Attack of the creepy critters!

We live in Florida, and with the subtropical climate and disproportionate number of beach days per year come insects - lots of insects. I don't know why I am so squeamish around them, having grown up here, but I am. It's completely irrational and annoyingly girly of me, but I have a huge phobia of bugs - particularly cockroaches. It's one thing to see them outside, but I feel violated when they make their way into my home.

When I see a roach, I am like those silly elephants in Dumbo, scurrying atop chairs and climbing poles to get away from a "terrifying" little mouse - I could totally crush that little bugger, but I have some deep-rooted fear (mixed with disgust) that this roach could very well do me bodily harm... somehow...

Got this cute image from  http://www.shopzeus.com/product.php?sku=zeusd1-KIMR-1228966 

Anyway, whenever something bigger than an ant comes crawling or flying into my territory, which is pretty seldom, I always run the other way and frantically implore Dustin to do the dirty work of squashing/flushing/etc. So how is it that we rarely see any creepy crawlies in our 4th floor condo, but since Dustin went out of town 3 days ago, I have been "greeted" by 3 different types of bugs?!

It's like they were just waiting in their dark, damp crevices, plotting to pounce as soon as I dropped Dustin off at the airport.

First, I was doing laundry on Thursday night and started to pick a towel up off the floor only to see a huge roach scurry out from under it! I immediately dropped the towel back onto the offender and began to fret about the house, wondering what to do next. I needed to get something big and heavy to squash it, a notion that thoroughly grosses me out.

After pacing the house squeamishly, I identified my weapons of choice:

A dustpan and a tap shoe. Makes sense, right?

I returned gingerly to the battleground, using both of my weapons as makeshift tongs to carefully lift the towel again, and... the bug was gone! It must have snuck under the dryer, or back behind the walls where he snuck in from in the first place (ugh... makes me shudder). I slammed the tap shoe down on the floor a bunch of times hoping it would stir the critter back out into the open, but it never returned... today I am still wary of entering the bathroom (where our washer/dryer are located) - I tiptoe through every time I enter since I saw it a few days ago.

And since then, a spider with long skinny legs has shown up, as well as a few really tiny little flying bugs that keep buzzing in my face! They look kinda like fruit flies but I have no fruit sitting out, so I have no idea why they've taken residence here. I think the BUG-opalypse has descended upon me! :(

But these are mere nuisances compared to the big one that is lurking inside the bathroom somewhere... I just hope it doesn't rear its ugly little head again until Dustin is back to take care of it for me!