Last night I was haunted. I couldn’t sleep and my mind was racing.
I kept thinking, “how could this happen?”
What was keeping me awake?
Every night before Hudson goes to bed, we pick up his toys. We put everything back in its place and then get all of the toys out of the living room. The only problem is that Hudson has so many toys with so many little pieces. It’s important to me and my obsessive compulsive ways to put each piece back with its toy.
But last night when I went to put away Hudson’s grocery cart, I saw this.
Where was the can of green peas?
I crawled around all over the house looking under every piece of furniture and bed skirt for the can of green peas. I found it about twenty minutes later under the ottoman in the playroom. And when I went to return the can of green peas to the shopping cart, this is what I saw.
Holy frustration, Batman! You mean in the twenty minutes that I’ve been searching for the green peas Hudson has come in and grabbed the yellow cookie, the orange carrot, and the red strawberries? And where has he put them?
So while Todd got Hudson ready for bed I continued to search around the house for the missing pieces. I could not stop until each piece was found! And I was unsuccessful. I went to bed last night and tossed and turned and couldn’t even imagine where the pieces could be.
They had to be in this house. Nothing left the house yesterday. No toy groceries made their way through our front door.
And this morning I found them. In the pack ‘n play. Safe and sound.
Losing things is not an option for me. I can only think of one thing I’ve ever lost in my whole life and it was a t-shirt from high school. It happened to be a t-shirt I loved. But, to this day, I have no idea where it is or what happened to it. And I’m so crazy that I still think about it and wonder where it could be. I’ve probably lived in 6 or 7 places since I lost it.
The missing toys aren’t the only things that have been haunting me in my sleep.
Do you see this mama? I get the shivers every time I look at this. This picture was taken this morning, but this beast of a spider has been hanging out on the outside of the window over my sink for a week. I’m thinking she needs to find a new place to be hanging out.
There is a huge web and I don’t know much about spiders, but it seems like she’s big and puffy getting ready to have some spider babies. Todd is convinced she’s going to start spinning adjectives on her web to describe the stupendous Boudreaux, a la E.B. White’s Charlotte.
I think Charlotte was beautiful and this mama is not beautiful. Yikes! I’m pretty sure that she could silently kill us all if we got close enough. But I’m just going to let her be and hope she goes on her way soon.
Girl, you are crazy. You are right when you say you are OCD! You would die in my house, I lose stuff all the time and just think, “oh well”! It’s a bad habit, but I am just not organized. I lost a DY necklace about a year ago IN MY HOUSE and I still can’t find it … it drives me crazy, but I can definitely sleep at night 🙂
Oh man, that spider would definitely cause me to lose some sleep! Yikes! I’m such a wimp about spiders, and I don’t know if it’s been the weather or what but it feels like it’s been a bad spider year. But maybe that’s just because I found one in my bed a few weeks ago : /
We have that same grocery cart! And I’m the same way about our toys! I cannot stand to lose a piece!
Ok, so I just saw the same spider last night and learned that he’s actually a good spider. It’s called a Black-and-Yellow Argiope, but if pictures gross you out, I wouldn’t google it. They supposedly catch lots of the bigger bugs you don’t want hanging around.
Of course, I learned this after I screamed and made my husband kill it. 🙂
I’m definitely the same way about making sure things are put away together, drives me crazy!
No joke, I would seriously get a hotel until that monster of a spider went away, haha!!!!
Hi! Long time reader delurking. I just had to share that we have had that same type of spider on our back porch for a couple of weeks! She did indeed have babies and then died. Now I’m just waiting for my husband to relocate her “babies” before they hatch and take over our yard! But, the good news is they aren’t poisonous, just horrifying.
Love the blog, by the way!
Ack! Spiders, ack! I drive myself crazy when I “lose” things–because I eventually find them, but, in the interim, whilst searching for whatever the item (or items), i am totally crazy. Must.find.NOW. And, like I said, I usually do find said “lost” items, but, it drives me batty. I hate to have things misplaced!
