Ants in the house can be quite annoying. It’s hard to get rid of the suckers. Ant spray kills those on contact but does little to get rid of the ant problem. In fact, using ant spray might cause ants to start new colonies. It is satisfying to kill those jokers on contact though.

So I have a new strategy for getting rid of the ants in the house. First is to cleanup and keep it clean. If ants aren’t finding crumbs on the floor or juice boxes on the couch, then their food source will be eliminated. I’ve never been one to clean every day. I plan on cleaning my kitchen and sweeping the floors each day.

I want to control the ants in our house and yard with organic solutions. We have a daughter and cats so we really are seeking solutions that will be safe for them. I have been reading all sorts of home remedies for getting rid of ants. I will try one at a time and document my results. One tip I read reminded me of what my dad used to do. He would take scalding hot water and pour it on ant mounds. I haven’t seen an ant bed in recent memory. Our ants seem to just have small holes in the ground. It makes it harder to find their nests.

Hopefully a little bit of cleaning everyday and some organic solutions will get rid of our ant problem.

While doing the dishes, I couldn’t help but to notice the stains on my husband’s favorite coffee cup. We drink a lot of Diet Coke, so it’s Coke that is the culprit this time and not coffee or tea stains. Still, it’s a stain that just wouldn’t come out.

I decided to try baking soda to remove the soda stain. First, I heated up some water in the microwave. Then I added the water and the baking soda to the coffee cup. I let it sit for five minutes.

After five minutes, I took my dish brush and swiped around the sides. I poured out the water and this is the result -

The coffee cup looks really good. There is a slight ring at the bottom. Next time I wash it, I will use the baking soda method again and let it soak longer. My husband will be pleased since those stains really bother him. It just feels like the cup isn’t clean if it doesn’t look clean.

We have recently switched to Charmin bathroom tissue. Why? Because our daughter who is greatly influenced by commercials thinks it’s the only brand to have if you want soft tissue. She is four and actually gave up getting a small, cheap toy to procure the Charmin Ultra Soft toilet paper.

She couldn’t wait to use it and said it felt so soft. It was definitely worth the extra money in her eyes for her soft tissue paper. The rolls eventually ran out and so I picked up another pack. Little did I realize that I picked up the Ultra Strong Charmin instead of the Ultra Soft. There is no getting anything past her as she recognized this Charmin was not the soft Charmin. I was still clueless that I had picked up anything different until we got on the last roll. I noticed the packaging was red instead of blue and only then did I read the full name of the product. Now I make a conscious effort to get the blue packaging of Charmin.

So, even though I couldn’t really tell a difference in either tissue paper, my daughter did. She would recommend the ultra soft since it’s so soft and feels nice.

My new guilty pleasure is the History Channel’s Pawn Stars. It comes on Monday, and they usually have a mini-marathon of shows that day. Luckily the we have a DVR that records them all. Then during the week I watch a few every day.

Pawn Stars is about a family owned pawn shop in Las Vegas. The Harrison family consists of Richard (The Old Man, his son – Rick, and Rick’s Son Corey Harrison(Big Hoss). The show is a cross between Antiques Roadshow and American Chopper. The show focuses on the Harrisons’ relationship. I love the Old Man as he reminds me of my dad in so many ways. He doesn’t hold back on what he thinks. I love when he is negotiating a price for an item. His second offer is usually lower than his first one. People bring in some really unique items to sell or pawn. I love how if they don’t exactly know what an item is, they just give their best ‘educated’ answer. My favorite so far is Corey talking about a salesman Coca-Cola cooler sample as a cooler they placed at the checkout to entice people to buy one on the way out.

If I ever make it to Las Vegas, I will be making a trip to the pawn shop. I might can even round up something old or unique to try to get a few dollars.

My little girl is at the age where she really enjoys stories at bedtime.  She is so close to learning to read. She already knows her letter and sounds and has some words memorize. That’s why when asked if I would like to review The V-Tech V.Reader, I thought it would be a good learning tool for my little girl.

The V.Reader can best be described as an e-book reader for kids. The V.Reader comes with one book cartridge and a USB cable to connect to the PC. You can connect to the Internet to download additional content for your V.Reader. The cartridges have a story as well as games. The cartridges also have a dictionary that you can look up words used in the story. The games are centered around the story and can help to build reading comprehension skills. Each story is animated and plays out on the colored screen. Then you can listen to the page being read.

The front of the V.Reader had a clear cover that can be used when a child is listening and watching a story. It also makes the V.Reader more like a book. I noticed my kid using it to hold the V.Reader just like a book.

One night my husband was working late and asked if we would like to hang out with him at work. I grabbed the V.Reader hoping that it would entertain the girl. We were there for nearly two hours, and she played with the V.Reader for a good hour and a half. We had the cartridge the comes with the reader and Toy Story 3.

The V.Reader is a fun learning tool. It has kept my girl entertained for hours, and each cartridge has a lot of replay value since she loves hearing the same stories. It takes four AA batteries that seem to be holding up pretty good so far. Overall the V.Reader has been enjoyed by the girl and has fostered her love of reading. What more can a Mom ask for.

The V.Reader is available at Target.

I was given a V.Reader by VTech for my review. I was allowed to keep the product, but the opinion I am sharing remains my own