Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Yankee Freak-out
So, I've mentioned, repeatedly, that I'm not the best house-keeper. Those of you who have been to my house can attest to that fact. But I'm not DIRTY by any means.. just not super neat (I make tons of excuses for myself about how I was raised and how my mom was raised, but when it comes down to it... I'm lazy.)... but my kitchen is always pretty clean. Not white-glove clean, but clean. We might leave dinner plates in the sink over night, but no layer of slime on the floors/counters. lol.
Anyway.. (I suck at telling a short story, and no I'm not drunk.. except maybe on cleaning fumes.. ...) for those who have never lived up north you may not realize that there is no such thing as "a stray roach"... they aren't part of the normal outside world.. roach = omg-you're-disgusting-please-learn-what-a-sponge-looks-like.
Last night there was a palmetto bug in my sink. After doing what any other strong, independant, self-sufficient woman would do (yelling like a small child for my husband to come "kill it! kill it please! please please kill it! I KNOW YOU'RE IN BED BUT IT'S HUGE!"), the bug was dispatched to roach hell, leaving terror in its wake.
Someone tried to tell me that they can come up through the pipes, but I don't believe this. I CAN'T believe this, or else I will never go within three feet of plumbing devices again. So that means... that it came in from outside, most likely through the garage... and WALKED OVER *gag* LARGE PORTIONS OF MY *gag* KITCHEN.
So I'm now dismantling my entire kitchen and disinfecting every surface. And somehow I thought this would only be a couple-of-hours job. I'm calling it quits for the night and I'm only mmmmaybe 1/3 of the way done, not counting the scrubbing of the floor and the application of Home Defense Max on the baseboards.
*gag*
Re: Yankee Freak-out
I hate roaches, but sadly in Florida, they're pretty commonplace. Granted they're more likely to be in dirty places than clean, even the cleanest of homes will end up with a stray roach or two.
With that said, I figure its about time to find a roach in my house because its been awhile.
There was one in my kitchen sink last night. I did the same freak out and call DH thing, but we have code words now so he understands exactly what's happening and I don't have to say the yucky R-word. He sprayed it with bug killer and then asked "why?" when I said "looks like I'll be doing a major disinfecting of the sink now". haha, men. I mean, despite the fact that the bug was there, you just sprayed poisonous chemicals in our kitchen sink.
we have had a pretty bad problem. Our bug guy says it's because we had leaky pipes in the wall behind the kitchen sink, and they love standing water. Which we've had in our walls probably since before I moved in. We finally got all of those pipes replaced (had to tear out parts of the wall to do it) and it seems to be helping. We also get the house sprayed every 3 months. we definitely find them less often now, and they are usually already dead.
They seriously freak me out. I can handle any other bug. Spiders? no problem. But these bugs... I am paralyzed. I totally compartmentalize too, and convince myself that if I haven't seen a bug in a certain room then that room is completely safe and they have never ever been there. I have quite a few stories I could tell, but I'll spare you the trauma.
My Ovulation Chart
You sound exactly like I did when I first moved to FL from NY and found out that palmetto bugs are commonplace. I'm about as used to it as I ever will be (and by that I mean that I'll usually send one of the cats after it, or throw a large shoe in its direction while screaming) so I've gotten over the gag factor for the most part.
Now, when we moved to SC and ended up with a centipede that was as long as my forearm climbing up the wall...yeah...not so good. Oh, and the giant hornet/bee type thing (by giant I mean the length of my hand) was fun too. If I have to choose, I pick FL and palmetto bugs.
Yep, you're not alone. FL girl through and through but Christie + Roach (of any kind or size) = One big huge overly dramatic freak out. I can't even pick them up once they're dead.
I lived in an apt by myself for about 2 months before DH moved to jax. The roaches were horrible because they wouldn't come in and spray the apt with Brodie in there & they would never tell me when they were coming so I could be home. So basically, when they sprayed the grounds, the roaches would run towards by bug spray free non toxic apt. Fabulous! And my 100 pound dog? Yeah, everyone is a friend. He would PLAY with them. Zero killer instinct.
I finally had to get a spray that would shoot about 10 feet across the room and then I would cover the body up with something so Brodie wouldn't eat the poison remains until DH came on the weekend to remove it. Sometimes I got the courage to suck it up w/a vacuum cleaner.
This whole thread is creeping me out.
My Ovulation Chart
Haha! Glad to see we're all equally irrational.
I've done this with tupperware before and then I just throw out the tupperware. I cannot kill them. The crunch they make when you smush them is SO gross. I will take the spray, stand as far away as possible, and go to town. I don't stop spraying until it's dead.
This thread is giving me the chills. I can deal with anything but the dreaded R word.
hahaha the responses make me feel better.
"THEY" are pretty much the only thing that make me shriek, so DH knows. Back in our Riverside house, which is super old and not well maintained (lots of crevices between bricks etc), it was pretty bad (which didn't help my hatred of FL since that's where I moved in initially)... DH would hear me scream from upstairs and he'd yell up "Shoe, or tissue?" and then come to my rescue with whatever tool was required based on size. lol. I was SO GLAD when I found out that newer, better-maintained houses don't have as many problems.
Oh, and to PP who said it's a bad problem.. I seriously recommend a combination of raid double-bait large traps and ortho home defense max. The home defense is human/pet safe once it's dry, and it's a barrier treatment, so you can do it on baseboards inside, and then outside the perimeter.
Just be careful with the pets if you put out roach traps. Something about them was very appealing to Brodie (he seriously use to scratch at closet doors where they were at because he could smell them & wanted them) & he ate one. I called the vet right away, but they weren't too concerned. He did get sick however.
Funny side note, when I walked into the apartment and saw that he had 1) eaten a roach trap and 2) Gotten sick from it, he was laying on his back with his legs up in the air looking exactly like a dead roach. lol
I hate to confirm your worst fears, but Palmetto bugs can actually come up through the plumbing. Not wet plumbing like toilets, but sinks and tubs. I've even seen them do it. Not here, but like at my parents' house, I'd be doing something in the laundry room, hear a rustling, and bam, flying roach crawled out of the work sink.
I didn't realize this until the last few years, but Palmetto bugs live outside and only come in when it rains or something. I mean, sure, if your house is digusting, they'll move in and live. But other than that, it's usually random.
Even though cockroaches are grosser because they're genuinely dirty creatures, I think Palmetto bugs are scarier because you never know if it's just going to take off and come after you. Also, they bite.
Okay, that is EFFING DISGUSTING!! I'm pretty sure I'm going to keep all of my drains closed now.
But what about showers?!
uuuuuugh my skin is crawling.