Sunday, June 28, 2015

Weekend update

When I write that, I think of "Saturday Night Live." ;-)

We ended up getting an emergency pediatrician appointment for O on Friday. When he woke up that morning, his face was so swollen with the poison ivy, he was almost unrecognizable. The doctor was baffled because O said he was only walking through the woods, which would have kept the plant oils near his lower extremities yet he was covered with the stuff.

O mentioned later on that the friend he was with also had to go to the doctor, so at that point I said, "I'm going to call his mom." I noticed that O got a little quiet when I announced that. Hmm.

I finally got M's mom on the phone the next morning. Come to find out, her son told her they'd cleared some ground in the woods and built a campfire. A-ha! That explained it. I was pretty annoyed to hear this because O should have given his doctor this bit of information. When I confronted him with what I'd learned, O was like, "Oh yeah, we were." First, I was mad he was making campfires, but even more mad that he didn't tell the whole story. Breathing in urushriol (the allergenic substance in poison ivy) via smoke can actually kill! At least it explained the systemic reaction he experienced.

The doctor prescribed five days of steroid pills. We noticed a huge improvement on the first day. It is now the third day and O's face looks completely normal. We told him he'd be getting punished as a result, but after talking it over with my husband, we decided the agony of the rash was almost punishment enough. (We also made him research the penalties for starting campfires on conservation land.) His rash should be cleared up by the time he leaves for camp next weekend.

That has been the other big part of our weekend: getting camp ready. He's going to be away for two weeks, so we spent part of today doing an inventory of his clothes and toiletries. Tomorrow we'll be heading out to buy some more t-shirts, underwear, and socks. I also ordered a camp sheet set and started work on the board shorts he'll be using for swimming. When we checked the packing list the camp sent us, I noticed they wanted boys to bring two pairs of swim trunks, so it looks like I'll be sewing two pairs this week.

My weight loss has stalled. I noticed I'm eating much more sugar than I should, so this week I'm going sugar free to see if this helps get the scale moving again. Even fruit is off the list.

Very happy the escaped NY convicts are accounted for. Just heard they got the second guy alive. Maybe we'll get some more details how they pulled off that somewhat impressive escape!

Crafting

Melody and I are finally getting to know each other a little better. I sat down Friday night and hemmed/repaired a pair of my husband's chinos. Then I re-hemmed the sleeves on his favorite shirt (they were raveling), removed a frayed collar, and used the darning foot to fill in some holes. I don't know how my husband gets so many holes in his clothes, it's crazy! Then today I repaired another pair of chinos -- more frayed hems -- and then sewed up a huge hole in the pocket of his favorite pair of shorts using the overcast stitch/foot. Everything was very easy and came out looking great. I think even my husband can see how much better Melody does with his mending. ;-)

This week's big sewing project will be the board shorts I talked about earlier.  I'm a little nervous about them because I'm sewing on microfiber, which can be a little tricky.

Did a fair bit of knitting this weekend. I started by Pebble Beach shawl on Thursday night and just passed the 15% mark. It's a very enjoyable knit. The pattern provides a nice chart that lets you check off each row and tells you when you've hit 5%, 10%, etc. I went up to Hub Mills in Billerica yesterday to buy a new #6 Addi Lace needle. The needle I had was way too slippery for the laceweight merino I'm using, and Addi Lace needles, although metal, are somewhat grippy (maybe because of the coating?). The new needle is making the project even more enjoyable so it was worth the capital investment.

I'll take a picture tomorrow. I'm using a gradient yarn and the cream color is about to switch over to a pale mint.

Kristie, I love love love your Hudson Bay baby blanket. I read your blog via Feedly so I missed the photo in your blog header and am glad you wrote about it. Now I'm eager to knit one!!

 

2 comments:

  1. I know it was wrong of me, but I had to laugh when I read about your son and the illicit campfire. I could fill a book with stories, all bad, about my kids and fire. The funny thing is, those same stories form some of their best childhood memories. Very scary though about it being toxic to inhale smoke from poison ivy. I had no idea. Glad to hear he's on the road to recovery and able to go to his camp. Thanks for the compliment on the Hudson's Bay blanket. Rebekah was really pleased with it. :-)

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  2. That's okay, Kristie. I forgive you. Almost every mom with grownup kids has told me their "kids and fire" stories when they hear what happened with O. Part of me understands it's a phase kids (mostly boys!) go through, and O and his friends do campfires responsibly ... HOWEVER, they're doing it where they shouldn't be. I didn't know about the risk of breathing in the poisoned smoke, either. Live and learn!

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