Dorcus Titanus Sika

We've made a few "acquisitions" since we've been back. The big one is a new refrigerator. The old one was given to us over eleven years ago by Jason's parents. I believe it must have been the refrigerator that was used to keep Jason's baby formula from spoiling. It was a mustard-gold, rusty monstrosity. Just recently it was beginning to develop a thin layer of slick black mold on the inside of the door. Possibly from the continuous trickle of water oozing down from the freezer? And don't get me started on the half-inch gap in the door sealant which acted as a sort of "doggy door" for the cockroaches. No, the thought of "toughing it out with the old one" for the next 3 years just was not an option.

So, sent out alone on a woman's task - to be fair, I had accompanied him to the appliance section of the Carrefour in a consulting capacity earlier in the week - my husband returned with a portable CD player, a DVD player, and the bill of sale for the new refrigerator. It arrived yesterday (dragged in by a tattooed mover prompting a few tattoo comments from Jason) and it is beautiful. Nothing fancy - just a basic top/bottom model - unlike my mother-in-law's 5 compartment model that scolds you harshly in Japanese if any door is left open for more than 30 seconds. So, if any of you in Taiwan reading this think you will be in the market for an "almost new" refrigerator in three years time, start placing your bids now.

The other acquisition is a bit creepier. As in "creepy crawly." I am a lone woman in a house full of men. Well, technically 4 boys of various sizes, temperments, and maturity levels. Over the years, I have learned to pick my battles carefully. I don't care about the toilet seat being put back down, for instance. I have actually given up the fight against gravity which seems to prevent them from lifting the damn thing in the first place. Oh, how my future daughters-in-law will curse me. I decided that that the easiest plan of action is to simply banish them from my bathroom. "Put it back in your pants and go to the other bathroom! Now!" My bathroom is the one that is conveniently located only a meter from where I lay my head on my side of the bed. Hence my intense desire for that bathroom to be as odor-free as possible. This plan is much easier to enforce and has resulted in many fewer instances of me freaking out over the "wet seat phenomenon."

Anyway, enough potty talk. So, it was with great glee that my four boys skipped out the front door last night to the "bug store" across the way. They returned almost an hour later carrying a pastic terrarium full of dirt, a small log, and, so they tell me, a male/female just-can't-wait-to-mate-and-make-more-of-themselves beetles. The boss of the beetle store inscribed the terrarium in gold pen with their latin name Dorcus Titanus Sikus. Check out the photo to see what I have to look forward to. They also purchased two Hercules bettle larvae. "They grow to be 18cm, Mom!" they informed me. I guess so long as I never hear the cry, "Mom! Have you seen my beetle?!?" Although I must steel myself against this inevitable eventuality.

I just have to keep repeating my mantra, "It's better than a puppy. It's better than a puppy. It's better than a puppy."