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As an update:

Had an exterminator come and it seems as if the problem is taken care of....there is a "wait and see" period. We used heat. House was heated to 177 degrees and it stayed hot all night long. It actually made all of us feel sick, so I'm sure it made bugs sick and die because the 177 degrees was sustained for 6 hours.

We are all sick from the chemicals (family of asthmatics and people with COPD), and so that sucks, as there may be an ER visit, doctor visit, meds, etc...costing more

The cost to have the treatment was $2540.00 Pretty pricey! And then, my family of 6 has been eating out the last couple days because we are all feeling sickly and I haven't really been up to cooking meals. Also, the day of extermination, we had to eat out....

The woman who was living in our house (for 3 days) is now in a hotel. We paid for a 2 weeks for her to stay there. After that, I think she's essentially homeless. So I feel like a real biotch for doing that to her. Husb really wanted her out though. After we dropped her off, that VERY DAY I went all over town looking for her.

However, not only did she bring in bedbugs, but she brought in a SERIOUS infestation. The exterminator couldn't believe how bad it was for just being in the house for 3 days. And we were still thinking of having her stay.

BUT....I saw LICE in her hair. She's very short, and I asked her to stay in the one room to try to contain the bugs, so I would go to the room a few times a day and give her food, water, etc. And I could SEEEEE the lice!!

So, I asked her...."Is there anything else that we need to deal with and get cleaned up so that we can move on?" She gave me a DIRTY look. Acted like she didn't know what I was saying. So I said, "Do you have lice?" She got huffy and gave me a dirty look and pulled herself up in a haughty way and made me feel so bad for asking, that I changed the subject. She never affirmed or denied, but I saw them, so she had them. (They are hard to spot, but I made a point of looking closely with my best spectacles, and sure enough....)

So, based on the fact that she never told us in the first place about the bed bugs....and on the fact that she didn't seem to want to admit to lice, with admission being the first step to getting help, combined with the fact that we were all sick as a result of this fiasco, we decided it was best to send her on her way.

I'm not a jerk. I could have helped her with a step up....could have gotten her and her environment cleaned up and helped her replace all stuff that would have been thrown away if she stayed....and she would have been able to take an exterminator bill with a new address to work and gotten her job back (her job let her go BECAUSE of bedbugs. Apparently, told her 2 weeks ago that until she brings in a bill showing it was cleaned up, she couldn't come back to work)

But I won't go through all of that with someone who hides the truth from me on many occasions. I mean...jeez. We already had a tough convo about bedbugs. Can't get much worse than that. What's she got to lose to admit to lice and agree to do the treatment??

1. Spending two hours in the bathroom pooping. I guess it's just a bowel issue though. But it was weird to the rest of us.

2. I have a very, very nice dining room set. I purchased it with a small inheritance that I got. It is sort of my pride and joy, in that I always wanted a nice dining room set for people to gather round the table, etc. It cost a lot and it has quite a bit of sentimental value.

Instead of using a BOTTLE OPENER that was just a few feet away, he opened a beer bottle on the edge of my table, gouging it. When I told him we needed to talk about it, via text, he began to avoid us like the plague....to the point where he snuck out his bedroom window to come and go.

I talked to him, finally, and he was quite apologetic, and I asked him to NOT use the bedroom window as a doorway. Things were fine after the convo. Never charged him or anything. Didn't yell at him or berate him. IDK why he felt like he needed to avoid us to such an extent.

3. 2 hour long showers....might be related to #1 above. Not that "weird," but definitely annoying when someone else wants hot water

We did use the diatomaceous earth stuff. It ended up making all of us sick.....me and two of my asthmatic kids. My 6 year old got a stuffed nose and cold symptoms. My husb said he kept breathing it in and it was uncomfortable and had a sore throat. My other room mate, who has COPD, had to up her oxygen use and nebulizer use.

It's possible that we all had these symptoms because I went out and bought a 5 gallon can of it and spread ALL of it around.

Probably due to panic.

So with every step, you could see dust in the air.

If I had been more moderate, I'm sure that we would not have had symptoms.

That said, I'm sure use of it contained them mostly to her room before the exterminator came, which is awesome so thank you for your advice :)

Yep. And we were thinking of letting her stay, and giving her that security and decent lifestyle and a helping hand up....right up until the time she lied about having lice, too. Of course it's embarrassing, but so are bedbugs. And we could treat the lice/bedbugs all at once and be done with it. But not if someone isn't going to admit to it and/or put in the effort (minimal....because in essence, SOMEONE ELSE is taking care of your problems for you....) to take care of it, then there's nothing to be done.

1. If this treatment we had done works, it doesn't seem as if it was hard at all....just costly. Which worries me that we will be dealing with them a few months down the road
2. She is one of those people who is very prideful about her KNOWLEDGE. She is also constantly on the internet. I'm sure she knew WHAT to do about them, but couldn't afford it. HOly cow....I've been researching them so much now that I know ALL there is to know about them, unfortunately! Also, she lived in an apartment building, all of which was infested. So.....eradicating in her apartment might not have done any good.
She also admitted to me later that she's pretty sure the infestation of the building started in her apartment, and that she knew she had them for 6 months.

