Tumbleweed Garden

Have you ever wanted a tumbleweed garden?  Yeah, me neither.
However, after 2 years of remodeling with a lot of heavy traffic in my backyard, all the grass has died and the tumbleweeds have taken over.

This is one small corner of my yard

Now that all the heavy remodeling is done, it is time to conquer my yard!!!
I've been working for about an hour so far and here is my progress.

The pile of removed weeds

So...best guess sometime next fall!!!

School starting

Tomorrow is the first day of school.  Quickly fading are the long lazy days of summer and swimming every day, and fast approaching are crisp days, warm rich tones and delicious smells.

Monkey will be starting 3rd grade, which also means this will be the first year she will have standardized tests, currently called STAAR.

Monster will be starting 1st grade and she is very apprehensive.  She was last year as well but adjusted easily and I have no doubt she will adjust again.

Today I asked them what they would like for breakfast in the morning.  Monster requested biscuits with country gravy but Monkey doesn't like gravy so she wanted a breakfast sandwich.

To save time, I went ahead and made the biscuits tonight.

Cheddar and Chive on the left, regular on the right

These biscuits are so simple and delicious, they have become one of my default recipes.  And look!! It even says it in the recipe name, they are quick!

Quick Drop Biscuits

2 cups of flour
1 Tb of baking powder
2 tsp of sugar
1/2 tsp of salt
1/2 cup of butter melted
1 cup of milk

Preheat oven to 450°F.
Mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together.  Dump in milk and melted butter and stir just until mixed.  Do NOT overmix.
Spray your baking sheet with cooking spray and drop batter by the spoonful onto sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly browned.

The great thing about this recipe is how versatile it is.  You can add herbs and cheese to make savory biscuits, or add fruit to make them sweet.  I made 2 batches tonight.  One regular, and one cheddar and chive.  I added about a cup of shredded cheddar cheese and about 1 Tb of chives to the dry ingredients before adding the wet.

In the morning, I will make country gravy for the regular biscuits and eggs and sausage to go on the cheddar chive biscuits.

I may not look forward to school starting but I am looking forward to breakfast!!

Burn Healing continued

8 days post burn

Back to the saga of burn wound care!  The picture above was taken 8 days after the burn and the wound was still oozing so we kept it covered.  Over the next few days, it progressed and continued to heal.

Day 9

Day 10

Day 11

Day 12

At this point, the wound was no longer oozing so we tried leaving the gauze off as the burn center had instructed.  Unfortunately, newly grown skin is not only incredibly thin and sensitive, it is also itchy.  She managed to scratch herself within minutes so we put her back in the gauze and mesh shirt to keep her hands away from the burn.   

Day 13

On the 13th day after she was burned, I went into labor and delivered Bear.  My mom watched Monkey and Monster for us while we were in the hospital but she did make the mistake of turning around for about 2 seconds to talk to Monkey while Monster had her gauze off which resulted in her scratching open the fresh skin again, as evidenced in the day 15 post below.

Day 15

Day 16

Day 17

Day 18

At this point, Mr. Gem had taken her back to the burn center for another check up.  The said she was healing well and told us to switch to fragrance free lotion like Eucerin and sunscreen.  We were told to be vigilant for the next year as even a minor sunburn could cause scarring on this fresh tissue and let me tell you...we were VERY strict.  Lotion was applied at least 3 times daily, sometimes more if she started to scratch, sunscreen was applied at least twice daily and we also just didn't go outside much.

Day 20

Day 22

Day 25

Day 30

2 months post burn

As you can see, over time it did get lighter and lighter and today, 4 years later, no one can tell she was burned.  We go to a camp every year that is for burn victims and the nurses there are always amazed that she has no noticeable scarring.  The only scar she has is where the burn underwent conversion, it doesn't tan so during the summer she will have 2 or 3 little white lines on her shoulder.  I put it down to good genes, good luck and good vigilance that first year.


I know these last two posts aren't happy fun posts but I really wanted to make them because if it can help even one parent out there who is currently going through this with their child then it is worth it.  

Tomorrow, I will post of happier things, I promise!!

Second Degree Burn Healing Progress

After much deliberation, I have decided to post the daily pictures I took of my Monster when she was healing from her superficial second degree scald burns in the hopes that it may help other parents facing the same thing to have an idea of what to expect in regards to what it looks like as it heals.

