Posts Tagged ‘make it do’
My teacher’s gifts are in the bag…
Nothing like leaving things to the last minute! But I finally decided to make my kid’s teachers the Lickety Split Bag from Made by Rae. I love the look of the bag, and the name sounded promising for a procrastinator.
And Rae was right. This bag not only sews up lickety split, it is a wonderful bag pattern. The instructions are clear and easy. They couldn’t have been nicer to follow.
I made two, and I must say, I like the feel of the heavier Oz by Sanae from Moda fabric in the bag shown above. It gives the bag a little extra weight. I let my son pick the fabric for that bag, and I think he did well.
The other bag fabric was Lotus by Amy Butler, which I love, for the second bag. And it turned out a very elegant.
I hope the bags will be useful in carrying books… or other supplies back and forth to school next year.
Last night after I finished them, I lay awake thinking of puns to put on a card…
“You’ve filled me with knowledge…”
“You’ve carried me on your shoulder this year…”
“My heart is split in two that this year is over…”
And I have one thing to say… it’s a good thing I didn’t act on my 1:30 am thoughts.
I think we’ll just settle on “Thank you.”
Ants in the Kitchen
Yesterday, my son found ants in our kitchen. They were swarming around a fallen crumb of food.
Well, as much as I admire their industriousness, I simply can’t have ants in my kitchen.
No trouble, I know just what to do.
It’s Mighty Mule Team Borax to the rescue… again.
You see, my mom had this same problem at her house a year ago. She tried the little ant traps available at the hardware store. They didn’t work. She called an exterminator. They wanted a $60 fee to come out to the house and they use pesticides. “No thanks,” she said.
Start with a small spoonful of jam. Ants apparently can’t resist strawberry jam- or whatever else you may have.
Next pour in an equal amount of Borax. And stir together well.
And spoon a small amount of the mixture onto an index card. I cut my index card into 4 pieces and made 4 cards.
Next place the cards in strategic locations where you’ve seen the ants.
BE CAREFUL IF YOU HAVE A PET. While Borax is natural and environmentally friendly, it is toxic if ingested. I placed my cards just inside the pantry door, and cautioned to kids to make sure to keep the doors shut while I have the cards out. The ants can get to the sweet concoction, but my sweet little lunch-mouth dog cannot.
Give the cards a few days to do their job. If all goes well, those ants should be history.
It worked for my mom last year, so I have high hopes. I love when you can solve a problem for pennies.
***2013 Update: I had ants that were more difficult to get rid of this year. The first time I tried this method, it worked they were gone, but came back about 2 weeks later. This time they didn’t seem to be drawn to the jam. So I mixed together a small amount of jam and peanut butter, then added the borax and set them out. They went for the trap almost immediately and it worked like a charm getting rid of them.