Mayo clinic.

Sigh.  Remember the bug-that-shall-remain-nameless?  Well, I thought it was gone.  So I stopped soaking for 30 minutes every morning and evening in Borax and Epsom Salt, and just took regular baths and showers and only changed the sheets every 3 days for like a week once the symptoms went away.  What can I say?  I got cocky. And the payback was a frickin' miserable outbreak of the little buggers this weekend.  I think the soaking thing must have been working, because my rash was pretty much all above the water soaking line (hard to get down to my chin in my tub).  My theory is that the eggs were buried up there and I just didn't keep up the process long enough to kill all the new ones as they hatched.  Either that, or I didn't get them all out of my environment.  So I lost another day researching more treatments and running around town buying Borax, hydrogen peroxide, sulfur soaps/creams, and diatomaceous earth.  I have now implemented a 27-prong attack against all Nameless Bugs in my home and car, not to mention on my personal person.  They are facing the most hostile environment that I can provide:  after they are soaked in a chemical bath including salt, Borax, and hydrogen peroxide for 30 minutes, they get scrubbed with sulfur soap and then drowned with bug-sterilizing oils.  If they survive that, or have the nerve to hide in my bedding (being changed frickin' DAILY again), they can say hello to my leetle friend, DE:  razor sharp pulverized shell fossil.  That's right, you can now skate on the white powder covering my floors and mattress cover, and even my person, since I'm mixing that into the neem oil now.  

The Mayo part?  Ah, the mayo part.  Well, little Lola-dog sleeps in my bed.  It won't do much good to wash myself and my bedding if she hops into bed with me with bugs, now will it?  Some kennel owner on the internet says that you can get rid of any (nameless) bug by covering the dog in mayo for like an hour.  So, naturally, I busted out a brand new jar of the real deal and slathered her up!   Thar she blows!  Aw, the poor little thing -- she has NO idea why she's getting dumped into the bathtub daily, and the mayo really threw her this morning.  But isn't the photo hysterical?  I love the freaky reflective eyes.   (Note Connor in the sideground NOT getting mayo'd.)  She's still drying out two hours later and I'm in the mood for some tuna salad.  [Update:  Well THANK YOU Mr. You-Should-Put-Mayo-on-Your-Dog.  He forgot to mention, and I forgot to remember, how much oil there is in your average half jar of real mayo.  I was feelin' sorry for the dog, 'cuz it seemed like she was taking a long time to dry, even with my Vidal Sassoon ionizing hair dryer.  Then I noticed how shiny my hand was from rubbing her fur.  Oops.  Let's just say that Jheri curls are not a great look on a toy poodle.  :-)  (Apologies for the cliche sideways smiley face -- but I crack up every time I look at the photo.)  So, my game was delayed further by a SECOND bath for the dog, after which...she remains kind of oily.  Oh well.  The good news is she's gettin' another bath tonight anyway.  Oh, and just to make sure I'm EXTRA frickin' miserable, I've confirmed my suspected sulfur allergy with a lovely burning sensation following application of one of the oldest and most-certain Nameless Bug killers out there, sulfur cream.  Yep, I'm allergic.  Anyone want three bars, two jars, and one tube of sulfur product?]

On the upside, if there can be one in my current misery, the New Digital said 110.8 (of course "point eight," because there is no other point digit) this morning.  Wow!  Nameless bugs make you light and fluffy!  Or maybe its all the soaking and running around washing sh!t.   Or laying awake at night with itchy bugs crawling under your skin.  Or the stress.  Or maybe the 50 minutes of simulated roller blading on Friday?  Whatever it is, I'm happy to be losing the weight, just not the bug battle.

Is roller blading supposed to be a blood sport?

