9 Natural Remedies For Mosquito Bites

Some people kid that New Jersey's State Bird is the mosquito. Obviously, that's not true, but we do have a lot of those bloodsuckers here in the Garden State.  Every time my daughter goes out to play, she comes in with lots of mosquito bites. Granted, when I offer to spray her with diluted white vinegar (don't laugh – it works!), she blows me off and runs outside anyway. I know that later, she'll be lying bed, complaining about how itchy she is. That's when I reach for one of these:

9 Natural Remedies For Mosquito Bites

Aloe

1. Ice – Place some ice in a wash cloth and apply to the itch. It numbs the nerves that conduct the itching and subsequent pain. 
   
   
   
   
2. Lavender or tea tree oil. I keep tea tree oil because it serves a multitude of purposes (it's fantastic for cleaning) and itch relief is one. Dab a little on the skin.  Just be sure to check the label on the bottle first to make sure it's okay to use on skin. If you need to, dilute it with a little cooking oil.  Both lavender and tea tree oils contain anti-inflammatory properties that sooth what itches you.
   
   
   
   
3. Baking soda and water. Mix 3 parts baking soda with 1 part water and apply to the itch. Note: don't use if the skin is broken.. 
   
   
   
   
4. Apple cider vinegar. Dab a little on the bite and let the acid in the vinegar take away the itchies.
   
   
    
5. Lemon juice. Lemons have anesthetic and anti-inflammatory properties and can be effective against itches. Again, don't use if the skin is broken or if the child is going outside since lemon can react with the sun to cause blistering.
   
   
   
   
6. Honey. Long-known for its anti-inflammatory and anti-bacterial properties, this “honey” of a remedy works well for mosquito bites.
   
   
   
   
7. Peppermint toothpaste. It's the mint in the toothpaste that calms the itch.
   
   
    
8. Aloe. I keep an aloe plant in the house for burns but it's also great for relieving bug bites.
   
   
   
   
9. Witch hazel. This drug-store staple is great for relieving those itchy welts. (Check back here soon for more uses for witch hazel).
   
   

If all else fails, I will reach for the Benadryl spray. Obviously I'm not a medical professional, but the above remedies, most of which you probably already have in your house, work great for me. 

Give them a try and let me know what works for YOU!

My New Toy & Why It's SO Cool

When I re-entered the workforce part-time, in addition to helping with the household expenses, I decided to treat myself to something special. Would it be jewelry? Clothes? No. I have enough of both. But there was one thing that had been in the back of my mind for some time.

Now, our kitchen is small so our refrigerator is, too. Freezer space is always limited, especially in the summer, what with ice pops and ice cube trays taking up a lot of space. I sip cold drinks CONSTANTLY and always keep ice water on my nightstand.  So my new toy is (drumroll, please):

AN AVALON BAY PORTABLE ICE MAKER

 

Yeah, sexy, I know. But I wanted one to help keep me cool during the summer. After researching all of the portable machines out there, I was convinced that this was the unit for me. 

The pros:

1. It's portable, so I can bring it outside for use during a BBQ.
2. It makes ice that is just soft enough for use in smoothies that it doesn't kill the blades of the
   blender.  It's also great for snow cone machines.
   
3. I always have ice on hand. I just make ice the day before I need it, place the ice in a Ziploc freezer bag and it's great for the next day.
4. The ice it makes is the perfect size for drink and to put in a water bottle.
   
   
   
   

The cons:

1. It doesn't keep the ice frozen, so you do have to place it in the freezer, but any ice not used just melts back into the reservoir.
2. It takes a while to make a good amount of ice. I've had it running about 2 hours now and the ice contain is full.
3. While it has two sizes of ice, I honestly don't see much of a difference in size. Not a problem for me, but just an FYI.
   
   
   
   
   
   
   

All in all, this is a great machine. I was even more comforted when my daughter came home from school one day and said her school nurse had the same machine – school nurses KNOW quality. 

I'm using my Avalon Bay Portable Ice Maker every other day and I love it!

During a recent BBQ, it filled up a good-sized cooler. Now there's no scrambling with ice cube trays.

It's SOOO COOL! Now excuse me while I go back to my nice, cold drink!

What do you sip to keep cool during the summer?

Spring's Here & It's Time To Fertilize - THESE Saved My Arborvitae!

I have a row of majestic arborvitae which help separate my house from the neighbor's.  They provide just a little extra sorely-needed privacy.  So after past seasons involving ice storms and Hurricane Sandy, one or two were looking....sick.  Their leaves were turning brown and I was concerned that they would never recover from ice and snow damage. 

