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Thursday, August 28, 2008

Ants

When we originally looked at this house to rent back in late June, we had a full tour of the house. As the landlord and I approached the basement door (only accessible from outside) I noticed a thick trail of ants along the side of the house. "Huh..." I thought to myself. Apparently this house was already occupied. I shrugged it off, however, as I'd dealt with these kind of ants in the past with no problem. In the first house I lived in after I'd moved out of my parents' house, we had a sugar ant problem that was resolved in a matter of days. The house was too good of a deal for us to pass up over a few ants.

During July, I moved the majority of my belongings into the house and began living here before Lindsey and I were to be married in August. Every now and then, I'd spot an ant or two on the ground in the bedroom. I thought little of it. My to-do list included getting rid of the ant trail near the basement door, which I figured would take care of the problem.

The weekend before the wedding, Lindsey and I went to Bellingham to have our bachelor/bachelorette parties with friends, but right before we left, I discovered a swarm of ants at the base of the refridgerator, gobbling up some crumbs that messy-me had left on the floor.

"That's it," I thought, "I'm taking care of this right now." I grabbed my wallet and walked to Safeway (half a block from our house) determined to get rid of these stinking ants. I found a bait, similar to what I had used at my previous house, which had worked flawlessly before. I set them up around the house thinking all would be better when we got back from Bellingham on Sunday. Little did I know, this was just the beginning!

When we got back, I eagerly went to the house expecting to see the ants gone, only to find they had moved from the kitchen floor to the kitchen counter. Grrrrr. 5 lousy dollars down the drain, for bait these ants simply weren't wasting their time with. After a search on Google, the next day it was off to Lowes to find the top rated bait.

This stuff seemed to work. The ants were eating it up, and couldn't get enough of it. "Hah hah, ants -- the joke's on you!" The kitchen counter was relatively free of ants except the corner where I'd set up their feeding troff for the bait. Any ants that ventured off to explore the rest of the kitchen were doomed to meet my crushing finger.

A week later the ants were still eating up the bait, which I kept replenishing. The bait said to give it two weeks. By this time Lindsey and I had just gotten married and little could deter our attention away from each other and the joy we were experiencing as newlyweds. I insisted Lindsey be patient with my ant exterminating project, as we left for our honeymoon to the Columbia River Gorge.

When we got back, the little buggars were ready for a refill. The two weeks for this bait were almost up and it seemed to have little to no impact on the ants. If anything, we were just feeding them and helping them to multiply and occupy our kitchen. Our tolerance for these guests was wearing thin.

Next, I called the landlord to have an exterminator come. The next day they dropped off a chemical spray which required all food be covered, and you leave the house for two hours after fumigating. This stuff was too powerful to not work. The same day I had discovered the ants had invaded the food cupboard and were bathing in pancake sryup around the lid. I lost my temper and it was time to fumigate. When we got back, the house was cleared of ants, and for once there was a glimmer of hope. The next night, while Lindsey and I were playing Acey-doucey on the bed, we noticed some ants on the ceiling coming out of the light fixture. We couldn't win!

A couple days later, after commenting to Lindsey how the ants had seemed to be subsiding, she later yelled at me while I was in the bathroom that they were swarming on the kitchen counter again.

I think we've since given into accepting the ants, and are through exposing our kitchen to any more chemicals. They show up just about everywhere. In the bed, on my face, in Lindsey's hair, etc. Our current policy is "seek and destroy." I regularly check the spots where ants have been and crush them with my finger. Lindsey, although more reluctant to killing things, has begun doing the same. Dymphna, unfortunately, only eats the ants if they're already dead.

For now, I will continue having nightmares similar to this movie trailer:


Friday, August 22, 2008

Welcome to our family blog!


We welcome you to our new family blog! We hope to use this as a means to keep all our friends and family up-to-date on various milestones in our life. We have now been married for just over two weeks. I can't believe how fast time has passed!

Pictures from our photographer and friend, Casey Karbowski, are now available for viewing on his blog. After looking at some of the pictures, Andrew and I can't believe this holy event has come and gone! The Mass was so wonderful and I know we both wish we could do it again. We were so thrilled with every aspect of our wedding. We put a lot of work into everything and I feel like Our Lord really blessed us by pulling together all the loose ends. We had so many people who came to our aid during the days surrounding the wedding. We are deeply thankful for everyone's generosity.

