Thursday, August 13, 2009

An "ant-zapping-pasta-eating-toy-buying" day...

Beware of saying, "I need adventure." You just never know what the universe will throw your way.

Today's real adventure came in the form of hoards (hoards!) of ants trailing all around my mom's gazebo. Seriously, they were everywhere: building condos, bearing offspring, visiting family--everywhere. Together we sprayed them with Raid, sprayed the beams and pillars and perimeter of the gazebo, and hosed down the foundation and some of the garden furniture. They may be small, but they can be pretty hearty little creatures!

A late start and an hour-long delay of ant-zapping called for some creativity of where to go today. I needed to get out and have a change of scenery, perhaps feeling the weight of the summer's end. Lying around the house is just plain depressing. This is Los Angeles, after all! There are hundreds of things to do and places to go.

Because of time we decided to keep it simple and go to Montrose, a less-trendy, but cleaner and smaller version of Old Town Pasadena about 10-12 miles away. While there I got some new pajamas and a fabulous little toy for my nephew, (he turns 18 months old today.) It is a toy that my brother and I had as kids--a little mallet pushes colored pegs into a board and then you turn the board over and start all over again.

We also had dinner at the Star Cafe'. Man, that place is good! I had only been there once before and it was in the morning. Tonight I had chicken carbonara on penne pasta and Mom had the Chicken Caesar with grilled salmon. And, since I take my camera everywhere I go now, we took some pictures. Because... "I know you care!" Yeah, right.

2 comments:

Karen said...

Glad you took care of those ants. Once they start visiting family, it's all over unless you take action. =)

Your mom is so cute!

Kristie said...

Me too! I didn't want to gross people out with the details, but I've never seen such an aggressive infestation of ants before!

And, believe it or not, my mom doesn't like this picture of herself. I think it turned out great! It's so funny--all of my friends say how cute my mom is. :-)