I know :) Kids and I went to an outdoor museum...replica of the origins of our town...with homes that the rich lived in and homes that the poor lived in and homes of people from different countries, etc. Found out that people would use turpentine on the walls and floors to try to keep the bedbugs at bay. I think houses burned down because of it

Oh, please don't get sad or anything. I'm sure that because we used it, it kept the bugs contained to one area!! So it was very, very helpful!!!! I'd rather have a bit of a sore throat and have the bugs in one area than to be happy go lucky and have them all over the house!!

And who knows? Maybe it was coincidental that we were coming down with something anyway?

All I know is that I used it so thick that it coated the carpets. Because I do dumb stuff like that. Yes, complete overkill. I should have SPRINKLED lol :) So....completely on ME :)

As far as clean up....my husb has vacuumed twice. We need to vacuum again....not to get rid of the DE stuff, but to vac up dead bodies ugh

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1. He did not help pay the water bill. If he had continued to live here, that would have changed. And I agree. Water IS a precious resource. I always tell my kids, "Some day you might not have clean water to drink...." and make them turn it off whenever possible. When they wash their hands/brush their teeth, I've taught them to turn it on to "just enough" rather than the gush that most people put the water on for those things...we are pretty careful with water. So it was bothersome to me that he was using it so carelessly.

2. I don't have much really nice/fancy furniture, either. I've tried to get nicer stuff as time goes on. The nicest I have is that dining room set. In fact, for the first 15 years of our marriage, husb and I used the bedroom set I had as a kid. The last house we lived in had no REAL furniture in the living room for 2 years. I finally got a NICE-ISH set after I saved for it and watched and waited until it was discontinued....and then got it on a huge discount.

In fact, most of my furniture for most of my life has been second hand. Which, by the way, is a GREAT way to introduce bed bugs to your home.

3. I called 5 different exterminators and got price quotes from them all, based on the square footage of the house. His was not only a bit less expensive than others, but also offered a 100% guarantee. I'm sure that the price is hiked up simply because of the panic factor. People are willing to pay in order to get rid of the bugs. Yep, I fall into that category.....

He did come from a very bad place. I felt sort of as if he was my son. I thought at first he was a little older, but when I made a copy of his driver's license, he was just 20. My son is 16. He grew up in a rough place and honestly....probably didn't know better....or isn't in the habit of thinking before he acts....was hoping to "lead by example," and was also constantly thinking of my own kids being out on their own someday...so forgiveness came pretty easily.

110% agree! The USA spends so much money "buying friendships" around the world because of the corruption that we (our government) spews everywhere....buying silence and/or submission. Purchasing a front of "humanitarianism..." while citizens are unable to find decent housing; can't get a decent education; have hungry kids with holes in their shoes and no clothes for winter; can't pay for medicine; and are going broke trying to pay off hospital bills.

Today, on FB, she posted "YAYAY....got my tax returns! Now I can have a warm place to lay my head and food to eat!" She got soooo many "likes" for that.

It infuriated me. I'm spending over 2 grand and NOT getting rent (kind of soured at the idea of tenants at this point).

We also HANDED her $100.00 AND paid for a hotel room for her for a week when we dropped her off. The hotel isn't a national well known chain that is "nicer," but it's a decent enough one in a decent part of town (and believe me....I feel very guilty and sorry for the owner to have to deal with the repurcussions of the infestations, but I couldn't just leave her with nowhere to go....); AND I told her that she needed to let me know where she is and that I will help her out. So she HAD some money and she HAD a safe and warm "place to lay her head," courtesy of us.

Futhermore, I can actually feed my family of six for a week on $100.00, and that's what I'm going to be doing for the foreseeable future, until we can get a bill paid off. I do realize it's "harder" to feed yourself economically when you don't have a fully equipped kitchen....but she should be completely able to feed herself for a week or MORE on that...and then we were going to re situate her for another week. Guess I won't do that now that she's "all good..." (sigh)

Also, all those "mutual friends" who "liked" her comment....I just wondered what she has told them. I've been discreet and not mentioned why she doesn't live here, so I'm wondering what she must have told them about me....because she has a BIGGER MOUTH and a BIGGER PERSONALITY; or maybe just a LOUDER (more abrasive, more harsh, more "I'm in the spotlight-ish" personality...or something....than I do. I'm pretty sure I'm going to be the one looking bad.

Holy cow. Thought just hit me: what if she told people SHE left because WE had bugs?!?

Ugh. What a mess

On a positive note: No more signs of bugs. Lots of dead ones. Will get one more treatment tomorrow, to just be sure. I guess it matters (from all I've read, and now from personal experience) to just get a guy who specializes in bed bugs right up front, off the bat.

Scary thing is that you can get bedbugs from movie theaters, restaurants, libraries (ex tenant went to the public library for the day), and other public places and the incidences are increasing exponentially in the United States (scary). Might just save up money and get our house treated every year...benefit is that this heat treatment kills bed bugs, lice, mold, dust mites, termites, spiders, etc etc that might be taking up residence in a home

When you are in a restaurant, library, etc.....ALWAYS place your bag or purse on a solid slick (treated wood/plastic) surface and NOT on the floor or on a padded type of seat. (My PSA for the day) :)

@Rockster160

Snow in AZ. Bet people were crazy😁