Insect War II. Bring it!

I had a lovely weekend.

Up first, I worked with my group to finish a magazine group layout project. We created a layout for The Sweet Tooth Fairy, this delicious little cupcake shop that started in Orem. I think it turned out pretty good! What do you think? 

Of course printing this little beast was a different matter. First, I didn't print out the bleed correctly, and then I cut out the last page a little wrong. When I tried to print off the last page again, they were working on that printer, and I had to use a different printer which printed out a slightly different version of the colors. Thankfully, my professor allows us a few freebies on printing. She wasn't kidding when she told us printing was going to be the bane of our existence.

On Sunday, I made these delicious beauties:

Soft-baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Swirl Cookies. Oh, these were tasty. Yes, it does involve making 2 different cookies doughs, but they were both so easy to make that it only took me about 20 minutes total to make both of them! You should know before you start out that it requires a little refrigeration to help the dough not be too sticky. I'll definitely make this recipe again! I'm even considering what other smash cookies I could make: mint with dark chocolate? Snickerdoodle with sugar?

Check out the recipe here.

Choir practice yesterday was a huge success! We had a 200% increase in turnout. Of course, ward choir is still mainly a women's choir, but hey! Aaron's got an actual choir to conduct! We were giddy with excitement. Maybe word got around about how delicious my cookies are. Yeah, I bet that's it.

Also, I found 3 different spiders in the apartment on Sunday. Aaron was there, mercifully, so they were killed swiftly, but it's got me on edge. They weren't huge. I'd classify them as a small-medium, one as a baby-size, but if the small-mediums are showing up, then there could be some big Grandpas and Grandmas hanging around, too. I'm going to grab that insect spray and keep it out in the open. I'm sure Bri will be excited by the spiders return, but I'm not. They're going down.

Kill it! Kill it kill it kill it!

Yep. Welcome to Aaron's life!

The Flight

The war against the arachnids has taken a turn.

At the beginning of the week, there appeared to be a temporary respite from the onslaught of spiders in the apartment. 3 days went by and I didn't spot any spiders. Monday, I found one in my room, but it was a small-medium spider and was quickly killed by my handy-dandy Raid. However, while Aaron was over on Wednesday, I found 3 —count 'em --> —3 largish spiders. One in the hallway, another in the kitchen, and a very tricky spider who almost blended into the carpet of the entry stairs. Fortunately, or rather unfortunately, my eye has become trained to recognize the slight twitch of a spider and I spotted him immediately. 

Then we hit Wednesday. Everything was fine all day long; in fact, I didn't see any spiders the entire time Aaron was there. It was like the calm of the storm. It was just too quiet. However, when I took Aaron home around 11 PM and returned to work some more on the couch in the living room, the cease-fire was over. I've developed an unnatural sense that alerts me to the presence of a spider. As I sat on the couch, reading a manuscript I was editing, the hair stood up on the back of my head. You might say my spidey sense went off. I looked up; I saw, with horror, one of the biggest spiders I had ever seen outside of the Harry Potter movie gliding across the main tile area. I hesitated for a moment, stunned by the horror of it all. It was the hesitation that cost me. I scrambled to my feet, grabbed the Raid bottle that is always within arm's reach, and stumbled to the hallway. It was almost to the spare bedroom, hurtling into the room. I gave a weak attempt at spraying the beast but my Raid malfunctioned and only let out a weak spray that barely touched it. It requires more than a spritz to knock out one of these big boys. It escaped into the room, immediately concealing itself amongst the many boxes of mine and Aaron's belongings. Even the idea of beginning a search for the creature made me sick to my stomach. Talk about the worst form of hide 'n go seek in the history of the universe.

I returned to the living room, stunned and overall overwhelmed. I had tried to be brave and put up a strong front the past week but we finally found the straw that broke the camel's back. I began to cry, terrified at the thought of staying in the apartment a second longer while my apartment was being overtaken by wild creatures. I hurriedly packed a change of clothes, a few basic hygiene products, shoved my laptop in my backpack, and left the apartment in the dead of night. I've been feeding my brother and sister-in-law's fish while they are at Lake Powell, and so I gratefully escaped to their empty apartment, spider-free and working air conditioning. It took me about 2 hours to finally wind down enough to fall asleep and even then, my dreams were filled with large spiders and ironically enough, telling my family about the horrific experience I just had.

The spiders have won this battle for now. I am going to stay at Jared and Bri's apartment for a few days while they're gone so I can study in peace without worrying about any sudden attacks. We're in the midst of discussions with my landlord and needless to say, professional aid will be forthcoming. I don't want to be the one running anymore; for once, I want them to be scared of me.

