Showing posts with label Bugs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bugs. Show all posts

Thursday, June 16, 2011

Shoes, swimming pools, and shower sticker shock.

First, the sticker shock. I hadn't really been worried about getting a door for our shower in the midst of all this bathroom remodel. I called a place awhile ago, and they said they'd come out for measurements after the walls were all set, so I put it on the back burner. And thought, "I just want two pieces of glass and some hinges, how much can it be?"

Wrong.

I got around to calling places yesterday for estimates. I want a frameless (the room is so small, any frame pieces are going to make it feel even smaller), pivot door with an in-line panel, and the opening is a little less than four feet across. I thought, "$200." Well, maybe that's a little low. "$500." Then I got three estimates, two from local glass shops and one from Lowes.

Here's a photo of our shower to look at while you scroll down.
Think how nice a frameless glass door would look on that!


$1500

*jaw drop*

I went to a store today to talk to someone in person, and yep, that's what we're looking at. Going with the cheapest hardware, and even installing it ourselves, we're only saving a fraction of that cost. The $500 range doors look incredibly cheap, plus they all have a bar right across the top - exactly what I don't want. I totally didn't budget for this, and I'm kind of stuck. I don't want to put something cheap in, but holy cow. I think for now I'm going to put up a shower rod and a curtain while I adjust to the price. Maybe in a few months (years?) I'll have the heart to shell out that money to finish the room.

On to swimming pools.

I bought a baby pool for Julia awhile ago, but we had a massive cicada infestation early this summer and only now did I feel safe bringing her out in our backyard for awhile. So I spent ten years this morning blowing up this stupid inflatable pool, but it looked pretty cool by the time I was done.

It looks so sad here, doesn't it?

Hooray! Ready to go! See how long it took me to blow up by comparing the sun line on the patio.

Filled it up with a margarita pitcher and the sink (yep, efficient is my middle name) and we were good to go! Julia seemed to like it alright, although she's a pretty tough crowd to please nowadays. If nothing else, it killed some time and made for cute photos! Unfortunately, she spent 99% of the time staring at her cups in the water and almost no time looking at the camera, but here's what I got.




"Argh. I'm Cup-Hand-Julia! Arghm arghm arghm."

And, just to let you guys know, this is what we were surrounded by:

Yep I'll make these photos extra-large for you.

Because we were surrounded by extra-large dead bugs. Catch that? LOTS AND LOTS OF EXTRA LARGE DEAD BUGS.

And finally, shoes! No Loubies, but baby shoes, which are almost as cute. Since Julia is a BABY, and she doesn't walk anywhere, and it's summer, I've been letting her go shoeless everywhere.

"What on earth are these things on my feet, Mom?"

"Must. Get. Them. Off."

"Hey Mom, I never wear 'em - how was I supposed to know they're not toys to bang together with my hands?"

But now she's itching to walk around wherever we go, and it's kind of embarrassing to have a baby walking around Starbucks or Home Depot in bare feet. And the shoes she does have now are either too big or really stiff, and I don't see how she's going to learn to walk in really stiff-soled shoes.

So off to Carter's we go in search of shoes. While I'm flabbergasted by their sizing (she's wearing 12-month clothing but the 3-6 month shoes fit her??), we picked up some white sandals that seem to be doing the trick. Obviously I don't have photos of her in Lowes or the glass shower door store, so you'll just have to imagine this cutie walking around in public in her cute little white shoes!


Now that I'm back in Good Mom territory, I'll go ahead and tell y'all that after we go walking around in public, she keeps pulling them off in the car and chewing on the soles.

Friday, April 22, 2011

So... Bugs in the kitchen is like, a thing?

Where I grew up, there was no coexistence with ants in our house. Maybe because all ants were fire ants, but ants in our house or yard were eradicated, end of story. Of course I thought my father was cruel for poisoning them - I was totally a circle of life kind of kid - but all that changed when I got my own place. (Sidebar - last time I was home, I mentioned to my mom that the cereal she gave me was full of bugs, and her response? "Sorry! Oh well, John the Baptist ate bugs.") But anyways, bugs in my house - dead. No more saving crickets in cups or leaving spiders alone "because they eat the bad bugs." You a bug, in my space - uh uh.

So the ant invasion in my kitchen is giving me conniptions! I'm befuddled - where are they coming from? Why are they here? Why aren't they biting me? Why isn't Robert concerned??? You know what he says?

"My parents get ants all the time in their kitchen when it gets really wet outside. They're just trying to get out of the rain."

Wait. So this is a thing here? Ants invade when it rains?! It's just something to live with?

Look how sneaky they are. He ran for the edge as soon as he saw me. Freaky.

I am not a fan.