April 18, 2017

Easter weekend (and an eight-legged nightmare)

I hope everyone had a great Easter!

Jerry had to work on Easter, which was kind of a bummer, but we are used to his odd schedule. He works a lot of holidays, so when that happens, we just celebrate on a different day when he is off work. We did hide Easter eggs for this kids on Sunday morning, though. Instead of coloring eggs this year, I just bought a few dozen plastic eggs and put a piece of candy in each one (and each of the two "golden eggs" had $10 in it).

Even though the boys are a little older, at 11 and 12, they still loved finding the eggs. Jerry and I had fun hiding them, too. Then, we gave them their Easter baskets, and that was that as far as Easter goes.

Since Jerry was off Monday, we decided to have our Easter dinner and do some family stuff then.

I spent most of the day cleaning out the garage and pulling weeds from the landscaping. I was feeling good, better than I have in a while, and I wanted to get some stuff done. My friend Adam walked over and I chatted with him for a bit, too, before he continued on to walk a half-marathon just for fun on Easter morning ;)

Late Sunday afternoon, Becky came over with Lucas for a couple of hours. He gets bigger every time I see him! I can't believe how fast he's growing. We weighed him while he was here, and he was about 10 pounds. It's funny, because Eli was almost 10 pounds when he was born; and Lucas is about five weeks old. He is looking more like an infant now and not so much like a newborn. And he's starting to coo, which is adorable!

Lucas was totally sprawled out over Eli

While they were here, Noah and Eli were excited to show Becky some old home videos of them. I love watching videos from when the boys were little--their voices were just so cute! I never realized their voices were changing as it was happening, because I heard them every single day; and then when I watched the old videos, the change is huge. It's interesting to watch Lucas grow, because I only see him about once a week--so I can actually see the differences each time.

On Sunday night, I was getting ready for bed, and when I went into the bathroom, I saw the BIGGEST spider I'd ever seen in my life. It was right by the doorway, and I screamed. I couldn't believe the size of it! I looked around for something I could use to kill it, and grabbed some hairspray. The pump wasn't working for some reason! So I frantically dug around and found some spray gel. I sprayed it once, and the spider ran into my bedroom--awesome. (Jerry was at work, otherwise I would have designated him to get rid of it.)

I was not about to let it out of my sight, so I went into the bedroom and watched as it crawled behind some shelves. I grabbed a wad of toilet paper to try to smash it, but when I reached forward, it ran under the shelves. I started screaming again and Eli came in to ask if everything was okay. He held a flashlight while I moved the shelf out, and looked underneath. It was gone.

I panicked, and started searching everywhere around the shelves, under my bed, under my dresser--it was NOWHERE. We looked for about 15 minutes, and I was seriously thinking I was going to have to burn down the house, because there was no way I was going to sleep in my bed knowing that the spider was somewhere in my room.

Joey and the cats knew something was going on, because they were all crowded around us in my bedroom. Eli said he heard a light tapping, and he saw Estelle inside my closet, batting her paw at something. My cats are the BEST when it comes to finding spiders, so I had a feeling she'd found it. When I went in there, she was staring at something very closely, but I didn't see anything. I slowly started moving objects one by one to find it. I grabbed a little bag that I use for my knitting needles, and flipped it over.

That's when I saw it.

spider
This picture makes it look much smaller than it was--honest!

Eli got his first glimpse of it, and started screaming as well. He thought I'd been exaggerating at how big it was. I was terrified to try to grab it with the toilet paper, because my biggest fear is the spider crawling over the paper and onto my hand (which has happened several times over the years). Eli grabbed some cleaner from the kitchen and I sprayed it with that before grabbing it with the toilet paper.

After that, my heart racing and I couldn't stop shuddering at the thought of it. My skin felt itchy and crawly and I was so creeped out about going to sleep in my bed. Because we had had the windows open all day, I assumed the spider came in through a hole in the screen or something, and I was worried about what else had gotten in.

I don't know why spiders creep me out as much as they do, but I am SO glad Estelle found that guy! I can't imagine if it had crawled onto my clothes or something for me to find later.

