Things We've Found

Things we've found.....no, not out and about, but in our own house. Over the years, and with the amazing amounts of kids that both live here and visit here, we have found interesting things in our home that I NEVER thought I would find.
Like the time we were cleaning under Jake's and Joe's bed and Jake backed out fast and said there's a giant spider under there! Joe got a Mason jar and a piece of paper and lo and behold, the wolf spider was bigger than the bottom of the Mason jar!!Creepy. And under that same bed, but later, when Isaac was the one sleeping in it, we found something most unusual. Keep in mind that we call Isaac a packrat. He is the kid with the nest. Think Templeton from Charlotte's Web. Seriously. NO, I'm not kidding. We started noticing an unusual amount of flies in the house. I just couldn't figure it out. We weren't leaving the doors open or anything. And shortly after that, I noticed a rank odor in the boys' room. I mean, worse than usual. So, being brave, I begin pulling stuff out. As we got to the under the bed part, I notice Isaac's Easter basket. Oh no!! We had told all of the kids that they absolutely could not keep the real eggs in their room. This was the next winter, after Easter had been the previous Spring. You get the idea. Isaac kept his eggs. They were pretty. They were his. Well, one of those eggs had cracked. EWW. And then, well I learned that flies lay eggs in such places. UGH. And then, yes, maggots. AAAhhhhhh!!!! So I'm gagging and choking and John takes the egg and puts it in a Mason jar......with boys, why does everything go in a jar?.......and pokes holes in the lid and puts the jar out in the barn so that they can watch the cycle of a fly's life. Disgusting.
Then there was the time that I asked the boys to take the roasting pan around the side of the house to the trash to empty the turkey remains into the trash. Well, a long time passed by inbetween that request and the next time I needed the roasting pan. And I couldn't find it. But, thankfully, one of the boys remembered that it was around the side of the house. They had carried it out and left it there. Uh oh. So, two of us go around and pull off the lid. AAAaaarrrggghh. Maggots. Yes, if you leave a turkey carcass outside for a month or so, it smells really really bad, and the flies love it. But, it was my really expensive roasting pan. So, Isaac and I loaded it in the car and took it to our house that was being remodelled because we had chickens there and we figure that we can get rid of the whole mess to the chickens. Well, suffice it to say that the pan overturned in the car. Gag. Little maggots wiggling around. Oh man. I nearly vomitted. But somehow survived the clean up.
Then there was the cat who brought snakes to the kids. He really did. He would go catch garden snakes and bring them back to the porch and wait for the kids to come. They loved them. Joe had five of them in a tank with a heated rock and the whole bit. And they would take them out and play with them. And sometimes their friends would play with them. They would take them out in the grass and it was a lot of fun. But one day I went in the room and there were only four snakes in the tank. And Joe said that one of the kids had lost one out in the yard when they were playing with them. I was quite relieved. Until about a week later when I was picking up clothes from the floor in their room!!! And, you got it, I picked up a pair of jeans and there was a coiled up snake. Yes, I screamed. And I am not ashamed. And I ranted. Yep, I freaked. And yes, the snake was maybe 12 inches long. Ick.
Then there was the time that the boys came back from South Texas with a chameleon. She was a really cute little lizard. Actually an anole. They change from green to brown. And she had a great tank with a good lid that attached to the top. It was the perfect set up. We had a lot of fun watching that lizard and feeding her crickets. Until some kids came to visit and left her lid slightly ajar. Sigh. She was gone. We looked and looked. We gave it up and decided maybe the cat had gotten her or something. Then, a year later, Anna was sitting on the couch when a little lizard climbed up on the armrest!!! She screamed. Lizard fled. We never did find that lizard. We eventually gave the couch away. Sorry Leanne. That couch probably had a lizard in it.
Being a mom has been more than I ever knew it would be. It makes me laugh just thinking about it. This is just the tip of the ice berg really. It has been an amazing adventure. I love every little scary, exciting moment. It is so worth it.
blessings,
rhonda