I took the GRE this weekend. It’s a graduate school exam. I took a version of it that is just for computer science. Of course I didn’t read the instructions until the night before the test. Their rules are that they don’t allow mechanical pencils! When was the last time I even used a non-mechanical pencil? (Do they have another name besides non-mechanical?) So I allotted some extra time to drop by the store in the morning. Well, Elisa woke me up the next morning and said, “I couldn’t find you a pencil sharpener.” She has been having some agitated dreams this week. Just that night she had been spooked and I had to walk her to the bathroom door because she didn’t want to leave the bedroom alone. 🙂 I know it is a little weird of me to get all freaked out but there are many adults that are affected by nyctophobia (fear of the dark) that lead completely normal lives. I am working on it. 🙂 For the record, Elisa doesn’t lead a normal life. That’s why I married her. On Thursday night she woke up in the middle of the night and told me that she just remembered that the bishop had asked her to speak in church. I told her she should wait until morning to decide whether she was remembering correctly. She had actually dreamed of the request, and then dreamed of forgetting it, and then woke up right as she dreamed remembering it again. I was especially troubled because I have our last practice for the primary program that I’m in charge of the same day. Anyway, Saturday morning as I’m waking up she says, “I got you an Odwalla and some bananas and some pencils. The pencils aren’t sharpened though.” I thought that was nice of her to be so concerned about it that she thought of it in the middle of the night. I told Chad they were on the counter and he didn’t believe me. He thought for sure I had dreamed the whole thing. But really I couldn’t sleep so I went to the store and got him the stuff. Elisa was so insulted that I didn’t believe her, and I thought it was so funny that she has these amazingly realistic dreams. There’s nothing wrong with dreaming. It took me awhile before I realized Chad thought I was full of it. I walked out into the kitchen and… there was a shopping bag with the pencils and food in it! I don’t think Elisa’s ever going to let me forget it. We also thought it was funny that night when we pulled a board game out of the closet and inside were eight sharpened pencils.

YUCK! My wonderful buddy Chad is out scavenging around the garage looking for the source of the stench that now fills our house. EWW! It all started when we noticed the pitter-patter of little feet (not the kind that makes grandmothers, mind you) in our garage and in the attic. It seems our rodent friends wanted to keep us up all night whilst they danced above our heads in the cool moonlight. Well we set up traps and they got into some rat poison, and dear me, the little pitter-patter ceased. HOORAY! But wait there is a catch. A dead-animal-smell kind of catch and our traps are empty. So now I am writing our weekly report so I stop gagging in the garage. I am what you call “a real helper.”

Earlier this week I came home to a similar smell I was sure was a gas leak. We can all be sure I was out of my noggin because Chad got off early from work and sat messing with the furnace and the water heater until we were sure they were fine. I guess I know a new trick to get him to come home when I want to see him. “I think we have a gas leak, honey.”

Chad took his chances following the scent trail under the house and found the smelly little monster. HALLELUJAH! The aftermath is we have other little invaders. Stupid big fat flies. The whole situation reminds me of a place we helped clean out while I was on my mission in California. It makes my sick and sends shivers down my spine just thinking about it. Elisa started to get sick this week from the sawdust and stench and stress. It has been really hard to keep the house clean. It doesn’t help that we can’t take a shower at home.

Back to our more exciting news… Our bathrooms are SO almost finished!!! That calls for some celebration. YEE-HAW! We got the shower and tub all put back together. The floors are all in. No more holes in the floor. We are waiting until tonight for the caulk to cure, and then we will be able to use the tub again! There’s finishing work to do but I don’t care as much about that as I do about getting the plumbing working again. It is a very good thing. The pictures we took are at http://chadandelisa.parry.org/album/index.php?folder=/Bathrooms2006/.

That is ALL we have done this week. According to my calendar Halloween has been canceled. This is because we haven’t been able to go and get our pumpkins or dress up or be all creative and come up with our super-hero themed party we wanted to do. It is so depressing. BOO-HOO! Anyway, I am all psyched for Christmas and it starts right now as far as I’m concerned. I am not going to let this holiday get away from me. Elisa has already started us on Christmas shopping because she is crazy prepared. There is no time to prepare for both Thanksgiving and Christmas so the latter wins!

We are having a dirty, crazy, smelly week. We finally had a date today after a long while. We glamorously began it by stopping by Microsoft to borrow their shower facilities since we are nasty and don’t have a working shower. There’s a dating hint for all you guys out there. I couldn’t imagine having more fun doing this grungy work with anyone else. Chad is the best!

Elisa and I have started adding some blog entries that are only meant for friends and family. If you are not logged in then these protected entries simply will not appear. To get a password just email Elisa or me. If you already have access to the Jack Parry Family website then the passwords are posted there at FullOfItLink.