Thursday- Day One Post Bed Bug Crisis

I finally feel as though we have annihilated all living creatures under 5 lbs who dare to set up camp within our walls, floorboards and roof.

It's cold here today. I really wish that I'd sent the girls to school in warmer coats. Instead I just sent them in their puffy vests.

I'm stuck at home, waiting for UPS to deliver new clothes and school uniforms for the girls. They've attempted to make the delivery two times already and if I miss it today they'll return the boxes to the manufacturer. I'm not even showering until they get here.

I've decided to spend my day cooking (and eating)!

I've been making a super hardy, thick, chunky beef stew and little homemade bread bowls to serve it in. YUM. I'll skip the bread bowl, but the stew smells delicious.

That said, I have missed two things in my kitchen more than anything else that we left behind:

1.) My kitchen Aide Mixer (the pastry hook imparticular)

2.) My crock Pot

I mean, I can do anything by hand that I was previously using these tools for. But, they make everything so much easier!!!!

The peace and quiet feels nice today.

Starting over- Tales of a Bed Bug Warrior

Jay and I have had such a mountain of crap to deal with that we didn't quite know where to start.

For the most part (and take this for what it is because the emotion might be different in 30 seconds) I think that we are both done being traumatized by the idea of bedbugs. This is, in part, because we have our second extermination on Wed. morning. Everyone needs more than one chemical extermination. About 20% of people need more than 2 chemical exterminations. So, we're hoping for the best on Wed.

Before we can sue the panties off of our management group (who are bloodsuckers themselves), we really need to get our here and now in order. We need to know that our present life isn't compromised. This means, we need to know that we can pay our bills and feed our children. Really, not having furniture and rewashing all of your bedding and clothing every day isn't the end of the world, stressful as it may be, if all your other bases are covered. For us, the financial burden of this situation has stung and this has exasperated our already stressed out state of mind.

Step one to recovery: Jay called the credit card companies who were pretty reasonable. The second company suggested we call a number for a credit council. We did a conference and the lady was really helpful. We can use the service and cut our interest rates drastically. It will take us four years to pay off our credit cards (we obviously had some debt before. It was more manageable though. This huge bed bug problem pushed our manageable debt over the edge and made it unmanageable).

Step 2: Have our second extermination. The exterminator is coming at 11 on Wednesday morning. To avoid one of our pets dying, I called the vet who has agreed to pet sit for Sherbert and Pandora from 10-6 on Wed. This should give our house plenty of time to dry and we don't have to worry about our cats being trapped in little pet carriers in our car, totally stressed out with no food water or way to go to the bathroom. It's $30 bucks per pet, but I think that's money well spent. After all... what did our "Sherbert Almost Died" vet visit cost? A whole helluva lot more than $30 bucks. Thatsfersure.

Step 3: I need a job. I applied at Whole Foods, my favorite place on earth. I'm going to go in tomorrow and talk to someone. I'm going to go around from place to place on South street and see if I can find something. Anything will do I will totally work for minimum wage. Honestly, the whole reason that I need a job (outside of digging myself out of this financial hole) is because I'm scared that I won't be able to afford Christmas this year. That's just unacceptable to me. I will NEVER let fucking bedbugs strip the magic of Christmas out of my children's lives. NEVER. NEVER. NEVER.

Step 4: Get furniture. No explanation needed.

Step 5: Organize everything that we need to present to a lawyer to make a case against Philadelphia Management.

Step 6: Sue the MoFo's.

Okay, so this is where we stand. I feel like I'm in a slightly better mental place (for the most part) right this second than I have been since the whole bed bug thing began.

Hopefully I can survive this without running away. Hopefully the worst is over. Hopefully things will just get better from here.

UPDATE:

I just called this place and the mailbox was full so I was unable to leave a message. Why does that strike me as bad?

Fair Housing Commission 34 S Eleventh Street, 6th Floor Philadelphia PA 19107 215.686.3237

Fair Housing addresses housing code violations and unfair rental practices