Aw, that's really nice of her to help, Suzi. I hope things go well and quickly resolve.

When I was young, Crisco seemed to be part of all cookie recipes. We used margarine as a spread, and Crisco in cookies

Y'know, I have no recollection of USING crisco for anything growing up, but I know we HAD it. Nowadays, I do not own any, and don't know what I"d use it for. I guess in theory pie crust, except I generally just buy crust, rather than making it.

My favorite easy bar cookies call for melted Crisco/shortening. And shortening makes my pie crusts flakey.

My kids' spots are definitely on inaccessible areas, like torso and crotch. Not areas that have been exposed. It's disturbing.

My mother makes great pie crusts with Crisco, although a good part of her success is 60 years of making pie crust. The now defunct Swift'ning, which was part lard, made better pie crust, but it died in one of the fat wars. Crisco was recently reformulated to be lower in transfats (it could hardly be higher), and it seems to cook about the same for her.

Current science says lard is better for you than the partially hydrogenated shortenings like Crisco that replaced it. I'm waiting for butter and sugar to become health foods.

Burrell,

try a "free" detergent and see if that helps.

That sounds vaguely topical allergic reaction. Maybe have their pediatrician look at it?

I'm thinking that you have sensitive skin (mostly I think this because I do and sometimes we're twins) and they could too. I get weird welty things sometimes and most every bite or abrasion gets inflamed. Basically my skin freaks out if air blows the wrong way. Though I am pretty sure the current itching is totally psychosomatic which is silly.

I kinda think free detergent is a good idea. Especially since it's not just torso but crotch. Chemicals, fibers, excessively dry air?

io9 and the other sites are making me want to get an account and slap a few people with facts. And jalopnik is the worst. People are being wrong on the internet and I cannot just get over it.

I was about the say the same thing, le nubian. It is possible we're actually the same person.

People often develop mild allergies to scented laundry detergents, and the rash usually shows up wherever clothes stay close to the skin, like around the waist. Tide Free used to be the best, but it's gotten hard to find. I'm leaning towards All Free and Clear being the best of the easily available ones.

Tide Free used to be the best, but it's gotten hard to find.

Ginger, did you see the article about how Tide is being stolen to be used as currency on the street? Wacky. No other detergents: just Tide!

I rash up from scented detergents and a bunch of other stuff. My epidermis, it is a delicate flower.

Yes, Ginger, le n, and Cass, I just switched back to a hypoallergenic detergent. That's what I had used, but missed scents and bought a scented one. That was probably a mistake.

I think I've IDed our bugs: not bed bugs, carpet beetle larvae. We found two of them. Looks like I'll still be bagging and washing all the clothes anyway. sigh. And DH is quite skeptical that this is just a reaction to the larvae.