Gearing Up & Getting Ready

This morning I am sitting in the still of my kitchen while my entire household sleeps.  I found a rare moment that I have not had in almost a month to sit down at the computer and actually read a few blogs.  What shocked me most was seeing the date of my last post….21 days ago.  Oh my, where have the last 21 days gone.  I can’t believe the last time I blogged the cicadas were playing their loud, ear-piecing matting songs.  They are all gone now, thank you Lord!

We have been spending every waking moment these past few weeks getting the women ministry kits together for my mission trip.  I would take a picture of the madness that was once called our home, but my bones are too wearing to actually get up to fetch my camera.  Our kitchen and living room has been transformed into grand central rug making station!  HA!  My husband has been cutting t-shirts and material into small 1 inch strips and then I take them, stretch them out to make them long and slender and package them into 2 gallon bags.  It take around 90 strips that range in varying lengths to make a rug.  So needless to say, there has been a whole lotta cutting going on in this household!  HA!  I also have been dying the white t-shirt strips into colors so the rugs will not be all white. Yep, my hands and fingernails are an awful color!

To go one step further, to explain the enormity of this project, it take about 6 shirts to make a rug.  We are getting together 100 rug kits, so we have cut enough shirts and material to equal 600 large t-shirts.  The fuzz from cutting that much is accumulating like snow on the floors of our house.  No matter how much you sweep, or dust, it’s still there.  We might be living with the fuzz of this project until we retire. 

It’s all worth it though.  It’s worth every blister, sore muscle, discolored hands and disheveled home to be able to teach the women of La Cumbre a skill that will hopefully be with them for the years to come.  I can’t wait to see a rug adoring their small homes and cleaned swept dirt floors that they made using materials that so many donated to us.

I also wanted to thank those who have mailed me so many materials for this project.  I have not forgot about you and from the bottom of my heart, I thank you!  I will properly thank you in a more personal way as soon as I get back from the trip, but know that your generosity has made this project more than possible!

Oh well, that is my life as of late and I wanted to touch base with you before I left in  3 quickly approaching days!

Hear That Noise…13 Year Cicadas Are Back

This is the year for the 13 year Cicada.  Oh my, I am so over it.  If you do not have cicadas in your neck of the woods, please know that in 13 years I will be coming to your house for a mini vacay!  For those that are cicada free, let me spread the love introduce you to these creatures, you may thank me later for the science lesson!  HA! First the pictures…again, you can thank me later:

They are like an alien invasion, best way to describe them.  They come out every 13 years to breed, very noisily, the  lay their eggs and thank goodness they die!!  This will last for a few weeks, but it seems like forever. 

The eggs turn into nymphs and they actively thrive underground (thank goodness) for 13 years sucking and feeding off tree roots.  Then when it’s time, they burrow through the soil for another round of mating. 

These red eyed annoying creatures sound like the mother ship has landed in the woods!  The dogs love playing with them and they are in love with anything that makes noise!  Needless to say our yard looks like a jungle, one because the lawn mower needs a new belt and two because Bradley our son hates the way they love the mower and weed eater!

My favorite thing to do is sit on the front porch, but as of late I can’t.  I kid you not, the noise is so loud from these ugly things that it hurts your ears so badly!  Here is a sound clip…but remember this is in no way as loud as what we are hearing.  Also, times this by 24/7 and this is our life…

(Link) View more Animals Sound Clips and Insects Sound Clips

So my new favorite thing is to read all the Facebook message about cicadas.   So as the roar of these furiously loud boogers seep through my walls and invade my once quite home where all you USED to hear was the loud noise of teenage boys (they even drown them out them) I will leave you with a few facebook comments from my friends….enjoy!

• There is nothing sexier to a cicada than a 6'4" man with a weed eater.

• Oh silly silly cicadas... the big red noisy machine I'm riding is not your mating mothership. It's just a Snapper. So much for straight lines.

• I'm Sorry, What did you say??  I couldn't here you for all the Cicadas!!! :/

• Finds that a weed eater is an effective tool in battling cicadas. However, doing so can lead to an uneven trim on your yard.

• Got in a fight with some cicadas while mowing the yard. Not really sure who won.

• There is a CICADA in my house! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH I was in bed typing up a blog post and then I hear it doing whatever it is that it does...

• Scary to wonder why this lady is picking cicadas out of the trees at Kroger and putting them in a container....