I have a tiny whine. I didn't notice what bit me when I stepped outside for a few minutes, but whatever it was was way higher on the itching and swelling scale than a mosquito.

I'll just be sitting here scratching.

Benadryl cream - really - will help. I get mosquito bites a lot and it really helps. I carry a tube with me and a woman in my office had her legs covered with bites (walking in the swampy part of the dog park, she thinks) and it helped her.

And, if you are calculatedly reckless with the pharms like Tep and I, you can also take oral Benedryl.

Ugh, itchy bites are the worst. I got two bad ones this summer that both scarred.

And, if you are calculatedly reckless with the pharms like Tep and I, you can also take oral Benedryl.

Benadryl is practically not a drug! It's like a vitamin!

[NOT REALLY. I just sort of maybe a lot treat it pretty cavalierly. IT IS A DRUG. DO NOT TREAT IT LIKE A VITAMIN. ITS FEELINGS WILL BE HURT.]

Benadryl is practically not a drug!

Precisely.

I knocked back an additional Benadryl on top of what I usually take in a day and the swelling is going down.

Without benadryl and ibuprofen, I'd be a whimpering, sneezing lump.

My grandmother had one thing right: put iodine on bug bites. Disinfects, stop the itch, keeps from forming a scar.

Weekend!

Definitely no energy for synagogue tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

I stopped at the health food store on my way home, but I got there 20 minutes after it closed. The people were still there, though, and the owner told me that if I knew what I wanted, I could come in and buy it. I had two things I knew I needed to buy, and I'd planned on browsing and getting some other stuff, but I just went in and got the two things, and thanked her for letting me come in after it was closed.

I know that I don't really know what I'm doing when it comes to cleaning a house. When I was growing up, we had housecleaners who came once a week or once every other week, and they were usually there when I was at school, so I really didn't know the actual details of what they did. My old apartment pretty much reflected that -- I hired people to clean when I moved out, and they charged extra because it was so dirty. I know to clean up food stuff, but dust and dirt just accumulate, and I don't really know what to do about it. So, like the good geek I am, I looked on amazon and bought a book about "The Art & Science of Keeping House." It's a huge book with tiny print that seems to tell how to take care of everything. I just read the section on vacuuming. She says that the best thing is to vacuum every day, but if that's not possible, then at least vacuum the whole house once a week, and on in-between days, vacuum one or two rooms, so that each room will get done two or three times a week. Do people actually do this?

Do people actually do this?

Hells no.