Dead Ant, Dead Ant....

Right before I left work on December 23rd our office was being overrun by ants. It's been cold and rainy and they always come in when that happens. I have a pest control guy that comes by once a month and puts ant pellets out around the building and that keeps them at bay most of the time. But they don't like to get wet.

Employees wanted action or they were going to take their own, as in a can of Raid. I just can't have insecticides inside our building. We have a pregnant woman and several people that are allergic to the sprays. So I got on the Internet and found out the natural ways to deter these pests.

I found that there are many natural choices for getting rid of the critters without spraying. We had used an Asian ant chalk several years ago that someone had picked up at an Asian supermarket. It worked great. You draw a line through the ants and they disappear like magic. You don't even see any dead bodies. But we ran out and what I discovered online is that it's actually an illegal substance in the United States. Figures it would get outlawed.

I did find a wealth of natural remedies out there to get rid of ants; salt, talcum powder, pepper, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, orange oil, vinegar and water, soap and water and just plain old chalk.

Since I had black pepper at the office I chose that one. You simply sprinkle black pepper on them and their point of entry. I mean, what could it hurt? It was free and wouldn't harm anyone in the office. So I set off with my container of black pepper and sprinkled it all over the ants. I think my fellow employees thought I was crazy, but I was on a mission. I got down on my hands and knees and followed their trails. I found their point of entry and I sprinkled they heck out of them. They immediately slowed down and within 15 minutes they were gone. Another magic remedy!

It's now the day after Christmas and the ants are not back. I think I've found my new favorite pest control.

Tradition

Merry Christmas!

It's Christmas Eve and all I have left to do is make a pumpkin cheesecake. All the presents are wrapped, the house is all decorated. We're getting ready to open presents on the phone with our son and daughter-in-law in Washington. A new tradition for us when we can't all get together.

It's a very stress free holiday this year. No traveling, no big dinner to cook. We'll be visiting with friends today and tomorrow. In the morning we will open presents with my daughter and her friend Missy. Then a great big yummy breakfast. In the evening we will be off to visit friends.

Most years we go down to Southern California for Christmas. We celebrate with my parents on Christmas Eve and my husband's relatives on Christmas day. This year we both had to work and couldn't get away in the middle of the week. My son wasn't available to come down from Washington either. Our daughter is here packing and getting ready to move to New York the first week in January. So we decided to stay home and have a quiet holiday here on the Coastside. I must say I don't miss the stress of traveling on the holidays.

Having Christmas at home got me to thinking about traditions and how important they are in a family. We have a box in our xmas decorations marked "minimum Christmas." This is the box I get out if I know we're going to travel and not be home for the holidays. It's full of all our favorite ornaments and decorations, but takes minimum effort to put out. I still think it's important to set up some kind of tree and put out our favorite ornaments, even if we are not going to be home. I also have our stockings in there and bring them with us where ever we go to bring a little of home with us.

When we are home we open our gifts on Christmas morning and have big pancake breakfast. The stocking gifts are always wrapped in foil and they are the first thing we open. When the kids were little, Santa always left out one big unwrapped gift. The kids weren't allowed to go out before they woke up mom and dad. So we were always up at the crack of dawn. Before they could go out to the living room dad or mom would go out and turn on all the xmas lights and put the holiday music on. I would make sure the camera was ready to catch the joy in their eyes as they saw their fun surprises that Santa left. As adults we still do the stockings with everything wrapped in foil, but Santa doesn't leave the big gifts out anymore.

When we go to my mom's house on Christmas Eve, we have a white elephant gift exchange, El Pollo Loco caters our food and Santa in full regalia visits, hands out gifts and sings Christmas carols with everyone. Santa has been coming Christmas Eve to my mom's house since our son (the first grandchild) was about 1 years old. There's always a ton of people there. Mostly my relatives; sister, brother, in-laws, nieces, aunts, uncles, cousins and various people we've adopted over the years. Our friends that still live in Southern California know they can stop by my parents house and join in whenever we're there. It's always a good time.

Santa has always provided fun entertainment. When the kids were little, we would hide and watch him put out the presents and he never acknowledged that we were all watching. It was magical. As they got older he started passing out the gifts and joining in. The funniest time was when he brought Mrs. Claus. We think she was on the verge of full blown Alzheimer's and she had been nipping at the sherry before she got there. She threw the candy canes at people and made inappropriate comments. We were all roaring. I wish we had a video camera going that night.

Traditions are what make a family gathering special. Missy is a friend of our daughter and is staying with us right now. She said they always have roast beef and Yorkshire Pudding. My friend Aileen said they are starting a new tradition this year and will watch the movie "Fido" with their daughter every Christmas Eve. We always insist on everyone opening gifts one at a times, except the stocking which you can dump out and open up immediately. It's fun to see how each Christmas and other holidays change as each generation gets older. We all incorporate our favorites from our family and then create new ones. It's fun to watch my son and daughter-in-law start theirs. Next year my brand new nephew will about one and everything will be new to him and we can watch my sister start traditions with her new family. We gave him "Twas the Night Before Christmas" and my sister is reading it to him tonight. I used to read it to my kids every Christmas Eve. So I guess that's my nephews first tradition.

Please leave a comment and let me know what your favorite family traditions for the holidays are. I'd love to hear from you.

To all my friends and family and fellow blog readers; I wish you a very merry Christmas and wonderful holiday season.

Courage

"Courage is not the absence of fear but rather the judgment that something is more important than fear. The brave may not live forever but the cautious do not live at all."
-from the movie "The Princess Diaries" (2001)

I received this quote in my email from one of those quote of the day emails. I loved the quote and then laughed when I saw the source. But how appropriate the source when I think of my daughter. Our "little princess" taking off for New York and getting ready to face the world on her own terms. She barges through, visualizes and makes things happen. We should remember to look at our youth and recapture some of that courage.

"You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do."
-Eleanor Roosevelt

Sexual Harassment in the workplace

"I miss sexual harassment in the workplace. I know they aren’t touching my butt or talking to me that way anymore because it’s illegal. It’s not because I’m over 40! Really, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it."

This was the conversation at my ladies lunch the other day. Someone had to take a sexual harrasement web class and said they really missed the sexual harassment. LOL! I know what she means. There was a time when men could be men and women could enjoy it! Well, I know in some instances it probably went too far but in most cases it was enjoyable. I’m probably going to be chided now for thinking so backward but who doesn;’t like to get attention from the opposite sex? It’s just a part of biology. Loosen up a bit, come on, have some fun!

Pinch my butt, please! I’m over 40. Ok this post is just wrong. Oh well......

New York, New York

My 20-year-old daughter is in New York City tonight. She’s their visiting friends and exploring the possibility of being a nanny for the next year. Oh to be 20 and free and exploring the city that never sleeps.

How is it that she get’s to go to New York before me? Ok, really I was there first. I flew to St Lucia in June and had to change planes in New York. We had breakfast in the airport at JFK. As we flew in over the morning sky, the skyline of New York loomed in front of us. I just knew that this was a city I needed to explore.

But my daughter is there for the weekend exploring Manhattan and has a job interview on Saturday. This is my wish come true for my children that they get to explore the world and find opportunities, take chances and become who they really want to be. Isn’t this the dream of everyone?

She visualized this every step of the way. She paid for herself, figured out where to stay and how to get there. Whether the job happens or not she saw what she wanted and made the path open up. No matter the outcome, it’s the journey, cliché as it may be. I admire her sheer guts for going to New York alone and taking on this challenge. You go girl.