Tick #7~Give A Girl A Cookie!

Yesterday afternoon, I found tick #7 while I was trying to relax and read a book in the tub. It was crawling up the tile right by the faucet. Right by my foot. Tick #1 was on my son’s knee, under his jeans a couple of weeks ago after he had come in from playing outside with the dogs. Tick #2 was crawling up the wall in the living room. Tick #3 was crawling up the sheers next to the front door, tick #4 was found crawling up the backyard slider screen door. Tick #5 was spotted crawling around on the blinds behind the kitchen sink, and tick #6 was found by our son, crawling up the wall in the same vicinity as tick #2.

Not all in one day, of course. It’s been about 1-2 every week. The Good Lord knows me all too well and obviously that if I were to find 7 ticks in one day in my house….well, let’s just say, He never gives us more than we can handle.

Instead of running out the front door screaming, I calmly crawled out of the tub possibly uttering a few (many) toothless trucker swear words, and Googled if it was possible to have an infestation of ticks inside your house. Oh, and I discussed it with my friends because that’s where all the real life information and support is anyway. Except one friend I have in New Hampshire who informed me they have professionals spray because one year, the entire side of their house was crawling with ticks.

O.M.G. That……..maybe I didn’t need to hear that.

The internet or “innerweb” as my husband likes to call it, had a lot of really alarming things to say which did start to really FREAK ME OUT. I won’t share them with you, because both of us don’t need to be freaked out. I’m pretty convinced that they are coming in on the animals and we’re just missing them. Or, coming in by themselves because we are backed up to that huge infested 500 acres of tick field behind us. I’m trying very hard to remain calm and not think about larvae, and infestations, Lyme re-infection, and other words that make my hair stand on end and make me want to have a nervous breakdown.

I had to eat an entire personal sized watermelon and balanced it out with a chicken leg because I was so stressed and there wasn’t one thing in this house that was sweet that fits into my damn diet. Whoever named it a personal sized watermelon, wasn’t joking.

So.

Like any freaked out woman on a mission with watermelon juice running down her chin and a chicken bone in her mouth, I put my planning cap on and took the bull by the horns. I promptly grabbed our less than friendly cat by the scruff of her neck, and gave her a brushing like I’m sure she’s never seen the likes of. She only bit me twice.

Then, I went upstairs and made sure there were no ticks in my bed. Then the dog beds. Every piece of dust and fuzz on our dark floors and every little nick on the wall screamed, “TICK!!!!!” and made me want to run for my life. But, somehow, I held it together. I scrubbed both dogs from head to toe and made sure nothing creepy was living on them. They crawled right into the tub for me with no hassles. They’re my sweet babies of course, unlike the cat who reminds me of a nasty teenager.  After watching me brush the cat with wide eyes and puzzled looks, I’m guessing they knew better. 

After they were dried, I wiped down everything in the house. I loaded my Dyson with Eucalyptus Globulus oil because it’s supposed to kill ticks and they hate the smell of it, and then vacuumed every single square inch of my house that I could reach. I made a pact with myself that I would order white sheets with no pattern for our bed tomorrow and I would make the time to vacuum every single day, for the rest of the summer.  Then I went to bed with pulled muscles, armed with ibuprofen, Calm tea, Stress Away essential oil, and one eye open.

Today is a new day, thankfully. So far, no ticks.

I’ve dubbed today, Cookie Day.

Because no one should ever have to self medicate with watermelon and a chicken leg. Oh yeah, and feel free to stop by unannounced any time this summer because my house is going to be freaking spotless. 

Coconut Raisin Haystacks

*Makes 24 cookies

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

1 8oz Bag of Organic Unsweetened Shredded Coconut 

1/3 Cup of Organic Coconut Sugar

3 Tablespoons of Cassava Flour

1/8 teaspoon of Sea Salt

3 Organic Egg Whites plus 1 Whole Egg

1 Tablespoon of Filtered Water

1/2 teaspoon of Pure Almond Extract

1/2 teaspoon of Organic Ground Cinnamon

1/3 Cup of Organic Raisins

2/3 Cups of Enjoy Life Chocolate Chips

1 teaspoon of Organic Unrefined Coconut Oil

Add the shredded coconut to a medium bowl. Add the coconut sugar, cassava flour, salt, egg whites, whole egg, water, cinnamon, almond extract and raisins. Stir thoroughly until the mixture is completely combined and thoroughly moist. 

Using a spoon, form mounds of dough and place on a parchment covered baking sheet. 

Place on the middle rack of your oven and bake for 20 minutes. 

While cookies are baking, melt the chocolate chips and coconut oil to drizzling consistency. 

Remove cookies from oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes. Drizzle with chocolate and enjoy!