Spiders, if you're reading this right now, know that it may appear that you have gained the victory, but do not be deceived. I'll be coming back, and when I do, I'll be bringing backup. Be scared, my unwanted roommates. Be very afraid.

I have good news for you. The war has begun.

Sooooo we have a bit of a spider problem in my apartment right now. Aaron's trying to convince me that this is only temporary as no one has lived in the apartment in about 3 months and spiders had moved in during that period. That's possible, but in my mind, it's much more than that. It's an invasion.

I was getting ready to go to school, right about to walk out the door when I saw another medium spider (I now label the spiders as Goldilocks does) in my entryway. I really hate killing spiders so I thought that maybe I'd trap it! I hurried over to the kitchen, grabbed a tupperware and gingerly placed it over the spider. As I watched cowardly from the couch in the other room, I began to watch it pace the counter in panic until it had found its way out of the container. Impossible! I knew one thing for sure. I could not let that spider leave alive. I stalked the spider as it mischievously skirted the room right next to the wall, waiting until it was out in the open. That's when I pounced, a shoe in my hand, letting out a pitiful shriek as I hit it. Dead. I carefully placed the tupperware back over the carcass and rushed to school. I was weak at this time, scared, but I was growing stronger.

I sent a pitiful text message to Aaron, asking him to help me stop the invasion. When I was away last night, Aaron sprayed the apartment with Raid and thankfully killed all of the spiders that made their way out of the holes in the walls as a result. When he left last night, I didn't feel as scared as I did before! I had a weapon in my hand: Raid. As I was getting up off the couch at 12:30 to go to bed, I spotted a big spider jogging across the tile. I grabbed my spray bottle of pain and sprayed the living daylights out of the thing watching it curl up in the puddle of poison. It was strangely empowering.

I carry Raid with me in every room in the house now. When I go to the kitchen to make a piece of toast, go to bathroom to brush my teeth and when I go to my closet to pick out a new outfit. Like a cowboy carrying his pistol everywhere he goes in case he gets into a shootout, I likewise carry my Raid, ready at every turn to kill another beast. I don't think the war is over. No, it may not be even close to really beginning. But I'm no longer weak and unwilling to protect myself. Spiders beware, there's a new sheriff in this apartment. Now if only I can find a holster to hold my Raid bottle.

Spiders and Tests

It's 4 AM last Wednesday. I hadn't been awake that early on a weekday since my ridiculously early seminary class my senior year of high school (whoever thought that 5:15 AM seminary was a plausible idea should really rethink that concept). I stumbled out of bed, popped a blueberry bagel in the toaster, found my way to the couch and resumed studying the piles of notes laying over the ottoman and surrounding couch cushions. I was scheduled to take my second midterm, which is also the most important in terms of grading, for my English Usage class that day after class. After about a week and a half of diligent studying, at least 2 meltdowns to Aaron, and an upset stomach that was responding to my stress levels, this was my last 3 hour window to study.

I felt like a zombie, trying to keep each eyelid open through sheer force of will, realizing that I needed this last study session to be productive. I stumbled my way to the bathroom and that's when I saw it. It was the biggest spider I had ever seen indoors, standing right by my shower door. I froze, panic stricken. It's 4 AM in my new apartment, no one is around and I am positive that my neighbors upstairs would not appreciate a vacuum going off at 4 AM. As we stood there, staring at each other, it was as if we created an unspoken agreement. I didn't have the courage to kill it and he would know better than to be in plain sight in the near future. I backed out of the room, allowing him free reign of that side of the apartment for the time being. This isn't just a story of my first creepy critter encounter in my own apartment; no, this spider is actually the only reason I stayed awake that morning.

After I returned to the living room, I was mildly petrified and jumpy, waiting for the spider to round the corner with a machine gun or something. As nerve wracking as that was, you better believe I was awake after that! I made it through my 4 hours of studying without falling asleep once and I felt better than ever about the test.

I took the test. I felt like the champion of the world when I turned it in. I aced it. As much as I know I can attribute my grade to my diligence in studying, I must give due credit to the spider who scared the pants off of me that morning. Without that underlying terror, I'm not sure I would have been able to review as effectively. However, that truce ended tonight when I returned home from a visit to Albuquerque and found him in my bathroom once more. Thankfully, Aaron was there to do the dirty job, sparing me the task of breaking our truce of cooperation. Let there be a moment of silence for my spider. Your sacrifice will not be soon forgotten.