Don't Let the Bed Bugs Bite!

I've never had issues with bed bugs. Never really even knew what they were; just knew they existed, and they weren't my problem.

Until last night.

I was writing on my bed, looked over, and a small, flat, round bug was walking on my pillow. I didn't know what it was, so I picked up t he pillow and attempted to photograph it. It was too quick. So I brought the bug and the pillow to my dad, said, Hey, look what I found. What is it?

He squished it, look a look at it from under a light, and flushed it down the toilet.

I googled "bed bugs" to see if maybe that was my invader, and lo and behold, yes. Dammit.

I slept on top of my covers with a throw and a pillow I pulled from my closet. My morning dreams were filled with bugs infesting my bed.

So today is laundry day. Stripped the bed of everything, washing everything in hot water and drying on even hotter. Everything that can't get washed gets heat dried twice. That goes for the pillows, too. And since I have a small loveseat next to my bed, all of the cushions on the bed are getting heat dried (the fabric is water sensitive and will stain them, so no washing) and then I'm going to find a hot iron and go over everything I can't wash, since heat kills the bastards. There will also be copious vacuuming involved. Oh, and I have regular laundry (for clothes) to do, too. So this will be fun.

Did I mention I have a huge workshop piece due tomorrow, and I'm only about halfway done? Yeah. Grad-school Fun. Thank goodness one of my classes is cancelled for the week, but I still have office hours and some grading to do.

On the bright side, at least this is forcing me to finish organizing my room. (It's been in a quasi-organized state for about a month.)

Back to grad school for a moment--it's doing well. I'm really enjoying my classes. They're a lot of work, but I am absolutely loving it, so it's really not like work at all. I'm finally being really productive for the lit magazine (I'm doing more than reading backlogs and saving jewels from the trashpile! Hooray for real editing!) and I think I'm getting more efficient and consistent with grading my online class.

Now to get back to work.