6/22/08 La cucaracha...

We have now spent the past 2 weeks working our tails off to make our new house "home." It's been a bit of a challenge, but in the end it is always worth it.

After the movers unloaded our stuff from their truck on Friday, Hubby and I worked non-stop to unpack everything. By the time we got to bed late that night, all of our stuff was out of the boxes and at least in the vicinity of where it needed to stay. I am always amazed at the amount of stuff that comes out of those boxes. I like to think that I am somewhat of a minimalist...I generally don't like things around the house that have no purpose. Before and after every move I've made during and since college, I find pleasure in throwing things away and trying to simplify my belongings for the next move. With the amount of stuff we have thrown or given away, I'm sometimes amazed that we still have stuff to pack. But alas, we always have more than is anticipated.

By Sunday night we were probably 85% finished with the house. By Monday night I'd say we were about 99% finished. Only today can I officially say we are 100% finished with our house. After 2 solid weeks of rug-shopping, we finally found one to put in the living room of our mostly-hospital-tiled base house. It doesn't feel so sterile anymore.

*****

Already, base housing has been a trip! The first night we stayed in our house, we hadn't received our HHG's yet, so we made a little bed of blankets on the floor of our bedroom. About 2 am, I shot straight up in "bed," swearing that I had just felt something on my arm. Hubby ran to turn on the light and confirmed my nightmarish suspicion. A GIANT cockroach had indeed crawled across my arm. Welcome to Texas! I could hear the classic Mexican diddy of "La Cucaracha" playing in my head as Hubby danced around the bedroom trying to stun the little monster. After he swore to me that he wasn't lying about flushing it down the toilet, I reluctantly got back into "bed," insisting that we keep the light on. I thought I remembered from somewhere that roaches don't like light, so this was our only weapon. We slept the next several nights (until our stuff got moved in) sleeping with the obnoxious overhead light on. Those tacky diva-esque sleeping masks that I always wonder why anybody would wear, would definitely have come in handy those nights.

Earlier on this week, something similar happened. We were laying in bed before falling asleep. Hubby casually told me not to look, but to just leave for a little bit. Of course I looked. Crawling across our bedroom wall (right towards my head!!!) was another of those nasty South Texas monsters. Cue "La Cucaracha" and Hubby's dancing again! Since that night I have not had a good night's sleep. The safety of my bed has now been compromised. I wake up several times each night when the sheet moves on me, thinking it is another bug. It's very sad.

Not only have we had cockroach problems, we have also had dog problems...mostly our dog. We live in a duplex and (obviously) share our fence with our neighbors. Puppy is a tiny little thing, and, true to her breed, a burrower. She has found the tiniest hole between the fence and the grass to squeeze herself into the neighbor's backyard to play with their cocker spaniel puppy. It's a good thing that she gets along with the dog, otherwise we would probably be getting kicked our of our house right now. Hubby's greatest fear would come true. His C.O. would call and say, "Lieutenant, it appears that you have a delinquent dog. Better shape up!" This afternoon while eating lunch, we saw the end of our "Hound-ini's" escape. We saw her little hiney squeeze under that fence to see the dog next door that had just been let out. The neighbor's door was also open, and Puppy let herself right on in. She thinks she is soooo entitled! I just hope we don't become those people on our block.