We don't like bugs

Dear Katie,

I am sorry that I have passed my irrational fear of flying stinging things on to you. I hope they don't kick you out of Montessori school when you declare "we don't like bees", and I hope that you are not afraid to play outside with the ants, and that you do not demand the teachers check the sandbox for spiders before crawling in to play.

We will try again this year to have a little organic garden. Whose idea was it for a woman insanely afraid of bugs to have an organic garden anyway? I did put a few tomato plants in the ground with the hope that when we return from vacation we will have lots of red juicy goodness. Also, I planted this sweet looking deck garden which we will transport to Newport so we can enjoy cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers and herbs there too! Maybe there will be less bugs up on the deck? Now I just need to figure a way to keep our bad cat Sophie from digging in the pepper plant. Now, this is why I'm down to two lonely houseplants, but I refuse to let her destroy the outside ones too.

So, this is the year mommy will try to overcome this silly fear. By wearing big silly hats to scare away the bugs.

And wearing lots of burt's bees bug repellent.

And having nightly tick checks.

Okay, and the occasional spritz of wasp poison by our local pest eliminators.

And just getting outside a little every day. Except NOT in the winter. Because we don't like the cold.