Friday morning I was awakened from my peaceful slumber by the sound of one of my two tabby cats frantically digging away at the pillow at the other side of my bed. Normally it is Neville Longbottom who pesters me in the morning, but this time around it was the normally laid-back Slinky who was driving me insane with his clawing. I told him to knock it off and tried to distract him by throwing one of the many tailless mouse toys in the apartment into the next room, but he ignored me.

Unfortunately, that action made Neville aware that I was awake, so he promptly hopped onto the bed, too, walked his 14 lb self over my torso, and settled down for a cuddle, which was NOT appreciated at all because he purrs like a lawnmower engine, won’t hold still, and um…did I mention he weighs 14 pounds? 14 pounds of loudly purring fur on one’s ribs is not exactly conducive to restful sleep on a warm Florida morning.

I woke up mildly annoyed at my feline roommates and even wondered for a split second what life would be like without having the fuzzy twins around.

(No worries–I tossed that idea aside immediately. I looooove my boys.)

That night, I learned that I had horribly maligned poor Slinky for no reason, because as I was tidying up my bedroom, I saw one of these fellas wall-walking in a stately manner on the wall just above my pillow.

The body itself was around 5/8″ long, but the legs extended out at least three inches.

Yeah. That was not a pleasant thing to see indoors, especially since it wasn’t even scuttling. That bastard was on a leisurely promenade through my room like it ruled the place.

Grr.

After watching it for a few seconds in disbelief, I looked around for something appropriate for oversize arachnid extermination. My preferred implement of pest eradication, the common Boyfriend’s Shoe, was not available, so I settled for a big wad of Kleenex which was quite handily sitting on the nightstand within easy reach. I could have gone for the Raid can in the kitchen, but prior experience with the mutant bugs of Florida had taught me that bigger insects and spiders tended to not die immediately, choosing instead to haul ass either directly toward me, or into some hard to reach crevice that I’d never be able to clean out.

Besides, I didn’t want to bring the cats into the fight. Neville would probably try to catch the thing in his mouth so he could transport it to the living room carpet where there is more space to torture and batter the little critters he snags, Slinky would no doubt join in the fun, and I’d have two poisoned cats on my hands. As the spider bore a distinct resemblance to any number of recluse varieties, I chose to do the efficient Kleenex Crush.

Thank goodness it wasn’t a very juicy spider. I hate fatso bugs like moths and roaches because they always leave a splotch on the wall or ceiling. :yuck:

This one didn’t even leave a speck.

Once Mr. Spider was taking the Whirlpool of Glory down the toilet, I went back to the living room and made a huge fuss over my would-be savior, Slinky the cat. He wasn’t trying to wake me up that morning; he was trying to save my life.

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Nutrition: SGX Training Day Menu
(Details omitted by request of trainer)

Daily Supplements: multivitamin with iron, calcium 500 + D, 1 T. flaxseed oil or natural peanut butter, 1 t. GNC Creastack
Water: 16 cups minimum

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Workout:
12:00 PM SGX Upper Body/Chest workout
8:00 PM P90X Kenpo workout

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The Awful Truth:
1. Got to bed around 2 am. V. groggy this morning.

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Brownie Points:
1. Worked out at the Winter Springs Gold’s Gym Saturday.
2. Finally used my Universal Studios annual pass to check out The Mummy ride.

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Short-term Goals:
1. Do the laundry.
2. File papers on drafting table.
3. Start Freehand 10 tutorials and finish by 8/11.
4. Rearrange living room into efficient home mini-gym.
5. Get through next three chapters of NASM manual.
6. Cook cabbage, zucchini, and other misc. veggies in fridge.
7. Return due library books.
8. Work on paper doll body templates.
9. Vacuum the apartment.