That’s All Folks!

After much thought . . .

After much internal debate . . .

I have decided to stop updating this blog.  I could bore you with all the reasons, (privacy, time constraints, other projects) but I just don’t have the time to keep up with it any longer.

BUT, I will NOT be deleting the blog.  The few tutorials I’ve done, the links to the freebies I’ve made, the odd knitting pattern I’ve put up . . . those will all stay right here.

Please, feel free to use those, for personal use, as much as you want.  And pass a link to my blog to any new digi-scrappers as it’s always good to have some free things to get started!

I love the blogging community.  I read so many blogs every day.  I, however, won’t be contributing anymore.  It just came down to a simple equation.  Not enough hours in the day plus trying to limit the amount of information about my kids online.

Thank you all for your support.  It’s meant more than I can say.  Truly. 

I’m still around. 

Reading.

And feel free to comment or send me an email (beth.nixon.blog@gmail.com).

Thanks! 

And I hope you all find joy and choose happy.  Everyday.

Last Chance! Midnight Tonight!

Remember to click HERE, before July 8th, 2009, at midnight, if you want a chance to win $250.

Tick Tock, Tick Tock.

Time is running out to get your chance into win $250!

$250!!

Remember to click HERE, before July 8th, 2009, if you want a chance to win $250.

Do it now!  Time is running out!

Soothing An Itchy Cast

The girl broke her arm.

She has a hot pink, waterproof, cast that she loves.

Except when it starts to itch.  Then she starts to beg me to take it off.

And the more she thinks about it, the worse it gets.  She cries and thrashes and cries louder and louder.  As I’ve never had a cast, I had no idea how to help her.  And is there anything worse, as a mommy, then not being able to help your child when they are uncomfortable?

We tried all sorts of scratching items (knitting needles, spatulas, q-tips) but I know that’s a big no-no.  But it’s the only thing I could think of.  (I did find that a long ice tea spoon is blunt, smooth, and long enough to get some of the itches.

One of the only times it felt good was when we were in the pool.  But we can’t be in the pool 24/7.  So, I racked my brain and then remembered we had a bottle of Cetaphil in the bathroom.  It’s a very mild soap that can be left on the skin.  It can be used with water OR if you can’t take a regular bath, it can be wiped on and gently wiped off, leaving a residue on the skin.  That residue helps keep the skin moist.

Hmm.

Two nights ago, after washing and rinsing her arm and rinsing more, I literally poured Cetaphil down her cast.  I rinsed, then dumped some more.

She had a few complaints yesterday but NOTHING compared to the last few days.

Last night, I poured dumped more in there, lightly rinsed it through the cast, then poured in a bit lot more and added just enough water so that the Cetaphil would wash throughout her cast.

Not ONE complaint since last night.

I’m almost afraid to ask her.

In fact, I don’t.  I’m assuming that if she isn’t complaining, it isn’t a problem!

I love the waterproof cast.  The amount of water that goes through that thing should keep her arm clean.  We’ve been at our pool, which is not chlorine but salt-water, almost every day.  Then showers where I basically hook up the nozzle to her arm and run the water through the cast.

But nothing can stop the itchies.

Or can it?

Let’s hope we found a solution.  Because listening to her cry and not being able to help . . . ugh.  Worst feeling ever.

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Remember to click HERE, before July 8th, 2009, if you want a chance to win $250.

Hot Pink and Waterproof!

It’s hot pink.

It’s waterproof. (tested today at the pool)

Earlier this week, for about three hours, I thought we were going to have to cancel summer.

Looks like it’s back on!

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Remember to click HERE, before July 8th, 2009, if you want a chance to win $250.

The Facebook-ing of My Life

Last night my little girl broke her arm.

She fell off a swing, came in crying.  I got her to calm down using the magical power of Sponge-Bob.  Then we ate a quick dinner. As her arm was still making her cry, even after the antics of Sponge-Bob and Patrick and a little chocolate pudding, we hopped down for a, ahem, quick visit to our friendly ER.

After the usual sitting around and poking, she got a few x-rays.  More waiting to find out she broke her wrist.  Both bones.  They splinted her up and sent us home with a number to an ortho doctor to visit today to get her, hopefully, a hot pink waterproof, cast.

She gets home and her arm in hurting so I give her some motrin.  Get her a snack.  Get her changed and into bed.

