Now Seeking Donations Toward My Cat's Psychiatric Care

Several years ago, my kids made a trio of Halloween spiders. Some five or six years later, they are admittedly a little worse for the wear but much loved. The kids still drag them out every Halloween and always set them together right by the TV.

I think Bear made this one in preschool. Notice the gouges in his side where his pipe cleaner legs have been repeatedly removed and repositioned. Lovely, no?
Bug made this one at a Halloween party when she was three. She was very, very insistent that he needed to be pink and orange. He looks like he's been hitting the sauce, doesn't he?

I've become a little bit attached to the bedraggled critters over the years. They remind me of my two tiny Trick-or-Treaters, who desperately wanted the candy but were still freaked out by the spookier aspects of Halloween.

So the other day, I'm sitting in the living room chatting with a friend when I notice that there are only TWO spiders in front of the TV. Suspicions aroused, I leap up and exclaim, "Where's the other spider? One's missing!", completely freaking out my friend who basically saw me leap out of my chair as though electrocuted and shout "spider!"

I immediately assume a cat (specifically Maisy, who has a propensity for swiping anything made with fluff) has nabbed one for a toy. I commission my friend to help me search. We walk through rooms, scanning floors, peeking under beds, and looking for tell-tale bits of fluff.

When I walk into the dining room, I discover this:

And so, it is with deepest regret that I must announce Spider #3, a pink fluff and pipe cleaner arachnid handcrafted by Bear at age six whilst she was in the throes of her princess phase, has met with a watery grave followed by a quick yet respectful disposal in the kitchen trash can.

Because no WAY was I keeping a fluffball spider that had been marinating in the cat bowl all day. Ew.

To their credit, Bear and Bug were more amused with Maisy than upset about the spider.