4/24/09

Red Velvet Art Update

Prints of 'Her Happy Dreams' are now available on the Red Velvet Art website! It's available in an 8" x 10" and an 11" x 14" and printed on velvet fine art paper. And look! I'm a paper doll! Elsie has designed these cute paper dolls and crafty accessories of each of the RVA girls. I've got the trusty Mac, the sewing machine and a Starbucks drink. What more could a girl ask for...

You can also find the new chalkboard key rack that I've designed. Perfect for roommate notes or reminders to feed your cat.

I walked into my bathroom this morning to find a garden snake stretched out alongside the bathtub! I screamed and Brett came in to catch it. Thankfully school was out today for professional development so he was at home to deal with the situation. I'm not sure what I would've done otherwise. It crawled behind the toilet and into the hole where the plumbing goes into the wall. We figured that is how it got in and wouldn't need to worry about it any more that day.

Well, ten minutes later I go back in to use the bathroom and IT'S BACK! I screamed again and Brett ran back in to try to grab it by the tail. It was too quick for us. At that point, I realized it may just be hiding and that we'd need to catch it to be sure it was out of the house. Brett decided to climb into the tub and close the shower curtain hoping it would come back out soon. We could see it's little head poke out from the wall but after five minutes, we decided he was onto us. Brett stuffed a wash rag into the hole to give us some peace of mind but I made him stand watch while I used the potty just in case that snake got brave again.

We've called the landlords to see what they'd like to do about the snake problem and they were sympathetic. We're going to set a sticky trap down in the meantime just in case he's still in there. Pregnant women wake up in the night to empty their bladders and I'm not about to let myself get spooked about going in there at 3 a.m. There is no way I'm going outside to relieve myself either as there are more of them in the backyard than in my house (SHUDDER).

I'd love to hear your snake or other creepy crawler stories. Consider it moral support.




40 comments:

Jessica said...

Don't kill it! Call your local humane society or wild animal center(if you have one) for help!

Jenna said...

ewww! heebie jeebies! when i was prego with #1 we had a black widow infestation in our house. and one night i was sitting on the couch watching t.v. while the hubs was asleep and i saw this black thing crawling and i looked down and was a black widow on my leg! my PREGNANT-CANT-GET-THE-ANTIVENOM leg! so i leaped up and practially fell on the floor which slightly freaked out my husband who ran to my rescue in his chonies. this is *true love*, except he asks, are you sure it was a black widow? um, hello? i had only killed a dozen of them that week. ewww. nasty. hope the snake finds a new home, away from yours. good luck. :)

RachelDenbow said...

Aroo studio,

We're all about trying to relocate it back outside where it belongs and then sealing up the hole it used to come inside.

Jessica said...

when me and my husband were first married we lived in the back of my in laws house, they have a built on appartment. well everyone that lives in az know about cockroaches, yuck. they CREEP me out big time. well speaking of waking up in the night to go potty. i had to get up one night to go and on the way stepped on a few with bare feet. i screamed and ran back to the bed, stepping on a few more. ewwww! my husband turned the lights on and more scattered. ewwww. so we got it sprayed and set up many traps. i was excited to get out of that place!

Alice said...

I am terrified of big spiders, and years ago when I was doing laundry I saw something crawling up my belly. I screamed, ripped my shirt off, and started bawling. My boyfriend ran in and thought I had cut my hand off or something because of the noise. We couldn't find the spider again, so we went in to the living room and sat down while I tried to calm down. About 10 minutes later I saw the giant spider crawling under the doorway heading straight for us! My guy caught it and put it far away outside (I'm veg and won't let animals die - even if they terrify me!) but it still gives me goosebumps!

PS. I'm loving those paintings you did recently!

Anonymous said...

Bats freak me out. There was the time my dad killed one flying in our house and showed me its remains. There was the time I woke up at 3 a.m. and a bat was caught in my bedroom blinds. There was the time a bat impaled himself on my mom's hood ornament 10 miles from home.

To make a long story short, you have my sympathies.

Rachel said...

YUCK!!!!! That would scare the you know what out of me!!

Once in high school, we had a squirrel get in our house through a crawl space. I think I'd take him again over a snake!!

K said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
K said...

O man! What is with the snakes? I just posted Tues. about almost stepping on a rattle snake outside our house!?! At least yours wasn’t poisonous? Still super creepy! I have so much sympathy for the snake sitch!

mrs boo radley said...

Snake.

In the living room.

Was in sister's rain boot that she'd left lying down out on the porch.

Picked boots up.

Brought boots in.

Snake crawled out.

I died or barfed.

Sarah said...

Love your painting!
During college, I did a study trip to Costa Rica. While I was taking a shower in one of our hotels, I glanced over, and there was a scorpion on my shower curtain, right about eye level with me.
Now I live in Texas, and I've found a couple of the suckers in my house. Allegedly, the type we have are no more dangerous than a bee sting, but that doesn't make me feel any better when I find one in the hallway.

Violet said...