So it was another BEAUTIFUL day -- meaning I had to take Zyrtec, Claritin, and Benadryl to go outside.  I love allergy season spring.  But with sufficient allergy meds on board, Ena and I ventured out to Steele Indian School park.  We discovered that it's a beautiful park, that it's under-appreciated, perfect for roller blading, and that blood and dirt will show on a white jacket.  Steele has a lot of really cool features, including what I'ma call the "Death Spiral" desert garden.  It spirals gently down to a central water feature.  Except, that I thought the outside trail looked too gentle -- I mean it didn't even look like it went downhill.   So, "Hey," I said, "Let's go down the disabled ramp."  Genius.   (Anyone who's ever skied with me knows this particular technique of mine -- I peek down a slope, make an uninformed snap decision, yell it to my friends, and take off.)  I made it to the first turn.   I was picking up speed.  Ena was yelling "Brake!  Brake!"  I'm thinkin' "Brake, my ass" -- 'cuz I don't really know how to use my brake so much.  But I thought I could just hang on through the gnarly hairpin turn.  (I don't know how those people in wheelchairs do it.   I guess they brake.)  Well, I underestimated the narrow ramp, the steepness of the slope, the rocks and debris, and way overestimated my ability to brake or turn.  And when I recoiled in fear right at the big moment, my ass-numbing fall was inevitable.  There was a bit of blood and I think I embedded some things in my hand (hard to tell, even with my old lady glasses), but I've gotten worse paper cuts this week, and nothing was broken. I got some free additional distressing of my new favorite holey jeans, and I think we probably burned more calories laughing than skating.  So it was all good.  And it really was a nice day.  

But they should make roller blading an Olympic sport, yes?  Who's with me?  I should Become a Fan of "I bet we can get 100,000 people to support inline skating as an Olympic sport."  Except that I hate that whole "Become a Fan" thing almost as much as I hate when my friends find bunnies or lost ducks on their imaginary FB farms, or think I'd like to know that they need a machine gun for their mafia game.  (After this I'ma go try to figure out how to hide all those game notifications on my FB page, so that I only see when my friends post important things, like how bored they are or that they're doing nothing.  Thanks guys, you know I love you no matter what I say about your FB habits.  P.S.  Just hid Farmville.  Praise Baby Jesus -- half my notifications went away.) 

So that's it -- Roller Blading Part Deux.  Here's a photo of Ena showing off the holes in HER jeans before we even start.  So she didn't need to fall on her butt to get more distressing.

Gotta go order P90X.  And more makeup -- watching pairs dancing and decided I'm under made-up.     

Because why start working now?

I've had a tough morning, what with a drug store run and backyard poop patrol and then getting the low down on the upcoming yard-destroying trenching to upgrade my gas line.  And it's freakin' 12:30 already and I've gotten like NO work done yet.  And I'm quitting at 4 to roller blade.  Sh!t.  

So I thought I'd have the other half of my deliciously-festive white and green smoothie (I've come a long way since the days of the brown smoothie) and update the blog.  The good news is that I'm holding steady at like 112 or 113 pounds.  I'd like to be maybe 107 or 108, but I'm working on it   Slowly.  (I've also come a long way from the days when I thought I could lose 10 pounds in one week!)  I gotta say, I feel a lot better in my pants now, which is something I probably shouldn't say in public, but you know what I mean.  I'm FEELING skinnier, and that's most of the battle.  I still need to lose a bit of fat and build muscle, but that's an ongoing lifelong deal (rrrrrrrrrrrrr, suck, suck, suck).  So should I try to get in INSANE shape?  Or crazy sexy shape?  Or maybe just...Look Good Naked?!!  

Yes, I finally caught the Look Good Naked infommercial yesterday.  And it turned out to be an ad for the Wave Speed Slimming System (I'd throw in the link, but I'm sure their ad will pop up on my blog within a day or two).  The Wave, is a curved version of the 90s step (do they still do step aerobics?) that you can flip upside down and rock back and forth to work abs, do cardio, etc.  See -- that could be me, rockin' the wave.  Hmmm.  I thought about it, yes I did.  And then I remembered all the workout equipment I've had over the years and how much I used it.  Let's reflect, shall we?  Let's see.  There was, way back, an actual giant plastic step that collected a lot of dust and fur under the bed.  I've had at least two mini-steppers, one rock-and-roll stepper, a stationery bike, a treadmill, a glider (very fun, look it up), the Total Gym, my Weider Flex-gym 2000 (I actually used that thing and really loved it, but it got replaced with a toile chaise lounge -- hey, I've got priorities), and, let's see, I still have a weight bar and plastic steps that go with my Firm (which also makes the Wave) workout videos.  And they've ALL gotten the boot, well, except for the plastic steps, 'cuz they're kind of a plant stand right now, and I do that workout about once a year.  So I PROBABLY don't need another giant plastic thing that will sit around in one room or another, possibly several different rooms, and then ultimately get Craig'slisted or donated.  So I DIDN'T order it.  Yes!  Seventy bucks IN my pocket.

