What do you get when you cross a bedbug-recovering apartment with a baby whose new routine is to wake up for the day at 4:30 a.m.?

An 8 a.m. Sunday nap in a camping chair.

hahaha

11: Part 3

Back in April, Kara from Not A Couple's Blog tagged me in one of those "11 Things About Me" games and I was super excited because she is awesome and one of my favorite bloggers ever and I wish that we were friends in real life and she wants to know 11 things about me! 

(By the way, you really need to read her love story. It's great.)


I finally got around to this post last week and it just so happens that I am pretty good at rambling on and on and on about stupid, unimportant things about myself. To keep this post from being never ending, and because this is my blog and I can do what I want, I am breaking up this post into three parts so that I can ramble on about myself for even longer!
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8. I love Spencer .000000000001% less than I should because he quit reading the Harry Potter books in the middle of The Goblet of Fire. The Goblet of Fire!!! And I love him even .000000000001% less than that because he told me that he will never ever ever be seen with me rollerblading, which is basically my most favorite thing ever! I even rollerbladed to school for a month my senior year of high school when I lost my car keys, and let me tell you what, it was cool! (They are NOT fruit boots, Spencer Hall!!!) Good thing he made up for his lack of passion for Harry Potter and rollerblading by getting addicted to Lost this month and loving it as much as I do, if that is even possible. (But then again, he likes Sawyer better than Jack...)

9. I wish I would have taken photography and choir in high school. I wish I didn't quit taking piano lessons. (You were right, mom.) I wish I would have majored in Business and applied for the USU's Hunstman Scholar program in college. (Again, you were right, mom.) I wish that we did not buy those night stands off of craiglist that most likely had bed bugs hiding in them.

10. I am directionally disabled. In high school, I drove home (I thought) from a football game at Mesquite High School and it wasn't until I hit Pecos and Arizona Ave that I realized I was going the wrong way. Last week, it took me an hour to find the 7-minutes-away Sams Club that we have been frequenting for the past 6 weeks. I never pay attention to where I am going unless I am the driver and even then, it takes me at least a solid five trips to remember how to get to my destination, and figuring out how to get back takes another three to five trips on top of that. Alabama has been particularly tricky because everything looks the same (green and hilly), there are no distinct landmarks, the signage is bad, and there are a million intersecting freeways and highways.

11. I love traveling and seeing new places.  I started saving my money in elementary school so that I could study abroad in college. I was able to study abroad in England and Italy between my freshman and sophomore year of college. I was also able to teach English in China the year after that. I feel like I learned more about myself and my country in those two experiences than in all of my years of education combined. This year when I told people that I was moving to Alabama, I got interesting reactions like, "that stinks" or "I'm sorry", but really, I have been thrilled to live in and experience living in the south.
(And sleeping with bed bugs has proven to be pretty thrilling for my new obsessive compulsive/anxiety ridden self!) And really, you'd think after sleeping bed bug free in crusty sleeper buses and in the sketchiest hostels known to man in China, I would be immune to bed bugs! I guess it doesn't work that way and darnitthispostisstartingtosoundlikeanotherbedbugrantingandravingpostfromacrazylady!!!

***I tag whoever feels like writing 11 things about themself. I promise I'll read it!

Fishing

The only thing more boring than fishing is watching somebody else fish. And the only thing more boring than watching somebody fish is watching that somebody not even catch a fish! Good thing Spencer's real good looking or else we would have gotten really bored!

11: Part 2

Back in April, Kara from Not A Couple's Blog tagged me in one of those "11 Things About Me" games and I was super excited because she is awesome and one of my favorite bloggers ever and I wish that we were friends in real life and she wants to know 11 things about me! 

(By the way, you really need to read her love story. It's great.)


I finally got around to this post on Monday and it just so happens that I am pretty good at rambling on and on and on about stupid, unimportant things about myself. To keep this post from being never ending, and because this is my blog and I can do what I want, I am breaking up this post into three parts so that I can ramble on about myself for even longer!
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4. I am movie challenged. Movies are either too dumb for me or I'm too dumb for them. (too cheesy or too confusing.) Growing up, none of my friends ever wanted to sit next to me while watching movies because I ruined it for them by either making fun of it or asking too many questions. I hate almost every chick flick made after the year 2000. British accents are hard. I lose interest in almost every movie I watch at home and unfortunately, our budget and Jack make it difficult to actually go to the movies. I would much rather get hooked to a TV series. 

