The Mice (or Nisse if you prefer)

The other night Stephen and I were in our dining room just fiddling away on our computers. I was listening to music with my headphones and couldn't really hear what was going on, but I realized Stephen was walking super slowly to the kitchen, so immediately I knew something was up. He walked into the kitchen a little and then either screamed or yelled and unfortunately I didn't have to ask to know what he had found. Yep, he saw a mouse, or a rat, or a nisse...you know a cougar has about as many names as we have given our rodents; there's mountain lion, puma, panther (I know this is a bit of a sidetrack but I never knew those animals were one in the same!) Anyway, he actually saw a real LIVE rodent crawling up our kitchen wall. He then told me he had scared it and it fell behind our oven. We tried moving the oven but to no avail (thank heavens!!) and so we instead placed poison in various location over our kitchen, like beside the oven and under our sink. I was worried about placing the containers out in the open but as we have no children or pets I think we can stay away. After I calmed down from the shock I told Stephen that next time instead of scaring it away we should take a picture! Maybe we'll have one to post for you.

So we checked the containers today, and boy have we been feeding our visitors well!

(this is from under the kitchen sink) Our next step will be to close off all possible entry points! Yikes!

Things Aren't What They Seem

I was looking around our house today and realized many of our things are not as they seem. Take for example two of our light switches:

Which one is a dimmer?

A: B:

If you guessed "A" then you win! Of course I didn't win at the beginning. "A" is our kitchen light switch (which I refuse to use as a dimmer) and "B" is our office/dinning room light (which I keep trying to use as a dimmer). One day I'll get it straight...or one day we will replace the switches.


For the next odd occurence we take a peek into our bathroom (we only have one) where we can find these two soaps at the sink.

Which is mine and which is Stephen's?
A: B:


Mine is most DEFINITELY "A". I would rather that my hands smell and feel minty clean than be perfumed with flowers (or pomegranates). Which one means clean to you? Stephen prefers "B" to the tingle of actually being clean by using soap "A". Silly. My sisters sure got a good laugh out of these soaps when they visited our old apartment...or maybe they were just enjoying our magnetic message board too much ;)

I really thought we would have more bizarre mixed-up stuff, but couldn't find any. I'll update you with any new discoveries.

Oh, and do you like the new header? Stephen did it and said maybe we'll do a new one each month! He has one on his blog too. The pictures are from our recent excursion last Saturday on a Pond Tour.

Little Instruction Book for Teachers

So while I have been unpacking(yes there's still more boxes) I have also been going through the massive amount of stuff I seem to have accumulated. One of the more humorous things I came across was a little book that was made by my eighth grade class of 2001-2002. It's an instruction book for teachers from students. I'm really glad I have kept this as I plan on becoming a teacher and have many friends and family who are going in to education as well. I really liked some of these pieces of advice.

• More than likely, if their hand is down, they don't know the answer so don't call on them. *a boy who wouldn't pay attention
• Don't be harsh on the first week and on the last week of school. Those two weeks are very hard on the students...so relax, take it easy. You might feel better too! *mine
• Teachers should have a way they run their classrooms. They should have a system for turning in homework and receiving absent work so there is no confusion.
• We don't like being give the same boring worksheets. Kids' lives aren't meant to be boring because that is what our adult lives are for. *haha!!
• Teachers shouldn't take their problems or bad days out on their students. We, as students should not have to feel your anger or frustration.
• No matter who we work with we're going to talk. So it doesn't really help when you say to quiet down. We have to talk to get things done. *a popular girl
• Students don't want to be expected to be perfect because no one is perfect. Even the smartest kids have their off days sometimes. *a smart boy
• Teachers are always telling us to repect others. That means they have to try to respect us.
• Teachers should not drone on or hover.
• Don't be too soft, but don't be too hard either. If teachers are too soft on us, we misbehve, and we take advantage of you. If you're too hard, we are scared of you, and then rumors get started about you. *a boy who would misbehave often
• Another thing teachers should do is to give their homeroom honor students free cell phones. *yeah right
• And then there's candy. They should make a commercial that says, "Ah, the power of candy." Give a kid some candy, and he'll love you forever.
• Teachers have a big effect on kids; after all, kids spend more time with their teachers than with their parents.
• Teachers should not be unfair because students look up to them and respect them.
• A teacher should have a passion for their work.
• A good teacher, in my eyes, should never get frustrated when a child doesn't understand a concept.
• Gum is the solution.
• When you do make a promise, follow through with it. Trust is one of the most important things in a student-teacher relationship.
• Another thing a good teacher should do is to reward us for doing something well. It doesn't make sense to punish us for the bad things, and then not reward us for the good things.
• We should leave the classroom thinking that we have just accomplised a hard task.

• Although I understand that teachers have good and bad days, some teachers tend to do things they should not do on bad days.
• If you underestimate a student's ability, you could also have the student underestimate his or her own ability.
• Let us have a snack so we will be thinking about your class, not about eating. *girl who won mathematics award
• Any teacher that wants a well behave class should use positive reinforcement.
• Teachers shouldn't favor brown nosers! * a boy who didn't do too well
• It is also important that you have a teacher that makes you feel like you're smart.
• Don't have class favorites (unless it's me). *mine
• Teachers should be strict, just not all the time.
• First off, teachers should never be boring and stand there and talk like a zombie.

