I hate bugs

Yesterday morning when I got up and stepped out of the bedroom, I saw this on the floor:

The good news is, it was mostly dead, but the bad news is, somehow it got inside. This was the first time I'd seen one of these and I much rather would've seen it outside. This morning I found another one, and this time it was IN the bedroom right next to the bed. I think it was mostly dead, too, since it didn't move when B sprayed it with alcohol, but still....eeewww!! It was on my side of the bed right when I put my feet when I get up. As you might imagine, I'm going to be looking at the floor very carefully when I get out of bed from now on. I've been wearing shoes in the house all day today because I do NOT want to step on one of these things in my sock feet if there are more around.

Like I said, this is the first time I've seen one of these, though I have seen lots of these in the house before:

These are a type of spider and aren't dangerous, but I'm pretty sure the former creatures are scorpions. B and I were thinking they might be these things called vinegaroons, which we'd heard are less dangerous, but they look quite different:

That's definitely not what we had here in the house today. Blech. I saw some kind of big, hairy, brown spider outside last week. I'm not sure what kind it was, but I'd say it was about three inches across. Not quite as big as a tarantula, but close. It might've been some kind of tarantula for all I know. I was over on the side of our house cleaning up our ex-neighbors crap that he left out in his driveway that got blown all over our yard the last time it rained, but after seeing that spider, I decided to just leave the stuff alone. Maybe it will blow out of our yard the next time it rains.

I got my hair trimmed this past Sunday because I wanted to have it done for our camping trip coming up, but she really chopped it this time and it's shorter than I wanted. I think it looks kind of awful, not cute like the first time she cut it, especially my bangs because she cut them way too short. I think they look best when they're just touching my eyebrows, but they're waaay above my eyebrows and it looks dorky. Hopefully it'll grow fast. I'm hoping by the time we go camping in a couple weeks, it'll look like it did the first time she cut it. Or at least the bangs. I'll probably be wearing hats all the time anyway.

Whoo comments!

Since I got a couple questions in my comments, I'll see if I can answer those. (Thanks for the comments!)

First Mel - the humidity out here is almost nonexistant. For example, the humidity right now is 22% and that's kind of high because there are thunderstorms in the area. I've seen it as low as 2%. It makes a huge difference in how the temperature feels, too. Like last night, it was 101 around 8:00 p.m. and B and I sat on the front porch for a little while. To me, it felt like about 85 degrees rather than 101, but I know back in NC it would've definitely felt like 101 with the humidity there.

Second Heather - so far I'm loving living here. I love the warm temperatures, the low humidity and the almost-always sunny skies. I love our house and we're still doing some decorating here and there.

One thing I don't love are all the ugly tumbleweeds that have sprung up in our yard, but on the bright side, they seem to attract rabbits and birds and I love watching them. I really don't miss living in NC at all, except a few people there. In general, I like the low humidity, although I think my body is still adjusting to it because I wake up every day with a dry, sore throat. Part of the problem is the medications I take make my throat dry. We have a humidifier that I use in the bedroom almost every night, but unfortunately it's not totally getting the job done.

Another thing I don't love is the wind here, which can be pretty strong at times. The good news is, it was mostly windy in the spring and it's gotten way less now that it's summer. I'll have to wait and see what the other seasons will be like in terms of the wind. I've really been enjoying riding my bike around the neighborhood because there's rarely any traffic and it's not very hilly terrain, but it's not much fun when it's really windy. Believe it or not, it makes a big difference in terms of how much energy you have to use when the wind is blowing against you.

One thing I do miss from NC was my doctor there, as you know, and thanks for both of your comments on that situation. And Heather, you know if you want to see all the great hummingbirds here, all you have to do is move here. ;)

Oh, another thing I like about living here is that there are lots of organized activies in our community, though I have to admit I haven't really looked into any of them yet. We had our own 4th of July fireworks here at the golf course last week, so B and I drove up there to watch them. It was great because it was nice and warm, not very crowded, and best of all, there were no bugs, unlike being outside at night back east. There's a pool here, too, and I do intend to go swimming at some point, but I don't have a swimsuit that fits me right now. :( That's something I'm working on. I've lost about five pounds, so maybe by next summer I'll have lost enough to feel like going to the pool.

Another thing I love about living here is being so close to cool places like the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas. It's amazing that we can drive to either of those places in just a couple hours, plus there are a lot of other cool places nearby that we plan to check out. I'm hoping also that maybe one day Ayumi will do a concert in the US, and I know she's been to Vegas several times, so just maybe she might do a concert in Vegas. There have been rumors, but nothing definite. Keep your fingers crossed for me.