ProJeCT ExteRniMaTioN

Project Externimation is fully under way! My wonderful fellow Relief Societians came yesterday to help me finish detail cleaning, put poison, steel wool, & caulk in all the 26 and counting holes/enemy points of entry. Oh! And did I mention we caught our first intruder?

David opened the closet door under the stairs and said, "Wifey! Look!" So I did, saw a dark blob, felt nervous, slowly walked closer and...well, I guess I had my first genuine girly moment. I scrunched up my face, gritted my teeth, exclaimed, "Ewwww!" and...brought my hands up near my face and...I fanned it! Valley girl style! Without even thinking! Then I did small jumps up and down and went, "Ew ew ew! Bleh!"

It didn't look or smell gross...it was just a dead diseased mouse. It actually looked pretty cute! I feel sorry that it was lead to believe that it could live here. As for the rest of them...they've been warned to leave or commit suicide by means we have provided.

Here are a few pictures of some holes:

WhAt iS LoVE?

Love's been on my mind lately for some reason. I keep getting thoughts of, "When you really truly love someone, what does it entail? Do I show it, or do I think I'm showing it?" etc.

The past few weeks, almost everything I've listened to or read seems to have some message about love that enlightens my mind. For example, this morning I was reading the scriptures and flipped open randomly to 1 John 4. 4:18 says, "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love."

Made me think. I'm always afraid to hurt David's feelings or afraid to offend someone or the other. And the same goes for David and just about everyone else, too, I'm sure. Here are my thoughts on the verse:

Fear scares us and keeps us from doing good.

We can't ever make someone offended at us. THEY choose to take offense.

Love includes chastening and correction. They help us to be the best we can be.

>>Consider this, we're all making cakes. You forget to put the eggs in it. I notice, but don't tell you because I don't want to hurt your feelings or make you feel dumb. Your cake turns out horrible and flat and you wonder why. I then tell you that I noticed you forgot the eggs as you were making it, but didn't want to tell you for fear of hurting or offending you. How much would you trust me after that? Because I didn't tell you, you feel more dumb and hurt than if I would have, not to mention that you now don't have any cake to enjoy.

Compare this to life. Anything in life. When someone is making a mistake or missing something vital and we know a better way, or have experienced it before, or whatever the case may be, and we don't try to help them, we are limiting them and not really showing them that we love them. In the end, when they find out that you knew better and didn't try to help them they will feel hurt, confused at the least, and lose trust in you.

How much better could we all be if we were honest and helped each other, even if we knew it would cause a little pain along the way?

The people we trust and care about the most are usually the people that were honest with us, there for us, and cared enough to help us. Are they not?

Obviously, I'm still not "perfect in love" - probably won't be for a long time - but I'll definitely try harder to be.

MoVe iT

So we're movin next weekend! Nice place, eh? $495 a month for 2 bed, 1 bath basement apartment and an extra storage room with our own washer and dryer! Aren't we just so lucky? Oh yes!

We'd been stressing about finding a newer nicer place with cleaner air vents and carpet as opposed to a house built in 1940 with disgusting air vents that are constantly clogging up our noses (including the baby's) and wood floors that give you splinters.

While sitting with the new landlord to sign the contract for this place, we mentioned that we were surprised that the place wasn't snatched up by someone else first. She then said that she believes the place was meant for us. She told us the following:

The last guy got kicked out of the place in November because he was living in filth (trash all over the floors and never cleaned). December they cleaned the place, and all of January and February they had the For Rent sign up, but everyone who called about it wanted to rent the entire house, not the basement. They finally decided to get a more obvious sign saying BASEMENT FOR RENT and put it up the following Monday. Within a few hours we drove by it and called, and the rest is history!

Talking to David afterwards about it, it turns out we were both fasting and praying for a place at the same time. Prayer works. Fasting and prayer REALLY work. We were also able to find a washer and dryer quickly and for cheap ($25 each) by the same means.

Now all we need is a vacuum, broom, and queen size bed frame...