At about 4:00 p.m., I got a frantic call from Elizabeth. She said that a giant spider had gone from our bathroom into our bedroom and into my closet. In a quivering voice, she said, "It's about 3 inches long, it looks poisonous, and it looks very, very mean." (That usually means it's a harmless baby spider.) Because Elizabeth is deathly afraid of all spiders she called her friend Susan Barber (also our downstairs neighbor) to come kill the spider. Just as Susan grabbed the broom and headed towards the spider, it disappeared into my shoes in the back of my closet. I started getting nervous when Susan confirmed that it was, in fact, 3 inches long, looked poisonous, and seemed very, very mean.
By the time I got home at about 6:00 p.m., the spider was still M.I.A. With sweaty palms and shaky legs, I began pulling item after item out of my closet, carefully inspecting each one. As I got farther into the back of my closet, my palms got more sweaty...
Elizabeth had to teach an aerobics class tonight, so I was on babysitting duty. I put away my flashlight and took Sophie for a walk to get us out of the spider-infested house. We hit the regular stops: Blockbuster, Wells Fargo, and the grocery store. Elizabeth got home not too long after Sophie and I returned home from our walk, so I was able to resume my search.
Since I had pulled almost every item out of my closet with no sign of the enormous spider, I was feeling pretty confident that the spider had decided to move on to our next door neighbor's house. I was shocked when I finally pulled away a couple of books and DVDs that I saved from my mission and saw the "beast" sitting inside of my cardboard box. Of course it was smaller than Elizabeth said, but actually bigger and scarier looking than I thought it would be. After a couple well-placed swipes with the heel of my running shoe we laid that spider to rest!
I was glad I found it. I know that Elizabeth (and probably I) would not have slept well if the spider issue not been dealt with tonight. Elizabeth is still afraid to pick up anything and is convinced the spider has laid eggs in our apartment. She said she still has the "Eeby Geebies!"
When I told my mom about my pending spider hunt while driving home from work, she asked me to take a picture of it when I found it. So, mom, here you go...
Elizabeth went to Appleby's with some friends for lunch which was fun. Stephanie Edwards, a recently booted American Idol contestant, was also at Appleby's. Elizabeth was on the phone when Stephanie walked passed so she couldn't stop her for a picture.
Thanks to "Aunt" Kavita babysitting Sophie, we were able to go out on a date to celebrate! We went to The Cheesecake Factory in Pasadena. This is the cheesecake the waiters and waitresses brought to Elizabeth after they sang to her.
Elizabeth actually snapped this photo of us The Cheesecake Factory. It looks better than if someone else had taken it!
