Don't be like me

After a super fun day of "blowing stuff up" by the river, I noticed strange spots on my feet.

They quickly went out of control.


You can't tell here- mercifully- but below the knees I had 75+ bites on my right leg and 50+ on my left. By Monday I was in MISERY.

I started with conventional treatment- Benadryl cream and Benadryl. Neither was effective. At. All. I became desperate and looking on the internet. Just FYI- NO ONE AGREES. Hot, cold, wet, dry, etc... everyone has a different idea.

So I turned to some alternative methods.


Yes that is Scotch tape on my legs. It stopped me from scratching, at least. But as soon as I went outside they became sweaty misery (can you tell I'd lost all shame at this point)?

Two things have worked for me. 1- Vapor rub + a moving air (fan, AC, etc). This only helps on a superficial level, though.

What really did the trick was this-


A baking soda+water paste on my legs, allowed to dry. I sleep like this. It stings at first, but it's the only thing that felt like it was actually healing the bites. My house is covered in baking soda. It's in my belly button and may never come out. But I don't care! Thank you, magical baking soda.

So friends, don't be like me, and foolishly believe your bug spray is waterproof.

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Unrelated- Amy tagged me! Here you go. :)

1. How often do you go over the speed limit? Not too often. 5 or maybe 10 over. But without cruise control, sometimes if my mind wanders, my foot gets heavier or lighter.

2. Do you dance like crazy when no one is looking? Just when no one is looking? I am a wild woman.

3. If you were going to be stuck on a desert island which book, movie, and which CD would you take with you? Hmm. East of Eden, Lord of the Rings Trilogy, and Tchaikovsky.

4. What did you get in trouble for as a kid? smarting off, fighting with my sister

5. What really gives you the creeps? the texture of smooth paper, touching fish

6. What was your favorite toy when you were a kid? rolly pollies!

7. You run into a friend while shopping. Where were you? Target

8. When you fall asleep are you usually on your side, stomach, or back? back

9. If fat or calorie intake were not an issue, what food would you consume the most? donuts and coke! Not together. :)

10. If you could hire one of the following, which would it be: Driver, chef, maid, or stylist? maid, easily

11. What movie have you watched the most? The Notebook, Madea Goes to Jail (the play)

12. What perfume do you wear? Moonlight Path by Bath & Body Works, Hypnotic Poison by Dior

13. What was your favorite sitcom growing up? The Simpsons

14. What were you doing the last time you had a really good laugh? I am lucky enough to laugh really hard pretty much every day at work.

15. What was the very first concert I ever attended? Acappella! Who'd have thought one day I'd be a groupie. :-P

16. Who is the 4th person on your missed call list? Harrison. Oops! :)

17. How long does it take you to get ready in the mornings? I can get ready in as little as 10 minutes, but usually I get up 1.5 hours before I leave the house. I take my sweet time. I like waking up early.

18. When is the last time you went to the mall and what did you buy? JC Penneys... a dress... last month

19. Ever go to camp? Band camp in junior high, church camp 2 years in high school. I wasn't a good camper. :)

20. Do you collect anything? Black and white vintage photos

Let's blow stuff up

We all have those unique people in our lives who tend to march to the beat of their own drummer. My friend Brad is that guy. His birthday tradition is going out to the river with his friends, shooting his 50 caliber rifle, then building sand castles and blowing them up with fire works. So... that's what I did this weekend.

Must be seen to be believed!

RIFLE

SAND CASTLES

EXPLAINING THE FIREWORK CATAPULT SYSTEM

WAR!

Sunrise, Sunset

This summer Oklahoma has had some spectacular sunrises and sunsets.

SUNRISE

SUNSET

Push-up Update

If you check my actual blog, you see my twitter feed that runs through the right column. My push-up updates run through my twitter feed, but I wanted to give a little commentary on it.

I'm about 4 weeks into it. As you can see in the picture on the right, I'm doing pretty well.

For rizzles, though, some days I feel like a beast and others I feel like I'm going backwards. The other day in a training session I did 122 push-ups! That's crazy! I was very proud. Granted they were in 5 intervals, but still, within 10 minutes.

I don't feel so sore after them these days, but I do feel tired. Also, I've noticed a lot more knotting up in my shoulders, but such is the price of beef-dom.

The sit-ups are still harder than I anticipated. I have started working in some oblique sit ups into the mix for variety.

All of this has made me want to get back into pilates. Maybe once this challenge is over I will look into it.

Onward and upward!

Americana

I'm trying to be better at learning about photography as a hobby. It's stretching my brain. So many numbers and dealing with light and such. Whew.

That said, I'm trying to branch out into different styles of photography. If you've read long, you have been assaulted with my love of the macro flower shots, but this week The Pioneer Woman's photography contest was themed Americana, so I made myself go find some subject matter. Here is what I came up with (I'm also playing around with textures because of the Americana theme).

If you have a fave, lemmie know. I submitted the one of the cow.

PS- Happy 4th of July!