Monday, April 21, 2008
Goodbye, Charlotte, Goodbye
Tonight I spotted a ginormous spider on the floor of the laundry room. I had never seen a spider that looked so freakish. It had a huge rump, which for some reason convinced me that it was going to jump on my face and poison me if I didn't kill it right away. So I took my husband's shoe and began smacking it. You probably know where this is going. It was immediately obvious that I was attacking Charlotte and her babies. Hundreds! Hundreds of babies scattered everywhere! I started screaming and crying like a little child. Curtis could not imagine what was happening. All he could hear was me yelling Jesus, help me! What do I do? Oh, Lord, help me! My drama reached new heights while tiny spiders ran from their dying mother's body. I felt so horrible. And completely disgusted and freaked out. My head is still pounding. Curtis had to take over and, in my defense, even he was amazed by the carnage.
Alrighty then -- I'm with ya sister! No spider is dead enough for me until there is no resemblance of what it was when it was alive! But baby spiders -- well, that would keep me awake at night!!
ReplyDeleteMy 6 year old informed me the other day that we shouldn't kill the spiders because they are friendly, like Charlotte.
I don't think I will tell her your experience!!
Blessings,
Dori
I would have passed out.
ReplyDeleteThat's all.
Oh, and Curtis rocks.
Hey girl I give you props for being courageous enough to hurt the thing; I know I would freak too...since I know my man would see a spider, run out the door, get in the car and go to the end of the block...well, not that dramatic, but you get the point LOL.
ReplyDeleteang
This happened to a friend of mine, and she vacuumed up all 500 million baby spiders and threw the mother out the door in a plastic cup. I had creepy chills up my spine when she was telling us the story.
ReplyDeleteOh my sweet goodness Amanda, bless your heart. This is the third time I have heard of this happening to someone and just the thought of it freaks me out and even though I am quite the girly girl, killing bugs has never bothered me but ever since a friend of mine had this happen to her I never kill spiders in the house. Oh I pray you don’t dream about them...seriously I probably would.
ReplyDeleteOh and I love the fact that you used your hubbys shoe and not one of yours. You are a kindred spirit my friend.
Here is to praying for no more spiders.
Big Hugs, Lyndy
OH DEAR!!
ReplyDeletefreaking out over baby spiders crawling everywhere?
Yeah - I'd say that is understandable.
I would have freaked out!
ReplyDeleteOOhhh, that freaked me out just a little! Okay, a lot! I'm terrified of spiders & once I see one, I automatically think there are hundreds hiding, just waiting to jump on me! Didn't you get that creepy feeling that they were crawling all over you? AAhh, makes me shudder!
ReplyDeleteI give you props for trying to kill the thing yourself. If I ever see one, I spray it down with something "deadly" like windex first to slow it down & if hubs is home, yell for help! (It's like pepper spray for bugs. It doesn't kill them, it just confuses them & stops them from attacking you.) If he's not here, I just keep spraying it until it drowns, then I kill it. I'm afraid if I try to kill it before I spray it, it might hook onto my hand as I try to beat it my shoe! I squeal & scream & pray the whole time!
I don't know why I felt the need to share all that...but there ya go!
Oh, I am glad I haven't eaten breakfast yet... so gross! So, so gross.
ReplyDeleteSpiders immediately reduce me to a shaking, screeching little girl. It's never a pretty sight.
Good-bye Charlotte. I for one don't care if you rest in peace. All I care about is that you are gooooone! (heartless, I know.)
-Andrea
Eeek. We found a Wolf spider in our house once, with literally HUNDREDS of babies on its back. We captured it in tupperware to observe. Just shaking the dish to watch the babies scurry creeped me out. I can't imagine if they were actually scattering across my floor. If I were you, I'd be giving up doing laundry. ;)
ReplyDeleteSo sorry. It's bad isn't it?! Had the same experience yesterday but with a fly...Seriously disgusting!!
