Ikea!

I am well and truly domesticated now. We went to Ikea a couple of days ago to get some bookcases for the multitude of books we own. Up until now the books have resided on the floor in a somewhat haphazard way (until we had to double bag everything anyway). Now that the spare room is bedbug free, we decided to try and actually use the house as a house and not a storage facility.
We bought three flatpack cases and I was surprised at how easily they went together. Normally you expect something to be either lopsided or flimsy, but I was pleasantly surprised!

The Bristol Ikea is absolutely huge though! We got lost for 20 minutes and ended up walking in circles until we orientated ourselves on the map they provide you when you enter.

Relaxing Sunday

Yesterday Gareth and I bundled the dogs into the car and drove to Leigh Woods. I took Tangent for a 4.2 mile run which proved to be pretty gruelling! It was a combination of variable terrain and gradients and not really eating enough before the run. Gareth took Willow for a long tough walk as his ankle was sore (he appears to have a permanent weakness there since breaking it two years ago). I'm certainly going to aim to make Leigh Woods a regular running place as there isn't really that many nice places to run near our house. At least not longer than 1 mile anyway!
That evening, I made an apple and blackberry crunchy crumble (the crumble had muslei in it!) using the blackberries we'd picked on Wednesday when the third, and hopefully final, fumigation was conducted. Pictures of our blackberry forage are to follow!

Willow's bad day

After a lengthy lie-in, I got up this morning and trundled downstairs and let the dogs out into the garden. I then fed them (although Tangent turned his nose up at his food so lost his breakfast) and started loading the washing machine. The back door was left open so the dogs could go out if they needed after breakfast which is just what Willow attempted. With my back to the door, I heard an almightly slam as the wind caught the door and smacked it closed. Luckily Willow had managed to get through before it shut on her. At least I thought she had until I saw a little tuft of white hair jutting out on my side of the door. I quickly opened the door to free her tail, and recieved a look of 'did you do that?' Drama over, I returned to loading the machine. Then I noticed a small dot of blood on the kitchen floor. I located Willow (primarily by following the blood streaks on the walls!) and felt her tail. She was bleeding a little so it was hard to see the damage, but it felt like she has severed the very tip (about 3mm) of her tail. I promptly woke Gareth up to ask if he knew where the first aid kit was (double-bagged, no doubt) and he came downstairs and had a look at her tail. He thought she had crushed the tip so we phoned the vet for advice. As she wasn't bleeding much and her gums were pink we didn't think she needed to actually go there and the receptionist agreed as long as we took her in if the bleeding didn't stop or she was in a lot of pain.

Willow is pretty good at looking after her injuries herself, so we left her licking her wound whilst I had my interview in the afternoon. When we got back, I was sitting in the living room when I saw a tuft of white hair lying on the floor where Willow had taken occupancy. It turned out to be the tip of her tail! I'm so amazed that she didn't yelp or something when she caught it in the door because that surely must of hurt.

The tip of Willow's tail. Ouch!

Willow and the tail tip that is no more. I think this is the most tragic expression I've ever caught on Willow's face. I don't blame her, the thought of it still makes me cringe and I don't even have a tail!

Interivew?

I had an interview today that lasted roughly 3 minutes. I was then told that I made to the second interview stage and had an interview scheduled for tomorrow. Sounds ace, doesn't it? I actually received a phonecall one hour after emailing my application to this company, so I was rather suspicious before I even got there - since when do you get offered an interview that quickly after submitting an application? The interview itself wasn't terribly indepth. They asked if I was motivated, ambitious etc. and I simply said 'yes' with no further explanations required! Also, a couple of the other candidates got a second interview and I thought it odd considering some of them had turned up in old jeans, trainers and a t-shirt - hardly management material. I don't mean to sound harsh or judgemental, but in business that attitide to an interview doesn't wash, it certainly shouldn't get you a second interview! I love the alternative/gothic look, but I sure as hell wouldn't wear it an interview if I wanted to be taken seriously.
This job (which incidently is with a 'recession-proof' company) is 100% commission based with very strange hours for sales (12:00 to 21:15 Monday to Friday and 10:30 to 17:30 on Saturdays). Apparently this is train you up to managerial material in record-time. 8 months, in fact. Hmm. Add into this it's a self-employed position and all-in-all it seems far too dodgy. Maybe I am being cynical, but I have turned down this second interview as I can't shift the feeling that something just isn't right about it.

Kitchen lament

I just spent an hour an a half cleaning the kitchen and it still looks like a pit! Gah!!!

RIP!

