Wednesday, March 5, 2008

3.5.08 - So, you think I live in paradise huh? Oh! and a HUGE Digital Candy Freebie!


Ok, so many of you have commented on how lucky I am to "live in paradise". And I'll be honest, it's true! I AM lucky, however, I still have to deal with many things that you "mainlanders" just never have to face! I'll tell you about TWO such things today...

First - not much to say here, but as they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. So, I'll simply say this:

Yes, it IS a big, a REALLY stinkin' big MOLTING (do you see the yucky skin falling off the darn thing!?) lizzard! Go ahead and click on the picture to get a GOOD up close look at it! I dare you!

Yes, that is the window DIRECTLY ABOVE my bed (my stinkin' inflatable bed...). THIS is what I woke up to this morning. I composed myself long enough to take a picture (because, seriously, who is going to believe that this thing is in my house if I don't??)

Then it began to hiss (yes, I said hiss!) Dh was already gone, my two girls were no help at all and the little one thought he was in heaven running and chasing the *bleeping* thing. Then Kea (my Jack Russell) got in on the action and HE's running around trying to catch the STILL molting (can we all say "gross"?) lizard. I'm screaming even louder now because all I can think of is my dog eating the darn thing (who's probably sick with some skin flaking disease) and ME having to clean up the "aftermath".

Little man finally caught the darn thing and took it outside (a much better fate than the numerous geckos we caught this weekend that my husband sucked up with our shop vac (all together now..."Eeewwww"! Or the HUGE (some as large as 6-7 inches) venomous stinging centipedes that we often find in the house and have to CUT IN HALF and then flush (because even when you cut them in half they LIVE and run in different directions) or the HUGE (like nearly the length of my pinkie finger!) flying (yes I said flying) cockroaches that are ALWAYS in the house (and everyone elses in Hawaii too for that matter!) who Kea thinks of a tasty treat and catches and eats them before I can even find the bug spray.

I swear on my MacBook Pro (I love my laptop now....) that I am NOT making this up... ask my dear friend Cari who nearly moved out of my house while she was here and moved into a hotel because of the critters! (Cari, leave a comment and tell them it's true, or no meatball sub for you!!)

Oh, and with the length of this post I'll have to tell you my second story tomorrow. Suffice it to say that it involves me, a HUGE Hawaiian monk seal and my husband running away...

So, still think I live in paradise???

What? The freebie? Oh yeah! I'm taking the day off again, BUT the fab Digital Candy Element Team has a HUGE kit for you, so stop laughing at me and download your freebie!

Click HERE to get your free kit!

Click HERE to check out my new Layout Gallery just for me and my designs at Digital Candy (come on...post your LO's here! Please??)

22 comments:

SugarKitties said...

Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh booo hoooooooo boooooooo boooooooooo (sobs mightily fer ya while also laughing her ass off)
First of all geckos are CUTE and they will not hurt you, he just wanted himself a cozy warm spot.
Ok yeah a little yuck on the centipede but as for the cockroach hey I have several cats that would snack those right up lol
And yeah I've been to Hawaii and would offer up my right eyeball to the gods in order to be able to live there!!In all fairness I did stay in an oceanside condo while I was there and saw very few bugs but a lizard did run up my dress!

Shell said...

LOL well paradise does come with a few extras ROFL at least you didn't just get snow dumped on ya after you were all ready for spring. Thanks for the goodies & good luck with the move.

Lois B said...

Somehow I think I could cope with those even though I do not take to insects and crawling things. When we finally get summer here, the mosquitoes bite bite bite us and for the rest of the year we seem to be living with snow and more snow.

I really need Spring to arrive and the kit at Digital Candy did cheer me up with all the nice happy colors.

I too, am in love with my MacBook Pro - the family gave me the 17" for Christmas.

ChrissyW said...

ha ha ha!!! loved your post today!

LovelyMissKait said...

LOL at your encounter with the lizzard! I grew up in the Caribbean where they are abundant! I would love a high resolution copy of the lizzard pict. so I can scrap it for my 5 year old son. It brought back lots of memories of us chasing them away. :)

Anonymous said...

Hi Shauna,
I love reading your posts... Your writing is awesome! However, it is soooo weird to feel like I know you, and youuuuu don't know meeeee! Can you say stalker? lol

Thanks for sharing this gorgeous freebie - you are a talented designer!

My food blog

Anonymous said...

