We've had the public over a few times this month, so we've cleaned up the tools for awhile. We'll resume the renovation back in August because my goal is to get everything finished by October. When we moved in, I gave myself six months to complete everything. After several moves, I've realized that if something isn't done the first six months, it's not going to get done and I'll end up with a wretched purple flower border staring at me for two years (House #1). Aaron calls me a slave driver, but I resent that. I've sanded, cleaned, and taped the woodwork; made curtains and pillows; and overseen the picture and shelf hanging. Decorating a 3,400 sq ft house on a Dave Ramsey budget is no easy feat, my friends. No easy feat at all.
House pics by the end of this month. It will happen.
In other news, Aaron and I are now techies with our Evo phones. Aaron hasn't put his down since he got it last week. His favorite app right now is the Police Scanner. He walks around the house carrying the scanner and mapping the calls coming through. I'm completely weirded out by it. He is constantly searching for new apps and is so immersed in his phone right now, I've nicknamed it 'The Brain.' If I need something and he's playing with his phone, I'll call out, "Hey Aaron, put your Brain down and get Caroline a snack, please!" He's on it so much I'm convinced it's beginning to think for him. I'm personally loving that I can listen to any radio station through a player app. We can now listen to KSBJ in the car again, and it sort of feels like we're back in Houston(without the I-10 traffic).
We're adjusting to Bville again, but I still have an ache in my heart for Katy. It usually takes us about 18 months to become adjusted to a new move. The bad part of that is we've been moving every two years. I told Aaron I don't think I'm good at moving around because I tend to become attached to people and places way too easily. I'm even missing the valet attendants at the Galleria right now. It's a good feeling to come out after an afternoon of shopping and have someone open your door, put your bags and stroller in the back of the car for you, and already have your A/C going at full blast in the Houston heat. (Not to mention the fact that you don't have to drive a mile around the garage to find a tiny parking spot and then look over your shoulder to make sure no one mugs you while you are unbuckling your child.) Worth every penny of the $5 it cost my Dave Ramsey personal fund. The local Wal-Mart does not have a valet, so I don't have to be tempted anymore.
Anyway, I think once fall comes around and we find a church, things will be easier here in the 'Ville. I'm wanting to take a Houston trip during late fall, if I can swing it. I think I need to check on my palm plant I was so proud of...
Speaking of plants, LOOK what I haven't killed yet!
It's my first vegetable plant! The Tullys' gave it to me, and I now have nine tomatoes growing right now. This is a personal test to see if I can actually grow something. If I succeed, I want to have a vegetable garden next spring. This is a huge step for me. When Aaron and I bought our first house, I was SO excited to plant flowers. After a half a day of weeding, I decided that I would not be planting flowers. What changed my mind? Creatures like this live in Bartlesville soil...
Snakes and spiders also like to hang out in Bville. Today, Aaron and I saw a bionic lizard scurrying through our backyard. This lizard didn't look like the cute ones my sister and I would catch at our Arkansas lakehouse. You know the lizards that turn colors and regrow their tail? (At least I think they regrow their tail... perhaps the adults told us this to make us feel better when we would accidentally pull it off.) Anyway, the lizard we saw today belonged at a zoo. Because of all of the trees in Bville, we have a serious spider issue too.
My first year of teaching at Bartlesville, they put me in an old abandoned portable complete with a hole in the closet floor. When I opened the closet door, there were about five spiders hanging out on the back of it. I slammed the door shut and did not open it for months. In the spring, I spotted a few spiders scurrying around my classroom floor. They were brown and the size of a quarter to a half-dollar. One day, I brought brought in Calvin, our infamous custodian, to take a look at them.
"Calvin, what are these spiders?" I asked. "They are invading my classroom."
Calvin bent down and poked at it for a second and then quickly stepped back. "Well those there are fiddlebacks, Mrs. McDonald!" (aka Brown Recluse spider)
I jumped back. "What??? Are you sure?"
"Oh, I'm sure. These are big'ns though. You rarely see them get this big. You've seen several of these?"
"Um... yeah. I just thought they were mini-Daddy Long Legs. You know the saying that the bigger they are, the less harmful they are to you? Well, I wasn't really concerned about them. They live in my closet too, I think."
Calvin opened the closet door and watched three fiddlebacks scurry up the back of it. He also opened the old furnace door and finds two dead ones resting flat on the vent.
"Oh cool! His legs aren't curled up or anything! This is a keeper!" I watched in horror as Calvin pulled out his pliers and carefully brings out the dead fiddleback, it's dead body dangling in front of me.
"See here how his back has the shape of the fiddle?" Calvin was too mesmerized to notice that the closer he brought the spider to my face, the faster I was backing away from it.
"The only thing I can figure is that they made a nest in the closet some time ago, and because the portable was vacant last year, they must have forgotten to spray for spiders over the summer," mumbled Calvin as he continued to dissect the spider with his eyes. "Glad you didn't get bit. These are so big, it would have done a number to you. "
He looked down at my open-toed sandals. "Even if when get this room sprayed, you might not want to wear those shoes in here cause it's hard to get them all."
They sprayed my room that weekend. The next Monday I found three dead fiddlebacks resting in peace under my homework bag. I didn't open the closet door again, and I didn't bring any of my boxes home for the summer. They thankfully moved me into the main building the next year, away from the bionic fiddleback spiders. For the next year or so, I would sometimes dream that a spider was on me and would wake up screaming, jumping out of bed trying to shake it off. No joke. Ask Aaron if you don't believe me. Moving to Katy and not seeing a spider in my home for over a year cured me of my spider nightmares. I'm praying they don't return now that we are back in the land of spiders.
On a side note, pardon my grammar. Seriously. If the tense agreement isn't bad enough, the passive voice is even worse. I've always had a love for commas, but it's out of control. One would think I never taught English. I used to care, but now I'm too tired to read through a draft to revise it. From now on I'll try to not end sentences in a preposition anymore. I'll try to go above and beyond! Get it? beyond? preposition? ha!
edited to add: While I was trying to post this, Aaron came in with his Police Scanner Evo phone and informed me that there was a hit-and-run in the garden center of Wal-Mart.
Me: Like with a cart?
Aaron: No, like with a car in parking lot.
Only in Bartlesville...
Scroll down for updates and pics of the kiddos...
2 comments:
you're hilarious and PLEASE come back for a visit soon!!! :)
Beth had a spider prob here in town also.
You might be on to something with the valet and walmart. I don't even know how to spell vallet, valleh? valley? ballet? whatev.
Oh and the worms, they're good for the soil. They won't bite. Chloe's in love with em. Honest, she wants to keep them. I tell her "God made them to live in the dirt, not in the house." Apparently I should bring the dirt inside to remedy the problem.
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