Author Archives: Manda

Even though I completely failed the BE June Challenge, I’m giving it another go and partaking in the BE July Challenge.

This coming month’s daily prompts are:

1. Goals for this month
2. 3 personality traits you are proud of
3. Piercings and tattoos? If none thoughts on them…
4. Most proud moment
5. Your worst habits.
6. Something or someone you miss
7. A difficult time in your life
8. 5 favourite blogs
9. Last time you cried
10. Favourite comfort food
11. Weird quirk(s) you have
12. 5 things you lust after
13. Something you always think “what if…” about.
14. Your zodiac and if you think it fits your personality
15. What you wore today
16. Views on religion
17. Currently reading
18. Take a selfie today and post the pic!
19. One place in the world you want to visit
20. One thing you achieved today.
21. Why do you blog?
22. Tell us a bit about where you live.
23. What is your favorite fashion accessory right now?
24. Tell us about your favorite organization and why it is important to you.
25. What motivates you?
26. If you were a superhero, what would your powers be?
27. What is your favorite writing tool? Do you only use the computer, or do you still love pen and paper?
28. List five things you can do to brighten up someone’s day
29. How do you balance life, work, family, and fun?
30. What is the best book you read this month?
31. Highs and lows of this month

Let’s see if I can keep this one up…

I failed at the June blog challenge, which is really no surprise to me ‘cause I knew I couldn’t keep it up. Oh well. Besides being a big fat failure at the whole regular blogging thingy, I have been working, working, working. And when I’m not working, I’m constantly looking for work. The content sites I write for are a bit dry at the moment, and I have to keep pushing through just to try to make ends meet. Bills don’t stop just because the work isn’t there.

On the positive side, the work-is-drying-up situation as made me start to think/find other ways to make a little extra money. So, I have been trying out different homemade items that I can sell on my Etsy store. I haven’t listed any of them yet, but I plan to within the next month. While I do love my job, the uncertainty of it is leaving me a bit frazzled and stressed. Being able to fall back on something would be a nice cushion.

Besides all that stuff, nothing else is really going on. Raven came back yesterday from spending the weekend at my Dad’s in Ohio, and our plants are planted in the garden. Oh what an exciting life I lead.

1. My husband and I have been together since January 1996, but we have know each other since I was 5 and he was 6.

2. Our daughter was born 9 days after my 17th birthday.

3. Ninety-percent of the time I order a cheeseburger whenever we go out to eat.

4. I stopped drinking diet coke in January of this year because I was having shortness of breath and heart palpitations.

5. Those symptoms disappeared a few days after I stopped drinking it.

6. I have iron deficiency anemia and live on iron supplements and caffeine pills just to get me through the day.

7. I was born with it,  had to have liquid iron bottle feed to me when I was a baby and have been on medically-prescribed iron supplements since I was able to swallow a pill.

8. My body cannot absorb iron properly or hold onto it like it should.

9. I love beards.

10. My husband can grow one hell of an epic beard.

11. He can also really annoy the hell out of me and make me ever so mad, but I love him like you wouldn’t believe.

12. My daughter is an amazing artist with a good head on her shoulders.

13. I am extremely lucky to have her in my life and am so proud of the young woman she has/is becoming.

14. I have all these things/projects that I want to do.

15. But I never make time for them.

16. And that makes me sad.

17. For the first time in a very, very long time I think I am actually happy.

18. Except for my weight.

19. And my looks.

20. I’ll never be happy with those.

Various bugs use lime trees as a food source, shelter and host for their larvae. Chemical pesticides are readily available to control these bugs but generally contain toxins that can harm you and your family. If you are like me and would rather not fill your environment with potential dangerous chemicals, consider choosing nontoxic bug sprays to control the unwanted insects that feed on your lime trees.

