If bugs creep you out, this blog post may haunt your dreams.
I once heard from a blog reader who had to take a hiatus from reading my blog after I posted a picture of a gigantic spider, so if you break out in hives at nasty pictures of insects, come back in the morning when the pleasant photos return.
Until then, I have a horrific story to share with you guys.
Ryan is in a golf league and had plans to golf after work today. I figured I would spend some quality time with Sadie (Mommy 2012!) and take her on a hike at a nearby park.
I keep my hiking shoes in the garage because they are very old, dirty and sandy and I don’t want to bring the mess inside.
I always turn them upside down and clap them together outside before slipping them on to get any remaining sand or dirt out of the inside of the shoe.
I did the same thing today before wiggling my feet into them and calling to Sadie to hop in the car. I went back inside to pick up my water bottle and keys and felt what I thought must have been a small stick or something above the pad of my right foot inside my shoe. I walked back outside, pulled off the shoe and shook it.
Nothing came out.
I looked inside… and then FREAKED out and threw my shoe across the yard.
LOOK what was inside:
A mutant bug.
Ew, ew, ew.
I literally squealed and got the shivers as I thought about that huge bug rolling around underneath my toes 2.5 seconds earlier. When I finally got the nerve to collect my shoe and bang it against the pavement to get the bug out, one of its legs was the first thing to fall out.
That was enough for me. I told the bug he could have my shoe, went inside and grabbed another pair of shoes and got the heck out of there. When I returned about an hour later, he crawled out of my shoe, but didn’t get very far. I’m not sure about his current condition and I’m not about to check his vitals.
Hiking
My hike with Sadie was much more relaxing than the events leading up to the hike.
We covered about three miles together.
I walked and she brought me every single stick in the forest.
This might lead you to believe she’s an excellent sharer, but don’t be fooled. She just likes to show off the goods and then run away with them. She does the same thing at the dog park, only the goods are her lady bits and she wants no part of the male suitors that come her way.
We didn’t see any interesting wildlife on our hike, but we did see the beginning of blueberries!
There are plaques along the trail that point out plants of interest and I’ve checked for blueberries for a while now near the blueberry plaque and was excited to finally see them!
Dinner
After our hike, it was time to come home and try out a new recipe!
(Anyone else see a giant smiley face in the above picture?)
Tonight I made a Greek frittata by loosely following a Real Simple recipe.
My frittata contained red onion, spinach and feta cheese.
It was a great frittata, but I definitely prefer my kale and sweet potato frittata even though it’s much more work.
I also had a toasted whole wheat English muffin topped with Smart Balance and honey on the side.
Time to relax and hopefully not dream of super creepy bugs!
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I think you saw enough interesting wildlife before your hike!
my goodness, that thing looks terrifying! i’ve never even seen, let alone heard of, a mutant bug before! creepy. i’m glad the hike was a little more low key for you! 😉
Ew so gross! I would probably never wear my shoe again unless I had thoroughly cleaned it. I don’t mind spiders, but anything else I freak about! Love that first pic of Sadie 🙂
you aren’t going to believe this but I had a similar situation today! I went outside with the dogs to take them for a walk and stepped into the garage and a huge weird looking roach came crawling out from under my car! I freaking and beat the snot out of it with my shoe but refused to move it. I saved it as a treat for Bobby when he gets home!
omg, that is horrible!!!!!!!! I always feel so sorry for the bugs, but I can´t help but freak out a little (or a lot, if I am being honest…)
Do you think you can ever wear these shoes again?
Thank god you had the “smiley” picture there at the end 😉
EW.
Ewwwwwwww ewwwwwwww ewwwwew ewwwwwww!!!!!
That would have done me in right then and there. OMG. I actually came really close to moving to Nashville, TN. I found out that one of the apartment complexes I was looking at had a problem with SCORPIONS. That and a couple other reasons are why I am staying in the Northeast. Blech.
Ewwwwwwwwwwwwww! I’m still traumatized by a giant spider crawling out of one of my boots when I was in high school…and that was like 15 years ago. That kind of stuff stays with you.