As we have not been bitten in our bedroom for about a month, we are fairly sure that our bedroom is now a bedbug free zone. So today I sprayed RIP flea killer (which is a non-specific entomological killer - i.e. it ain't just fleas it kills!) all over our bedroom as a final overkill stage just in case. Once the room has aired for a bit I'm going to start putting clothes etc. back into the room so we can have a semblance of normality. It's so nice feeling that the house is finally getting there after moving in almost three months ago!

Leigh Woods

To prove I don't spend my days constantly griping about the woes of bedbugs, I thought I'd upload some photo's of our recent trip to Leigh Woods with the dogs.

This doesn't even begin to show how vast this place is! It also looks quite easy to get lost.

Tangent and Willow in a definately not posed shot.

I think Gareth may be subtley telling me he's had enough of me taking photos.

Bedbugs: Warning, contains images some may find offensive!

Well, now the camera is out of quarrantine, and I've located the USB lead, I can show what we have had to deal with the last few months:

This is under the fireplace in the dining room. Ignore the peeling wallpaper - I don't think we can blame the bedbugs on that! All those black spots are the fecal deposits of blood left by fed bedbugs. Gross huh?

More bedbug poo spots.

Unfortunately this image isn't too clear, but this is after we pulled the carpet back from the wall and revealed thousands of cast shells, eggs, dead bedbugs and of, course, poo!
Gareth modelling our new range of footwear for bedbug-proofing. Yes, it is a black bag tied around his feet, and yes, that is all we wore when we were bagging up everything before the fumigator arrived. Luckily we finished before he arrived. That could have been awkward.

Photo's of Jack

Looking a bit bemused by it all.
Playing with perches!

Jack curing asleep in my lap.

Having another snooze with Gareth!

Home!

Gareth and I got back to Bristol ok yesterday, depite Britain's worst drivers flocking onto the motorway. Seriously, how do some people get their licenses!?

I'm in a much better frame of mind after our break and feel that although things haven't really gone as smoothly as we'd have liked, at least our lives are moving forward!
I phoned the company I had the interview with today for feedback on my perfomance as I assumed they'd made a decision and it turns out they are still deliberating! The recruitment officer is going to find out more details from the interview panel and get back to me. So, fingers' crossed, it may not be out of my sights yet! I really hope I have a chance at this job as I think I would really enjoy the role - it's a publishing administrator role for a scientific publication.

Gareth and I have decided to reintroduce items back into our room very gradually. As our clothes are being checked and washed for bugs we're going to put some back into our drawers so we can actually find clean socks and pants without having a mini game of 'Deal-or-no-Deal' with all the black bags!

The shower has also been fixed by the landlord whilst we were away, and boy, does it make a difference being able to just jump into the shower rather than wait an hour for the boost for hot water, spend 20 mins running the bath then feeling that you should spend at least 30mins soaking to make it worth all the effort!

Change of name!

My parents have renamed RJ. He is now called Jack, it does suit him much better and is less of a mouthful. He will probably find it easier to say than RJ too!

1st year anniversary!

It was Gareth and mine's first year wedding anniversary a couple of days ago. Gareth travelled down to Plymouth the night before so we could spend it together - we refused to let the bed bug issue ruin our anniversary!
We had a fairly lazy morning until we realised the dogs had no food. After we got back from the pet shop, we let the parrots out for a while before heading into town to see Harry Potter 6. We had a couple of Mojito's in the adjoining bar before the film started. It was the first time I'd had a Mojito and was impressed! Very refreshing!
I enjoyed the film, as it kept the same dark feel as the book had, but I think they tried to fit too much into one film considering the size of the book. It's worth a watch though! Afterwards, we had intended to watch the fireworks but decided to grab something to eat instead. Considering the amount of popcorn we'd eaten we weren't up for anything huge, so after a couple of drinks in another pub (you can probably sense a theme here!) we went to La Tasca for tapas.
Ironically, having decided against the fireworks, we still got caught up in the crowds heading home! I'm sure it is more popular than it has been in previous years! We decided that getting the bus would probably be equated to a living hell due to the size of the crowds at the stop so got a cab back. We watched some grotty TV whilst the dogs had their food and digested a bit before heading to bed. In short, a fantastic 1st anniversary!

Despite how crappy the year has been for us, having my loving husband has made it so much more bearable!

don't ditch the car!

The interview went ok. Despite all the rushing to get my documents from the house, they didn't ask for them. Oh well, at least I was prepared if they were required!
I don't think I answered some of the questions as well as I could of though. The question part of the interview was an hour long, so to be honest I was getting a little bored by that point! I then had a practical test to perform was consisted of a typing speed test and answering some scenario questions. I actually quite enjoyed that, but whether my answers were what they were looking for I still don't know. They want whoever is successful to start on Monday, and as it's Friday I'm not too keen on my chances! I will still contact the company and ask for feedback on my performance.
The journey back was a bit of a nightmare. I missed my booked train by one minute through a combination of poor city signing and a bad sense of direction. The next train was an hour later but that was running 45 minutes late. I eventually got into Plymouth at 19:40 and was able to make it to the bus stop in time to see the bus drive past (despite my running toward it in an obvious 'wait for me' fashion). I'm incredibly reluctant to spend money on taxis, so I started to walk part of the way back home until the next bus (also an hour later) was due. I got home at 21:30 so the day was pretty tiring!