But.  When Look Good Naked ended, the P90X ("Bring it!") infommercial came on.  Uh oh.  Now, you may recall that I was already tempted by P90X in my hotel room in Vail.  Because I can get RIPPED in 90 days.  And whether I get ripped or not, I like that it doesn't involve a giant piece of plastic that I can only use with their workout video and which will sit around my house for months before I admit I don't use it.  And it's got like TEN or maybe even FOURTEEN (who can remember?) different work outs on it.  You can just do abs, or specific body parts, or whatever.  Plus, see that chick on the bottom?  Apparently P90X makes you blond too.  I could save tons at the salon.

And you KNOW I've purchased at least a dozen different workout videos in the last six months and probably spent more than $140 on all that stuff that I don't use (I might not have even tried some yet -- oops, can you say Cardio Ballroom?).  So why not?  What's $140?  I wasted $96 on frickin' Avesil, because I don't have the energy to fight the scamming ba$stards.  So I've got P90X in my cart and I think some photos are in order before I sign off.

Crap, I forgot I put the Fein MultiMaster in my cart too.  (That ad came on after P90X.)  What can I say, I'm susceptible.  Ask me about the Ronco Dehydrator, the Jack LaLane juicer, the __? pasta maker (I don't recall who sold me that one), or the Magic Bullet.  All great products.  Really.  But the ONE thing I will NEVER buy, no matter HOW many commercials I am forced to see....................................................the freakin' Snuggie.   You couldn't sell me one if you threw in a lifetime supply of Reeses' Peanut Butter Cups and Kraft BB Mac and Cheese.  Okay, maybe if you threw in both of those.  But I'd have to burn the Snuggie.  They make BLANKETS people -- throw one on.  Or better yet, just keep wearing the PJs and slippers that you've been wearing to my Safeway.  Yeah, you.  But please, no Snuggies -- Baby Jesus, make my 5-mile radius a Snuggie-free zone.

WHO'S the best doggie mommy?

Yes, I am.  I was a GOD for an hour or two tonight when I made the critters salmon rice cakes with black beans.  Was looking for something (easy?) to feed the doggies in light of Lola's allergies.   After all that work and mess, I'll probably find out that her allergies aren't food related.  ANYhoo, I made them little doggie rice/salmon cakes.  Did you know that when you buy a can of salmon it has nasty little bits of salmon skin, not to mention entire salmon spines and bones in there?  I thought it would be like tuna or canned chicken or something -- you'd think they'd take out the bones and remove the skin.   Or at least warn you -- "Hey, this has bones in it.  Plus skin."  But noooooo, I had to pick all that stuff out with my fingers.  Eeeewww.  We'll see if that happens again.  I'm good for a week's worth of doggie rice cakes.

Hey, I just realized I've still got Ballroom Cardio lying around here somewhere.  I PROMISE -- sometime soon.  Meanwhile, Ena and I are rollerblading at a new park on Friday.  And I yogad for an hour yesterday, and I'm feelin' it in my shoulders.  So it ain't all red wine and cheesey bread here.  Just mostly.

We are the world.

OMG, it's another drunken "I love you man" post.  But, really, I DO love you all.  Kum bah ya, my Lord, kum bah ya, Oh Lor-ord....you get the drift, if not the proper spelling.  Another beautiful day in the neighborhood -- call Mr. Rodgers, because it was NICE this weekened.