Enter:  Miracle Gro's Evergreen Fertilizer Spikes! 

  

I found these at Home Depot last year and figured, 'What do I have to lose?  The shrubs are already dieing anyway!' so I picked up a package.  

These are fertilizer spikes.  You take one out, put the plastic cap that comes in the pack over the spike, and pound it into the ground per the package directions.   

Make sure the ground is soft when you do this.  I originally treated the trees last fall and just did it again today.  If, by any chance, some of the spikes are broken in the package, just dig a hole and put the cracked ones in.

These spikes DEFINITELY saved my precious trees.

Today's treatment took about 30 minutes for me to do a row of six trees, but that's a half an hour well spent to keep these beauties healthy!

Give them a try and let me know what you think!

 

 ~~~~~~~

Oh, and if celebrate Passover, Happy Pesach!  If you celebrate Easter, Happy Easter!  And if, like us, you're an Interfaith family  -

HAPPY EASTOVER!

 

 

Damn The Ice Dam

Photo by C. Capozzi

I was in the den when I first heard the drip-drip.  It was a curious sound, one you don't expect to hear, but there it was.  The funny thing was, I couldn't find it. Then I heard more drip-drips. My heart sank.  They seemed to be coming from the ceiling around the window.  Then I spotted them...coming from the space just behind the windows. My stomach turned. I knew what was causing the drips, something I had absolutely no control over: ice damming.

The Winter it happened, we had had a ton of snow and even though we had had the gutters cleaned in the Fall, they had filled up with ice. Then the water runoff from the roof got trapped and with nowhere else to go, it backed up and got under the shingles, finally leaking into the house. I tearfully called my roofer who explained that until the ice and snow melted, there was nothing he could do. Maybe that was true, but in the meantime I couldn't let the water ruin my house! Now let me, once again, say that I am NO expert in roofing, gutters, mold or anything. But, as a homeowner, I did a few things which I really believe mitigated the amount of damage we experienced when this happened a few years ago. Here's what I did, what worked and failed:

1. The first thing I did was panic.  How can you NOT? Water was dripping in all along the windows in my den, with no end in site. And my beloved roofer said he couldn't do ANYTHING to help me?! Argh!!! Panicking didn't do anything constructive, but once I got passed it, I felt better.
   
   
2. Then I grabbed containers and towels. I used pots and pans from the stove, but in hindsight, those one-use aluminum pans used for cakes and lasagna are better for dealing with leaks. They can be squished into tight spaces and you don't have to worry about disinfecting them when you're done. I used towels so I wouldn't hear the constant sound of dripping water. Later on, I added some vinegar to the water in the pans to reduce the smell coming from the water and, hopefully, lessen the amount of mold in the air.
   
   
   
3. Where I saw water pooling on the ceiling, I drilled a tiny hole. This was actually recommended by the roofer. Water, obviously, spreads when it has nowhere else to go; giving it a channel minimizes staining and damage.
   
   
4. Since there was a good amount of water on the carpet, I blotted it up and ripped up the edge of the carpet to expose the padding. Now I had been in the carpet padding business for many years before I had kids, so when I purchased padding, I KNEW to stay away from foam padding which gets smelly when exposed to water. The padding I'd had put down contained a vinyl barrier to repel moisture, so I pulled up a bit of the padding as well and put a shoe in there to keep it up off the floor underneath. Then I fished out a fan from the basement and set it up in the area of the leaks. My thought was that circulating air would help dry the area up and lessen or stop mold from growing.
   
   
5. While it was snowing and raining outside, I would periodically swab the leaks and the area with a bleach solution to, again, keep the area as clean as possible.  I don't know if that did do anything, but swabbing gave me something to do and that control made me feel better.
   
   

Mother Nature eventually stopped pooping on us and we all went outside to see what was going on with the roof. Since I knew that chipping away at the ice would be dangerous and could hurt the roof and gutters, I nixed that. I attached a hockey stick to the tree trimmer we had (the photo at the right looks something like our tree trimmer) using duct tape and then my husband gently took some snow off the area near the gutter.


We still had a mess of ice up there, so I did a quick Web search and found a great idea off the site www.thisoldhouse.com. I filled a bunch of knee-high panty hose with calcium chloride ice melter and hubby positioned the hose every 6 inches or so in the gutter. The calcium chloride melted through the ice and allowed the water to flow down into the gutters and off the roof (here's the link explaining this method: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/skill-builder/0,,211604,00.html). It didn't stop the leaks completely, but definitely slowed them down. Oh, and I took pictures of all the damage just in case we needed to submit proof to the insurance company if we decided to file a claim (we did not because our deductible is so bloody high, it just didn't make sense to). 


