I read a completely disturbing description of a condition involving chronic unexplained hives which are not treatable because there is no cause, and which sometimes persist beyond 20 years. I think I would go mad if I continued tearing away at my skin with my nails for that long. Four months has been quite long enough.
![](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio9cpXlR-ZQeoJ_xxrTrD4c5Q3El5pTjj18yDwAZyaYIYxwFy7Qod1pEg2h_71RQVPBmkQNR9F0al7jKYNadcqT3Gq2jFCy_oh9w9PUBAOWzoNFu_OvShhyphenhyphenmOpF7jWbzXKsNTwmRL01pvV/s200/awful+horrible+revolting+bed+bug.jpg)
And today I found them. Horrible things. Nesting in a corner of my brand new bedsheet, abdomens swollen fat, full of blood - MY BLOOD. Revolting parasites.
Apparently bed bugs are difficult to get rid of. They're also very easy to GET. And we've got them.
I am simultaneously relieved to find the cause of my itching and devastated to learn I am infested with bed bugs. Should I worry about my housekeeping? Well to be honest, I rarely do that. Sure, the place is not a display home, but with little kids, it would be ABNORMAL to have a tidy home. Totally freakish.
I have come to a position where I can be satisfied with the work I complete each day. I do a lot of "investing" - that just means spending time enjoying my kids, but also I do a lot of food preparation, clothes washing, house cleaning and general tidying up. I work part-time and do various other things.
And I am also completely satisfied with what I LEAVE. The sink, for example, gets into a clean state twice or three times a day, but in between those times, it's dirty. And I feel no guilt.
I tidy up the children's toys, and the toys are all over the floor again in record time. No guilt.
I spend a large amount of time washing clothes, drying clothes and folding clothes, but sometimes the folded piles stay in baskets. Guilt? No way. I feel I am doing quite well, given my hectic life with Sonny Ma-Jiminy and Chubbity Bubbity.
And then I read this completely demoralising statement relating to the acquisition of bed bugs:
"... severe infestations are often associated with poor housekeeping and clutter ..."
Seriously, I'm not that bad! What a blow to any homemaker's self-esteem.
*Sigh* Scratch, scratch.
Addendum: Since this post, there have been a few developments:
(1) I have heard and read that even if you are very clean, you can still get bed bugs! They live wherever people live. I can remove the phrase "poor housekeeping" from the back of my mind.
(2) I have still been scratching.
(3) I spent an hour on Chubbity Bubbity's floor one night to see if her room was too hot in this weather (it was fine, and she slept well.) I took my pillow with me, and kept on scratching. I thought I felt things crawling on my skin, and assumed they were psychological bed bugs only!
(4) I have had an itchy scalp (how much more disgusting will this saga get?!?)
(5) Today I soaked my pillows in boiling water, and like rats from the proverbial burning ship, bed bugs came crawling out! I disembowelled my pillows and although I didn't find any large nests, I found enough evidence and boiled bugs to know that the pillows had to go! They are in the garbage as I write, and I will be pillowless for a week or so until I am sure that my NEW pillows won't come into a bedbugging environment. Like I can do with less/poorer sleep!
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Thanks for picking up a ukulele and taking a potshot!