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A few nights ago I came down to get Wesley more water at 12:30am and I turned on the light to find a HUGE spider waiting for me. I tried to scare him away by throwing pieces of paper in his direction - no luck. OK now what am I going to do?? I went into the living room - looking very carefully at the ground to make sure he did not have an accomplices - and put on Joshua’s shoes. I carefully walked over the the fridge, then to the sink and back out of the kitchen. I don’t think the intruder noticed, because he did not move at all… Then I turned off the light and went to sit with Wesley while he was sick. All I could think of was that damn spider. Every time I closed my eyes there he was. He made my stomach turn and I got a creepy feeling.

I told Joshua about it in the morning and he said he looked for me, but the only signs the intruder had been there were the 4 pieces of paper strewn about the kitchen.

Then yesterday Wesley, Jillian and I got back from a walk to the park and there sitting next to the hearth was that damn spider again. At first I thought he was one of Wesley’s toy spiders - but the way he had some of his legs up on the brick I knew he was real. I called Joshua and he said he was on his way home anyway and that if it was still there he would take care of it for me.

So I got out the camera - to prove to Joshua that the spider was real and that it was HUGE. I snapped the pictures and I had that stomach turning creepy feeling the whole time. I did not want him to escape Joshua again. So I did every thing I could to stay far away from him until Joshua came home.

Joshua came home and the first thing he did was take a look. I don’t think he thought it was as big as I thought it was… But he got a pitcher and a piece of paper and went to work to trap the spider so he could set it free outside.

I am happy that our unwelcome house guest it no longer in the house. I can walk around more peacefully now……until the next intruder scares me in the middle of the night and Joshua has to come and rescue me. Thank goodness for great husbands!!

This year for Halloween we decided that Wesley was going to be a spider (I couldn’t figure out how to make a snowman without a sewing machine) and that Jillian would then be a fly. A nice little theme. In the spirit, but not gruesome.

Here is the step-by-step for the costume creation starting with the spider.

We decided early on that Wesley would have eight legs total. His own two arms, his own two legs and four extras. I wanted Wesley to be the spider, not be wearing a spider. I mounted the legs, made out of pipe insulation, to cardboard with nylon ties.

Next we created the body parts using a can of expanding foam insulation. It is light, cheap, and can be made any shape you want. It cures in about an hour (longer if you make it as deep as we did). It puffs as it dries and sticks to darn near anything. I wore latex gloves and safety glasses. The thorax was sprayed directly over the legs and the abdomen was sprayed onto a paper bag and then placed over a sponge to give it a curve and make it look fuller. I ran out of foam and could have used more, but it turned out okay.

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