I had the unfortunate opportunity to shower with a gecko while in Hawaii. A ONE EYED gecko. I guess he had had a run in the with a screaming mainlander before... I had to get my 6 year old son to come and get the thing and put it outside! I didn't realized those suckers were so LOUD! They give our cicadas a run for their money. Thanks for the freebie and ANOTHER hilarious story!!!

Anonymous said...

I just saw the title for your freebie reads march birthday 'memeber'gift! You really aren't sleeping well on your mattress! Glad I'm not the only one!

scrappinmint said...

Oh, I so shouldn't have been eating breakfast while reading about the centipedes and cockroaches.*groan. LOL Your post make me even happier to be in northern Michigan. The most we have to deal with here are misquitoes the size of small birds during the summer. We may have the occasional racoon, skunk, porpupine or coyote, but not in the house! Ugh. The closest we've come to icky critters in the house is a mouse once in a while (the cat takes care of those) and when we first moved in there was a snake in the basement. :) Gotta love nature.
Thanks for the great freebie! I needed something springy as I look outside at 3 ft. of snow. :(

Shannon said...

Ewe! Gross! Remind me never to come visit. I don't think I could handle that. Ick!

I really feel for you.

Shannon (mcturtle)

Karen M in FL said...

So even paradise has its problems. Of course in Florida we get the lizards and the huge flying cockroaches that we call palmetto bugs. No stinging centipedes though.

~HS said...

First - how horrible for you, all of the unwanted pets (or food for the dog).

Second - I'm on the floor laughing my butt off! During the warmer seasons I have tennis rackets in every room of the house, but not for skeeters - for BATS!! We live in a house built in 1850 and its one chimney is home to all of the neighborhood bats. Wild seeing them fly out of my chimney when the sun goes down - then they buzz your head... eeeeekkkk!

So I feel for you dear. You may be in Paradise, but the grass isn't greener is it?

You need a YouTube video of you freaking out next time. Some of those end up on the Today Show!! We already think you're a star anyway. At least some scrap pages of your new little friends... lol.

Anonymous said...

Oh, the joys of living in Hawaii! Some days I miss the beach and the sun and sand and fabulous weather, but then I remember the giant flying roaches and the centipedes and the cane spiders and I'm quite happy where I am now. lol

Great post!

Anonymous said...

Thank you for the great kit!

Anonymous said...

Oh my, I'm feeling a bit better about all the snow outside my window now, and even about the little mice who like to turn my clothes in my basement into their pantry and home - at least they're cute and furry!

Jill said...

I moved from Ohio to SC and ours aren't that big but we have some major bugs here that I'd never even thought of before. I'm really good friends with the Terminix guy!

Anonymous said...

Still think you're living in paradise:-)! TY so much for the wonderful freebies! Cynthia

Anonymous said...

God I am so hearing you! The warmer the climate the bigger the creepy crawlies!! I lived in Northern Japan for four years and although it isn't as far south from Edmonton as Hawaii it was still way south (everything is south from Edmonton)! We had stuff like spiders with bodies the size of silver dollars and huge bees that could make children and the elderly go into shock if stung! Those bees sounded like Cargo Planes -- couldn't miss them. Freaked me green!

Thanks for the freebie and hang in there with the bugs!

Anonymous said...

Um...YUCK!!!! And I thought I had it bad with our yearly stink bug infestation here. I'll let you keep the lizards and centipedes. LOL!!! I guess even paradise has it's downside!

Anonymous said...

DH and I lived on a 47' sailboat in Mazatlan Mexico for almost a year and the cockroaches there are also the size of field mice. Because of all the hiding places on a sailboat, cockroaches can get in every little nook and cranny and breed like rabits. Some of the cruisers had heard that if you got a gecko (misspelled) they would eat the cockroaches. Yea, they did there job all too well. Once they rid the sailboat of its unwanted guests, it would honk (or whatever you wanna call a gecko sound) keeping everybody onboard awake all night because it was hungry. It reached the point that cockroaches would be welcome aboard if the boat owner could only find a way to retrieve the gecko from the bilge. LOL

Anonymous said...

It's certainly not a gecko, it's an American Chamilion or a Green Anole. :) They don't even have teeth. My daughter would catch them and wear them as earings 'cause somehow, she could get them to clamp her ears and they'd just dangle there. LOL

Thanks for the freebies.

Anonymous said...

**Chameleon** excuse my spelling.