How To Retrieve a Wedding Ring From a Drain Without Calling a Plumber

As this is a blog for single parents, dropping a wedding ring down the drain might not have been a great title, but because married couples of children experience the same problem, too, I didn't want to exclude them.

I got another worthy-of-forwarding email from my mother the other day. In the email is the statement, "This is one of those tips you wish you had known about BEFORE you took the sink apart and called the plumber!!!!!"

When I read those words, I congratulated myself for already knowing how to retrieve a wedding ring from a drain. Of course, it wasn't a wedding ring I dropped, but something equally important.

Through my own innovative imagination, I discovered a way to retrieve items from the drain that worked every time I dropped something down the drain (well – after THIS INCIDENT anyway).

I'm sure my children and grandchildren are not the only ones who have experienced the surprise and fear that accompanies  items previously held in hands as they watch those items disappear down drains. Dropped-down-the-drain scenarios have played out in every one of my dwellings numerous times over the years.

Having never been in a position to afford a plumber and not wanting to force my father to drive several miles every time one of my children or grandchildren dropped something down a drain, I forced myself to come up with a solution.

Curious about whether or not my idea was the same as the one presented in the video, I watched the linked video, already anticipating the advice to be the same as the idea I devised.

While I wasn't EXACTLY right, I was close – very close. And although my idea worked for me every time I tried it, I never realized, until I watched this video, the danger I was putting myself in by doing it the way I was doing it.

I really wish I had known about this tip back when my oldest daughter decided to wash three pairs of contact lenses down the drain.

If you or one of your children accidentally (or on purpose) drops something down the drain, click THIS LINK to find out how to properly retrieve items from a drain. 

(If you can't ascertain, after viewing the video, what my method for removing items from a drain might have been, feel free to leave a comment.)


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Are You At Risk For Identity Theft? Here's Valuable Identity Theft Protection Information.

PARENTS – PROTECT YOURSELVES!

Anybody who has a credit card, anybody who shops outside her home, anybody who shops from inside her home, and anybody who connects with another human being is at risk for identity theft.

Purchasing a product online puts you at risk. Showing your credit card to a merchant puts you at risk. Being out in public puts you at risk. Something as simple as setting your purse on the floor of a restaurant puts you at risk.

My sister shopped at a mall several years ago and placed her purse under the table by her feet. Beneath the floor and next to her, a lower level within easy reach harbored a thief who reached into her purse and stole her credit cards. She continued to dine, and it wasn't until hours later that she discovered the missing cards.

By the time she noticed her cards had been stolen, the thief had racked up thousands of dollars worth of purchases in HER NAME. What she had to go through to rectify the problem took hours out of her life, but fortunately no money out of her pocket. She was protected.

A woman who worked with me at the newspaper had her identity stolen as well – when she went on vacation. Not until a month later, when her credit card bill came in the mail, did she realize how her identity had been stolen.

Thieves don't need the actual cards in their possession for transactions to take place in your name. Thieves have become very resourceful over the years.

When your identity is stolen from you and you have no protection, another person with YOUR name, YOUR birth date, and a YOUR address and phone number uses YOUR information to furnish THEIR homes, to purchase new vehicles, and to adorn themselves with jewels. The law finds it difficult to process a phantom; they think YOU made the purchases.

And when you are already bogged down with work and caring for your home and your children, having to put aside time to deal with something somebody else has forced you to handle can be frustrating and unsettling. You don't need the extra worry.

Identity fraud is on the rise and will continue to be on the rise. The only way to prevent this type of loss is with identity theft protection. And one company that will help you to protect yourself is IdentityHawk.

Please click the link to read more. Find out how vulnerable you are to identity theft, learn how to protect yourself from potential threats of having your identity stolen, and find out how you can receive alerts any time anybody uses your name fraudulently.

To be "Ever vigilant," as IdentityHawk notes under they logo, you must protect, not only your assets, but also your good name.  

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How To Help Your Child Deal With An Asthma Attack

The first time I had an asthma attack, my mom and dad were out for the evening. I was five-years-old.

My memory of that time was of myself lying on my parents' bed (a place I normally wasn't allowed – the babysitter put me there), my parents rushing home, the doctor making a house call (I realize I'm giving away my age here), and hearing the doctor utter the words, "She's having an asthma attack."

