Uncategorized

Hello Internet!  Did you miss me?  I missed you.

About two weeks ago our computer died.  Totally died.  We knew the computer was nearing the end of its mortal life, but that didn’t make the loss any easier to bear.

Do you know how hard it is not to have a computer?

I couldn’t cook because all my recipes were on it.

I couldn’t drive anywhere new because I couldn’t get directions.

I couldn’t look up any phone numbers.

I couldn’t print off documents that I needed to sign and email them back.

I couldn’t comment on blogs or create new posts or check facebook or read the news or pin things to my (nonexistent) Pinterest account or do any other manner of things to waste time online.

It was actually kind of freeing to be disconnected from everything in a way.

In another way it was just really irritating and inconvenient.

Dallas ordered a new computer and it arrived three days ahead of schedule making Dallas a very happy man.

Welcome to the family MacBook!  We vow never to take your existence for granted.

Remember I made capes for the girls for Christmas?  And that they didn’t care about them at all?

In my quest to force the girls to like their capes, I hastily cut out some mini capes for their animal friends.

Success!

Also adding to the fun is a mattress:

My grandparents gave us their bed.  We’re working on getting rid of our old bed, but in the meantime the girls have LOVED their indoor trampoline.

I hate fruit flies.

I haven’t always had such strong emotions about the little insects.  At most, I thought they were merely an annoyance.  That was until the Golden Fruit Fly Infestation of 2011.

We were given a bag of cherry tomatoes.  The tomatoes were so good, and we were heartily enjoying them.  However, when we made it to the bottom of the bag, we found a squished tomato.  Disturbing that tomato caused a cloud of fruit flies to scatter all throughout our kitchen.  At the time, neither Dallas nor I knew the misery that was in store.

The fruit flies annoyed us for a few days, but we weren’t too worried.  They only have a life span of a few days, and we’ve had fruit flies here and there before.  They just die out and we move on with our lives.  However, after a few days, I realized the fruit flies were not going away; in fact, I was pretty sure they were multiplying.  Thus began our crusade to rid our house of those irritating things.

We researched how to get rid of fruit flies online and made three traps.

Trap #1:  Yogurt and soap bubbles

We filled a container with yogurt and put soap bubbles on top.  The soap bubbles were supposed to trap the fruit flies.  Most flies were too smart for this trap.  They waited until the bubbles had popped and then went after the yogurt.  We only caught a few.

Trap #2:  Tape trap

I was sure this would work.  I had talked to my brother who told me he had a fruit fly infestation a while ago and they got rid of the flies with fly tape.  I decided to concoct my own tape trap.

Yep, there it is in all its glory.  Scotch tape sticky side up with a glob of yogurt in the middle to entice the flies.  This trap caught exactly one fruit fly.

Trap #3:  Funnel

This was by far the most effective trap.  You simply make a funnel with paper and put something inside the cup that the flies want.  They go down the funnel to get the goods, but can’t find their way back out.  I was skeptical of this method, but it’s been the only thing that has worked.

I finally broke down and bought real fly tape on my brother’s glowing recommendation.  The real fly tape was just about as effective for us as my Scotch tape trap was.  I had such high hopes that I would wake up to find hundreds of dead flies on the tape.  No such luck.

We’ve put more funnel traps out and I think I’m finally noticing a decrease in the flies.  At least for today.  Does anyone out there have any other tricks we should try?  I can feel my sanity slowly slipping with each new batch of flies that I spot.

You know how my brother, Ben, just got back from his mission a couple of months ago?

He’s now attending BYU.  BYU happens to be really close to the city where we live.

One day he was over for a visit, and I asked him if Mom and Dad had gotten him a meal plan.  He said no.  That’s when I realized I was his meal plan.

Another time he started complaining about the lack of laundry facilities at his apartment complex.  Then he (not so) subtly asked if I had a washer and dryer.  That’s when I realized I was also his laundromat.

Yesterday as he was over doing laundry and eating my food, I came to another realization – if the name of the game is mooching, two can play.

I think I have a new babysitter in town.

Our youngest son, Rebecca’s brother Ben,  has just returned home from the Singapore Mission.  It was fun and exciting to have him back in our midst.  It was great to get the first glimpse of him at the airport.  Dallas was on the scene and doing his magic with his camera.  Thanks, Dallas, for your wonderful job putting all the mission photos together at the beginning and then adding on the airport experience at the end.  It was fun to watch it all over again and relive the excitement and happiness we felt greeting our son after his being gone for over 2 years!