Random Thoughts

FIRST, I need to wish my brother, Dan, a belated 35th (NOT 55th) birthday on my blog. I didn't do it on Tuesday, when it was his birthday, and I want to correct that now. When I called Dan to wish him a happy birthday, he was eating Creamy Tacos, a Baker family favorite, and was expecting to finish the rest of his birthday cake with my parents later in the evening. Apparently, he had a very decadent chocolate cake that he couldn't stay out of and dug into about 30 minutes before his birthday technically began... That's okay - he was turning 35 and it was HIS birthday cake - more chocolate to ya, Dan!

Claira. Recap: On Friday, 9/22, Claira decided that it was time for her to walk. So, she stood up in the middle of the floor and toddled over to her daddy in his recliner. She then began to walk back & forth between Greg & I, to great pomp & circumstance, even looking over her shoulder if her efforts were not met with immediate applause. She even joined in the celebration (GOOD FOR HER!) Ever since, she's decided to walk more & more and we're really having fun...

Disaster struck during our Baker family get together in Lima over the weekend. No one died, but I LOST my digital camera. ARRRGGGHHHH!!! I cannot believe it. I've had the thing for 4 or 5 years, and on a family get together I lost track of it and it is long gone. I am rather upset about it, although I find that I am in some sort of major denial about it. I continue to act as if it is just going to turn up somewhere and everything will be fine... Yes, pictures of Claira on it. Pictures of my wedding dress that I was going to upload and put on ebay... The case & cords & base to the computer are at home - lonely, waiting for my camera to return... The Baker family get together was fun. The hotel we stayed at had a game area, so there was ping pong, air hockey, fuszball, and pool. And even a small plastic play gym for Caden & Claira. Claira, by the way, was in H-E-A-V-E-N because of all the little kids to play with. And when she saw that Caden was walking almost everywhere, she decided she could as well, and just randomly began walking into the middle of the family group. What fun!!!

Update on Grandpa King: He was moved to a Rehab facility for a few days, but has subsequently been moved to a nursing home. He seems to be doing well and mom has visited him a few times. He has good days & bad days and I know it's hard for him to be separated from his wife, Doreen, but they're taking it one day at a time right now.

Spiders. Can we talk about spiders? I have never had either a strong aversion to, or particular fondness for, spiders. I can remember playing with daddy-long-legs when I was little. I will even admit to pulling their legs off and watching them hobble around with only 3 or 4 legs. Okay PETA, I was just a small child... Anyway - I have generally been the "spider killer" wherever I have lived. Since just before Claira was born, I have developed this irrational reaction to creepy, crawly things - I cannot explain it other than to say "hormones?"

Spiders are one thing my husband does not at all particularly care for. So, I am still the spider killer... Just last week, when I saw, what appeared to me to be a "baby" tarantula in my basement, on top of the slacks I had just thrown downstairs 15 minutes earlier to be washed in the next load of laundry, I fa-REAKED out. I had to look more than once to realize that indeed, I was NOT hallucinating. And then I panicked.

Note: Just a few weekends ago, we had moved our "living" area from our basement back into our front living room. The basement has some renovations that need to be done, and the front room had been recently carpeted. Since Claira was still crawling mostly, and the basement floor is not carpeted, we thought we should move things around. Back to the spider. In the basement. Where only weeks before, my precious daughter had been crawling around on hands & knees. (HYSTERICAL SHRIEK!)

So, I yelled for Greg to give me a shoe while I'm literally trying to shake off the heebie-jeebies; Greg grabs Claira and stands at the top of the stairs watching while I slowly move back downstairs in an attempt to kill the large hulking beast that threatened my daughter, my family, and dare I say, the town of Crestline... This was the mother of all spiders (flashback to the end of "Arachnophobia".) As I got to the bottom of the stairs, I saw a movement to the right out of the corner of my eye. It was yet, another spider. Smaller, maybe half the size of the first. So here I am - 2 killer beasts on the loose in my basement... What do I do? Well, the smaller spider was closer, so I nailed it with the shoe. As I lifted the shoe off the floor, it fell off the shoe onto another part of the floor, and in slow motion, I saw the mother-of-all-spiders crawling back into the closet from whence it presumably came. The closet that all of my clothes - my work clothes - are hanging in... Take a minute. Consider what I just wrote...

So, to "scare" the mother-of-all-spiders, I beat the tar out of the already dead, much smaller spider. That showed her... At least, I haven't seen her since. But I imagine she is out there. Somewhere. Waiting to pounce...

FYI - I did research on spiders to see if I could find a picture that closely resembled her. This is what I found: http://www.marion.ohio-state.edu/spiderweb/SpiderPictures/Lycosidae/Hogna%20helluo.htm By the looks of things, it is quite possible that I disturbed a male and a female wolf spider... You betcha folks, I either ruined a romantic interlude, or simply liberated a now-widowed ~ and most likely pregnant ~ wolf spider...

How's THAT for a Halloween scare? My husband has since plugged in an electronic pest & insect repeller (?) which makes a rather reassuring soft whirring sound to me as I race through the basement to do laundry, and has pointed it directly at the closet on my behalf... No, I haven't moved my clothes yet. I can barely open the closet door for more than 10 seconds at a time, are you kidding me? I'm not going to disturb an expectant spider mother... For the record, I have not seen any spiders since, but did run (okay, maybe "sprint" is a better word - I'm not a runner) through one of those stringy web things this morning on my way into the laundry room to get a clean shirt for work. Shudder. Eeewwwwww!