Upon hearing the word, "asthma," I noted the look of surprise and fear on my mother's face and thought, "Look at all the attention I'm getting by having asthma (a word I'd never heard before)." I watched my parents' facial expressions contort in ways I'd never before seen.

Looking back, I can't remember my breathing difficulty – I don't think I even realized I was sick. All I remember is being in my parents' bed surrounded by my parents, the doctor, and the babysitter, and hearing the words, asthma attack.

Over the years, asthma attacks have often put me in the emergency room. And from the time I was five, I was forced to take a pill called Tedral that, if any part of my tongue touched any part of it, I would have to fight back the urge to vomit. Nothing in my entire life has ever tasted so awful.

What causes asthma attacks?

My first asthma attack probably arose because my parents had never gone out together, leaving my sisters and me home with a babysitter. I may have been experiencing my first traumatic case of separation anxiety.

Excessive physical activity can bring on asthma attacks too, especially when the immune system is already compromised by colds, flu, or disease.

My asthma attacks were triggered by a variety of stimuli – allergies to eggs, yeast, grasses, molds, dust, smoke, and animals.

But what surprised me more than anything was when fits of laughter landed me in the ER – I have laughed myself into asthma attacks numerous times.

Another precursor for asthma attacks is the common cold. Colds seem to trickle downward in asthmatics. What starts out as a head cold, lands in the throat, and eventually makes its way into the lungs where the cold blossoms into a full-fledged asthma attack.

As I grew older, I relied more heavily on inhalers than I did on Tedral, because back then, parents didn't have the option of keeping nebulizers in their homes.

Today a couple of my grandchildren, when their breathing becomes labored, rely on nebulizers to control their attacks.

What helps prevent asthma attacks from becoming worse?

One of the things I noticed growing up was the reaction of people around me while I was in the midst of having an asthma attack.

Seeing my mom and dad panic had become a common occurrence. I never knew, as a child, that I could have died from having an asthma attack. But what made asthma attacks worse for me was seeing fear in the faces of people in the medical profession. I recount two extremely frightening episodes in my article, Three Weeks in the Hospital -- Two Near Death Experiences.

Knowing how to treat your asthmatic child, mentally, emotionally, and physically, will lessen the trauma for you and for your child.

How to Treat Your Asthmatic Child

Though every fiber of your being jumps into overdrive, calm down. From my experience, asthmatics are sensitive individuals and your panic will cause them to breathe even harder and their lungs to constrict even tighter.

When the nurses surrounded my bed, as related in the link I've provided above, their actions were supposed to comfort me. Though they rubbed my back, my arms, and spoke soothingly, their faces displayed the truth of their concern – I knew unequivocally that they thought I would die if the doctor's approval for a breathing treatment didn't happen NOW.

The best way to prevent an asthma attack is to be prepared for one. Be proactive by purchasing a portable nebulizer. Learn how to use it. Rid your home of all possible allergens. Sadly, you may have to find a new home for your pet.

Do not smoke in front of your child and do not allow others to smoke in your home. If you eat out, choose only smoke-free restaurants.  

If your child experiences asthma attacks frequently, find a pulmonary doctor who will treat your child with effective medications. Sometimes, as in my case, your child may have to take daily medication for most (or all) of his or her life. But sometimes, children who are born with asthma outgrow their asthma.

Not being able to breath is frightening. Don't take your child's breathing for granted.

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Spring Clean With The Steam Team

Many of my family members smoke. Some of them have animals. Because of my allergies, I cannot visit many of my loved ones, even for an afternoon.

My reaction to pet dander and smoke is so strong, that just one visit with someone who smokes or who has animals can put me in the hospital – and that's after a daily dose of Advil, Singulair, and Atrovent.

As much as I try to stay away from smokers, I can't – I live with a smoker. He is not alone in believing that by opening a door and by standing in the doorway, he is preventing smoke from entering my home. No argument, no matter how strongly supported by research, will convince him that his smoke is adversely affecting me; he thinks that by standing inside and holding his cigarette outside, all of his smoke is going outdoors.

What he and others who think like him don't know is that when the tiniest amount of smoke enters my home, it also enters my lungs and chokes me with spasms of coughing. I have asthma, and I can feel my lungs constrict every time the sting from smoke enters my lungs.