Bacillus Thuringiensis

Bacillus thuringiensis is a bacterium living in soil that acts as a poison to specific pests. Citrus leafminers, cutworms, leafrollers, caterpillars and the larval stage of various other butterflies and moths that attack lime trees are a few of the pests controlled by Bacillus thuringiensis. After spraying the lime tree with the bacterium insecticide, the unwanted insects consumes the bacterium, which interferes with its feeding and the pests starves to death. This non toxic insecticide won’t harm beneficial insects — such as bees –, birds, aquatic wildlife, humans or mammals.

Homemade Oil Spray

Consisting of non toxic ingredients, the homemade oil spray is an inexpensive and safer option to controlling soft-bodied insects that suck the sap from the lemon tree leaves. Aphids, mites, scales, whiteflies and thrips are sap-sucking insects infesting lime trees and can be controlled with the homemade oil spray. The homemade bug spray contains 1/4 cup of liquid dish soap that doesn’t contain degreaser or bleach, six tablespoons of canola oil and two gallons of lukewarm water mixed together thoroughly. The unwanted pests must come in contact with the oil spray for effective control so thoroughly apply to the entire lime tree. Furthermore, never spray the homemade insecticide when temperatures will exceed 85 degrees.

Insecticidal Soap

Insecticidal soap contains fatty acids and losses its ability to control insects once dry. It breaks down quickly, doesn’t leave behind harsh residues and can be applied up to the day of harvest. Insecticidal soap controls soft-body insects such as aphids, scales, whiteflies and mites, and may require repeated applications for effective control. Insecticidal soap must cover the pest in order to control them so thoroughly apply the pesticide to the entire lime tree on a warm day when temperatures won’t reach 90 degrees.

Garlic Spray

Garlic sprays is safe to use around people, pets and wildlife but will control mites, aphids, whiteflies, grasshoppers, slugs and cabbage loppers. It will also keep rabbits at bay and help prevent fungal diseases.To make the homemade garlic spray you must first soak three ounces of minced garlic in one ounce of mineral oil for 24 hours or more. After the allotted time, pour the liquid through a strainer and into a clean glass jar. The second step of the recipe consists of one teaspoon of fish emulsion mixed with one tablespoon of castile soap and 16 ounces of water. Combine the first mixture with the second to create a concentrated liquid that will store for several months. To use the garlic spray, combine two tablespoons of the concentrated mixture with one pint of lukewarm water and thoroughly coat the lime tree.

Considerations

The above organic and non toxic insecticides can be used on just about any type of plant except for those with hairy or waxy leaves. If you are unsure about using these products in your garden, consider testing it on an inconspicuous area of the plant’s leaf. If after 24 hours no damage has occurred, you can continue as instructed.

Maybe. I’m pretty tired of this one and need to get to work a new one. But I have so much to do it’s not even funny. And I just have an the energy to do any of them. I have been living on caffeine pills for almost a year now. I don’t know if my iron supplements are not working as good as they use to or if my iron has dipped even lower than normal, but it sucks. But, on the bright side, Raven only has five more days left of school (her last day is the 28th). Which means no more getting up at 5:50 in the morning!

The Tuesday Ten: 10 Things to See and Do in Your Town

I live in a small town so this list is really stretching it. There is a lot to do in the cities surrounding my town, but since the Tuesday Ten specifically says “your town”, I’m going to stick with that. So please bear with my creative activities.

1. Eat Pepperoni Rolls – West Virginia is famous for these amazing noms, which is pretty much just pepperoni inside of fresh baked bread dough. Some versions have hot pepper or mozzarella cheese inside, which makes them even more mouthwatering. These orgasmic treats can be found at any store around these parts. In fact, just a few miles away from my home (though it’s address is in a different city) is Abruzzino’s Italian Bakery, which makes delicious fresh baked pepperoni rolls (as well as the best Italian bread ever) daily.

2. Go to the Drive-In – Sunset Ellis Drive-In is something that most people in and around our town have been attending for most if not all of our lives. Not only is it a wonderfully vintage way to watch the latest movies, it is actually pretty cheap. They charge $7 per adult (and $4 per child) and show two movies. It’s $8 for one adult to watch one movie at the cinema in the mall. This weekend they are playing Blended and Godzilla.

