Christmas Tunes, Cockroaches, and Covid.

Three.  Three days left of confinement.  These are the days that make or break a mom.  😒 We are surviving on oatmeal and pancake mix until our ROM Runners grocery order is fulfilled this evening.  The runners program is only active Tuesday through Friday, so we've had to ration a tiny bit over the weekend, and a Tuesday evening appointment was the earliest I could get for grocery delivery. I definitely took for granted the ability to go out to the grocery store anytime I needed to grab whatever food I could possibly need.  LUXURY! Actually, being able to leave the house to go anywhere is an absolute luxury.  

Covid-19 has really made this an extra awesome PCS (permanent change of station). Not only do we get to be shut in our home for 14 days, but we also get to have the nasopharyngeal swab done today.  I can only imagine how well this is going to go over with my 6 year old. 😳 Edit: we just had the test done.  Whoever says its not bad, needs a reality check.  It hurt like HELL!!! My boys were all screaming bloody murder, and I would have too if I wasn't the first one to be tested.  I definitely let out some swears while they were doing it.  We are all now very pissed and feeling very violated.  Did I mention that I HATE covid?

We've had more than our fair share of local wildlife frequenting our home.  I was looking forward to getting out into nature before seeing as much as I've seen, but apparently, the creepy crawlies had other ideas in mind.  We've got a problem.  A cockroach problem.  In the last 4 days, we've seen over 12, make that 13, roaches in our home, and a plethora more outside.  I. can't. handle. it!  These bugs have triggered some serious anxiety for me.  I found out that a handful of roaches a year, A YEAR, is normal for most homes on base.  I also found out that our house sat vacant along with the other three attached homes for over year.  Its plain to see that we have a problem.  

Just when I didn't think I could handle anymore, I watched my 4 year old come in through the back door, and a giant cockroach scrambled right through the door with him 😖.  They had usually waited until dark to come out, but they were testing the waters in the daylight now.  NO!  It was immediately after this that we also noticed ants coming in through cracks in the walls!  AAAAAAGGGGHHHHH!  If I would have had a vacuum, I would have sat there and vacuumed them up all day.  Its satisfying.  But alas, our stuff won't get here until next week.  

This is the first one that came in during the day.  He's currently still alive in a gallon zip bag.

Blake called housing to see what they could do.  They wouldn't return his calls or emails for most of the day.  I reached out in desperation to a few branch members to see if anyone had any spray or anything we could use to combat the pests.  We had nothing but a broom. Luckily, several gals were ready to jump to our rescue and a can of Raid roach and ant killer was quickly delivered to my doorstep.  Roach poop all over outside.  Housing not answering our calls.  Luckily, dead roaches and ants were turning up all over the place after the Raid.  A sweet new friend called me and said "Babe, you've got an infestation, and that is a battle you will be dealing with for quite a while." She then suggested that we contact housing, again, and asked to be moved to a different house since there were many newer duplexes sitting empty.  BRILLIANT!  I told Blake.  He agreed.  He told our sponsor, he absolutely agreed and said if housing didn't call us back, he would go into their office and fight for us the next day.  Housing responded with an email late in the day saying they would bring us roach traps in two days.  TWO DAYS?!  What kind of service is that?! 😠 Blake let our sponsor know and he said he would get into the housing the next today.  Today is that day. I'm anxious to hear what he can do for us.

Every evening we sit together at the table to eat dinner (or not eat, as is the case of my 3 year old).  The days are long and stressful for all of us, and one day I had the idea to turn on some Christmas tunes on Alexa.  It helped to lift my spirits when I was in a stressful job many years ago.  Something about celebrating the birth of Christ at any time of the year can turn our angsty, tired selves into jolly dancing souls.  The boys love the Christmas music!  The Polar Express soundtrack has been a big hit. We've had fun talking about what Christmas will be like this year, and all the new decor we'll add to our collection.  We've noticed how the evergreen trees in our back yard look like Christmas trees, and so we must put lights on them!  🎄   Yes, I realize now that we might not be in this same house, come Christmas.  I HOPE we won't be in the same house.

This is me doing quarantine life. 1% sanity remaining.