TMI Friday - PEEESSSTSSS!!

Hey kids! It's time for another edition of: 

Where we're open to discuss anything and everything from the gross to the political.

After last weeks political debauchery . . .

I decided this week to bring back the 

EEEWWWWWW!!!

by revisiting on of my favorite subjects . . .

PESTS!!

Specifically . . .

ANTS

ROACHES

and

MICE!!

First off let's talk about ants.

I know I've mentioned this a time or two but 

I. Hate. Ants.

...!...

They have successfully been seen in every single orface of my kitchen now. 

The plants.

The cabinets.

The sink.

The counters.

I even found them in some food - molasses to be exact. 

Needless to say I've thrown away a LOT of stuff over the last month. 

But after much determined work and effort 

(and some really great ant baits) 

I think we have the situation under control once and for all.

At least I haven't seen an ant in about 48 hours.

ROACHES

Ugh. 

These are the absolute

MOST disgusting things on the planet.

I've learned a few things about them over the years.

First of all, they actually are not drawn to filth.

They're drawn to paper products and industrial glues. 

Which is why so many older houses have infestations.

I also learned that there are two types generally in my area: American and German.

One is, of course, easier to get rid of than the other.

And finally I learned the most important lesson of all this past week.

Roaches really REALLY like electronics.

After talking to my best friend, I found this out.

So I thought I would open up the bottom of my coffee maker . . .

Just to be sure. Since we'd seen them around it so often.

Oh.

My. 

HOLYCOW!!!

It was GROSS in there!!

Little roach carcases plastered all over the workings

On the wires.

On the sides.

Feces . . . egg sacks . . .

I almost threw up.

I decided I was going to throw away my $200 coffee maker right then and there.

Enter the hubby.

"I can clean that" He assured me.

Riiiiiiight, I thought. But I figured the worse that could happen was . . . 

well we'd end up having to throw it away.

I admit when I was wrong.

And I give my husband a LOT of credit. 

He stomached the grossness.

Wiped out every single wire with clorox.

Took the ENTIRE thing apart

Cleaned the entire thing up.

And put it back together.

He is my hero. 

And the reason I write this with a delicious cuppa joe in front of me right now.

I love that man.

So now that their obvious nest has been cleaned out, and we've put gel, baits, and little contraptions that are supposed to sterilize them around the house, 

I have yet to see one.

*happy dance*

And now for my final subject . . .

MICE.

My facebook friends know all about my little mouse-capades.

Jennifer Munson DeMoss

I already have my TMI Friday post for next week, LOL. I swear we must have the smartest mouse (mice?) on the planet! He's managed to evade at least two traps. One, he took the food off of. It tripped, but no mouse. The other he CHEWED ON!! I'll be posting pics here in a bit. It'd be funny if it didn't gross me out so much, LOL!!

Well, I didn't get the pics on Facebook, but I have them for you, kids!!

Peruse:

Here you see the trap: Empty . . . No cheese. No mouse!

This is the one the mouse flipped over. Notice the chewed up stuff around it from the basket here on the left. Also, that long thing to the right of the container is a piece of leather from the basket NOT a mouse tail.

Close-up. Notice the chewing on the upper right hand corner of the trap!

Now the disturbing part . . .

When I picked up the trap, I noticed that it had been tripped, but again, no mouse.

But there WAS a mouse paw!!

Jennifer Munson DeMoss OMG!!! I flip over the chewed mouse trap and there's a paw stuck in the trap!!! GROSS!!! So now we have a three-pawed mouse running around and he's probably PISSED!

Jennifer Munson DeMoss It's a government-engineered uber mouse, I'm sure of it . . .

Jennifer Munson DeMoss The Arnold of mice . . .

That evening as the hubbs and I are watching TV we notice a mouse running behind our entertainment center and curtain in the living room.

Hubby sat out a trap.

The next morning we discovered a (finally) trapped mouse.

He was missing a paw.

Thanks for joining me for this weeks TMI Friday, Kids! 

If you have any suggestions for subjects, let me know in the comments or shoot me an email here.

TMI Friday! Attack Of the Ants

TMI Friday is back!

Can I just say right now how much I hate bugs, in general.

Oh, butterflies are nice.

I dig the occasional ladybug.

Moths aren't TOO bad.

Roly Poly's are sweet.

And ant lions (aka doodlebugs) are fun to play with.

Everything else can go, as far as I'm concerned.

Especially roaches and ants.

Especially ESPECIALLY ants.

I. Hate. Ants.

Guess which of the above I am currently waging war against? 

No, dummies, not ladybugs.

ANTS

Little tiny black sugar ants.

My husband calls them something else that I'm not allowed to say here 

(shame on you, Dear Husband for using such language!)

These little suckers are EVERYWHERE from the kitchen to my kids' room!

EV. 

RY. 

WHERE!!!

In the kitchen they're all over the counters and I've even found them in the cabinets.

In the dining room they're all over the table and the computer desk.

In the living room they're all in the couch.

In my kids rooms they're on the floor and in their beds!

AAAAAACK!

Luckily they're just the little black sugar ants and not fire ants.

For the past week, I have cleaned, scrubbed, vacuumed, wiped, washed . . .

I'm exhausted.

Yesterday, I think my kids think I lost it.

"Gotta KILL the little suckers . . . 

Gonna . . . 

Squish 'em SQUISH 'EM SQUISH 'EM . . . 

NO! Not YOUR house MY house . . . out . . . OUT!!" 

squish squish 

BAM BAM BAM 

(on the counter trying to squish them with bleach wipes)

THEN. 

I found it.

Their ENTRYWAY

I found some boric acid and filled the hole with it, giggling maniacally.

My kids still think I'm nuts. 

But today, we have fewer ants.

So I think that this morning I'll mix a good concoction of sugar and boric acid and see how they like THAT little feast.

MWAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!

Beware evil little ants.

Your days are numbered . . .