BUGZILLA RETURNS!!!!!

There were a few blissful months there where my home was cockroach free.  But the other day I saw and killed what was most likely a baby.  So I knew this was coming.  And I was surprisingly calm about it, considering how early it was... probably thanks to the six hours of sleep I got last night (thank you Sam!).  No shrieks, and no heebie-jeebies.  Just acknowledgement of it's presence and a relatively mad dash to the kitchen for a jar.

Because I catch them.  I don't kill them... right away.

Why do I catch them?  Because I'm a chicken.  And freaked out.  I'm a chicken because I don't want to hear any crunching so I won't squash it.  And I'm freaked out cause someone told me if it's a momma cockroach and you squash it you can end up spreading her eggs around (*gag*) and I DEFINITELY don't want none of that happening on my carpet.  Oh, and I'm afraid to poison my kid with Raid, so I don't want to spray it in the house.  OH, and someone freaked me out about flushing it down the toilet because they told me the things can live in water and so I'm scared it'll crawl out!  BLECH.

So here's my method, fine-tuned after my summer and fall here.  I'm pretty much a pro.

First you capture that sucker in a glass jar so you can be sure you can keep an eye on it's creepiness at all times.

Then you use a plate to do the flip-er-oo.

Then you take that sucker outside, dump him out, and drown his tush in Raid.  (Though, LJ now likes to play in the yard, so I guess I'll have to take him outside the fence... which does put me at risk for being seen and laughed at by the neighbors ;o) but it's a risk I'll have to take!)

For perspective, this one really isn't that big.  Still creepy and gross, but not big.  

Nothing like the very first, true-blue BUGZILLA I saw on my ceiling. 

PS:  Bethanne and I are pretty sure we figured out why I'm the lucky one who gets them in the house... the benefits of being by the water (i.e. getting to see alligators from your upstairs window, not having a view of other houses in your back yard like everyone else, etc.) come hand in hand with more bugs, apparently.  Because Bethanne and Bonnie live on the other side of the neighborhood and have NEVER had a cockroach in their house!  Lucky me :o)