ReplyDeleteMonica
Yuck! I have had the unfortunate pleasure of having that happen to me not once, but twice. One time I had actually picked up a spider in a napkin and when I thought I had killed it with the squeeze of death, I quickly found out that it was pregnant because little babies started running all over the napkin and onto my hand before I could figure out what was going on. I was doing a dance and it was a happy dance or praise dancing. Gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it even now. Those babies really hit the ground running, don't they?
ReplyDeleteI just realized that I'm posting to your blog and you're probably wondering who the heck I am. I read/post on the Living Proof blog a little and just started reading yours recently too. Hope you don't mind.
Hope you don't have any more encounters with Charlotte and her relatives.
Honestly, this is the scariest post I have read all year!
ReplyDeleteAnd also, probably the most courageous post I have read all year. Cuz in all honesty, I would have called my husband to kill it!
OH MY WORD!!! I have just read one of my worst nightmares! I seriously think I would have passed out. Hope you are starting to calm down some...but it might take a while!
ReplyDeleteOh. My. Gosh. I would have FLIPPED OUT.
ReplyDeleteLOL! I had the same thing happen to me in my living room late one night. I had just put our little man to bed and saw something moving out of the corner of my eye. By the time I hit her with my shoe and the babies scattered, I freaked. I wasn't very nice to the babies or the moma. My hand with the shoe was moving 90 miles an hour trying to kill them all before they ventured out in the house. :)
ReplyDeleteMy stomach turned a little when I read this! If that were me, I probably would have lost my lunch or something.
ReplyDeleteI'm a firm believer in squashing anything that is residing in my home that is NOT supposed to be there.
I'm sure that I would have done the same thing!
Oh...I hear ya!! I had a similar situation this time last year at work! It's just awful! And man those babies scatter! I can't say I blame them though!
ReplyDeleteOh my. I'm so sorry! Not a fan of the spider...on any level. Chris either! Two words: Heebee jeebees!!
ReplyDeleteOh, no, that is so horrible. I am sure a phone call the the pest control people will be in order for today!
ReplyDeleteThat is hilarious! I could only imagine what Curtis was thinking when he heard you. Great story to start the day with. H
ReplyDeleteNASTY....oh the fear of having a pregnant spider leap upon your face....what a freakshow.....
ReplyDeleteI always have mixed emotions when I whack a spider to its death. I feel sorry for them, yet they are so freaky and scary and ooooohey....I try and rescue it and take it outside to live, but I get freaked during the process, that it will climb up the paper and to my arm.
Sorry you had that happen. :)
Kelly S.
O. My. Goodness. I am laughing hysterically and sympathizing at the same time. While logically it's easy to remember that they are SPIDERS and I feel the same way about them as I do snakes - all within 50 feet of my house and/or children and/or self must DIE. I can TOTALLY understand your crying fit. That's why I can't go into an animal shelter because I'd leave with every animal.
ReplyDeletePlus, I don't think the baby spiders can wrap their teeny little brains around the fact that their mommy just got hammered with a shoe. Take comfort in that. :) They don't get it.
Oh sister. If there has ever been a time to call upon the Lord, that was the time. Bless you as you recover.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, Amanda, oh dear. Oh, I'm shuddering with you.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness.
ReplyDeleteI could cry just thinking about being in that situation! Girl, I am praying for the Lord to take those images from your poor mind!!
Hi Amanda! You so dont know me but I "feel" like I know you! I keep up with the LPM blog and then found out a few months ago you had one too! Oh the joy! :)
ReplyDeleteI have so enjoyed the "journey" you have been on and was really excited when you revealed you were back in Houston! God is too cool! I actually grew up there but am now here in Dallas and am loving it!
OK..so I will get to the point! I am feeling your pain with the spider! Several years ago I was walking into my bedroom before I went to sleep. I did not have my glasses on (I am blind without my contacts/glasses!!) and I stepped on something. I immediately knew it did not "feel" right- kind of soft! I jumped up and stuck my blind face down to see...a dead "Charlotte" and 100's of her babies! I screamed,jumped around and ran to stick my foot in the bathtub while my sweet husband came to the rescue. I am still scarred and very weary of killing spiders!
Sorry for the novel! :) Be blessed !
