FRIDAY

I am all alone in the office and I love it when that happens! So I am typing in my blog. When I type this fast, most people know I am NOT working, so no one is here to find out.

On Wednesday night, I had book club. I also had to be at Emeli's soccer game. I left her game early. I parked my car in the garage and did the whole push the garage door button and run under the closing door thingee. I was walking to Andrea's house to catch a ride to book club. As I was walking across the driveway, I saw a tarantula walking across the street towards our house in a kind of diagonal fashion. For about two seconds, I stood frozen and started to whine. Then I called Brett. I told him to hurry and get out here. He came running because I hadn't told him what it was about. When he saw the tarantula, his eyes lit up and he smiled this huge smile.
I said, "Okay, I want you to do something for me..."
He turned to me and said, "I will not kill it."
I told him that I wanted him to catch it for me so I could take it to work the next day for Heather. I knew she would LOVE it. So Brett got a container we had and caught the tarantula. The tarantula was not happy about it. He kept raising up on his front legs.

I kept it in the container, in the bed of the truck until the next day when I gave it to Heather. She immediately named it Steve. Funny!

Robby had never seen how freaked out I can be about huge spiders until the night before when we went for our walk and walked under a huge, orange spider that had built a web right above our front porch. I had a mini meltdown. I wouldn't walk back into the house under the web. I literally walked to the side of the porch and went in that way. I think that finally sunk in with him. He was so cute. I was lying in his arms kind of whining about how scary it was and he quietly said, "Tomorrow I will go out and kill it for you." Sure enough, the next day he went out with the broom, tore down the huge web and crushed the spider up in the rafters above the porch. It was a huge spider with a butt the size of a nickel.

I told him I can handle spiders until they get bigger than a quarter and then I freak. If they come in my house, they die. It's that simple. I was explaining to Robby that I don't go tromping around in their webs, so they are not allowed in my house. If I went into THEIR web, they would try to kill ME, so the same thing applies here.

Now when I walk out of my house, I scan the horizon for approaching tarantulas before I head out walking somewhere. I have been told they are all over the place right now and I don't want any more surprises!!

September 21

I have not blogged in way too long.

Last week I took three days off work so I could hang out with Taylor and Emma. It was wonderful. It was also very hard to get back to work again. Thank goodness I had a weekend to adjust and now I am back in the swing of things.

Taylor and Emma are very cute together. I adore Emma and so does Robby. I think Taylor is very lucky. Emeli told me that when she walked up to the house on Friday and didn't see Taylor's car, she started to cry. She hates it when her siblings are separated by states like they are. I told her that she is lucky to have a wonderful "sister" in Emma. They will always be good friends and she is blessed to have her. Emeli agreed.

On Saturday, Robby and I went to the zoo. That was a mixed experience. It was so crowded because they have a baby elephant and it was the second Saturday she was on display. There were several groups of obnoxious teenagers. I don't mind teenagers when they get a little silly, but these were rude. At the black bear exhibit, one kid yelled out, "I wish I had my bow and arrow." I wanted to yell back and say, "Yeah, let's see how tough you are with that bow and arrow if you're standing face to face with the bear." Jerk. At the orangutans, another kid was throwing ice chips at the orangutan. I was livid. Then his twit girlfriend reached into her mouth and said, "I should throw my gum in there." I turned to her and said, "Do NOT throw your gum in there!" she looked at me with surprise and said, "It's not like it would kill him or anything." I wanted to slap her. I said, in a very quiet, slow voice (the one that my kids are very familiar with--it's the one that means I'm going to beat you in a second)"Yes, it will." After that, I turned and stalked off. I knew that if I stood there for another second, I would toss them both over the wall in with the animal. Meanwhile, Robby was seething as well. He is not a man who swears, but as we walked away, he was muttering things like, "If you throw that gum in there, I will kick your ass and toss you in after the gum..." The two of us found a zoo worker and reported them...that's the best revenge. Sadly, she told us that happens a lot.

Brett came home that night. I had baked caramel rolls. He walked in, took a huge sniff in the air and walked right into the kitchen and dug into the rolls.

Twenty minutes later, Emeli called me and wanted me to pick her up. I refused for a couple of reasons. 1) I was in my pajamas and in bed and 2) if I pick her up every time she wants rescuing, her dad will accuse me of stealing the kids away from him on his weekend. If she wants to come home, she has to get him to do it. Twenty minutes later, Emeli was home. Her dad told her that it is my goal to keep them away from him. Whatever. On Sunday, I took her back to his house...drama.

We found a free desk on Craigslist and picked it up. Robby didn't like it, so Brett claimed it. He rearranged his room and was using it last night. It looks really nice in there.

Tonight for FHE, we are going to the Bean Museum and then to the BYU Creamery for ice cream. That will be nice. I will take pictures and put them on Facebook.