2 more things for "The List"....

...Incredibly cheap roses and large rats....both of which you can find in my house right now.

Roses cost about $2.50 per 2 dozen! Isn't that incredible!?! Ecuador just happens to be the world's largest producer of roses. They come in more colors than I've ever seen at home...and the stems are over 2 feet long. Patti Sue always brings them back for me when she goes to Quito. :-)

And for the rat..... we discovered our little friend the other night when I was cleaning. I moved something in the food section of our shelves, and a lonely little spiral noodle fell out. I thought it was odd considering I hadn't opened that bag of noodles yet..... until I discovered the hole in the package. I proceeded to pull out everything in the cabinet...about half of which had been torn into. Our little friend was VERY hungry.

We found the hole that he comes through in the ceiling, but we're waiting until we know he's dead to block it. So...after taking all of the food out, we put out some poison pellets on each shelf. Side note...rats can somehow do little somersaults from one shelf to another if there's not another way to reach the food on the lower shelf.

About 30 minutes after putting the food out, I opened the cabinets to look...and I'm pretty positive he ran by and went up the hole. I didn't see HIM, but I saw the empty tupperware container that he tipped over as he fled.

Dwight, however, DID have the pleasure of seeing our little friend. Up until this point, I had convinced myself he was a rather small mouse...even more like a little gerbil, if you will. Dwight opened the cabinet and saw him in all of his glory....about 6 inches long in the body....and 6 inches long in the tail. (gag)

The next morning we got up to check, and he had definitely been back. I had left one single item in the pantry....a bag of rice enclosed in a ziploc bag. He must have been desperate, because he tore into that too. He also gnawed on the edge of the top shelf, b/c there were shavings on the bottom one. Dwight said he had eaten the poison and was going crazy... HA! I don't know why, but the mental image of the little fellow going into a frenzy and eating the wood makes me laugh.

Needless to say...I am actually very thankful he's contained to the cabinets in the kitchen. If I thought he was in the house.... I told my dad that I would have to put chairs all the way from the bed to the bathroom, so I could walk on them at night when I needed to get up. lol.... I would NOT be putting my feet down on the floor in the dark!

All in all....it's just another fun memory we'll have when we get home. Fun times.... I love it here.