Hello everyone!! What happened to January?! I could have sworn I’d blogged last month but I guess that wasn’t so. Sorry ’bout that. Will try to compensate for that in February!
When I think back on January and what consumed my mind, a good chunk of it was fretting about mosquitoes. The frustrating part is that it shouldn’t be an issue. We don’t leave our windows or doors open, we live on a high apartment floor AND we even had the gaps in our windows or doors sealed as an extra measure. And yet, still they found their way in each and every day. Our best hypothesis is that they ride up the elevator and go in under the door.
It’s been absolutely maddening. One night we woke up to buzzing in our ears around 2 AM and saw a whole mess of them flying around. So we turned on all the lights and started going after them. 30 minutes later we had killed 14, the majority of which were filled with blood (likely ours!).
It was disgusting. We’d wake up with blood on our faces, on the sheets, or on our pillows. I have no idea how we killed so many in our sleep but there was blood somewhere on the bed or our body 90% of the days we woke up in January.
Now, we didn’t just sit back and take it. We tried loads of things. We burned citronella incense sticks, we got a plug-in that emitted a smell, a electric tennis racquet-shaped bat that zaps them on contact and a UV Katchy bug trap that we ordered from the States. It was so bad I started wearing bug spray to bed. But that grossed me out even more so I played around with various essential oils and eventually found a combo I could mix into some lotion that would keep them off of me. But even that didn’t work perfectly…
I’m sure you’re thinking “Sarah, why didn’t you just put up a mosquito net?” But I just couldn’t do it. We lived with hanging nets for 2 years in Malawi and they just kill the ambiance in the room. And I knew the mosquitoes would only be here for a month or so. But then, a friend mentioned the perfect solution – a mosquito net that doesn’t have to affix to the walls and ceiling!
Check this out! It’s like a little tent with material on the bottom that can be tucked between the mattress and boxspring to create a seal. What innovation! Who knew such a thing existed!? I was thrilled!
It’s worked perfectly AND it’s been super fun too. We all snuggle in the bed and read there at night and pretend we’re camping. I am grateful that our sleepless mosquito-filled nights are coming to an end. Hopefully we can put the net away for good within the next month.
PS – I’m pleased to report that we do not appear to have gotten dengue or malaria from the many bites we acquired in January. Thank goodness for that.