3. Visit the Flea Market – Every Saturday morning from April through October, the parking lot of the Sunset Ellis Drive-In turns into a large outdoor flea market. Anyone can set up and sell whatever. It’s not always used items being sold either (though the used items are why I go). Scentsy reps, small home-based businesses (such as jewelry makers) and gardeners set up at the flea market to sell their items. The flea market use to be open on Saturdays and Sundays, but a few years ago they decided to only open on Saturday mornings.

4. Play/Watch Bocce – My town is full of Italian heritage, so it’s no surprise that Bocce is a popular sport. I personally have only played it a few times when I was little and don’t really remember all the ins and outs of the sport. There are various Bocce tournaments in my town throughout the year.

5. Walk the Rails and Trails – The rails and trails is a common place for people in my town to walk, bike, jog and even ride their horses. It is a beautiful and quiet location that stretches 22 miles across two different counties. The opening of the trail begins in my town, and there is an easy access point to it just down the road from my house. I jog/walk it regularly for exercise and it is not uncommon to come across wildlife such as deer, ducks, squirrels and groundhogs.

6. Theatre in the Park – This is something that I have never partaken in but will hopefully one day soon.  It consists of performances — from plays to musical — from various West Virginian artist.

7. Family Nights in the Park – During the summer months, my city offers family nights in the park which consists of $1 admission to swim at the pool and then a free showing of a family-friendly movie. All this takes place at Ferguson Park. Anyone and everyone is welcome and they offer different snacks you can purchase.

8. Swimming Pool – Just a mile or two from my house is the city pool, which is a common destination for all the kids in our town. Unfortunately, the pool is a bit small and can become crowded quickly.

9. Frontier Days – If you’re here during the month of September, you can visit our small town festival called Frontier Days. For a week, downtown Shinnston turns into a small fairground with amusement park rides and fair food.

10. Levi Shinn Log House –  The Levi Shinn Log House is an old log cabin that was the home of Levi Shinn, the man who founded the town I live in. It was built in 1778 and is now maintained by Shinnston Historical Association. It is open for tours on certain days to the public.

“The one thing about Hitler that I admire is that he wouldn’t take any shit from magicians.” – Larry David

Sometimes I wonder why I even try. When I began restricting my calorie limit again, I knew it was going to be difficult. What I didn’t know is that I would actually gain weight. So, yeah. Fuck counting calories. I’m just going to up my activity limit a little more and forgo the whole calorie counting racket.

Our diet is in for a drastic change though. Diabetes runs in my husband’s family, and he has been experiencing symptoms associated with pre diabetes. So, until he gets in to see a doctor we are trying to slowly change our diet to one that more closely resembles that of a pre diabetic. This means we have been doing a ton of research trying to find the best course of action. If y’all have any tips or information you want to pass on about pre diabetes, please do so! I would greatly appreciate it.

The past two days we have had 80-degree weather, and I’m loving it! The windows are opened and the breeze is blowing through the house. The kitties are also enjoying having the windows open and the breeze blowing through their fur.

Yesterday, Mike and I got a quick 2 mile walk on the Rail and Trail down from our house. At about the 1/2 mile mark, there is this cute little bridge that I always have to stop on and look at the creek that flows into the West Fork River. I took out my phone and snapped a picture of both sides of the bridge.

Despite what people think about West Virginia, there is no denying that it is one (if not the most) beautiful states in the US. Especially in the summer and fall.

The Tuesday Ten: 10 Favorite Shows – Current or Old

1. Firefly (my all-time favorite show! I’m a Browncoat for life!)
2. Monty Python’s Flying Circus
3. Seinfeld
4. Doctor Who
5. Sherlock
6. Curb Your Enthusiasm
7. The X-Files
8. Trailer Park Boys
9. The Office (original BBC series)
10. Psych