Ick. Sorry you had to experience that.
now that really is a mutant bug…icky!! Dont’ get me wrong, I love my roommate, but between the two of us that bug would never be killed and would just reside where we found it. i hate bugs.
EWWWW bugs! When I first moved to Savannah, I stepped on a palmetto bug (aka cockroach) in my barefeet while walking on the front stoop. The squish between my toes made me gag. ewwww ewww ewwww
And I love frittatas! Sadly, the husband hates baked eggs. ugh.
Well the other day when I got to work I was walking to the kitchen to fill up my glass of water and i use a straw so I went to suck up the last little bit in the glass….BAAD idea. I sucked then felt something weird in my mouth so I spit into my hand and it was a nasty hairy black spider…I SCREAMED out. It was SO SO SO NASTY.
I gagged and had the shivers for so long after….lesson DEFINITELY learned!!!
I thought I felt something crawling up my neck after seeing that picture..haha. I always leave my shoes I use for doing yardwork / hiking on our screened in back porch but I’m always terrified of a bug being in them and feeling it crawling around on my feet.
EEEW!!!
Just the thought of that happening to me makes me sick! Bleck bleck bleck!! 🙁
YUCK!
… and yes, I saw that giant smiley face in your dinner right away! 🙂
Holy bugs, Barman! I would be deeply disturbed for a long time! Flip flops for me, thanks.
Eeeeek! I always laugh to myself after something like that happens because odds are I just screamed bloody murder and overreacted. But at the time, feels totally necessary hah
EEEEWWWWW! I literally finished reading this five minutes ago and looked down at the floor and saw the biggest and I’ve ever seen! I jumped up and killed it! The thing was almost 1/2″ long and it crunched when I stepped on it!
that is a cricket. they are harmless.
it was the world’s biggest cricket!
i’m sure it was! and harmless or not, i don’t want ANY bug taking up residence in my shoes! i do kinda feel bad for the guy though. he probably thought he had found a pretty sweet hiding place. wrong!
It’s just a cricket that you smashed inside your shoe, that’s why it looks messed up. Should have put it out of it’s misery.
Ew omg that photo totally sent a chill up my spine! I HATE bugs!!!
#21 beat me to it, but I concur, it is a cricket that was mutilated when you mushed it with your foot.
UGH. That’s all I can say haha. I hate bugs.
That is a huge bug!
I totally would’ve thrown my shoe across the yard too! I’m not scared of bugs at all, but if they catch me off guard it freaks me out (like walking into a spiderweb). My chocolate lab, Harley, was all in a tizzy this morning because she was chasing a bug in the house (a fly, I believe). I saw her catch it mid-air and eat it, and then she kept looking for it and whining. Dogs… 🙂
i loved my GA days, but HATED the palmetto bugs. i’d just try not to look around much when putting stuff in my car for the next day b/c i ran into way too many in the garage.
the WORST moment though….finding one (dead, not that it was all that much better) in my UNDERWEAR drawer. you can bet that whole drawer was dumper in the washing machine on high…totally felt worth violating fabric care labels
That first picture of Sadie made my day. She is so freakin adorable!
holy cow…. i would squeal. lol
Holy S balls, I would’ve thrown my shoe too! And probably cried a little bit. I get huge heebie jeebies from bugs, and that one is super creepy!! I don’t think I would have been brave enough to even take a picture of it! Phew, my heart is still racing a little bit from this post lol! (Don’t worry, it’s not enough to make me stop reading your blog tho!) 🙂
LOL!!! i laughed out loud at “holy s balls.” 🙂 so great.
Yuck! Haha So grose! I think it’s time to throw away the shoes! I lived in the country for a while in a small space with lots of family… Since then I always tap the heel of my shoe on the ground and then shake my shoes upside down to get anything out. And I still check my sheets every night before I go to sleep. I have found spiders. I hate them!!! That picture of Sadie portrays exactly how I feel!
By the way that greek frittata looks absolutely amazing!
Bugs seriously skeeve me out…But like a bad accident I had to peek…Yikes! I’m impressed you even took another look when you returned!
