I HATE EVERYTHING

I'm in the new house now - yeah! Nothing beats living in an empty house.

The landlord doesn't want to return my security deposit because I broke my lease. I have news for them. I have severely dicked over by this entire situation & I really need that f*n money, plus I'm pissed now. I will sue the crap out of them. I will sue them for every damned thing I can think of to sue over. Someone else needs to suffer like I am & since they think they can keep my damned money I think it should be them.

Speaking of keeping my damned money, I have tried three times through 3 different retailers and 2 different cards (1 credit / 1 debit) to buy furniture, but it's not working. So now I have to wait to straighten out charges that went through to the bank, but not to the retailers. Basically I just gave away a shitload of money. I don't think I'll ever have furniture & the more I suffer the more my piece of shit ex-landlord will suffer. Their fuckin' grandkids are going to owe my grandkids money!

I HATE EVERYTHING!!!!! Nothing is getting better!!! The Goddammed bugs have ruined my life & no matter how hard I try it just won't f*n fix. Somebody better fuckin pay for what has happened to me!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

What a Waste

All that work in my last post....was a total waste.

After boiling, sealing, inspecting, etc. I found another bug in my apartment.

Did it come out of my stuff? I don't know
Did it come off of the carpet? I don't know
Did it come out of the wall? I don't know
Does it have an enormous family hangnin' out somewhere nearby? probably

Could they possibly get into my stuff, despite the plastic? of course - all it takes is one little hole, one little spot that I missed & my new house will be infested.

I had to throw it all away... couch, tvs, pc, plates, dishes, toys, games, EVERYTHING!

I am so bummed :( I hate the bugs & I hate the cursed neighbors that brought them & did nothing about it.

When I moved into this apartment I thought my life was going to change for the better - ha! what a freakin' joke!

All the Work

I've recovered, at least somewhat, psychologically from my last post. The car is working okay now. That whole ordeal was mysterious. Two mechanics and zero diagnosis later the car is okay. I assume this was just more of the universe dicking me around.

I thought, while I have my senses, I would lay out all the work that has gone into this bedbug debaucle. I'm planning on getting out of dodge (aka the apartment) & it is impertivie that the bugs do not follow. They are hard to kill and their eggs are even harder to kill. If you ever get the bugs, you'll have to do this too.

1) Hot wash & hot dry all of your laundry. I threw away any laundry items that seemed to have bugs on them & hot washed/dried the rest. I'm not taking chances. Laundry items that can't take the heat, go to the trash.

2) Bed linens, pillows, blankets, mattresses, bed frames, dressers, bedroom furniture - trash! gone!

3) Every thing in the room gets inspected. Has black spots on it? Has weird looking white things (like rice or salt grains)? Gone! Trash! Everything else gets treated by being boiled or washed in the dishwasher. Papers get laminated.

4) PC - was stored in the bedroom... inspected, sealed in plastic w/ mothballs. 1 month from now I will open the bags & put in new mothballs. I fear the pc eventhough it passed inspection. If I ever take it out of plastic, it will live in the basement.

Moving on to the living room now...

5) cd's dvd's - inspected. spots?, grains? - trash! everything else, sealed in plastic. (I miss my cds/ dvds) Records - threw away the sleeves, wiped vinyl down w/ rubbing alcohol. Wrapped in plastic wrap. Sealed in a plastic bag.

6) books - inspected. page by page (that's a lot of pages) same deal as above - many were trashed, the rest were sealed in plastic w/ mothballs. Some books were too big or fragile for inspection, yet too valuable to toss (ie complete works of shakespeare, antique leather bible from my childhood) they are sealed in plastic, I can open them up in two years.

7) chachkies/ nick-nacks - why do I have so much of this crap? It all got boiled, if it looked suspicious it got trashed. Survivors were sealed in plastic.

sound like a lot of plastic?..... it is!

8) Furniture. All furniture is being inspected & disassebled to whatever degree is practical. The futon cushion is being trashed - just in case. The frame will be thoroughly cleaned with steam and disinfectant. Fabric furniture will be steam cleaned/ shampooed. All remaining furniture - tables, etc. will be steam cleaned & disinfected. Murphy's oil & a good inspection for wooden furniture. Legs will be wrapped in plastic.

