Welp, I'm all moved in, have been since Saturday, but I've been kinda down and all the activity and drama hit me once I got to the new place, I spent most of the weekend sleeping. Don't get me wrong, in the long run it's all for the best, the commute alone is what makes it all worth it. That and I feel connected to the city again, but I didn't much like how things went down w/my family and the new place ain't all it's cracked up to be.
There are bugs. Lots of them. Spiders. Crickets. Small black crawly things. And worst of all, the one bug that makes me not able to sleep…the one bug that makes me completely lose my appetite, the one bug that makes me want to pack all my crap up and get the hell outta there…the waterbug…better known as the giant cockroach or as they call them in the south, palmetto bugs.
Ugh, just describing it has given me the heebie jeebies. And this is a phobia from childhood, no amount of present day rationalizing is going to make me get over it. I've been there since Saturday and every single nite a new one has scurried out…*shivers*…last nite, there were 2. I can't believe this…my first apartment in Atlanta, w/in that first weekend I realized they were in my apartment, not to long after that, I just stopped cooking. I've based my entire living on where they are not around, which is why, as expensive as my last apartment was, it was a safe haven. No waterbugs.
And I don't know what to do, I'm too tired to haul off and move again, the rent and all included is really a good deal, but all my enthusiasm about cooking has dried up. Last nite, exhausted from my experience joining the gym (I'll share that story later this week) I just wanted to collapse in bed and go to sleep, but could I? No. In addition to the waterbug, there was a cricket and a little hopping bug. I spent ½ the nite sleeping w/the TV and lights on, and one eye open. I woke up exhausted.
Now logically, LOGICALLY, I know they can't harm me. For the most part they are on the floor, I'm on the bed, I have my trusty can of Raid to zap them, but emotionally I'm paralyzed. On top of that I still haven't completely unpacked, 3 bags of clothes in the car, and all my kitchen stuff is on the counter, but now I'm too skeeved out to touch anything, the minute I get in, I jump in bed and wrap the covers over my head, peeking out w/my fingers holding the Raid can as I continuously sweep the premises for movement.
I can not do that for a year.
What I ended up doing @ my first apartment was, never being home. Which led to my eating out all the time habit and b/c that was so expensive, it turned into eating once a day and another piece in the how I fugged up my metabolism puzzle.
I can't play that game for another year, till I move again. Plus I get pissed @ them thinking, I pay too much rent to give up my apartment to vermin. Gawd what if there are mice in the winter?!?! *sobs*
So I went online and found a few solutions, from the benign, spread boric acid to the extreme, buy a gecko. I mean I really don't want to keep spraying Raid, I'm worried about inhaling the fumes and @ the rate they are scurrying about, I may as well mop the floor w/how much I spray out each nite. And from all I've read, since I'm staying in a basement apartment of a house, if the house is infested, there is no way I can get rid of them.
When I'm not there, I get all brave and say eff this, I'm cooking, but the minute I open the door, my stomach sinks @ the thought of things crawling around and I don't have the energy to be brave.
That's why the gym comes in very handy, they open early, and I plan to get the heck out of there each morning. If I'm not back @ the gym in the PM, I'll just have to find some stuff to do that'll keep me outdoors for the duration. If I can view the space just as a place to rest my head and be gone from the crack of dawn till my eyes are to heavy to keep open, I may be able to survive the year.
Comments: 8
09.19.06 | Renee commented: *groan*...speaking of spiders...which I can kinda sorta deal w/, all depends on size and how furry the legs are. The other day i came in, and after zapping 3 harmless looking ones indoors, for no real fear, just b/c they were bugging me, a HUGE yellow and black stripped one w/extra furry legs managed to build a cobweb blocking my path and was planted in the center of it. 
If I had breakfast in my tummy, I would've hurled. Luckily I was still moving and had the Raid in my car.
*sigh*
The landlady is a bit of a hippie, "We don't kill bugs" she says, "Just put a glass over them and free them out doors."
Whhhhaaaaaat---everrrrrrr lady, is what I say. By stock in Raid peeps, the price is about to go thru the roof 
09.19.06 | Kathy commented: I'm so sorry, Renee, I know exactly how you feel; I had silverfish in my first apt., like big pinky-grey cockroaches, & I used to get so nauseated by them that I'd dream about them; couldn't get away from them even when I was unconcious!
