Ryan's diaper rash is gone. It's nice to see pretty white, pinkish normal skin on his bottom. My DIL took Ryan to the doctor and he prescribed a prescription cream for his bottom. It did appear that he had a yeast infection. Ryan had the "perfect storm" that led to his rash: ear infection; prescription for an antibiotic to treat the ear infection; and he was cutting teeth.
After applying the prescription cream twice a day, we saw a difference within a day. However we still had to deal with the rash hurting him when we were cleaning him up after he soiled his diapers. The other problem was that he had horrible runny diapers. His bottom was still raw and yet we had to get it clean so it would clear up. I continued to use soft flannel homemade wipes on his bottom and then I applied Vaseline all over his bottom and genital area. He screamed and cried and then when I was done, I stood him up and he hugged me and put his head on my shoulder. I had a lot of tears last week.
Since he was already getting a prescription cream in the morning and the afternoon we decided that it was best to go conservative throughout the day and just use Vaseline.
Well the rash cleared up by the second day and when he was at my house yesterday I had one happy little boy. He had been sick and then he had the pain of the rash and cutting of the teeth so he hadn't been himself for a long time. Ryan spent the whole day happy. He smiled, he played, he giggled and he was feeling so good. I had a few errands to run and he waived and smiled at people.
We had a great day and it was one of those days that you treasure.
Thanks for all the advice on the rash. Many of these ideas I will be using on him in the future.
February 04, 2014
February 02, 2014
SNAP menu - Working on it.
When I took up the challenge of coming up with food choices or menus for living on a food stamp budget, I struggled with where to begin. The reason: I probably know more about making things from scratch and stretching a food dollar than a lot of people. Why? Because I took the real Home Economics class in the early 1970's where the first thing we learned to make was muffins from scratch.
What else did I learn from the good ole Home Ec class? Sewing, cooking from scratch, cleaning and generally an economical way to run a home. This kind of training went out the door as women went to work in order to help support their families and they needed faster tools for doing things: i.e. processed foods.
Getting back to my own food stamp challenge, I have decided to do two options. One for me and with my knowledge of stretching a food budget and one with someone who has not had the same background and training and uses convenience and processed foods.
With a $50 budget ($25 per person in my family) I will use that money to purchase what a person with my knowledge could make into menus. Since going on a SNAP budget means that we will probably have had hard times and I will have used up most of the items in my cupboard, I will be making up my grocery list with hardly any food at home in my pantry.
Plan B will be using convenience foods to fill the menus for a person who doesn't cook much and doesn't have the same cooking schools that I have.
For both plans I may add an option of getting a small amount of items (i.e. a few cans) from a food bank.
When the food ads come out, I will be using the ad for this week to make up the menus. In fact I may do these budgets for a couple of weeks using the successive food ads.
This was my stumbling block in getting this challenge done. I was struggling with the "Rules" of the challenge. Doing this challenge with a Plan A and a Plan B is just the ticket for my getting this research done.
What else did I learn from the good ole Home Ec class? Sewing, cooking from scratch, cleaning and generally an economical way to run a home. This kind of training went out the door as women went to work in order to help support their families and they needed faster tools for doing things: i.e. processed foods.
Getting back to my own food stamp challenge, I have decided to do two options. One for me and with my knowledge of stretching a food budget and one with someone who has not had the same background and training and uses convenience and processed foods.
With a $50 budget ($25 per person in my family) I will use that money to purchase what a person with my knowledge could make into menus. Since going on a SNAP budget means that we will probably have had hard times and I will have used up most of the items in my cupboard, I will be making up my grocery list with hardly any food at home in my pantry.
Plan B will be using convenience foods to fill the menus for a person who doesn't cook much and doesn't have the same cooking schools that I have.
For both plans I may add an option of getting a small amount of items (i.e. a few cans) from a food bank.