9) All closet contents / kitchen crap/ bathroom stuff are being inspected, treated however possible. Chucked if it's not worth all the trouble or looks suspicious.
Everything gets sealed in plastic.

It's a pain in the stones & it's taking for like freakin' ever!!!!!

I hope it works, I hope when I move that I will be free!

Break Down

Wow!! This sh*ts really starting to get to me.

In addition to my little bug problem, now I have car problems. Sometimes it won't start, sometimes it stalls. Thanks to the bugs, my life is spread out all over the place. My parent's house (where I'm staying) is many miles from my apartment & even more miles from my bfs house & now I'm afraid to drive anywhere.

It will cost me hundreds & possibly hundreds more to "maybe" fix the car - because noone can even find the problem. - nice

Not only is the car breaking down, but so am I. I am cracking up, falling apart. There is so much to do. Everytime I step foot into my apartment I feel all freaked out, but the place is pretty much abandoned now & I worry about my stuff. I'm living w/ my parents & sharing a room w/ my son. I'm sorely lacking any sort of private time. I rarely see my bf now & never alone - I miss him too. I'm getting so depressed that I can hardly keep myself awake. I'm falling behind in my work. I cry for a good hour or so every morning & most mornings now I throw up.

I just want to go to my home & lay down in my bed maybe cuddle up to my boyfriend or my cat. But I can't because I don't really feel like I have a home (just some nightmare place loaded w/ plastic boxes). I don't have a bed or a place to cuddle my boyfriend and I had to get rid of my cat. Were it not for my son, I surely would have thrown myself into a river or something by now - he is the light of my life.

Not sure how much more I can take. I hope some of this gets cleared up soon. I just want to go home. :(

WTF!!!???

I spoke with the landlord yesterday & found out that the people on the first floor said they had these things A YEAR AGO!!!!!!!!

A YEAR AGO!!!!!!!

WTF!? These things have been making their way through the building for A YEAR!!!! and noone stopped them before they came to me? Noone else is complaining except for me!? I am appauled and angry.

Also - I have been speaking w/ one of the neighbors. At first I could not get her to acknowlege the situation or check her apartment. Yesterday she tells me that she has no bugs. MY ASS!!! I happen to know that the unit next to hers and the unit above hers are both infested. I find it very difficult to believe she doesn't have them too.

People don't know the signs & they think they will see bugs. Sorry folks, most people that have them don't see them. You have to look for the signs & you have to really come to terms with the fact that this can happen to you. Any less for a renter in a multi-unit building is flat out IRRESPONSIBLE!

Anyway - this neighbor is upset that we are being fumigated. She doesn't have time for this. She doesn't want to get fumigated. WTF!!!!???? Do you think she will take the time to wash her linens, laundry, clean her bed? I don't! Do you think she really doesn't have the bugs? I don't! I do think she will spoil our efforts and help to reinfest. Plus she wants to move (because of the inconvenience) so watch out renters, she may be moving to a unit near you.

Oh!!!!!! Also - she was going to take my infested bed out of the dumpster. This bed was HEAVILY infested. Both the PCO & the Health Dept said it had to go. I cried as I thought about it. I was devistated to let that beautiful, NEWish piece of furniture go. Why would I throw it away if it wasn't integral? But this chik figured wood, would be okay - (wood is the WORST- the f*rs are like termites.

This experience is making me REALLY hate people. How gross for my neighbors to have this problem for a year and not try to fix it. How gross for this lush to want to fish my bed out of a dumpster, knowing that it was infested (that sh*t's gross times 2). How gross for these people to feel more inconvenienced by the fumigation process than by the bugs. I say let these disgusting scumbags have the building to themeslves.

In the immortal words of Cartman :)~ "screw you guys, i'm outta here"

& the hits just keep on comin'

Alright, I will be the first to admit that my last post was, well, ..... yawn! I'm stressed & just needed to get that long, boring post out of me.

