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.

It has been raining for the past four days. We usually have problems with ants. Those suckers are always in the yard, on the porch, and make it into the house – usually in the bathroom. It is just so frustrating.

This summer I plan to do all I can to beat down the ants. I use Black Flag spray in the house as it kills instantly and does protect for a few days after spraying. Last summer I used liquid Terro. It takes a few days but works. You do have to put up with a trail of ants as they travel to and from the bait taking it back to the nest. I used powder Terro in the yard last year. It worked OK but really it’s so hard to fight ants outside on their own turf.

This week I plan to use Sevin dust on the lawn to deter the ants. Inside I will use boric acid that the ants will hopefully eat and die. I will mix the boric acid with sugar water that will hopefully be appealing to the ants. I know of some hot spots around the house where we have seen ants before. Hopefully by placing the boric acid mixture in these areas, the ants will take it. It would be great to finally have these ants under control.

We have an old green couch that has seen better days. It’s falling apart so we have finally decided that it is time to say goodbye to the couch.

Now we have to find some type of furniture to take its place. What we really want is a comfortable recliner since it will take up less room and give us more space in our living room. Since it’s just the three of us and most evenings we are sitting in front of the computer instead of the TV, we really don’t need a couch. Two recliners should work just fine.

Now for the fun part. Where to take the couch? I hate donating items that are less than comfortable but also don’t want to throw it out to take up space in a landfill. A lot of times you can leave items beside the driveway and someone will stop to pick it up. But since that isn’t a guarantee, I will be donating it and hoping someone will have a use for it.

It does feel good to make more room in our home. We have way too much stuff so getting rid of a clunky couch makes me feel like we are moving in the right direction when it comes to de-cluttering our home.

While it may not feel like it outside, (we had light snow yesterday!) spring is right around the corner. March is Spring Cleaning Month as many households look to clear the clutter and dust from their lives. We have a few major spring cleaning projects. Most of ours involve clutter and storage. My goal for March is to thin down our belongings. My husband has always want to live like a minimalist and after 13 years of marriage, I’m finally coming around to the idea.

So this month I plan to thin down everything in storage to a manageable level. I will also be cleaning like nobody’s business. I hope to de-clutter enough that everything will have a place and that place won’t be on top of something else. Also I hope that once we get the place clean that we can maintain it. If we can all put up our toys, that will help a lot with keeping things in order. Between Rae’s toys, my crochet, and my husband’s books, there is something on every surface of our home.

So I really hope to welcome spring with a clean, clutter-free home that will last until next spring and beyond.

It seems every year I have at least a half dozen ornaments that do not have a hanger. What happens to these hangers? I have no idea. It’s not like I remove them each year when I store them.

Packages of hangers are really cheap but are a mess to keep up with. They just seem to wind up everywhere. So this year I will just use an old trick I’ve done in the past to hang Christmas ornaments – paperclips.

Paperclips are nearly perfect to hang Christmas ornaments. Just straighten it out to make an ‘s’ and use one loop for the ornament. Close it together to keep it on the hook. Then use the other ‘s’ to hang it on the tree.

I have these colorful paperclips that should be pretty festive, too. At least by using paperclips I won’t be picking up countless hangers for months since they inevitably spill and scatter everywhere.

This year we stayed close to home for Thanksgiving. Usually we travel to visit with my husband’s family. I have to admit that it was probably a good call since it stormed Friday and Saturday. It would have been terrible traveling weather.

We spent most of Thursday eating and watching football. All those carbs came in handy Friday for all those sales we hit during the whole day. I went early in the morning but came home to pick up the family. We then headed out together. It was a good day. It felt a little strange not to travel but still a great weekend.

Thanks to the good sales and making some gifts this year, I am 95% done with Christmas shopping. I have just a few more gifts to buy for the little one and then I am done. It’s so exciting. Now if my tree was up and the presents already wrapped, it would be a real reason for celebration.

This week the plan is to start wrapping some presents, finish making some handmade gifts, and get those Christmas cards done. My Christmas gift that I’m already enjoying – an iPod Touch – will hopefully help to keep me on track as I can make a to do list. The problem with paper lists is that I lose them after a day. Something that I’m keeping with me at all times – because the iPod is just that cool – is a better route to take to remember to get things done. Hopefully I can get it all done. It’d be nice to finally have a December plan and meet all the goals on time.

The predicted low by the weekend is 31 degrees. It’s getting downright chilly and that means it is time to get ready for winter. There are a few things that we do each year to winterize our home that helps to save energy and cut down costs.

First we check for drafts. We live in a mobile home, so we have quite a few drafty spots throughout our house. Our favorite fast fix is expandable foam that you buy in a can. It really helps to fill up holes and stop drafts. It is also really good in keeping out critters.

Lining the windows with a plastic film also seals up drafts and helps to keep the heat inside. The kits are fairly reasonable and do help to keep the house warmer in the winter.

With no carpeting in our home, we make use of rugs to help keep the floor cold as it is usually freezing early in the morning. When I catch rugs on sale, I usually try to pick up one even if it may not exactly match. The eclectic look is in style anyway.

It’s these not-too-cold-but-close-to-it days that really make me think about the coming winter. While our winter might not be as severe as other parts of the country, it still takes a little effort to prepare for it. Little extra steps are always worth it when it comes to saving energy and cutting our heating costs.