• If teachers think positively and believe in their kids, then the students will know that they can do anything they set their minds to.
• I think the worst thing a teacher can do is to give homework on the first day of school. That's not fun, and it scares a kid.
• They should listen and try to learn something from their students. By listening, teachers encourage their students to express themselves. * A girl who rarely spoke up
• I also think that teachers should get paid more money because they spend so much time at work.
• Don't suck up. We're better at it than you. *the biggest sucker-upper I know
• Teachers should get together and plan not to have tests on the same day. Studying for two tests is just too much. *if only college profs would do this as well!!
• If a kid is shy and doesn't want to read his paper or share his ideas, then I think he shouldn't have to. *I disagree
• Treat us as if we were your own.
• Don't make it seem like you don't want to be there.
• Teachers should not be younger than 30 or older than 50. *from a girl whose name was similar to mine and I heard A LOT about this one

• Finally, teachers have to be smart. They have to know the answers to your questions.
  

Sorry for the long post, but this was definitely fun for me!

Ebony

I must warn you that this post is probably my longest because of the multitude of pictures I am about to show. Now these aren't pictures of Texas, or my husband, or myself, no no, these are pictures of the baby kitten we had living with us. Some may find it hard to understand that while we are in the midst of cleaning our house to get rid of the cat smell and hair, we took it upon ourselves to adopt a baby kitten. Am I allergic to cats? Absolutely. Am I holding a kitten in some of these pictures? You better believe it. Goodness.
So we were leaving our house to go shopping when I looked down by my car and saw this thing crawling out from underneath it. I thought it was a rat at first, but was surprised to see how small it was. After calling Stephen over we realized it was a baby kitten. This picture was taken right where we found her, she was sooo tiny!!
Here are some with Stephen and me holding her.

It was a really hard decision for us to keep her, but we decided to and bought her food and a bottle so she wouldn't starve. We read up on baby kittens and it was quite discouraging because we were informed that even under the best care, if a baby kitten is not with another cat to mother it, they will probably die, but we decided to give it our best shot anyway. We had her for about a week and became quite attached. I even gave her a name, Ebony. That Sunday we came back from church and Stephen knew something wasn't right. I assured him from my massive amounts of knowledge on animals that this was normal for baby kittens, but a few hours later we found she had died. It was definitely fun to have an animal in the house especially since I always wanted a pet to play with when I was younger. The whole week was hard as I was fighting my allergies, I would have to wash my hands and arms immediately after feeding and playing with her and most likely would have to sit down and wait until my lungs cleared up. I am glad that we were able to take care of her even for such a short time.

The Falls

Mom left us on May 31 to fly back to Arizona to see her honey. We were so thankful that she was able to drive with us, there is no way we could have done this without her!! Mom was so worried we were going to be late and miss her flight that she told us it was a noon when it wasn't scheduled to leave until 3!!! A little nervous?? Once we coerced the real flight time out of her, we knew we had plenty of time to do some sightseeing. So, we decided to see our city's namesake and we headed down to the falls. Getting there was no easy feat, sure there were signs telling us where to go but in the downtown area the streets are so messy it was unbelievably confusing. After driving by it a few times and finally realizing where it was we got out of the car and took some pictures. Here's mom and me. Me by myself...don't look too closely I'm not wearing any makeup and for some reason look really pale. (Which I was just told by Stephen and Richard is because I'm WHITE...duh!!) Boy I'm sure glad they got a laugh off of that one.
Stephen and me, although he doesn't like that he's slouching in this picture.
And last but not least my handsome husband all by himself. I had to include both of the last two pictures to prove that my mom and I can BOTH take good pictures, I guess that's what we get for marrying photographers! After this we drove down to Dallas/Fort Worth to drop mom off at the airport. I drove until we got into the city and then quickly pulled over for Stephen to drive. Even with his expert driving skills it was still so confusing to be driving around and not really know where we were going. Of course that could have been because I was the map reader. We may have gotten lost driving around the airport, but I won't admit that ;)

First week in Texas

We had finally made it into Texas when Stephen noticed this unusual sight off to the side of the road in the middle of a field. We knew we had to check it out. Needless to say it was RIDICULOUSLY windy. I felt as though I was going to be swept away by the wind.
Here's us in front of the rental house we are living in. I am SO glad we were able to move into this place, I'll have to post pictures of the other two rental properties we were considering. Once we saw this house the other two were out of the question!

My Family

Alright, so my family got together before we left for Texas to take some pictures. Of course we had to take the obligatory funny pose.
My favorite formal one.

And a close up of my sister's face in one of the funny-posed pictures.

CLASSIC!!! I love it! I know she will thank me for posting this on the web for everyone to see.

The Music I Hear

While living in the apartments, Stephen and I were often awakened by the guy above us playing loud rock music at all hours of the day(and night). We were so excited to get out of the apartments and into a home where we would only hear the lovely music that nature would provide for us.

