Where Are The Ants Hiding?

I've been having an "ant attack" at my place for the past few weeks.  Maybe a month or two?  They just keep multiplying!  I think I've got them ... but nope ... there are always more ants!

I have put tons of Ant-Outs around my place, they attract tons of ants but they don't really get rid of them!  And my place is pretty clean now, no dirt on the floor, and no food or crumbs lying around.  But still tons of ants, just wandering around!

I have tried spraying tons of ant-killer and putting out ant traps and pretty much nothing makes a difference.

So frustrating!

Birthdays!

Okay, you may have guessed it, but it is my birthday in a couple weeks!  I'm so excited about it!  Everyone always tells me that I won't be as excited about it soon enough.  I don't know though, I am excited every year.  I love a reason to celebrate, I think that's all it is.  Oh, and the attention has to be on me, hah!

Birthdays are fun.  I remember when I was younger, I'd have my classmates over to my house and we'd play games and I'd get lots of presents and we'd have "swamp water" and birthday cake!  Now I will go out with some friends to a party or club or something and then I usually have a "birthday dinner" with my boyfriend and family.  I like that it is another reason to spend time together, right?  And I'm always ridiculously happy on my birthday because, hey, it is my birthday!

What did you do for your last birthday?

Going "Home"

I hate it when people are always "when are you going home to visit your parents?"  I'm always like ... I don't go home to visit my parents ... I live at my home.  My "home" is not a place where I used to live, it's the place I currently live.  I don't even visit my parents all that often ... once every month or two.  Technically that address is my "permanent address" and the one that is on my license and stuff but that's just because I'm not staying in this location for very long and it is a pain to change addresses every few months.  So I'm not going to until I am going to stay in one place for at least a year.

That being said ... I didn't even feel "home" in that place when I lived there.  It's just not a "homey" feeling when I'm there.  It's just a miserable place!  A place where I feel awkward and just like something isn't right.  Thus why my home is the place where a) I live, and b) I feel at home.

It's almost Thanksgiving so people have been like "are you going home for Thanksgiving?".  My answer "yes I'm staying at home" meaning MY HOUSE not my parents house.

I don't even understand why people think it is "going home" because I haven't lived there for a few years.  I guess I get when I was in college / university.  But when I'm living somewhere else for a job or basically for anything that isn't school, I don't see why it isn't my home anymore!

All in all, I wouldn't visit home ... I live at home!

Hottest Day Ever (Toronto Ontario)

The highest temperature ever recorded in Toronto was on August 15, 1948 at 38.3°C (or 100.94°F).  Nonetheless, ridiculously hot for around here!

Temperature today was 38°C (or 100.4°F).

Luckily (thanks to my parents), I stayed in their air conditioned home all day.  Talk about brutal!

I'm not trying to compare to other countries/provinces or anything.  I know it will be insanely hot in Florida and California and Mexico ... places that are always hotter than us!  For me though, this was way too hot.  The humidex was 48°C (or 118.4°F).

And ... do you know how hard it is to find an air conditioner around here?

I will hope to find one on Friday or Saturday so that I can BREATHE in my house.  It's actually hotter IN m house than outside.  I don't go outside though because of the brutal sun.  I hate the feeling of the sun on my body.  Yeah, I'm one of those people.  Aha.  I just hate how I can feel the burning of my skin as the sun hits it.  I also dislike looking like a bright red lobster after it.  And I hate how the sun seems to steal all my energy, motivation, etc.

Anyway.  I'm going to hope that things get better.

So close to the hottest day ever.  It would have been kinda awesome if it had beaten the record. Just to say I survived it!

How Dirty Can It Get?

My Basic Rules For The House

1. Wash your dishes when they are dirty.
2. Wipe the counter if there are spills or messes or anything.
3. Take out the garbage if it is full, smelly, dirty, or there are flies.
4. Remove food from fridge if it is old, rotten, or dirty.
5. Take out the recycling.

Does this look like a difficult list to follow?  I'm not even asking for sweeping or other things like that.  Just basic stuff.

My roommate will leave dishes in the sink for DAYS.  Even better - she piles them so much that they block the drain so if a piece of food drops down (like when I'm washing), I can't see it.  Which makes everything worse.  And I am NOT going digging around in her dirty dishes.

I emptied out the fridge today.  I saw old milk, moldy fruit, meat that was overdue in June, and yogurt that was overdue in April.  And yes, it is the end of July.  Is it right for me to throw out that food?  Some people say no - it's her food.  I say yes - it could infect my food with is dangerous.  Plus it attracts flies and it just smells bad!

She also won't take out the recycling!  She has a recycling pile in the kitchen.  Lovely, okay, whatever.  I took it out the first week she was here.  Since then (end of May), she has NOT taken it out.  She also puts like bags and stuff in the recycling.

I was also away for a couple nights.  When I come back, she left out rotten bananas on the table and the garbage was swarming with flies.  I took out the garbage asap and put the bananas outside.  I also put the garbage can outside because I do NOT want the inside staying all gross and stuff like that.  Now she just puts a bag in the place of the garbage.  Ugh!

I don't see how this is difficult to do.  Sometimes my last roommates got on my nerves but overall they were clean and tidy and respectful of one another.  Which was great!

