Give Bees the Bounce!!!

Michael has been attending soccer camp this week and loved every minute of it. He was even named the best camper out of his group (yes, I am gloating like a proud Mommy). The only bad thing about the camp was the bees. They were everywhere, and lots of people had gotten stung. Of course the first thing I thought of was "I hope none of those kids are allergic to bees, and if they are, someone has an epi pen and knows how to use it." I even packed an extra epi pen in Michael's lunch box and told him it was there just in case - and he does not even have any known allergies.

While I was trying to avoid bees and calm screaming beephobic children, another mother told me a great tip. Apparently dryer sheets keep away bees and wasps. Each day she sent her child in to camp she rubbed down his clothes and hair with the dryer sheet. When I got home I looked it up on the Internet, and it appears to be true!!!

Huh! Who knew? dryer sheets keep bees away

Someone even told me that the US Postal service sent out a message to all letter carriers to put a sheet of Bounce in their uniform pockets to keep yellow-jackets away.

While researching this fascinating information on the Internet I also found many other uses for dryer sheets.

1. It will chase ants away when you lay a sheet near them. It also repels mice.

2. Spread sheets around foundation areas, or in trailers, or cars that are sitting and it keeps mice from entering your vehicle.

3. It takes the odor out of books and photo albums that don't get opened too often.

4. It repels mosquitoes. Tie a sheet of Bounce through a belt loop when outdoors during mosquito season.

5. Eliminate static electricity from your television (or computer) screen.

6. Since Bounce is designed to help eliminate static cling, wipe your television screen with a used sheet of Bounce to keep dust from resettling.

7. Dissolve soap scum from shower doors. Clean with a sheet of Bounce.

8. To freshen the air in your home - Place an individual sheet of Bounce in a drawer or hang in the closet.

9. Put Bounce sheet in vacuum cleaner.

10. Prevent thread from tangling. Run a threaded needle through a sheet of Bounce before beginning to sew.

11. Prevent musty suitcases. Place an individual sheet of Bounce inside empty luggage before storing.

12. To freshen the air in your car - Place a sheet of Bounce under the front seat.

13. Clean baked-on foods from a cooking pan. Put a sheet in a pan, fill with water, let sit overnight, and sponge clean. The anti-static agent apparently weakens the bond between the food and the pan.

14. Eliminate odors in wastebaskets. Place a sheet of Bounce at the bottom of the wastebasket.

15. Collect cat hair. Rubbing the area with a sheet of Bounce will magnetically attract all the loose hairs.

16. Eliminate static electricity from Venetian blinds. Wipe the blinds with a sheet of Bounce to prevent dust from resettling.

17. Wipe up sawdust from drilling or sand papering. A used sheet of Bounce will collect sawdust like a tack cloth.

18. Eliminate odors in dirty laundry. Place an individual sheet of Bounce at the bottom of a laundry bag or hamper.

19. Deodorize shoes or sneakers. Place a sheet of Bounce in your shoes or sneakers overnight.

20. Golfers put a Bounce sheet in their back pocket to keep the bees away.

21. Put a Bounce sheet in your sleeping bag and tent before folding and storing them. It will keep them smelling fresh.

He He He An Assaulted Peanut

Assualted Peanut!!!

He He He. THis is something I dream about doing on a daily basis!!!

AAHHH I Never Knew Mr. Peanut Played Soccer

Unfortunately, I guess I was a bit naive in assuming that since there were no peanuts at soccer matches in England and Ireland, there would be no peanuts at a soccer match in America. So, even though it was soccer and not baseball, apparently there were still a few moments where evil Mr. Peanut reared his head. I am glad I was not there, since I worry alot about everything, and would have been hyperventilating through the whole thing cursing evil peanut villains under my breath.

The report I was given by Mick, was that there were peanuts on the floors and stairs in most of the general areas, but not that much. He was pretty much able to avoid these areas and Conor sat on his lap during the game. There was one incident where the man seated in front of them opened his bag of evil and started shelling his peanuts, but after informing him that the little boy behind him could die if he continued, he nicely moved to another section to finish his snack.

Conor appeared to have no severe reactions to any of these brushes with danger, but he did start sucking his fingers (for us a sign of the beginnings of something. I have no clue why). He was dosed up with my favorite product portable benadryl, and all seemed ok from there.

In general, I would say the soccer game went well. The boys had fun, and enjoyed seeing their first real sporting event in person. I think they would even go back with proper precautions, lots of wipes, and all of our emergency medicine. I just have to remember.....Never underestimate the evil legume!

When All Else Fails, Try Distraction - Or Why Soccer is Way Cooler then Baseball

Thank you everyone for all the great ideas about what to do about my child's dreaded question. I have come up with a temporary solution. It goes back to my old motto, when all else fails, try distraction. Since the boys are huge soccer fans, we did some looking and discovered that a famous European team was playing some Americans (can you tell I know absolutely nothing about soccer???) in Palo Alto.

Mick and the boys are off to go to their first real sporting event tomorrow afternoon. Mick has assured me that peanuts are not a part of any sort of soccer tradition, at least in Ireland or England, so we should be ok. Even though I have absolutely no interest in Soccer, I have come to the conclusion that it is a way cooler sport then baseball. There is more running up and down the field, less of people waiting around to do something, and most importantly of all, peanuts are not such an integral part of the game that they are included in a song everyone sings during a break between innings.

