What's up with the bed bugs?

Sucks dude.

They're not back. How do I know that? Because I had to pack up almost my whole condo anyways. And I didn't see any. This time wasn't quite as bad because I didn't have to unpack the entertainment center. But everything else got packed up. In plastic bags. Amanda earned her friend points and stopped my OCD from being so bad all at once.

It is really hard to have other people touching your stuff. Even when they're your best friend.

Here's what's going on:

There are live bed bugs in the condo building, although for the moment they are politely remaining out of my unit. That said, the entire building must now be treated. Three times. And then we have monthly inspections for another 9 months to check for bugs. So we have to pray that all 18 of us who live here can get our acts together to get this done. Three times.

All my clothes have to be kept in sealed bags until they're done spraying. Not just this time. Until they're done with all three times. (Because let's be honest, I'm not unpacking and repacking two more times.) So I'll be living out of a ziplock bag until sometime in May. There are no words for my joy. Although Amanda agreed that this is the perfect opportunity to get rid of my piece of crap dresser ahem dresser that is a fine example of Swedish craftsmanship out of a box. Not sure what I'll replace it with but that this point a ziplock bag is almost preferable.

Right now I'm at Amanda's. We've both got our laptops out and we're ignoring each other. I'm converting movie files to play on my iPod so I have some entertainment while I travel. Amanda... maybe I should check if she's on facebook.



What does it take to get ready for bedbugs? Here's some of the instructions I had to follow: (From what they sent me.)

A. Empty all dressers, nightstands, or other furniture in bedrooms. Place items removed in sealed plastic bags. The bottoms of the drawers and the dresser will be treated for bed bugs. (Too bad I didn't just toss the dresser now. They'll have to waste their chemicals on it.)

B. Strip all beds of sheets, blankets, pillows, and mattress covers and place these items in plastic bags until they can be washed in hot water, dry cleaned, or placed in a commercial drier for one hour. ... The mattress, box springs, and bed frames will be steam treated to kill all life stages of the bed bugs and will be treated with an insecticide and insect growth regulator. Do not reuse bedding items until they are completely dry. Mercifully, my mattress has already been treated and is now sealed. I did re-wash and re-dry the bedding.

C. Remove EVERYTHING from floors and shelves of all closets and place items in plastic bags (sealed) until they can be laundered or placed in a commercial dryer for one hour. Items hanging in the closets may remain there during the treatment. Remember the last time this happened and they took all my clothes? Yeah, so do I. They're not doing that now. Clothes take up a lot of space when they're not in the dresser or closet. That's not counting coats, towels, sheets, napkins, place mats...

...

F. If living room or other rooms are used for sleeping purposes or if bed bugs have been found in living areas the above instructions must be followed for these rooms. Upholstered furniture such as sofas, sofa sleepers, and chairs will be steam treated and insecticide treated. Yeah, my living room looks like the shelves threw up all over the table and counter. They have to be able to get back behind my entertainment center.


UPON COMPLETION OF TREATMENT:
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3. Clean all food contact services (counter tops, dining room table, etc). Mmmmm. Pesticides. Yum.

4. Clothing, bedding, draperies & curtains and other cloth articles should be washed in hot water, steam cleaned, dry cleaned, or placed in a commercial drier for a minimum of one hour to kill bed bugs. Well luckily all of my clothes have been treated for bed bugs. My drapes too...

5. All washed items should be kept in unused tightly sealed bags or other plastic sealable containers until ADAM’S has performed a follow up visit and found zero bed bugs. Do not replace items in dresser drawers. Please utilize the storage bags or similar containers during this treatment phase, which may take several weeks. Yeah, you thought I was being melodramatic when I said I'd be living out of a ziplock bag...

6. Unwashed items must be kept in tightly sealed plastic bags. Actually, I'll be living out of several ziplock bags.
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And, my personal favorite: The treatment of bed bugs generally requires additional treatments that will be scheduled on a regular basis (every three weeks or so) until the inspection does not reveal the presence of bed bugs. During subsequent inspections and treatments the preparation procedures must be followed to ensure success.