Our First Home!

As I mentioned in a previous blog, Mitch and I are living in his Grandma Schmutz's basement. That may not sound too great, but really it's nice! First of all, Grandma is very easy to live with, not only because she's the nicest person on earth, but because she's basically silent upstairs, and she actually lives in Oak City for like 8 months of the year (so we'll be in the house by ourselves). Anyways, our basement has a living room, kitchen, bathroom, and bedroom. I should probably also add that it has a storage room and bomb shelter! haha We have our own door so we can come and go whenever we want.... so really it feels like we live on our own. The biggest blessing though, is that we live rent- free! We pay for the satellite and that's about it! Anyways, we love our basement house and really are grateful to be here!

I'm starting to realize that the beginning of marriage comes with all sorts of new adventures.... and our living situation has definately had it's share! First of all, there is something wrong with our vents or something, because anytime the heat is on, a HORRIBLE smell blows out! And I don't mean just a slightly unpleasing smell..... it gives me a stomach ache! They checked the septic tank and it's not that, so we're assuming that maybe something died in a vent? Thank goodness, someone is coming to check the vents tomorrow so hopefully it'll be gone! Over the last few months, I have gone through my fair share of candles, air freshener spray, wall plug-ins, the smelly powder you put on carpet before you vacuum, and even air fresheners that are made to go in vents! And much to my dismay, our house nearly always smells like rotten eggs! Everyone say a prayer that they fix it tomorrow!

Another fun part of our basement is that our TV, computer, and microwave are all on the same fuse. Most days we don't have a problem.... but every now and then, it just can't handle it anymore, and the fuse blows about 3 times in one day! Luckily Mitch can just go switch it back on and we're back in business! haha Another great side-effect of these all being connected is that whenever you turn the microwave on, the images on our computer screen shake back and forth violently..... looking at the screen for longer than about 20 seconds will make your eyes hurt :) Again, we love these little adventures of being married and moving into a new place!

Perhaps my FAVORITE of all the surprises that have come along with our little house includes eight legs, claws, and a tial full of venom!!

Our house seems to be a haven for all the local SCORPIONS!! Maybe I should explain that Mitch's family owns a big hill in the St. George Washington Fields, and we live up on top of it. So we are surrounded by desert... and an animal kingdom. It has the perks of waking up to bunnies all over the lawn... but also includes lots of bugs, esp scorpions! We only found about 4 in our first month and a half of living here, but all of a sudden a few weeks ago, we killed 5 in a day! We have killed about 14 in the last 3 weeks. Idk if it's the warmer weather, or the construction above our house causing them to come into our house more... but they are NOT welcome visitors! They come out mostly at night... so now I always wear shoes in the house, but esp when I hop out of bed to go potty at night. It isn't even a surprise anymore to kill a scorpion or two when I make a bathroom trip at night. Though I now suffer from not being able to fall asleep at night because my feet itch like crazy as I lay there thinking about the scorpions crawling all over our floor! But rest assured, we are fighting back! Mitch has nearly gone crazy trying to find them! I have come home from work to find him, shovel in hand, out in the desert with our dog trying to HUNT the scorpions. So far he's found ONE. haha We also bought spider and mouse traps that are flat and sticky, so we put them by the door that the scorpions sneak in through... and much to our dismay, we've only caught two. But we are still on the watchout. Hopefully they all find somewhere else to go, because I really am not in the mood to get stung! Somehow the idea of intense pain, followed by burning, and then numbness for a week, just doesn't seem appealing! Anyways, my point in that I hate scorpions!

So this blog probably makes our basement sound horrible, but it really is a great place to live! It's way bigger than an apartment and lots of fun to be so close to our family. I've attempted to make our little house took like a home.... but it has mostly been decorated with hand-me-downs, including my sweet couches that my mother tried to give away when I was 16, but I made her save them for me! They go perfectly with the farm wallpaper that Grandma has on the walls down here! Anyways, I took some pictures of our house, so enjoy!

This is our living room... and the door that Andy often runs into!

Another picture of our living room and sweet country couches... thanks mom!

Again the living room... btw I LOVE our brick wall! It's way cute!

Here is our cute kitchen... we bought an island for the middle that is quite useful

Here is our pink bathroom... I know you're jealous of the pink marble!

And here is our bedroom... this pictures makes it look even less colorful than it really is!