Whiplash

Well...we live in New Jersey now.  And that's just about all I can say about that.

The move was an arduous, trying process.  We found out the night before our move (at 10:20 PM) that the apartment was not ready, so our stuff could move in, but we could not.  We spent the next four days in a hotel.  After working a long day at work, I shuttled to the apartment to unpack pieces of the apartment and construct whatever furniture we could as paint was drying and the electrical outlets were being changed in and out until midnight, then returned to the hotel to do the same thing over again.  Four days in a row.

On the fifth day, we finally parked ourselves in our new bedroom.  The outside was a mess, but the bedroom actually looked like something livable, and that was very nice.  Days six, seven, and eight were spent unpacking, cleaning, and organizing.  I got food poisoning on Day 9.  But that day, we finally finished (well, mostly -- turns out we couldn't put curtains up because of the metal behind the wall -- not sure what to do about that) and had our first overnight guest over.  And all was well.

Day 10 was good.  On Day 11, though, I found a row of bites on my shoulder -- five in a row.  And another five bites on my neck.  We investigated, we found very quickly:  bed bugs.  Apparently the place has been infested for 3-6 months.  We had no idea...until we finished going through the entire process of unpacking.  And spreading our stuff around in the process, picking up who-knows-what.  

Days 12 and 13 have been up and down as we've explored options for treatment.  Yesterday was up, as we thought we had found a solution that would be relatively quick (i.e. over in ten days) and would not require sterilizing and packing and unpacking everything because heat treatment would solve everything.   Today is way down.  That other solution isn't going to work.  Everything that I wanted to avoid, we have to do.  And it's going to be another 3.5-4 weeks before we have our home back -- and that's assuming all goes well.

We had to cancel our ONE vacation this year due to the moving snafu (there goes whatever "babymoon" we had planned).  We have canceled our baby shower due to the infestation trap and the havoc on our time, energy, and resources that it has drained.  I am frustrated from the bottom of my being to the top.

And people have been encouraging me to maintain perspective.  Honestly, I think I have perspective.  I just think I'm tired -- and I'm entitled to be tired.  Because we are not just talking about the last 13 days.  We are talking about the last seven months.  Because let's review the last seven months:   I've been preparing for a trial.  I've been pregnant.  With sciatica.  ANd I haven't had a vacation since December.  I just survived an awful move, and it turns out that we moved into a bug-filled trap that is going to cost thousands of dollars and many hours of heartache to fix--and that's if it works the first time around.  I'm sorry -- I'm just not in the mood to apologize for being a little angry and upset at the moment.

I had this talk with God a couple nights ago, and it looks like we're due for another talk again tonight.  I'm sure there is some reason for all of this, and one day maybe He'll let me in on the secret.  But can I say that this sucks?  Can I say that I feel like it's a bit much?  Can I say that I feel completely burned out?  Is that okay with you??