I don’t think I shared what I got for Mother’s Day – a grill. We have only wanted one since we got married 15 years ago. It’s a small one and is charcoal not gas, but I prefer it that way.

I think of the grill as the gift that keeps on giving. We cook out, and my husband mans the grill. That’s one less meal I have to cook. Lately we’ve been grilling enough for a few meals, so I have even more nights off from cooking. With summer here, I definitely want to stay away from the oven. Thanks to my well-planned Mother’s Day gift, I may be getting a nice break from the kitchen after all.

I told my four-year-old that my hobby was rearranging furniture. I’m always trying to get the most out of our small living space. I think the statement confused her but soon she’ll learn. I usually go through this desire to completely rearrange our furniture every six months. This week I’m working on the living room and the kid’s bedroom.

We moved Rae from her toddler bed to a twin bed about a year ago. During the winter, we set up her toddler bed in our bedroom because we have no central heat and only one portable heater. Well, she didn’t want to give up her toddler bed when she started sleeping in her room again – so for a while she had a twin and a toddler bed in her very cramped room. We really want to keep the twin bed so on the rare occasion that we have company they have a place to sleep. About a year ago, I tossed our couch out. It was uncomfortable and falling apart. I did keep the cushions and some of the stuffing that I used in several crochet toys I made. Rae has never quite gotten over that I got rid of the couch. She misses it for some reason, so I decided to move the twin bed into the living room making it a make-shift daybed. This way we have a ‘couch’ and she has more space in her bedroom. This way when she does finally outgrow her toddler bed and is using the twin bed again, we already have a space reserved in the living room for a couch.

We really needed another can crusher since ours has been MIA for nearly two years. We are drinking more can drinks lately. Since we are taking them to the recycling center for cash instead of just dropping them off for pickup, we really needed a crusher so they take up less room.

The neat thing about this one is that it holds up to five cans and the crushed cans drop out of the bottom. My husband re-purposed our old car tag to make a chute for the cans so that they land in the garbage can.

The multi-can crusher gets lots of attention – which is another bonus. It seems everyone wants to crush at least one can with it. That’s fine with me since it’s less work for us.

Have I mentioned how glad I am that Spring is here? Finally some sunshine, longer days, and warmer temps. We had been in full fledged cleaning mode the past few days. Family was coming in for a visit, so our place really, really needed cleaning. This winter has been cold and rough. Housework has fallen to the wayside, so many, many things needed to be done.

But with help from the whole family we got lots accomplished! I feel a huge weight has been lifted. This week is starting off great – the floor is mopped, the dishes are done, and the clutter is cut way down. Clutter really does get in the way of things. With a clear head not on my messy house I can concentrate on other activities – like blogging and crafting.

We have been wanting to encourage our 4-year-old to do some light chores around the house for an allowance. Now we have a good starting place with a clean house. She can pick up her toys and can take them to her room or make her bed. Yes, a clean floor and uncluttered house makes a world of difference. It’s time to stop living like a college student and grow up. I knew it would have to happen someday.

A few months ago, I got a kitten at a rummage sale. She was free and a Calico. I love Calico cats so I couldn’t resist. When we got her, she was flea-free. We plan to keep her that way.

We had a real problem with fleas when we had cats inside a few years ago. It was so hard to get rid of the fleas that this time we are determined to do everything we can to prevent a flea infestation. We have tried several flea treatments with our cats but this year we will be using Frontline Plus. However last year the flea problem was so intense where we lived that even Frontline wasn’t a good defense. Hopefully this year won’t be as severe. I’m not sure if the cold winter will deter the fleas but here’s hoping it will.

Besides protecting the cats, we will be treating our lawn. I’ve read that the mineral lime is good for killing fleas. I will have to research it more to see how safe it is for pets and children.

Fleas are constantly a problem for us, and now that we have a cat in the house we will have to be diligent with our efforts to keep them at bay. I may not like cold weather but there is less annoyances to deal with in the winter. But with a little planning, hopefully fleas won’t be a problem for us this year.