In 2011, my Monster, who had recently turned 2, pulled a bowl of stew off the counter onto herself right in front of me.  I couldn't stop her.  It was like a horror movie taking place right before my eyes.  I had just ladled the boiling stew into bowls and pushed them to the back of the counter where (I thought) my kids couldn't reach them to cool off.  While they were cooling, I started unloading the dryer a few feet away.  I saw my Monster approach the bowls, told her to stay away because it was hot, saw her reach for it, started towards her but was not fast enough.  In the blink of an eye, she had pulled a bowl of stew off the counter onto herself.  I instantly pulled her clothes off and a layer of skin came with it.  I rushed to the bathroom and turned the cold water on, putting her into the tub where she immediately laid down on her stomach in the cold water, trying to stop the pain.  As I wrapped her in a towel and started rushing towards the phone to call Mr. Gem, he pulled up.  I yelled at him to put her car seat in his car.  Within minutes he had her in the car and he was racing for the hospital, which is about 30 minutes away.  He made it in 8 minutes.  I turned off the appliances so the house wouldn't burn down, loaded up my Monkey, called my parents and started towards their house to drop off Monkey so I could go to the ER.

In the ER- you can see where the initial skin came off as I pulled her clothes off

When I was a block from the ER, Mr. Gem called to tell me she was being airlifted to the specialized burn unit 2 hours away.  I got to the hospital in time to see her for a few minutes before she was loaded on the helicopter.  Because of the flying conditions, Mr. Gem and myself were not able to fly with her.  I had to stand and watch while my terrified 2 year old was doped up on morphine and loaded into a helicopter with strangers.

Watching the helicopter take off with my baby

We waited long enough to watch the helicopter take off and then Mr. Gem and I rushed home, packed overnight bags for ourselves (did I mention I was 38 weeks pregnant with Bear at the time?!?!) and took off towards the hospital she was lifted too.  After about an hour on the road, we called the hospital to make sure the helicopter had landed safely.  We were assured that yes, it had landed, she was safe and they had someone sitting with our daughter until we arrived.  We were pulled over by a State Trooper on the way.  We explained why we were speeding and the Trooper was very gracious to let us go with a warning.

We got to the hospital and were promptly taken back to our daughter.  She was kind of out of it because of the morphine but was still in obvious pain.  We cuddled with her and tried to take her mind off of it until the doctor came in and explained that they were going to have to debride the wound which means they had to essentially use a Brillo pad to scrub all the blisters and dead skin off of her wound and then apply medicine.  They gave her another shot of morphine, waited for it to kick in and then we were escorted to the other side of the ER.  We were told that even with the morphine shot, it would be painful and it was easier if we weren't right there.  Even through all the closed doors, we could hear her screams of pain.

As soon as they were done debriding her wound and bandaging her, they came and got us.  She was transferred to the pediatrics unit and my husband was allowed to stay the night with her while I got a hotel with my father, who apparently followed us and arrived shortly after we did.
They monitored her vitals and kept her on IV fluids to insure she wouldn't go into shock and the next morning, the burn specialist came in, checked our daughters wound during a bandage change, informed us that it appeared she had superficial second degree burns and told us she didn't look like she would need skin grafts.

First bandage change after initial debridement, she was NOT happy

We were given instructions for changing her bandages at home, prescriptions for pain medication and the wound care supplies and she was released with instructions to debride the wound once or twice a day, put Neosporin on it covered with a nonstick adaptic dressing, covered with gauze and held in place with a mesh net.
 

1st bandage change at home- after bandages come off

1st bandage change- after debridement

2nd bandage change- after bandage removal

2nd bandage change- after scrub

3rd bandage change- after bandage removal

3rd bandage change- after scrub

4th bandage change- after bandage removal

4th bandage change- after scrub

        

5th bandage change- after bandage removal

5th bandage change- after scrub

6th bandage change- after removal

6th bandage change- after scrub

7th bandage change

8th bandage change- after bandage removal

8th bandage change- after bandage removal

9th bandage change- after bandage removal

9th bandage change- after scrub

You can see the area under her nipple is starting to look more irritated.

10th bandage change- starting to itch

10th bandage change- after scrub

At this point it had been one week since we left the hospital and they wanted us to come back for a check-up.  She was NOT a happy camper while we were there!  They said that she was having a reaction to the Neosporin.  We were told to switch to Aquaphor and continue with the bandages until the wound was no longer oozing.  We also found out that she had 3 small spots where the burn underwent conversion to a deeper second degree burn but they were small enough to not require grafts.

This post is getting long so I'm going to break it into two parts.  I'll post the rest tomorrow.

ONE WEEK CHECK-UP

Long Time, No see

Well hey there friend!! Did ya miss me?  Did ya even notice I was gone?  Do you even know who I am?!? ;)

For those 2 people who have actually read my blog and have been waiting with bated breath for my newest post; I apologize.

I didn't mean to run off and leave you on the edge of your seat as to what brilliant project or recipe Texas Gem might post next!!

You see....life happened.  I had a post I was working on which required a lot of effort and then, kids and life happened.  I forgot about my blog and went on living life.

Since my last post I've had another child, remodeled my home extensively, hit a milestone birthday and had 2 kids start school.

I was recently reminded of just how much I miss my blog so here I am!!

Expect a post in a few days, the one I started working on 3 years ago which is still saved in my drafts.

After that will come new recipes and how to remodel your house into a mansion on a shoestring budget!!