When the food ads come out, I will be using the ad for this week to make up the menus. In fact I may do these budgets for a couple of weeks using the successive food ads.
This was my stumbling block in getting this challenge done. I was struggling with the "Rules" of the challenge. Doing this challenge with a Plan A and a Plan B is just the ticket for my getting this research done.
Let's Hear a Yea for Menopause!
I made a promise to myself last fall and that is that January and February were going to be wonderful months for me. Why? The last 3 Januarys and Februarys have been horrible for me. They were filled with depression and anxiety and I found myself spiraling downward each year. This year was going to be different and it has.
I continue with the drug therapy that I have been on since last April. Lexapro has been a wonderful drug therapy for me. It works and best of all it works for me in small doses. I do experience some anxiety but it is what I call "normal" anxiety. Normal anxiety to me is the anxiety you feel when you are going to be late for an appointment. Abnormal anxiety for me was having anxiety caused by a small thing such as our dog barking a little and then it would go from 1 to 10 in seconds leading me to full blown panic attacks.
Along with the drug therapy I am careful as to what I eat and I get sleep and exercise. AND I am now into full blown menopause. Now that I have gone through 1 year without a menses I can now say I made it through to the other side and being in menopause is not so bad. In fact, it is a blessing! I don't have to buy tampons or pads anymore or experience cramps and that monthly yuck feeling.
I used to think of menopause as being something an old lady gets. I don't consider myself as being old at 54. However, I must say that 54 was old to me when I was in my 20's. What it all comes down to is am I happy or not? If I am happy it shows in the way I take care of myself and this reflects in my general health and well being.
I am not the same 50 year old woman that my mom was some 30 years ago. I work out, I watch what I eat and I am getting involved in volunteer activities in my church and community. I don't dress like my mom either and I don't dress like a teenager too. Yep being 50 is not like being your mom's 50. It is what you make of it and I love it.
If I have a hot flash every now and then, I can deal with it. In fact, it has been kind of nice to have a hot flash with all of the cold weather we have been having, but I am sure come summer it might not be so nice.
I am not the same 50 year old woman that my mom was some 30 years ago. I work out, I watch what I eat and I am getting involved in volunteer activities in my church and community. I don't dress like my mom either and I don't dress like a teenager too. Yep being 50 is not like being your mom's 50. It is what you make of it and I love it.
If I have a hot flash every now and then, I can deal with it. In fact, it has been kind of nice to have a hot flash with all of the cold weather we have been having, but I am sure come summer it might not be so nice.
I started my period at the age of 11 and ended it at the age of 53. That is 42 years of dealing with PMS, cramps and buying tampons. I'm glad it's over and I'm ready to move on.
Cleaning my Area Rug - 1 Year Later
It has been more than a year since I cleaned my area rugs as posted in this article. These rugs never smelled from the ammonia of the pet urine since I cleaned them. I'm so pleased.
I didn't get around to doing it last summer but beginning this summer I am going to take all of my large area rugs and simply wash them outside with cold water from the hose. The plan is to use no soap of any kind and simply "rinse" the dirt away. Then it will take a few days for them to dry hanging over the deck rail. Note to self: check the weather forecast before I do this.
Water does the job quite well and is better for the fibers of the rug and for our health also It just goes to show that sometimes a conservative way of cleaning is much better than using a lot of chemicals. I had to use the store bought cleaner to get the urine smell out, but from now on it is going to be water.
I didn't get around to doing it last summer but beginning this summer I am going to take all of my large area rugs and simply wash them outside with cold water from the hose. The plan is to use no soap of any kind and simply "rinse" the dirt away. Then it will take a few days for them to dry hanging over the deck rail. Note to self: check the weather forecast before I do this.
Water does the job quite well and is better for the fibers of the rug and for our health also It just goes to show that sometimes a conservative way of cleaning is much better than using a lot of chemicals. I had to use the store bought cleaner to get the urine smell out, but from now on it is going to be water.
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