Craziness

Everything has been so crazy in our lives lately.

Last week, we decided to take one last trip to visit Mitchell's family in Virginia before our move to Texas. Late at night, smack-dab in the middle of Richmond, our car died. Thankfully, Mitchell's mom was driving through Richmond at the same time, so she was able to come pick the kids up. We were able to arrange with USAA to have the car towed to a nearby, reputable repair shop. There was a motel close enough for Mitchell and me to walk to and get a room for the night. In the morning, we found out that our engine was broken, rendering the car useless. So Mitchell's brothers, Grant and Ross, were able to pick us up and take us to their brother, Sam's, house where the kids were.

We arranged for my cousin, Amber, to overnight the title to our car so that we could sell it to a junkyard. And we were able to relax for a week in a small town in Virginia. The kids had the best time with their cousins, and spent hours outside every day. It was so great to kind of get away from all the stress of regular life. On Friday, Ross drove Mitchell back to Richmond, where Mitch was able to sell our poor, little car for $300. On Monday night, his mom took him to get a rental car, and we left very early Tuesday morning. We were able to use the car for less than 24 hours, which made it a lot cheaper, and the price was completely covered with the money we got from junking our car.

While in Virginia, we spent a lot of time pondering, praying, and discussing our situation. We came to the conclusion that Heavenly Father wants us in Georgia for a while longer, so we have decided not to move to Texas. Even though this seems like a very difficult path, as soon as we made the decision, my heart felt so light that I thought I would float away. I know that Heavenly Father is going to bless us to find a way to make things work.

Mitchell has already started applying to pretty much every job within walking distance. We walked to Walgreen's to get some milk and juice, which is 2-miles roundtrip. We have been working closely with several members of our ward, including the Bishop and members of both the Elder's Quorum and Relief Society. We are going to find ways to coordinate rides to grocery stores, places to do laundry, and maybe help getting a bike and/or wagon. We feel so blessed right now as we are learning to stand on our own feet for the first time ever.

Battle of the Roaches

We've been waging an all-out battle this week against the cockroaches that have infested our kitchen. We completely emptied the kitchen out and used THREE foggers, one on Monday and two on Wednesday. We spent yesterday afternoon sweeping up all the dead roaches and spraying all the ones that were still alive. We spent all day today cleaning the kitchen and putting everything back in very orderly. It made me happy all afternoon to look at my kitchen because it finally feels like we "moved in" to it.

That happiness has been short lived, however. We are continuously finding more roaches in there. We used all the foggers the landlord gave us, sprayed nearly the entire kitchen, and put boric acid down anywhere the roaches would be and the kids wouldn't. So why are there still so many roaches?! And what are we supposed to do now? The landlord just keeps saying we need to spray more, but we can't spray INSIDE of the walls and countertops and cabinet crannies in which these roaches are hiding. My frustration was doubled when I found two adult roaches in our dining room cabinet where I keep all my favorite books and special items.

I think we're losing the war...

Herb Class

Yesterday, I went to a Relief Society Activity that was about growing and using herbs. It was good and bad.

The Good:
The sister who taught it made some awesome recipes using fresh herbs. We had crackers with Artichoke-Herb Cream Cheese spread, cantaloupe with a mint-citrus dressing, shrimp with cilantro-mayonnaise dip, and chocolate mint-infused water. It was all so delicious. I learned a lot and I got to bring home a little basil plant and a tomato plant. Now I just have to get pots and soil for them.

The Bad:
The class was during the time Mitchell is at school, so I had to bring Joseph. I found out when we got there that children weren't really invited. At first he was really good, but then he got bored. He was crawling everywhere, trying to get into stuff, and generally distracting everyone from the class. I had to go into another room for a little while because he was just so distracting. I felt really bad about it. But what else are the young mothers like me supposed to do? Not go to any classes? We have a lot of moms like me with young kids, but all of us have callings in Primary, and everyone in Relief Society is past the stage of having kids younger than 13. They seem to frequently forget what it's like for the rest of us. I can't get a babysitter when they have the class at 1 in the afternoon because everyone is in school at that time, except Joseph. They almost never have babysitting available at Relief Society activities, even though the Stake President has told them to a few times. They keep saying they'll do it, but they don't. It's really frustrating. Hopefully, my new ward in Provo will be better about this.

