Talia:

Last night, an hour or so after I got off the phone with you, I went downstairs to get my pajamas, which were woefully located in a room that would require me to walk past the spider. I surveyed each square foot of carpet before I took another step. Then, to my surprise, the spider was gone. This meant trouble, since now the spider was in hiding, ready to pop out at any second and scare the hell out of me. I gingerly picked up each item of clothing and shook it several times to rid it of any potential spiders. Then I turned each sleeve and leg inside out to do another check. I was safe so far.

This morning I had to go down to that room again to get dirty clothes for laundry. (This was actually an interesting internal debate: would I rather chance an encounter with the spider, or wait until I got back to school and pay for laundry? Being the cheapskate I am, I decided to take my chances with the spider.) The spider, again, was nowhere to be seen. Its whereabouts remain unknown at this moment. Shudder.

I forgot to mention: both times I let Kelsey down ahead of me, figuring if he ate the spider that would solve my problems. Unfortunately he didn't find the spider, but he did find several socks. Good for him.

For everyone else: This spider was huge. I've never seen a spider this big before. The body was about the size of a half-dollar, no lie. It was so hideous; I'm getting nauseated just thinking about it.