Little Lizard Friend. . .

How we pass the time here. . .

The other day I was sitting. Just sitting. It was kind of ironic to me that I just happened to be thinking about some of the funny ways we fill our time here. While I was pondering, a massive butterfly flew into our living room. It's been beautiful outside and I always have the windows open. We don't have screens on any of our windows because screens don't exist in Brazil. No, seriously, I don't think they exist here. When I open the windows, I know that critters see that as fair game. They enter (at their own risk, of course). Anyway, this massive butterfly entered and he wasn't very pretty. Sometimes I'm not sure if I'm seeing an ugly butterfly or a moth on steroids. I decided he wasn't pretty enough so I tried to shoo him back out the window. That took me about 8 minutes. Just as he flew out one window, the biggest wasp I've ever seen flew through another window and landed on the ceiling in the play room. Side note: I AM DEATHLY AFRAID OF WASPS! I've never been stung, but I'm terrified of the beasts, especially when they look like they're half the size of my hand!! I decided it just wasn't possible for him to be in our home unless he was dead. I grabbed my flip-flop and prepared for battle. He flew around in circles near the ceiling, boldly taunting me. I was mad. I threw one of Emma's toys at him and he flew lower. He circled a few times and then flew into the curtains, just above where I sit to use the computer. I was planning to upload pictures later and knew that I couldn't just let the wasp hide out in the curtains until he felt like he was safe. I had to get him. I ran back to my bathroom and grabbed the water bottle I use for Emma's hair. After filling it to the brim, I tightened the screw so the spray would be a forceful stream. I headed back to the curtains and began spraying. The giant wasp was a fighter and awfully clever. He kept moving from one side of the curtains to the other. My bottle was about half empty and the floor was wet when I decided I needed some more help. I ran back to the laundry room and grabbed a broom. (PS - yes, I do know where the laundry room is, even though I haven't used it since I've moved in). The wasp was about five feet above me, hanging on to the curtains for dear life, when I swung at him. OK, I had to swing twice. The second time he fell to the ground, maimed, but not dead. After beating him with the broom a few more times, I was certain he was dead. I was at peace and did a small victory dance. I lifted him off the ground with the broom and flung him out the window, satisfied. That took about 21 minutes.

As I entered the laundry room to return the broom to its home, I saw something run away out of the corner of my eye. I opened the door that leads outside and a little lizard ran up the inside of the door. He was just a little guy, so I wasn't too worried, but as quickly as I was going to dismiss him, I had the thought that Emma would probably like to see him. I hurried to the kitchen and dug through the tupperware to find an appropriate home for the critter. He had scurried to the wall and was in the perfect place for me to catch him, except that when I took another step closer, he slithered outside. Well, that pretty much did him in, because he had nowhere to hide. We play cat-n-mouse for a few minutes before he seemed to just give up. I gently placed the tupperware over him and he crawled up the side. I closed the lid and smiled, imagining Emma's excitement. She had been sleeping while all this happened. Just as I was trying to decide how long to let the lizard go without air, I heard Emma's voice. I brought her out into the living room and showed her our new little friend. She wasn't near as thrilled as I thought she'd be and actually wasn't very excited until I asked her if we should let him go. "Yes," she replied. We took him outside and let him run into the grass. Then Emma asked if we could catch him again. He wasn't exactly the fastest lizard I've ever seen, so it was fairly easy to catch him again. Then Emma asked if we could let him go again. So I let him go. We played that game about five times. The whole lizard game (from start to finish) took about 25 minutes. As Emma was sitting down to eat her snack, I laughed to myself at the way I had spent the previous hour. Nothing really to show for it, but it's part of life here. Pretty entertaining, huh?