title explained

Onward and upward! something that you say in order to encourage someone to forget an unpleasant experience or failure and to think about the future instead and move forward.

My e-mail: jjmiller6213@comcast.net

Thursday, December 21, 2017

Dear Dar.

Yes--Dar.  Dear Dar.

She came over for a visit.  A conversation.  Well, her kind of conversation.

Usually when I visit someone, my first words are, "Hi. How are you?"  and then I listen to their answer.  Dar's first words on walking in my front door are, "I had to come over and vent!"  She has yet, in the 7 years I've known her, asked how I am.

She walked in, threw her coat on the couch, dumped Buddy out of the rocking chair and sat down with a big, "WHEW!"

Before she could say a word, I asked, "I haven't seen you in two weeks.  How are you doing?"

"I met with my attorney.  My tail bone is getting better.  I am going to have surgery on my shoulder January ninth and.......we have an infestation of bed bugs."

Wait.  What?

"Get your nasty self outta my house!"
did I say that?  Of course not, but I started itching.

"My attorney tells me he can get back all the money I have spent on doctor's bills.  He says he can't get me anything for pain and suffering and I still have pain and I have suffered!"

Breath.

"I am finally feeling more comfortable with my therapist.  I am beginning to trust him.  He knows not too get to close to me, not to walk around behind me and...he let's me smoke during our sessions."

Breath

"My right arm and hand are still numb, but the surgeon thinks that when he fixes my shoulder...all that will go away.  My tail bone is better.  The inflammation is going down, but...they can't do a thing for my neck and the doctor told me, I will have to live with it for the rest of my life."

Breath

"My doctor and therapist both told me I probably won't be able to go back to work...ever...but I won't accept that."

Breath

"I had a flare up of my herpes, but it's better now"

Breath

"My daughter texted me...first text I have gotten for three years.  She wants to move back here.  No way--I just ignored the text and I'm not going to respond."
even though her daughter owns the house Dar lives in.  

Pause, as she lit another cigarette.

I quickly jumped in, "And the bugs?"

"Oh...the bugs!  Well, about three months ago I started getting a rash.  It got larger and worse.  I thought I had Lyme's Disease, so I went to the dermatologist.  He took a biopsy of one of the areas and told me I had "mite bites".  Like dust mites, you know."

Breath

"I had to shower with a special soap and launder all the bedding.  It seemed to get worse, so I went back to the dermatologist.  He looked again and told me to go home and check my furniture and mattress and see if....if there were any little, tiny black specks."

Breath

"Sure enough.  So I called him and told him and he said they were bed bugs instead of mites!"

Breath

"My housekeeper won't come back into my house.  I had to get pest control to come out and fumigate--they've done it twice and are coming back again next week."

Breath

"I had the garbage men come and take my mattress and box springs--my new recliner and Dad's mattress, box springs and head board.  You can see the tiny little black specks on the carpeting under the beds, along the wall above the furnace registers."

Breath

"I have to wash all my clothes in the hottest water and dry them on the hottest dryer setting.  What can't be washed, I have to take to the cleaners or throw out.  Same with my drapes, all blankets and sheets.  I have been to the laundromat three times and done 25 loads of laundry."

Breath

"All clean items have to be put into big zippered bags and all bed buggy ones also in zippered bags until they are cleaned."

Breath

"That's why I haven't been over.  I didn't want to bring any in here."

"But.,.you were over here two weeks ago.  You had them then, right?" I asked.

"Well, I didn't know I had them then.  I'm sure I didn't bring any with me.  If you see any tiny, black specks, look careful, but...I'm sure I didn't bring any in."

Good grief, Woman!  You said you are still seeing them in your house.  You're sitting in my chair and you have a wool sweater, bed bug breeding ground, on your self.  Go away!!
did I say that?  Of course not.

After she left, I did wash the cushion she was sitting on.  I wiped down the chair with water and bleach and sprayed where she had thrown her coat.

...and I've felt itchy every since!!!







11 comments:

  1. Oh, no. You don't want bedbugs. I've never had them, but bugs are hard to get rid of. Many years ago, my cat got flees once. Enough said. Why do people visit when they have something like that. At least she did't have the flu - another type of bug.

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  2. Oops! I meant "fleas" not "flees." The little bloodsuckers!

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  3. Oh My Gosh!!! Hilarious :) Bobbie

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  4. Oh Dar! Really? Now, I'm itching all over. Sheesh! That woman hasn't changed since I've known you, Judy.

    I have to go now, I think I have bed bugs on my head. scratch, scratch :)

    xoxo

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  5. Wow! I hope you vacuumed all around where she walked, sat and put her coat, then vacuumed up some bug spray to kill the bed bugs inside the vacuum so they don't breed and walk back out. Yes, that happens. Ohmygod, if she was my neighbor she'd be barred from ever coming across my threshold again! A caregiver of Don's mother brought bedbugs in his mom's house. It was a nightmare! Seems the woman was visiting a prison where she picked them up. Did Dar know where she got them because if she doesn't she could just keep reinfecting her house, and was she spreading them around at work?

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  6. Oh no she didn't. Judi you should have said ALL those things you were thinking out loud! What the heck was she thinking. They can also come in on the bottom of your shoes. How inconsiderate of her.

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  7. Oh my GOSH! This is horrible!!! And after you vacuum, dispose of the bag or empty and clean the container! You might forewarn any other neighbors BEFORE she steps inside....

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  8. Christmas gift!! ~ lol. I agree with Theresa, maybe you should have said all those things to her; however, by then it would have been too late. I'd think having them would be a nightmare to get rid of them. Hope you don't (didn't) get infested with them! Have a Merry Christmas blogging friend!

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  9. Oh. My GOSH!!!! I think I'd hide in the closet next time she's there - and LOCK the door at all times! Wow!

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  10. On me, on my, oh Dar! I don't know how you could stay seated with all that going on. I may have fun screaming out of my house.
    I had a friend whose cleaning lady brought her own vacuum cleaner--and brought her bed bugs in it to their house! Poor Ann had cancer, the only reason she had someone to come in to clean. Then it took all their strength to get rid of the pesky things and they were both horrified to even talk about it.
    Oh, I've always longed for a beautifully decorated, immaculate house. Ain't gonna ever happen any longer, I don't believe! I broke my tailbone in calls in 2016 and this year. Just getting my feet to go straight took months.
    Susan's trees and house looked beautiful,but I don't have the energy to even think about all that. I'm glad someone is up to it!
    I hope you enjoy this Christmas, Judy.
    We're staying home for Christmas. We were just at our son's for a week during Thanksgiving, and the stairs wear me out. And, there's no Santa to be there for those two kids any longer. They're all coming to eat with us the night after Christmas. I think it will be good for them to be able to enjoy just the four of them (plus Ex's MIL who lives in the basement suite) and not to worry about two more folks. It'll be different, and they called and told us to come; I just said it aS the best gift I could think to give them! We will have a very quiet Christmas here, and really do as we please, too. No special Christmas foods, no tree, just quiet, a tiny ceramic tree and some lovely cards to read. Sometimes less really is so much more, isn't it!
    Enjoy your next few days--it always goes by so fast!

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  11. Aaaarrrrrrggggghhhhh! A few weeks ago, Audrey took Dagny to her Wednesday night AWANA class and just as she arrived, a little girl was being hustled out the door. Later a worker told Audrey that they had seen lice nits in the poor child's hair. Now, she only just walked past Dagny, but Audrey became obsessed. I said, search her head for many days! Those jokers can dig in. Just awful, even to think about. xoxo

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