The landlord has had the entire building inspected. She wouldn't tell me how bad the problem is, but she did tell me that my neighbor next door (no word on downstairs) has them. The landlord was perplexed that my neighbor did not complain - me too. I still haven't figured out why the guys downstairs don't pitch a fit. They told me they asked the old landlord to spray & didn't know what else to do. I say, freak out, man!!!! This is not acceptible. (tible? / table? - thank you microsoft, now I can't spell!)

Anyway - today there was a note on the door stating that the entire building is being treated for some random assortment of bugs (I'm assuming aside from the obvious, this pretty much means the spiders & ants which tend to invade the building every fall). The instructions for us tenant-types make it pretty clear that "random assortment" mostly means bed-bugs. We are being instructed to vaccuum our units & immediately throw away the bags, bag up all our linens & strip our beds. Before the PCO comes they are having the carpets professionally cleaned. Man! I hope this works!

Also - when I stopped home I noticed a couch & pillows in the dumpster. The dumpster was pretty filled, I'm assuming furniture was under the bags as well. Plus (hopefully though doubtfully this is a coincidence) someone in the next building was throwing away a mattress. Won't it be super-fun if the whole neighborhood is infested.*

*I will explain here that the neighborhood is a cul-de-sac block of various styled apartment buildings. 4, 3-flats & maybe 8 town-house looking buildings. This is not an "apartment farm" & there is a home-owners association which governs the entire block, but each buidling has it's own owner or property management company. It's actually really nice looking, neatly landscaped, quiet & we even have a swimming pool which we all share.

Anyway - wish me luck. ;) After work today I get to go home & laminate all my important papers. After the first PCO came, it seems he just made the little buggers run all around looking for a new home (my filing cabinet on that list). I do find it amusing however that if I'm ever audited, all of my old tax records will be laminated. Surely nothing about that will make me look nuts!

Follow Up

The last post, though posted today, was originally written August 28th.
I was wrong about the "guy" not being a professional exterminator - he was. Of course, that is not the end of the story (is it ever?). To follow is a letter I'm sending the landlord as step one of a two thousand step plan to hopefully get out of my lease. I'm no longer living in my apartment, just my stuff is. I pop in when I have a chance to inspect, treat and seal my belongings. Anyway - chapter two (most of it) is here. The names have been excluded to protect the guilty and innocent alike.
-------

This letter is a re-cap of and follow up to the events and conversations since the discovery of the bed bug infestation.

On the evening of Monday August 25th I called Mrs. X of the XX Management Company that owned the building at that time. I informed Mrs. X that my unit suffered a bed bug infestation which would require professional assistance. Mrs. X told me that she did not feel responsible for said infestation and suggested I call an exterminator. She did grant permission for said exterminator to enter my unit. On August 26th I spoke with a representative of the County Health Dept. who informed me that the property owner is required to handle such infestations. On the morning of August 27 a representative from [Extermination Company], inspected my unit (#z) and confirmed a bed bug infestation. On the evening of August 27th, I spoke with Mr. X to make him aware of the Health Ordinance. Mr. X then contacted his own exterminator (PCM) who visited my unit on the evening of Thursday August 28th. While we (Mr. X & I) waited for the PCM to arrive, Mr. X asked the tenants in the unit below mine if they were having a problem with these bugs (based on the research that I’ve done it seems most likely to me that these bugs have entered my home from an adjacent unit). The tenants in that unit confirmed that they are also having trouble with these bugs.

The PCM contracted by Mr. X confirmed that the insects are bed bugs and began the preliminary treatments of my unit on the evening of August 28th. Treatment included the disposal of mattresses (with the exception of the mattress that had already been encased in plastic by me) and the spraying of pyrethroids (the contact insecticide recommended by Harvard Health as part of a three tier treatment for the extermination of bed bugs). After this initial treatment my son and I stopped sleeping in the apartment, because we have no beds and because the bug bites were causing us a great deal of discomfort in addition to my inability to sleep comfortably in a place where I know bugs will be crawling on me.

To my understanding, the building ownership was changed to YY Inc. on Friday August 29th. On Saturday August 30th, we met and were able to discuss the bed bug situation. You agreed that the contracted PCM could return to treat the unit on Sunday August 31st.

