An Unwanted House Guest!

Not a pleasant post, but one I thought I would share quickly with you - so when your child comes home with LICE and you think you've got it rough....oh my dear friends....think again!

Got the call from the Kinder teacher on Monday afternoon - "found two nits in Michael's head". I said "Ah, great, okay, I'll be right there". After having spent four hours that morning with the mechanic, cleaning the house for visitors on the 10th and planning and officiating a wedding on Sunday, the 12th - this almost pushed me over the edge!

On my way to pick him up, I made a quick stop at Vitosi (the local pharmacy) and purchased three LICE shampoos, arrived at school to gather the boys and exclaimed....."come on boys, we've got a party in the shower and we're all invited". The kids were great about it - I figured I better treat both boys and myself as Michael occasionally heads to our bed some nights when John is sleep talking/laughing. So, you know what that means right....

2 twin mattress pads
2 Aunt Sandy quilts
2 fitted sheets
2 pillow cases
2 flat sheets
2 comforters

1 queen size mattress pad
1 queen fitted and flat
2 pillow cases
1 down comforter

handfuls of towels
basket full of dirty clothes
sofa covers

So you are probably thinking - no big deal, fire up the washer and drier and fry those suckers! Well, this is where the problem comes in - no hot water...ever, in the kitchen sink, bathroom sinks or washing machine. What's a girl to do? I pulled out all the big pots, and the rice cooker and fired up our Easy Bake Oven and started the tedious process of boiling the water. Then, from there, I pulled out an old green Rubbermaid Tub (you know the ones - they double as suitcases, pools for the kids, great hide and seek spots, fort supporters, check previous posts) - so after about 10 pots, I started dunking the laundry in the tub and then to keep it submersed, threw some big rocks from outside on top. After 30 minutes, I gave it a stir (a real witches brew it was) and started pulling the clothes out with a big soup spoon and launching the clothes from the tub into the washing machine. I quickly learned that the big rocks I had put on top had to stay in the mix for the rest of the loads as the water was so scalding hot, I could not retrieve them! From there, the normal washing process ensued! Another thing going against me here is that Monteverde thinks it is December and not February - so it has been cold, rainy and extremely windy - so here I sit at the local bookstore waiting for my clothes to dry in a clothes dryer while I scribe this post.

Mike and I spend close to 40 minutes per boy, in the morning and the evening doing a lice check - oh, do we have it down to a science - I hold the light while he uses a pen to separate the hair and look for the critters! It's a nasty job, but someone has to do it! The boys don't want anything to do with cutting/shaving their heads, so they are quite good little cooperators during this time - while we rummage through their hair - they have a stack of paper and crayons on the desk to keep themselves busy. Actually, some of their most creative artwork is during this time.

So - this is how I have spent my time this week - I think I have boiled over 50 pots of water and probably drastically lowered the level of gas in our tank out back. Gee, I hope I have enough gas to cook dinner tonight!

I continue with this process just to be on the safe side - the house has never been cleaner.

As I type, I feel my head beginning to itch...gotta go!

Peace,
Signed: S