Ouch.....

I received this from a friend of mine and thought it was worth sharing with all of you. I had not seen nor heard of these specific cleaning sponges being so harmful.
My friend of a friend's story:
Ok, I'm sending this out to everyone so they don't make the same mistake I
made. I'm so embarrassed that this happened but I want you all to be aware
of what can happen. This was caused by a magic eraser sponge. I have let
both kids erase their crayon marks off the walls and never even thought the
sponges would have this kind of chemical in them that would cause this kind
of burn or even hurt them. Learn from my mistake. You can't even imagine
how bad I feel that this happened to Kolby. Pass this along to anyone who
has kids or grandchildren, Karlee.
This was Kolby 24 hours after being burned by a magic Eraser sponge. It was much
worse yesterday.
If you are a parent or grandparent, this post is meant to save your loved ones from the horror one of our friends went through. Here is the email we received -
One of my five year old's favorite chores around the house is cleaning scuff marks off the walls, doors, and baseboards with either an Easy Eraser pad, or the real deal, a Mr. Clean Magic Eraser. I purchased a package of Magic Erasers ages ago when they first came out. I remember reading the box, wondering what the "Magic" component was that cleaned crayon off my walls with ease. No ingredients were listed and absolutely no warnings were<> on the box, other than "Do not ingest." My package of the Scotchbrite Easy Erasers didn't have a warning either and since my child knew not to eat the sponges and keep them out of reach of his little brother and sister , it was a chore I happily let him do. If I had known that both brands (and others like them) contain a harmful alkaline or "base" chemical (opposite of acid on the pH scale) that can burn your skin, I never would have let my little boy handle them. As you can see from the picture, when the Scotchbrite Easy Eraser was rubbed against his face and chin, he received severe chemical burns. At first, I thought he was being dramatic. I picked him up, put him on the counter top and washed his face with soap and water. He was screaming in pain. I put some lotion on his face - more agony. I had used a Magic Eraser to remove magic marker from my own knuckles a while back and I couldn't understand why he was suddenly in pain. Then, almost immediately, the large, shiny, blistering red marks started to spread across his cheeks and chin.
I quickly searched Google.com for "Magic Eraser Burn" and turned up several results. I was shocked. These completely innocent looking white foam sponges can burn you? I called our pediatrician, and of course got sent to voice mail. I hung up and called the Hospital and spoke to an Emergency Room nurse. She told me to call Poison Control. The woman at Poison Control said she was surprised nobody had sued these companies yet and walked me through the process of neutralizing the alkaline to stop my son's face from continually burning more every second.< style=" "> I had already, during my frantic phone calling, tried patting some numbing antibioti c cream on his cheeks, and later some Aloe Vera gel - both resulted in screams of pain. The Poison Control tech had me fill a bathtub with warm water, lay my son into it, cover him with a towel to keep him warm and then use a soft washcloth to rinse his face and chin with cool water for a continuous 20 minutes. My son calmed down immediately. He told me how good it felt. I gave him a dose of Tylenol and after the twenty minutes was up, he got dressed in his Emergency Room doctor Halloween costume and off we went to the Hospital.
They needed to make sure the chemical burn had stopped burning, and examine his face to determine if the burn would need to be debrided (from my fuzzy recollection of hospital work, this means removing loose tissue from a burn location). My son was pretty happy at the hospital, they were very nice and called him "Doctor" and let him examine some of their equipment. The water had successfully stopped the burning and helped soothe a lot of the pain. I'm sure Tylenol was helping too. They sent us home with more Aloe Vera gel, Polysporin antibiotic cream, and some other numbing burn creams. By the time we got home, my son was crying again. I tried applying some of the creams but he cried out in pain. Water seemed to be what worked the best. After a rough night, I took the above photo in the morning. He was swollen and wouldn't move his lips very much to avoid moving the skin on his taut
cheeks. I was fighting back the tears, and I said, "Oh honey, I wish I could take it away from you. I wish I could take it off your face and put it on mine." He was so shocked, he started to tear up a little and said, "Mom, no. You don't want this on your face, it hurts so much. You would be hurting. Last night was terrible, I couldn't sleep, and you wouldn't be able to sleep either." It just broke my heart into five trillion pieces - as much as he is hurting, he wouldn't want me to be hurting in his place.
Today he is doing much better. The burns have started to scab over, and in place of red, raw, angry, skin we have a deeper red, rough healing layer. I can touch his skin now, without it stinging, and this morning he went back to Pre-School with Polysporin rubbed all over his face. He announced to the class, "I brought my face for Show and Tell!"
Note - he was doing fine as of Friday. Kudos to this diligent parent for informing us all.

A whole lot of nothing...

It seems as though we are running around a hundred miles a hour, in a circle, but really not doing much...or so it seems. ...
B is fairly independent and insists on choosing her our clothes that she wears to school. We have several strategies to help with this, including picking the outfit the night before. Well, nevertheless the strategies don't always work, especially when mom forgets to have B choose and set them out....Well, as you can see here is one of those days....yes, I really sent my kid to school in that outfit! M was horrified! It was one of those mornings that we were up earlier than usual in order for Mom to be to Ogden by 8am, M was gone chasing escaped prisoners and I didn't have the patience to problem solve and guide B to a better choice, hence I gave in and there you have it.....I have tried to throw those pants away several times and somehow they end up back in her closet!

