Current Mood: Erm…

Every fall, some mouse or other will think it’s a good idea to go inside for warmth. While, on the face of it, it does seem like a logical move, the fact that they want to make their winter home IN HERE is a problem!

So, every year, out come the traps. Last year, we found these great plastic jobbies that have a lot less chance of snapping on my hand than the old-fashioned wood ones. The principle of them is a little different: Instead of putting the bait right on the trigger, the bait goes on a little “ceiling” above it. Then, the mouse, in order to reach the bait, puts his foot on the lever…which triggers his journey into the next realm.

But, this year I’ve got a dumb-luck mouse. Apparently, he’s too dumb to realize that it’d be a much easier reach to the bait if only he’d use that handy little step that’s been so graciously provided. Every day, I wake up to find the peanut-butter smear has been licked off the trap “ceiling” without so much as a mouse hair left behind.

So now, I’m trying to think of ways to encourage him to step on the trigger. I’ve tried putting the peanut butter a bit farther back this time. If that doesn’t work, I’ll put it WAY back–maybe if he’s too dumb to use the trigger as a step, he’ll also be dumb enough to just blunderingly clod into it if it’s in the way of getting to the bait!

If all else fails, I’ll have to resort to the Green Grain. Rat poison. I use rat poison for mice, because “mouse” poison comes in overpriced little packs, and is usually underpowered, too. The reason I call it the Green Grain is simple: The stuff is always dyed a garish green, I presume so humans know it’s not good to eat. The mice don’t know what the color means, or even that it looks really phony, so they go ahead and eat it. The problem with the Green Grain method is that, soon after, an unfindable dead mouse will start reeking up the place and keep reeking until it finally mummifies!

So hopefully Mr. Dumb Luck Mouse will just stumble into the trigger soon and activate the trap.

When imagining my new house in FL, I often think of the big stuff: Carpet color, floor plan, and, surprisingly, the height of the counters. (Counters are usually a couple inches wrong for me, either too tall or too short but never right.)

However, today I was reminded that houses need something else: Furniture. And not just big furniture like couches and chairs, but also what would be called “accent” furniture–things like ottomans, end tables, and even bar stools. And, the uniqueness of these things can even bring personality to the house.

Oh, this house has “unique” furniture in it, but it’s not the kind of unique I’d care to replicate . The dining room is filled with a big spool table that REALLY WAS a spool for electrical cable! There used to be another in the kitchen, but it finally died and I had the glorious pleasure of rolling the thing out to the curb. Same with a little spool-let “end table.”

In Florida, I want unique REAL furniture!!! You know, the stuff that comes from a real furniture store!

After getting all the necessities like a computer desk and large-sized chair, a bed, and all the normal kinds of stuff, I would look for things like this magazine holder. The store has it as a living-room accessory, but that’s not where I’d need it. It’d go in the bathroom, which is where I read the newspaper. Of course, it’d have plenty of room to fit, since I’d design the bathroom to be spacious!

It would be almost weird to have a nightstand like in the motels. What would life be like to not have to reach way over in order to reach my water? I’d probably end up spilling it all over the place because the reach would be so different, LOL! I’ve done that in more than one motel room!

Probably the better bet would be to get a cool end table for the living room. I’m not sure which one of those I’d get. My eye is attracted to the modern ones when I look at them on a site. But, I would probably go for a more traditional decor in an actual house setting. Or maybe I’ll just go for the design that looks good everywhere and is always in style: The look of expense! FurnitureCentral.com has a faux marble-top table that looks way more expensive than its $144 price tag would suggest.

Whether you want unique but REAL furniture, a modern look, a standard look, or even faux-expensive, FurnitureCentral has a selection. Check ‘em out!

A merchant came to me today with an unexpected question. CarGuyGarage.com wants to know what people’s garage floors look like!

Truth be told, I have no idea what the garage floor here looks like. That’s because it’s been literally too covered with stored stuff to be seen!!! And it’s been that way for over a decade. Needless to say, the car hasn’t seen it either: it’s parked outside.

I’ve been told that it’s got a crack in it. And, I vaguely remember, from years and years ago, that it’s kind of dingy. But the “dinginess” may just be what the concrete’s supposed to look like (imagine a blank expression here). And, it used to flood every spring. Not that the flooding affected the looks of it, but going in the garage then often did mean wet feet.

CarGuyGarage says that for such a floor, it’s often better to just tile over it rather than try sealing it like a new floor should be. Perhaps that’s so. But, trying to move 5 feet-deep of old shouldn’t-have-been-collected-ables would be such a giant project that I can pretty much know when any tiling project would happen. When the house is going up for sale, that’s when!

But even though that’s the case, it is true that prospective buyers probably won’t want to buy all that old junk. And, they’d be impressed with a new floor. So it’s something to keep in mind for when I make my permanent escape to FL.

When I think of a garage, I think of a place to store my junk! Yeah, I know they’re supposed to be for cars or for working on projects in, but after living here all my life and seeing a car in the garage maybe once or twice, that’s just not the picture I get.

So when I found out about the site CarGuyGarage.com, it really stood out to me. They have all kinds of fancy garagey stuff, from lighting to cabinets and flooring. So THAT’S what some people do with their garages! Then I remember that yeah, I have seen some auto resto sites that showed fancy garage setups like that. And, I have a couple of neighbors who actually have a car in theirs, too. One of them even works on his vintage Mustang in his garage, which he has set up like a little auto shop.

One of the things that a “workshop” garage needs is good lighting. Most garages have only a little window to let in some light and air, like a dungeon. So if you’re going for a “fancy” garage, the first thing to do is get some garage lighting set up! CarGuyGarage suggests not only lighting it, but using an intelligent method of wiring it. They suggest using many lights, but setting them up on different switches. That way, if you just need to go in to grab something quick, you can turn on just one or two lights. But if you’re working in there, you can turn on all the lights so you can really see what you’re doing.

Maybe when I get my new Floridian manor, which won’t have had a chance to get filled with years’ worth of storage, I’ll make the garage into an actual, usable, workspace–complete with lots of light!