bed bugs


I'm kind of freaked out about bed bugs lately. Okay, "kind of" is an understatement. I'm entirely freakin' paranoid about bed bugs lately. The thought that they're coming back with a vengeance really grosses me out. I've checked my bed and clothing that I've got home. In checking my bed I don't just mean that I've looked under the blankets - oh no, I take the sheet corners off and look along the seams on the mattress, underneath the piping, in the hems of the sheets, etc. to make sure there aren't any. At night if I have a tickly spot, or a creepy crawly feeling I've been turning on the lamp to flip back the covers and try to catch the little devils in their tracks.

I have yet to find any.

The other day Steven and I were having a conversation about bed bugs. He thinks it's silly. I imagine the headaches and stress that would be involved in trying to get rid of them. Did you know that a bedbug can live an entire year after just one feeding? So the little bugger can hide under your baseboard forever, even while you're killing all his buddies, and then scurry out, climb back onto your bed and begin repopulating your home.

Not funny now is it? Huh Steven?

We were having a bedbug conversation. He thinks it's funny. He thinks (I think) that I'm kind of kidding when I talk about bedbugs. I'm really not.

I told him that I was dead serious. That if one of his dying relatives came to our door one last time to say goodbye, and I knew that he/she had bedbugs in the house that I'd yell through the door to go home and pick up the phone because I wouldn't be letting bedbuggy people in here. He laughed. Okay, it probably does sound like I'm just trying to make him laugh, but I'm really quite serious. He asked if it would be any different if it was one of my relatives. I said no. Sorry all, but if you have a bedbug infestation don't be coming here.

Would I spend a night in a hotel right now? Probably not. Would I be all excited to hang out with you in the days/weeks following your hotel stay? Probably not. It's kind of unfair to bring your hotel bedbugs to my house you know.

It creeps me right the heck out. I'd rather one of the kids came home with head lice.

I've been sitting here feeling exceptionally creepy crawly ever since I looked up that picture.

I really hope they find an effective way to send the little parasites into extinction soon.

Comments

Mommy in Training said…
I am with ya on this one. When I worked with Immigrants last year I unfortunately heard many a horror stories. Manitoba Housing Units have a real problem & the bites they give! Most of the tenants were sleeping in bathtubs. TERRIBLE! I do the exact same thing - I check every so often & when we go to hotels it is the first thing I do.
October 3, 2010 at 9:24 PM
Candice said…
For all the places we've been staying over the past year, I've probably spent more time in accommodations with bed bugs, than without.

Gross. I know.

But hey, they love the tropics too!

Un/fortunately, there are worse things out there...
October 3, 2010 at 10:23 PM
Sonya said…
My family and I were just talking about bed bugs tonight. And how a certain thrift store in the area is rumoured to have them. No idea if it's true. But it certainly puts a damper on my "cheap thrill" in finding some gently used clothe for my boys.
Did I ever tell you about living with cochroaches?? That may be a post in itself.
October 3, 2010 at 11:20 PM
Lora said…
they say that there is a problem in my town, but luckily I don't know anyone who has them. Thankfully I don't work in shelters and homes anymore! I'd FREAK!!

My friend had them in her house, she lives in Toronto where apparently there is a huge issues, and she said it was just awful, but not as bad as she thought. They had to "bomb" the house and wash everything, and her family had to stay in a hotel for awhile because their family wouldn't take them. The kids thought it was great, of course.

Gross. gross, gross, gross.
October 4, 2010 at 11:18 AM
Tiffany said…
It IS so gross!

Cockroaches Sonya? Do tell!

I may have to blog again soon just to get that picture off the top.
October 4, 2010 at 4:35 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MIA

Image
No, my secret alias is not Mia. MIA = missing in action. I have been avoiding posting on here. Why? Because I don't have a ton of stuff to write about. Also, I've discovered that my blog is being followed by a couple of people I'm not related to. Although I'm super excited about it, I'm also a little intimidated! Sounds silly, I know. Hear me out. You know how you can be a teenager (I'm not a teenager, we're just being hypothetical) and have big thick coke bottle glasses, zits all over your face, big baggy pants and a baggy sweatshirt hiding the rolls hidden underneath and a perm that went very very wrong and is now only curly on ONE SIDE and your mom still tells you you're beautiful and she'd love to trade faces with you? You know how that feels? You don't have to question it too much, because she's your mom and you know she's probably a little biased. Blogging is a little like that. Until now, only my friends have read my blog. I coul...
Read more

christmas time's a coming

Only 23 days until Christmas! Remember when we were kids, and Christmas was all about time off school, lots of treats (chocolate, candy canes, oranges, turtles!), new Christmas dresses for the church concert, lights, music, decorations, noisy and exciting gatherings at Grandma's house, Christmas episodes of our favorite tv shows and of course presents! The list goes on and on. I still find Christmas exciting. Yet, now the season holds more than just the "fun" stuff. Now we have to worry about scheduling in all the different families and parents, buying gifts we can't necessarily afford, making dishes to bring to the different gatherings, hoping that people will understand that we need to share the holidays with many others, and hoping that nobody will be hurt if our time with them is short. I wonder if I'm doing a good job of making the holidays fun and enjoyable for my kids, and if I've bought the right gifts. I worry about what five days in a row of late ni...
Read more

the snowsuit

Image
I really must go back and tell you about . . . duhn duhn duh . . . the snowsuit . I've most certainly kept you in suspense far too long. Remember last winter when there was no snow, but it was still cold enough to freeze puddles and require kids to wear winter clothing? Good, we're caught up. Jordan is really hard on outerwear. Last year she destroyed a pair of skates, lost various mitts and tuques, shredded her first pair of winter boots and left her snowsuit looking like swiss cheese. The boots and snowsuit were done before Christmas. I made her wear the snowsuit for the rest of winter anyway and the boots I replaced after Christmas. It's amazing that a six year old child can ruin a rather expensive snowsuit in a few short months. I blame mother nature. Mother nature thought it would be funny to make it cold and icy out without actually giving us snow. Of course children want to run and drop to their knees or tummy on frozen puddles and slide to the other side. Of ...
Read more