The Plastic Jungle

For those of you who read this blog as often as I write it, you probably know that for most of the last year I have been on tour, at summer stock or living at someone else's house. I have a home in NYC with my boyfriend, but in the past year I have spent about 6 weeks in it.

Starting in November there was one major thing I was looking forward to. It wasn't any particular place or restaurant or even a particular person (Sorry Ryan). It was being able to not live out of a suitcase. Our tiny place in the city doesn't really have closets or storage but we have made do and I was really looking forward to being able to leisurely sort through drawers and hangers of clothing to put together an outfit that didn't include jeans or one of the 5 shirts I've been living in since last year.

I got home and got the bad news. The building is pretty sure we have bed bugs. Bed Bugs are pretty gross. They don't spread any major diseases or anything but they are very difficult to kill and it can take several months of treatments to get rid of them. You used to get them by traveling outside the USA but in NYC you can get them anywhere. People pick them up on the subway or at a restaurant. Since we do live in NYC AND we both have been traveling extensively both in the US and abroad we weren't that surprised. Dismayed and upset but not surprised.

The building gave us a huge list of things to do before the guy comes to spray. Since Ryan is in finals I had to wash or dry every piece of fabric in our apartment and then package it in sealed plastic bags. I had to clean the entire place with a certain kind of soap and vaccum all of the rugs. We also ended up tossing most of our pillows and the others went through the dryer on hot. I also had to bag up all shoes, books, records, personal items, DVD's, VHS, CD's, electronics and jackets after inspecting and cleaning them. It took me a week.

Then they came and sprayed leaving a haze behind and small puddles of white-ish grey liquid. They also overturned our bed and bed frame, and put all the plastic bags in the center of the room so it's even harder to find whatever it is you are looking for. We now wait 2 weeks and then they spray again and then we are under watch for 6 weeks before they declare our apartment clear. If they find more evidence of bugs we go through the entire process again. At that point I will probably just bag and box and send it all to go live in my parents garage.

So currently, instead of living out of a suitcase, I am living out of grande zip lock bags and twisty tied industrial garbage bags until we leave for the south.

Oh, how I miss you little suitcase.