Frass and Poop

Thursday. Last night it poured. It rained so much! Just constant rain and it was cooling down the apartment and making us cold so Dan and I made hot chocolate :) And put waaaayyy too many marshmallows in. Well the most exciting thing that happened today is that we have about a million new roommates. About a week ago I got to the kitchen one Saturday morning and see this.

I thought it was poop, like mice poop and made Dan check it out. We can't figure out what it is but it looks and feels like birdseed from outside. We inspect the window and see that the sealant around it is cracking so we note it and decide that it's fine for now. I clean it up and it stays that way. A couple days later I wake up to a window seal full of it again, I clean it up and say if it happens again then I'll be worried. We truly thought it was just debris from outside making it's way through the cracks in the windows. It happens again and by this time it's annoying. It's all over the window seal, the sink, the counters. How am I supposed to white glove clean for moving out if this keeps happening?  I put some in a tupperware and went to the office today. I felt a little foolish because I had no idea what it was nor did the first girl I asked. [It's like going to the doctor when you don't really know what's wrong with you and at first they don't either- Like when I went to the hospital at 1 am for stomach pains and it took them forever to figure out it was something and that I needed surgery. Initially I felt foolish] But she showed it to the owner and the owner said right off the bat, "That's termites." Ladies and gentlemen, this, is termite poop.

or the proper name is FRASS (say that with a British accent)

Doesn't it look like birdseed?! Well it's not like squishy gross poop they're wood pellets, poops made of wood. It's like trying to clean up sand. At least I won't be accountable for it during our last inspection and thankfully this is something out of our hands so it won't come out of our paycheck. But still, termites look gross.

They are worried though because we live upstairs and that they got so high, I guess that's a bad thing? They were going to pound the walls, take off the paneling and spray from the outside on Monday but because we're moving out next week they'd rather wait to make holes from the inside too and do a more thorough spray. Kind grossed out, but I'm glad I told them after all. Termites can be pretty invisible- because they eat only wood owners would probably never see our new roommates yay! So just in case you didn't know what termite poop, or FRASS (accent), looks like, now you do. It makes sense why I would have no idea what termite poop looks like according to this map.

Termites aren't really around in Idaho but they SURE ARE in California.

Friday starting out with a shooting? Breaks. My. Heart. This is devastating. My hearts go out to those affected. That is just to sad. Ugh, makes me sick.

Last night as Dan was studying I was going through the food in the kitchen, seeing what we have and what we could use, just making a mental inventory. Then I see I have half of a small bag of confectioners sugar and I'm thinking I really don't want to travel home with that- if I can use it I want to get rid of everything we can and come home with as little extra things as possible. So I kinda just started making... something. I knew I was making a dessert in hopes of bringing it to the Ward Christmas Party. I poured the powdered sugar into a bowl and started adding peanut butter (like those reeses balls I made for the missionaries) and I just add peanut butter until I have the right consistancy. I think I added too much peanut butter, it doesn't hold it's shape as well as I'd like it too but oh well! I pushed the peanut butter mixture into an 8x8 pan lined with wax paper- I had no idea if it would stick or not... didn't want to risk it. Then I melted the rest of the baking chocolate and chocolate chips we had with some butter. I poured the chocolate on top and let it set over night.

This morning I went to see if my creation turned out and it did. I had to flip it over and cut it into squares chocolate side down because the peanut butter would just mush trying to slice through the chocolate with my dull knife (can't wait until I get my new one for Christmas!). But really, they turned out bomb.

See the bottoms are kinda squishy and a little sticky but they are dangerously amazing! Mmm so good! And plus I used up three things we now don't have to take home.

So we pretty much have no food. We're donating a couple things tonight at the Christmas party but we're doing so good. We have basic sandwich essentials for our lunches, a frozen pizza, 2 eggs, pasta (that we can't use so we're taking), a pork that we're eating on Sunday with the rest of the condiments and the onion! Of course we having some baking items, spices etc that we'll take but no perishable food! I'm getting super creative with what I'm eating too haha

Friday night we enjoyed our Ward Christmas Party. They had a delicious dinner and desserts and a nice talent show. It was so fun watching all the children share their talents. Here's the Elders Quorum singing, Dan hid in the back.

And they even arranged a special visitor to come. 

It was a nice time and we've really enjoyed being in this ward but I'm excited for Rexburg so the age gap isn't so big. Sometimes it's hard to relate to everyone I meet in this great family ward but the Christmas party was fun :)

Saturday I slept in while Dan got up at 6:00am (I know right!) to go play basketball and volleyball. I got up and blasted lovely Christmas music while getting ready, the Pandora Christmas station rocks! Then after Dan got home I took the car to pick up some cleaning essentials, stocking stuffers and some other things to last us through the week. I met an interesting lady at the dollar store and found out at Target I'm not old enough to buy a pack of lighters. Since when do they card you for lighters? I was buying them because Dan's is almost out and you never know when we need to burn something haha but really they ID'ed me and everything and it turns out I couldn't buy them, lame! I guess you have to be 21? Who knew? Oh well. 

That night we went to the Christmas Party for Dan's work. It was fancy. Not super fancy, but still fancy. 

It was on the top floor of the building they work in (the tallest building in Bakersfield) and it's called the Petroleum Club which is a private business and social club. It was a nice dining room with a pretty view of the city, I didn't take a picture because it was night but here's what the view looks like during the day from Google.

It was pretty! The room was all decked out with Christmas decor. The first hour was a cocktail hour- drinks and hors d'oeuvres. The appetizers were delicious! Veggie wontons, bacon wrapped dates etc, mmm delicious! I was actually just a little nervous going because it was my first adult party, like with alcohol being served with no reservations. 1. I don't drink anyways and 2. I'm still not old enough. But honestly I think they would have given me anything I asked for without any questions, paid for all by the company of course. It may sound stupid but hey I'm still transitioning into being a married adult okay? We had a good time talking and I'm glad I got to meet all the people Dan works with everyday. They were all very nice and I enjoyed it! 

I quickly snapped a picture of our table :)

Then it was dinner time, salad to start then chicken, steak and veggies for the meal. The meat was delicious and the steak was so good. The waiters were awesome, I felt like I was on a cruise again. Then dessert was molten lava cake, a favorite of mine. During dinner the people at our table were great to converse with, I felt included and I felt like I passed as an adult for the evening. After dessert the company gave away some gift baskets and each member of the company received this big, but beautiful snow globe

It was a really nice party and we enjoyed it. Plus we got dinner which means a lot when you have no food! Then as we were walking to our car there was the cutest kitten in the parking lot. We're pretty sure it was a stray born in the wild but it was young! It was so little I wanted to take it home. Dan was nice enough to let me coo at it in the parking lot for an extra 5 minutes. It broke my heart, I wish I could take in all animals.

Sunday was really good. I really enjoyed the sacrament talks and the lessons in Sunday school and Relief Society. I felt like each one had something that I needed to hear today. It was our last Sunday here so that was bitter sweet but it's been fun. Dan is currently sitting the middle of the living room cutting his hair hahaha.. oh how I love him. I so wish I could snap a picture and put it on here but I don't think he'd appreciate that!

Tomorrow is when everything begins! I have the big stuff planned out and I'm excited to get things done! I can't wait to be home for Christmas :)

Happy Sunday :)