingly, still alive, I’m gaining more confidence to carry on. One of the two has actually been alive for over a year! So today I bought another basil plant from TJ’s. I realize this makes it my fourth of fifth attempt, but damn it, I’ve got to succeed at some point! Right?

Originally my plan was to start a tomato plant. I’ve been wanting to try container gardening for some time, and I hear that tomatoes are pretty easy for newbies. When I read green LA girl’s recent foray into gardening, who apparently also has a black thumb, I knew that I should just take the plunge. I got up this morning all gung-ho about getting my tomato plant started: looking at what kind of container I should choose, which variety of tomato I should try, and where can I get some good potting soil. Then I started feeling a little overwhelmed at all the different options … I never knew there were THAT many varieties of tomato! Unfortunately, I chickened out and came home with nary a tomato seed.

To help myself feel a little less defeated (and not quite empty-handed), I bought the basil plant. It’s not such a bad consolation prize, and I do love the smell of fresh basil in the kitchen! So while I try to keep this basil plant alive, I’m doing a bit more research on growing tomatoes. Maybe by next weekend I’ll build enough confidence to (finally) get started.

Categories: garden, home
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A couple of years ago, we had a pretty bad ant problem in our (then newly painted) house. It was one of those scenarios where the poor cat couldn’t get to her food or water bowl because it kept getting overrun with ants. We ended up calling in an exterminator who got the job done. He also ruined some of our interior paint with whatever chemicals he used to spray inside the house.

Lately, I’ve been noticing a lot of ants outside our house, especially right along where the garage door meets the concrete. Last night, while I was out in the garage with D, I mentioned the ants to which he immediately replied, “I have just the thing to kill them!” At that moment I knew he meant some awful ant killer in a can. Sure enough, there was a can of RAID on one of the shelves. I grabbed the can in the hopes of running back inside the house to hide it, but despite my cries of “THESE THINGS ARE EVIL,” D snatched the can from my hands and proceeded to spray. He sprayed up and down the line, and even onto the soil of the bush right by the garage door, while I watched in horror. I believe I kept mumbling something along the lines of “I could have found something less toxic.”

So in the event I come home today to find more ants outside our house, I’d like to be prepared with some homemade ant killer or bait. A quick search on Google gave me a few options like:

Instead of buying ant killer. Purchase a box of saltine crackers. Crumble the cracker and sprinkle over the ant pile. The salt in the cracker will make the ant explode.

Hm. While I obviously want the ants dead, I find having them explode a tad violent. Though I suppose death is death, and the more ants I kill the more I’ll probably end up as one in my next life.

Categories: home
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I have this ‘lil problem where, even after a very stressful time at work and my entire being is just exhausted, my mind keeps going and I just can’t sleep. This is usually the time when I find myself freaking out and for some odd reason, I just have to clean the bathrooms. Seriously. Last night I was hell-bent on cleaning the toilet in the master bath. I would have scrubbed the tub, but I figured I’d need something to do tonight or tomorrow night.

Anywhoo, I saw this guide on homemade household cleaners on the Green Guide today and remembered that I need to pick up some hydrogen peroxide to try with the tub.

Categories: home
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Kill bugs dead with … SOAP! OK, fine. Ideally, you’d want to let little buggers live, but until someone starts saying that the ant population is dwindling, I’m gonna keep showing no mercy when I see them steal the cat’s food. I bet Dr. Bronner’s would work well. Read about Low Tech Insecticide at Curbly (via LifeHacker).

Categories: home
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I just received an email notifying me of our latest energy bill from Southern California Edison. (Hint: if you still receive paper bills, switch to paperless billing for better green karma!) For our February 2007 bill, I was quite stoked that we were able to reduce our usage to under $100 (515KWH) since we hadn’t had anything that low since October 2006. For March 2007, I’m absolutely flabbergasted … $43.53 for for 372KWH. Cripes! Even though the number of days included in this bill (29) is on the low end, comparing it to other similar billing cycles, the lowest we’ve ever gone was $54.11 for 427KWH in August 2004.

I’m absolutely ecstatic about the money savings, but obviously also for using a lot less energy. I hope we can keep this up!

Categories: home
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