Basically Brooks

We are in Texas, and one of the worst parts of being here is.....the lizards.  Every time you step outside you will see one. This is like one that I saw just sunning on a gate the other day. Last night, at approximately 11:00 p.m., Kyle asked me to let the dog out.  I opened the door, and as I did, I noticed something scurry into the house.  I thought it was one of those nasty silverfish bugs like we have back home, but once I looked a little closer, I saw that it was a disgusting lizard.  It looked like the picture below. Yes, I know it is small, but it is a TERRIFYING creature!  It got into the house, ran under a sleeping dog, and continued to run around until it hid under the couch.  I jumped up into a chair (because that's what women are supposed to do when they get scared of a creature) and started panicking.  My sister in law (who we are visiting) was upstairs so I texted her that there was an emergency and when I got no response I ran upstairs to tell her.  

Let me start off by saying that I was never the kind of kid that especially liked to get dirty.  Lots of things grossed me out as a child and I gagged over things...a lot.  I remember crying over our worm lesson in 3rd grade.  They made us take a worm, touch it with our hands/fingers, and measure it on a ruler.  Do you know how hard this was for me?  Worms are A) disgusting and B) most likely carrying many diseases.  As I have gotten older, and especially since becoming a mom....things have started to bother me more and more.  One of those things being....germs. I cannot turn off my mind when it comes to germs.  It's really bad when we are out in public.  I have decided to create a not-so-short list of all the things that I have germ issues with and I'd like to see if I'm the only one out there with this problem or not. Here goes my list: 1.  Ketchup/Condiments that are on the tables at restaurants for everyone to use.  (Do you think they sanitize those?) 2.  People

So far this summer has been fabulous!  We are so enjoying our family time.  I sometimes just have to stop and think about how blessed I am to have a husband and daughter that I want to spend every second of my time with.  So often you hear wives/moms complaining about wishing to get away from it all, but I am loving every second of it.  We're trying to fill our days with rest and fun.  And when it comes to fun, we are always looking for ideas that are FREE! The past couple of weeks we have gone to the public library's story time for toddlers a couple of times, and the Butterfly House at Lost River Cave.  We've also played with water balloons in the backyard.  (Now that was lots of fun!)  We read TONS of books during the day and have gone on a few walks (which we need to do more of).  Kyle and I racked up some gift cards from our sweet students at school, so we have been able to eat out (a lot) with no cost to us!  (So thoughtful!)  Ava was a little scared of the butt