Clarac, hope you feel better soon!
My teenage son has a very lucky spider who has taken up residence outside his bedroom window. I say lucky, because this spider spins a new web every third evening or so... (or if the existing web is damaged)... and then it just waits for my son to turn the lights on in his room. That draws all the insects directly into her web!
We think it's an orb spider, and we think she's a female, because earlier in the season there were several miniature versions of this spider, nearby in other corners of the same window.
(Any spider experts out there?)