No, not housekeeping… Blogkeeping!
Today has been dedicated to more email organization and updating blog pages I’ve severely neglected.
I want to update those pages further, but first I think I’ll tackle some of the other pages… like my Q&A and Favs pages. Now those bad boys are oversaturated and in need of some serious attention.
I powered through my blogkeeping while jammin’ out to my favorite Wicked Pandora Station.
Songs from musicals and Disney movies make me want to sing! And you know what? Now that I’m working from home, I can!
Lunchtime Errands
Around lunchtime, I took a breather to head out and run to the post office to mail our landlord our new lease (we’re now month-to-month – thank goodness!). Ryan and I are really hoping to move out of our apartment in the very near future because we’ve been having issues with some unwelcome guests.
Yes, mice. Gross. Completely nasty. I know.
The mice have actually been an issue for a while now and we’re beyond annoyed and disgusted. All of our food is in plastic bins and we’re doing everything we can to make our place as unwelcoming to mice as possible. The guy we’ve been working with to control the problem explained that mice are a big problem in many older Florida homes because they weren’t made very well, as insulation in Florida isn’t a big issue. Houses have crevasses and cracks that are welcoming to mice. Fantastic!
Wanna hear the funny part? We used to faintly hear them in our walls occasionally and called them our “friends.” We thought we had a silent treaty to coexist peacefully and leave each other alone. They’ve since taken advantage of our hospitality (literally craping all over the treaty) and now it’s time to go.
Lunch
Since I spent quite some time looking through old blog posts to round up some of my favorite smoothie recipes for the smoothie page, I knew my lunch would have to be something cold and creamy.
I busted out the Vitamix and blended the following:
- 1 1/4 c. almond milk
- 1 1/2 tbsp. peanut butter
- 1 scoop chocolate protein powder
- 1 frozen banana
- 1 1/2 tbsp. cocoa powder
- 1 handful fresh spinach
Time to power through the rest of the work day! It feels so good to be checking things off my to do list. Slowly, but surely.
I have plans to meet up with my former (!!) coworkers for happy hour this evening, so I guess I should shower soon, too…
P.S. The Fashion page was updated!
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Those silly mice – they should have kept to themselves like you asked them to!
Also, isn’t Pandora great? I love listening to it at work, I feel much more productive.
Eek those mice would not make me happy either..at all. Luckily, I’m not experiencing any pests in the house, but I’ve been seeing snakes when I go running around the neighborhood. It really freaks me out!
And that smoothie looks delicious as always 🙂
Ew mice! Seriously, they crap more than any animal I’ve ever seen. gross.
Hope your landlord gets that under control soon!
you’re telling me! they must have the metabolism of a god!
Oh, my! I would be completely freaked out by mice too! I’m sorry that you have to live like that. I hope your landlord does something soon or that you can find a better place to call your home!
Have fun at Happy Hour!! 🙂
OMG, we are having some unwelcome mice visitors too and it’s so, so gross. We saw one literally just looking at us the other day. Creeper!
We are moving into a brand new house in a few weeks and will be mouse free!
Good luck getting rid of them and Happy Friday!
I couldn’t imagine hearing mice in our walls. Creepy!
On a side note, I’m so proud of you for pursuing your best interests and leaving your job! Right now I wish I had a career to leave. I just finished university and couldn’t find a “real job” anywhere. Now I’m stuck working in retail. I feel like I’m even more behind than where I was BEFORE I went to university. 🙁
SO cool you are following your dreams, girl 🙂 Go get ’em!
Love smoothies for lunch, that is a GREAT idea!
Ugh, mice are *the worst*! Congrats on being month to month though for your lease…. i hope things work out for you! And thanks for letting us know you updated the blogroll, I’ll be sure to check out the new ones you added!