I was SO sore when I woke up yesterday--a delayed soreness from the long walk on Saturday. The center of each butt cheek was the most sore spot, which I thought was kind of funny. Also, my calves were pretty sore, as were my inner thighs. I did tell Andrea that I would meet her for a walk yesterday morning at the State Park, though, so even though I was sore, I went for a walk with her.

I'm glad I went, because by the end of the three miles we walked, I was feeling much looser and not so sore. I need to keep that in mind--even though I may not want to move when I'm sore, it actually helps me to feel better. It was absolutely gorgeous outside, too!

Sterling State Park

I always feel happy when I see cardinals, and I happened to see probably about seven or eight of them while we were walking--usually, I'm lucky to see one. I tried several times to get my one-second video of a cardinal, but I was never able to get close enough.

On the way home from the park, I stopped at Kroger to buy a ham and some stuff for side dishes. I'd never bought a ham in my life, but Jerry specifically requested a ham dinner, and I thought it would be fun to make something different. I procrastinated buying the ham last week, but I'm SO glad that I did--because we had our dinner the day after Easter, the ham was $20 instead of $40! I love finding good manager's specials, and this one was awesome.

I made ham, scalloped potatoes, green beans, and rolls--very simple, but for just the four of us, it was plenty. My kids said they had never had ham before (they've had deli ham, and the cubed ham in split pea soup, but never slices of ham for a meal). When I thought about it, I realized that was probably true! So, I was glad they got to try something new. I'm not a big ham person, so I only ate a few bites of it. Jerry loved it, and was thrilled that he now has about seven more pounds of ham to eat this week, hahaha.

After dinner, the kids wanted to play board games, so we started with Sequence. I forgot how fun that game is! Jerry and I played on a team versus the kids, and surprisingly, they beat us on the first round. We won the second one. After that, we played Scattergories. I don't know if it's because of my new medication or just because it was a really good day, but I felt so happy the whole afternoon. We had some music playing, and the windows open, and the kids were in good moods as well.


Overall, it was a very nice weekend! The kids are on spring break all this week. We don't have much planned, but I'm grateful that we've had amazing weather, so we've been outside quite a bit!

37 comments:

  1. If it makes you feel any better, I am totally the same way about those bigger spiders. I absolutely will note let one out of my sight until it is dead, because you never know where it has gone and when it will show up again! I can't grab those big ones with TP, though, because the thought of crunching it in my hand grosses me out - I usually get something more solid like a book (poor book). When I was on vacation once by myself, all I had was my cologne sprayer - I kept spraying cologne on it to get it to move out of the corner so I could smoosh it! Ha! And then my room smelled great!

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    1. YES, the crunching is the worst! Especially with a spider that big. Blech!

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  2. I feel the same way about bigger spiders and I would have squashed first instead of just TP too. I'm glad you've been feeling better! Fingers crossed that the new medication is doing it's job.

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    1. Thank you! I'm feeling very hopeful that this will work :)

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  3. I just wanted to say that I am so happy to hear your feeling better. I hope it continues.

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    1. I appreciate that, thank you! I hope it continues as well :)

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  4. Oh man! I am the same way with those big spiders!! It's creeping me out just imagining that in my bedroom or closet. I am so happy that I also have a cat who is a masterful spider huntress. :)

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    1. It happened on Sunday, but I'm still creeped out--and I have been watching the floors when I walk, like I'm expecting to find another. It's funny how something so small can be so terrifying! haha

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  5. That spider was HUGE! I'm so glad you captured it. I'm such a wuss when it comes to bugs but spiders I am deathly afraid of. I had a spider bite on top of my head once and it got infected. The thing is that I didn't know I had been bitten until the infection kicked in and I went to Urgent Care. The doctor listened to my symptoms and checked my scalp. UGH.