And, have I done ANYTHING remotely workey-outey?  Nope.  Not a thing.  Not for like 3 days.  Although I did burn some calories shopping.  And while I'm at this, why don't the web sites that give you calories burned show the number of calories burned per hour of shopping?  Because, let me tell you, you can burn some calories fighting off the b!tches at Last Chance or even TJ Maxx.  Seriously, if it's a sale or purse day at Last Chance, forget about it.

I'm avoiding the scale and will try some yoga or something tomorrow, but for now, I'ma take a pass.  Sleep tight and please click on an ad -- I think I get like one-thousandth of a penny for every ten million clicks or something, so don't be shy -- get yourself some scabies treatment or an Insanity video, or at least pretend some interest.  It's all for a good cause.  ::::-----))))

Note to self -- STOP saying scabies -- will only result in more scabies treatment ads.

Did I mention how fun the home tour was?  Can I upload a photo?  Let's see.  Yes.  Home tour preview party night photo, and end-of-tour photo at Ena's house this afternoon.  Proving that photos from the waist up are always a good thing if you want to look skinny.  Kum bah ya, my Lord, kum bah yah....

4 am post-excess-alcohol post script (because I woke up at 2:30 am after a long day of Willo Home Tour and potluck carousing):  Is it just me, or are those photos really blurry?  I don't think they were blurry on the phone or on FB when I posted them.  What up with that?   Will have to find a way to fix that issue.  Would get up and email photos to self, but bed is warm and feet/floor coldish at 4 am.   [Feb. 19 addendum:  emailed photos to self and re-posted -- why were they blurry?] Trawling (will have to look that word up someday, but tonight I'm gonna assume that's the right word) for that Look Good Naked infommercial.  Ugh, opened with The Story of Louis Pasteur -- even TCM gets desperate in the wee hours.  (Hey, wait a minute, Louis is kind of growing on me.)  Do you think there's a way to make the type larger on my on-screen satellite guide?  I AM getting old.  I'd try to fix that, but I can't see the screen well enough to do it from bed.  Those Insanity people are on again at 5 am.  And if I'm still up in 10 minutes, I can check out Hypnosis for Weight Loss.  THAT's something I haven't tried.  "You are getting SLEEPY.  And full.  You HATE chocolate.  Cookies are evil.  You want a dry, naked SALAD for lunch.  And dinner...."  I may have to stay up just for that show.  Hold the remote -- no need to wait for the Hypnosis show, when "Brazil  Butt Lift" (watch for the ads here soon) is on right now.  Sorry Louis (he's been inoculating sheep for like 10 minutes).  Okay, the Brazil Butt Lift is a workout they describe as being like "One-on-one personal training with the Butt Master."  Ouch!  The Butt Master?  Let's just enjoy that phraseology for a moment, shall we?  Are people buying this?  I clearly just need a half hour of air time and I can and will sell something totally stupid and make a gazillion dollars.  Please, E! network, just give me a chance -- I can come up with something at least as good as a snuggie, or the Butt Master.  

Okay, couldn't find the Look Good Naked infommercial and I'm too sleepy to explore the ad for the 6-week body make over where you eat more, exercise less and lose weight.  They had me at "eat more."  I can't even watch the Hypnosis guy.  How's he gonna do this?  Does he hypnotize you via video?  "LOOK into my eyes."  I may have to watch this a bit longer and report back.  Going back to not-sleep.

In honor of my excellent ads.

Check out my ads!  I haven't been looking at them and just noticed that I've got ads for scabies product and the Insanity work out program on my blog.  LOVE it.  How DO they get so crazy specific with the ads?  Is someone at blogspot reading my blog and picking ads for it?  And do they think that my READERS have scabies too?  Or do they just have software that matches words and stuff?

Ooh, maybe I can conduct an experiment -- if I write about STDs or just weird shi!t, do you think that ads for crotch creams will show up?  Hmmmm.  Something to ponder.  And look forward to.

Made me laugh.  Enjoy the ads.

P.S.  I did the park Meet Up yesterday, but my ass hardly hurts at all.  I must not have worked hard enough.