The same thing happened to me! I had nightmares for a month not to mention that my husband was out of town and I didn't sleep for a week. I felt the same emotions...fear, disgust, sad???...but all I could picture was hundreds of spiders infesting my house. I made a note to self that day...never kill a fat spider!!! I guess we live and learn!
ReplyDeleteKelli
Oh my goodness! I had that same experience with a wolf spider in my clothes as I was about to do laundry!!! I could not believe the amount of "babies" and totally freaked out when I think they could have all stayed in my house!!! Lord have mercy! Praying for you sister!
ReplyDeleteDear Amanda,
ReplyDeleteI love your blog and check it often. Wouldn't you know it took a spider to get me to leave a comment! I had a very similar experience. I had been called to jury duty. Being a SAHM of a then 2 month old and 23 month old , I wasn't accustomed to getting us out the door so early. My husband had already gone to work. When I found the HUGE spider. I called my husband, put the baby in the swing and instructed my toddler not to move. I decided to spray my spider because it was so big I was sure it would attack me if I got close enough to smack it with something. All my husband could hear was, "Ahhh! Rachel (the toddler)stay there! Ahhhh! Rachel, don't move, baby!" Of course as soon as I sprayed, baby spiders went everywhere. All I could do was keep spraying. It all ended in a huge puddle of spider soup! Yuk!! When I finally calmed down enough to talk to my husband he said, "Well just think where all those babies would have ended up if you hadn't found the mother." Thanks for the early morning laugh! Blessings...
I don't know what to say except that I would have smashed it just as you did and the little babies because the babies won't be babies for long. Can I say, I HATE spiders? Big ones, small ones, baby spiders,and living in a house of 5 they all call on me to destroy them. On the other hand I was cooking breakfast this past weekend and I saw a little bug on the floor and I got a napkin and picked it up and threw it in the trash and then I felt bad for the little thing. My brother was in Desert Storm and one day as they were out in the field, a spider bit him, his leg started swelling so big that they had to cut his pant leg off. That is all he remembers, he woke up in the hospital. He was very sick and his leg was double in size. After weeks in the hospital and a lot of meds he was fine. I guess this is one of many reasons I don't like spiders. :o)
ReplyDeletePraying you have a great Monday!!
That's funny, Amanda. Years ago my husband stomped on one on our driveway and we immediately realized she was pregnant. Who would have thought hundreds of itsy bitsy spiders could scatter so quickly? I was just glad she wasn't in the house - I can imagine your horror!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter was about 5 at the time and in kindergarten shortly thereafter they each were assigned a letter of the alphabet and had to draw a picture of that letter. Kamica got the letter P. You know what she drew? Yep - a pregnant spider. Her teacher thought it was hysterical.
Oh my goodness Amanda! I would have screamed and cried too. My heart started pounding just thinking about it.
ReplyDeleteNot kidding.
Kill it, honey, kill it!
ReplyDeleteI don't blame you one bit. But that still doesn't beat my grandma killing a baby armadillo with her shoe. She hates armadillos and is about as afraid of them as you were of that spider. Can you imagine?!
I am so sorry that happened to you.
ReplyDeleteHope today will be trauma-free.
Blessings!
Seriously, that is just ughhhh! (No words here...just shivvvvvers!)
ReplyDeleteOH. My. Word. I'm squeemish! That made me laugh out loud! Oh, I'm so sorry that happened to you. Bummer for the spider! eeeeewww, I have chills!
ReplyDeletePoor Charlotte!
ReplyDeleteIf any escaped the carnage I hope they find their Wilbur.
That was one of my favorite stories when I was growing up.
Although I have to say that I never developed a love for Charlotte outside of the book.
I am afraid that many Charlotte have met the same demise at our home.;)
Oh my goodness. I would have been screaming bloody murder. Good for you for even killing the spider in the first place. I always have to have my husband do it. Icky.
ReplyDeleteBless your sweet heart! Unfortunatley, I can relate...I still feel sick to my stomach when I think of it. Don't judge, but I'm trusting Jesus for NO spiders (especially pregnant ones) in my eternal home! Mercy!
