Bugs...

It is bug season, it seems. With the cooler weather, we have our annual visitation of tiny, annoying gnats in the kitchen, seemingly attracted to the last of the tomatoes sitting on the window sill, as well of the bag of apples languishing in the corner (I really need to cook those soon). 

The cold weather also invites in spiders...the crunchy-looking kind. Blech. While I know spiders are not technically insects, they still "bug" me...or, more accurately, they creep me out (which, I realize, is oddly fitting for late October, eh?). Nothing is creepier than sitting here in my chair, minding my own business knitting, when, out of the corner of my eye I spy something small and black skittering across the cream-colored carpet. Ack. (Ok, there are creepier things than that, like watching a DVRed episode of Fringe late at night, alone, and seeing some guy's arm being mangled and people plummeting to their deaths in an elevator and things like that...but the spider is pretty creepy too. I haven't watched last night's episode yet, but from the commercials, it appeared to feature blood oozing from people's facial orifices...yeay...creepy. LOL) 

I used to have no mercy on these eight-legged invaders, wasting no time in getting out the vacuum and sucking them up. I've become more humane in my old(er) age. Now, I usually either try to capture them between a container of some sort and a piece of paper and release them back into the wild, or if they appear to be no real threat to me, I simply remind them of our deal -- you go under the couch and don't bother me, and I'll let you live. All bets are off, however, if they happen to be creeping anywhere on the ceiling or the wall above the head of my bed. :::shudder::: The mere thought of a spider falling on me in my sleep...well...ACK!!!

This time of year also seems to encourage bugs of the germ-y type. So far (knock on wood!), no one here has come down with the first cold of the season, but I know it is just a matter of time. My daughter did get a flu shot at her annual check up this year. My son did not, and now I'm thinking maybe I should sign him up for one, as his asthma has been flaring up occasionally lately. My husband and I have never gotten flu shots, but as the pediatrician told me, they are really being recommended more for everyone. I don't know. Still pondering it.

My most recent bug encounter, however, has been with the travel bug. Having traveled more in the past two years than ever before, I thought I might finally be immune from it, at least until next spring when I was planning a trip with the kids to see my mom in Florida. I was wrong. I woke up two days ago with the sudden realization that I needed to make that trip now. While I visited them for a long weekend in May, my kids haven't seen their grandparents since our oldest son's Marine graduation back in February, and unlike the past two years, my mom and step-dad will not be coming up here for either Thanksgiving or Christmas this year. My mom just had one eye surgery (cataract) a couple weeks ago, and she is due to have the second early next week. And I just want to be there.

So! A traveling we will go! I'm good at last-minute travel plans. Actually, spur-of-the-moment trips are my favorite kind. (After all, I planned an entire trip to Ireland in about three weeks, including getting passports!) After a few phone calls to rearrange some appointments, we are scheduled to head south a week from today. Other than that? It's pretty up in the air. We'll get there on Thursday (as I cannot make that drive in one day by myself), probably stay about a week and then visit the oldest son a day or two on our way back north. 

And hey, isn't it great that I just put all of our summer clothes away? Yeay! I get to pull them out again. LOL But at least there will be beach time (it's still in the 70s down there!), and there will be knitting time (what would a vacation be without it?) and for the kids, there will be school time (one of the beauties of homeschooling...portability!). And unlike previous September and October trips to Florida, where part of me has felt like it was missing out on the beauty of the western PA autumn, foliage season is definitely on the decline now, so I've already gotten to enjoy it!

Now I just need to make my lists and execute them -- to do before I go, to pack so we can go (which is so much easier when we drive since the only baggage limit I must observe is that dictated by the size of my trunk), knitting projects to take for while I'm away, etc. 

Let's here it for spontaneous travel! :)