When enough of the snow melted, eventually our roofer did come and replaced some of the shingles in the area of the leaks. He also repositioned the gutters. The result? Even with the mess Mother Nature is inflicting on us this year, no leaks!


For more information on ice damming, click on these links:

• http://www.handymanusa.com/articles/icedams.html – This is my favorite link because it actually shows a diagram of a roof and what's happening during ice damming.
  
• http://www.naturalhandyman.com/iip/inficedam/infdam.html – This article talks about the pros and cons of heating cables which are recommended but don't necessarily cure ice dams. The site also has a link to a question and answer area I found informative.
  
• http://homerepair.about.com/od/exteriorhomerepair/ss/Ice-Dam_2.htm – You'll find lots of diagrams here and although the article is long, read through it. The part on what a roof rake is and why you will want to get one is great.
  

We're getting another 6” tonight, so excuse me while I go get milk and bread at the store. We don't really need it, but it seems to be the thing to do around here just before another storm.


Please check back in with me in a day or so. I'm going to invade my son's iPad and I'll be writing about some fun apps for adults at this site and a few child-friendly apps for www.thegeekparent.com.


Ahoha!

Bye!  Come back soon!

UPDATE:  3/3/14 - 11:58AM - We had, probably a hamster's paw full of snow.  My sympathies to you south of me, who got the brunt of the storm. 

Tweets About Menopause - Part I

I just joined Twitter, that quickie-message social networking site, because I've been told it's a great place to promote my blog.  Don't know about that yet, but being on it does make me feel...modern.  I mean, Facebook is so fake, with people bragging about their kids, their lives, etc.  Life ain't THAT perfect, people!  And Instagram is TOO instant; I don't want to see the lives of my friends told in pictures (not that I run with a crowd that would).  But exchanging banter in 140 characters?  Now that's my kind of communication!

The aspect of Twitter that I'm enjoying most so far is reading what other people post, especially as it pertains to The Change Of life.  So for those who are not on Twitter yet, here are some of this week's more amusing Tweets about my dear friend, Menopause.

Just a few notes before we begin:

1.  Apparently spelling doesn't count on Twitter because the messages have to be brief.  I have, therefore, left the Tweeter's spelling intact.  Didn't want you to think that my Spell Check was broken.
2.  Any comments I might have (it IS my blog, after all) are in bold after the Tweet.

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"My mom started crying because her fruit snacks fell under her seat in the car... wtf...menapause?"  Maybe she just REALLY wanted those snacks!

"Trying to fall asleep with all the windows open, no covers and even cuddling with a ice pack, but its still too hot."

"Feel like karate kid part 10 with all of these hot flashes. sheets on / sheets off. gotta be a black belt by now."

"Another morning, another stressful 20 minutes for my dearest mother as she frets over where she's put the key."

"My moms mood swings < #Menapause . Go to sleep or something crazy women I'm watching tv."   Yes, because your TV watching is the most important thing on those women's minds.

"Bout to be a riot in this stadium. Refs better their backs before they get speared by angry middle aged women with pom pons."  Yes, and at our age, our pom pons are sagging and HEAVY!
"My mom just started crying because a little girl in the doctors office was crying because she didn't want a shot." 

"Currently leaving o'charlies because my mom wasn't happy with the bread roles."  Sorry, but those of us at a certain age are particular about our rolls. 

"A whole week away with the mother goose were not even at the airport yet and I could press the ejector seat button."

"It is freezing in my house n my moms got the AC on."

"Which kid is where?  Is that my husband?  No its the cat.  And it's hot in here...*#!"

"I think that girl got menapause cause everytime she walk by, Every man'll pause."  Yeah, great pick-up line.  Wanna pick-up middle-aged women?  Just carry a fan.

"My hairstylist shared with me today that her bf has one testicle & her pubic hair is thinning due to menapause."  My condolences to her best friend.

And my favorite Tweet of the week:  "OMG. I just realized that in order to be a"trophy wife, " I would have to marry a 90 year old man."

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By the way, if decide to join Twitter, look me up!  My Twitter name is IsItHotInHereMM.

Thank you for reading!!