OK, I will admit it, I actually have no love for soccer. I used to hate playing it when I was younger, and felt I was aimlessly running up and down the field. I also don't really enjoy watching it, and it seems like nothing ever really happens. Although I enjoy watching my son play on Saturday mornings, I am very relieved that I do not have to attend tomorrow's soccer outing and instead get to hang out and do girly things with Natalie.

I used to really like baseball too. I would watch games on tv and even attend some in person. I excitedly cheered when the Angels won the world series, and followed their seasons for some years after. I even own an Angels t shirt.

But you know, sometimes distractions can distract your outlook. Soccer is way cooler then baseball!!

The Other Day My Child Asked Me That Dreaded Question..

The other day, I heard those words every mother of a peanut allergic child dreads to hear. They are the words that put a chill through my heart and an ache in my head. And even worse these words were not even uttered by my peanut allergic child!!! It is so painful I have trouble typing them even here......... But OK, here goes. Other peanut allergic child mothers look away if you have to.

Two days ago, on July 7 2009, my oldest son Michael looked innocently up at me and asked, "Mommy, when can we go and see a baseball game?"

I calmly replied in an attempt to distract him "T-Ball season is over for the year, you can play instructional next year"

Michael looked up at me exasperated and replied, "No Mommy, like the one on TV. My friend friend is going to see the Giants. When can we go?"

I was able to tell him we would have to look into it, but what do we do???

I quickly ran over to the awesome web site Peanut Free Baseball Games, to see if I could find any sort of somewhat safe games, but Alas the closest games to us that I could find are in San Diego and Seattle.

I know I could try and take all sorts of precautions and just go, but I think I would have a heart attack ducking peanut shells, and trying to get an almost 5 year old to continually wipe his hands. Of course this is also the child who may have reacted to sitting next to a man on the airplane eating a bag of peanuts. I just don't think I could stomach going without actually going insane.

So, what are my other options.... Send the older child with his father while the other one sits at home and I am wracked with guilt over what he is missing out on. Send the older child with a friend and hose him down when he gets home? Don't let anyone go???

If anyone has any ideas, I would love to hear them. Maybe it is time for a road trip to San Diego or Seattle.

Peanut Knows

As I get everyone ready to head down to Southern California again for the July 4th weekend, I thought I would share an interesting find I came across while surfing the Internet superhighway. I don't know how I find these things, but hey, I do have many hidden talents.

This is posted on the web site The Greener Grass. As they describe themselves,

"The Greener Grass is produced by Kaleidoscope, a product development consultancy in Cincinnati, Ohio. It uses our resources to initiate positive change by opening discourse, connecting people, and becoming a conduit for new thinking and discussion that leads to positive outcomes. Our goal is to build a community by interviewing experts and thought leaders, identifying trends, and creating concepts for products, services, and ideas that bring solutions to life."

Sounds like a great goal for me.

Anyways, one of the products they have on this site is called Peanut Knows.

"The Peanut Knows is a friendly little fellow that can detect the presence of peanut and peanut trace in food products. The electronic nose sniffs out the culprit and alerts the user, helping to prevent allergic reactions.

The concept is from a form metaphor of the elephant's affinity for peanuts. This is an elephant pendant that, when placed on the side of your dish (bottom button is depressed), 'sniffs' for peanuts. If peanut content is detected the 'mouth' lights up."

How cool is that???? It would be like the Peanut Detection Dog, but in a small pendant in the shape of an elephant. I got all excited until I tried to do further research, and discovered that this is just a concept for a product, and one like it does not appear to be in the works anywhere I could find.

So, all you people who make products.....

I would buy one of these!!!

Please make it!!!

What a great idea!!!!!

My Amazing New Talent

This week I discovered an amazing new talent. I know, I know, you are saying that I already have so many talents already, how could I discover even more....but alas, the trials of motherhood have shed light on this previously (and thankfully) undiscovered skill.

It all began on Tuesday. Conor woke up in the morning saying he was not feeling well. Despite this, he still wanted to eat, so I fed him his usual breakfast. As soon as Mick walked out the door to go to work, the puking began. WOOoohooooo. what fun. I got the puke bowl, and the towels, and proceeded to get the other two sweet young children ready for their camps. Then it dawned on me I have to get them to their respective camps, and I have no one to stay home with Conor. After the throwing up subsided, I figured I would try my luck, and load everyone in the car and hope for the best. I took the puke bowl, and the towels and we were on our way. Everything seemed fine driving along the road until I heard the words I dreaded to hear...."Mommy, I don't feel so good."

Of course my sweet young child had dropped the ever useful bowl, and that was when the adrenaline started. Somehow, with reason beyond reason, I was able to find the missing puke bowl, catch the sick child's regurgitation and drive for 5 minutes until I was able to get to a safe place to pull over on the highway. I did all this without hitting anything, getting a ticket, or even getting a drop of the unfortunate sickness onto the car. I was even able to sooth the sick child, and clean out the bowl by the side of the road without making a mess.

Now if that is not a talent, I don't know what is.