Ha! We love those spiders – they eat mosquitos and never leave their webs (I hate the spiders that crawl around on the ground!). We nicknamed them “zipper spiders” because of the zipper they weave down the middle of the web. Give her a name – maybe she’ll be cuter then? 🙂
those spiders FREAK ME OUT. But they were always around our garden when I was growing up. I guess they are harmless to humans but like someone said above, eat lots of garden bugs, and the female dies after laying her eggs. Shiver. If you want more info, here is some, but Im warning you, there are some up close and personal photos of it that made me want to run screaming into the next room
http://www.fcps.edu/islandcreekes/ecology/black_and_yellow_argiope.htm
Those spiders are also called garden spiders as they are frequently found on farms throughout the south. Totally harmless and they kill things like mosquitoes and other annoying bugs. I thought they were rather frightening the first time I saw one too, until I asked an uncle about them. At least they’re not camel spiders….
I hate spiders. My MIL has one of these at her front door and she says they are ok, but I still want to squish it whenever I walk past it. Ugh. Gives me the heebie jeebies.
Oh Erin! I’m the same way.. I can’t sleep unless everything is where it needs to be. Definitely drives B crazy!! And as for that spider – um no! I would not let that thing stay there. Spiders creep me out so bad! I’ll have to show you the one I found OVER MY BED!!!
You are like me and totally OCD. I’m neurotic not only about losing things, but about everything being just where it is supposed to be. I physically cannot leave my apartment until everything is nicely put away (where it belongs.) I’m am an order-crazed freak-a-zoid. I get it from my mother, she’s a crazy cleanliness freak, like cleaning the floorboards with a toothbrush and bringing her own sheets when she stays at a hotel. I should probably be medicated – however I’m holding off on that as long as humanly possible.
You are not alone!
Oh my goodness. I kill a bug in our house pretty much every other day and it freaks me out to no end. I have been finding wasps in our bathroom and am at the point where the Raid is sitting on the ledge of the bathtub and every night i pull the covers all the way off the bed to make sure there are no wasps hiding.
I am like you – I have only lost maybe a couple of things in my whole life. Only one I can think of right now: a cute black shirt that just completely disappeared!
Ewww!! That spider is disgusting! I know that people always like to say how helpful spiders are but I am just not a fan! When I lived alone, I would put spiders under a cup until a friend could come over to kill them for me–I just can’t do it myself! I am so impressed that you are letting the spider be!
I know what you mean about losing things! I lost my very favorite pair of gray sweatpants and a yellow t-shirt about a year ago. I have no clue where they could have gone, but they must be together. I am still obsessing about it now because I just do.not.lose.things!
I am the same way about her toys( I love the grocery cart- where did you find that?- EBF loves puttings things in and out of the shopping cart at Target…….. I lost a black dress about 5 years ago and to this day I still think about that dress and WHERE it could be!!!!! I only wore it once and could have used it so many more times since then!!! I think it was stolen at the cleaners and I hope that person has enjoyed it 🙁 (NOT)
It’s so refreshing to read about a mother who still “has it all together.” I’m going to be having my first baby this coming Monday. Everyone continuously tells me that after the baby comes I’ll no longer be able to be the Type-A, super-organized, never-lose-a-thing person that I am right now. I know things will change after the baby arrives, but your story makes me have faith that I will still be the same person, just with a baby! I’m glad you found all of the “missing food!”
I can’t stand to lose anything either. My husband on the other hand loses EVERYTHING. He gets so mad when he loses it, looks for it for a long time and I get right up and walk over to where it’s been hiding. Do you walk around finding stuff for Todd?
Hi am also a lurker delurking! I wanted to comment on the spider. We have two of them in our yard this year. We usually get one every year and we have named her Frankie. She stays on the fence line and weaves her wed in the flowers or bushes. Last night she had a butterfly in her web and was wrapping it every so gently. I went this morning to get a photo and the butterfly was gone. They are wonderful spiders and have many names, Zipper Spider, Orb Weaver spider and a few others.
I also wanted to say that Hudson is beautiful. I love that you try to keep him looking like a little boy. I try the same with my daughter who is three and it gets harder and harder each year.
Too funny. I am the same way, except I don’t have kids, but everything else has to be in its place, and all doors shut before I can go to bed. I will even get up during the night after myb husband has and close doors that he has left open. Crazy I know, but it has to be done. I have only lost one thing before, but I lost it twice. I was 16 and it was a ring that my boyfriend had gave me for my birthday which is at the begining of Dec. We always put our Chirstmas tree up the day of my birthday and once it was up the ring was gone. We looked everywhere for it and could not find it. Fast forward to Jan 1st, I was taking the tree down and found the ring, so it went back in my finger. Then come spring I was helping my mom in her flower beds and lost it again, to never be found.