P.P.S.  Saw an infommercial entitled "Look Good Naked," or something like that.  Haven't checked it out yet, but I will let you know how that turns out.  I'd better start blogging about something other than b-u-g-s, 'cuz I don't want a bunch of scabies ads -- it just doesn't look right.

Cold pizza disposal.

I never got around to reading the label, so I don't know exactly how many calories I had, but this weekend I ate an entire 12-inch platter of bean dip with sour cream, cheese, onions, tomatoes, and olives.  With chips.  Um, oops.  And that was before the Super Bowl dinner with sausages and cheese and pizza, oh my.  So not a great diet weekend, but I got 12 pages into scrapbook number 2 of 2 from last summer's mediterranean cruise.  Woohoo -- am all the way to Alexandria and Cairo now!  I can see the light at the end of the scrapbooking tunnel.  At least until I pull out the last 6 years of my life in photos and start scrapbooking where I left off -- the 2004 election.

Anyhoo, I have cleverly disposed of the leftover pizza and sausage by giving it to my dogs for breakfast.  Because while I was scrapbooking yesterday, I kind of forgot to go buy them more dog food.  Oops again.  But hey, they LOVED pizza and sausage for breakfast.  Notes to self:  (1) make sure doggies are outside A LOT today, and (2) buy more dog food this morning, so that doggie dinner is not sausage and you don't have to sleep with poodle-shaped gas bomb.

Tonight, I work out at the park -- my second official Meet-Up for strength training.  My a$$ hurt for 3 days after the last one, so should be good.

I am Tracy, killer of all things scabies, including myths and wives tales.

Ah clean, freshly-baked sheets!  I have taken to baking my clothing and bedding after washing.  Because if 10 minutes at 130-40 F will kill these little buggers, then 40 minutes at 205 F won't do 'em any good.  And I don't want to leave their fate in the uncertain hands of the "hot" cycles of my washer and/or dryer.  There will also be another round of exfoliating every inch of their natural habitat (my skin) and then covering them with neem, tea tree, and lavender oils this morning.  I think they're almost done-for after 4 days of "treatment," but, like the sign says, "Beatings will continue until morale improves."

Obviously I don't want to take any chances.  But I'm also not going to vacuum the house twice daily or try to spray all the furniture and bag up everything that isn't nailed down for 10 days, like some people out here on the web recommend.  After many hours of reading up on my lee-tle friend the scabies mite, I have learned the following.  It cannot jump or fly and spends all of its time either inside tunnels in the skin, or crawling on the surface looking for a mate, after which the males die (as they should, with apologies to you guys out there) and the females go back into a burrow under the skin.  That's it.  The average "infestation" consists of only about 12 mites on the entire body.  They aren't running around on my clothes or leaping off of me onto my furniture and/or friends (or swan-diving into my soup, Jeri).  And if they are somehow dislodged from my skin, say when I peel off my jammies, they will only survive off of my body for 24 hours, or, if you believe some of the more conservative pundits, up to 72 hours.  If you leave them alone for a day or three, (or bake them in the oven) they're dead.  (So for those on the web who've complained about getting scabies from an infested sofa that you brought home, I suspect you had fleas or something, not scabies.)  They are usually transmitted by skin-to-skin contact long enough for them to crawl from one person to the other (and only an impregnated female will cause you any grief, since a lone male will just crawl around looking for a mate until he dies).  You are likely to get them if you LIVE with an infested person, but otherwise, unless you're wearing my dirty clothes, or sleeping in my bed, you aren't likely to get them.  You can also catch them if you give a frail elderly woman who's had undiagnosed scabies for several months a  weekly hand massage.  Lesson learned.

I've got to go wash the oils off my scalp, remove another layer of skin, apply more oils, and then go buy more neem, because I'm running low and God forbid I should run out and let the mite ba$tards win.  Oh, and I'm holding steady at about 112.  Yoga today, with a  good chance of a strength training Meet-up in the park in the forecast for Monday night

And no, I still haven't tried the Cardio Ballroom.  With all the bugs going on, I don't need any distractions, so it will have to wait for a while.

