New infestation. Columbus day big co. deals. Try something new.

So the victory roses I received had fungus flies in them.  Now the tea roses I have received have what are called spider mites!  I just cannot win with indoor roses!  I thought I just may have a little spider in the tea rose but I noticed tiny, VERY tiny white-ish insects milling around in the webbing, & so after some research, found out what I had.  So the roses have been secluded to the back porch for now.  I don't want to throw another plant away though so I did some reading & it seems that horticultural oils are the most effective at ridding them.  I have no clue where they came from as my father had this plant for a while w/no infestation & my other plants are fine.  We are starting to get frosts though also so I'm afraid that one nay get to the plant before the other.  There was a bud really to bloom also & then these darn mites came!  I have a feeling this one may not survive also with all that I need to put into it this time of year.

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Well, it being Columbus Day weekend I have received a few e-mails of some deals going on.  1st off with Bath & Body Works.  I'm not a huge fan of theirs.  They aren't very interactive w/their customers, they are just a big mish-mosh of companies & products.  But they do carry a few things I really do like.  Online they have 50% off their sweet shop candles which are pretty awesome for the most part, only a few of them I wasn't too hot with how the smelled when in the store.  B3G3 on their signature collections, & a bunch of summer, Halloween products, & lip glosses at 75% off.  AND using code EVENT25 will get you $1 shipping on orders $25 or more.  Of course there's other things, but these were the note worthy items for me.  I'm not sure if there are in store or not but I may drop by one today because I have a coupon for a free item & 20% off my entire purchase.  Been pretty good w/not buying much from them anyway.
*EDIT - same sales in store.  Already pretty picked over.

Now The Body Shop is having a B3G2, B2G1 or Buy 1 Get 1 1/2 off.  But, if your like me, & have almost the entire store because they don't change their line up 1/2 as much as B&BW does, then it's meaningless.

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This time of year brings pumpkin to death for soap scents.  Really.  A lot of times I go out on limbs to try new things & I think others should also.  So, this is actually uncommon but it is MY new autumn scent thanks to Two Oakes Soapworks.  It is carrot cake soap & she has 2 bars left for sale on eBay.  If I didn't have so many other soaps to try right now I would snatch these up because they are scented so perfectly.  The carrot cake has been spiced right & just came out of the oven.  It should come with a disclaimer not to attempt to eat it!

I hope to have more on this company soon!

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Got my flu shot yesterday.  Hope to run a few errands today w/a bit of retail therapy today.

Insects aren't always creepy.

Well, to some people they are no matter what they are.  I just don't like arachnids.  Or insect that look like arachnids.  Or ones that I know that bite.  Small insects really don't bother me.  Well, small spiders really do & small insects in swarms do.

The 1st time I encountered springtails was on my back porch ledge.  They were extremely tiny, jumped when I went close to touching them & there were many of them.  They had probably been there since I purchased the place & I just never noticed them until leaning over the ledge one day I huffed a breath out & I saw these tiny things go scattering all over!  It took forever to figure out what they were also considering I don't have a microscopic lens on my camera & I had to study where they were, what they were doing, the environment, size, & behavior to figure it out.  It was really the jumping that did it.  They have what's called a furcula attached to their bums which allows them to "sping" short distances.  What I learned about them, I let them be & the association eventually came & painted the porch ledge & they have since been gone.

A few weeks ago I woke up in the middle of the night & went in the bathroom & I thought Chris left some beard shavings in the bottom of the sink.  Until I realized they were moving.  I looked closer, went to poke the, what seemed, almost microscopic insect & sure enough, it bounced about an inch away.  We had elongate-bodied springtails in the bathroom sink.  Not too worried because of what I had read before, they do not cause damage, but they can migrate & in great numbers.  What I was worried about was we were getting more & more each day and if we were getting them, because they are really outdoor insects & coming from the pipes, our downstairs neighbors were getting them also.

Now, we live on marshy land & there's a creek in our backyard so these are expected.  The way you are supposed to rid of them is to find the outdoor source of moisture or leaks, fungus, algae, decaying vegetation & so w/my atmosphere, I don't think I will ever find their original source.  They're kind of fun to watch them mill around aimlessly & jump when poked anyway.  I told my downstairs neighbor about them yesterday in the event him or his wife sees them to not freak out that they are, if anything, a nuisance & nothing more.  So to get rid of them in the pipes, the eco-friendly way would be w/vinegar, & if that doesn't work, bleach.  These are temporary solutions though.  Chris went right for the bleach.  Haven't been back since.

Unfortunately the roses he got me that I re-potted were infested with fungus gnats & I had to just get rid of them.  I had tried to get rid of as much as I could of the old soil when I re-potted it but I guess I just didn't do a good enough job & I am praying they didn't get into the daisy.  My dad gave me a tea rose to put in the pot & my mom gave me an antique turtle that I put a moon cactus in.  Looks so cute!

  

I've been feeling the best I've been in a while.  I swear the year before my gallbladder surgery was hell & this year after has been also.  Except the year before the surgery they were sure it was my gallbladder & now no one knows what's wrong with me.  Got myself off 1 prescription & working myself off another.  Being sick on & off had depressed & scared me greatly, especially when I ended up in the hospital.  I have been trying to stay positive through it all though sometimes it's so hard to.  I have my sanctuary (bath), my love (Chris), my support (fam & friends), my confidant (my cat who is also my cuddle buddy though he objects with claws & teeth sometimes because he is a grumpy old cat but he does purr a lot), & things that keep me sane (crafts, cute things, blogging, shopping, making people happy.)

Take care everyone.  Until the next bath! :)

Sometimes it's not always about soap.

So today I came home from work & the kitchen smelled like sausage & things were a mess & I was disgusted & I knew I had a lot of things I had to do & I didn't want to do them & I felt myself getting in a rut & I was getting tired & I was ready to fell asleep on my comfy bed but my cat wanted to play rough & bit me.  Yes, I can complain & complain. So I decided to be productive.

We have a mat outside our front door in our common area that had salt crusted on it from last winter so I took it down to the laundry area & washed it off.  I took all the newspapers & bags they were in from the laundry garbage out for recycling.  I cleaned up all the loose cat food on the floor, put Milton's food in an easy access plastic container, & put the large stock back in the back of the pantry until it actually needs to be used because it was in the way & becoming a mess.

Then I did something I have been meaning to do.  Last year for my birthday, Chris' sister & mother got me a beautiful red gerbera daisy in a red pot.  I have kept it in the common area because there it is safe from my cat & gets more light.  Since then they have redone the common area walls and carpet & Chris also got me a small victory rose pot last week.  I needed a good pot to put the roses in but I wanted something to go well in the common area & also with the daisy.  So we went on a hunt for new pots.  We ended up finding these at Home Depot:

Unfortunately the daisy hasn't bloomed since I got it.  Maybe someday.  Maybe.  This is what The 2 looked like before they were re-potted.  You can barely see the roses.  Once I removed it from the wrapping it was mostly dead leaves anyway.  Poor thing.

Here I am putting the daisy into the pot with some new soil.

 

Here is the finished product!

Very nice!  Now, I also had a vision of tearing down some walls to open up some space between my kitchen & living room.  Then also moving my bedroom furniture into my small bedroom & making the master bedroom like a lounge.  Why waste all that space if all I really do is sleep in that room?

And did I mention (I know I didn't so I don't know why I am even asking) I got 25, YES TWENTY FIVE, bars of soap yesterday?  Only a few of them are duplicates and they all smell fantastic!  I cannot wait to try them out.

I think I will have my bath now & then a nap.  Still feeling quite exhausted.  Here are my flowers at their new home in the common area.