Don’t Let the Bed Bugs Bite..?!

It’s all fun and games until someone get’s hurt – or bitten!

Yes, I had bed bugs. Well, ONE bed bug… And as this goes up, I’m wrapping-up 2 weeks of homelessness (many thanks to parents and friends for your hospitality!) and over a month of headache. The bites have gone, the chemical smell is dissipating, and clean sheets are back on my bed.

I’ve learned a lot about bed bugs in the last few weeks. They are tiny; they like warm (but not hot or cold) “fabric-y” places; their reproductive abilities make bunnies look prudish; they don’t carry human diseases (or so we all thought until about a week ago – seriously!); and they seem to make lots of people squirm – but not me.

Besides the large, tremendously itchy bites, the bug never really bothered me. I certainly wasn’t losing sleep over it. The reactions I got from just about everyone else I told however, implied I should have been having a different reaction…my “eeew” factor was missing.

Our societal reaction to bed bugs seems to equate them with dust, dirt and general un-cleanliness. If you ask anyone who has lived with me or been to my apartment, they will tell you that I’m pretty much the opposite of “un-clean” (or at least I’d like to think so). Perhaps this personal knowledge, that there was nothing I did that welcomed the bugs into my space, took away the “ick” factor – they were just bugs who happened to make their way into my apartment. And if nothing else, they made me acutely aware that even in our modern lives, we are co-habitating with much more than we realize. They are gone now and I’m back, happy to have this little saga behind me.

Image: New Hampshire Pests and Termites (Not my bed!)

Not Your Average Donation

Sunday is Mother’s Day (in the U.S.) and if you haven’t gotten at least a card for your mom already, you should get on that.

If you’re looking for a gift idea, might I suggest making a donation to the Organic Health Response. OHR, my “other” job, is a young and rapidly growing CBO on Mfangano Island, Lake Victoria, Kenya (the EK Center) and a U.S.-based non-profit. Rooted in HIV/AIDS, OHR’s ethos centers on harnessing new technology, supporting social and community solidarity, and promoting sustainability. Many of our programs revolve around the women and mothers of the community: a craft co-operative for HIV+ women; CHW training and support; full involvement of women in EK and organizational leadership; and a safe and accessible space for HIV testing and treatment.

OHR has accomplished an extraordinary amount in just 4 years, but all types of support are needed to keep these efforts moving forward. This is not your average donation – my own mother got a donation in her honor for Christmas (and if you ask me, she loved it) – it will directly support a community charting their own course towards well-being!

In the News: Stepping Up

Apologies to my regular readers (I don’t actually know if you exist!) for the nearly month-long hiatus. I’m not even sure where April went…

*I’ll admit that last Friday I was one of the crazies who woke-up at 5 a.m. to watch the Royal Wedding  in all its pomp and fashion (I still can’t get over how fabulous the dress was!) This week in DC, however, we had our own Royal occasion. Prince Charles was in town to give the keynote at a sustainable farming conference at Georgetown University, but beforehand made a visit to one of the only urban farms in the District of Columbia. Urban farms are a really fantastic way to promote sustainable living, fill food deserts, promote healthier eating and physical activity, and engage communities.

*Also this week, the First Lady continued her efforts for the Let’s Move! initiative by showing us her moves in conjunction with a new Beyoncé music video aimed at promoting movement through fun activities, like dancing!

*Finally, last month when I posted on Rome and all its culinary glory, I mentioned steps. Most of us know that 10,000 a day is the golden number, but I’ve recently become aware that this is actually in fact not all that easy (for some). My day job is currently having a 3-month pedometer challenge, in an effort to practice what we preach (for example, 3 months instead of just one to promote behavior change). Besides being a fun Spring fashion accessory, the pedometers have made us all painfully aware of how much or how little we are moving each day. 5,000 a day or higher puts you in the category of “non-sedentary” but you aren’t “active” till you hit 10,000.

For the month of April I had a total of 432,093 steps, which gives me an average of 15,432 a day. Sounds pretty good, right? Well… I only achieved this number by including the “steps” I get from swimming, yoga and running (yes, I’m allowed to do this within the parameters of the competition). I make a conscious effort to find the time for all of these activities and have the resources to do so. Most days, in actual steps, I was under 10,000. So far I’ve found that the key to adding more steps to my day is making little changes – getting off a bus stop further away from my destination, using the stairs instead of the elevator when doing laundry, etc. These small additions in steps can actually have a huge impact on the total. We’ll see how the next two months go – my goal is to be top 5 in the office – but for me at least, this exercise has already shifted my thinking on my own movement and that of others.