5. The most defining and dramatic moment of my life happened the week of my high school graduation. Not because I graduated, but because of Lost's season three finale!!! The scene with Jack and Kate at the airport!!!!?!! Epic.

6. I have fifty billion more food cravings now than I ever did when I was pregnant. I will give up dinner for dessert any day. I also really really really like to talk about food, and eat it, which leads to fact number 7...

7. Weight watchers is the only diet I have been on where I have been successful in losing a significant amount of weight. (That and the eatwhatevertheheckifeellikewhilenursingandrunning diet). I love weight watchers and could talk on and on and on about how awesome and realistic and doable it is. I will spare you, but if you are considering joining, ask me about it so I have an excuse to talk on and on and on about how awesome and realistic and doable it is.

Yo Momma Runs!!!

Yo Momma Runs is not my new favorite running blog, it is my only favorite running blog because, I have never actually ever followed a running blog before. I love running. I do not love running blogs. They get boring real fast.

But then while in deep conversation about the Bachelorette with my new friend, Lisa, I discovered that she has a running blog. I went to her blog and let me tell you, it's a good one. It's funny and quirky and running-oriented and full of personality and I love it.

So if you are into running, or if you are into awesome funny blogs that frequently mention running, I recommend Yo Momma Runs. It's great.

P.S. I have never wanted to win a blog giveaway so bad in my entire life. It's a half marathon! In Nashville! I even created a twitter account just to get another entry for this giveaway. So whatever you do, don't enter the giveaway and lower my chances of winning! The only reason I am including this P.S. in here is so I can enter again. :) But seriously. Back off of this giveaway.

11: Part 1

Back in April, Kara from Not A Couple's Blog tagged me in one of those "11 Things About Me" games and I was super excited because she is awesome and one of my favorite bloggers ever and I wish that we were friends in real life and she wants to know 11 things about me! 
(By the way, you really need to read her love story. It's great.)


I finally got around to this post today and it just so happens that I am pretty good at rambling on and on and on about stupid, unimportant things about myself. To keep this post from being never ending, and because this is my blog and I can do what I want, I am breaking up this post into three parts so that I can ramble on about myself for even longer!
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Let's start with important things like brushing my teeth...

1. I brush my teeth at least 6 times a day, but usually more. It doesn't matter what kind of bargain I can get on other toothpaste, Arm & Hammer toothpaste is the only toothpaste that make my teeth feel fresh and clean, so I cough up $3.50 a tube at Walmart and never feel guilty.

2. Three "get to know you" questions make me feel dumb: what is your dream car, what is your favorite music, and what are your talents/hobbies. One, I am clueless when it comes to cool cars. Two, I mostly listen to music the people around me like listening to (when I'm by myself I listen to Dennis Prager). And three, I would consider my hobbies to be exercising, blogging, and listening to Dennis Prager. I used to be embarrassed about my lack of musical, crafty, and homemaker-y hobbies, but now I don't care anymore. My "hobbies" keep me happy and sane and that's all that matters to me.

3. My mom has my facebook password. I have considered changing my password multiple times, but have come to the realization that my mom is a valuable asset to my facebook stalking. She finds the juiciest info and the best/lamest connections. Statements like, "wait, you're saying so-in-so's brother's wife's mother went to high school with you?!" are pretty common in our conversations. I like knowing minor unimportant details of peoples' lives that most people probably don't care about. I like anything with pictures of people with a story behind it. I like making connections. I'm either genuinely caring or genuinely nosey, you decide, and it's a trait I inherited from my mom's side of the family. Spencer says it is impossible to follow any conversation that more than one Smith girl is a part of, and I think my dad and uncle Jim would back him up on that.

An astronaut visit

This past month has felt like a very long and very stupid and very un-fun version of camping. We left Logan exactly four weeks ago, but as you can see, we're making very slow progress...

The exterminator came to spray our apartment yesterday! After inspecting our apartment and observing all of the prep work that we had done he told me, "Wow, you really went all out! Thank you for your cooperation."

Of course we went all out, Mr. Exterminator! There were bugs crawling up and down our skin at night!! And you call this all out?! Do you know how hard it was to not burn down our entire apartment?!

He told us that our infestation didn't look so bad, that he would kill those dirty little bleepers, and he predicted that we would not have a bed bug problem again. I sure hope he is right. 

