So, I decided to pick up the pieces of my blog…and over the weekend I found myself thinking “Where do I start now?” Blogging in general tends to be chronological. Life has been generally “hard” lately, and I struggle daily searching for the silver lining. I tend to be a relatively transparent person, while I also enjoy a fair amount of sarcasm and humor. So, do I dive into a open book post about life as I know it? Do I ease in with a few humorous anecdotes from daily life? What is a mama to do?
Well, here I am sitting at the kitchen table on a Monday afternoon. We just got home from meeting B at the beach after the Hood to Coast relay. We had a fun filled, exhausting last weekend of summer. That’s right, I said last weekend of summer! The kids don’t go back to school for another week, but I have learned that we need one week to get back to the school routine…so the fun stops here. We had a morning full of chores, and now I’m listening to the washer and dryer spin more and more laundry for us to fold and put away. The kids are all playing together quietly upstairs, the chickens are clucking away out on the patio, and the fleas are biting away at my ankles… Well, they aren’t actually biting right now so much, since I just finished my rigorous morning routing of vacuuming, spraying, wiping, mopping, sprinkling, and vacuuming again. Yes, my friends, fleas! UGH! For the first time in my pet loving life I am facing what I consider a flea “problem.” Did you know that teeny-tiny biting brown bugs can make you an emotional wreck? Hmm, well, I’m here to tell you they can! I consider myself a clean and tidy person. I am a modern homemaker who prides myself not so much on my culinary skills, but on my ability to keep house and make a home. So, this war in my home is killing me! I’ve halted all playdates for the kids and I’ve avoided hosting any last BBQ’s of the summer. I’m happy to see cooler weather in the forecast, because long sleeves and pants will cover up the fact that Eliza is particularly tasty to the biting little buggers. Over the past month, when I have wanted to cram in fun and sun with my kids, I have instead been consumed with the war on fleas. Not to mention that this month we are living on an exceptionally tight budget and I’m learning that war on fleas is not cheap! I now have a shelf in my cleaning cabinet dedicated to flea sprays, powders, combs, collars, foggers and frontline. I have spent hours on the computer researching what works and what doesn’t only to induce complete panic and anxiety as I realize that this could be a long battle.
I’m constantly torn between staying home so I can continue to vacuum and spray…or getting the heck out of this house hoping that they won’t multiply to quickly while I take a break from battle. Either way, I’m feeling a bit insane. One of the biggest problems for me is that here I am trying to buy as much organic food as my budget will allow to stay away from the chemicals and pesticides. Yet, I’m facing the fact that I will have to spray them all over my entire house if I really want to fix this problem. I’ve avoided it for a whole month and the natural remedies aren’t working. So I am spending the next few days preparing my house for a nice big fogging. I will be tidying up every room, taping off all my kitchen cabinets and pantry, and then vacating my home as bug killing chemicals fight on the front line in my war.
If I’m a little slow to start back up here on the blogging scene…it’s just because I’m still vacuuming!