Last Night

Well, I'm a little sad. Last night, Sister Julie Beck, the General Relief Society President, was here and gave a special fireside. Joseph decided to get ANOTHER ear infection and Mitchell had to work so I missed the meeting. It would have been so great! I bought myself a big box of Krispy Kreme donuts to enjoy. I spent the evening watching old episodes of Project Runway and eating donuts. I still have plenty of donuts left, so I'm excited about that. I can't eat 4 at a time like I used to in Seminary, now I can only do 1, sometimes 2. That makes a box of a dozen last a long time. And cake donuts don't get stale really quickly.

Errands and an Anti-Nap

Mitchell doesn't have class on Fridays and Saturdays, so they end up being my errand days. He was exhausted when he got home from Chick-Fil-A because he had gone into work at 6 and hadn't gotten home from work the night before until 12-ish. So Joseph and I showered and dressed quickly so we could leave and Mitchell could take a nap. We went to Rite Aid and the library. There was supposed to be free donuts available at the church, so we went there and there was 1 very sad looking donut left. I ate it. Then we drove to the closest hospital so that Joseph could have his bloodwork done. When we got there, they said they didn't have any needles small enough for him. It was raining by then, so we just drove home. Joseph napped in the car.

Once we got home, we had some lunch and then I was exhausted so I decided to take a nap. Mitchell was watching a movie, so I told him to watch Joseph. After a few minutes, Mitchell came and laid down. Apparently, he hadn't been able to sleep earlier, so he hadn't have a nap. It turned out that Mitchell slept while I dozed and tried to keep Joseph out of stuff and stop him from beating me up. By the time Mitchell got up, I was even more tired, very annoyed, and I had a headache. That's why I call it an Anti-Nap.

I eventually recovered and got the kitchen clean and did some laundry. Overall, it was a pretty good day. I think today's going to be good, too. I'm just going to have to get used to Joseph's new early waking up (8:30 the past 2 days when it used to be 10!).

Fire!

One evening about 2 weeks ago, I unintentionally did something that upset Mitchell. Then he felt like I wasn't sincerely sorry because of something I said. And to top it all off, I was so exhausted that I fell asleep before we had worked things out all the way. The next morning, I put Joseph in his high chair with some food and some bacon in the oven (I think it tastes better that way, plus it's easier to cook). I realized that Mitchell was still really upset. I went into our room to have a very teary talk. The timer for the bacon went off, but I was so upset I didn't notice. After a couple minutes, Joseph started to yell because he wanted more food. Mitchell told me to go finish feeding the baby. When I walked into the kitchen, I saw bright orange flames in my oven and my baby was in his high chair less than 2 feet from the oven. I immediately started to panic. Mitchell came in and took control of the situation, but he was so distracted by my panic that he wasn't even thinking clearly. He grabbed some baby blankets to protect his hands, put a couple sweatshirts on, and pulled the baking sheet with the bacon out of the oven and carried out the front door. Then he poured a big pot full of water on the bacon. Steam and grease shot everywhere, but he was okay. He then remembered that you should never use water to put out a grease fire (it was a few hours later that he remembered that you should use baking soda). He got me calmed down and then we started trying to clean up. the oven was all black with smoke, the cabinet door across from the oven (which for some stupid reason is unfinished wood) soaked up lots of oil and is ruined, smoking hot grease dropped on our carpet and melted little spots into a trail from the kitchen from the door, and my beautiful baking sheet that I took extremely good care of because it was a Christmas gift was scorched and warped. We are going to have to replace the carpet and the cabinet. I have to line my baking sheet with foil everytime I use it. But are very blessed that I found the fire when I did and that no one was hurt. It was a very stressful and exhausting day.