Weird, that worked.

OK, so some fleas followed somebody home. I don't even own pets so my indignation at having fleas in the house was extreme. However saying " I shouldn't have to deal with this" doesn't change the fact that they are here. Luckily my husband noticed before it was a serious problem.

I am 8 months pregnant with 4 kids living here so a flea bomb was not really a desirable option. I searched around for a while and came up with a surprising answer.

Salt.

Sprinkle salt on the carpet and let it sit for 12-48 hours. It dries the bugs and the eggs up.

Salt isn't exactly expensive so I figured it was worth a shot. We have had no reported sightings since The initial sprinkling. I vacuumed that layer up, washed a ton of laundry and then put down one more layer of salt for good measure.


As with all things I can not guarantee that this will solve your problem. But it worked at my house so I am passing it along.

***

On a completely unrelated note, my husband introduced me to this internet video series called Mind Floss.

I find it entertaining and educational. I did come across two of them I was unwilling to watch. The haox one was way too visually graphic for me, ( I do not do horror or gore very well.) And the animal mating one just seemed too inappropriate. I have not watched them all though so I can not tell you about each video. Overall I find them to be well done and worth the few minutes once in a while that I sit down to watch one.

***

The book I am currently listening to is called " The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks". Gotta say I had never heard of her in my life until I got this book out. 

I guess this woman got cervical cancer when she was 30 and the doctors took a sample of the tumor. Up to that point in history they couldn't get cells to grow well but hers wouldn't stop growing. Sadly she died with 5 young children at home at the age of 31. But her cells live on. They even used them to develop the polio vaccine. It isn't the usual kind of book I read. There is some profanity and just some gross medical stuff. I can't say that I have found it completely engrossing but it is kind of interesting. A lot of book is about what happened to her family and them trying to get closure. 

***

I tackled the monstrous project of dealing with all the bins, boxes, bags of kids clothes. I threw away 5 boxes and 6 random bags, consolidating into a much smaller space. ( I am pleased.)  In the process I found a swimming suit that fit Phebe better than the one she had in her drawer. Phebe thinks clothes and in particular swimming suits are pretty glamorous. So while we waited for a friend to call to tell us to come over I cleaned up a mess and Phebe went to work putting on her new suit. When it was time to walk out the door I told her to go get clothes on and make sure she put on underwear. When we got to the friends house I stopped to check. She was wearing her swimming wear under her clothes. She did quickly point out that under her swimming suit she had put on underwear. But honestly, how could we ask her to take off a sparkly rainbow swimming suit and walk around with out it?