Eww! I hope you can catch the snake without using the stickes... it makes my skin crawl imagining the poor (creepy!) litte guy all stuck and pained. :/

I do agree that pregnant midnight pees should not include snake visits, though. :]


I had the old Black Widow in the bedroom scene when I was a teenager. You know, the one where you see the creepie and then he disapears forever... leaving you clinging to your pillow in spider-bite fear? Yuck.

Let us know how the snake hunt goes!

Lindsay said...

Oh my...I'm thinking creepy crawlers are definitely out and about lately...blah! I found 4 spiders in our house this past week. We're trying out those ultrasonic wall plug-ins that are supposed to repel pests. So far, so good (knock on wood!). And then the other day, I was upstairs in the stockroom at work and I went to step around something, happened to look down (thankfully!) and there was a dead bird. I think I lost my breath for a minute, then ran quickly back downstairs and got a fellow co-worker (who happens to be a guy) to take care of it. Apparently the bird had been trapped back there for a few days and they had tried to get him out, but no luck.

-Lindsay

Sandy said...

I love the update. I got the set of dolls, your original painting on wood and one of the chalkboards among other things.

When I was a teenager and lived in the country I woke up from a nap and walked down the hallway to the bathroom, we had an attic fan and I saw something moving on the floor but thought it was a piece of paper or something. It was a baby snake. I simply stepped over it! On the way back up the hall I actually was more awake and saw what it was, started screaming and my Mom came and got it with a shovel. We didn't kill it but it was a baby water moccasin.

Lisa Pate said...

Oh Dear!!

Us Aussies have all manner of snakes, spiders and other creepy crawlies ...... don't bother me much. BUT if there was one in my house I am not sure I would stay there till I got someone to remove it and relocate it.

Best of luck!

Holly said...

I get into my out-of-school care class the other day and an informed that there's a snake in an open container over there. And then it got out! Luckily I work with people who aren't snake squeemish like me.

Leigh-Ann said...

i loved picturing brett hiding in the tub from the snake... "Sneak Attack"

suzy said...

You might need to get Brett to watch Snakes On A Plane so he can channel Samuel L. Jackson.
He was terrifying....more so for bad acting...but the snake doesn't know that!

Anonymous said...

Eeeek! Don't think my mogs would let anything move in my flat, I can just see Monty tormenting a snake!

Loving the RVA update, your paintings are lush! xx

robyn said...

I have snakes in my house on a semi regular basis. Only because my beautiful 12 yr old daughter LOVES to catch them! 2 summers ago she caught a 3ft blue racer behind our house and it became her pet for an entire year. "Miss Snakey". She then caught another smallerish one...."Mr. Snakey" and she ate him....eww! Here is the best part....she is putting out flyers in our neighborhood for a "Humane Snake Removal Service" Want me to send her your way? ;)
Good luck getting rid....I feel your pain. (I am NOT a snake hugger!)
robyn

RachelDenbow said...

Ha! Robyn, you seem to have one brave little soul on your hands. If we see another one, I'll check into her snake removal rates!!!

Tea said...

Hi Rachel,

I love your new pieces, but wonder if you will be making any more of the speech bubble chalk boards? Or perhaps take a special order (how much do they retail for?) I'm a bit of a late-comer to the RVA shop/blog/phenomenon, but adore all the work you ladies do.

Tea from Toronto.
xx

Big Yellow Dog said...

AHH! I would panic. I remember when I was little, I saw the HUGEST garden spider in the bathtub. I refused to take a bath at my house for over a month, so my mom had to take me to my granny's every night to take a bath. We've had huge angry wasps flying around in our apartment lately and have been trying to fight them off with a can of oven clean and a shoe...but I think we are just making them angrier. We should probably refine our system a little. Good luck!
~Margaret

RachelDenbow said...

Tea,

Yes, we're resizing the thought bubble chalk boards and will have them available again next month!

Robin said...

We are constantly invaded by black snakes. They get into our basement through tiny cracks between the siding and brick-work (we keep filling these spaces with caulk). Last year we had to get a snake wrangler who just grabbed them with his gloved hands. After the first one years ago (a five ft. long one found by my 7 year old daughter we wrote this haiku:

Snakes invade our home
silently slipping in through
a crack in the wall.

As I write this a poor little Titmouse just flew through the open sliding door and I have to go shoo it out.

Anne Esquibel said...

1. beautiful painting. and paper dollishness of you.

2. Everything creeps me out, even flies landing on me. I think the most scariest is when you realise there is a spider next to or on you. I always jump and scream and take my clothes off and if I haven't killed or relocated it..I won't go back to that place for a few days. Until I'm sure it's dead or something.

xx

Katherine said...

i used to live in a guest house right behind my landlords. they had a kitty door and all kinds of wildlife (skunks, raccoons, possums, etc) would march right into the kitchen and help themselves to the catfood. whenever i housesat for them i made sure that kitty door was locked TIGHT. good luck with your snake!

abbiejsmith said...

I am going to turn on the light when I get up to go to the bathroom! I will pee in the dark no more!!

I hope you are able to fix your snake problem!!