Workin' the crazy bugs out.

Well, I am HAPPY to report that the neem oil has the little blood-suckers on the run.  I slept like a baby last night and was hardly itchy or crawly anywhere.  And this morning, after a neem and lavender oil scalp and hair treatment, I re-sprayed the whole house with a blend of water/alcohol/neem oil/lavender oil that actually smells great, and is completely non-toxic, so I can spray it on everything from the bed to the dogs.  (And it actually works -- neem oil is an organic pesticide, so I'll kick a little onto my tomato plants when I have the time.)  Aside from the ochre-colored bathtub ring left by my experiment with adding turmeric to the mix (that shit is YELLOW!), it's all good and the buggers are in a fast retreat from both my home and my temple.  What a relief that I was on the lookout for it -- you should read the stories of people infested with scabies for years.  Ugh.  I caught it early, I think it's being treated effectively, and I learned a lot -- this neem oil stuff is amazing -- even great for acne.

Where was I?  Oh yeah, the Insanity program.  I was browsing the shit-I-don't-really-need-to-watch guide and saw something called "Insanity."  Of course I looked.  It's an intense workout program that pushes your body past its limit for an hour a day for 60 days.  I like the photo at left (no, your other left, no, it's really above....shit -- the photo I just inserted), which I stole from their web site -- they look pretty insane, don't they?  (Getting better at this whole blogging thing!!!!)  Here's how they describe their workouts: "The secret to these mind-blowing results: MAX Interval Training. Shaun T took traditional interval training and flipped it on its head—you perform long bursts of maximum-intensity exercises with short periods of rest. Each workout keeps you constantly challenged as you alternate between aerobic and anaerobic intervals performed at your MAX. The results: burn up to 1,000 calories an hour and get the most insane body in only 60 days."  Yeah.

Well, needless to say, I think the program is aptly named and will not be getting an "insane" body any time soon.  But God bless anyone who's willing to go there.  Good for you.  I will be keeping my "sane" body and continuing with my Sanity program, which involves working out when I feel like it and sitting on the couch with a glass of red when I don't.  In case you need a good chuckle, here's the link to the Insanity workout website.  http://workoutjourney.com/insanity-workout-dvd

Go get 'em tigers.

Mitey suckage.

Well, it's always something, isn't it?  This morning I am blogging from my bathtub while soaking in tea tree, neem, and lavender oils.  For 20 minutes.  So I've got a mug of tea and my netbook.  Why, you ask?  Let's see if I can keep this short.

Mom is in full time care in a small group home.  Since last October or November, she has had a skin rash of some sort that the doctor could not identify at first.  But she had red spots and was itchy, etc.  Her hands got especially bad -- her skin between her fingers got kind of crusty, presumably with dead skin cells.  So, for the last 4 weeks, I've been massaging healing oils into her hands and wrists when I visit.

Well, it turns out that Mom's "rash" is actually a scabies infestation.  "What's scabies?" you ask?  Well, meet Mr. or Mrs. Scabies (courtesy of Wikipedia):  

Apparently these little suckers live on humans and burrow their way into the skin (I'm guessing they eat their way in, rather than tunneling doggie-style with their hair-like extremities), lay eggs, then the eggs hatch, the larvae tunnel back out of the skin, mate with each other, rinse, repeat.  (That's a rough approximation -- apparently the females live in the burrows and the males run around on your skin.  Interesting , no?)  The process takes about 21 days, so you don't know that you have them for like 2-6 weeks.  The crawling around and the burrowing makes your skin itch.  And crawl, of course.

And here's the fun part.  They particularly like hands and the webbing between fingers and are transmitted by human contact.  Say, a hand massage?