I doubt people will be leaving their cars home in favour of public transport until it becomes much more reliable.

On the need for organisation

The day before an interview is not the best time to realise you need ID when you are in a different city to said interview. D'oh! I'll have to get a cab to the house from the train station, pick up my documents then get a cab to the interview. I've also realised I've lost the job description. It's probably double-bagged somewhere.

Facelift

I've decided to trial a different template for my blog as I think the black background with white writing was a little harsh and hard to read at times. Let me know what you think!

RJ

The time in Plymouth is helping me unwind a bit regarding the bed bug situation. I'm not jumping quite so often everytime I see a bit of black lint now. I'm still not too keen on returning to our bug-ridden home, but I think I will be more level-headed with regard to any decisions we have to make (there is a tendency to be a little paranoid and OTT when you are lacking sleep and stressed to the eyeballs)!

My parents bought a 12 week old African Grey parrot today. They used to own one a few years back but he died inexplicably aged 5 years. They hadn't planned on ever getting another one, but just bonded with him in the shop! They have named him RJ and he is pretty needy at the moment. He adores attention and sulks if he isn't hugged! He's currently settling in as he has had a lot to cope with recently - he only arrived in the shop three days ago. Again, I will upload some photo's asap.

Second pest control visit

The second application of pesticide was applied to the house today. This time the spare room, dining room and front room were done for the first time. Because of the extent of the pesticide use this time, I'm back in Plymouth for a week to make sure the dogs are safe from any of the pesticide the pest control people used. They said that they would be ok after a couple of hours, but as the dogs are relatively small and we'd rather not take the risk I'm staying at my parents.
It took some preparation as I had to bath the dogs just in case they were stowing any unwanted passengers, check all the items I was bringing down with me for eggs or bugs and double bag the lot. Gareth and I also bought a spare set of clothes which had remained in the car away from the house to change into when we arrived.

We are getting pretty fed up with the bugs to say the least. I even found one crawling on my trousers when I was sat on the floor in the front room. It must have been pretty desparate for blood though as it is very unusual to find bed bugs questing in the light when their host is still awake! It makes you feel quite grotty to think of all these bugs everywhere. Especially as we have to run baths at the moment because the shower doesn't work and hasn't done since we moved in. We are getting to the limit of how much we are prepared to put up with.

We have had to double bag everything we didn't want to get ruined by the liquid pesticide. As the dining room was the worst room we decided not to take any chances of transferring any out of there so went through the room stark naked except for black sacks tied around our feet which we threw away after. Despite the stress this whole escapade has been, I can't help but see the funny side at times!

However, I'm hoping our luck may be changing as I have passed a stage of interview for a job and am waiting for the second stage, and also have another job interview on Monday. Good news, but a bit of a pain as I will have to travel back to Bristol for it and back to Plymouth again for the dogs. Still, I'd rather go through all that and possibly get a job!

Busy!

It's in my nature to research to the point of obsession. So, the onset of our bedbugs has resulted in my devouring as much information as I can on them. Unfortunately, it is difficult separating the actually useful information from the downright paranoid. I have read how bedbugs will live in everything from your keyboards, TVs, PCs and books and refuse to die, and conversely, how sealing off your mattress and dealing out a couple of doses of professionally applied pesticide will shift them eventually. I even read somewhere that bedbugs will climb the walls and ceilings, position themselves over your bed and drop onto to you to get around some of the anti-bug measures used on bed legs. I'm not sure how widespread this last one is, but it certainly makes you think.

Today we continued double-bagging all our possessions after declaring them bug-free. I was rather upset to find that they had had the audacity to lay eggs in two of my soft toys (only the sentimental no-way-to-replace-them ones, so not too big a deal) and despite neither of us have been bitten for about a week and the eggs were cases so not live, I've still decided to freeze them all for two weeks just in case. I feel this is a good compromise between just throwing out everything in a paranoid state of mind, and being too complacent about it.
I also soaked some back packs in nigh-on boiling water that were too big to fit in the washing machine and a couple of dead adults floated out. I think the pesticide from the original pest control visit is probably what killed them though. These little bastards can survive a surprising amount of heat, but I tried going for shock tactics and plunged the bags in so they had no chance of gradually getting used to the heat.

The battle continues. It's still too early to see who is winning. We are still in the cautiously circling each other stage, carefully sizing each other up.