My cats now eat any bug that descends below shoulder height, so we don't spray & don't need to, even though our place now actually has more spiders than ever before.
I blocked out the silverfish by plugging up the cracks at the bottom of my door. Believe it or not, it stopped them. Old building, no internal air, radiators.
Cats are better.
09.19.06 | Stacey commented: My heart goes out to you because I know exactly how you are feeling. I didn't have waterbugs, but I had the regular roaches, mice, the ceiling in my hallway leaked (more like rainfall), the ceiling in the bathroom caved in, and to top it off, someone was breaking into my mailbox. As much as you don't want to move, for your piece of mind you have to. The stress is not good for you. I'm sure you can't do it right now but with planning, and frequent complaints to the landlord you can be out soon enough. Even if you signed a year lease, you can give your landlord notice and they have to diligently have to find a replacement to midigate losses. But in the mean time, to put you back on track, how are you with frozen meals? My microwave was the only thing I could count on to be pest free. I was afraid to even go into the kitchen. I'd go straight to the fridge pop my food into the microwave and run back to safe ground. Which like you eventually became my bedroom.
Hang in there, you'll make the right decision for you.
09.20.06 | Renee commented: Yes yes yes Kathy, I loathe silverfish too, they give me the heebie jeebies, but now I don't feel so bad that I was starting to dream about the bugs too 
Hey Stacey, I was thinking about doing that, lots of prepackaged eats, healthy of course, but things I can pop in the microwave and dart back to the safe haven of my bed. Gah, this is so not fun.
On a brighter note, yesterday I had a few good signs, I got the boric acid, two people in two diff't stores says it works really well. One guy even told me to lay it around the perimeter and it'll keep them out.
I saw my landlady and once I get my place put away, they'll caulk the edges, she's really sorry I'm skeeved out and said they'll plug up any holes they find, and no big bugs last nite, *whew*. I was too tired to even battle them. I did have 4 flying moths though 
09.21.06 | Alice commented: OMG NOOOOOO!!!! I have been patiently waiting to see what has been going on with you and I'm sorry to hear that, I know exactly how you feel. I FREAK OUT when I see a bug, and my cat is so shifty she is no help at all!! lol Maybe contact a landlord/tenant association, I am not sure if there is a law but maybe the landlord will pay for an exterminator? I hope so...no you can't live like that for a year!! 
09.21.06 | Renee commented: Hey Alice-kins, well...it's not a real apartment per se, it's a home that she rents out space. She has an attic apartment and a 1 bedroom in the basement. And 2 efficiencies w/kitchenettes, which is what I have. So no association to call on. She did say she's caulk up the holes once I get my stuff put away and over the weekend I'm going to lay out the boric acid I bought.
Last nite a smaller palmetto, I so want to believe it was a beetle, joined me in bed. I started counting and 11 months is a LOOOOONG ways to go. I'll make the best of it, too tired and too beat to pack up and move again. And since she seems really sorry and willing to help, I'll stick around.
09.22.06 | Alice commented: Ahh, I see, are you in the basement? When I was little I thought all grown women that weren't married lived in basement apartments, because of "Laverne and Shirley" lol I have had good luck with cedar chips, like the stuff you put in the bottom of hamster cages. I am not sure if they'll work with the roaches, but they keep out ants, which is what I have had a problem with and it's all natural, won't harm cats and dogs, etc. so maybe that is an option, I think I got my stuff at the grocery store or WalMart, it's easy to find. Hope you have a great weekend and thanks for the BL info, I was watching something else at the time!!
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Ahhh...I am so sorry to hear that you apartment isn't all it was cracked up to be. I hate bugs as well...I can deal with them, but I hate them. My biggest problem is spiders...because they are tricky and I believe...evil.
I had an apartment that was infested with them...and there was no getting rid of them. Ick. I also had an apartment infested with the asian lady bugs...which seem cute and harmless...until you have hundreds in your apartment. And the smell. Ick...with a side of ick. I ended up vaccuuming up those suckers for hours a night. Ick. Ick.
Good luck and I hope you find a solution that works...because you need a home which is a home.