Anyhoo, I thought I'd escaped clean, but then Monday evening, my wrists got all bitey-itchy.  And I woke up at 3 am feeling, or at least imagining that I could feel, these little suckers crawling around on me.  And I'd already washed the bedding Monday night and loaded up with tea tree oil, so I was clearly going to have to get more serious with the little buggers.  So I lost a day of work yesterday researching how to treat them, running to 3-4 different places to buy stuff to de-bug myself, my bed, my dogs, and my house.  The mattress is now sealed up in vinyl, so no bugs in or out (I should have done that years ago for my dust mite allergy anyway), the sheets, blankets, throws, pillows, the mattress, the mattress pad, and the thermal topper and its casing, were all washed in hot water and/or Borax, and/or sprayed.  The dog was sprayed and washed (she was not really happy with that process), the house was sprayed, and I was covered in stinky tea tree and/or neem oils in between soaking and scrubbing in and with neem oil.  So here I sit this morning in more tea tree and neem oils about to get out and put on more of the same.  I thought the tea tree was bad with it's heavy medicinal smell.  But the neem oil is worse -- think peanuts with garlic.  And the lavender oil doesn't help that much.  So there will be some heavy perfume spraying for -- THE NEXT 8 DAYS.  Because you've got to do this for 10 days to make sure you get them all.  Like I said, it's always something.  But I did do some yoga yesterday (after the McDonald's cheeseburger and small fries -- only 500 calories, let's not panic), so it wasn't all bad.

And, because my misery loves lots of company, here is what YOU are all sleeping with every night:

Isn't he handsome?  Kind of makes my mites look cute and cuddly. The house dust mite (sometimes referred to by allergists as HDM), is a cosmopolitan guest in human habitation. Dust mites feed on organic detritus such as flakes of shed human skin and flourish in the stable environment of dwellings. House dust mites are a common cause of asthma and allergic symptoms worldwide. Some of the gut enzymes (notably proteases) produced by the house mite persist in their fecal matter, and can be strongly allergenic.

(Thank you again, Wikipedia.org.)

And please note that the American HDM is a completely different species from the European HDM, which prefers brie, espresso, and Italian scooters.

Tomorrow:  "Insanity," the work out.  Brought to you by the infommercial I saw this morning.

Pluggin' away....

So this post is just a plug for Fit TV.  Am I the only one who knows about this channel?  I love it.  Not only do they have HOURS and HOURS of FREE workout videos all day and night, but their cooking shows are awesome!  Why, oh why, when there are such great, FREE resources available on TV and on line, would anyone trying to lose weight/get in shape ignore it all?  Why would anyone pay for Nutrisystem meals when they can learn to make quick, easy, tasty meals for a lifetime of great socializing/dining?  Not only is it cheaper, it teaches you how to live healthy for the rest of your life, AND it gives you the tools to be a social God or Goddess.  Seriously, what's not to like?  I guess people continue to believe that there is some quick or magical fix for weight loss.  (And, if you've been reading my blog for the last few months, we know there is no such thing, don't we.)  My favorite Fit TV cooking shows?   A Lyon in the Kitchen, and Just Cook This, with Sam the Cooking Guy.  Yeah, the other ones are good too, but I just like all the food these guys make and it's usually pretty easy.  And it's soooo educational.  Did you know that 1cup of whipping cream has 800 calories?  That is INSANE.  But, don't panic, you can still have that alfredo if you substitute condensed milk, which has no fat and only 200 calories.  Good information to have, yes?  Yes.  And Sam the cooking guy just made NO FAT chips for guac or salsa using wonton wrappers.  Get out of town.  Wonton wrappers?  I'm gonna have to try this.  And, just for YOU, my two loyal readers (yes, my sister and Ena -- ooh, I think I'm up to 3 with Aunt Judy), a link to Just Cook This and Sam's wonton chip instructions,  Oops -- he didn't even give a recipe for the chips and his website is Discovery Health, rather than Fit TV.  ANYway, cut the wonton wrappers in half diagonally (so they are chip shaped) and then bake on a cookie sheet (no oil or anything) at 350 until they look crispy.  Here's the link to his guac recipe, which is probably more important than the chip recipe.  http://health.discovery.com/fansites/sam-zien/recipes/guacamole.html   Pretty cool, eh?  Go forth and educate thyself.