A Purpose Driven Life

well, maybe not life, but definitely week. I needto find a solution to the gang of flies hoovering in my back yard. My neighbors have dogs and the flies are attracted to the dog piles. The flies cross the border into my yard. Occasionally they drift into my house and join the flight pattern of the 10 or so flies in my computer room. So, Monday I set about finding a way to eliminate those flies. I decided the best way to deal with the flies was to get them before they even find a way into the house.

My requirements were simple.
1. the trap had to be cheap.
2. the trap had to be made from things I found around my house.
3. it could not be poisonous.
4. it could not be that yucky hanging fly paper.

I decided to make a fly trap out of a soda bottle. Like this:
So, what should I put into the soda bottle to attract the flies? I think this discussion thread from Thrifty Fun had the most variety of ideas. And two or three met my requirements. I decided to start with the least gross of all the solutions.

I began with, what the author claims, is an Amish "recipe". (I wonder where the Amish get the soda bottle.) On Monday, I mixed 1 cup of sugar, 1 cup of vinegar, a banana peel and water in the soda bottle. I made two traps using this method. I positioned one outside on my kitchen window sill and the second near my front door. It takes a week for the stuff to ferment and attract the flies. I had hoped the fly trap would work sooner. It doesn't.

So, today, a beautiful day, the kids are running in and out leaving the back door open. I have more flies than ever immigrating to my house and I need to implement a more immediate solution. So, on the same forum as above I read about how a plastic baggie filled with water above a door will keep the flies out. No body know how it works for sure (the flies are telling), but supposedly it works. Not for me. Maybe the light has to reflect off the water or something, but so far, no good.

My last attempt at keeping these flies away is the most disgusting of the fly trap recipes.
I took a piece of raw meat put it into the soda bottle fly trap and filled with water. An Australian guy on the forum suggested it. According to the Aussie the trap should begin to work in a day or two. We shall see.....

Free Stuff

Well, low and behold a friend of mine has become an internet star.Vanessa, I always knew of your coolness, but didn't realize the whole world had caught on!

I love the 4 Dates necklace. That could come in handy at the dr's office when they ask when the kid was born. I can't be the only parent who has to take a moment or 3 to think....

The cranberry ear rings are also delightful. But they would require a new dress since I have nothing to go with them.

Here is a shameless link to Vanessa's give away and the PamperingBeki Shop where these delightful goodies can be found.


Love and hugs,
Lysa
P.S.-- A little word of advice from Normandy, "Peeing in your underwear and pants is not a good idea."

update....

We are on the cusp of summer. The girls get out on June 12th after a final assembly, picnic and an afternoon of moving classrooms. I will probably be doing more moving than picnic-ing, but hey, that's the life of Mom.

Zerin expands his vocabulary daily. His latest acquisitions include nose, french fries and cheese. It is no coincidence that two of his new words are foods. He eats constantly. Zerin also continues to climb on everything and only fears Normandy's swift pinching fingers.

Normandy loves books, especially Fancy Nancy. She has been wearing a very fancy gymnastics leotard for two days now and, since it doesn't stink I have chosen not to fight this particular battle. She prefers to stay up late and sleep in, taking after her sister, Tenny. Normandy fears Zerin's swift sharp teeth.

Tenny's class play is this week, The Death of Baldor. It's a Norse Myth. Tenny plays Iduna, the bearer of the golden apples of youth. I'm not sure exactly what she does, because all the tellings of the myth I have read do not include Iduna. She and Dan survived the 4th grade class trip to California's Gold Country. They had a great time together and brought home many treasures.

Anya's class play was last week. She was the Parson in the Golden Goose by the Brothers Grimm. She delivered her line with passion and clarity rarely heard in a 1st grade play. It was loads of fun to watch her and her classmates enjoy the moment. And, because the Waldorf philosophy is all about living in the moment, we do not have a pic of Anya in her costume or a video of her theatrical debut.

Dan is applying for a PhD program at Argosy University. As long as he can switch to the new GI Bill, he will start in November. He is not looking forward to all the writing involved, and as his editor, neither am I. However, I know Dan will do a great job and this will help him take his career where he really wants it to go.

I am still dreaming stories and occasionally I have the time to put them on paper. My first essay should be published in the fall. The editing for print was a little more severe than I would have liked, but I am relatively happy with the end product. I adore the full product, which I have to say is a result of my editor, Heather's, help.

This summer, the girls, a friend or two and I are going to have a book club. We're going to start with Little House on the Prarie by Laura Ingles Wilder. Then we're going to read Frindle by Andrew Clements. I'm not sure what we're going to finish with, but it will probably have dragons in it. The girls are going to do two weeks of music camp, called Bach to the Future. They're able to do this because of the children's choir they sing in during the year. Zerin and Normandy will have a productive summer tearing things apart and learning to get along. All in all, I am looking forward to spending time with all of my kids together again, going to the beach and possibly finishing scrapbooking the hard copies of pics from before the digital camera age.

Here's a diet coke to a busy summer!
Lysa