Knowing Your Enemy: Earwigs

Have you had the pleasure of seeing an earwig? You know those creepy bugs with the long pincers on their butt (I would provide a picture but I wouldn’t even make it through this blog post). If you haven’t you are one lucky person and if you have, well I feel your pain. I mean those pincers hurt man!

For the past couple years, these things have decided to invade our home every summer for some reason unbenounced to me. Last year was the worst invasion and no matter what bug repellent we used they kept coming back. That is why this past winter I decided to do some research on how to get rid of these suckers.

Turns out earwigs are a pesky bug to kill. A lot of what I found recommended putting out wet, rolled up newspaper and then burning them (not very practical for me) or digging holes in your yard, putting in tuna cans full of oil (again something I didn’t want to do with my dogs around). I was beginning to get at my wits end, what’s a girl to do now?

It wasn’t until last month when I stumbled upon a show on diatomaceous earth and one thing that it is good at is killing bugs. I swear the television had a brighter glow and angelic music began to play (did I take that to far?). Diatomaceous earth is microscopic pieces of fossilized algae that scratches up the exoskeleton and dehydrates the bug. I spread some all around the perimeter of the house and all the plants and it helped. But turns out these things made there way into our basement and were living in our central air unit (who do they think they are?!?). So I also had to spread some D.E. around down there as well, but haven’t seen an earwig *knocks-on-wood* for a couple weeks now. The only down side to D.E. is you have to reapply it after it rains otherwise it doesn’t work. But I couldn’t be more happy with the results!

Sunday Matinée: Easy A

Easy A
Amazon | IMDb

Director: Will Gluck

Writer: Bert V. Royal

Stars: Emma Stone, Amanda Bynes and Penn Badgley

 

Favorite Quote: “Just once I want my life to be like an 80's movie, preferably one with a really awesome musical number for no apparent reason. But no, no, John Hughes did not direct my life.”

 

High school student Olive Penderghast finds herself the victim of her school's "rumor mill" when she lies to her best friend Rhiannon about a weekend tryst with a fictional college freshman. Word quickly spreads of Olive's promiscuity and, much to her surprise, she welcomes the attention. When she agrees to help out a bullied friend by pretending to sleep with him, her image rapidly degrades to a more lascivious state and her world begins to spin out of control. As she helps more and more of her classmates and her lies continue to escalate, Olive must find a way to save face before the school's religious fanatic Marianne gets her expelled and she loses a shot at attaining her own happiness.

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Do you ever have those nights where no matter what; you just can’t seem to fall asleep? The other night I was having a case of insomnia but instead of watching HSN/QVC luckily I found this movie during my channel surf.

 

Now I had seen this movie before and my first impression was: typical teen movie. And after seeing it again, it’s still a teen movie but with slightly more class. But don’t let the “teen movie” label stop you! It made me laugh constantly throughout because of the dialog (“When you die, you will have to answer to a higher power.” “Tom Cruise?”).

 

The thing I love most about this movie is that it is narrated by Olive herself during a webcast. It is just something I am not used to seeing in movies and I thought it was a nice touch and brought parts of the movie together. Also the characters are freaking amazing. Olive (and her parents for that matter) is full of witty comebacks and one-liners. She is a girl after my own heart, making references to John Hughes movies and classic movies (even if it was to avoid reading the Scarlet Letter for English). Rhiannon is a sex crazed teen age girl (all talk no walk). The friendship between her and Olive reminds me so much a friendship I had in Jr. High. Marianne is one of those religious nuts who are more into her word than His word. Amanda Bynes does a great job of covering all the clichés. And together, these ladies make for quite an entertaining movie.

 

My Rating: 4 out of 5 checkers

From the Book Stack: The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins

The Hunger Games By Suzanne Collins

Amazon | Goodreads

374 pages

Published: October 31, 2008 by Scholastic Inc.

In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, the shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. The Capitol is harsh and keeps the districts in line by forcing them all to send one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to participate in the annual Hunger Games, a fight to the death on live TV.

Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen regards it as a death sentence when she steps forward to take her sister's place in the Games. But Katniss has been close to dead before--and survival, for her, is second nature. Without really meaning to, she becomes a contender. But if she is to win, she will have to start making choices that weigh survival against humanity and life against love.