The spider thing is funny too because we have a huge one hanging out in our bathroom and I will see it, go get the spray, and when I return it is gone. So the spray has been sitting there waiting for his next apperance…Which happened to be in the middle of last night. He lives in the corner of the ceiling, and I was to scared to spray him, for fear of him falling on my head! My husband comes home tonight so hopefully I will be able to sleep without knowing that there is a huge spider in my house!!! Good luck with yours!!! (Yours is way bigger than mine!)
You would go nuts in my house! I finally divided all the toys into 4ths, and are rotating through them seasonally. All the little pieces are everywhere!
I know it is bad, but if I can’t find a piece for a few weeks, I usually just throw the toy out.
And we have a cleaning person that comes on Fridays, so Thursday night we blitz the place. It would probably be a better lesson to the kids to clean up every night!
On the spider – OH MY GOD, GROSS. That is all.
I hate lying awake thinking about things like that!! I hope you can get some sleep without nightmares of where the can of green peas has gone off to. That would drive me crazy too. And my only consolation about the spider is that she is outside. If she were loose somewhere in the house, I’d definitely not be able to sleep!
Maybe you should be a private investigator! =) I still haven’t found where I misplaced my IPOD last month……
Oh girl! I lose things a lot, especially in my house’s current state of sheer shambles!
I think that we all have thing that we need to be in order before we can rest. Mine is making sure the kitchen is spotless and the tv room is straightened.
HOLY COW Erin! I do the same EXACT thing! I actually have been doing this all morning! I am nannying this morning… some how I have misplaced their garage opener! I’m so upset about it! I never just LOSE things! I can’t believe I did it. I have looked EVERYWHERE in my car! I know that’s where I had it last… still can’t find it! UGH!
Anyway… I hope you found what you were looking for! :0)
Hello-I know this is a comment for the wrong post but I didnt want to scroll back to try to find it (sorry)…Just wanted to let you know that I loved those monogrammed cutting boards so much that I ordered my boyfriend’s mom (hopefully, one day, mother-in-law) one for her upcoming birthday. I am very excited to receive it in the mail. She LOVES cooking so I know she will love the gift!! 🙂
That’s a writing spider.. the same kind that was in Charlotte’s Web. That still wouldn’t stop me from dragging out a HUGE can of Raid on this bad boy!
I know this probably sounds dumb but I would totally be hiring someone to kill that spider. I have a major fear of spiders!
I am so glad that I am not the only mom who has to have all the pieces of a toy together before I can relax. My Hudson is like a little hurricane, I am constantly walking behind him cleaning up.
And the spider…….. I usually take our hose to the ones that form web;s near our windows. It makes me feel better than killing them. Now they have to make a new web somewhere else.
De-lurking to share that it brought back such great memories when I read about you looking for the can of peas! My biggest hurdles were the tools on the Little Tykes workbench – my son would hide them everywhere, including under the dogs bed! But we’ve moved on to bigger toys and the Power Rangers with the multitude of accessories finally broke me. They and their endless parts and pieces now reside in a big heap in an Ikea basket and I am sure if you tried to put together a full set of Rangers ready to do battle, it wouldn’t happen. But he loves them and I now spend more time playing the role of the pink Ranger and less time worrying about everything being in its place. Relax and relish this time of chaos, mayhem and lost peas 🙂
Um… Erin… I cannot believe you posted that spider picture! Now I’m going to be up at night! Yikes. Get that thing out of there ASAP!!
When I saw the 2 pictures one after the other, I thought it was your husband playing a joke on you since he knows it’d drive you crazy 🙂
I hate losing stuff, too – if I get it in my mind that I need to find something, it has to be done right that second. I tore the house apart once looking for a pedicure gift certificate that I KNEW was here somewhere just so that I’d know where it was even though I wasn’t planning to use it any time soon. I think it’s a control thing. Like someone else said, I probably should be medicated!
That spider gives me the “heebie-geebies”!!! Yikes!! It would scare me over & over again!