Miss Money said...

when i was little, i used to have dreams, aka NIGHTMARES, that there were snakes covering my floor in my bedroom and i was trapped standing on my bed. they were all waiting there to get me and no one would come to my rescue. my dad would just watch through my bedroom window. all of this was pre-snakes on a plane!

good luck with your snake. it's a big fear i'll find one in my house. snakes and tornadoes. no fun!

RachelDenbow said...

Landlord came by to check things out and just told us to put rags in the openings in the bathroom wall and in the cracks in the foundation under the bathroom on the outside of the house.

We haven't seen the snake since Friday morning so we think he's gone back under the house. I still search the perimeter of the kitchen and bathroom floors before I step in there!

Thanks for all of your creepy crawly stories!

Elizabeth said...

ew i started to read the comments with the other creepy crawly stories but i couldn't go on after the black widows. pretty much, i have nothing to top that. ew ew ew! i hope your snake problem is solved soon Rachel!

Amy said...

My son Connor (3 1/2) LOVES ladybugs. I was pulling weeds last weekend and I found one. It was calmly resting on my hand while Connor gazed upon it. THen it got the brilliant idea to fly and land on Connor's cheek. He panicked, of course, then the ladybug flew to his arm, and Connor proceeded to flap his arms. Finally the pretty little thang flew away..............I got woken up at 3 in the morning by Connor crying, telling me that a ladyboug had tried to eat him!
I was worried that he would have a nightmare about it too!

Amy from Texas

Klara J said...

Oooo snakes!! Gross gross gross!!!
When I was 6, we had a dugite in our house (one of the deadliest snakes in Australia) for a couple of days. It was scary because my youngest sister was a baby at the time, and it could've killed her. Being a 6-year-old, I didn't quite have the concept of just how scary our situation was... but my poor parents must've been terrified! They even called a snake-wrangler who told them he couldn't help them remove it unless they caught it in a bucket first - ummmm riiiight??? Finally the cleaning lady happened to spot it while she was mopping, and she coaxed it into the back yard, where my brave Mum beheaded it with a rake!!! Ick!!!

Sugar Sweet Sunshine said...

OK - I totally sympathize with you...I live in Miami, FL and there is every creepy crawling, phobia inspired "creature" here. I, am deathly afraid of lizards and it just so happens that there are about 1,000,000,000 lizards who co-exist with us here. Every size, shape and color. Anyway, to make a long story longer, I have so many creepy crawly stories about lizards getting in the house that I could tell you about but, my personal FAVORITE is when I was driving my car, looking at the beautiful sunset and out of the corner of my eye, A BROWN LIZARD JUMPED ON ME WHILE I WAS DRIVING!! I don't know how I pulled over without crashing into someone!! I had to call my husband to pick me up because there was NO WAY I was going back in the car with that man eating creature!! I hope your snake was evicted and hope this story made you smile!!

xoxo,
Carol

margot said...

#1- i am getting your print (the big one!) when i come to the store in june!!!
#2- listen, i'm all for saving the animals but if there is a snake in your house and you gotta get it out- DO WHATEVER IT TAKES. i hope it is completely gone!!!
#3- look at my blog, i took the chalkboard for a trip :-)

Stacy said...

My grandma has frequently warned me not to use the bathroom outdoors if I smell cucumbers. Apparently it's a sign that there's a copperhead around. Going outside to potty at night, as they did when she was young, snakes were a real concern.

Personally, I turn the light on at night to make sure there aren't spiders in the toilet. :)

MamaOat said...

one night while the hubby was at work I saw one of those multi-legged super fast critters on the floor. I searched frantically for something to kill it (a vasaline bottle) with and amidst screams of terror I managed to squish the back half of it as it escaped through a crack in the wall. I thought I was safe. Until I saw another one!!! At this point I thought I was in a horror movie or something. It used its many legs and dashed into the bathroom and wedged itself cleverly between the floor and the bathtub - where my mighty vasaline bottle could not go. In a panic I grabbed the only thing I could think would work, a spray bottle of bleach. I drowned the sucker is sprays of deadly bleach - oh he TRIED to run away...but I just kept spraying, until there his lifeless body lay in a puddle of bleach.
I then proceeded to call the hubby, to inform him that he had a mess to clean up when he got home from work.

cupcakesandcoffee schwartz said...

Hi Rachel! The paper doll is too cute and love the chalkboard. eeeeee about the snake!!!

Noelle said...

Hi Racheol...Love your blog ! Okay, I can sympathize with your snake story....I hate most creepy, crawly animals. Sorry. I just do. Last winter we had a mouse problem. I screamed like a two year old every time I found one. The worst was when I opened the dishwasher and found one sitting on the siverware tray licking peanut butter off a knife. I ran outside screaming bloody murder so loud my husband thought someone was trying to hurt me. I really think I scared the mice from coming back after that incident...

Vivianna said...

ummm...want to email you but dont know your email. I am sure it is somewhere on your blog. I just had a few questions about the box.

vivs.arroyo(@)gmail DOT. com