After our wedding, we went to Ross to get a dress for me. Andrew's brother Lou was getting married the next day and I needed a dress. Guess who we ran into? Father Qui Thac (who witnessed our marriage)!! It was really funny.

Lou and Jenna's wedding was also truly wonderful. It was really neat sharing our weddings. I think doing so made the focus more on the Sacrament and not on the frills (although I did get into that too!). It will also be unique to be able to share our anniversaries over the coming years. I really hope we stay close to them and, God willing, we can raise children who will have cousins they are close to.

Sadly, I had to go to school on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday during the week following the wedding. I have been taking night classes this summer for my teaching program. Thus, we had to postpone our honeymoon until Thursday : (

We did have a relaxing and enjoyable honeymoon. We went camping by Beacon Rock on the Columbia River. It was SO hot, so we went swimming every day in the river. One night we went into Stevenson to a pub called "Walking Man." After delighting over a few beers, some pizza, and french fries, we walked down across the train tracks to a pier.

Me outside the Walking Man Brewery

We noticed an older couple swimming and decided to join them. As we walked to the rocky bank, Andrew noticed that we were right next to some cabins-- cabins that we tried to rent for our honeymoon! - But they were full. This was a completely random coincidence. However, they did look very nice. Maybe we will go there for an anniversary.

Andrew and me overlooking the Columbia River

The path going up Beacon Rock

My honey chopping wood (what a hunk!)

Andrew and me on the pier in Stevenson

Andrew after we went swimming. Beacon Rock is behind him.

The Columbia River

We went to Fr. Lappe's old parish in Camas, St. Thomas Aquinas, for the Feast of the
Assumption and Sunday Mass. (Fr. Lappe is our new parish priest at Our Lady Star of the Sea in Bremerton). The choir was amazing! We also enjoyed the aesthetics of the renovation which was done a few years ago.

On Sunday we met up with Mom and Dad St.Hilaire and Andrew's brother's family. Together we all went up to Mt. Adams for some huckleberry picking. This is a tradition in the St.Hilaire family. During Andrew and my courtship, I wanted to go with them on this trip. Andrew told me that I was not allowed to go because I was not a St.Hilaire. I jokingly say that the only reason I married him was so I could go berry picking =)


Huckleberry picking!

The mosquitoes at Mt. Adams were terrible. When we got to the traditional campsite, we were swarmed by these pesky little bugs and decided to go elsewhere. Andrew and I stayed behind so we could tell new St.Hilaire arrivals where we were relocating to. It was so bad, we sought shelter in the car and attempted to play one of our new favorite games- "Acey-doucey" (it's like Backgammon but better). Finally, someone came to rescue us and we joined everyone at the new campsite.

I absolutely love my new family! Spending this time with them was a great bonding experience for me. I feel really close to Terry and Christina's family (Andrew's brother, sister-in-law, nephews and neice) after spending all this time with them. I have felt close to Mom and Dad St.Hilaire for a long time and it feels very right to have them as parents.

My new beautiful family!

A candid shot of Mom, Dad, and Terry (take a look at Terry)

Here's that same picture zoomed in on Terry. I laughed so hard when I took this picture!
For the record, he is eating a potatoe chip! (Sorry Terry, but it is really funny!)


The huckleberry picking was good this year. We came home with almost 6 pie's worth. "Pie's worth" is the standard St.Hilaire measurement for huckleberries. "Pie's worth" is about 4 cups. I am a little afraid to actually make a pie with them though because Andrew's mom's pies are legendary. I'm not sure I can compete with that. Fortunately, so far Andrew has been very supportive of my kitchen creations and forgiving of my mistakes. I have noticed that I read the directions but do not check in with the measurements often enough. I often mix up the incorrect amounts of each ingredient. I am sure I will learn all of this in time.

I apologize for the length of this post, I had a lot to catch you up on! I may write more later about the wedding because I am sure memories will arise which I hope to share and record for future reference.

Please keep us in your prayers!