I woke up with Joel today. No big deal, I'll get some cleaning done. I'm wiping up the counters, dump the junk into the sink with the broccoli stem. Go back to cleaning. Think, "Wait, we haven't had broccoli lately." Look back. "Ummm... that looks like a praying mantis!!! Dead!!! IN MY SINK!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" I look closer. The heebie jeebies officially crawling up & down my body. Throw the washcloth in the sink. I'm done with kitchen chores for the day. Later on, I'm IMing Joel & I tell him about it. The conversation is as follows:

Me: There is a dead praying mantis in our sink. It's gross.
J: It's plastic.
Me: Excuse me?
J: It's plastic. It came in our dishwasher.
Me: Excuse me?
J: It's fake.
Me: Excuse me?

I STILL can't finish up my chores.

Here's the culprit. Don't mind the food particles... like I said, I was wiping things up. It still looks like that b/c I cannot look at that thing. Ew.



Oh and here's the latest update.  I overcame my fears & cleaned up the kitchen.  Ran the disposal.  Oh, there seems to be a sippy stopper in the disposal.  Reach down, pull out a... COCKROACH!!!!!  Plastic, of course, but you cannot do that to me!!!!  I'm FREAKED OUT now.

Ah, fall break.  It's one of the most wonderful times of the year!  We had lunch with daddy yesterday.  As we were driving by the park on the way home, I noticed how gorgeous the day was- perfect sunshine... cool, crisp air... gorgeous colors-- you know what that means?  PICTURE TIME!  We ran home, changed Luke into a sweater & nice shoes, got th camera, and went back to the park.  I love taking pictures of Luke at the park.  He is so cooperative.  I'm sure it has nothing to do with the fact that he's bribed.  "If you smile REALLY good, you can play on the playground!"  So of course, he did a wonderful job smiling.  About 15 minutes into playground time, I realized it was getting awfully close to nap time.  So I gave him a five-minute warning.  I knew something was up when I didn't get any objections to leaving.  As a matter of fact, he was ready to go right then.  We got home & he felt pretty warm.  

I decided I should check his temperature & sure enough-- my boy was sick.  By the evening, his temperature had reached as high as 103.  He was miserable.  You could never tell in the pictures.  What a great sport.  We're hoping everything clears up by tomorrow night for trick or treating at the zoo with Elijah!