Out as much as in these days it seems. We had the counter and sink installed back at the beginning of the month. The install was fine..the installer was nice and he did a great job installing and cleaning up. They do not reconnect the plumbing…that is up to the customer according to city code here. We had to wait until the following day to do that so that the sealant could set. Scott got the faucet set and was going to connect the plumbing to the faucet and the sink drains when he noticed that the connector to the garbage disposal was a different size than the top of the unit. He decided to not mess with it and to call the plumber since our pipes are so old.

The guy came out and told him that since the disposal was the original and the pipes were so screwed up (who knows what his step father did..like the washer set up, there were connectors and pipes all over the place) that our options were to use the old connector drain from the current disposal unit (I did not want an old scratched up drain on that side and a brand new shiny one on the other) or we could go get a new disposal that would work with the drain I’d bought and he would install it and all new pvc pipes under the sink. So we went and bought the new disposal and he returned the next day to install everything. So on top of the counter top/sink/faucet purchase, we added a new disposal and a plumber’s bill to the cost! Story of my life!  They look great though:

Within a week of the install, we began seeing those stupid sugar ants around the sink again. We had a really bad problem with them a couple of years ago, but we bought some Terro traps and they disappeared and never came back. I guess the tearing out of the old counter and plumbing caused them to return. They weren’t bad, and I think some new Terro traps would have gotten rid of them, but we discovered we had an other problem….mice!

When Chrissy and the girls were here, she went back to the freezer in the utility room one night after everyone was in bed for some ice cream. She heard a noise and when she turned, she saw a mouse sticking its nose out of a bucket! Since the utility room has a door to the outside as well as vents, we figured it had come in and went out again. Wrong! Last Saturday I came in from the store and when I turned on the kitchen light, he ran out of the pantry and scurried under the stove! I texted Scott and he said he would call the exterminator on Monday after he got home. We’d talked about calling one before when we had the ants because bugs are so bad here in Texas. We end up with the ants, jumping spiders and those annoying flying cockroaches :::SHUDDER:::: which terrify me. I hate any bugs..but those things…ewww!

The guy came out and did an inspection. He found some rat droppings in the attic as well as some old raccoon droppings. I knew we’d had a raccoon up there several years ago, but after we started treating around the posts on the patio with deer urine, they stopped coming around. He also found mouse droppings in the pantry as well as the utility room so Scott set up a time for him to come and place traps, seal the entry areas for the pests, and spray for insects. I never knew that exterminators were so expensive! The initial treatment was almost $600 for the spraying, the traps and the sealing of the entry points and then we pay about $40 a month for them to come and spray and if we see anything, they come out and set traps or whatever. After this we should not have any problems with creepy crawlers at all they said. So far there has been no more ants and no roaches or spiders. We don’t see the roaches or spiders all that often, but I have seen no spiders outside either near the house so hopefully this is working. For the cost…it better!

Work has still been crazy. Most of the kids are settling in more but a few have been out sick several times and they have been slower to adjust. We got the one little one that wasn’t walking yet to actually take several steps! It was so funny…Sara and I were clapping and cheering then all the office staff and a few teachers came to the door wondering what was going on. They watched and cheered too and the little one was laughing and having a blast. We showed her mom when she came to get her and she was so excited. She brought us both some cookies the next day to say Thanks!  Nap times are getting a little better. Some kidlets are still not sleeping long…mostly on the days when there is only one of us in the room, of course! Here are a couple of shots of the classroom after we finished the ragging and set it all up: (I think you can click on these to go to my Flickr page and see them bigger)

Scott H has been doing well in school so far. Not sure if it is his meds helping him to focus better or if it is just that most of the stuff is still review mostly. He always seems to do better first marking period, then seems to slack off. We’ll see if that happens this year. His teachers have said that he is doing fine…so that is a good sign.

Scott got word that instead of heading to Nigeria in November, he is going to Japan & Guam in early October and will be home around mid-November in time for Thanksgiving. He will have about 4 military base theaters in Japan to work on and then one in Guam along with several civilian theaters to work on there too. I am so glad he isn’t going to Nigeria! I was so scared about him heading there. He will also have a lot of work near home to do when he is done there so he should be working from here a lot through the rest of the year and beginning of next year.  YAY!

Guess that is about it from here. I have been utilizing my Facebook account more since many of the teachers and staff at the church and school have made pages on there. It is fun playing around on there with my friends. Not that I can chat much, but it helps keep up with everyone who has pages there…and many of our staff that has left have pages so we can keep up with them too! Oh…and a question for anyone out there…is anyone using the ATT U-verse for their cable/internet/phone? Scott is thinking about switching to it and I have been doing some research on it. I get good and bad reviews and wondered if there is anyone using it that can give me some feedback on it. Thanks!!

Have a great one Y’all!!