I think this is one of the most recognizable images ever. We always had a couple of boxes around our house. Arm & Hammer has been providing us with one of the most versatile and affordable products for over 165 years. When I was a child I had no idea it could be used for so many different things. The only thing I ever saw was my grandmother dumping it down the drain after it had done time in the fridge as an odor collector. But it has endless uses. And I'd like to talk about one now. One that, maybe, you didn't know about.
We've had several days of monsoon rains here and that can leave standing water. And standing water leaves...mosquitoes! Now, I am allergic to mosquitoes. They can find me anywhere. They've even been known to wait for me outside of the movie theater. Seriously, there was a swarm buzzing around my car in the theater parking lot. Only my car. I can be standing in a group of people and be the only one to get bit. They know me. They like me. They bite me. I will swell and itch like nothin you've ever seen. So I try to stay inside around dusk and I try to remember to wear my eau de bugspray. But sometimes, despite my best intentions, I will still end up with a mosquito bite. Luckily there is itch relief waiting patiently in my fridge.
If you do get bit by a mosquito, do not scratch it! Instead, make a paste with baking soda and a little bit of water. Apply it directly to the bite to relieve swelling and itching. Now, I'm not positive what it is in that magic powder that helps, but I know it does.
Baking soda can also help with stings from flying beasties that don't itch. Many years ago I was stung by a wasp. I hate wasps. They just are not attractive to me. My roommate and I were relaxing in beach chairs on our patio when she swatted at a wasp with a magazine. The wasp landed on my leg and for some reason, instinct I guess, my roommate swatted the wasp while it was on my leg! So of course, the wasp stung me. It hurt so bad! It started swelling right away. I yelled at her, "You do know I'm allergic to bees!" She panicked and ran inside to call her mother, who happened to be a nurse, in Colorado. "Mom! I killed my roommate!" I can only imagine what her mother thought. I hobbled inside and lay down on the couch while she took instructions from her mother. She shoved pillows under my leg to elevate it and then ran to the fridge and started rummaging around. The first thing she brought out was a meat tenderizer. I thought, "Wow, she's getting a dinner recipe while I'm just waiting for my throat to close." Then she grabbed the ever present box of baking soda. She made a paste using the baking soda and a little A-1 and put it on the sting area. By the time I finished my Cosmo magazine you couldn't even tell anything had happened. And it turns out I wasn't allergic to bees after all.
So if you go out around dusk, or work in your garden, keep that little orange box handy.
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