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Cassidy didn't want Aaliyah's arm around her!

It is so hard to believe my little girls well be four and two next month.  I am enjoying being a Mommy!
Until next time, 

Be Careful What You Pray For...

Some time ago I mentioned that when we moved into our new home we had a HUGE mouse problem.  To date we have caught eleven in traps (two that we know of got away), Nikitta has killed three, and our new guest ( I believe) has beaten us all.

I really, REALLY, REALLY, don't like mice; especially in my home.  (This includes all forms of mice like hamsters and such.)  I am not really afraid of them; but I think they are gross and it would be incredibly embarrassing to me if I had guests and they spotted them (or their evidence) in my home. The first type of trap we bought looks like this -

except in black.  We filled them with peanut butter initially; but that didn't seem to work.  After a bit of research I discovered they like dog or cat food; so we put Nikitta's food in them and we started catching them in multiple numbers per trap.  Unfortunately after about three weeks they figured out how to eat all the dog food then escape.  BUMMER!!!  Next we tried this -

This is an electronic beeper thing that is supposed to keep mice, spiders, and some other pests away.   I can't reccomend them.  We placed the afore mentioned traps full of dog food directly under these things and the next morning the traps were empty...no mice and no food.  We thought, well, maybe they need some time.  A week later Nikitta was tired of making donations to the mice with no results, so we quit filling the traps with her food. 

All of this being said, we saw an influx of mice in March when the farmers began to work in the fields around us.  I finally broke down and bought traps with poisin in them.  We found two dead baby mice. I haven't seen any mice (dead or alive) since March.  I did make it a matter of prayer from the beginning and I thought maybe the beeping things were finally working until I saw this in my yard.

The girls and I were coming home from the library and  this guy was relaxing right in front of our front steps in my "flower bed".  No, I did not scream; but I did pick up Cassidy and command Aaliyah to follow me to the back door.  I scared my husband to death pounding on the back door.  He prompty went to see the snake; but he/she was already gone.  I wish I could say say this was our last encounter; but last Sunday I saw it again.  Of course it escaped again before my husband saw it.  After doing a little research I found out that this is called a black or chicken snake.  It is non-venemous and loves to eat rodents!  I really believe this is our answer to prayer for our mouse problem.  I also have seen the carcasses of two squirrels near our house that I believe Mr. Black snake is responsible for.  

Our Lord definately has a sense of humor.  I don't like mice; but I detest and am definately afraid of snakes; but I have put my fear in check (2 Timothy 1:7 -  

For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.) and I am learning to be thankful even for this snake; but I am watchful EVERY time I step outside of our house!  Also I learned that the larger ones like to live in trees - we have five pecan trees and two oak trees surrounding our house...I now will be looking up as well as down when I leave the house - keeping in mind that if this is my answer to prayer, I don't think the Lord sent it here to harm us!

Until next time,

Homemade fabric softener

I do not use traditional/store-bought laundry soap or fabric softener.  I do have a laundry soap recipe that I love and and have been using for years and one that I have recently started using for Raymond's super heavily soiled work clothes.  Normally I just use about 1/2 a cup of white vinegar as fabric softener.  Recently a lady at our church let me sample her homemade fabric softener.  I liked it, make some for our family and have since shared the recipe with a friend.  I would like to share it with you today as well. 

6 Cups of water

3 Cups of white vinegar

2 Cups of  good smelling hair conditioner

Mix together and use about 1/2 cup per load. 

Enjoy! 

 

Until next time,