Working Out the Bugs

Adulthood seems to be all about working out the bugs.

...Literally.



We are so used to our parents doing certain things, that we completely forget to think about those things until they hit us solidly in the face.

Like bugs.

Growing up in the south we had an exterminator come out once a month, and all the mommas had him on speed dial for when they saw evidence of whichever bug was their least favorite. (Mom's phobia got inherited by my sister and myself, and I can't even bring myself to say/type it!)

Learning how to deal with ants was fun.

Luckily I haven't had too many other bug incidents.

We had termites, but my landlord took care of that!

And I use Doterra Oils to help keep spiders and pincherbugs at bay.
(Peppermint oil, mixed with vinegar and water in a spray bottle works wonders!)

But this year I had two run-ins with bugs that sent me spinning.

The first was lice.

It's one of those things you remember having as a small child, and then promptly forget all about. I remember that it involved having my hair pulled and lots of baths. But you completely forget about the actual pain of their bites.

I've had dandruff for years, so I'm used to my head itching. It gets better and worse, depending on random factors. I thought it was a particularly bad dandruff spell for about a week. After using all my various dandruff shampoos and seeing no improvement, I realized something. My friend had just been complaining about her daughter bringing lice home from school.

So I went to her the very next morning and said, "I hate to ask, but... can you check my head?"
She did, and the extended silence was broken by a "Yup," followed by, "I'm sorry."

Now hits the panic. I live alone. I don't have my mom to help me. I don't have kids, so I've never done this before. How does one even go about starting to get rid of lice?! Luckily, she volunteered to help me (mostly out of guilt).

I learned things I had never learned before. And, luckily, had a wonderful friend's help!

That was a few months ago.

Yesterday I gave Momo a bath and realized as his collar had been rubbing him wrong, so I kept it off. I was petting his neck, looking closely at the shortened hair caused by the collar rubbing, and noticed a bug.

Yup. Fleas.

So I hop online, Google my little heart out, and today I went to the store and picked everything up.

Home for another bath! With flea shampoo. Then I made him sit with me and picked through his hair.

I learned something.

Fleas are like lice, but bigger. Well, not in looks. But getting rid of them is the same.

Shampoo, pick, then vacuum and wash everything.

My little prince, in all his displeased, royal glory. 

Oh, I also bought a vacuum.

I have a rumba named Mho (after the little cleaning robot in Wall-E and the unit of measurement "Ohm"). He does fairly well with most things (he does have to be watched, however, or he gets into trouble!).

I was unsuccessful in teaching Momo to ride Mho. He is afraid of him, and goes very high whenever he is out and about.

But the rumba can't get everywhere.

I bought a handheld Dirt Devil once, but the rechargeable battery stopped holding a charge after about a year.

So today I found one that I adore!

It's tiny! Which is good, because my place is tiny, too.

It says its a 3-in-1 but I was confused, because there are only two suction options. But I realized they meant because the handle comes out, too.

While it does have a plug, that isn't really an issue for me. The suction is good, despite how small it is.