Rodents

Websters: belonging or pertaining to the gnawing or nibbling mammals of the order Rodentia, including the mice, squirrels, beavers, etc.

Amy: a group of small pain in the behind critters that mock me continuously, even in death

I don't like them. No, that is too nice. I despise them. I hate them. I want to kill them all. I am not normally a violent person, however rodents bring out the worst in me. And blogland lets me vent. So you have to listen.

It all started as I went to take Jess to ballet today. We were running late, looking for her ballet slippers, which were not where they were supposed to be. So, we piled into the car and backed it out of the driveway, when I noticed an unusually strong stench in my car. I could barely breath and decided that another mouse had gotten into my car and decided to die there. So, put the car in park and proceed to look under all the seats. Nothing. We proceeded to go to ballet. I realized quickly that it was coming through the air condition vents. Turn off the air. Over 90 degrees outside. Turn the air back on. Try not to breathe. Turn the air off. Put the window down. Hot. Noisy. Yucky smell coming from my vents. WHY ME??? I call Dad.

"Something died in my air conditioning in my car."
"Well, it's probably in the air cleaner, so take off the cover and look inside." (He thinks this is easy for everyone!)
Okay, I will have Scott take a look at it when I get home."
Scott arrives at the gas station shortly after I do and I lift the hood and we start to poke around. Don't see the black box that Dad swears is in there.

"Hi, Dad, what are you doing tonight? I will make you dinner...oh, you don't eat dinner, well, how about breakfast? Oh, well, I will look in the engine and call you back when I get home."

So I get home, take apart big parts of my engine that don't look like they should be removable and find a big duct that has a fan at the end of it. Upon closer look, I find a dead mouse in there. So that's the little bugger stinking up my world. Couldn't he die someplace else? Scott gets home as I am donning the gloves to do the extraction and he says, "Let's suck him out", so he gets the shop vac out and sucks up the mouse. Done. I call Dad back. "We got him, the car is rodent-free." "Yeah, I knew that's where he'd be." "Well, Dad, that is why I called you. Thanks."

And I didn't invite the mice. There is nothing in my car except papers. And only a couple of days worth of mail.

And, by the way, there's another gopher.

Worry

Worry. Why do we do it? There are a million things to worry about and we are not supposed to "worry" about any of them. Webster's says, "To torment oneself with or suffer from disturbing thoughts; fret."

So we try not to worry, but when things start to go south, those of us who are prone to worrying start to do it. Then we have to pray to God that He will help us to get through the worry times.

Our house payment is going up $330 per month. Because of the escrow account. Stupid escrow account. And the people who estimated it wrong. They seem to assume that people have an extra few hundred dollars sitting around for just such an occasion. THEY ARE WRONG! So, the worrying sets in. How will we come up with the money, where else can we cut back? The car thing was great, saves a lot of gas, but we didn't find out until after we bought it that the VW takes PREMIUM! and the stupid salespeople didn't tell us that. We went in to the dealership to cut our gas expense and they sell us a car that runs on PREMIUM! So, the savings are not as great as anticipated, but still better than before. So now, we have to come up with more money for our house payment. So, I am lying in bed praying, worrying, "God, please help us, what are we supposed to do?" Please tell me what we should do!"

"HAVEN'T I TAKEN CARE OF YOU SO FAR?"

"Well, yeah, but what are we supposed to do NOW?"

"HAVE FAITH."

Okay, cool. So, now I know not to worry. But I already knew that. I just wasn't doing it. I am still wondering what to do, but I am trying really hard not to worry about it.

I bet God gets frustrated with us when we beg and plead for answers and when He does speak to us, we don't do what He says. No wonder He doesn't speak to us very often.

Hmmm. What next?

The Nethercutt Collection

If you have never been to that big tall building in Sylmar (going north on the 405, just before you get to Roxford, look to your right, big yellow building, can't miss it), you need to go. It was so much fun! I made a reservation for Scott, Dad and myself and secured babysitting with my wonderful friend, Lana. This was for an early father's day present to the two of them. I didn't know if I would be able to get in closer to Father's Day, so I figured I would take what I could get. Well, I had been there about 15 years ago and always wanted to go back. They have done a lot since then. There are over 200 restored cars in the collection, housed in two buildings. You can get very close to the cars, as only about half of them have ropes around them. Bugattis, Duesenbergs, Model T's, Model A's, Rolls Royces, Bentleys, Cadillacs Cunninghams, Cords, Hispano Suizas. Every kind of car you can imagine and some you can't! Electric steam engine cars that used very little gasoline and other things that we think are so "new" and creative, that they came up with 75 years ago. Nothing is new anymore. We spent about two hours looking at all of these, as well as a pullman rail car that was completely restored and a steam engine. They have hood ornaments for cars, a travel trailer from the 1920's, I think. It is so cool! And all this other stuff. My father car lover and husband car lover saw things they had never even heard of, let alone seen! Then we took the tour across the street at the original San Sylmar. Two levels of cars (including a 1933 Duesenberg SJ 20 Grand - one of a kind, because nobody had the "20 Grand" to spend on a car like this at the time) and then a bunch of other stuff. Mrs. Nethercutt's collections are here. More David Winter cottages than you even knew existed. A beautiful doll collection. Hummels. Crystal. Antique Louis the something furniture you can sit on! And the music collection. Oh, the music collection. It was amazing. They have a pipe organ like you have never seen or heard. And this huge organ that they have music concerts on. Several times per year and then they record it on the computer and the organ plays it back exactly the way the original performer did, mistakes and all. They have player pianos that play the paper roll music and a big huge music machine that plays 24 instruments at the same time. And you get to sit down and listen to them play! This is a very entertaining way to spend the day. And best of all,

It Is FREE to get in! You just need to make a reservation!

So, if you want to have a fun day out, go down there and see it. It is so worth the drive!

Water Babies

The girls are in the bathroom every chance they get. No, not like teenagers, who go in the bathroom and lock the door and you don't see them for hours. They go into the bathroom, close the drain and then proceed to "wash" everything in reach. They take out the soap and scrub down the counters. They fill the sink up with water, put everything in it and play. They get water all over the counters, floor, everything. Then Scott and I have to go in there and clean up the mess. Which wouldn't be so bad, except we have the kind of sinks that have the raised edge and you can't just wipe the mess off into the sink. You have to get a towel out and mop it all up. Which is why they have been getting in trouble for this on a daily basis for the last several days. Scott went in the bathroom last night and stood in the doorway. Rebekah opens up the cupboard and stands on the shelf so she can reach the sink. So, Scott is standing there in the doorway looking at her. She looks up at him in the mirror, big brown eyes even bigger than normal. She has the sink partially filled with water and a toy in it. She hits the drain plug on the back of the faucet and says, "I'm not playing in the baffoom." Then proceeds to make a hasty retreat out of the bathroom. He could hardly contain himself. No punishment for the cute little girl with the big brown eyes. Some things you just gotta let go.