ReplyDeleteI don't know where my sympathies lie after reading this story.
ReplyDeleteNothing brings forth an involuntary scream from me like a big, hairy spider.
But you invoked the memory of Charlotte.
This is a conundrum.
Oh my word. Baby spiders everywhere???? Acckkkk!
ReplyDeleteI cannot believe you had the courage to even attempt to kill it. I ALWAYS have my hubs take care of the spiders. But he screams like a little girl when it comes to those large Palmetto Roaches, so those are mine to fend off. A perfectly acceptable trade IMHO. I HATE spiders!!!!
Totally freaking out over the image of your story. Blech!
That's happened to me before too. You may never get over it. :)
ReplyDeleteOh you poor thing! I would have totally flipped out too!
ReplyDeleteOH.MY.GOSH.
ReplyDeleteBless your heart! That sounds like my worst nightmare! Spiders make my skin crawl....
ReplyDeleteThat is so creepy... Literally!! Whenever I hear a story like that I get the weirdest sensation that they're crawling all over me!
ReplyDeleteHope you didn't have nightmares last night!
Have a great creepy-crawly free week.
YUCK!!
ReplyDeletePoor Charlotte - I mean poor Amanda - hehe
I do not like spiders either and my saying is "if you are in the house you die - sorry"
We had a roach the size of a small mouse in our house last week - yeah I posted on that one b/c it was such a fiasco!
BUGS - why do they have to come in the house!
Have a great spider free day!
Kim
The only thought I have is, at least she didn't give birth and you didn't know it and would have that many more spidies running around.
ReplyDeleteI am laughing so hard right now. Bless your heart. I would have been squalling too.
ReplyDeleteNo His Grace would not be sufficient for me with that. I could not handle it!
ReplyDeleteUm, you do not know me but my friend sent me the link to your blog today, and I have to tell you that the scene you described is my worst nightmare. I have heard such horror stories before and they are foremost in my mind when I encounter said arachnids. I hope I am never forced to be couragous in a situation like yours. I also hope you have recovered. In Jesus' Name, amen.
ReplyDeleteAmanda,
ReplyDeleteI left a comment earlier but it does not look like it posted.
YUCK!! YUCK!!
Poor Charlotte - I mean poor Amanda - hehe
I do not like spiders especially in my house!
we had a huge roach the size of a small mouse last week - i posted on it b/c it was such a fiasco!
I hope you have a fun spider free day!
Kim
First of all, ew. Ew, ew, ew. What a traumatic experience!
ReplyDeleteSecond, thank you so much for not posting a photo!
Wow! I would have freaked out! AAAHHHH! I hate spiders!
ReplyDeleteYUK! That happened to me once and it really did freak me out too. Happy to hear that I am not the only one that gets grossed out by these things.
ReplyDeleteMy daughter-in-law accidentally ran over a frog in her driveway awhile back... her two children had nicknamed this frog, Butch so for weeks they told everyone they met that their Mommy had killed Butch. If Jackson wasnt around you are safe.
When my mom was pregnant with me she stepped on a mommy spider and its' babies. Needless to say, she freaked out! I am conviced that is the reason I have always had a very bad case of arachnophobia.
ReplyDelete*shudder*
ReplyDeletespiders give me the heebeegeebees.
there is actually one about the size of a quarter living in the window beside my bed right now...our friendship (by that i mean my hatred of him) has been going on for about 8 days now.
every night i beat the wall with my tv remote so that he won't come out while i'm sleeping (i'd rather not know if he crawls all over me and laughs about it before he goes back in his hole in the morning.) it's sort of become part of my morning ritual now...brush teeth, fix hair, vacuum spider web. now i just don't have the heart to kill him...we have an understanding about when he's aloud out (when i'm not home) and when i have the right to attempt to smush him.
so far he's won. :(
This happened to my husband when he was killing a spider for me that was in our living room. You should have seen his hands flying trying to get all the kajillion babies with the shoe!! You deserve a starbucks today to help you get over the traumatic experience!