What do you do with an old particle board desk that has seen better days? I had temporarily set it on the porch until I could haul it off to the thrift store. Then the rain came and ruined it even more. I then noticed that the cat seemed to enjoy lying on it. We had a spell of cold weather come through and my husband turned the old desk into a cat condo box.

He took some plastic sheeting and wrapped part of the desk. Then he placed on each shelf a blanket for added warmth. The front has strips of plastic sheeting as well as a flap to cover it. It should be very warm and comfortable. Too bad the cat has barely spent any time in it. We may have to tweak the design just a little bit to make it more inviting to her. We may have a few weeks before the next cold snap, so hopefully we can come up with the perfect design by then.

It’s the pitter patter of little feet that is not music to my ears. When it comes from inside the walls, I know the culprit is a mouse who will cause me unrest and grief until he is caught. So after hearing the mouse, I set a few mouse traps with peanut butter and peanuts. This has always worked before to catch mice so I’m confident in my choice of bait.

A few days past and still no mouse in any trap. I know he is still around since I can hear him in the walls. While thumbing through the latest Woman’s Day magazine, I noticed an article on getting rid of mice that suggests using dental floss on the mousetrap. The reasoning is that the mouse will try to use it for nesting material. It made sense, I guess but was still skeptical. But I decided to give it a try if for no other reason I could blog about how crazy it is to think you could catch a mouse with dental floss.

A day passes and I check the dental floss mouse trap that is located under the kitchen sink – a hot bed for mice. Lo and behold, there lies a sprung trap with a dead mouse. I couldn’t believe it. It worked. So we reset the trap and the next day we caught yet another mouse. Unbelievable. Now I’m a firm believer in the power of dental floss to catch mice.

We are slowly replacing all our of regular light bulbs with compact florescent bulbs or CFLs. The first CFL bulbs we bought about 4 years ago. Two of the three recently burned out. I replaced them but knew that CFL bulbs contained mercury and had to be properly disposed of. So I turned to the Internet to find out how to properly dispose of CFL bulbs.

The best option would be to take it to a recycling center that handles CFL bulbs. Apparently IKEA and Home Depot take CFL bulbs. Home Depot has orange containers set up in their stores so that patrons can dispose of CFL bulbs. Simply wrap your unbroken bulb into a plastic bag and drop it off.

Several states do not require recycling CFL bulbs. If you are going to throw your bulbs away, then wrap them in two plastic bags. But before tossing them in the trash, check with your local waste management agency to make sure it is allowed.

So far we’ve been pleased with CFL bulbs although my husband was disappointed two had already burned out. But it has been close to four years and those bulbs were on a ceiling fan, which can shorten the life expectancy of a CFL bulb. Anyway, I say four years is impressive especially considering I’m not sure I’ve ever had a regular light bulb last that long.

We have very limited space and since I have a laptop, I thought I would just break down my desktop. We built both our desktops a few years back. The other day I moved the monitor to my husband’s PC. It’s so nice to have two monitors.

His video graphics card can handle two monitors, so technically I might could move my video card to his computer and have three monitors – if we had a third one. We would need a bigger desk.

So I’ve managed to create a small amount of space by breaking down my computer. Now if I can just find more items to consolidate then we might have room for everything for once.

When I run the washing machine, I smell something like rotten eggs. After an Internet search, this could be sulfur since we are on well water. Today I’m going to try a few of the suggestions to get rid of the smell just in case it isn’t sulfur.

One suggestion is to use bleach. This makes sense since if the smell is something lingering around, bleach will surely kill it.

Another suggestion is to wash with just washing powder – which might not be an option since I can’t find this locally. I will look one more time today when I go to the grocery store.

Doing a washing cycle with just vinegar is another suggestion. Vinegar is definitely one of those wonder products, so I may have to try this one, too.

Hopefully I will stumble upon some solution. I might look for water softeners, too. If it is sulfur, then maybe some sort of treatment can at least get rid of the smell.