Another Reason

that I like living in the country. Waking up to mornings like this one. I woke up before the sun came up. You know, when the sky is that beautiful shade of blue before it's flooded with sunlight. Since we have no air conditioning (yes, Texas, in the summer, not a good idea), we've been leaving our window open at night so that the cool air can get in. This morning, I could hear the birds and crickets chirping. It makes me feel so calm and relaxed. It reminds me of when we would go camping when I was younger, and I would wake up in a tent with that same feeling. All it lacked this morning was the sound of someone putting the coffeepot on the camp stove. I miss camping. My dad's family used to go every year until people started getting too old. The children had so many committments over the summer, and the adults literally just couldn't quite handle sleeping in a tent for 3 or 4 days. I miss the family campouts, but once in a while, on a morning like this, I wake up and know it's going to be a beautiful day!

Why I Like Living in the Country....

There are science lessons all around you. I grew up in the country, and I credit that for my love of science and biology. For example, the baby birds to the left are actually on my front porch. Miss Priss and I watched as the Mommy and Daddy birds built the nest and then proceeded to watch over it. I assured her that there were eggs in it. Since it is about 12 feet to get up there, I didn't know for certain, but the fact that they spent every night huddled in the nest made me pretty sure. And, sure enough, two nights ago, I went out and saw the entire family of 6 crowded into the nest. During the day, Mommy and Daddy bird go eat mosquitoes and flies (or at least I hope they do -- someone told Hubby that those kinds of birds eat mosquitoes and flies). I took this picture this morning after they left. I don't wish to get attacked by any birds.

I am now 170.0 lbs. I have lost 13.6 lbs so far and am now down to my second mini-goal. The next mini-goal is 168. That was my pre-pregnancy weight with Miss Priss, and I haven't been that low since. The next mini-goal is to be 165.2. That will mean that I have lost 10% of my body weight. And then from there, it will be to get to 160. I can't remember when I was last 160. At least 4 or 4 1/2 years. This actually gets easier as it goes along.

Miss Priss is looking forward to moving. We have told her that she can go back to school a couple of days a week once we move, so now she keeps saying, "I want to go to school. I want to make new friends." My social little child. I know that pre-school will be so good for her. And now we don't have that whole potty-training issue holding us up (most pre-schools require them to be potty-trained coming in).

Baby Boo has decided that she wants our food. Two nights ago, we had fajitas. We were eating in the living room since our kitchen table was covered in laundry, so I sat my plate on the floor about 4 feet away from Baby Boo to go get a drink. Then I heard, "Honey, is Baby Boo supposed to be eating your fajita?"
She had rolled over to my plate, unrolled the tortilla, and had her grubby little hands all over my food. Last night, she did the same thing with my sandwich. I think she likes to feel the different textures.

Ew, gross.....

I saw the grossest (is that a word?) thing that I can remember last night. I'm actually a little hesitant to write about it since it was in my house. So, if you're not in the mood for a "EWWWWWWWW, THAT IS SO NASTY!" read this morning, quit reading now.

Still reading? I warned you. Okay, for about 3 days now, the flies in my house have been really bad. Particularly in the kitchen. I went on a major cleaning spree (moving appliances to clean underneath) as well as super cleaning all my cabinets. I could not find the source of the flies. I found it last night.

I went to get laundry out of the dryer (my laundry room is attached to my kitchen), and saw the source. My cats live in the laundry room most of the time and have opened up the door to the crawlspace in the attic. They love to play up there, so we haven't bothered to close it back up. They had dragged a "present" down from the attic. About 3 or 4 weeks ago, we put down rat poison. We have lots of mice (that's what we get for living in the country), so we put it in a few select cabinets that Miss Priss cannot get into. Suddenly, we didn't have a rat problem anymore.

Last night in the middle of my laundry room floor was a dead mouse. And it was moving. Now, I'm not a girly girl who will run from things -- I'm not afraid of snakes, mice, bugs, spiders, etc. In fact, I'm the designated eliminator of all of the above. However, last night I ran from my laundry room practically screeching at my husband, "I found out where all of the flies are coming from! EW! EW! EWWWWWW!"

Hubby promptly took care of said mouse and the maggots that were causing it to move. Ew. Ew. Ew. It still makes my skin crawl. But, there are not as many flies this morning in my kitchen.

So, now that you've been sufficiently grossed out, have a great day!

Reflection

Amanda asked me how I felt about this entire change of plans situation. Honestly, I am a little relieved. I hate to admit it, but there was a part of me that felt I was getting my hopes up for nothing and that there was no way that everything was going to come together right. I guess it was a gut feeling. I thought it was going to be daycare that wouldn't work out. Instead, it's some issues within our family that I don't really want to go into in such a public forum. If your curiousity is piqued, email me. I'll tell you what's going on. Anyway, it's been a very long week.

And since I'm a stress eater, I've gained almost half a pound. Actually, I'm quite proud of that. We made a visit to Hubby's parents' house, so that meant days of fast food and overeating. The fast food isn't really my fault. Because we live so far from civilization in a small town, there aren't many fast food options. So, when we go to "the big city," we tend to overindulge. What can I say? I love Chick-fil-A. So, the fact that I didn't gain back all the weight I've lost is quite an accomplishment.

Change of plans.....

A lot has been going on at my house this past week. It looks now like we'll be moving in the next few weeks. Hubby's job is not going well, so he will probably go back to school while I get a job. I guess we'll see how it goes.