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Okay, okay….I know I am a little behind on this one (I mean come on there is even a movie now). Let’s be honest, I was kind of avoiding this book like the plague. It seemed to be getting a lot of the hype, a lot like Twilight (*shudders* one thing I will never understand, but that is another story of itself) so I just had a bitter taste in mouth. So what changed my mind? Amazon had it for $5 and I figured eh, why not? If I didn’t like it, it wouldn’t be a total loss. Plus, I needed that $5 to qualify for free shipping.

It spent quite a few months on the shelf, but last week I finally cracked it open. And to my surprise, it was AWESOME!! So, awesome that I read it in two days, something I haven’t done since I had to write book reports for school. Let me just run through my thoughts and feelings for those two days:

• This is kind of slow
• Okay I got all this from the movie trailer
• This is just all kinds of messed up
• Aww, he loves her
• Wait, what?
• Alright, here we go
• What is that, heart palpitations?
• Am I having a heart attack?
• This is so intense
• OH MY GOD
• Oh no he didn’t
• And another one bites the dust
• *inhales sharply* that hurts
• Gross
• Seriously, how have I not stroked out yet
• Love this partnership
• NOOOOO…why? *cry hysterically*
• Camouflage, in your face buttheads.
• Work it girl
• Is there something real?
• Love triangle?…dun dun dun
• *gasp* Definitely did not see that coming!
• Suck on that Capital
• Oh crap, this isn't good
• End of Book One….NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

As you can see, I went on quite the emotional rollercoaster. I loved, I loathed, cried, laughed. I almost died from heart complications haha! In other words, a GREAT BOOK! I’m still nerd-ing out about it, it’s kind of insane (pretty sure my brother is getting sick of me pushing it on him). And I want, crave, NEED to get Catching Fire and Mockingjay in my hands soon so I can find out what happens (I’ve seen the synopsis of both of them on goodreads and they sound sick).

So yea, if you are one of the few that haven’t read this book I recommend that you do! It is a great dystopian novel full of action and is a super fast read. Plus there is a love story in there, so you will not be disappointed! Or you know you may need that $5 dollars at Amazon to qualify for free shipping. I’m just saying, you don’t need to avoid this book, the hype that surrounds it is much deserved (unlike some sagas *shudders*).

My Rating: 5 out of 5 checkers

Favorite Things of the Moment

• Being the middle of a doggie sandwich
• The smell of a well loved loved book
• Curling up on the couch to watch a classic movie
• Thunderstorms
• A much needed breeze on a warm day
• Stargazing from the back of my truck
• Mike’s Hard Black Cherry Lemonade (seriously, check it out!)
• A morning dove’s coo and a little wren’s song
• The sound my dog makes when he finally gets comfortable
• Having to tuck in my other dog before she goes to bed every night
• 5-1-5-0 by Dierks Bentley (somebody call the po po!)
• Getting a package in the mail, even if it is something I bought
• Writing and sharing with you
  
  

(Note: I announced the winner of the Giveaway yesterday, so if you entered be sure to go check that and send me an e-mail so we can come up with ideas of your header or button!

Also, I have been combing two of my blogs so I can take better care of them both. While I was busy transferring posts over here I found one of my favorite features that I used to do "Sunday Matinée" where I would review movies every Sunday. I haven't done them in a while and really want to start them again.

I am also going to be adding a new feature called "From the Book Stack" where I review a book I read that week. That will be posted every Thursday and also hope to incorporate some videos into that as well that feature book hauls, "to be read" books for the coming month and a book rewind that showcases all the books I read the previous month. 

I hope that you will come back on Thursday and Sunday to see the new features because I would appreciate some feedback on those. Thanks for taking the time to read this long note and as always for coming to visit!)

And the Winner is…

Do you remember last month when I announced I was having a giveaway? Well today is the day I announce the winner. YAY! I’m super excited, so let’s get on with the show.

Of the 5 people who commented on the post, random.org picked number…

Congratulations  Elisa! I’m looking forward to working with you and on your header or button. If you could just send me an e-mail (button is on the side –>) and we will start brainstorming some ideas.

A huge thank you to everyone who entered! I wish that I could make you all one, hopefully soon I can host another giveaway.