Happy Saturday, everyone!

Before you begin, anyone who is terrified of snakes and spiders should not read this post..I repeat, DO NOT READ THIS POST!!!!  Well, the day started out wonderfully!!!  Lori picked me up early this morning so we could go shopping for the brunch we were making for our moms today.  We’ve established a Mother’s Day tradition where we take our moms out together each year.  We haven’t been able to do it in a while, so today was really special.  Lori crafted a delicious menu and together we were like master cooks (see photos below)!  :)  Lori, I forgot to write the recipes down before I left, so I’ll have to get those from you.  Thanks for having us all over to your place.  It really was a wonderful day, and I had a great time preparing everything too!!

After filling up on the food (scrambled eggs with smoked salmon, home fries with green pepper and onions (served with an herb mayo),  tomatoes with some seasoning and basil from Lori’s herb garden, coffee cake, coffee and a homemade mixed non-alcoholic drink (sparkling white grape juice with lemon juice and a sugar syrup)), we plopped on the couch and watched several HGTV shows.  It’s always fun to comment on all the hard work they do on the designer shows…our fave today was “Divine Design”.  I think we all agreed that we liked her work!  Oh, I forgot, we also had biscotti that I made which was less than satisfying.  The recipe called for wheat flour and flaxseed (I don’t even really know what that is!!), and I just think it was too healthy to be good.  I mean, a biscotto (yup!  That’s the word for one biscotti) is a cookie…it should be decadent and delicious, right?!!  It would have been much better dipped in chocolate.  :)  Once you really soak it up in coffee though, I guess it doesn’t taste too bad.

When we got home, I took a little nap (after all, 7:30 is quite early for me to wake up, you know!!) and cuddled up with the dogs.  The rest of the evening passed pretty much uneventfully, until I walked into the laundry room.  I had just passed through there after letting the dogs out, and there was nothing on the floor.  When I re-entered the room, first I thought there were a bunch of ants on the floor…when I looked closer, I realized they were spiders!!  There, in the middle of the floor, was a momma spider lying on her back.  She had just had her babies (or they hatched or whatever they do)!!  She was dying though.  I told my dad, thinking he would do something about it, but he told me to leave them right there.  He reminded me of Charlotte in “Charlotte’s Web” and how it broke my heart when she died.  I was only two when I watched the movie and I hit my dad when she died.  They were so surprised because they didn’t think I was paying attention to the plot!!!  I guess I didn’t know how to express my anger.  ;)  So here I was faced with these baby spiders…there weren’t that many of them when I walked in, but there were enough.  I scooped the mom up in a cup and took her out to the porch, but she’s definitely dead.  I couldn’t scoop up the babies ’cause they were too little.  So……I stepped on them.  I know, I feel pretty bad about it, but this is how my thought process went:  If all these spiders grow to be the size of their momma and then have babies, well, that’s just more than we need in the house, and I certainly can’t have them running around the laundry room–it’s not like it’s a room we never go into, you know?  Besides, they would probably eventually get smooshed anyway.  It was a tough decision, but I did what I felt I had to do.  Now, I know there are plenty of spiders out here—you can’t avoid them anywhere and we’re too close to the woods to kid ourselves that they’re not all around these parts.  By the way, I know this may be exaggerating a little bit, but I had visions of “Arachnaphobia” when those little babies were crawling around everywhere!!  I know, dramatic, but that was the scariest movie I’ve ever seen!!!!  I tried not to think of all the babies that got away and hid under the washer/dryer before my shoe could find them.

The craziness of the evening does not end there though.  About an hour ago, I walked through the laundry room and called the dogs to go outside again.  I started to open the door when I noticed a snake lying in the middle of the walkway.  I went outside and looked at it (from a safe distance) and decided it looked suspiciously like a copperhead.  I called my dad and he agreed, but told me not to kill it…WHAT?!!!!  He mentioned the fact that they’re all over the place here, and there’s no need to kill it.  Well, I ran inside and called Ronnie to get his opinion.  I sent him some pictures and, over the phone, we both agreed it was a copperhead and not a corn snake (after studying on-line photos).  Ronnie asked for more photos, but the best you get is that second pic—I wasn’t going to get any closer!!!!!  My mom wasn’t too worried either, by the way.  She had gone to bed, but she came down, looked at it, and went back up.  Why am I the only one still awake at 12:52 AM because of all the creepy things that happened tonight?

I just looked outside a couple minutes ago and he’s gone now.  I don’t know if I feel good about that or not!  I’d like to know just where he went.  Don’t worry though…he can’t get in here.  I locked the door.  hahahahahahahaha  Seriously, I’m pretty afraid to go to sleep.  We’ve had snakes in the house before (another peril of living near the woods!).  I think I’m stealing the nightlight from the bathroom tonight, so I can light my path when I wake up to use the bathroom!

Do you think God sent the copperhead to punish me for killing the baby spiders?  I mean, not that he wants me to be bitten, but maybe he wants to scare the crap out of me!!  If so, it worked.  I am indeed freaked out, and I’m pretty awake for this time of the morning.  My parents…they’re snoring upstairs!!!!

Anyway, after this sighting, I’ll be extra careful playing with the dogs in the grass!!  It’s so easy to forget all these things live outdoors when you don’t see them all the time.  The last time I saw a copperhead, I was a little girl.  I think it was when my dad killed it with the ice pic used to get ice off the sidewalks.  The snake had made his way into our garage.

I’m off to look for a happy show on TV to help give me sweet dreams.  Please have some “Frasier” or “Golden Girls” on!!!!!!!!

I hope everyone’s enjoying a relaxing, insect/reptile-free weekend!!!!

Love,

Julie

PS I wore makeup for the first time today, and it felt pretty darn good!!!!

PSS I forgot to tell you the really strange thing about seeing the snake tonight…two nights ago, I dreamt I got bitten by a rattlesnake, and everyone kept telling me, “Hurry up and squish the rattle!!  Squish it!!!”  When I did, it dispensed an anti-venom cream that healed my wound.  What the heck does that dream mean?  And why is God sending me a real snake to think about?  My mind can conjure up perfectly good images without nature’s direct assistance.  :)  Maybe he’s pissed that I thought of a better engineered snake-I mean, wouldn’t it be nice if each of them came prepared with their own anti-venom lotion?  OK, enough snake talk for one night!!!!  I hope everyone else is having sweet dreams!!!!