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Chipmunks Be Gone

Posted on October 1, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Wildlife seems to be an issue in our neighborhood recently. Over the summer, neighbors spotted some skunks. Although we never saw them, we smelled them once or twice. Our problems with the ever growing bunny population continue. Thanks to “Little Bunny Foo-Foo” and family, we quit trying to grow any new flowers or attempt another vegetable garden. I know squirrels and field mice will always be around. This is especially true when you have a neighbor that feeds pigeons. ICK – dirty birds!

Last year, we saw chipmunks taunting the neighbors dog, but they seemed to go away. I think chipmunks are cute, but the only type I will allow in my house are these two critters:

While walking to put something into the garage, I realized that our chipmunks are still here. I do not think they ever went away. They now like to taunt me in the style of Jerry from Tom and Jerry. I do believe that they are seriously laughing at us.

Last weekend, we sprayed some natural pest spray (deer pepper spray good for rodents) around the house by some areas that we had seen the cute, but annoying critters hiding in. After hearing some animal cries the other day, I went outside to investigate. The only animal I saw was this little guy:

He kept making noises, but would not move no matter how close I got. Then he ran into the hole under the porch and kept going in and out while making sure to look me in the eye. I’m serious, this chipmunk had attitude.

With winter coming soon, we need to figure out a way to get these cute and destructive rodents away from the house. If anyone has had success in getting rid of chipmunks, please, please, please let me know in the comments because Chip and Dale must get their friends to go!

Categories:
animals Disney house photos vent

Cleaning Pet Peeve

Posted on August 24, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Cleaning an older home can sometimes be a challenge. Sure the old hardwood floors add character to our living space, but they add a challenge to cleaning around the house. If you use the wrong item on them, you can damage the wood. Moisture is a problem, but you do need some to properly clean a floor.

For quite some time, I have been thinking about purchasing a steam mop to help with the floors. What often worried me was too much water remaining on the floors and ruining something. When I was offered to review the Hoover TwinTank Steam Mop, I thought it was the perfect opportunity to see how this would work. This is not a review post, you can see my review on Amazon here.

The experience with the steam mop has changed my feelings about cleaning not only the hardwood, but other floor surfaces in our house. Now, it is probably the toilet area that I loathe to keep clean (house of boys and me – ick!).

My question of the week is inspired by my cleaning find:

If you had to select only one cleaning task that is a pet peeve of yours, what is it and why?

Disclosure: I received a sample of the product mentioned to facilitate my review, but my opinions are entirely my own. Should you be interested in purchasing the Hoover TwinTank Disinfecting Steam Mop, you can use my Amazon Affiliate where I will receive a percentage from the sale.

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #217

Categories:
Aloha Friday house me moments photos vent

Spring or Summer

Posted on March 23, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Winter turning into Spring is a pretty big event in our neck of the woods. It typically means that the snow fall amounts will lessen, and the bone chilling temperatures fade away some. What you do not expect is to see temperatures well into the upper 70’s on the last official day of winter. Remember, I live in New York State, not Florida.

Flowers are not typically something that we see quite this early. Normal highs for this time are in the upper 40’s. So when you walk out your front door to the following, you stop to take a photo.

When I took JSL to nursery school the other day, I noticed that they had a lot of daffodils already out of the ground and open. When I pulled into the driveway, I spotted yellow by the fence. I pulled my camera out to capture these beauties before the bunnies and birds get to them.

The weather is gorgeous, but it is HOT in the house. We went from trying to stay warm with the heat on at 63, to the living room reading 79 last night. So my question to you this week is inspired by the warmer than usual temperatures.

Assuming you have air conditioning units, or central AC, when is the earliest you will use them and why?

We do not have our window AC units in yet. Kind of early since the temperatures are likely going to shift. For now, fans are working really well since the house is warm, but not sticky like it gets in the summer. The cooler temperatures should arrive back this weekend and I will enjoy wearing my sweatshirt outside when taking walks.

It's Me

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Thanks to Kailani at An Island Life for starting this fun for Friday. Please be sure to head over to her blog to say hello and sign the linky there if you are participating.

