Well. I told you all about the new mattress. I didn't tell you about the fleas.
Yep, fleas. The day after my parents arrived to visit, Calico jumped the fence and spent THE ENTIRE DAY over on the neighbour's shed roof. And while she was there, she caught fleas off another cat. She brought them home and gave them to Biscuit, who took up residence in our bedroom, all the while shaking and scratching them (and their eggs) onto our bed.
So we had to wash all the sheets & blankets, and we thought the matter was hopefully settled. But apparently we didn't get everything, because I started getting bites on my feet & legs. Darrin didn't get any. Caleb didn't get any. Just my luck. And it's been almost two months since the start of it, and I was still itchy. So Darrin Googled for solutions to the problem. He found a page suggesting fleas are attracted to water with dish soap in it. So he brought a bowl of it into the bedroom, and before he'd even got it on the floor, a couple had jumped in. And they kept jumping in. We kept this up for about a week.
Then I found the mattress. And we picked it up. And one of the other suggestions for dealing with fleas was to sprinkle Borax on the carpet & leave it for 48 hours. So Friday afternoon (after we had pulled the old mattress out in the morning) I Boraxed the floor and shut the door, because apparently the dust isn't good for you. Caleb & I slept in the spare bed and Darrin on the couch for the weekend. We had the new mattress standing up half in the entry, half in the spare room, because there wasn't anywhere else to put it.
Now Sunday afternoon comes along, and we get back from picking up a load of bricks someone was giving away on Freecycle. And I sit down to feed Caleb before I go vacuum up the Borax so we can put the new mattress in...and Caleb falls asleep. Since at this point he won't stay asleep if I put him down, this means I get to sit & watch Veronica Mars till he wakes up (I've been working my way through the entire series; got up to the 3rd season now where Veronica gets drugged...again).
Okay. So by the time he wakes up, the pizza gets here. So we eat it, and watch an episode of Firefly (Our Mrs. Reynolds), and once that's finished, I pull out the vacuum cleaner from its cupboard and start vacuuming the bedroom. And about halfway through the job, it suddenly gets louder and starts smelling like burning circuitry. So I shut it off, emptied the bag, and Darrin comes back inside and smells it, and agrees that it's probably dead.
So we've still got some Borax on the carpet, and now I have to go looking for a new vacuum. Yippee. Well, the Salvos were good with the mattress, so maybe I'll be twice lucky next time I go back.
But yeah, we put the mattress in and slept on it last night, and aside from a slight feeling of rolling off the edge on my side, it's GREAT. For the first time in months I didn't wake up sore.
Oh, and by the way, I'm going to try National Blog Posting Month (or NaBloPoMo) this year and see how I go. Let's see, I've got a 7 month old baby, a veggie garden, a pile of bricks, and some opinions. Should be able to find something to write about every day for the next 3 1/2 weeks....
Yep, fleas. The day after my parents arrived to visit, Calico jumped the fence and spent THE ENTIRE DAY over on the neighbour's shed roof. And while she was there, she caught fleas off another cat. She brought them home and gave them to Biscuit, who took up residence in our bedroom, all the while shaking and scratching them (and their eggs) onto our bed.
So we had to wash all the sheets & blankets, and we thought the matter was hopefully settled. But apparently we didn't get everything, because I started getting bites on my feet & legs. Darrin didn't get any. Caleb didn't get any. Just my luck. And it's been almost two months since the start of it, and I was still itchy. So Darrin Googled for solutions to the problem. He found a page suggesting fleas are attracted to water with dish soap in it. So he brought a bowl of it into the bedroom, and before he'd even got it on the floor, a couple had jumped in. And they kept jumping in. We kept this up for about a week.
Then I found the mattress. And we picked it up. And one of the other suggestions for dealing with fleas was to sprinkle Borax on the carpet & leave it for 48 hours. So Friday afternoon (after we had pulled the old mattress out in the morning) I Boraxed the floor and shut the door, because apparently the dust isn't good for you. Caleb & I slept in the spare bed and Darrin on the couch for the weekend. We had the new mattress standing up half in the entry, half in the spare room, because there wasn't anywhere else to put it.
Now Sunday afternoon comes along, and we get back from picking up a load of bricks someone was giving away on Freecycle. And I sit down to feed Caleb before I go vacuum up the Borax so we can put the new mattress in...and Caleb falls asleep. Since at this point he won't stay asleep if I put him down, this means I get to sit & watch Veronica Mars till he wakes up (I've been working my way through the entire series; got up to the 3rd season now where Veronica gets drugged...again).
Okay. So by the time he wakes up, the pizza gets here. So we eat it, and watch an episode of Firefly (Our Mrs. Reynolds), and once that's finished, I pull out the vacuum cleaner from its cupboard and start vacuuming the bedroom. And about halfway through the job, it suddenly gets louder and starts smelling like burning circuitry. So I shut it off, emptied the bag, and Darrin comes back inside and smells it, and agrees that it's probably dead.
So we've still got some Borax on the carpet, and now I have to go looking for a new vacuum. Yippee. Well, the Salvos were good with the mattress, so maybe I'll be twice lucky next time I go back.
But yeah, we put the mattress in and slept on it last night, and aside from a slight feeling of rolling off the edge on my side, it's GREAT. For the first time in months I didn't wake up sore.
Oh, and by the way, I'm going to try National Blog Posting Month (or NaBloPoMo) this year and see how I go. Let's see, I've got a 7 month old baby, a veggie garden, a pile of bricks, and some opinions. Should be able to find something to write about every day for the next 3 1/2 weeks....
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