The boy has 274 questions and can’t settle down to get to sleep.  I lay with him.  He tosses and turns.  Sits up with more questions.  The cats jump on his bed.

Finally, everyone is asleep and I get a snack and relax.

Climb into bed a little bit later, along with the husband, the dog, and both cats.  All of us happily snuggled together.

At 2:30am the boy is awake.  His stomach hurts.  The kitten is bugging him.  It’s hot.

By 4:30am, I’ve been called to his room 5 times and I give up and lay down in his bed, with the water squirter in hand to chase away an adventurous kitten.

By 5:30am, the boy is *finally* sound asleep again.  I climb back into my own bed.  The dog follows me.  The cats follow her.  I, once again, fall asleep with a water squirter in my hands.

At 6:00am the girl says she can’t sleep because her arm hurts. 

I scoop her up into my bed.  We toss and turn.  With the water squirter.

We fall asleep.  I have several bad dreams.  At 7:30am, we wake up.  Whispering so as not to wake the boy who is surely sleeping in after his bad night.  We tip-toe down the hall of our small ranch house.  We find the boy, on the couch, watching TV.

(sigh . . . That kid NEVER EVER sleeps in.  NEVER.)

So, as I go through this terrible night, as I toss and turn, worry, chase away cats, think of the ER, the pink cast the girl will get, what needs to be done today, my mind is composing the perfect, pithy, facebook update.

This is what I’ve come up with . . . Beth Nixon is . . . lucky.

Yep.  Lucky.

It was never a question if we were going to go to the ER if she needed it.  We have insurance.  Great insurance.  The ER visit cost me $25.

It was never a question if she can go get her cast.  Or if we can pay the upgrade to a water proof cast if possible.  We can. It may not be how we planned to spend that money.  Things may need to get cut in other areas.  But we can.

The boy may have tossed and turned, but he has a bed to toss and turn in.  And one big enough to let his tired mommy lay down with him when he can’t stop tossing and turning.

The kitten may be wild, but he was living on the street.  Just a 6-week old baby.  And when he’s not running around at night, he’s the sweetest, most purring kitten ever.  And my daughter loves to just carry him around.  And he lets her.

So I’m tired.  Worried.  I’m re-arranging our plans for the summer.  I sleep with a water squirter in my hand.

But, in the scheme of things, I’m lucky.

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Remember to click HERE, before July 8th, 2009, if you want a chance to win $250.

Day #3 of Summer Break

It’s official.  The boy is a first grader.  His last day was Thursday of last week. 

That means we are on Day 3 of Summer Break.

And, as always, my kids are up early every day.

Our first day, we ate breakfast then they got started on their work.  This is great fun for them.  It’s a complicated calendar of workbook-type activities I put together.  (It includes math, reading, practicing piano, an educational computer game, and other activities.  They earn stickers and if they earn the appropriate stickers they get a reward at the end of the month.)

I started a load of laundry.  Folded a load of laundry.  Put away a few loads of laundry.  (um, I was a bit behind on the laundry!) Picked up.

Then we headed outside and they played, very nicely, with his Bakugan and her stuffed animals in some strange made-up game while I weeded and weeded and weeded our very over grown butterfly garden.  (It’s been un-tended for over a year and needs much work.)

We came inside for lunch.

By 12:30, lunch was cleaned up.  Dishwasher was running.  Clothes were in the dryer.  Kids were happily eating frozen yogurt pops we made in the morning.  House was picked up.  Workbooks have been filled in.  Garden was weeded.

We then played games.  I knitted while they played with Bakugan and stuffed animals.

Second day?  Maybe not as productive but we added in a play date.  And they, voluntarily, scrubbed out the bathroom for me!  I mean getting out the mop and in the bathtub with a scrub brush!

Today?  Day #3?  We are about to start workbook activities.  They’ve already built a fort.  Helped me get laundry started.  And want to help me wash the dog a bit later.  Plus we have a play date coming over in the afternoon.

If the summer continues like this, it’ll be busier than the school year but my house will be cleaner and the kids will be happy!

I think I’ll keep this post.  And it’s optimism.  For when, in another week or two, the long, boring, hot days of summer fray at all of our nerves.  Then I’ll read this and laugh at myself!

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Remember to click HERE, before July 8th, 2009, if you want a chance to win $250.