the lizard caper

Yesterday we went over to the in-laws to say hello and after about 15 mins, my husband's oldest sister screamed for the housemaid to come upstairs and kill the lizard inside her room....

so... off goes little 'ole me with A to save the lizard.

Again... every creature, no matter how big or small, is killed at my in-laws and I see no real reason for it, other than an inability on anyone's part to see that it could be done differently.

When I got to the bedroom, she was on the bed screaming to get it. She told A to go get the Raid to kill it, but I refused to allow it... stating that it would run outside if we scared it and there was no reason to kill it. I also tried to talk about why he might be in the room... since it's piled high w/ plastic and department store bags (with it having been 10x worse earlier in the day, I found out - they moved 50% of the bags that morning into the other outside room), and paper stacks everywhere... making it a safe haven for any creature including ants, spiders, roaches and such... no wonder the lizard is there... he has a feast every night, obviously.

He was a big lizard. White from the wall color... so he'd probably been in there for a while. She exclaimed that she couldn't sleep knowing he was there, hadn't slept in there the previous night, and since she prayed the Quran, he couldn't be there. I laughed and told her that the lizard wouldn't bite her. They don't bite. They might scream a little when you catch them, but that's it. I find them to be totally harmless, really.

No matter how many times I told her that he was having a feast every night in her room and that he wouldn't hurt her, she demanded that he be killed, seeing that we were having a really hard time convincing this little guy to leave the room. He didn't waste any time before running behind her tall cabinets and when we thought there was no way to get him out other than to spray the Raid, like she was insisting, A went and got a long stick w/ a wire hanger tied around the end and we stuck it behind the cabinet to coax him out... and it worked! The little booger!

He finally ran up the wall, over to where the window is and disappeared for a bit. We couldn't decide if he had gotten back to the cabinets or if he was up on top of the curtains... refusing to move. 'A' took her stick and banged a little around the curtain and we finally saw him. We decided to corner him, basically. When he got scared and ran down below the top of the curtain, we were able to trap him between my stick and A's stick... and when he realized he couldn't get past us, he ran down to the window and jumped out!!!! :)

Scared my SIL to death. She was outside waiting to make sure he was out.. and screamed when he jumped. I laughed and me and A high fived each other!

I think we'll start a business ridding houses of lizards! ;)

When my FIL came in to have dinner, later, my SIL told him what we had done and he got upset... saying they were the enemy and why hadn't we killed it. I told him that I don't believe in it and there was no reason to kill the lizard. He said nothing.. but mumbled to my MIL in Arabic. I honestly think my SIL was proud of us... and I know I was really proud of us.... made me feel happy that the little thing wasn't killed.

I did find out from A that they cut down the hive.... she had been coming over to take the fruit and was stung or got afraid of them (not sure)... so they cut it down! I told her that doing that killed the bees... but she doesn't understand.. so I dropped it.

I told my mom about the bee hive and she went off on me... telling me that it's better they cut it down since I wouldn't want Naief getting stung by the bees.... what to say.... no one feels the same as me, except Naief. :)

Creepy Crawlies

Who out there is afraid of bugs and insects? It seems that a lot of ppl in this part of the world are terrified of them. I know Hashim is... not every kind, but most.... ok, maybe all of them.

It makes me laugh... and I sometimes want to get one just to put it on him!! :) yeah, mean, but I just can't help it.

I'm not really afraid of any of them. I don't like or rather hate roaches. If one got on me, I'd probably scream. They have flying roaches in Texas and I was always terrified, when I saw one, to try to make it go away for fear it would fly over and land on my shoulder, head or something. If it did... I'd probably wig out and have a heart attach or something... so I can understand how Hashim feels... but it still makes me laugh.

Last night I was watching AFV on Channel 4. It's America's Funniest Videos and, gosh, do I find myself laughing uncontrollably w/ this show. Especially last night... because what were they showing... ppl scared outta their wits because some bug had flown onto them or this one showed a guy going crazy coz his friend had put this big lizard thing on him.

Which gets me to lizards. Why are so many ppl afraid of these little guys?

We house-sat for my in-laws back in the summer and my husband's older sister was there, and one night she started screaming, got up on the couch and demanded that we kill it. "It" turned out to be a lizard. Poor little guy. He was terrified and every time we found him, he'd run for his dear life.

So... what did we do? Instead of allowing the housemaid to kill it, I got a cup, caught it and took it outside... BUT... before I could get it outside, it jumped outta the cup and headed into the kitchen outside. I got down and caught it in my hand... it squealed! I didn't even know they made sounds....

I took it in my hand and carried it out front, put it on a tree and then told my SIL that she was safe. She laughed, not believing I had picked it up. They're not dangerous - except if you eat them. They're not slimy or anything. They don't move when you have them cupped in your hand, and even after you sit them down, they'll stay in one place for a bit.... but never has one ever tried to bite me or anything.

I can remember when I was a young girl and I'd go to Florida for the summer to visit my cousin and aunt who lived there. This is when I became up close and personal w/ lizards. They were everywhere. You'd go into the bathroom and they'd be hanging around on the walls. They were in the living room, bedrooms... everywhere. Not once did one try to hurt me, get on me or anything. And, actually, they're really good at keeping bugs away. I think my aunt liked them for that reason... but I can't remember.

I used to be afraid of spiders until I watched Charlotte's Web. I won't let them crawl on me or anything and still get afraid if one comes down in front of me while driving, but I don't kill them if I see them in the kitchen and elsewhere.

So... what bugs and insects are you afraid of? Have you ever been bitten by one? Or stung?



I've been stung by a wasp long ago... I think on my 13th birthday. It really hurt and I'm always careful if around these things because they're moody... but, even w/ that happening, I love bees. Especially big fat bumble bees! Aaaaahhhh, to see them bouncing from bloom to bloom... they don't have them here... I wish they did.

I plan to raise Naief to respect all creatures. I don't want him to be afraid of bugs, insects and such, and hopefully through my guidance they won't scare him. I think maybe Hashim was taught to fear them and that's why he's afraid... but who knows. I should ask him. :)

Have a great day.