Wearing my chunk-heeled shoes without stockings is a bad idea, even when it's 90+ degrees.

Socks take for-bloody-ever to dry.

Never put poison bait ant traps anywhere you don't already have ants.

Old Lesson: If you heat the oil in the stove-top popcorn popper very hot before adding the kernels, the popcorn comes out better.

New Lesson: If you heat the oil in the stove-top popcorn popper too hot before adding the kernels, it ignites.


Addendum, since I know I'll get asked:
I'm all right, the house is all right, the stove is all right, and even the pan is all right.

It wasn't really the oil itself that ignited, I think, just the vapor. So there was this "fwoopmh!" noise and a bright orange flash visible through the steam vents, and then nothing. Sorta like the phenomenon you get sometimes when you turn off a gas grill -- a pause and then a sudden quick flame.

I'm not certain whether it was scary or really, really cool.