Gross Encounters of The Third Kind!

Mamma needs a break! And boy does she ever! It started last week when I ran into something so horrible, so ugly, so grand and disgusting that I almost threw up on myself! My almost 6 year old daughter was getting ready for bed when she spotted it. She came running out of the hallway 'Momma, come quick there's a big bug in the hall!' (Dear God, please don't let it be another cockroach!) Unfortunately God didn't hear my plea and sure enough it was a cockroach, but not just any cockroach mind you, but one I could have thrown a saddle on and ridden around the block; it was huuuuuge! Now, just to keep you informed; if you reside in Texas as I do, having summer cockroaches in your home is not a sign that your house is dirty, but rather it's because the heat outdoors is so hot and humid that's it's quite common for bugs to try to find their way indoors of people homes, garages, or anywhere else to get out from under the scorching sun. The same is true for the opposite climates where very cold weather is common; as cockroaches look for the same kind of relief from freezing temperatures. Though some sites will tell you the weather is not a factor, I have heard over and over again by Houstonians that this is not the case; that in fact roaches are more prone to be seen inside your home during summer months. And to back this up, I can verify this first hand as this is more common time our family and friends has witnessed this ourselves. I entered the hallway ever so slowly, trying to remain composed so my children knew Mommy had everything under control and there was nothing to be feared. I'll tell you right now I failed! I looked for 'this bug' mainly on the floor, searching with my eyes, wondering what I might find, until I gazed upward and saw the thing. I couldn't help it; I went in full panic mode and I screamed like a kindergarten schoolgirl who just dropped their newly made two scoop ice cream cone on the sidewalk! It was perched atop the hall bathroom edge frame looked down at all of us, as we stared back at it. I told the kids to stay calm, even though I myself was the one who was freaking out. Normally I would have yelled for my husbands help but unfortunately he was not home so it was up to me alone to take on the daunting task of getting rid of this 'thing'. My first approach was to grab the broom and dustpan to scoop the roach up in, followed by my next plan of flushing it down the toilet. If only it were that easy... I went to get the broom quickly so the creature wouldn't disappear in my absence. As I returned to the hallway I swear the roach must have tripled in size and I was terrified to knock it down, but knew I had to. I instructed the kids to get in my daughters bedroom and close the door and then I made my move; I swung the broom to push the roach onto the tile floor but as I did my earlier scream was nothing in comparison to the one I let out at that very moment. As soon as my broom edged closer to the horse roach it began to freaking FLY! That's right, you heard me, I had a huge flying roach inside of my house! Never had I encountered a flying roach in my life until that night and I pray I never will again. As I gave out a blood curdling scream, dropped the broom, and ran with both my kids crying behind me, afraid to open their door but did so anyway. I never in my life knew that I could scream, run, and even begin to wet myself all at the same until this night!! Who ever knows what one's body will do when placed in unpleasant and fearful situations! "Momma are you okay?!' I heard my little girl holler running halfway in tears after me. Brave, I thought of her to come out of her bedroom after hearing mommy yell for dear life. "Yes, sweetie, it's just a big roach bug and mommy just does not like bugs. I'm sorry I scared you but really this bug can't hurt us. Mommy just has to get close enough to it to get it into the toilet to flush it and mommy just doesn't like that." "Let's pray Mommy that you'll be brave." I looked at her with tears in my eyes "That's a great idea sweetie because mommy really does need to be a brave mommy right now." My kids and I prayed and then I regrettably went back to the task at hand of getting and flushing that giant roach down the toilet. Ever so carefully and once again I approached the hallway, this time my kids stayed far back in our kitchen as I took on the challenge alone. As soon as I entered the hall I saw it on the tile floor and since my broom was long enough I quickly began jabbing at it (along with short burst of screams) with the straws of the broom. Unfortunately the straw wasn't strong enough and only injured the insect, but thankfully it did so just enough to disable it so that I could swiftly swoop it into the dustpan while it was still on it's backside. I walked every so slowly to our hall bathroom as I watched it's legs slowly begin to pick up speed as it jolted around trying to flip itself over. Finally I made it to the toilet and as soon as I began to dump the dustpan over for it to hit the water, the darn roach got the momentum to regain composure and flutter it's wings to fly again. Fortunately I outsmarted this intruder by rapidly slamming the toilet seat down on it before it got away! Hooray! Mommy scores 1, cockroach 0! I flushed the seat immediately and then at least 5 more times after that, just to be on the safe side ya know? Can't take any chances! I was terrified that the little booger was on the underside of the toilet edge (rim) which I could not see unless I shoved my head down far enough, which I was not about to do (of course). Over the next 24 hours (maybe more) I kept that bathroom door locked and instructed the kids to use mommy and daddy's master bathroom inside of our bedroom. I was not about to take any chances in going through a repeat of what I already encountered. So this was the straw that broke mommas back! After being a full time SAHM (Stay At home Mom) for over 2 glorious years, there are many a days that I feel beaten down, lonely, isolated, tired from playing referee over a toy, tired of arguing with my small children to practice their letter sounds, numbers and other academics, but in the end, when it's all said and done, I am very blessed and grateful to have this rare opportunity to watch my children grow day in and out from the many things that life has to offer. And be in well known that I WILL NOT ALLOW A ROACH, FLYING OR OTHER, TO FORCE ME OUT OF WHAT I FEEL GOD HAS CALLED ME TO DO!!! On that note, I hope you don't either!

F.Y.I This is not the actual HUGE roach that was in my home, but the size of it, as you can see is outrageous and similar to the one I was forced to battle. I just found this image on the Internet to show as an example of the kind of enormous pest I was faced to deal with. If you're a man reading this post this type of thing may not disturb you but for most females I know this would be the exact thing that would make us cry for a week, because as we all know, where there is one insect, there very well may be many hiding out in the same place. Please pray that this is not the case.

After note: After sharing this story, half in tears, while my husband hysterically laughed at my expense (which I did not appreciate) he did finally agree to hire a reputable pest control to come to our home so that we will not be faced with this kind of thing again. As earlier stated this is not the first roach we had come across in our home this summer and I dread the idea of running into one again. Not to mention if there is one, there are more than likely others and who knows if one might be pregnant causing many, many more to be on the inside of our walls and home. I think something like this might cause me to take my kids and stay in a hotel temporarily until there's a semi-guarantee the pesticides being used are known to be an affective deterrent of such creatures.

A helpful tip: I have heard one helpful tip for any of you who may have suffered this yourselves; that if you have starchy foods in your pantry, such as potatoes please make sure you keep them in a locked container, as roaches are very attracted to such snacks to feed on. They are also drawn to sitting water and dark, closed sheltered areas. Once you find one try to take measures quickly to get rid of them as a pregnant roach can drop as many as 40 eggs at one time. YUCK!