I would have died. I couldn’t even look at that picture.
Ugh!! Super creepy!! I would have DIED! Hah. They are sooooo gross!
On a happier note–love that pic of your frittata-looks delicious 😉
That bug is so absolutely grody! I’m grossed out just thinking about it being under your foot!
That bug is horrid; I for sure would have freaked!
A couple weekends ago when we finished a hike in the mountains there were nasty red ticks on my husbands pants and one on my dog’s head. Thankfully we got the tick off before it burrowed.
I still feel like gagging when I think about them!
ughhh that is one AWFUL bug yuckkkk. i am such a baby about bugs!
I once was eating raspberries from our garden, felt something strange, and spit out some kind of beetle looking thing! I FREAKED OUT. It was hiding inside one of the raspberries… BLEH BLEH BLEH.
That bug from your shoe is making me flashback. I can’t handle it.
ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh! that is horrendous!
Oh yikes, I always shake out my shoes if I leave them in the garage. The amount of spiders our there is ridiculous (AND we have our house sprayed for them every couple of months!). I can only imagine I would have reacted similarly! Way to let the poor little guy suffer… 😉
AHHH! I would have FREAKED! I really hate bugs!!! On a happier note, your frittata looks amazing! 🙂
Oh my word. I think I may be the one to have nightmares about the mutant bug in your shoe. Sounds like something I would do (freak out, throw my show across the lawn, and then surrender to the bug)… Thoroughly enjoyed this post (because I can relate!) and I think you definitely deserve a new pair of hiking sneaks!
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I have so many emotions. I want to laugh but I’m simultaneously squealing.
“i’m not about to check it’s vitals”
hahahah
-Gabrielle
Loooooove the first picture of Sadie (it actually doesn’t really look like her), and the caption is just so so perfect! haha. The bug story is hilarious, you write so well. That’s why I absolutely cannot and will not stop reading PBF! 🙂
omg! i would’ve screamed so loud if i found that on my shoe!!! that is one freaky looking bug!!!
Now I hope you don’t think this is creepy (but compared to your bug this is nothing I guess), I thought of you today. You see I hate running and I’m truly bad at it and I kind of never see any progress but I’ve still kept at it and this is partly because of the inspiration I find in your blog. Normally I run 2,5 km and that’s death to me but today I decided to keep running until falling (almost) and guess what? I ran 6 km! And since I’ve got to be completely out of my mind I thought “I have to write this in Julie’s blog” instead of someone I actually know in real life. So thank you for your amazing and inspiring blog, knowing it’s hard for you but that you manage boosts me!
oh my gosh, that’s WONDERFUL news, lina! how exciting! this comment absolutely made my morning. congrats on such a great accomplishment!
I understand you had a scare but you really should have put the poor thing out of its misery. It can’t help the way it looks but I guarantee it can feel pain.
Ew! I hate bugs!! I got a tick out of my dog’s head once after we went or a walk in my parent’s subdivision . That totally freaked me out. I actually think I screamed! haha. At least it hasn’t happened since.
OMG! EW!!! I would have probably screamed! I seriously hate bugs with a passion. I can’t kill them. I just scream for my fiance when I see a bug in our house. If he’s not home, then I suck it through the vacuum! I’m not touching those things!
It’s is just a little garden cricket. It won’t bite you, it’s harmless. I wouldn’t want to find one in my shoe but I def wouldn’t quish it if I saw it jumping around the yard. Those things are everywhere in SC.
“I’m not about to check his vitals” bahaha. You crack me up! But seriously – that is gross!! And definitely mutant like. In VA where I live we have what are called 17 year cicadas (they hibernate and then literally every 17 years come out of the ground) and there are literally MILLIONS of them. Like you can step outside without stepping on them/having them fly in your face. One time I was trying to get in my car, and literally 3 flew up my pant leg and I didn’t notice until I was already buckled into my car and about to reverse out of my driveway. Needless-to-say, I lept of of my car and squealed like a crazy person while shaking my legs out. Luckily this was a pretty typical site and I didn’t get too many weird stares from my neighbors!