I'm really REALLY trying to find a bachelor apartment for this year!  I need one!!!

This Cat Is Ruining My Life

It's not exactly the cat, but the cat's owner.  I'm subletting my room from a girl for the summer.  Let's call her Pat.  I am looking after her cat as well.  It was all going well, cat was content, things were good.

So Pat sends me an email all of a sudden saying that one of my roommates (let's call her Deb ... Deb is actually away for the summer and having her friend pick up her mail) said that her friend said that the cat had pooped all over the house and was starving.  This friend even said to take the cat to the animal shelter.  So Pat gets mad.  I get why she would get upset, hearing this about her cat.  Except it's all BS.

So I explain that this was not true.  I don't know where this "friend" came up with "poop all over the house".  I have yet to find poop at all in the house (besides the litter box ... which I scoop out multiple times a day).  And the cat had food.  It wasn't like completely full but I'm only supposed to fill it two thirds of the way full every day.  So, at the end of the day, it is getting empty.  Then I just fill it up the next day.

Finally she does some investigating and realizes that this friend is an idiot and knows nothing about cats.  She freaked out over nothing.  No kidding!  I still have yet to figure out why this "friend" made this up.

Then Pat sends me another email saying Deb said I didn't clean the litter box.  Deb and I were living in the house together for a few weeks, maybe a month?  Anyway, Deb had a cat and would leave the cat alone for days.  Her cat would eat Pat's cat's food which is not allowed.  Probably because her cat was starving.  And I would have to clean its litter box.  And then Deb said I left the litter box dirty?

There's actually a third person that lives in this house.  Let's call her Ashley.  Ashley is only here a couple days a week.  I'm actually alone most of the time here.  Pat just told Ashley to make sure I was rationing out the cat's food properly!  So Ashley is supposed to check on me!

Oh yeah, and I'm not allowed to leave the house for more than 24 hours at a time.  Which will not happen.  I need to leave for more than 24 hours at a time!  I need to get out.  I need to do things.  I need to visit my family and boyfriend and friends!

I've looked after plenty of cats before.  I have had other pets too, but small animals, like hamsters and fish.  I move too often to have a cat and most places don't allow cats.  But I have always done just fine.  For this cat, he threw up a few times so I informed Pat as soon as possible and asked if he needed to be taken to the vet.  She told me not to worry about it.  I give him treats, I play with him.  He always seems to want to go outside so I will hold him outside (he is an indoor cat) so he can enjoy the outdoor weather.  I do just fine.

I'm so annoyed about all this.  I'm going to just keep doing what I've been doing before the terms were set.  Feed him daily.  If I'm going away, feed him more.  And if she wants to find someone else to look after him, that's fine with me.  Less stress for me to worry about!

Anyway, she is six hours ahead of my time I believe, so she won't be replying tonight.  Probably tomorrow morning.  I can't wait to see what she says to my last email about getting her to find someone else to look after the cat.

So annoying ... oh well ... I will see tomorrow!

House Hunting

I've been "house hunting" for some time now.  If you don't know what I mean by house hunting, I'm just looking for a room in a house/apartment to stay in for the summer.  I've been trying to get a summer sublet so that it is less expensive for me.  House hunting is just so frustrating though!  I visit so many houses and none of them are what I want.

Of course, I have a lot of criteria such as

• 400 - 550/month
• utilities included
• enough washrooms (one washroom for four people is just not enough)
• close to a bus stop
• has a full kitchen (stove, fridge, microwave, etc.)
• unfurnished
• nice location (I do not need to live in a sketchy part of town)

So I have found a decent place.  It comes furnished which really isn't that big of a deal.  One of the things I can do without.  The other criteria it doesn't meet is that it's more expensive.  It is 580/month which is more than my limits.  It does come all inclusive though (including Internet).  It is in a pretty decent place of town.  Not the best part, but certainly not the worst.  It doesn't have a living room either.  There are some good things though!  It has a balcony, which is pretty awesome.  It substitutes for a living room (almost) in the summer anyway.  It also has one room for the shower and another for the toilet which I think is pretty cool.  Oh, and it comes with a cat!  I get to look after the cat.  I got a rent reduction (from 630 to 580 per month) because I'm looking after a cat.  The awesome thing is that I was thinking about getting a cat anyway.  Now I get to look after a cat and not have to pay for food, littler, etc.  Bonus!!  And it's downtown which is pretty convenient.

It was the first place I visited.  When I first got there, the outside looked pretty sketchy.  But the inside is nice.  And the room is very large, especially for a place downtown.  The kitchen isn't too big but there are only three of us and it has counter space and whatnot so it should be fine.  And the balcony looked fun.

I am planning to sign this lease.  I was going to spend another weekend looking at houses but it's just gotten to be too much for me!  I mean, I'm at school full time and I work and going house hunting on weekends is not what I want to do.  I saw a number of other houses that were all a lot worse.  (Well, one was a bit nicer but he needed me to move in now instead of at the beginning of May, which didn't work out.)

I'm pretty happy with my choice.  I think it will be a really great place to stay over the summer.  Okay, now I'm just excited!!