On Sunday August 31st, the PCM returned to the unit. He then treated the baseboards, interior of the walls and beneath the carpets of the bedrooms with Diatomaceous Earth (an insecticidal dust, also recommended by Harvard Health as part of a three tier treatment for the extermination of bed bugs). Before he left that day he said that he would need to return on Sunday Sept. 7th to treat the other parts of the apartment.

On Saturday Sept. 6th I spoke with Mrs. Y regarding the matter of having the other units inspected for bugs. I was informed that a PCM will be inspecting all the units and that treatment will be made not only for bed-bugs, but for other pests as well. I was told that such actions would not be needed for my unit as it was already being treated. (*I should note that I left out of this paragraph to the landlord, but it's worth stating here that Mrs. Y suggested to me that infestation was caused by sexual contact with my boyfriend - 'eh?)

On Sunday Sept. 7th, the PCM contracted by Mr. X neither called me nor arrived to treat my unit.

On Monday Sept. 8th I spoke with both of you (Mr. & Mrs. Y) regarding the matter of the disappearing exterminator. It was agreed that my unit will be inspected and treated along with the others.

I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your understanding during what is an apparently difficult situation for me. I have found the Harvard Health article on bedbugs to be quite useful, if you are interested, it describes a bit about their biology and makes recommendations for control (http://www.hshp.harvard.edu/bedbugs/ ).

I would also appreciate if you would please keep me abreast of the bed bug situation as I am anxiously looking forward to a time when I may sleep peacefully and in my own home again.

How My Life Became a Nightmare

Alright, so here is my tale of woe.

A few months back, maybe late March or early April it came to my attention that the junk collecting, drug addled mob of people that live and party on the first floor of my building were moving into the flat below mine in my apartment building. I figured this would be trouble, I never would have guessed what kind.

Later in April (possibly May) as I sat in my bed happily sipping coffee & typing away on my notebook, I spotted a bug on the coffee table I use for a nightstand. It was just some random, unassuming small bug. I noted that I'd never seen one like it before, smashed it and went on about my day. After that now and again I would see similar looking random bugs. Just one now and again, always on the coffee table (which is below the window). I figured Freddy, the tiny jumping spider that I allow to live on my window pane, under the strict agreement that he never leave the window & only because he's cute, was slacking off on the job & not keeping creepy crawlies from entering the window. Still, my random buggies don't look like anything to lose sleep over.

Then came July. Once in July I saw one on my blaket. "Bastard!" I thought. Smooshed him & started checking the blankets before I get into the bed, never finding anything. A few weeks later, on a particularly hot day, my boyfriend, son and I decided to sit in my room to watch TV. (The AC in the living room does not work). My boyfriend spotted one of those dastardly random bugs on the wall (now they're becoming a nuisance). "That looks like a bed bug." says my boyfriend. "What?, bed bug? that's crazy. I'm sure it's just some random bug." I reply. "I'm sure you're right." he said. Only I wasn't so sure. In my head I start thinking about all the mosquito bites I wake up with, but I can never find any damn mosquitos in my room. The idea, the very thought of bed bugs was too horrifying to wrap my head around. I tried to ignore the idea.....

Only I can't ignore the idea. Part of me wants to look under the mattress so I can be reassured that bed bugs are not even really an option, part of me knows it must be true & wants to confirm & correct the problem - NOW! So we (me and my divided psyche) remove the mattress - hey! it's nearly time to flip it over anyway..... HOLY HELL!!!!! Bugs, blood & what look like ink spots are on the corners & seams of the mattress. Fighting the dizzyness and the horror, we get the vacuum, we get the bleach. We clean the heck out of that mattress. "Phew!" my naive mind thought, "I'm glad that's over."

At first it seemed to be over, of course it was not over, now these SOBs are on the walls & blankets constantly. I pissed them off & mixed them up. I didn't pull a murder-death-kill, no - I displaced them. I broke up their little families, I made them look for a new home.

Phase Two... (early August)
I vacuum out the mattress & boxspring - again! I spray them with isecticide. I thoroughly wash all the bed linens, in hot - hot water. I spray the bed & blankets with OFF. I sleep wearing OFF. I assume they will die from hunger. I start to do internet research.

