Hiatus is finished...

OK, so it's been a while since I've posted anything here. We got busy with Christmas, New Year's, and life. I've got a lot of catching up to do. We'll see how it goes!

Fall cleaning...or...ant vengence

I found a couple of good reasons to do some (somewhat) thorough house cleaning this weekend. We've had an ant infestation in our kitchen for months. I figured that with the toddler gone to America for most of July and no one to leave ant trails, they'd disappear on their own while we were gone. However, that obviously wasn't the case. In addition, with school starting tomorrow and a growing tummy, I figured that if it didn't get cleaned now, it wouldn't get cleaned later, either.

So, on Sunday Keanu and I started our cleaning spree in the kitchen which is where the ants seem to be. We cleaned off all the counter and wall surfaces with soap and water and Keanu washed all the utensils and stuff that normally sits on the counter. OK, well he played in the dishwater along with the non-sharp utensils, but he stayed out of the way! After he went to sleep, I set out the Terro killer under the stove burners since that's one place I often see ants running - under the cook-top! So far, the results have been quite good - not 100%, but much better than before.

Then this afternoon after building a tent,I decided it was time to put away some "baby" toys that Keanu hasn't played with in a while. In the process, we decided to give the balls from the car tent a wash again and this time we even gave the car tent a shower! Keanu wasn't so sure about the car going into the shower, but he was much happier when he got to take a bath with a bunch of balls and a tower of cups.

With tomorrow night's bath, we'll clean up the baby toys before we put them away for a few more months!

Ikea fun

One of my favorite stores here in Taiwan is the Swedish furniture giant Ikea. And, since needed a few important items, we've made a couple of trips there this month. The first time happened to be on Father's Day (8/8 because the Chinese word for 8 is ba so 8/8 is ba-ba, which is also the word for father) because I happened to have the day off from school as the students all went hiking - yay! Anyway, after spending hours playing and perousing at Ikea, we finally decided on a kitchen table since our old one (card table used as a kitchen table) had finally given up the ghost. Then, the following week, we returned to pick up the coordinating chairs and a few other items. What do you think of our new kitchen table and chairs?One of the advantages of buying Ikea furniture is that you get the opportunity to put it together yourself. Kevin and I did the table together because it was so heavy, but he insisted on doing the chairs himself. Well, I guess he had a little help, but this help was only helpful for a minute or two until he decided to scatter the screws.

One of the other byproducts of new furniture is the packaging. We've really enjoyed the cardboard rectangles that came in the box to prevent it from sliding. They make great bowling pins and fences to keep balls from rolling away.