With a moth moth here and moth moth there…

Sundays are usually a day of rest. My mom got to experience Haitian church, which really is an experience in and of it’s own. However, for the last few months we have been going to a new church, and we like it a lot better. We were tempted to take her to the old one, we feel as if anyone visiting gets off easy when they don’t sit through the normal 3 hour service, on a wood bench, in a stifling hot room, sitting through 2 hours of singing, and 1 hour of a man screaming down a microphone in Creole. So, she got off easy with only 1 hour of singing, and no yelling at all!!  Later that afternoon she helped me clean out our pantry. When we came back we discovered we had new friends-not just the cute dust bunnies we normally have, but moths. I didn’t think moths would bother me so much, but turns out they are pretty nasty! They got into something, made babies, and multiplied. So, since I got tired of waking up every morning and killing about twenty moths lined up in the hall/pantry, I decided it was time to go after the source. And thankfully, my mom was there to help me. It took us three hours! We pulled everything off the cabinet, wiped it down, and put it back. We had to throw out some stuff too, which of course made me cringe. Packets of precious brownie mix, and chocolate chips that had nasty, nasty, things living in it. Mom wanted to toss each can that looked worn or gross, each box that was dented or squished. But, I had to remind her, that in Haiti we can’t just go the store and buy another. Those precious few boxes of cake mix actually came that way since they traveled so far, and since there is no easy way to get more, we have to keep all the scary looking ones. She was a bit creeped out I think, when I had to explain that if I threw out everything with bugs in it, on it, or around it, I would have no food at all! At first I gave her her own trash can to throw things away, but then had to make her show me anything before she could toss it! We got some good laughs in! Would you hold it against me if you knew that a few times I contemplated keeping moth infested Ghiradeli’s brownie mix.. thinking that the bugs would pry just die once I baked the brownies? I really sat there and contemplated which was worse-brownies with dead bugs in it, or no brownies at all?

Today we took mom downstairs to have her help out in the kitchen. She got to meet Madame Finance and Sonya, and of course they loved her right away and visa versa! She had fun helping them peel garlic, mash the vegetables, and help in any way she could.