Silly Floridian housemakers!!! Lol the house im renting here in St. Augustine apparently use to have rats in the ceiling (gross!!!!) until the landlord put chicken wire up. The other day i noticed a hole i had never seen before and im hoping the didnt come back!! Either way im excited for my lease to be up on August 1st:)
I didnt get a chance to comment on your job quitting post about how it was just what i needed to read! I am going to graduate in December with a Fine Art degree and i plan on being a freelance illustrator. I was in the midst of having my daily freak out about never being able to find work when i read your post and was encouraged:):)
We have centipedes and scorpions in our apartment. I know how you feel!! Ahh!
ahhh! scorpions! man, i feel your pain. i just want them to leave us ALONE.
Mice – ew! A problem I struggled with in my previous NYC apt…lets knock on wood that I don’t encounter one in my current apartment! I’m glad you updated your smoothie page and the blogroll!
Ewww mice!!
I will definatley visit your smoothie page, yummy!
It’s so great that you’re going to keep up with your former(!) coworkers 🙂
Yey for blogkeeping I need to do better with mine! 🙂
Which brand of protein powder do you use? I have never bought any and I would like to try some.
i like optimum nutrition’s gold standard or all the whey brands.
woww unwelcome is right!! if only Sadie were a cat, then she’d chase it right out of the house, or kill it. Sorrry that’s too morbid! hehe
my sensitivity sensor for these mice died out a month ago. you can get as morbid and grotesque as you wish. 🙂
HAHA! I love that first picture of Sadie, and the caption. She really does look annoyed! I think I laughed out loud at my desk a little bit!
And sorry to hear about your new “friends”. Gross! My parents always lived really close to fields and things when I was growing up so I always had mice in my house my whole life. I used to hear them crawling through the walls by my bed. Thankfully I live in the “city” now (techincally I live in a suburb of SLC but there are no horse fields anywhere near my house!).
When I had an apartment in college we had a mouse issue. We thought we had 1 or maybe 2 — nope. We caught 15. Ew!
i don’t want to tell you our total. it’s unreal. we were thinking two or three too! apparently they procreate like it’s their job!
p.s. get me out of HEEEERE!
I had a mouse once in my old apartment and I freaked out, barricaded myself in my bedroom, and waited for the service guy to come capture the thing. It was a pretty traumatizing experience.
So, I have a question (and I’m sorry if I missed this), but since you’re working from home now, do you have a mini office? I love hearing what sort of set up people working from home have. 🙂 I think part of it is that I live vicarously through you guys! 🙂
i would REALLY like one. i’m currently working from the kitchen table, but when we move (which BETTER be soon!), i hope to have an office all to myself. i need cabinets and hopefully a double monitor. that’s the dream, anyway. 🙂
🙂
We have a mice problem so I totally feel your pain! We don’t see them much but they leave their evidence all over the kitchen if you know what I mean. I’ve become OCD about keeping our kitchen spotless but it doesn’t help. The two houses next door to us are being renovated so I’m just PRAYING that once people move in the problem will go away (we own, so no moving for us!)
I KNOW! we literally wipe EVERYTHING down and keep all of our food in bins. it’s ridiculous. ryan laughs b/c i literally break down saying “what do you WANT from me!?!?”
haahah.. I think Chloe would feel the same way about “Part of Your World.”
aaand let’s just say I had QUITE A FEW unwelcome guests last winter when I moved in my house…. not just mice. rats. and not just rats, rats and squirrels. apparently, my attic is the party place!
omg!!! i’m sorry, but this made me laugh out loud. i’ve never heard of a squirrel infestation!
Oh my gosh, that happened to my aunt and uncle before. They had about three dozen squirrels come through the chimney in their vacation home. Those things tore up all of their furniture and ruined the windows and any sort of hole leading to the outside in an effort to escape. Then they all died in random places around the house.
OMG, you poor thing! I could not stand it knowing there were mice around.
Your picture captions seriously make me laugh out loud!
Yay! I am so glad you are following YoungHouseLove!! You will fall in love with Miss Clara. And I think Sadie would love to play with Burger 🙂
Ahh! We had mice a while back too, and it made me NUTS! Of course I had to write about it on the blog…
Here is a simple trick to keep mice away. Fabric softener sheets. My hubs and I heard of this trick and tried it this past fall before we closed up the cottage for the winter. We usually open in the spring to poop everywhere. So in the fall we stuffed fabric softener everywhere and this spring, not one poop or other signs of mice. Not sure if its a coincidence but it might be worth a try!