Smoke damages my home as well as my lungs. When I was growing up in the 50s and 60s, and even in the 70s, nobody thought to go outside to smoke. What happened to the walls in our home (and other homes where smokers resided) was so grossly ugly, it gave everything a mustard yellow cast.

No paint color and no number of paint coats helped remove the ugly mustard layer. And what it did for the smell of the home was enough to cause me and other nonsmokers to gag.

Another problematic situation that develops over the winter months is moisture that seeps into the home. Mold can develop. For me, mold is not just a problem, it is life-threatening. In addition to all of my other allergies, I am highly allergic to mold.

I smoked when I was a young adult, which was really stupid, considering I've had asthma since I was 5. Though I no longer smoke, I'm concerned about the proliferation of allergies among young children. More children today are allergic to pets, smoke, and mold than ever before.

As parents and grandparents, we need to educate themselves on ways to make our homes as hypoallergenic as possible. And Spring is a perfect opportunity to freshen the home and to get rid of odors.

Begin with:

1) Getting rid of smoke stains and odors.
2) Cleaning air ducts.
3) Cleaning furniture (smoke seeps into furniture too).
4) Searching for and destroying mold.

Fortunately, I've found help online for do it yourself air duct cleaning. I've also found furniture cleaning tips online. You can click on the links for information on how to clean your ducts and your furniture.

Also, if you live in the Austin, Texas, area, The Steam Team offers cigarette smoke odor removal in Austin and also mold odor removal in Austin. Click those links for more information.

Before I leave this blog, I would like to ask a favor of all of you smokers. Please believe me when I say that when you smoke by an open door, your smoke WILL blow inside. Please be considerate of young children, of people who don't smoke, and especially of people with respiratory problems. Thank you.

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Nursing Scrubs For My Nursing Buds

Probably one of the best professions for single parents to undertake, if they are at all inclined, is nursing. By nature, parents are nurturing and already provide medical attention to their children with kisses and bandages, not to mention trips to the doctor. So it would seem that nursing might be an easy transition.

As a child, I thought nursing was one of my only career options, alongside motherhood and being a teacher or a nun.

But I soon learned that not all parents are cut out to be nurses. I, for one, cannot stand the smell of vomit or blood. (So if any vampires are cruising this blog, back off.)

Anyway, my children learned long before they could talk or crawl, how to use a bucket, and I always had a heaping supply of bandages, gauze, ointments, and thermometers nearby.

One of my sisters, whose stomach is made of iron, chose the nursing profession for herself. I chose design, babysitting, and writing. She owns two homes. I live in a tin can.

Kathy can handle medical issues that would make my skin crawl and can watch with fascination surgical procedures that would cause me to pass out. The fact that anybody can pass an Anatomy and Physiology class is a monumental accomplishment all by itself. Becoming a nurse is – well, I have no words for how difficult a process nursing would be for me.

From what I've seen, nursing is a grueling profession that requires LONG working hours from its professionals. But nursing is also a profession that promises a never-ending supply of jobs. Look in any newspaper or at any online source and you will find hospitals and doctors' offices crying for nurses.

The only benefit I can see for myself are the nursing scrubs. I could wear them. They look comfortable and I would never again have to worry about coordinating another outfit. (My fashion skills were never fully developed.)

Nursing uniforms, or scrubs (great program, by the way) have really changed over the years. They used to look very generic and bland. Now they come in an assortment of colors and designs.

Nursing scrubs, scrubs pants, scrubs tops, and, well, scrubs clothing in general are a must-have for anyone in the nursing profession. Comfortable clothing? I could wear them every day. I honestly could have become a nurse – just to wear the uniform – if I could have found somebody else to handle the vomit and blood.

Imagine coming to my home. I open the door, and there I am wearing my nursing uniform, looking not only cute and comfy, but also professional.

Hmm… Where to buy cheap scrubs? (And by cheap I mean inexpensive, not of inferior quality.) Well, for my nurse sister and for all my nursing friends, I offer a web site that allows you to purchase nursing scrubs: Blue Sky Scrubs.

Whether you need scrubs tops, scrubs pants, or nursing uniforms of any kind, click any of the links in this blog and they will take you to some very nice scrubs.


If you would like to read more from this author, click any of the following links:

Your Weird Dreams

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My Heart Blogs To You

Writer of Blogs 

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