Damned Spider...

[elfs]

Stormy is in tears. Her tarantula escaped its cage.

I told her if she doesn't find that damned bug by this evening, I'm going to the hardware store and buying a household fogger and nuking that entire wing of the house. As much as she loves having a spider, the rest of us are more than a little freaked out by the idea of that eight-legged freak crawling around us in the middle of the night. I know Kouryou-chan will not sleep until she knows that spider has been found and neutralized, somehow. Omaha and I might be able to sleep, but I doubt it.

I hated telling her that, but I don't have a choice. She suggested that she and Kouryou-chan could sleep in the basement tonight. I said, "What, abandon the house room by room until... when?"

"Until we find him!"

"What if we never find him? Should we just abandon the house forever?"

The other problem is that their bedroom is a mess. Although they keep it clean, it's a hoarder's paradise of childhood mementos and miscellany. And every time I go upstairs, I find her not working because it's all too much.

Dammit, I have work to do today. I took part of yesterday afternoon off to take the kids out to the park. Now I'm stuck thinking about that damned bug. And what if it's not in the back of the house? What if it's in the living room, or the kitchen? What then?

If she doesn't find it by 5pm, I'm using this stuff on it.

[Edit: The spider has been found. We are now triaging the situation.]

Comments

[resonant.livejournal.com]

Better yet, get some spider wasps and release them in the house. They'll zoom in on the tarantula.

https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Pompilidae

Then release some badgers to eat the wasps.

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

Then wolves to eat the badgers? And wild Sarah Palins to kill the wolves? But then they'll have a Sarah Palin infestation.

[fayanora.livejournal.com]

My sister used to have a tarantula named Caroline Kitten.

[aelfie.livejournal.com]

Spiders can hold their breath for three days according to the exterminator.

[slfisher.livejournal.com]

As far as cleaning the room, my daughter's room is now largely clean and staying that way. Couple of things:

1. She wanted to have a birthday sleepover party. I told her if she wanted that, her room had to be party ready by the end of spring break. And, mostly, it was, and the two weeks between spring break and her birthday were enough to finish it up.
2. Teach zones and stages and ways of approaching the problem one bite at a time. Many options. "Ten minutes at a time;" first pick up all the clothes, then pick up all the books, etc.; first make the bed, then clean the floor, then move to the horizontal surfaces...whatever method she chooses, she needs to break it up into bite size pieces rather than the overwhelming chore of Clean Your Room.
3. With my daughter, sometimes she wanted company and moral support, and sometimes she didn't. So I respected that.

For maintaining, it's been pretty simple -- if you want to go swimming or to the movies or whatever, your room has to be picked up first. Since picking up her room now takes about ten minutes and doesn't accumulate more than a day or two, it's doable.

good luck.