
1) vacuuming the dining & living areas so that one may report the ant invasion to the apartment complex without the embarassment of admitting it's probably cat food crumbs, among other crumbs, on the floor that's attracting them.
2) pursuant to #1, thoroughly terrorized the cat.
3) also pursuant to #1, discovered that when the No-Bag Vacuum looks only half full, that's because the rest of the space is crammed tightly with cat hair that's utterly invisible from the outside.
4) washed the few dirty dishes so that ant invasion cannot be blamed on them, either
5) pursuant to #3, have gotten thoroughly covered in a fine coating of dust from emptying the vaccuum so that one is itching like hell.
6) pursuant to #5 -- plus the annoyance of discovering back when the vacuum was new that if the hose is taken out and used to suck stuff up, the hole that it plugged into in the base of the vacuum cleaner has no cap or indeed anything to stop dust form the base blowing up into the air and getting everywhere -- have resolved to make puppy-dog eyes at mother to see if she picks up hint and gifts one with vacuum cleaner for Christmas. If not, then resort to Plan B, which is to buy damn thing oneself.
7) discovered when starting load of laundry that there is three-day-old damp clothing still in washing machine. Deduced that Pernicious Mystery of Missing Tank Top and Washrags has probably thus been solved.
8) pursuant to #3, 5, and the water slopped all over oneself when washing dishes because of holding a curved bowl in just the correct alignment to cause water from faucet to hit bowl and jet out and spray all over one's shirt, have resolved to take nice long bath. As soon as humanly possible.