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    1. Ohhhh, that sounds awful!! I can't imagine what would be worse--the infection, or just knowing that a spider was crawling in your hair! haha ;)

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  6. OK...that spider was big!! I am a freakoid over snakes but spiders I can handle...however, that one would have freaked me out a bit and I would not have been able to sleep until I knew it was "history". ;-)

    Cats are great for that....couldn't agree more!

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    1. I'm kind of the opposite. Snakes don't bother me, but spiders are pretty much the only thing that will make me SCREAM. I hate them!!

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  7. Do not ever move south!! We have found some crazy creepy crawlies since moving to North Carolina, including a black widow in our garage :-/ I'm not so afraid of smaller brown spiders anymore, but black widows freak me out! One time on a run, I saw a long black electrical cord in the ditch on the side of the road. Nope, turns out it was a 4 foot long black snake! That sure made me run fast!

    Glad you are feeling better :)

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    1. Thankfully, black widows are very rare around here! My neighbor had some in his fire wood pile, and I was so surprised--I had no idea that they were in Michigan at all. I would freak if I ever came across one!

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  8. That looks like a wolf spider. When I was a kid, my mom would fold and put our laundry in the laundry basket and we were supposed to put our clothes away. But I was lazy and just used to pick what I wanted to wear out of the basket. I took the clothes from the basket in the laundry room and went to my room to put it on, and when I buttoned my pants I felt something funny. I unzipped my pants and pulled my pants and underwear away from my belly, and out of my undies crawled one of these HUGE wolf spiders! I completely freaked out, so much my parents thought someone had broken into the house and was attacking me! That was 40 years ago, but when I looked at your picture of that spider, I still shuddered!

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    1. Ohmygosh, that is absolutely HORRIFYING! I would die.

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    2. Oh no, nooooo no... you would have needed to call the paramedics. Nope. Ugh i am literally itchy now... Nope. Ick.

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  9. I used to get spiders like that in my old apartment all the time. We were near a field that had some construction going on, so there were all kinds of critters coming out of there. The day I moved in saw one, it initially blended in with my carpet and I had a hard time seeing it. I'm like you, don't take your eyes off the enemy. The only thing I had was a wad of paper towels to grab it with. I didn't want to crush it, so it got a naval burial in the toilet.

    I had to check the shower every morning for spiders too.

    The funniest though was one morning I had gotten up to shower. The shower was empty so I proceeded to get ready to shower. Then I saw IT. It was in a tight corner between the linen cupboard and the shower, and just above the base board. It was fully relaxed and splayed out, therefore it looked 10x the size! But it was still big, about like the one you posted about. Anyways, I didn't want to wake up my boyfriend (now husband) because he was working nights and had been asleep only a few hours. So I grabbed his size 11 steel toe work boots. It didn't fit in the corner! All I did was scare the spider and knock it off! It scurried towards me and I leapt backwards 6' screaming bloody murder and cowering in a corner. My now husband gets up, grabs the boot, smashes the spider, hands the boot back to me, growls and goes back to bed. We still laugh about it to this day. I still hate spiders though. hate hate hate hate hate

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    1. I think waking a sleeping spouse is fully justified in that case! ;)

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  10. Up with the baby at 3am - it was a really bad idea to read this blog (and the comments)...After seeing the title I should have just waited til morning!

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  11. OMG if that pic makes the spider look small, I would have lost it too. It looks pretty huge in the picture. Thank god for boys when our husband's aren't home. I make mine kill bugs for me too :)

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    1. Too bad my boys hate spiders as much as I do! We were all big babies about it ;)

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  12. Holy. Shit. Pardon my french, but I would have ran FAR away from my house if I saw that thing!! And you said it looks small in the picture?! It looks HUGE!!! I'm glad your cat found it!! Honestly, if I was home alone and I saw that thing, I would have called an exterminator on the spot hahaha. Spiders and bees are probably my two biggest fears! Dang, I'm so glad you got it.

    Also, it sounds like you're doing really good lately! I love reading your posts. Your Easter celebration sounded like fun!

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    1. When I showed the pic to Jerry, he said we should call an exterminator to come spray for spiders all around the house, so we don't get them this year. I think I'm going to! Living across from the marsh, we get a lot of them in the summer.

