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Showing posts from May 31, 2016

Help For Itchy Bug Bites!

Let's get one thing straight. Whether you are the type of person who attracts mosquitos or not, when you do experience a mosquito bite, your body's natural histamine response causes itching at the site. By itching, I don't just mean a simple itch relieved by a momentary scratching. I'm talking about wooden back-scratcher level of itchiness. And I hate to break it to you if you didn't already know, but scratching only makes it worse. Plus, from a hygienic perspective, it can be very unsanitary to scratch. Bacteria live on our skin. Think of yourself as the "host with the most". Bacteria are also opportunistic. If there's an open wound, say a freshly scratched to high hell mosquito bite, bacteria will set up a breeding program on the spot.  Now, I know you're a smart person. You don't want a skin infection. You didn't even ask for the mosquito bite in the first place; you were just mowing the lawn, enjoying your kid's baseball gam

Mosquito and Tick Repellant Spray

Prior to the move last summer to Wisconsin, friends shared the unofficial state bird of Wisconsin is the mosquito. It's "rainy season" here and the mosquito population is mounting. It also happens to be the start of tick season, which lasts until snow covers the ground once more. No one wants to find a tick biting them, in the same manner as no one really hopes to be the next mosquito bite victim. And as if having cellulite wasn't offensive enough, the site of a tick lodged into the back of your thigh is likely to send you into a Google search frenzy. Obviously I'm speaking from experience. Our home is too far north to be concerned about the Zika virus doing harm via mosquitos. Now a deer tick carrying Lyme Disease?  This is a real threat. As a way to limit my chances of playing host to thirsty parasites, I blended together essential oils. You can also save yourself a lot of time, angst, and itching by mixing up a batch of this all natural repellan