Bugger!

Waiting for Shawn to return before we pop in the DVD tonight. (All About Eve)

I woke up this morning with three suspicious bites on my leg. Yesterday my ankles were itching like mad, which I chalked up to sunburn, but now not so sure. RIGHT, just what I need on top of all the other depressing crap that I allow myself to wallow in deeply.

So I tweet about the itching/bites and a pest control company writes back: @silver_mari If you are having bites it may have been instars new born bedbugs. Go to our site and read about them. www.ibbs.us.com

Their site doesn't tell me much that I didn't know - although I didn't know you could buy a $300 thing to "treat" your possessions - somehow I don't believe it one bit. And they almost make it seem like the eggs can bite you - that doesn't seem right. Also, I had to look up instars - which means newborn bedbugs.

I'm hoping that it's just paranoia, but I'm pretty sure it's not. I'm not reacting violently ... yet. i.e. no swelling or anything - but that's probably not going to happen until I've been chewed on for weeks. (Makes me wonder how long we had bugs before I even realized my skin was severely messed up the first time, not to mention the six weeks it took from that point to figure out it was bedbugs and not just an allergic reaction to something.)

We're going to be in this apartment for another year - this small, bug-infested apartment that makes me want to cry. This place where I spend more than 20 hours each day, since this is where I work, sleep and "relax," if you can call it that. I know ... world's smallest violin ... but I surely am tired of battling these bugs that can bite me - we rewashed our sheets and blankets and pillows. Shawn vacuumed around the mattress and box spring (both still in their encasement, although I don't know how you'd wash the encasements because then that would leave the mattress and box spring exposed to the GD bugs ... although I guess you trap them inside the encasement then). I'm still going to spray myself with bug spray tonight and just pray I can get some rest and not wake up with more chew marks.

I just want a temporary stay - a leave of absence - or something. I don't want to have to deal with this. I want to be able to ... well, I want a lot of things. But as Owen and I would say: Tough Tooties!