enough already

Remember when you were little and played hide and seek with your parents and you were just sure that if you just closed your eyes, they couldn't see you? Or as you got older if you put your fingers in your ears and sang 'lalalalalalala' that you couldn't hear what they were saying (sorry mom & dad). Or maybe as you got to college and you thought if you just didn't write that paper, maybe you wouldn't have to turn it in, like it was never an assignment anyway. I wish I still didn't know about object permanence, and I think that's what I've been doing this past week not updating you about the rat - if I just pretend it isn't still living in our house, eating holes through our dishwasher and cabinets, avoiding new traps from a more motivated exterminator [who told us this is a roof rat which can weigh up to FIFTEEN POUNDS and fit through a hole the size of a quarter] - then maybe it will just go away. But it hasn't worked.

We left it this note with an rat poison laced treat; in case you can't read it, it says:

"Dear *!#@ Rat... We hope you DIE. We hate your stinkin' guts. Eat your arsenic laced treat & enjoy your last meal as you realize the Bruces are having the last laugh. P.S. You owe me a $100 to GAP body. DIE! DIE! DIE!"

Well...he didn't eat it. It avoided the trap by it's entry hole and we don't think it appreciated the note, because this is what it left us in response.

Yes that's right, it ate through the cabinet and dishwasher. And actually the hole got bigger. We covered that hole in duct tape that night and it ate the dishwasher to the left of the original hole all the way over to that metal hook you can see in the picture. Since then, we have continued to cover the hole in duct tape nightly, and it eats through the duct tape. Nightly. So recently I realized we could put poison on the back of the tape and it would have to ingest it if it ate through the tape. Well, it's eaten through the poisoned tape the past 3 nights, but is still coming back. I'm hanging on by a thin thread here folks. If it's not gone this week, we're out of here.

Terry's parents came into town today to see the progress on the house, go to church and lunch with us and continue their travels since they've been on the road and in the air since January. His mom told us the story at lunch of how they moved into their house when it looked pretty close to this to get their builders motivated to build a little faster.

What a pioneer you are Gloria! Unfortunately, I am not like Gloria or the pioneer woman, although this looks better than a roof rat infested house...Fortunately, our builders are plenty motivated on their own. The roof is almost fully shingled now, and we are supposed to be 'dried in' (windows sealed in, etc) this week. And we had some fun in the house after staying at the lake the other weekend with all the dogs. Kat had some fun with the camera, I had about 502 pictures to choose from to post here! But here we are standing in our 6 foot window in our living room off the porch. The microwave belongs to the builders. Even when they were just clearing the land, the microwave sat on the ground plugged in by a tree, and they would bring their lunch with them and heat it up. This is so resourceful and ingenious to me, I love it. If we move into the house in the current state, we wouldn't even have to bring our own microwave!

We go back to the doctor Friday for our next ultrasound, we'll be 13.5 weeks. Pray for a strong heart beat and that the pea would be growing as fast as my baby bump. I had to go on antibiotics this week for double ear and double sinus infections that were killer, and of course it made my first time mommy self a wee bit nervous. Grow strong & sweet pea.

Meanwhile, DIE RAT DIE.