As most of my friends know about me and how obsessive compulsive I am, I was devastated to find that I am the proud new owner of some unruly tenants in my home. I clean on a daily basis, vacuum the floors once a week (the furniture every second week, mop the floors every Sunday and scrub down the baseboards on a monthly schedule. I never thought being so clean would become a tragedy for me. My jaw dropped when about three weeks ago when my daughter woke up from her nap with three tiny bite marks on her. I started making the phone calls from my closest friends to the health link number. I thought to myself please not me, don’t let it be. I checked everything, I mean everything. I just could not see anything, even a friend came by to check and nothing. We just could not see anything so I let it be.
Then up to a week ago I was lying on a freshly vacuumed couch and up out of nowhere there it was; a creepy little crawling thing; the most disgusting creature ever. A creature that will make you turn your home in to a construction site. There it was the evidence I have been looking for, it was so tiny and horrendous looking I was in such dismay. Yes, there it was a BED BUG!!!!! Finally I could prove to my landlord I was being invaded. I put that sucker in a sandwich bag and showed it to my landlord and yes a confirmed case it became.
I was so embarrassed to tell my friends but once I did I found I am not the only one that has gone through this; at least I caught it early instead of being a full on infestation. An enormous amount of laundry and going through items was ahead of me. Wash this and bag it, dry this on the highest heat possible then bag it, double sided tape around baseboards and all furniture. Vacuuming daily, emptying the canister over and over again. Those pesky little bugs can live up to a year without even feeding what a tragedy for us humans. Fifteen bags of laundry done; everything covered in plastic or in bags and my daughter is left with movies to spend her time with and her mother of course.
I do not wish this upon anybody.
The one thing I have learned is to try and find some humor out of this and have looked on the bright side, two spring cleanings in one year not bad, not bad at all. Finally, I have realized that no matter how clean one can be the bugs can still creep on in.
So I leave you with this. If you begin to scratch during the night and you awake to find three red dots in a line (they call it breakfast, lunch and dinner) get your magnifying glass out and look. Look everywhere, every nook and crack especially if you live in a building with other tenants and seek out that pesky little creature.
So sleep tight and do not let the bed bugs bite.
Submitted by j.wadsworth
