One of my beefs with Texas is that I feel extremely closed in. I'm used to wide open spaces and being able to look across the valley and soak in the view for miles and miles. Here there are towering, swampy trees that block most of your vision on both sides of the road. There really are no hills in the Houston area so you can only see what is right in front of your face. So the fact that we live on so much wide open land really is splendid for me. I can post a picture of the view outside of our bedroom window later. I'll try and add some photos of the interior as well.
Of course living out in the country requires a price. Bugs. And boy are there bugs in Texas! The drought doesn't help either, as many bugs are being driven in to homes to find water. When we first moved in, we noticed there was a bit of a cockroach problem. We set up 24 roach motels and (carefully) put boric acid in the cracks and crevices around the house. It must have been pretty successful because we haven't seen any since. I learned an interesting lesson in my battle with the roaches. It really forced me to buck up and take charge. I wasn't about to let those things ruin my peace in our home. Aside from this house we have only lived in an apartment in Rexburg for about a year. When we were living with Brian's parents we didn't really have to deal with this kind of thing. Anyway, it made me realize that I am fully capable of tackling a problem like this and facing those beastly pests head on. It probably helps that I've been feeling mother bearish lately...Kayla the protector of children from nasty insects. Plus, it forces me to have a constantly clean kitchen, which has turned out to be one of life's hidden secrets to maintaining peace in the home.
Okay on to the story of the picture below:
One morning I woke up to do some laundry. I heard buzzing and clicking and...well it was a horrible noise that evoked great fear within as you can imagine. I quickly glanced in the sink and saw the 747 cockroach trying to escape. We bought some Raid just for this reason. Problem was, the raid was currently being stored right above the sink in a cupboard. Well this species of cockroach has wings and I didn't want it to get scared and fly out. But I'm a busy mother and had to act fast, as both of my boys were crying and in need of attention. I gathered my courage and raced to the cupboard, grabbed the Raid and started spraying like mad. It started twitching and running around and eventually flipped on to its back. It was at this point that I started feeling really sorry for it (the reason why I'm not the best person to kill bugs). It was totally being burned to death by poison. I thought the more I sprayed the faster it would die. But the more I sprayed the more it twitched in pain. It finally died. I grabbed my camera and captured this photo (notice the pools of Raid at his neck):
Don't those legs just make you squeamish? It does me. Oh and I forgot to mention that right before I shot the bugger with the spray, he pointed one little antenna at in my direction, trying to sense his predator. I found this oddly cute but decided he had to die anyway. Poor little fella.
Well I'll leave this post on a good note by showing off my little Nathan's smile. I meant to show a picture of David too but I forgot to upload one. Just know that he is alive and well and just as loved. He has a crooked haircut and chipped front teeth which makes for a perfectly cute little boy.
Cute isn't he?