ReplyDeleteAmanda...I could not help but laugh at your humorous way of telling us what happened but I can so relate to that! I get pretty upset when I see one of those huge jumping kind of spiders in the house and have to kill it. But if you want to see me absolutely go berserk.....be around when a snake shows his ugly self! We live way out in the country and those ugly beasts have a way of showing up all too often. As a matter of fact when we got home from church yesterday I thought it was taking my husband an inordinate amount of time to get the front door opened while I was getting our Bibles, etc. out of the car. He yelled to me..."Don't look!!!"....and I knew immediately what he had found on our front porch! Yep! You guessed it! (thankfully a "harmless" variety although none of them seem harmless to me!) So you better believe I will keep my eyes open when I go out for my walk in a few minutes! If hubby had not been here to take over yesterday you can bet I would NOT have set foot on the porch! And I would have screamed, cried, yelled, pleaded.......and would have been sick as a dog today....swelled eyes and headache.....the works! Truly I can feel for you and your clash with "Spider-mamma"! Thank God for brave husbands!
ReplyDeleteGod bless you!
Marilyn in MS
You poor, poor thing!!! Oh.My.Heart. I would have FREAKED. I am terrorized by spiders (if any of them ever got caught in my hair, they'd never be found!!!) and I have NO IDEA IN THE WORLD what I would have done! I am SO glad you had a husband close by!!!
ReplyDeleteNote to self:
ReplyDeleteLearn from Amanda. If a spider is sportin' a J-lo, use bugspray.
The end.
I feel for ya! I would have to go into therapy after that one, no kiddin'!!
EW EW EW EW EEEEWWWWW!!
ReplyDeleteI PRAY that NEVER happens to me! Please Jesus!
2 things I love about this post:
ReplyDelete1) I totally feel your pain. Gross. It's all I can say without dry heaving. Oh, and at least it wasn't a roach.
2) We are learning about insects and wrote about spiders in our journals today. (We're talking kindergarten here.) We even talked about how some mom spiders carry their babies on their backs before they are born. Shudder. Then I read this. Ironic?! :)
Oh My, My daughter would have definitely fainted dead away or turned to head for the hills. She has a definite oversion to spiders. The other night I was sitting in the living room and she was standing in the front door while my husband did something on the front porch. I asked, "What is that black spot on the wall beside the door?" She jumped back, sqeaked and disappeared to her room. It was indeed a spider. She moved so fast I had no idea where she went. It was kind of hysterical, but not because she is truly terrified by spiders. Imagine her dismay when we moved a couple of summers ago and all the new construction had driven out the black widows... she was not the only one jumping when a spider presented itself. I was screaming... but that was nothing compared to the snake that crawled up on our front stoop one night! My husband was whacking it with a shovel while it jumped around and I was sure they were going to kill each other. He was on the front porch downstairs and I was upstairs on the balcony FLIPPING OUT! There is definitely emnity between me and anything with venom in it that will take my life or the life of one I love! It is really something to squash a black widow with babies on board. That flipped us out pretty well, too.
ReplyDeleteI know they are all God's creatures, but they are God's creatures in a fallen environment and if it is either them or me... It is definitely going to be them. If I can help it...
I pray you recover soon!
Just laughed until I snorted! Love that story!
ReplyDeleteOh dear-- I will not sleep tonight!
ReplyDeleteI've done that before, and it was disgusting. The little babies are so fast!
ReplyDeleteNUTS! You go, because you actually obtained a shoe and commenced to destroy! All I did was freeze and holler (as elaborated upon in last year's "Not So Good Charlotte" post), but your horror movie experience motivates me to sheepishly take down that cheesy pseudo-frightening story.
ReplyDeleteYou go! Protect and destroy!
Oh no! I need to set the record straight. I just realized that I said we are talking about insects, and then I talked about spiders. I need everyone to know that I know spiders aren't insects. Insects have 6 legs. Spiders have 8. Our story this morning happen to be about spiders, though.
ReplyDeleteOkay, I can breathe now.