The house hunting is wearing us out! So many choices, so many builders, and location, location, location!!! Just when I think we have it narrowed down, we change our mind. So the process continues. I have included my favorite so far....and I suppose I can keep dreaming because it's not even for sale. I just love the house and the landscaping. It really is beautiful. We pass it often on our way to grandma's house and I tell M every time, I would move today if it were for sale. Nevertheless, our search will continue.

Mom's Little Helper

B has always been a great little helper and wants to be in the middle of the action. We were adding some small shrubs to the yard and due to all the rain, there were tons of worms! B loved it, she was so excited when she would find one and then was fascinated as she watched in crawl back into the dirt. Of course she wanted to catch a few and but them in a container with mud!


After the shrubs were planted and the rain came, we moved inside to start our Saturday chores. Believe it or not B loves "Saturday chores". She quickly changed her clothes to get rid of the mud - out she came in just the swimming suit bottoms. I tried to convince her that she needed the top on , but no luck....

Other than a fun weekend working on projects, working our PT jobs a bit and spending some time with family, there is not a lot new to share. M is out of the sling, is making good progress and is almost back to full action. The new position is keeping her busy and has required some late nights and a few overnight trips. It's really be a great change for all of us!

Buy or Wait?

Well, almost 3 years ago M and I decided to sell our home in Draper, buy an "investment" which turned out to be a small condo in West Valley (which B calls "the hood"). As some of you know, we bought it on the "cop next door" program for 50% of the appraised value and then spent some money fixing it up. Here we are 3 years later and we are trying to make the most of our investment. Trying to find a new home that is not 4 feet from the neighbors house, has a three car garage and some room to move around a little (at least a 3 bed, 2.5 bath) is time consuming and frustrating.....the prices are HIGH! Then, every time I look at the newspaper or Internet there is an article about the housing market and how home sales are slowing and that prices are going to "soften"......trying to get the most out of the "investment", and finding something we like that is not $400+ is crazy.....any advise on buying now or holding out for the market to "soften"?

As for our place in the "hood", it has been a calm, quite place. However, Tuesday at about 4:30 am (just after our alarm went off) the power went off and then we heard two LOUD booms that shook the house! M took off for the door to check things out....we couldn't see anything and the power returned after just a few minutes. Well, long story short - the home on the corner was served a "no knock" warrant and they used a "flash bang" to enter and clear the house (hence the loud noises)....M did some checking and found out that the owner is into guns and drugs!, and that her office was called in to investigate. Holy cow, it's always a little more scary when it happens 150 yards from your place!

M's shoulder is doing well - but she has to remain in the sling until the first week of October. She goes to PT twice a week and then does a few small exercises (shoulder shrugs, etc) at home. The worst part is trying to sleep and night and finding some comfortable position to sleep in. We are all very anxious to have the arm in working order again!!!

Last of Summertime Fun

The close of summer is here and it really snuck up on us, as we have been extremely busy over the past two weeks. M had shoulder surgery to repair her torn rotator cuff on Wednesday the 22nd, took the rest of the week off. She began her new job assignment on the following Monday. She is currently working with the ATF (alcohol, tobacco & firearms) on the project safe neighborhood task force. It's been a real change and so far has been fantastic, M loves it. It has been great to see a renewed enthusiasm in her career. It requires a little more work and may require some nights, depending on her cases and when crime happens! Having her right arm tied down to her side has really been a difficult adjustment for her, and for Bay. M started physical therapy today and hopes to be back to using the arm soon. Although, the Doctor indicated that she can't participate in any "shooting" for another 3 weeks! So it's limited duty for now. M's summer school break was over before we knew it and she begins again today. The good news is she is down to her last four courses and her Masters degree will be complete!!!! I can hardly believe it.

We took a day to fish and spend time with M's family over the weekend. Bay loves to fish! Really, I think she just loves to cast and reel in her line, but nevertheless we had a great time.

For All The Great Women In Our Lives

I am sure most of you will not believe that I am actually writing something, but as my secretary is away I thought I would take the opportunity to send a shout out to all the beautiful ladies.

Everyday I feel a great respect for the woman (Deb) who gave birth to our child and I am sure that she does not have a clue as to how I really feel. I know for a fact that I could have never endured labor or the whole process of carrying a child. I thought that sleeping in the same bed with a woman who was snoring louder than my father was something from a horror movie. My God, I thought I was going to die watching Deb deliver Baylor. I had to ask the Doctor if she was going to be ok, then I looked at myself and asked if I was going to be ok.

I bet I can speak for all of the mothers who didn't actually carry these beautiful little creatures in our bodies, that those who did are truly a blessing. Everyone of you have truly earned the title of Mother of the Year. I look at our child and realize how wonderful Deb is and how grateful I am to have her as a partner and the love of my life. Oh, I forgot to mention she is also a great secretary. I wouldn't trade her for anything; unless it was a black Hummer then I would think about it!!!!! LOL..... I love you Deb

Wish Ride

The Wish Ride was on Saturday and we had a fantastic turnout!!! The riding was great, no one broke down and no one crashed, the weather was awesome, the BBQ, live band and prizes all turned out great as well!!! The Make a Wish family was very touching and emotional, it was really a great day. Leo the Lion, the Real mascot, joined us for the ride and he was fabulous! With a line of bikes well over a mile long, he held traffic at intersections (no cops needed!) and was racing around on his Harley V-Rod like you couldn't believe. He really is a great rider and made the event a blast. I leave you with just a few photos.