Happenings 8/30/09- 9/13/09

We have had some busy weeks. The most distressing
part of the past two weeks was the discovery of fleas
on our cats, which led to the discovery of fleas
around the house -- not good. J.J. believes it
reflects badly on us as housekeepers, but everyone
has assured us that it is very common. Common or not,
however, eradicating fleas is not an easy process. (Common or not, it's still disgusting)
First, we banished the cats to the garage, and spent
some time combing through them to remove the fleas
from them. (this has to be a daily or every other day occurrence. NOT FUN!! I am so creeped out anyway that then combing and picking them off the cats makes me itchy, gross and want to shower.) Then we washed all of our bedding, (pillows, blankets, scrubbing cushions, rugs, towels, anything you could get in a washer)
vacuumed every day for a weekend, (vacuuming every day for many days - deep vacuuming - moving everything, getting in all the corners, anywhere you can get a vacuum tube.) had a pest control
guy come and spray, and then we had our carpets
cleaned. What we learned is that carpet cleaning
doesn't do anything, but we needed that done anyway
so we didn't mind -- and that vacuuming makes the
flea problem seem worse because it sucks the fleas
and eggs out of the carpet and warmly encourages
those eggs to hatch. We then talked to the vet and
she recommended a spray that we used all over the
house and so far, we notice a difference, but they
still come out at night and jump into the soapy water
dishes that we set out. (Another fun nightly and morning ritual to add to my life. The word "we" should be taken lightly here. Every night, I go put dish soap in 6 pie tins, fill them with a little water and set them out under night lights throughout the house. Then in the morning I go around and empty them all out and clean out the dead fleas. What fun!) The pest control guy is due
to come again for a second treatment included in the
original price, so we'll see what happens. The cats
are pretty much free of the fleas, but they are still
banished from the house. (I am waiting for the expensive, very poisonous flea medicine to come in the mail and put it on them and then wait for about 1 week before they can come back in. They are pretty sad)

The benefit, of course, is now our house is quite
clean, but that is small consolation when fleas are
jumping around at bedtime.

In other news, we attended a wedding on September 5
at the Nashville temple -- the couple is in our ward
and are former young single adults who are attending
college here. They asked me to officiate at their
ring ceremony. I don't know if I did a great job, but
I said a few nice things and made some jokes about
them and then sent them off for a receiving line. (Paul did a really great job. It was a typical Mormon reception, but not many people there. We did get a few fun dances in though. With Claire and Rachel, you can always be the only ones on the dance floor and not feel so silly.) In
between the wedding and the reception, we went out to
eat with some other people there that we knew and
then had ice cream at Maggie Moo's. We headed home
right after the reception. I checked the score of the
BYU game without any optimism and was quite surprised
that it was close. I didn't know it was on TV, so
while we put the kids to bed, I just checked the
score now and then and was excited that they won. I
had resolved to not care about football this fall
because of everything else going on, but then BYU
went and put themselves in the top 10.

On Monday, we went with the Bakes family to Jungle
Golf about 45 minutes north of us. (It's called Maggie's Jungle Golf. This was a "Maggie" weekend with Maggie Moo Ice Cream and Maggie's Jungle Golf.) There is a fun
little miniature golf place and a place you can walk
and feed animals. We had a picnic lunch beforehand,
and then played golf and walked around the place.
Claire was the only one to get a hole in one, but was
more excited about the two 10s she got on other
holes. Rachel improved all of our scores by picking
up our balls and placing them in the hole. It was a
fun way to spend Labor Day.

This week I had a busy weekend. I had a director's
meeting for all state director's of regional writing
projects in Louisville on Friday, and then attached
to that was a state conference for writing project
participants on Saturday. I arrived home at 5:30 on
Saturday, and went immediately with the rest of the
family out to eat and then to the grocery store and
then home. Sunday was our ward conference, and so
after church J.J. was in charge of the luncheon for
the stake and ward leaders, and then she had already
met with the stake leaders and so she went home while
I did tithing and then along with the bishop met with
the stake presidency to discuss what is going well in the ward and what can be worked on. By that time,
it was 3:30, and after our meeting, the sister
missionaries asked me to drive them 2 hours to
Bowling Green because a girl that moved here from
there to go to school was ready to be baptized once
she turned 18 and decided that she needed to do it
that night. She wanted her boyfriend's family to
perform the baptism --he is in Utah going to school
-- and so it needed to be in BG. (That's Bowling Green for you non Kentuckians.) So the sisters
received permission from the mission president to go,
and I told them they needed to check with J.J., and
she said I could go, so I drove the three sisters
there. (A little scandalous if you ask me - One male with 3 sister missionaries for a long drive late at night.) We had a late start and drove as fast as I
dared and we got there just after the baptism at
7:45. But I was able to help confirm her and we
visited for a little while and then we followed the
girl, Stephanie, back to Murray. They have a rule
that with three sisters, any M priesthood holder can
drive them, but that meant that none of them could
ride with Stephanie on the way home. We didn't get
back until 11:30, but it was a good experience and I
enjoyed talking with the sisters.

That about covers it. Claire is still doing well in
school. I went to lunch at her school one day and
that was fun -- she liked having me there and it was
interesting to eat school cafeteria food again. Her
teacher said she is a great student. Anyway, we hope
all are well and we love you.