Overwhelmed

I just don't know if I can handle this.  I am totally overwhelmed by the creepy crawlies right now.  Ugh.

Now, let me remind you.  I grew up in Michigan.  Michigan is a place where bugs exist certainly, but mostly outside.  In the winter you pretty much don't see bugs, full stop.  None.  No bugs.  In the summer you see bugs- lots of bugs- outside.  And inside occasionally you will get an ant, a ladybug or a fly.  Or a mosquito.  But mostly, if you keep your screens shut, and your house clean, you won't have too many bugs inside.  I am NOT used to living with bugs.  (Ok, there are probably more bugs inside than I care to know- but I'm talking about bugs you can SEE- if roaches inhabit the whole world, they are probably also in houses in Michigan, but you don't SEE them EVER.)

Of course, in my years in Angola and now in Laos, that has all changed.  But I am still having a very hard time getting used to it.

When we arrived back in Laos a couple weeks ago, my brother and sister in law had kindly stocked our kitchen with a few basics so that we would have some food to eat until we had a chance to get to the store.  Their basics included a loaf of bread and a bag of bagels from our favorite coffee shop/bakery.  Unfortunately, both bags were over-run with ants by the time we got to them (which I think was only a day after they put them in the kitchen).  There was also a bunch of bananas had the same problem.  But here is the thing- when I awoke the next morning at 4:30am, after having slept since about 6 the previous evening, I was hungry.  So I told myself that as long as I got all the ants off the outside, and there weren't any ants on the inside, I would just eat a bagel.  Cause you know, whatever, it won't kill me.  So, I had a lovely bagel with some cheese slices for breakfast that morning, and it was good.

Well, since then, the ants have proven that they are intent on being in charge, and I am fighting them with all my might, but, I'm not sure who is winning right now.  If we count fatalities, I am definitely ahead, but if we could frustration and time spent on the endeavor that could be spent doing other things, I am probably losing.  But the thing is... there are ants EVERYWHERE.  We emptied the sugar pot TWICE because two days in a row it was crawling with ants.  And this is the kind of canister that has a rubber stopper kind of lid on it, so how the ants are getting in past the rubber is beyond me.  But the sugar now lives in the fridge.  All it takes is to drop a crumb on the floor and within an hour, you will have a line of ants coming either from the window in the living room, the front door, or from somewhere in the kitchen.  They trek across the house like they own it.

It's been said before, but my husband isn't exactly the neatest chip eater.  In fact, it's no wonder he eats a bag a night- half of it is on the floor/in the cracks of the couch.  This morning I came down to do my workout and found a swarm of ants on one chip he had dropped last night, and a line of ants from the window to the chip.  The ants are in every room in the house on the first floor.  Knock on wood, so far there are none upstairs (but we also don't eat upstairs, ever).  The worst though, is that they are crawling in Zintis's cot- because of his drool on the sheets.  And they are all over the floor where I might put him down sometimes on his play mat or whatever.  Urgh.  Am I asking too much to not want ants crawling on my baby???

On to other creepy crawlies... geckos.  Usually I don't mind geckos at all.  They eat bugs, they are totally scared of humans, and really only come out when it's quiet, so you hardly see them.  But yesterday when we were shifting around a bunch of furniture, we came across a roommate I bet my in-laws didn't know they had while they stayed with us the last two weeks!  The gecko living behind the wardrobe in their bedroom is the same one I once encountered on the stairs.  The dude is MASSIVE.  He's an easy 12 inches long.  We figure he keeps coming into the house via the vent fan in that bedroom, which has no screen of any kind over it.  Joel had to spend a few minutes chasing his around the room (which largely includes chasing his across the walls) with a broom to usher him out.  I went in to see him, and I saw his jump from one wall to the next at a corner.  He cleared a good 12 inches of space.  It was cool, but, is only really cool if you're watching it like on tv, or in a zoo, or something.  NOT in your house.

Ok, but the worst. The worst is the cockroaches.  UGH, cockroaches.  Must have been yesterday, I went to change Zintis's diaper.  I reached for a cover that I don't usually use, because the often used ones are starting to wear out a little on the velcro.  I open up the cover and out pops a cockroach- right onto the change table where Zintis was laying. So of course I start batting at it, trying not to injure my son in the process, trying to get it the hell off the table and away from Zintis! I managed to get that one.  But ew, talk about places you don't want roaches crawling... into your DIAPERS?  Gross!

Then this morning, I go to make coffee.  I open the lid to pour water into the machine and there is a roach right there.  I startle of course and drop the lid.  When I open it back up I see the roach scurry into the hole where the water goes into the machine.  So basically, there is now a roach living in my coffee pot, and all my coffee water will be filtered THROUGH a roach.  No, I cannot deal with this.  I can see the damn roach stuck in the hole- but no amount of turning the machine upside down is getting it out.  My coffee maker is a very simple bottom of the line, 2-cup little pot. But I'm pretty sure it cost an easy $50-$60 here in Laos, because imported things like that are expensive.  My instinct, not going to lie, was the same as what many people suggested- just throw the whole thing away.  But we don't have money to replace the machine, and I REALLY like my cup of brewed coffee in the morning.  I'm not giving up on it- I'm going to try to get the disgusting little thing out.  But I am really sad.

All these bugs make me want to pack everything in our house into plastic bins.  Our fridge is already full of food that would normally be kept out (like sugar, cereal, bread, etc), but, which might attract bugs here, and therefore is kept in the fridge.  And lots of the stuff I have on shelves is only there because it is stored in big tupperware containers (like all my rice, pasta, flour, etc).  But my coffee pot... do I really need to store my coffee pot in a container???

This is me crying sad, sad tears into my cup of instant coffee.  :(

And PS... I've tried so many things... cinnamon and vinegar to stop the ants, cleaning like a mad-woman to stop everything (but honestly, how spotless/crumb-free can you really keep a home that houses a messy man and two small children?).  I use horrible bad chemical sprays when the kids aren't around, and then I wash the places I have sprayed the nasty stuff.  I can hardly leave poisons out anywhere since I have a toddler running around, and am only months away from having a crawler as well.  I'm stuck. We're stuck.  We're stuck in bug land.  :(