Liz Lately #35

This is everything I didn’t know I needed.

Ants ants ants

I dusted and vacuumed mine and Grandmama’s windows, which face the front of the house. This spring, she had a local honeybee farmer come and remove the bees and honey safely from around the front water spigot. Afterward, the exterminator came and sprayed, but the typical spray they do doesn’t cover ants—just earwigs, silverfish, common spiders, cockroaches, crickets, beetles and the like. The ants, likely drawn to the honey, didn’t have anywhere else to go but forward—and so in through our windows, and the cracks and crevices they came. Most died about a foot beyond the wall; the exterminator sprays where the carpet and wall meet, so they must’ve been suffocated by the poison. ‘Twas pretty grody, if you ask me.

It was also an exhausting, four-hours-long process I partook in. I wound up rearranging my room for the task, so I now have a huge clear space along that side of my room—and I quite enjoy it.

My curtains were thrown away, having been too-ruined by the sun for any salvaging and crowded with ants. Late-July, I’d vacuumed them all up—another excruciating process. I don’t think I want the curtains back; I didn’t know how much I missed the sun and natural lighting into my room until it was taken away, and now that I have it back, I don’t mind the heat the sun pours in through the blinds. The curtains kept the heat out but created a too-bleak environment.

The exterminator is set to come next Wednesday.

I’m biting my nails less.

They’re growing out to have sharp, squared edges, which I can’t sort out to do, but the habit is finally wearing off. I traded biting my nails for eating, which diet-obsessed people may take issue with, but I’m not concerned. I’ve always had a healthy metabolism, and I don’t spend a lot of time eating junk food. I also started doing small exercises when I read, so I’m not completely stationary—not that it’s anyone else’s business but mine own.

I reviewed my Facebook privacy settings and shared something personal with select people.

In March, a cousin with whom I wasn’t on any talking terms with[1. because she’d dump me every time a boyfriend came into the picture, and I don’t tolerate that shiz] tried to organize a surprise birthday party for me. She asked Charlise about any friends I’d want there and was apparently going around adding, uh, other family and seeing which friends to add.

My parents are divorced. I don’t see it as something to prevent the families from combining, but I’m a private, reserved person.[2. And I blog! I know—humors me, too!]

The situation forced me to consider the safety of the rest of my friends, so I changed my settings to only allow friends to view mutual friends. I have some friends who are magazine-worthy, who are on my Friends list, so it’s important to me to 1) not exploit them and 2) respect their privacy wishes. I also have a lot of friends in the LGBTQ+ community who don’t deserve criticism for being in it.

Next, any family member in the smart “Family” list with “(pending)” beside their name was moved to Restricted.[3. Can only view posts I make public.] Family friends were moved to Restricted.

I’ll fix the Restricted list members once I have my own place. 😂

I received more support than I expected from my personal post! 💖 Feels so great not feeling like I’m lying to a lot of them by omission. I did lose three, which only amused me. It’s not like it was a secret (well, to them, anyway). 😂

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Comments on this post

This is a little bit unrelated but I just now made the connection that you were behind 6birds. I used to lurk your blog for many years and I started using footnotes in my blog posts because of you (I have since stopped but maybe it’s a practice I will take up again).

Last night a single ant crawled on my foot and I was scared for like 5 minutes. I can’t imagine more ants in my house. Hope the exterminator comes soon!

That is exactly why I keep my family separate from the rest of my friends. I had one incident where one of my younger cousins added all of my friends on Facebook. It did not pan out well. Good on you for making the separation!

When I read your comment earlier, I smiled! 😀 That’s so cool!

For a while, I stopped using footnotes, but kept the plugin—sometimes I find myself really needing it, when parentheses and brackets won’t work.

He’s less than a week away! <3