I'm a murderer!

I confess. You all are the first to know my dirty secret. I am a murderer. This morning Abby came in to the bedroom complaining about the ants on the front porch. She said they were everywhere and it was gross and disgusting. I of course, knowing my daughter's skill at blowing things out of proportion, just rolled my eyes and told her I'd check it out when I got up. Did I mention that this was at 6:00a.m.?? Of course, having been rudely awakened I was unable to go back to sleep so I was up, showered and downstairs by 7:00. Knowing that I had forgotten to water my flower pots last evening I made my first priority to go outside and take care of that little bit of business. But when I opened the front door I stopped cold. The front porch was literally moving. Little red ants were everywhere!! It was so gross and disgusting!! For once Abby hadn't been exaggerating! I didn't see any reason for them to be there either. Sometimes someone will dribble his pop on the cement and that will bring the little buggers out but there were no telltale brown dribble spots to be seen. As far as I could tell there was no reason for the invasion. I needed to get out there to water the hanging baskets as they were on their deathbed and screaming out for relief but there was no freaking way I was stepping out there amongst the critters! Let me repeat myself......NO FREAKING WAY!! So I did the only thing any self respecting creepy crawlie hater could do and I went and got out my handy dandy can of Raid ant killer. I sprayed those babies and watched them scatter trying to avoid the death spray but in the end I was the victor. Did you know they get smaller when you spray them? After about 5 minutes, this was all that was left....

Doesn't look too bad in the picture but trust me, this was just a teeny tiny little 2 inch spot of the porch. As I stood there watching them die I was struck with remorse. I was single handedly responsible for wiping out an entire colony (or so it looked) of ants. I was a murderer. I felt bad for the ants left behind. I wish I had taken a different route to get rid of them. I could have hosed the porch off if we didn't already have water in the basement that is coming in from somewhere in the vicinity of front porch. I could have used the broom and swept them away but then I'd be afraid they would get all up in my broom and come into the house and we certainly don't want that. So in the end I will have to live with the guilt. Please don't hate me. I'm really not a bad person.

While I was outside trying to save my hanging pots, I thought I would take a few quick pictures of my flowers. While they are still around to take pictures of. Seems as though I am not the only one that is a murderer. Signs of death were everywhere!! This used to be a large daylily.

And this is what is happening to my oriental lillies:

Stripped of their leaves and snapped off halfway up. Pesky wabbits! It's my own fault. I said just the other day....gosh, the rabbits haven't been feasting in my garden this year. Yep. Shoulda kept my big mouth shut! I cursed myself.

I took a few pictures of some of my favorites while they are still alive, here's my Clematis. I'm thinking of cutting it back to the ground when it's done blooming. Pretty much it has quit blooming on the lower half of the plant. It'll either make it healthier or it'll kill it. Might as well add another murder charge to the list!

My favorite lily, love the color of this one:

And my Red Lillies, if you look hard, you can see all the dead stuff towards the top right in the picture, that's the bottom of my clematis. It looks like that from the ground up to about 3 feet:

I'm making progress on my family room re-do. I've shopped my house and have pulled about all I can. It's time to start spending money now. One thing I knew I had but couldn't find was my shaker boxes. Looked everywhere for the darn things. Knew I had seen them somewhere recently but just couldn't locate them. Yesterday, I had an epiphany! I had taken them to the shop and was using them to display reading glasses! Duh! I'll have to bring in a basket and swap it for the boxes. Found curtains that I can live with. I also bought a table lamp but it was kinda pricey and I wasn't in love with it so it's going to go back. I found a lamp base at Scummart Walmart that I like so maybe I can find a shade I love somewhere and save a bit of money. So far I like what I've done. Abby hates it. She hates country style period. Amy doesn't give a flying fig, Dan keeps saying he's not seeing the vision yet and Adam on skype the other night asked what had I done to the family room? I don't think they can "see" the whole picture. I keep telling them to be patient. Decorating takes time.

I have done some stitching on the Wise Men. I am very close to being done. I tell ya, my picture of this just doesn't do it justice. You have to stitch this one to see it in it's full beauty. Trust me.

Not sure what I want to stitch when I am done with this. Need to work on Golden Ice for a bit though. If I can stop myself from starting something new.

Well, I have a shop newsletter to write yet and a cross stitch to stretch. I want to organize the charts here at the shop too plus place my orders so I best get a move on. But first let me ask you....when you go to a LNS, how do you like the charts to be arranged. By designer alphabetically? By Subject? I gotta admit I struggle with this one. I'll take any help or advice you wish to share.

Have a great week! Thanks for stopping by and a big Hello to my new followers. I think it might be time for a giveaway!!

Take care!

Julie