In the mean time and in addition to the plethora of "minor" issues with out apartment, our shower drain stopped draining completely! We asked the maintenance guy to come fix it but he refused to even come close to our apartment because - bed bugs! Apparently, he has "done a lot of research on bed bugs and even if we sprayed, they won't die until next Tuesday." 

Next Tuesday?! We also did a lot of research on bed bugs, Mr. Maintenance Guy, and talked to our exterminator and to our other friends who work for pest control companies, but we don't quite understand how you came up with Tuesday. Our showers cannot wait until next Tuesday!!

After much encouragement from the apartment management, the maintenance guy finally agreed to fix our shower drain today. He said the rest would have to wait until Tuesday or later - because the bed bugs would be dead by then. Whatever.

You can imagine my surprise when I opened the door this afternoon to find the grouchy/angry maintenance guy dressed in a full on astronaut suit with rubber slippers standing at my door! I think he had our already bed bug sprayed apartment confused with the bubonic plague or something. For a moment, I actually wished that those dead bed bugs were still crawling up and down my skin so that I could give that astronaut/plummer a huuuge hug of gratitude for coming before Tuesday! Just spreading the love, man!

On a happier note, we only have to pay half of our rent next month! We earned it, don't ya think?

Speaking of happier notes, I will try to stop venting on this blog. It's just that it's the cheapest therapy out there.

It could always be worse

Our second night in Alabama was horrible. Fifteen minutes before we were supposed to check into our apartment, the apartment management called us and told us that our apartment had fleas, that there were no other apartments available, and that they were closing so we would have to wait and talk to them about it the next day. We were frustrated, worried, and homeless. I don't know what we would have done without the Van Kampens, my grandparents dear friends, who invited us to stay with them until everything got taken care of.

As I rocked Jack to sleep that night, I felt pretty sorry for myself. I glanced at their bookcase and saw a children's book entitled, It Could Always Be Worse. I thought the title seemed timely for our situation, so I opened it up and read...


"Once upon a time a poor unfortunate man lived with his mother, his wife, and his six children in a one-room hut. Because they were so crowded, the children often fought and the man and his wife argued. When the poor man was unable to stand it any longer, he ran to the Rabbi for help..."

The Rabbi then advices the man to bring his dog to sleep in their hut, and then their cat, and cow, and chicken and pretty soon their whole hut is filled with all of their barn animals and it is complete chaos. Finally, the Rabbi tells the man to put all of his animals back into the barn and then, the man is soooo grateful to live with just his mother, his wife, and his six children in that one-room hut. The once unfortunate man feels fortunate. 

I thought the story was cute so I read it to Spencer, and we went to bed grateful, knowing that our situation could always be worse.

And boy, did it get worse. 

We anxiously waited for two more days not knowing if we could get into an apartment.

Then we got into an apartment! But once the freshly painted wall smell resided and the carpet cleaning smell resided, the smoke smell started seeping through the walls. 

Then Jack started eating the cat hair!

And I had a claustrophobic panic attack!

So we packed up all of our stuff and moved again.

And even though our air conditioner is still broken in this apartment, and even though our washer and dryer can't be plugged in until the air conditioner is fixed, and even though it takes an hour and a half to drain the water from a 5 minute shower, and even though our screen door is ripped and broken, and even though our garbage disposal is broken, and even though our oven timer and light is broken, and even though our hallway light is dangling by one tiny wire, we have just kept on being grateful because we are smoke free and cat hair free and flea free! And we aren't homeless! And we met the nicest friends! And the management promised they would get around to fixing everything! And because it could always be worse!

And oh, how I wish that was the end of our cute little "it could always be worse/count your blessings" story.

But, on Thursday we found the bed bugs...

So for the past three days, we've been washing and drying and trashing and bagging all of our belongings. We've googled searched and vacuumed and wiped and sprayed. We keep our clean belongings in the truck, and our dirty belongings in the house, and the most entertainment we've had all weekend was the look on the bank tellers face when we asked him for $80 in quarters.  Lying awake at night just thinking that those tiny little suckers are crawling up and down our skin is actually worse than the bed bug bites themselves.

But tonight we'll sleep tight, knowing that this is (hopefully) the last night the bed bugs will bite (because pest control is coming in the morning!!! Hallelujah!!) and also knowing that it could always be worse. 

And if it does get worse... BRING IT!!!

In the mean time, we'll just stay slap happy from exhaustion.