So...this might beat that story...try being home the first night of your married life after your honeymoon, cooking your first spaghetti supper for "just the two of you" as you wait for hubby to bound through the door with,"Hi, Honey, I'm home...!" when, as you are straightening up the living room, you look at the fireplace mantle and notice a REAL, LIVE snake head poking out from behind it. And, that's pretty well the END of your thinking that you are June Cleaver as you cook that sketty with one eyeball on the fireplace the whole time! Then, after Brave Husband finally gets home and lies on the floor facing up into the fireplace to get a better view, he tells you the snake is about 4 feet long....so immediately, you quickly gulp down that spaghetti (still staring at the fireplace and not once gazing into your darling's eyes) and RETURN to sleep at your parents' house...dragging your husband with you since, after all..."what God has joined together...," and then, when you come home, you never find the stupid snake again, only a bird nest with empty egg shells that have crashed to the bottom of the fireplace...so, you live the next 3 months of your life in your little love shack CONSTANTLY looking for that snake and hardly sleeping a wink! Spiders used to bother me, but after that particular experience, I just think, "Praise You, Jesus!!! At least it's not a snake!"
ReplyDeleteI'm impressed that you tackled it yourself! If my hubby isn't home when something like that is discovered, he will find a heavy pot covering it when he gets home...so he can deal with it!
ReplyDeleteI have chill bumps right now!
ReplyDeleteOh no!!! I have one for you! A girlfriend of mine got in her car on a Monday morning and headed to school. About half way there she turned on her a/c for the first time and thousands of tiny spiders flew all over her! Needless to say, she went back home!! YUCK!
ReplyDeleteI can honestly say that I have never seen that happen before!
ReplyDeleteIt would have freaked me out.
Oh yes!
My DH ran across one of THE most huge spiders either of us had ever seen in our lives. It was in our driveway and it's backside was enormous! And looked hairy...but not quite a tarantula. He got a 2x4 and poked it and hundreds of little baby spiders came flying off the back end of that thing in all directions! And then the 'momma' spider literally stood up on a couple of legs and hissed at him! Oh My Goodness! I thought I was going to faint! And my big strong man, all 6'8" of him was about to scream like a girl! I have never seen anything like it...I did a search of it on-line but I could barely stand to see another one,so.....EEeeewwww! If I found one in the house I would have to move, I'm afraid! I'm so glad Curtis prevailed....now go phone the monthly bug man service! And always keep a large shoe within arm's reach! I tell you, when we lived in OK I saw bugs and critters that I never knew the good Lord had made!
ReplyDeleteI am so sorry! Do you need post-traumatic stress therapy? I would. Spiders are the fear that I can not handle. God help me if that ever happens because I would have grabbed Ella and ran out the door and probably would not have returned to my house for a week. I don't think I'm going to be able to stop thinking about this all day. :-)
ReplyDeleteI may have to sleep with the light on after that story. You think you're killing one spider... and suddenly there are hundreds everwhere. {shudder}
ReplyDeleteThis happened to me about 10 years ago and I STILL talk about it.
ReplyDeleteTotally freaked me out.
The next year I taught 3rd grade and learned that it was probably a wolf spider, they carry their babies on their back.
UGH.
Like many others, I too have smashed a Wolf Spider with my shoe (a sandal of course) and had the pleasure of watching the thousands of babies jump off the mommy's back and scurry across the floor - only thing is I did it in my classroom with 22 nine/ten year olds. I wanted to scream like a baby, but I had to be the calm one, barefoot and freaked out, to get all my kids out the door safely, as they screamed and jumped in chairs and on tables. That happened several years ago and to this day I still tell the story a few times a year. It will stick with you. I pray you suffer from short term amnesia and rid your mind of the memories.
ReplyDeleteThank you for having that experience for me....i now know to shoo that pesky huge rumped spider quickly out the door!! Shoud we call that guy from Dirty Jobs?
ReplyDeleteThis JUST happened to me! At first I thought it was a liquid oozing out and then I realized, no- no, it was millions of babies fleeing for their lives.
ReplyDeleteMY husband wasn't home for the rescue. I ran for the Raid and massacred! I felt AWFUL.
Oh my goodness! That's all I can think to say!
ReplyDelete