Mosquito bite itch-stopper

I don't know about you, but we have a lot of Mosquitos around my house.

I told you a while ago how I keep them away with TerraShield. 
And that works great. 

Except when I forget to put it on. 

And actually, there's been a few times lately it hasn't been quite as effective as I'd like. At first I was worried that my oil was getting old or something, but then I talked to a friend who was also out that night and the mosquitos were eating through her chemical repellent. Then I didn't feel so bad.

Anyway.

When I get a bite, I just use Peppermint Essential Oil. 

I touch the oil bottle right to the bite, making sure that the oil wets the area.

Super easy.

But this can't be just any peppermint oil off the internet or from the store. I tried a friends' cheap internet oil and didn't notice a difference at all. I personally like TruEssence peppermint essential oil the best. I don't sell this one, so you can go to healyourbody.net and get it from my friend Holly. Now, normally I buy and sell doTerra and BeYoung. But after a lot of experience with a lot of different peppermints, I must say that TruEssence has hands down the best and strongest peppermint. Now, If you have doTerra, it will work fine as a distant second. And I just tried BeYoung's peppermint, but it was too late in the season to tell for sure if it's stronger than TruEssence. But don't even bother with the cheaper ones, those don't work worth squat for this particular ailment. Mosquito bites are actually the best way I've found to test peppermint quality.
     I do this as soon as I realize I'm itching it, and I usually find relief within minutes. This is probably the main reason I carry peppermint in my little oil first aid kit. 


Warning - Do not use the good peppermint on babies younger than 1-2 year old. Their little bodies can't handle the strong menthol. I used Lavender on my baby's bites.

First-Aid Kit

Hello,

Our Neighbourhood Emergency Preparedness Blog recently mentioned first-aid kits. How those tiny kits filled with band-aids that you buy from the store aren't going cut it in an emergency. And I don't mean end of the world emergency, I mean like someone got hurt and there's a storm, or I just burned myself, or whatever.
So anyway, I thought to myself, hey, I have a pretty good first-aid kit, maybe I'll get it out and see what's in there and then comment my suggestions. As I was looking, I realized that I've got a lot of some things, but others are missing.

Here is my kit:

It's just an orange tool box from Home Depot. I put a duck tape cross on the front.

Looks pretty distinctive, doesn't it?

In it, I have:

finger-splints and tube bandages and gauze (clearance from the grocery store), various size bandages and gauze (get those at the dollar store), band-aids, liquid bandage, butterfly band-aids, wart-freeze (coupon), moleskin,

solarcaine, saline solution, cold pack, silver solution (antiseptic), Redmond (betonite) clay (more on that another day, but you can google it if you just can't wait), iodine solution (antiseptic), sanitary pads (can be used for a large bandage), isopropyl alcohol,

safety pins, eyeglass kit, cough drops, bulb syringe, tape, hydro-cortisone cream, gloves, a glow stick (in case it's dark and there's no electricity) alcohol wipes, and more band-aids.

Phew.

Still need to add a non-digital thermometer (especially since my cool digital forehead one is broken), burn cream, more gauze, handkerchiefs, a few pain killers (most of my pills are currently kept elsewhere), and maybe a suture kit.

What do you think? Do you have any other suggestions?



P.S. - this kit does not include things for flu - that is a whole 'nother kit that I will tell you about next time!

P.P.S. - this also mainly includes my conventional medical supplies. Supplements, oils, and other alternative therapies are separate.