There are many elements of my life that are difficult and hard to deal with.

People living in Florida often report alligators in the garage, bears up the backyard trees but . . . 

 meet the poisonous cane toad who is in my master bedroom and bath.

Tuesdays and Thursday start early and end late for Tyler and me.   At 5:30  a.m. I let the dog out to do his business through be sliding doors by the garage.  I went into the next room to turn on the light to get a glass of water and something jumped on my foot.

Now I just spent four days last week taking heavy duty cough medicine for bronchitis/asthma so at first I thought . . . it is just codeine. But I had not had codeine for 48 hours. It was a work day.

I looked at my foot and saw this big toad with lint or grass on him from being under something. And then he hopped off several times into the bedroom under the bed.

Apparently these poisoonous cane toads originally from Australia made it to South Florida and according to some news report my ex- saw now are in Central Florida where dogs who eat them die and their owners get sick when they clean up the doges. I just talked to the ex-  this evening and learned this.

I could not find the toad without making Tyler late for school and me late for work so I shut the bedroom door to keep him away from the dog and vice versa.

My older daughter came over to look for the toad this evening and could not find him.  She is teenager and wanted to see the toad firsthand.

 She took the birds and dog with her since I am going out of town for a few days and I am now going to bug bomb the house for the occasional cockroach in the bathtub and fleas on the dog .  And to kill that toad.

 Then Tyler wanted to take a bath in Mommy's big tub and there the damn toad was by the shower.  So I tried to catch him by upending one of those silver things you put champagne in (and yeah it has been a long time since I had champagne in the tub but one can dream) but I missed.

......................................................

 And then Tyler was bugging me about where is the toad and what do we do and I hit the phone and speed dial and said talk to your dad I have stuff to do . . . 

and 15 minutes later she gives me the phone and says, "He wants to talk to you . . .."

And it is my old boyfriend the Omar Sharif CFO who had called earlier  to see about a possible dinner so instead he got back a phone call from Tyler about ugly poison toads and mama is going on an airplane to see granpa and to to go Texas where there are cowboys.

I tried to explain all that to him and why it made sense.

And now I have to pack some warm clothes. It is raining and cold in Arkansas.