I can’t stand to lose toy/game pieces, either. Too bad my kids don’t feel the same way! Fortunately (or unfortunately, for them) there’s going to be a big toy room overhaul when they are back in school…. Toys/games without all pieces will leave. I’ll also be gathering things they have outgrown for our church’s Clothing and Toy Exchange. Finding all of the game pieces feels good. Cleaning out all of the junk feels EVEN BETTER! And about that spider – ew!
I love this post! I cannot sleep at night until I know where all Cate’s bows are and paci clips! I used to be that way about her trumpette socks too! i also go batty when I can’t find certain lovies and dolls of Cate:)
I cannot get over the scariness of that crazy huge spider! I just showed Ryan that spider and he said it is a garden spider and it is harmless:) He is my nature lover:) He immediately looked at it and said.. garden spider… I always think spiders are killers and he brings me down:) ha!
That spider creeps me out tho:) eek
I love the 14 month post! and Huddys Haircut is just the cutest little haircut ever! gosh I love him
haha! I wish I had ever only lost one thing! I’m forever putting papers down at work and having to ‘re-find’ them, luckily I have a class of 6th graders to help me 🙂
I LOVE those spiders. They’re called “writing spiders” and are perfetly harmless and signal the coming of fall. I usually have a couple in my front bushes and I’ve never seen them have any babies. But, if you don’t want it, just have the bug man come. I don’t have them this year because I recently sprayed the whole house/yard, and I totally miss them. (I know it’s kinda weird that I love these spiders, but I just think they’re so beautiful.)
Oh – i love that someone else has OCD like me. I dont have kids toys to pick up yet, but I imagine myself not being okay if bits and peices go missing. As a habit, I dont loose things either.
That said, I just went to a beautiful wedding at a resort this last weekend and lost this awesome, silk, 3/4 sleeve, black, Banana Repbulic sweater that I have had since college (read: many years). It still fit (while most things from college don’t) and it was just timeless. I wore it the first part of the night and then got warm and slung it thru my camera strap. I know I had it when I left the banquet room, but by the time I got to the car – MIA. Ugg, I am still coming to grips with my loss 🙂 I have a bad feeling it is not hanging in someone elses closet. boo…
And I would want that spider to go too… 🙂
Ohmigosh, I was totally reading this post the wrong way at the beginning… I saw haunted, then a missing can of peas, then missing everything cookies, carrots, and strawberries once the peas had been replaced- I thought you had a GHOST in the house! ahahaha
Happy to hear that you’re not haunted, but I’m sorry you stayed up so late thinking about where BEBurrito hid everything! Miss you!
xoxo,
Lulu
Wait–I’m not the only who freaks out when I can’t find something? It’s nice to know I’m not the only one! I once had a major meltdown in 5th grade because I somehow lost my favorite pink wallet at church one Wednesday night. I even asked my daddy to go back and walk through the parking lot in case I’d dropped it there. I cried and cried when he said he couldn’t find it. (As you can tell, I’m still not completely over it.) 😉
I don’t have kids yet, but I have a feeling I need to get this “issue” under control before they’re here and start losing various toys, pacis, etc. Mommy will probably be more upset than the child!
First of all, kill that spider.
Second of all, you are crazy and you make me laugh. I’m going to come to your house, find the green peas and hide them. It will be like a little intervention.
Girl, we have that same cart and I am continuouly trying to replace the pieces as well as their farm set. It bothers me that all the animals are all over the house. Why would a farmer want to hang out in a bus and carrots go in the barn?!
I also have a blanket (my favorite) from college that I must have dropped walking to one of my friends friend appartment at USC. I think occasionally about some poor homeless person that I hope that is enjoying it and getting good use out of it. I know that sounds horrible!
Hah! I lost a brand new pair of cropped CAbi pants the day I got home from the hospital and still haven’t found them. SO FRUSTRATING!
This post reminds me of one of my most favorite books, “There’s No Place Like Here” by Cecelia Ahern (who wrote P.S. I love you). You should check it out!
She wanted to offer some comfort the moment she read your post, so she searched for and found an article on that spider: http://www.eol.org/pages/1194666 It’s the “Black and Yellow Garden Spider”, “Writing Spider”, “Banana Spider” or “Corn Spider” and while large and colourful, it will not hurt you. You’d have to provoke it severe to make it bite, and its bite is no worse than a wasp sting. At least it’s one less thing to worry about.
Yuck, yuck, yuck! That spider creeps me out!