I couldn't figure out why I was so tired at work this morning. Then it hit me - last Friday I had finished the 12-pack of Diet Cokes I had hidden under my desk! I may not be a coffee drinker, but boy, that caffeine wakes you up in the morning! I now have a new case, sitting in the back of my car, waiting to go to its hiding spot.
Another lovely tidbit from today - one of my second graders came up at lunch and told me there was a scorpion in her lunchbox. Yeah, right. I opened it up and, lo and behold, there it was.
Oh.My.Gosh.
And I thought I freaked out when I saw a spider! OK, I was the adult in the group, so I had to kill it (where is my husband when I need him?) I didn't even know HOW to kill him! I had never seen a scorpion before outside of a Hercules movie. Was it a bug? Or a crustacean? My plan of attack was to dump him out of the lunchbox and step on him, but I didn't want him scurrying up my foot, making me run screaming down the hall, mowing down several gradeschoolers in the process. And don't tell me I should have taken it outside to let him go! He deserved to be sent on to little (NOT so little!) scorpion heaven.
So I dumped him out on the cafeteria floor.
FYI - scorpions when left alone napping in a lunchbox grow twice their size when dumped on a cafeteria floor, awakened and in attack mode.
So I employed my only line of defense. I stepped on him.
When I lifted my foot up, hoping to see a squashed carcass, there was nothing there.
He was On.My.Shoe.
Well, as you can imagine, the scene was pretty funny after that. Chubby, middle-aged, second grade teacher, hopping around with one shoe on, one shoe off, surrounded by several, squealing female eight-year-olds.
I finally picked up my shoe from where it had been flung, turned it over, and there he was - squished. Sigh! Finally - blood pressure returning to normal. I cleaned him off carefully - are those stingers still venomous? - and unceremoniously sent him to his final resting place, the garbage.
To all the inflamed etymologists reading this, sorry. Next time YOU come get the sucker.
Hugs and Happy Days!
Ruthie