"Bugged" Again

My friend Jean sent me a lovely care package with a bunch of Costo size boxes of junk food (I still need to know how much I owe you Jean). I got the box yesterday and was so excited to see pop-tarts, cereal, granola bars and best of all OREOS! It was like Christmas.
Anyway I put everything away in our little pantry and in the morning Richard informed me that the ants had gotten into all the new food.
I foolishly thought that since I hadn't opened anything that it wouldn't attracted those pesky little creatures, WRONG! These little guys are very persistence and obviously "sealed packaging" in the US isn't what it used to be. The hardest hit item was the box of oreos. But we were not going to let those pint sized soldiers win this time. We unwrapped every package except for a couple that obviously had no hope of revival and searched every single oreo for ants (i.e.picture obove). After all, junk food from America is a precious commodity and I could not let all those oreos or money go to waste!
We went through everything else and every box contained ants but the only other item that actually contained ants inside the bags were the frosted mini-wheats. So again I sifted through two large bags of mini-wheats and saved those as well. I'm actually proud of myself because if this had happened in the states I would have chucked everything in the trash and started over. But when your desperate you tend to be a bit more resourceful.

Unsalvigable Oreos! :(

A plate of "clean" oreos!

Bottom of the oreo box and what was left of the ants. There was easily 10 times this amount when we opened it.

Sad Bunny Story

Okay, our sad bunny story goes like this:

Last month Morgann and Richard went out on an adventure together to "Old Delhi" (the older part of Delhi city) and as they were looking around they came accross a pet market and saw two adorable miniture bunnies from Nepal. They were in deplorable conditions and once Morgann batted her eyes and said "Daddy we can't just leave them" It was all over, we suddenly became family to two of the tiniest rabbits I've ever seen. I was not crazy about this turn of events and took every opportunity to voice my opinion on how crazy it was but what could I do, I wasn't going to send them back so....
Anyway, the kids fell in love with the bunnies immediatly (who doesn't love bunnies). But we couldn't come up with names for several days. We tried all sorts of combinations until one day we were all in a bedroom watching the bunnies run around and explore and Taylor started doing commentary for there actions and as they ran around in a frenzy they almost ran into one another and Taylor said "party on Wayne, party on Garth" and we all looked at each other as we obviously came to the same conclusion at once and yelled "Thats it!". So we named them Wayne and Garth. Garth was the brown one and Wayne the black and white.
So now to make a long story even longer. After 4 or 5 days I decided it was time to get them some proper rabbit supplies so I went online and ordered rabbit food, litter, food & water dishes etc..we also had the vet come and give them shots. I was beginning to make peace with the idea that they would be sticking around. Maybe that was my mistake, because not more than a day or two later I came home from a shopping trip and found Wayne and Garth dead in their box. We don't know why they died but the vet said that those kinds of bunnies are very fragile and have a hard time adapting to different or sudden changes in environment. Every now and then we kid around that our maid smothered them so she didn't have to take care of them (although I'm sure that was not the case). Whatever the case, they were the sweetest and cutest little bunnies and we will miss them.

Morgann Got Braces

Morgann got her braces on last week and was really hating life! She said it was really painful for several days. It was pathetic to see her sucking on her oreos, poor thing.

Update

It's been a while since my last post but things haven't changed much. We are still unpacking boxes although we are down to the last 2 or 3, alleluia!
We've also had painters here the last few days painting our main floor and hallway upstairs. For those of you who saw my house in Virginia, I miraculously found colors very similar so I am very excited! I'm sure my brother Keith is sighing in relief since he didn't have to come and paint this house for me like the last one!
Morgann leaves for Sri Lanka this week and is "SO EXCITED!". Tyson finally started all day kindergarten (its been a shortened schedule thus far). Although its probable too late to save my reputation. By now I am probable known as the worst-mom-ever by anyone who runs in the kindergarten social circle. But I have to admit it is well deserved. I have forgotten to pick Tyson up from school more times than I really care to admit (the office has my number on speed dial). But now that is all over and he can come home with the other kids and I can concentrate on damage control! :)
Richard is going to Kashmir this week for an over night trip and has been to Calcutta twice already. So much for no travel in his new job, but its nice because it is very random and never more than a day or two. He likes his job okay but he is much busier than he or I imagined he would be. He still prefers the protection side of his job rather than the investigative side but overall he seems to be adjusting well.
I am currently taking Hindi classes and have been using my cook as a tutor and study partner to help me learn. I have really been enjoying it! Its not a very difficult language but the sentence structure is very difficult for me and I tend to say things backwards. Call me sometime and I'll give you a little taste of my Hindi. Besides that I have been assigned to teach the youth seminary class in our Branch at church. We are doing Old Testament this year and I teach 3 nights a week so I spend a great deal of time studying. Either Hindi or scriptures, take your pick!
Thanks again for all the great comments, I get them all and I really appreciate hearing from you!