I second the fabric softener sheets. We moved into our house (in the middle of a corn field in TX, so you can imagine the mouse possibilities!) last July, and there was mouse poop everywhere! The house had been empty for a few months before we moved in, and our landlords put down dryer sheets everywhere about a week before we moved in.
In the almost year we have lived here, we have only caught one mouse in the house, and I don’t see droppings anywhere anymore. Plus, it makes your house smell fresh 🙂
Ooooh mice. At my parents house.. we have Micky, Minney.. and their whole brude. I totally understand where you are coming form.. it is gross. Our problems would be in the winter though.. the mice are looking for somewhere warm (we live in CT) … They would always steal DOG FOOD! So don’t leave Sadie’s food around if she is not eating it.
Worst thing ever – when I was like 10.. I opened up the toilet.. to find a dead mouse floating. I nearly fainted.
Yes!!! We think they were initially after Sadie’s food!!!
Julie, try some pure peppermint extract to help with the mice. I thought it was an old-wives tale at first, but it totally fixed the mouse problem at my apartment! Just put a few dabs of the oil around where you usually see the mice. I hope it helps, and if it doesn’t, at least the smell is pleasant!
Thanks for the tip!! I think I need to coat our entire downstairs in it…
Ugh we had the same issues when we had basement apartments here in DC. When I first moved into my old place I wondered why there was a little quarter size hole between the door and the floor but didn’t really think about it. After I moved in I quickly realized mice had made it so when it rained they could come in since I lived below ground level. They were an annoyance and used to get into the walls too. Make sure you have Sadie’s food put in some type of bin, the first time I confirmed it was mice it was after scooping out dog food and having a mouse run across my hand. They had made a whole in a 1 pound bag which I had to throw away.
I live in an apartment with plenty of cats and I always said only really stupid or really brave mice would come in here. And than late the other night, I’m sitting on my couch and doesn’t one of my cats get on my lap with something hanging out of it’s mouth. In total ignorance I was like, what toy did you find? And than I realized it wasn’t a toy. it was a mouse! *Commence dancing and wild squealing* It was so completely unexpected that I freaked out and called one of best friends, woke her up and kept her on the phone for an hour to talk me off the edge, as I chased my mouse catching cat around bribing him with treats so he’d drop the sucker and I could bag it up and throw it out.
Yes, I’m totally blessed with amazing friends who will stay up with me in the middle of the night.
Hahahhaha! We need a cat. Sadie is a worthless mouse hunter.
My attempt at a positive take on the mice situation: at least they’re not rats?
That was my first question when the pest guy caught one!
I have a confession to make:
I’m super selfish.
I’m SO happy you put in your two weeks 🙂 Because now I get to read your lovely blog everyday. Leave it up to me to take your life changing situation and make it all about ME. haha. I freaking love reading about your adventures and DELICIOUS eats.
SO sorry about the mice- been there done that- it’s so awful finding mice poop when you’re cleaning your dresser drawers, or under the sink. EW. In my last apartment in San Diego there was a serious cockroach problem..which is 100x worse in my opinion. The landlord didn’t care. She said all the beach side apartments are infested with roaches, and there is not point in trying to kill them because they’ll come back in 2 seconds. YUCCCKKK. Good luck!!
-Sarah
I recently found your blog and I love all the pictures of Sadie and your comments are hilarious!
Congrats on your move to full time blogging, I look forward to following along!
Your smoothie this morning was probably so much better than mine! Haha, i tried an Amazing Grass packet (the mango pomegranate flavor) in my smoothie with some milk, a frozen banana and some strawberries and it was BEYOND awful!! It was horrible, I tried to choke down as much as I could (about half) because the Amazing Grass stats and nutritionals are AMAZING, but eventually I just dumped it!
I think Sadie needs a kitty friend! In all seriousness I live in an older Florida home (1960’s) and we don’t have a mice problem. Wasps in our wall yes, ants, yes. Good luck and get a kitty, even if it lives outside all the time (or move)!