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    2. You can buy Ortho home defense (at Sam's) and spray that around the perimeter of your house, and inside, along the walls/doorways and windows to help keep the creepy crawlies out. We've used it a couple years now, and it works great!! (It's safe for pets once it dries) Good luck!

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  13. I love the game Sequence!I bought it for my 10 year old future step-son but he wasn't as much of a fan :( I am having a lot of fun buying him games lately; he's obsessed with Monopoly Deal and he got Bananagrams for Easter. What are some of your boys' favorites?

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    1. I'm surprised he didn't like Sequence! My kids really love that game (as do I). My boys also like Skip-Bo (a card game); Apples to Apples; and Beat the Parents (a trivia game for adults vs. kids). We also play cards sometimes, and Hearts is a favorite!

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  14. I had an encounter with a huge rat snake on Easter. It was well over 3 feet long. I was hiding eggs for my boys and heard a rustle in the leaves behind me. OMG I got the heck away from it and yelled at my mom for my stepdad to come back there with a shovel. IT WAS HUGE! It was the biggest snake I'd ever seen that close up in the wild. I would've died if I encountered your spider though. I cannot handle spiders! Also, we have that game Sequence and we love playing it too! I love board game night.

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    1. Wow! I don't know if I've ever seen a snake that big in person. That would have been startling, to say the least!

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  15. Lucas really is adorable. Makes me hungry to hold a baby again, and I will be able to do just that in October, when my newest grandbaby arrives!! Everything abut the future is so much brighter now after the good report from my husband's Oncologist! So much more hopeful!!!

    Our cat has never found a spider for me (thank God for Estelle!), but we had a bird get inside about a year ago and could not get it back out the door. Then it headed up the stairs. I was horrified, thinking of bird poop every where. My cat headed up and less than one minute later my husband went upstairs and there was a large bloody spot (I guess it's better than poop!) on my carpet. My hunter cat (who appeared at our house three and a half years ago and stayed--best cat I have ever had!), made quick work of the bird. I have threatened her not to kill the cardinals which we really love, but it's hard to keep her from her instincts. So far, however, no cardinals. I was just relieved she got that bird out of the upstairs of my house. We have had some BIG spiders in our house too, so disgusting. We are on an acreage and I have had to come to the realization that there are just more critters out here. I'm sure living so close to Lake Erie has its advantages and some disadvantages too.

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    1. I'm so happy that everything is going well for your family right now--the good news about Du and a new baby to look forward to! :)

      Chandler (as fat as he was) was a champ at getting birds. We eventually decided to make him stay inside because I didn't want them killing the birds. He would grab them out of the air like it was nothing!

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  16. Oh my!!! I had no idea we could get sliders that big here! I would have freaked too!!

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  17. Eesh!! That spider was huge! I would have went after it with a shoe! Glad to hear you're feeling better :)

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  18. OK one time, my husband was away for the night, and I found one of these guys in my laundry room. It was HUGE. I put a bucket over it so it couldn't leave, and when my husband got home, a great battle ensued. He got the spider outside, but it lost a leg. About a week later, we found another huge spider in the laundry room. I told husband to count its legs. SEVEN! It was the SAME SPIDER. They fought again, put it outside again, and we haven't seen it since.

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  19. I am 30 and my sister is 26 and my dad still hides Easter eggs for us. I don't think your boys will get too old for it any time soon :)

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  20. What the bloody hell kind of spider is that monster?? Holy crap, the fact that your sweet Eli helped was very cool...i would have put the "for sale" sign out, all belongings included, and stayed in a hotel. Nope. No chance in hell I'd squish that thing. Ugh i knew i shouldn't have read this cuz now i have the heebie jeebies lol

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I used to publish ALL comments (even the mean ones) but I recently chose not to publish those. I always welcome constructive comments/criticism, but there is no need for unnecessary rudeness/hate. But please--I love reading what you have to say! (This comment form is super finicky, so I apologize if you're unable to comment)

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