A Bug's Life

Texas is hot. And humid. This first week of September we will see nothing but triple digit - 100 degrees plus. I like cold weather - especially since I consider September to 'fall'. I love sweaters, sweatshirts, boots, crunchy leaves, apple cider, the smell of the season, pumpkins, apple pie, etc. It's just too hot to do anything outside right now. Jon and I are waiting until it cools down to go walk around The Alamo and do more outdoor 'touristy' things. It's hard to enjoy when you are sweating buckets.

Texas is nice. The people are nice (except when the people driving big trucks think they can always just cut you off because you are smaller). I really like our ward - it's pretty small, but everyone has been so welcoming. (Members have told us over and over again how happy they are to have us there!)

Texas also has a lot of BUGS. In our apartment, we usually only see huge Texas-size crickets (they are huge and gross and black and they jump on you!!) Yesterday one decided to jump into the shower with me...sick nasty. We also have a lot of earwigs. Blech. It seems when I sit to type lately, I can feel those creepy crawlers going up my leg. Ok, usually it's just my imagination, but it has happened a couple of times! So now I just assume that whenever I have an itch, it's a bug.

But the other morning (really early) I was rudely awakened by another bug crawling up my arm. I swapped it away and crawled (more like crazily climbed) over Jon and stood on the floor on his side of the bed. He woke up, obviously, and calmly turned on the lights to find it. I quietly yelled (I didn't want to wake any neighbors) "THERE WAS A CRICKET CRAWLING UP MY ARM!" Well, Jon found the bug. He said it wasn't a cricket. I told him not to tell me what it was. Then, after watching him smash something with his shoe a few times, and say "Sick" a few times under his breath, I asked him if it was a spider. He said no. 10 more seconds pass. "Was it a grasshopper?" "Nope..." I think for a few more seconds, and then:

"Was it a COCKROACH?"

"YUP!"

I just shudder thinking about it. It was HUGE. Those crickets are huge, and this was probably the same size, but to me I think it was DOUBLE the size (Jon and I have different accounts of how big it really was.)

I haven't seen any since then (and I hope to never see one again). How do those things get in? And how dare they? I believe that all insects, like horses, know when you are afraid of them. They just have a sense. (That's probably why I fell off a horse during my horse back riding lessons back in the day, too. I was scared the whole time during those lessons...) Spiders, cockroaches, crickets, caterpillars, flying things - I know they are personally attacking me.

Growing up, we had to weed the garden. And the flowers on the hillside. And everything else that was a plant. :) (I'm sure I only did about 5% of the work, but it sure seemed like a lot!) But if I saw a spider while weeding, I would physically shudder and just walk away. (Though for some reason, I wasn't afraid of worms. I would just pick them up and throw them across the garden at Emma. Haha I was such a brat!)  I must have arachnophobia.

Here are some everyday happenings:
- applying for jobs. I have applied for about 7 this week so far. It's frustrating (I either need to learn Spanish or need to lower my job standards, or something like that).

- indexing. I have been doing indexing for the church (genealogy). I love it so far. My goal is to do 2000 per month. I wish I could get paid to do it! (I love it as a service, but I would love to do it as a job, also!) I love listening to The Cambridge Singers or Katherine Jenkins (opera singer from England) when I index. It's just beautiful and helps me concentrate.

- hanging out with the missionaries. Well, more like having them over for dinner and also going to visit some inactive families. (Last Friday we went to the house of a lady who the missionaries are teaching. Her mom was there and made us the BEST mexican food for dinner. I think it took me over 45 minutes to eat the one plate. It was a lot of food, plus I am a slow eater. The missionaries and Jon started the lesson while I just kept on eating at the table by myself...) (One of the missionaries also thought it necessary to share that over the pulpit this past Sunday during testimony meeting. Hmmm.)

- exercising. I started my 'weight loss' blog last month, and have been keeping up with it every day for the past 3.5 weeks. I have lost 6 pounds so far. My goal is to lose 2 per week, so it's going slowly but surely. Some days I do elliptical, or play Just Dance 3 on the Wii. I also do ab work and weights 5 days per week). So far there hasn't been a big change, but I feel better (if not physically, at least mentally).

- church. I am the 1st counselor in RS. On average, there are about 8 sisters in RS on Sunday. (This past Sunday, when the RS sisters were given 10 minutes to bear their testimony at the end of the lesson, one sister stood up to share. The rest of us had already shared in Sacrament Meeting! It was funny. I think we were all sitting there thinking the same thing, until finally after a few minutes of silence, a sister pointed out that we had all shared!) I also play the piano for it, and it's hard to hear anyone over the piano. I play loud, so the sisters will sing loud! But maybe it's a bit TOO loud... :)

- making yummy food. I really like to cook. I love trying new recipes. Nothing hard, but just simple, delicious dinners. We had this last Sunday with the missionaries: Slow Cooker Chicken Caesar Sandwiches. So easy and I really like them. I have made them a few times now, and it's nice to have leftovers for Jon to bring for lunch during the week, and for me to have at home! I try to sometimes make up my own recipe for things, but it just never tastes as good as the original recipe. It's just not a talent I possess :)

- I miss everyone. I miss my family, I miss Jon's (also MY) family, I miss my friends from Utah, I miss Elza who is out in Virginia now. I miss being comfortable - I knew where things were in Provo/Orem. I could get around easily (especially on the grid system!) I miss my coworkers. I miss just being able to 'run over' to someones house for a quick visit. And if they weren't home, no big deal, because everyone was so close! I miss living so closely to family - it was such a blessing to have had the Butlers live only 15-20 minutes away for the first 5.5 years of living in Utah! I could go over there whenever and was always welcome and could play with the kids whenever I wanted. I miss all of my nieces and nephews. I miss my parents and grandparents in Pennsylvania. I miss Otis. I miss having dinner at Mom and Dad Knight's home (and trying not to laugh during the prayer - we were so irreverent, especially when I was trying to make a good impression! I blame Jon and his brother Matt, haha). I miss having a job. BUT I know it's all a part of growing up - people move away and do their own thing. I wish it was a rule that all families and friends had to live in the same state. Then I could see everyone whenever I wanted.

That's mostly it for now. I still like our apartment - I cleaned out the spare room, so now it looks like an actual room and not just a place for storage. It's now the library/office/exercise room/movie collection/tools/craft room.