Today, I tackled my bedroom. I moved a bunch of stuff out of the corner by the windows, and came up with a new idea. Mama’s Happy Place.

I walked around my house looking for some piece of furniture to put in the corner, and found a table I picked up on clearance at Target about a year ago. A table that has collected more junk and dust than proven functional, I realized, as I dumped the papers and such off of it.

This is going to be the one place in my house that is strictly mine. This table is strictly reserved for things that make me happy – my knitting basket, my current reading, a candle I made, and of course, my very favorite picture of Tootie and Boo.

Every parent should have a place all their own!

So, I challenge you: Find a space, however small, and claim it as your own. Ban anything other than your belongings, and do everything in your power to keep outside forces from encroaching on it! Tell me about your happy place, and I will feature several in an upcoming post!

I created two toad houses, and asked my fabulous Manny to work with the kids to move any toads they encountered to the new neighborhood.

True to my request, they found two little critters and moved them into the new digs. There was the big, brown “Toadie,” (named by Boo) whom I believe to be the original source of my anxiety. The second toad, a little spotted (and surprisingly cute) guy was named “Little Johnny” by Druesy. A third toad was captured, but his nervous reaction of peeing all over Boo earned him a ticket to freedom, as he hopped into the bushes.

When Toadie was moved into his lair, he got freaked out by Boo and hopped to the edge of the garden, where he abruptly disappeared into a deep chipmunk hole. Oops! So much for my attempt at saving him from lawn mower doom! The kids thought they saw him climbing out, but as of now, his whereabouts are still unknown.

This is the last place anyone saw Toadie. We think he hopped out and made a break for his old spot.

Little Johnny sat in his new pad just long enough for me to get his picture. We went in for dinner, and when we came out, Little Johnny had flown the coop also.

Little Johnny

Checking it Out

And so it goes.

Almost daily, I see those buggers hopping around, and I continue to live in fear of stepping on one or much, much worse, mowing over one.

MY friend VC suggested that I try to move the toad who lives under the gutter to a safer place, and while the thought makes me shudder, I started to consider it. They catch oodles of bugs, and this is already a bad year for mosquitos.

I decided, if I know the toad is lurking somewhere in my garden, I’ll be prepared to see his warty old self and won’t have a heart attack or scream like I’m being attacked, frightening my neighbors and making my kids laugh at me. (For as skittish as I am about toads, they are thrilled when they run into one.)

Enter “Operation Toad Habitat.”

Step 1: Research toad houses.
Step 2: Create two toad houses by burying two plastic pots halfway in my garden, creating a dark, damp, cool tunnel for the toads to reside in.

Home is where the toads are.

Step 3: Instruct the kids catch and move any rogue yard toads to the new habitat.

On day 3 of this operation, I haven’t noticed any new inhabitants who have found the houses on their own, and the kids (of course) haven’t seen any random hoppers.

I will follow up on this endeavor.

Not much of a fan of this chore, I am especially skittish about toads in my yard. Last time, I spotted two lil’ guys hopping around, and I just left that area of the grass uncut.

This time, I didn’t see any toads in that same area, so I threw caution to the wind and plowed through it, squinting and clenching my teeth. I didn’t hear any “ga-gunk” noises, so if I did nail one it was very small and non-”ga-gunk”worthy.

Notice the large, uncut area surrounding this gutter drain-thingy.

When I went to move the gutter drain-thingy to mow under the gutter, however, I was met with a DREADFUL surprise! A HUGE, GIANT, ENORMOUS DARK BROWN TOAD! To be honest, he didn’t look well, and he sure as hell didn’t try to hop away.

As it turns out, he didn’t have to. After letting out an involuntary, blood curdling scream, I high tailed it out of that region of my yard.

Yes – I’m a total pansy.

"Move it or lose it!"

My only known, actual victim from this outdoorsy endeavor was what I think used to be a shovel. Wow, did that thing make a loud noise, and there was yellow shrapnel everywhere!

Why is it that when I’m in the bath and trying to relax, all I can focus on is that leaking noise? The water seems to escape rapidly, until I open the drain.

Then, it’s silent. I can stare at the tub, and the water stands still. The leaking noise I can hear so well when I’m trying to soak away the day is suddenly absent.

Naturally, I am trying to come up with a way to fix the leak with Gorilla Glue. That worked very well for my screen door handle, fridge handle, and drawer front in the kitchen. Or maybe this is the catalyst I’ve been waiting for to spring for some Mighty Putty? Hmm…

The reality is, I am looking at another household project, which will involve a trip to Home Depot and some Drano.

Two more skills I can add to my list! Woohoo!