Calmer...

I've mellowed out...

And I am just thankful that I have my beautiful, sweet daughter and beautiful, loving husband and bugs are just a minor inconvenience.

We are alive and well and happy and living our life together!

At my wit's end...

I've been repacking my kitchen again and not for the joyful reason I had hoped (to eventually move HOME).

RATHER, it is because this morning I opened my silverware drawer to find a very large Palmetto Bug more commonly known as an AMERICAN COCKROACH...la cucaracha!!!

NOT my picture. Stolen from Wikipedia.
I could not get a picture of my lovely house guest.

I'm soooooooooooo angry I can't describe it...

It doesn't help that I'm also feeling verrrrrrrry hormonal and cranky and packing up my kitchen again so that I can have it professionally sprayed tomorrow and WASHING ALL OF MY DISHES...is absolutely the last thing I want to have to do.

I can't explain the frustration of packing and facing having to unpack my ENTIRE kitchen again for the third time in six months. Our fault for trying to improve our life, I guess...

This Brady Bunch house has mold, wolf spiders, all kinds of spiders and CUCARACHAS. I can't stand it anymore.

Croatan National Forest

We visited the Croatan National Forest today...it's just a few minutes from our house. Well, I think it actually surrounds our house/neighborhood and it is the main reason that our cell phone coverage is shoddy...

But, it is beautiful and serene. We went on the nature trail today...It's almost like walking around at a trail back home - except while you're walking and you hear something "scuttering" (a new word I coined today because of my momnesia) - - it's not a giant spider; it's a crab that looks like a giant spider.

Teeeeeny, tiny fiddler crabs.
(Click to enlarge. And even then,
you might not see them too well.
They're really small!)

Bigger crabby swimming
in the water

Dead tree(s?)

Matilda explores her dad's head while riding on his shoulders:

Poison ivy. **I think** You know, "leaves of three" and all that.
Plus, they had an educational chart thingy warning that it was "abundant".
Aaaaaaah! Don't go off the trail!

Mommy gives it a try.

Photo Mike took of nothing in particular
to make me think he was taking a photo of me
while I was taking a "nature break"

Another dead tree

Bilda babbles:



Afterwards, we decided to go to downtown Swansboro and get a coffee. Mike pointed out a kitty...verrrrry close to some duck-chickens (Mike's phrase for the ugly duck things).

(Kitty is on the left. Click to enlarge.)

Duck-chickens are reeeeally attractive:

Awwww, here are some cuties!

Dropping a house in!

A great day! Can't wait for more exploring next weekend!

Coffeeeeeeeeeeee

I have been hooked on coffee again. We bought a small 5 cup machine and I'm brewing it almost every night, noshing my favorite cookies and sippin' mah coffee. Every weekend, I enjoy at least one trip to Star*bucks. I honestly love their coffee. It has this addictive, beautiful flavor. Or maybe it's their syrup - I'm not sure. At the same time, I feel ashamed to shout out my love since they are a monopoly and I do like to frequent small businesses. I can't help it though. It's kind of like my part-time vegetarianism. Sometimes, animals are too delicious to pass up.

We stopped by Star*bucks this weekend while out shopping and since the drive thru was backed up, Mr. Marcer went inside. I called my mom to chat while I was waiting and was perplexed to see him walk back with a small bag. A bag could only mean one thing - a sweet treat! He rarely ever splurges (without me being there to whine about wanting something) - so I couldn't help but stare at his sack while he walked to the car. Inside was a lovely, cinnamony treat:

I saved it until we got home and enjoyed it (with even more coffee) while watching some of the basketball tournament. It was actually prettier than it was tasty, but still a very sweet thought overall.

And since I'm far, far away from my beloved Kopi, I do like to keep one small part of home with me:

(It almost looks like GNG's handwriting on here!)

I shudder to think

So, we were at the Brady Bunch house this afternoon, checking things out and measuring spaces...

We let Matilda crawl around on the carpet. Her dad is much more protective than I am and he said:

"Oh, she's got a leaf."

Me: "That's OK."

Hubband: "Well, what if she eats it?"

Me: "Oh, she won't, but if she does - that's OK."

Hubband: "It's not a leaf - it's a dead wolf spider!"

(It looked pretty much just like this one.)

I absolutely abhor spiders! Can't stand 'em. I completely shut down if I think about having to actually **touch** one. I could only shake her hand so that she would drop the spider...thank goodness it was dead.

It's probably my most traumatic moment of her childhood (so far!)

Here I am

up late again...

I steal every free moment I can...I've been drinking coffee lately so I'm awake! I drink the coffee to combat my cookie gobbling...the caffeine "resorbs" the sugar...or so I like to think.

I can't really complain that the baby doesn't sleep enough. Almost 12 hours! But 7:00 a.m. is a little early for me. How can I say that when, if I was getting ready to go to work - I'd be up by then (barely).

I'll stumble around when I hear her in the morning. Right after her dad gets out of the shower, she starts babbling. This morning, just as I heard his motorcyle whirring, she cried! It used to be that she'd babble a while so I could get my shower. For some reason, I can't (or won't) start my day without my shower first thing.

I've been stressed lately because we have neighbors. We're one of four townhomes and haven't had anyone around until recently. It's been years since we've lived in an apartment and having neighbors is making me crazy! Mostly because I can't keep my impatient, demanding (sound familiar???) daughter quiet enough. There are just times in the day when the darling girl has to wait. I have to prepare lunch - it doesn't just appear! And I can hear my neighbor talking on her cell phone, so I can't imagine what they think they are hearing...most of the time, my daughter shrieks without notice and sounds as if she's just been stabbed...

Aaaaah, a few more days 'til we're on our own again!