Thanks For Your comments

Just wanted to let everyone know that I've gotten a few comments since my "comment tutorial" a few posts ago. Thanks, its great to hear what you have to say and nice to know who's reading my blogs.

Household Goods Have Arrived!

I'm sitting amongst a great deal of cardboard and paper as I type but I'm extremely happy to have my stuff. So far nothing has been damaged, unless you count a small tear in my mattress from the taco fold they had to wrestle it into to get it up the stairs. Which I'm totally grateful for since the alternative was putting my bed in the small bedroom downstairs and continue to sleep on the slab-o-marble like mattress we've been sleeping on for the last 6 weeks. If they hadn't got it up the stairs when they did I was about to cut it in two myself to get it up there. It took about 10 men to smash and twist and contort until we finally got it up the stairs. Oh happy day!

Besides the mattress trauma everything seemed to go smoothly. I had a couple neighbors and my friend Angela stepped in to help me since Richard is in Calcutta for the next couple days doing some interviews. Go figure they would deliver on the day he leaves! But my cook and housekeeper chipped in and did a lot of the kitchen boxes and started putting it all away. I'm sure we'll have to rearrange but for now it is in drawers and cabinets.

I think we did pretty good so far as to what we brought and what we left behind but I'm sure there will come a moment when I will realize I stored something I really needed and brought something I really didn't!

So anyway, I will be unpacking for a few days but I'm sure it won't be long before there is a new post. I'm just full of it these days!

MS Swim Meet

Morgann had her first middle school swim meet this last Tuesday and did really well. She looked as good as ever, for not having swam competitively for over a year now. She's been working really hard and made it onto the SAISA swim team which is the travelling team. They will be going to Shri Lanka in a few weeks for an international meet. What would that be like!





Morgann got first place in 3 of her heats; Breast, Free & Fly. She took second in her heat on backstroke. She was swimming in the next age range of 13-14 yr olds instead of 12 and under. Breast stroke still continues to be her signature stroke but I was impressed with how much her other strokes have improved over such a short period of time.


Morgann loves to swim but I think soccer still holds the number one sport-spot in her heart and spring is just around the corner!
YOU GO GIRL!!

Don't Hate Me!

Just wanted to introduce you to my cook/housekeeper, Mutua (pronounced moo-too). She is 36 and has 3 children, the oldest of which (21) just had her first baby. A 5pd baby girl. She is so adorable. I am planning on taking pictures of her so maybe I'll be able to post them at a later date.

Right now Mutua does the cooking and the cleaning but we are going to hire some one else to clean so that she can devote more time to cooking (food is very important in our house)!
She is very sweet and smiles alot. She knows a lot of english but I have a really hard time understanding her accent and some times the european words that she uses for things confuse me as well like; "finger chips" any guesses on what those are.....

We are supposed to be getting our household goods this week and the commissary is expecting a shipment of groceries in from Germany! That means real milk, YEAH! We aren't all that fond of boxed milk, but its okay on cereal. Its the little things that make me happy! I've realized yet again how little you can actually live with or without, but I'm still really excited to get my stuff!. The commissary here is nothing like what we've ever had in the past and is very small and VERY expensive. That German milk I told you about, costs about $4 a liter (quick math=$12 a gallon). Put that in your pipe and smoke it!

Quotes of the Day

• If at first you don't succeed, skydiving is not for you.
• Never miss a good chance to shut-up.
• Before you criticize someone, you should walk a mile in their shoes. That way, when you criticize them, you're a mile a way and you have their shoes.
• There are two theories to arguing with women. Niether one works.
• Duct tape is like "The Force." It has a light side and a dark side, and it holds the universe together.
• If you lend somone $20 and never see that person again, it was probably worth it.

Auto Rickshaw

I promised a picture of an auto rickshaw...so here you go!