Aloha #195

Categories:
Aloha Friday flowers and plants house photos weather

Sudden Signs of Spring

Posted on March 14, 2012 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

Categories:
flowers and plants house weather Wordless Wednesday

The Good, The Bad, The Ugly – 10th Anniversary Edition

Posted on June 27, 2011 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

As I have mentioned before, Friday was my 10th Anniversary with TechyDad. He went to work, NHL went to school for his last half day, and JSL and I stayed at home to do some cleaning. We had someone stopping by later in the day to check on a clogged bathroom sink. Thanks to this sink, we were forced to wash hands in the bathroom tub.

The day did not exactly go as planned. You see, thank goodness the plumber came early. He showed up at 11:30-ish instead of 2-3. I had to leave shortly after to pick NHL up from school. When he left, we knew we had some large issues. He said he would go to lunch, get supplies, and come back about an hour later to get to work. In the end, he was at our house until about 7:30 at night. Our initial plans were shot and even other items had to be changed. Still, we made the best of the situation.

The Good:

We went to my parent’s house to have cake with the boys before putting them to bed there. Thanks to fumes, we could not stay in our house. Here are the delicious cakes that we had

Once the kids were FINALLY into bed, TechyDad still wanted to head out to dinner. Since it was almost 9:30, we had limited choices. I recalled a new Sushi place not too far away, so off we went to Mr. Fuji Sushi. Our experience at Mr. Fuji’s was amazing. The food was delicious, the people there super nice, and the atmosphere wonderful. Since it was so late, we ordered two appetizers and three sushi rolls to share.

To start we had Age Tofu and Vegetable Tempura

Then we had a Philadelphia roll, Avocado Peanut roll, and Sweet Potato roll

Yes, I believe this is the best sushi I have had in a long time. We will definitely be heading back to Mr. Fuji again soon.

The Bad:

We thought that the plumbing issue would require snaking the pipes. When they tried to do this, the snake refused to go down and kept going up into the pipes instead. When JSL and I left to pick up NHL at school, they were debating a few options.

Try to go in the attic and snake things and it may last 1-2 years IF we are lucky.
Replace the old pipes in the section that appeared to be the root of the issue with PVC pipes.

I went to pick NHL up and bring the kids home for lunch.

The Ugly:

When they arrived back at our house, I saw them hauling a long section of PVC pipe. I knew it was the best thing, but I was paranoid and worried about things. As they started to work in the basement on cutting the pipe open, it started to get more complicated. They could not get to the top of the pipe from the basement. Suddenly, wall removal was needed. Yes, I think I aged several years in this afternoon from making big decisions on the fly and listening to the noises in my house. I knew that they were capable, but it was driving me batty.

The guys came back upstairs to give me the news and I immediately knew we made the right decision. You see, the pipe in the basement was nearly closed shut. The old material has basically closed itself shut. I never went to look in the basement until a while later. I gave permission to remove wall to get at the sink pipe within there. The hole got larger than this, but you get the point from this view:

After a lot of power tool noises and labor in the bathroom with the wall and pipe fighting, they finally got that sucker out. Check this bad boy out. Yes, this nasty object was pretty much what was happening down stairs in the basement as well. Here is our corroded galvanized pipe from within the wall:

It was not an easy job, but these guys were amazing. They dealt with my paranoia and got the work done and well. They even cleaned up the mess when the tiles on the wall next to the sink spontaneously fell off – no I am not joking. Apparently, they were not put on right by previous owners. This was good under the sink since nothing was ruined getting to the pipes behind the wall. I was too sick at the mess during that time to take a photo. I am also sparing you from photos of the basement pipes and sludge that came out of them. Let’s just say old toothpaste and soap are not pretty nor do they smell nice.

In the end, the pipe is fixed, a few more will need this down the road, and we need a massive bathroom rehab soon. More good news, the pipe works and we have a new faucet that is not leaking. Thanks to spray that was used during the cleaning process on the tiles/pipes, there are horrible fumes in our house. It has been a rough few days and we are so very lucky that my parents are here for us.

So there you have it, the good, the bad, and the ugly of our 10th Annversary!

Psssst. . . if you need a good person for home repairs in my area – just let me know. This work, along with the roof, and broken main water valve were done by the same person. Highly recommend.