Uh Oh! They won't die from hunger. They can live up to 18+ months without a meal, it only makes them more aggressive. They don't have to live on a mattress. They can live in your carpet, your walls, your dresser. They can live pretty much anywhere. They are attracted to CO2 (your breath). If your mattress is not an easy way for them to get to you, they will climb the walls to the ceiling and fall on you. They will travel all over a house or building, looking for that sweet, sweet nectar (your blood). They will travels through walls, heating systems, electrical systems. If you have a neighbor in a complex & they have bed bugs, you too will soon have them. Otherwise, they are commonly picked up by way of international travel, in hotels that frequently house international travelers or "found" / used furniture.

Ah Ha! Eureeka! I think I've discovered the source of my suffering. I don't travel, especially not internationally. I don't have used furniture (I won't even touch a ketchup bottle in a restaurant for fear of germs, I'm certainly not dragging somebody's funky assed couch into my apartment). Oh, but for those pesky neighbors. They are from Russia, I believe. They are always having visitors from all over & the people that actually live there seems to be in a state of flux. At times, I suspect they are running a hostel. They have all sorts of weird, junky looking furniture on their porch. Once a woman who was living with them tried to steal the extra chairs I bought for parties out of my storage locker. Their master bedroom is directly below mine. I'm sure they've brought the malady to me.

Phase Three... (mid August)
Foolishly, I think I know what to do now. I go to my local big box. I need supplies. I spend over $200.00 (btw: I don't really have a spare 200 bucks just lying around). I thoroughly vacuum and steam clean my carpet. I steam clean my bed. I steam clean my chair. I throw away my pillows, my comforter & any linens that were on the floor or under the bed. I double wash the remaining linens, in hot-hot water. I sack my mattress in vinyl. I sack my new pillows in vinyl. I put Diatamateous Earth between the box spring and the mattress. I rearrange my furniture so that my bed is no longer near the heater that I suspect they are traveling to me from & the wall that they appear to be nesting by (ink spots on the wall). I opt against using tablecloths. I spend the night away from home. I drive home at 3:30 in the morning to bomb the room. I seal off the door so they can't run from the chemicals. I spread Diatamateous Earth along the suspected wall. I wash the suspected wall with Rosemary Oil. I now have the cleanest, most chemically smelling bedroom in all of the United States and when I wake up the next morning, There are bugs on my walls. OMG!!! They will never leave, I live in hell I need professional help. I call the landlord (well the landlord's wife).

The bitch tells me "You brought them, you fix it." I explain that I have not done any of the things that might bring them. She doesn't care. She says she will let me call an exterminator, she will not pay for it. I call Orkin, they agree that it is more likely that the bugs came from the neighbors than from myself. They can't say that in writing. They come & confirm that I do indeed have bed-bugs. They tell me about how hard they are to irradicate. They tell me this is worse than roaches. They tell me that no chemicals will contact kill them. They tell me I need to try and be patient. They tell me it will be $2,000.00. I start to cry. I haven't really slept since Friday. My life is a nightmare.

I call my local Health Department. They inform me that the landlord has to take care of this. They tell me that I don't own the building & that it is not my responsibility. I tell the landlord this & I give him the estimate. "Oh No!!! That's too much! I will get someone." He calls me again & tells me to wash all my clothes & wrap them in plastic & that his guy who has dealt with this before will come and spray. I guarantee you he will show up with a bottle of spray from the hardware store. I assure you this "guy" will not be an exterminator. I will call the city again after I see what they do.

I've started throwing things away. I've started looking for a house. I have 5 mnths left on my lease & then I will move. I will probably lose all my furniture as a result of this. I won't ever live in an apartment/ condo/ townhouse ever again. If I can't afford a house, I will move to a trailer. Sterotype be damned, I hate apartments!!! I don't want to move away & leave my life behind. I was trying to put down roots. I work in the area, my son's school is in the area, my boyfriend is in the area. I'm afraid of losing these things now too.

When those guys moved in below me, I figured their stereo & their drunken laughter in the middle of the night would be making me miserable. How could I have guessed that they would be capable of raining down this plague that is ruining my life.