Shiver

I wasn't aware that Halloween came so early this year. Just as I was getting up the gumption to start trimming some of the bushes in my front yard I surveyed the situation first. Thank God I did otherwise I wouldn't be writing this post because I would be in the hospital recovering from a heart attack.

See my lovely little bush?

I could see some spider web strand glinting in the sun and if there's one thing I am absolutely terrified of it is spiders. Yuck. So I went to get my gloves. I am NOT tackling this without something between my hands and this bush I thought to myself. If I had a choice I would probably do stuff like this with a full hazmat suit on just to protect myself from all the creepy crawlies out there. I bent in a little closer and then I saw it. OH MY GOODNESS. (That is not by the way what I actually said!)

Can you see that thing??? It was about a foot in diameter. Okay not really a foot but pretty darn close. I can barely even look at these pictures because they scare me so much. Ridiculous, I know. And just for good measure here's the side view...

Can you see those fangs??

Needless to say I am not trimming this bush or getting within a 10 foot radius of it until this thing is gone! And when it is gone what does 'gone' really mean? Does it go into hiding? Does it just die? Does something else come to eat it? Don't answer that. I'm better off not knowing!

Jello Popsicles

My kids are known for eating all the orange popsicles out of the box and are then stuck with the not so desirable flavors. I totally agree with them that someone should come up with an all orange box of popsicles since that truly is the best flavor in the box.

So the other day my son pulls out a box of orange Jello and I had an idea. We made the Jello with only 1 cup of water and then substituted the remaining amount of water with apple juice. It was the only juice on hand that I thought had the mildest flavor and wouldn't clash too much with the orange. A few plastic cups and a few sticks and we stuck them in the freezer and waited to enjoy after dinner.

Except...

They took FOREVER to freeze! A whole day in fact. The kids were super disappointed and I felt terrible but the next day we tried them out. Not quite what I expected as some of them had actual bits of Jello on the bottom but they weren't bad for a crazy idea. And the best thing was that they didn't melt at all. Perfect for a summer day!