Spiders!

For the past couple of days, I have not been able to rid myself of spiders. These are not imaginary spiders; they are the real thing – with eight legs, an arachnid. Monday before work I spot one above my closet and had to let it be because my dad had already left for work and being 5’2”, I could not reach it (not that I really wanted too). Luckily, it was still there (at least I think it was the same one!) after work and my dad was able to kill it effectively. About an hour later when I was running out the door to go to FHE, there was another spider. This one was bigger and also too high on the wall for me to reach. I calmly let my dad know it was there and he told me to wait. I go to FHE and come back to a spider still on my wall. My dad was nice enough to come downstairs before we went to bed to kill it. Needless to say, my night was a little restless and m y skin never stopped itching.

The very next day (Tuesday), I hear a scream in the lab and look over to see Mitch jump out of his chair. This was not a girly scream, it was a manly scream coming from a 6’ guy with very big muscles and size 14 shoe. It turns out that this big guy is afraid of spiders – he had seen one on the ground. This spider was a good size and met his death while being sprayed with alcohol. It made for a funny picture – watching Mitch run away from a spider. After the spider dies, Norbert picks it up and puts it in the bag. He shoes the bag to me and I jump out of my chair. He says, “It’s dead, Carly, in a bag. This tiny spider can’t hurt you.” To which I reply, “I am not talking to you Norbert.” This sparks many conversations where I make fun of him for being afraid of flying and he makes fun of me for having arachnophobia.

Not ten minutes later, I find myself in the bathroom and see a big spider on the wall. It starts moving and falls off the wall. Since I do not dare venture closer and the floor is dark, I wash my hands and make a (very) hasty retreat. I tell Norbert this and he tells me that I need to take care of it. The spider control at Baxa is made up of myself and Mitch (I think he was lying). About 3 hours later I find myself in the restroom again and slowly open the door saying, “Is it safe?”. Caryl, Katie, and Kristi, and Megan are changing in the bathroom thinking that I was talking about them. I tell them about my earlier adventures and they don’t seem concerned at all, maybe I do go a bit over the top.

That night, I return to my lovely bedroom with lots of pink on the wall and come in contact with another spider. This one is of medium size and so I bravely grab 15 Kleenexes and proceed to kill the spider. I am victorious! The spider is dead, in the Kleenex and I am not running around all squirmy. Needless to say, I tell Norbert this the next day and he congratulates me and tells me that I need to keep this up. After all of the progress that I have made, I am still very afraid of spiders and get all itchy just thinking about them. The two scariest movies are Arachnophobia and The Covenant (only because of the scary spider dream).