MIserable Me

I have bites up and down my arms.

And on my hands

And on my neck

And on my face.

New ones seem to be showing up each day... but I still can't see any "signs" that they are in the house.

I have been reading more information on the internet than I actully cared to about bedbugs, how to find them, what they are, what the bites look like, how to treat them, how to get rid of them.... you get the picture. I still have some hope that there are none in my house - even though I keep finding new bites. Because, some of the infomration I have read says that it might take up to 14 days for bites to show up.

That's two weeks.

Of course I read that today. Before I thought it was a couple of days, and I was completely freaked out that new bites kept showing up. And I was paranoid and afraid to go to sleep in my bed, because I didn't want to get bitten again.

The only silver lining:

A clean house. One thing I have seen all over the place is how you need to get rid of as much clutter as you can, and to do a good cleaning. So that is what will happen to the bedroom tonight. The bins of clothes under the bed? They are leaving. The piles of papers that are stacking up next to Eric's nightstand - they need to go.

The living room recieved a throuough cleaning on Monday - pulled out all the furniture, used the wand to clean between the wall and carpet, pulled everything out of the front closet and vacuumed the floor. And while I was at it, I dusted and/or vacuumed all of the furniture, dusted the wall hangings, and the lights, and did a little re-arranging of furniture.

I'm a woman with a mission - watch out!

~a

Sleep Tight

And don't let the bedbugs bite.

Sage advise.

Too bad I couldn't follow it this week. Yep. The hotel I stayed in had bedbugs. I was very unexcited to discover that yesterday morning.

Although - I think they were not in the room the first night for a couple of reasons:
1. After I woke up and discovered a bug crawling across my pillow - I noticed some blood streaks on the bed and pillow. And there were even more after I killed more bugs... I didn't see this after the first night there.
2. I pulled sheets and mattress covers off of both beds, and could not see any more bugs hiding in/around the mattresses/bedframes.
3. I couldn't see any bites on me yesterday morning. This morning (after sleeping at home where I know there are not bugs) I noticed a number of bites on my arms - evidently they took a day to develop.

This leads me to believe that the room was not totally infested. As in, I think the bugs got there when they changed the sheets after the first night.

Even so, I was quite skeeved out to discover the nasty critters sharing my bed.

I packed up my stuff, and threw the suitcase in the back of the pickup truck. When I got home, the clothes (wool pants, Christmas sweaters, wool/leather jacket) that could not be washed in hot water went in a plastic bin, which will remain in the garage for a month or so. The suitcase, laptop bag, and another bag were put there too. The rest of the clothes were put in the washing machine, and washed with hot soapy water, and treated to a high-heat dry cycle.

Cross your fingers for me and hope I didn't bring them home!

Bleck.
~a

Scatterbrained

That was me this morning.

The alarm went off this morning at 5 - I know better than to crawl back into bed if I'm actually going to exercise, but that's what I did.

And I didn't get up quite soon enough to shower, pack a lunch, gather everything together and get myself to work for my 7:30 conference call... as I was driving to work, I wondered why I was having so much trouble seeing things down the road.

And then I realized that I had forgotten to wear my glasses.

It isn't QUITE as bad as that sounds - I am legal to drive without my glasses, but I just prefer seeing things just a little bit clearer.

So that's my story, and I'm sticking to it.

_________________

On an umrelated topic, I was not elected to the board of the running group. In many ways, I'm relieved about it. I really don't need any more things to which I need to commit my time. I will still be a member, and that's all I really wanted, to make sure there was still a club.

On that note, I have things at work that I need to accomplish today!

ta!
~a

Accountability

Doing what you say you are going to do. Doing what you are supposed to do.

So Eric was a little disgruntled this morning, because some of his co-worker "couldn't be bothered" to do the work that they were assigned this morning - something that needed to be done before he could do a specific job.

So I asked him: "So you don't like it when people don't get things done that they are supposed to in a timely manner?" His response: "I don't like the direction this conversation is taking..." I was a bit mad at him on Tuesday evening and on Wednesday morning, as he missed his deadline for open enrollment at work. It was on the 30th, and because of that, he does not get some extra long term disability, and has to pay and extra $5 per office visit co-pay.

Hi kettle, meet the pot.

He really hates it when I use logic to make a point.

_________________

On another accountability front - I went out to lunch with a vendor today. Only ate half of the meal that I ordered - I ate until I was satisfied, thought about eating more because it was good, but had them box up the leftovers. Of course now I have to figure out points for a chicken artichoke flatbread pizza. And a bit of baguette with butter.

The scale this morning was not as nice as yesterday, but I can't let the scale hops distract me from the bigger picture. I know it hasn't been that long, but some of my clothes are feeling looser. Or maybe it's just me feeling a bit better. Who knows, but I just need to keep up keeping up.

That will be all.
~a

It might not be a lot, but at least it's something.

Biked on the trainer again this morning in the basement. 8 miles/30 minutes. I say again, as I did the same thing yesterday.

But, I stepped on the bathroom scale this morning, and it shows that I am down another pound. I guess that's what accountability will do for you, and not shoving things down my throat willy-nilly.

Like all of the sweet treats that were in abundance at the meeting I attended last night. I stuck to decaf coffee. The running group I belong to is changing into a member-run club, with a board and a president and everything. I put my name in to be on the board, because I feel strongly that the group should continue. But - this might seem strange - I didn't vote for myself. Still on the fence on weather I want to be on yet another board. If elected, I will serve my term, but if I'm not elected, it's not a big deal.

It's turning out to be a rather quiet week at work, which isn't all bad. Next week, I am in Calgary all week. We will see how that goes. I actually a bit nervous about staying on track, as there's usually a LOT of alcohol involved, and I often indulge a bit too much because I start getting cranky... away from home, etc. The week after that, I am taking as vacation time. Because I have to use it up by the end of the year, or I lose it.

Plans are: house cleaning, putting up Christmas decorations, and in general, getting ready for the holidays. Not sure what they will look like this year - my parents will be gone, they are going to my sister's house in Oklahoma, and we had all of my mom's side of the family in town for Thanksgiving. Perhaps it will be just some quiet time with Eric and I. Which is not always a bad thing!

onward.
~a