My house has become some sort of wildlife sanctuary...

Or something…heavy rains force little creatures inside. I´ve gotten used to the constant presence of millipedes, centipedes and spiders and most don´t bother me. Though when I do find the random tarantula I try to make it stay where it is until Deyvis can come and kill it. This usually involves shutting a door then sticking a towel on the ground to block the space between it and the floor. Scorpions still freak me out. I found one last Saturday as I was looking in a shoe box that I had gone through the day before. I screamed and dropped everything and the scorpion fell to the ground and stared at me with its tail raised and its pinchers ready. Oh…and this happened during my class with 20 sixth grade girls sitting in my living room staring at me and trying not to laugh. Then one got up and killed it for me. Thank you, Olimpia.

Last night I came home and found a crab in my living room…that´s right, a crab. Mind you I live in the mountains where it’s quite far from large bodies of water. He wasn´t a huge guy, could fit in the palm of your hand. I didn´t worry about it too much and just figure he´d go out the way he came in. After all, a crab pinch probably hurts a lot less than a scorpion sting. I woke up in the morning, went to the bathroom, got dressed fed Lola then went to open my window before leaving the house. I stopped…the crab was in my bedroom under the window…about 2ft from my bed. I don´t know when he entered but my door was shut all night. I´m assuming it was warmer there than in the living room. Once again this was a job for the fearless Deyvis. He picked it up and held its claws and set it outside. Shortly later he was gone…let’s hope not back into the house.

Cooking adventures continue. I finally filled up the gas tank for my stove and tried out the grill top that Adam sent me. Some friends were coming for the weekend so I splurged in town when I found boneless, skinless chicken breasts at the little grocery store. Oh my f-ing god! It was the best thing I´ve put in my mouth in the last year! Until we made homemade cinnamon rolls, that is! J It was a splurge on delicious food weekend. I think it was a splurge in general weekend…I broke down and got a new toaster oven after I found a good deal and a friend who had bought the same one told me she cooked two entire chickens in it. I also found a pair of American Eagle jeans and two shirts at the thrift store for a total of $7.40.

My class with the 6th grade girls is going well. We were meeting every day, but that was just too much work and stress on me. These classes are normally only 1-2hrs each, but the prep time necessary for visual aids, materials and whatnot is a lot more. And when I also have two English classes to prepare for as well as meals and dishes…it was a little too much. I figure 3x a week will spread it out enough that I get a little free time.

On a final note…Lola can now sit, shake and lay down almost anytime (not quite always) that you tell her. Like any large dog she responds better to food and gets easily distracted….