So tonight Stephen and I were just enjoying the lovely music coming from nature. Most people love to hear birds chirping, or the trees rustling in the wind. Is that what we listened to? Not a chance!!

Our music of choice?
The rats scurrying above us in the attic. Well, I guess you could say it is chosen for us. Definitely not what I want to be hearing. And if that gets old or monotonous, we get to listen to the cries of the rats in the crawl space beneath us in the kitchen. Lucky us.

We first heard the crying and thought it was either a cat or a bird, but we couldn't understand because it sounded like it was coming from INSIDE the house. Weird I thought, but probably just a bird close to the window. Then the other day I was washing dishes in the kitchen sink and heard it again. It seemed to be coming from below me near where the table and window are. Upon further examination outside we found an opening for the crawl space and we both assumed that cats were living underneath the house because we see them outside all the time. Upon further realization we both came to the conclusion that not only are rats living above us, they are living below us as well.

It's kinda ironic because we were so excited to be out of the apartments and live in a house with no one above or below us to blast their awful music and wake us up, but with our new neighbors I realize the human ones weren't so bad.

Internet

Well, we finally have internet. Yesterday the cable guys came and installed our internet and DVR for the tv. When they came in the first guy asked me what they would be working on today. Now, I am a pretty technology-savvy person...I mean I have my own blog for goodness sake!! However, when it comes to installing things and when people start using technical terms I have NO CLUE what they are talking about. When we were dating Stephen was reworking his computer and adding different parts to it and so I offered to help. I thought it was fascinating that he could take his computer apart AND put it back together without messing things up. He started to explain what everything in the computer was and what it was for, but honestly I have no clue what he was talking about. Later he wanted to know if I had been listening and so he started quizzing me on the various computer parts and what they were for. HA HA!!! I had been listening but still could not tell once piece apart from another. So, when the cable guy wanted to know what was to be done I sort of froze. I had assumed that they would know what to do but I managed to mutter some half-way coherent phrase to which the guy had to correct me and ask if that was what needed to be done. I felt so stupid that I went into another room so I didn't have to be near them.

I always feel awkward when guys come in to work on stuff in the house. I never know what to do, should I stay in the room they are working and watch what they are doing to make sure they are doing it correctly even though I really wouldn't know either way, or should I leave them alone and let them do their thing? Well, my choice is to leave them alone. So I went into the kitchen to get some cleaning done. Having these semi-unwanted visitors in the house made me really nervous and self-conscious. I didn't want them to think that I sit around the house all day doing nothing, so instead I made it my goal to show them how much work I could accomplish. Silly I know because they were probably not even noticing what I was doing but it still mattered to me!!!

Anyway, now we have the internet and as soon as I get some time to myself I will take and upload some pictures for y'all to see.

Oh yeah...the two things I hate about our house (cause I really do love it for the most part!!)would be the lovely left-overs from the previous renters. They had tons of cats and the smell and cat hair are still all over the place. I feel like all I do is to try and clean and yet the smell and hair are still lingering. Number two- we have ticks, or fleas I'm not really sure which one. We have replaced the carpet in the two bedrooms AND sprayed for them but I think they have now infested our love sac, so my task tomorrow will be to take pictures of our lovely town to post while the fogging fumes are killing the little bugs. Hopefully my days of being eaten alive are coming to an end.

TEXAS!!

Well, we finally made it to Texas...woohoo! The drive only took two days, three vehicles, one trailer and numerous gas stops (or just bathroom breaks at the end). It was fun driving through New Mexico and while we were in Texas and just driving to Wichita Falls we thought it would be fun to chase a HUGE storm. Luckily we never caught up to it as the radio kept warning us that it could produce tornadoes, to which Stephen wished we knew where his video camera was in case we caught a glimpse. As for me I am quite content to never see a live tornado...ever. While filling up at a gas station in Texas I realized that the uncomfortableness I was experiencing was my first encounter with humidity. Luckily it hasn't been that bad since.

I am really loving Wichita Falls and can sort of find my way around town. It is funny to hear everyone talk with a Southern accent! When we first arrived late at night I was tired and cranky and it just really irked me to hear everyone speaking that way, I mean it really ticked me off! I wanted to ask the waitresses to please speak correctly, but decided that would be too harsh. It has grown on me a little and now I try to copy phrases that I hear so hopefully I won't always sound like such a foreigner.

We were able to snag this amazing house for rent in an older almost historic district of town. Seriously we live on a tree lined street, it is sooo picturesque!! There is a little apartment in our backyard that the owners will rent as well which should prove to be quite interesting! It's funny because their address is 2002 1/2 whereas ours is 2002. I just find this little one-half thing to be so cute! Can you imagine if there were more apartments in our backyard? Then they could be addressed as 1/4 and 3/4 or something fun like that. Even though the apartment is tiny I would like to live in one just to have a fun address!

Well, I am sorry that I didn't post any pictures with this post, we don't have internet yet and so we are hanging out at the grocery store to use their free internet. You can expect to see photos once the internet is up and running at our place.