5.19.2008

Attack of the bugs-continued

Alright, so I forgot to mention that we bought like 7 houseplants about a month ago. They are all beautiful, and they get along nicely with the other houseplants I already had. They love all the natural light at the back of my house. But!
Apparently they came with their very own colony of Gnats.
And they multiply like f-ing rabbits.
And I have 3 different houseplant bug killer sprays, and I am dousing each plant, about 4 days a week.
Yet....
they still buzz around my head when I'm reading, or cooking, or eating, or showering.....
It's so gross!
So now I sound like a shitty housekeeper (and more on that later, because my head is about to explode on that subject). But really, I am in a small subdivision that is still being built in, and there is construction all around me. So it makes sense that the bugs are running for cover. Too bad they chose the wrong house!
So, the bugs are taking over my house.
And I guess word got around that I kill crickets and daddy long legs, because Sunday morning, my daughter woke up with a bite on her knee, the size of a quarter. And her entire leg was swollen, red, hot to the touch, and so damn tight.
She is allergic to mosquito bites, but none of them have ever looked quite this bad. So, I did the usual: Benadryl cream and medicine, cold washcloth, etc.
Throughout the day, it stayed the same, and at one point she fell on it while running, and just cried and cried. A few hours later, it got really weird. Her leg started to look bruised, all around the bite. And the bite itself?: it was pulsing. It was the oddest thing I've ever seen.
So, on the advice of my husband (blah blah blah), we took her to an after-hours clinic. Luckily, we were the only ones there, so we got in and out quickly. She had a slight fever by then, and really did not want to go to the doctor. Can you blame her? I mean, she constantly gets ear infections, and the whole broken ankle debacle....I'd run if I heard the word 'doctor' too!
So, they decided they were going to take a culture. They were nice enough to numb the area up first. I was expecting screaming and crying, but she just watched with a slight look of annoyance on her face.
We will know in a few days if it is something off the wall. They said possibly a spider..maybe a scorpion? Ack!!! So, another round of antibiotics for my girl, and now another bug is on my shit list.
What they don't know is that I am going to bomb the hell out of my house while we are on vacation. NO MORE SPIDERS, NO MORE SQWEET-ING CRICKETS, NO MORE GNATS, NO MORE NADA!!!!

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

OH MY..that sounds like a bad bite.. allergic to mosquitos..geeze we have 4389 billion in our backyard..don't come here.

Um..you aren't supposed to kill daddy long legs, I think you are supposed to put them in a jar and put them outside. (I haven't had one IN the house so I can't tell you what I would actually do)

DeeDee said...

I grew up calling them Grand Daddy Long Legs and was always told that they can actually be poisonous and not quite the harmless little species that some claim. That's why I squish 'em when I see 'em.

Better safe than sorry to take her to get it looked at though. Hopefully you'll know soon what's going on.

Don't know what the hell it is about gnats though it seems like every summer no matter what, we are infested with them at least for a short while. At any given time you can look in through my front door and catch me clapping my hands in front of my face.

If you didn't know better you'd think I had some sort of nervous tick and need to be committed but I'm just trying to squish one of those little bastards!! Gah! I feel your pain.

Friglet said...

YIKES! I hope it turns out to be nothing. I hate bugs. All of them. Period!

Heather said...

Holy Hoolies! My sister has been stung by a scorpion and bitten by a poisonous spider, they think a Hobo spider. I freak out if I see an ant in the house. And bananas have been banned, because they always, always, cause a fruit fly. Just one little annoying sucker you can't seem to kill.