Lizards

I've developed an irrational fear of lizards. If I see one outside, I can handle it just fine, as long as I don't get too close. But if one of those speedy little creatures happens to make it's way inside my home...I basically freak out.

Just my luck, these terrifying little reptiles have been finding a way into our home on a pretty frequent basis lately. I'd say we find one a week, or every 2 weeks. That's way too often in my book.

How the heck they are getting in, I have no idea. At first we thought it was the sliding door. But we've replaced it and they're still getting in. Then we thought it was through the fireplace because we accidentally left it open. It's closed now...and they're still getting in. So now we're thinking the front door. The front door needs major replacing. But that is very costly and we're just not at that project yet. At the bottom of the door, you can see some light coming through from the outside. I think that's how the lizards are getting in.

This past week, we've had 2 episodes. Marcelo took care of the second, as I stood and watched and tried not to scream. For the first episode, however, I was on my own. Well, Diego was there, but he was no help.

The lizard was in the fireplace. I grabbed a baby wipes box thinking I'd somehow get the lizard to get into the box, and then I'd take it outside. But he was too fast for me. I was pretty calm at first, just trying to make sure I didn't lose sight of him because the thought of having a lizard running loose in my house makes my skin crawl. Anyway, I couldn't catch the horrible little creature with the wipes box, so I got....gag...some salad tongs. It took a few minutes, but I was able to corner it in the fireplace and pick it up with the tongs. As soon as I got ahold of him, I heard a most unusual sound. A high pitched squealish scream. Coming from me. I was screaming like a girl! I've never in my life had that sound escape my lips. (Well, maybe once or twice making fun of girls who scream.) I'm just not a screamer. But the feeling of knowing that there was a disgusting lizard trapped in the clutches of my salad tongs sent shivers down my spine and caused me to scream. Diego thought the screaming was hilarious. I squealed a panicky squeal all the way to the sliding glass door (it's like 5 steps from the fireplace), opened the door as fast as I could, and then flung the lizard as far as I could. At that point, I finally stopped shrieking, and Diego stopped laughing. His delight from hearing his quiet mommy be so loud quickly faded and he began to realize that their was an air of fear coming off of me. His face changed from a smile to a confused look, and then he furrowed his eyebrows, shivered like the had the willies, and said, "Oooh, scary." I acted quickly because the last thing I want is for him to be afraid of lizards....purely for selfish reasons. I need him to learn to catch them for me. So I tried to change his view of what just happened by saying, "Yay! The lizard is with his family outside now. Bye lizard! Have fun with your family!" He bought it, thank goodness.

Seriously, though, thinking about this incident freaks me out all over again. I really think the fear is growing to be quite irrational. I didn't used to be this scared of them. But now, I'm terrified of them. What is wrong with me?

Oh, and I threw the salad tongs away, in case you're wondering.