Success!

What we have here is photographic representation that I finally caught a turtle. Yup. Thanks to a hot dog, a ball of red yard, and a dip net, I am the proud babysitter of a turtle for the next 24 hours. What we also have is a photo that could perhaps be submitted to CPS by an overzealous do-gooder. Chloe crawling off a skateboard surrounded by the cord to the vacuum. Don't worry, the skateboard won't roll off on carpet, even if you want it to, and the vacuum was unplugged, and I was keeping a close eye on her. Perhaps I should just wind up the cord. But when you have to vacuum every single day, sometimes twice a day, it just gets really old. On to the next picture. This is a photograph of Chloe's favorite commercial in the world. It's a local commercial for a strip club that features girls dancing in mini skirts and go-go boots to the song "these boots are made for walkin." Except they were really clever and exchanged the word 'walkin' for 'dancin.' Anyway, every time she sees this commercial, she stares at the TV, smiles, and starts to dance. It's hilarious. Somewhat disturbing considering the nature of the commercial, but hilarious. And finally, we have the only existing naked butt picture of Chloe, taken by accident as I was trying to get a picture of the rash on her back (which was later proved not to be a rash, but bug bites). And she is of course surrounded by the newspaper, which she pulled off the couch and spread all over the floor for me. She's a good helper.

On to other things. The bug bites on Chloe. Several weeks ago, I noticed fleas on my cat. Then I noticed them in the living room. Now they're all over the house. Of course this all happened when I'm flat broke. I called the exterminator to find out what it would take to have him rid the house of fleas. It would take money, which I don't have, and everyone (including beloved pistachio) out of the house for at least 4 hours. I asked what kind of poison he would use and called my authority on Chloe's allergies to find out if this would be ok for her. Of course, she'd have an allergic reaction to it. So I asked about boric acid. Again, no go. But I found a product online called Fleabusters that's got great reviews, lasts a year or longer, and would be safe for Chloe. Thanks to a generous contribution from Chuck, I was able to order this wonder flea treatment and it should arrive in 3-7 days. Thank goodness. It's going to be a pain to treat the house, because I'll have to move all the furniture (I just realized I'll have to move the piano. yikes! I'll have to call for help on that one) and get the powder in every crevice and on all unwashable fabric (couch, etc.). But this stuff's really supposed to work, and it'll be well worth it, because we're all being eaten alive in here. I feel so bad for Chloe. I try to keep her in her room, and I have to put footie PJ's on her that I've sprayed with mild bug spray to try to keep the fleas off her. In a way it works, but they still jump on her hands and face. There are plenty of things I love about South Texas, but the fleas and roaches are defiantly not one of them. Well, I really need to study. Adios