Blogging Blues

Lately I've had a case of blogging blues. I just haven't felt like writing a whole heck of a lot on my blog. I've skipped numerous days, and even when I have blogged, the posts have been less-than Nilla-like. They have not droned on and on and on and on with endless (and pointless) details. Perhaps some of you said a little prayer of thanks for that ;). Today, I feel a desire to remedy that... at least somewhat :).

First order of business: Maybe it's me.
So remember all the rodent/death stories? Well, it seems I have another to add. A couple of weeks ago, several of us found evidence (in the form of poop) of mice in our cubes. Nice. Nice. So, they baited traps, and while I was away on vacation, I know they caught at least 3 (2 of which were in the trap they put in my cube, so that makes the count for rodents and death go up 2 for me). Once again, say it with me... nice. Yuck. Still gives me the willies. Anyway, upon my return, there was no more evidence of said mice, and all the cube world here was happy. Until yesterday. I was sitting here, cataloging a book, minding my own business. Out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw something scurry around the corner of my cube, into my cube. It was suspiciously small and gray. I thought to myself, "Did I just see that?" I looked by my cart of books and saw nothing. Then I moved the cart of books. And there was a huge mouse. Huge. Borderline rat. The jury is still out on whether it was a mouse or a rat. I don't really care. Anyway, it cornered itself in a section of my cube under an extra chair. I stood where it couldn't get out (after gasping audibly at the sight of it, because, really, who expects to see this?). I called for Annie. No answer. I called for my supervisor Bethany. No answer. But I can't move, or the stupid thing will run away! Finally Annie says, "Who are you calling?" I say, "Someone, anyone!" So Annie walks back toward me, and I say, there's a mouse!" And she says, "In the trap?" And I say, "No, it's alive" (the trap had been removed before I got back from vacation). Annie peeked around the corner to where the mouse/rat was, and she freaked out. Then Bethany finally heard us and said, "Is something wrong?" And we were both like, "Yes! There's a mouse!" So Bethany calls it in, I'm still standing there, trying to keep the mouse cornered everytime it tries to venture out of it's spot. Annie gets a box to try to trap it. Bethany comes over with a box to try to trap it. But it's under that stupid extra chair. So, they tell me to back up to see if it will come out. Well, it does. And it runs straight for Annie and Bethany! Annie throws the box down to try to trap it. Failure. It runs toward Annie, and it must have gotten on her foot, because the next thing I know, Annie is jumping in the air, and the mouse is airborn! (Let me just take this moment to say that I replayed this scene in my mind last night before falling asleep and I was just laying there laughing to myself in bed). The mouse/rat scurries over into William's cube. William was on break, so he missed the excitement. Bethany goes over there to try to get it, well the mouse is crawling up Williams cubicle walls! In the end, one of the guys who works on the floor came and got it in a box. I left work after that (because it was my early day, not because I was traumatized by the mouse), so I don't know what became of it. I don't even know where it came from. But I sure am sad that it decided to scurry into my cube. Ick. Oh, so this increases by rodent count by another one... I'm not sure if it increases the death count, though. They might have released it. But anyway, it seems rodents and death are still following me... So maybe it's me?

Second order of business: What are the odds?
So, in the 2 years I've been at this juncture in my life, I have gotten in touch with various friends and acquaintances from my past. In January, you may recall, I drove to Atlanta to see my friend Emily from Panama, whom I had not seen in 1o years. Check this out! Another person from Panama got in touch with me again. She was one of my Young Women leaders (well, she was in the YW Presidency, but was actually "over" the younger girls) in Panama. So, another person I haven't seen in 10 years. Anyway, turns out her husband is stationed at an Air Force base about an hour from me! So, she is driving here with her 3 kids next Monday and we are going to do lunch! How neat that she got in touch with me and we found this out a mere 2.5 weeks before I move away! And to top it all off... While I'm in Panama, I will likely see several people with whom I used to go to church there, because I already know of 2 families that will be there for the Temple dedication, and one of the people will be Chimene, who was the mission president's daughter and my friend.

Third order of business: Cool stuff
Okay, so I had to think of something to name this, and cool stuff sounded pretty cool :). For several weeks, Virginia and I have been pondering making little Family Home Evening things with these little houses she bought at the Dollar Tree (I told you this place is awesome). We finally made some headway last night... Well, okay, so I made some headway. Anyway, I'm really excited about how it's going to turn out! It's still a work in progress, but I have a picture of my work so far.

The flower pots will eventually have pictures glued over the foam "flowers." The pictures of each family member, that is. Because one of these days I'm going to have the family I've always wanted :). In the meantime, I'll make my cutesy Family Home Evening chart thing. See, we are counseled by church leaders to set one night a week aside for our family. We do not schedule any other activities on that evening. It is time for the family. It is a time of learning and fun and togetherness. So, each little "room" will eventually be wall-papered and labeled with the different categories, like "lesson" or "snack" or "activity." Then the flower pots (which represent the family members) will be moved around each week so the different family members are responsible for different things during family home evening each week. I look forward to implementing this in my family some day. But I have been so excited that Virginia and I came up with this idea for the houses she bought! I'm not usually very creative, but this one has been fun. Although I did learn that, even at age 27, I'm not old enough to use a glue gun without burning the snot out of my finger. I have a lovely blister right in the middle of my left index finger. It burned for hours! Genius. Pure genius. But Publix brand chocolate trinity ice cream is so good for these kinds of things. The carton was ice cold and therefore good for my finger. The contents were good for every other imaginable reason. Except the calories. So I ignored those :).

Final order of business: Hello good-byes
Ah yes. The time has come. With 16 days left here and crazy schedules had by all, my good-byes have begun. Friday night, Jeni and I shared our last message as visiting teaching companions. We went out to both Alex's and Debbie's. Debbie and Greg are the sweetest people ever. I will miss them incredibly. They are amazing people with huge hearts and they are humble and just so kind. So, here is a picture of the four of us (and if you click on it, you can see the t-shirt and card they got for me, along with the cards Annie gave me the other day).

Jeni invited me over on Sunday to eat my last meal at her house. And she had made me a special good-bye treat. And it was fabulous. Chocolate and mint. And you can't go wrong with that. I stayed at her house until about 11:30 and we watched National Treasure 2. It seems so odd that it was the last time I'll see Jeni. I hope she knows how much she has touched my life. She was my first good friend here, and I know without a doubt that her being assigned as my visiting teaching companion was a blessing for me from my loving Heavenly Father who knew how lonely I was here, and who placed someone in my life with whom I could connect and get along and be friends. I will forever be grateful.


And Elka, I have missed you tons. And so, just for you, I will hunt down a ticker for my trip to Panama :). But, it's 20 days from today. 3 weeks from yesterday and I'll be boarding another plane to exotic places where I hope to find ojaldras somewhere... (Fried bread dough... I can smell it now as I think of it... mmmmmm :)).

Oh, and wish me luck with packing. It's a bore :). Oh, and in other moving news... I reserved the Penske truck yesterday. And I have already earned back the $48 it cost me to renew my AAA membership. I saved $217 on the rental because of AAA. Plus over a $100 for reserving via the web. Total is still going to be over $1500 just for the rental. Yikes. But, that's also because I'm towing my car. But yikes. And at 10 miles per gallon and gas prices as they are. Double-yikes. But, it will be okay. Of that I have no doubt :).