I’m sorry but to advocate someone to get a cat “even if it lives outside all of the time” (or even part of the time) is irresponsible. Speaking as someone who is owned by cats and very involved in cat rescue, the stats about outdoor cats is impressively depressing with their expected life spans being only a few years compared to indoor cats who are expected to live into their late teens.
On top of the risk to the cat, is the risk to the ecosystem. Cats are hunters and don’t discriminate between vermit and songbirds or other prized small animals.
Finally, there are an increasing number of municipalities that have made free-range cats illegal.
*stepping off soapbox now*
Haha I am not an outdoor cat fan, I have 2 lovely indoor cats (both rescues) and actually get annoyed by the number of feral cats in our neighborhood. Try walking an 80lb lab when every house has at least 1 cat outside for an entire block. Including one that likes to follow us.
Your photos of Sadie with the comments are always hilarious; you could write a whole book of them! They totally crack me up. Does she help with the mouse problem at all? I know my cats catch one in our house once in a while.
I love that you’re finding something new to love about working at home every day 🙂
Mice completely gross me out, but at least their not as bad as cockroaches!
Mmm chocolate PB smoothie sounds so good right now…
The chocolatey drizzle of that smoothie is making me droooool all over my keyboard!
Your chocolate smoothies look so good. I hope to have time this summer to make some!
I’m also excited to have time to clean up my blog like you’re doing today. It’s fun to constantly keep improving it, and I look forward to seeing what changes you make on yours!
Are you and Ryan going to buy a house? Or just looking for another apartment? I used to have mice in my old apartment, I HATED finding mice poop everywhere!
mice, aak! i had some a few years ago. i thought i had gotten rid of them and was saying so to a friend on the telephone when i looked over at my dish rack….and there were THREE of the little mofos, each sitting in a wine glass and watching me. speak of the devil, for real!
good luck, and congrats on your recent job change.
Omg! Your mice problem & the comments about squirrels, rats, roaches, wasps in Walls… I would die. I’d cry so much! Seriously I’m a real big wuss! We used to have mice in our apartment when I was a kid & I wasn’t as scared. Ah Childhood..
Hope you find an apartment soon!
Have you tried the repellents that you plug in and it emits some kind of noise we can’t hear but it drives them away. I thought it sounded ridiculous, but my sister tried it and it worked! Maybe it’d at least make them want to re-sign the treaty?
Oh dear, I would freak out with mice in my house.. Are you looking to move to another appartment or a bigger place?
I actually made a banana bread smoothie this week that I thought you might enjoy! Always love seeing your combos.
Linking here…
http://www.theavidappetite.com/home/2011/6/1/banana-bread-smoothie.html
E-mail organizing can take forever… I’ve tried multiple times and have yet to finish!! I don’t know how I would handle your mice situation…gives me the heeby jeebies just thinking about it!!!!! GOOD LUCK, hope it gets resolved soon.
I feel your pain. We get all sorts of “friends” here in our Manhattan apartment. I’ve seen mice, roaches, ants, you name it! Not to mention I work with mice in the laboratory…I can’t seem to get away from them! I guess I should just make “friends” with them, hehe 🙂
I was awoken on Sunday night to a mouse crawling around on my desk in my room!! Eww! I freaked out so bad I couldn’t go back to sleep! He must be a genius because I have not been able to catch him yet! I have tried all sorts of different types of traps with no luck!!
Smoothie page?? I can’t wait to check it out!
congrats on blogging full time. i knew it was gonna happen! mostly bc your former boss and i are besties. is that weird? ok, or not. but congrats and cant wait to see what PBF does in the future.
Yup, mice are the worst. We had them at my old apartment, and I used to have my cliche girl moments—you know, the ones where you see a mouse run by and you JUMP ON THE COUCH AND SCREAM. It was awesome. And by awesome, I mean absolutely horrifying!
Ekkk….mice are so gross. Sorry your having to deal with that, i’m sure it’s no fun!
My smoothies, though delicious, always look like blended chunks of poo. How do you get yours to look so pretty?