FEVR retina photo

First, they told me my son had Retinopathy Prematurity, but he was not premature. So they say it may be FEVR – Familial Exudative Vitreoretinopathy, which is a genetic disease – but no one else in my family has ever been diagnosed with this. My son is eleven years old. The problem with his retina was discovered when he was three. Up till now, it has not caused any change in his vision. But now, all of a sudden, he as a quick and growing blind spot due to bleeding and fluid in his left eye which  is pooling up behind the retina. He is scheduled for surgery next week, and has to be put under for the procedure, since he is a child. From what I have read online regarding this disease, it often requires recurring treatment and surgeries. I don’t know ANYONE whose child has this! I’d love to hear from any parents that are going through this -

I’m a little freaked out today. Found out my 11 year old son has to have surgery on his retina to stop the sudden blindness he has in his left eye. He went from 20/20 vision to 20/200 within 6 weeks!

His eye trouble is not completely out of the blue. He was diagnosed at age 3 with “Retinopathy of Prematurity“, a condition that happens almost exclusively in premature births. But my son was full term! I just don’t understand how the hell he got this! And I’ve never heard of anyone else’s child who has it, premature or not.

The condition consists of scaring on the retina. The symptom is an eye that is off center. The reason is, the scarring causes the center of vision to pull off center, making the eye focus off center. My pediatrition diagnosed it as “Lazy Eye”, but the opthamologist  saw what it was and referred me to a retina specialist.

So, he’s been seeing a retina specialist every six months for the past 8 years. The doctor always said, the possibility of danger may come as he grows and the scarring stretches, possibly pulling capillaries and causing bleeding, with the extreme danger being retina detachment.

Well, we went 6 weeks ago for our usual appointment, and the doctor saw some bleeding, which has happened before and went away. He asked for a 6 week follow up. During that time, my son started noticing a blind spot and said that things in that eye looked wavy. I did call the doctor to make sure I shouldn’t come in sooner. But they had me keep my appointment till today and turns out – my son went from 20/20 to 20/200 in that 6 weeks!

I am very scared for him! Surgery is next Thursday. I would love to hear from any other parents who have kids with this condition! Especially if they were NOT premature babies! My son was full term and 8 lbs!

I am SO Sad! And so sick of stupid pet owners!!!! If you can’t afford to spay or neuter your pet, YOU SHOULD NOT HAVE ONE!!!

I was shopping with my kids at a large outdoor shopping center yesterday (Eastvale, for those of you who know the area). I was in the store only 30 minutes, then when I came out to my car, there was a grocery cart propped up against my drivers door. Guess what was inside? A whining, panting puppy, and a blanket. It was 90+ degrees in that parking lot! Some idiot purposely picked ME to drop his litter on!

Don’t get me wrong- I am a HUGE animal lover! Have 3 pets of my own (4 if you count a hampster). I don’t have room for another pet! So there I am, with 3 kids crying over this puppy! I’m on my cell phone trying to figure out who to call. I couldn’t abandon the poor thing. So I end up getting the Animal Shelter on the phone, then driving the 20 minutes to get there, then I have to “pick a number” and wait in the crowded lobby for my turn to turn in the line to turn in a puppy that is not mine anyways! All while my kids are crying that they want to keep it!!!

CRUEL, CRUEL , STUPID, SELFISH PEOPLE!!! Don’t Litter! Spay and Neuter!!!

Go to your local Humane Society to (A) have your pet spayed or neutered and to (B) adopt an abandoned puppy or kitten

Hurray! I lost 10 pounds in a week! (Well, 9.9 according to my scale, but I’ll call it 10). I feel so much better inside and out! Lost my muffin top (sayonara!). Today, I’m going to eat normal and healthy, then go back on it for 4 days- then it’s beachside for a week.

I am a yo-yo dieter. Always trying to lose weight fast for that special event. Now, everyone knows the real way to lose weight is to change your habits slowly. But, here I am, two weeks away from  a 10 day beach trip with my kids, where I’ll have to be hanging out in my bathing suit day in and day out. I need to lose 10 pounds in a hurry. So where do I turn? To my old faithful – never fails me – Cabbage Soup Diet! It promises to drop 10-17 pounds off of you in one week. But it is a rigid diet. No cheating allowed at all! Legend has it, that it was developed for overweight heart patients to lose maximum belly weight before surgery. And I am telling you – IT WORKS! I am now on day 6 and am down 8 1/2 pounds! I know it is mostly water weight, but it feels great and is the jump start I need to a more sensible weight loss plan, like Weight Watchers (which I plan to start right after this jump start). And in the short run, I’ll feel better in my bathing suit.

After seven days, if you have not cheated, you will have lost 10-17 pounds and your system will be cleansed of impurities. You will have a feeling of well-being as never before. You’ll have an abundance of energy. You can do the diet again, but take a few days off in-between, eating normal and healthy. Take a multivitamin every day.

The diet is fast, fat-burning and the secret is that you will burn more calories than you take in. This diet does not lend itself to drinking any alcoholic beverages at any time because of the removal of fat buildup in your system. Don’t drink alcohol until at least 24 hours off the diet. While on the diet, also NO carbonated drinks, including diet soda. No sugar or artificial sweetener either in the tea or coffee. Eat as much soup as you want, whenever you feel hungry. The more you eat, the more you lose. On one of the meat days, you can have broiled skinless chicken or fish. Also, if you excercise, you may feel light headed or extra hungry- be sure to have plenty of the soup and water. You will find there are MANY versions of the Cabbage Soup Diet on the internet- this one below

Fat Burning Cabbage Soup

is the one I have stuck to for many years now.

Here is the recipe and instructions:

Basic Fat Burning Soup

6 large onions (I use leeks)

1 can (28 oz) crushed or diced tomatoes

1 bottle (64 oz) V-8 juice (I like the spicy)

1 large cabbage

2 green peppers

1 bunch celery

2 pkgs. Lipton onion soup mix

4 cups water (I add two chicken bullion cubes)

Season with salt, pepper, curry, parsley, hot sauce – any herbs or seasonings are allowed.

Cut vegetables in small to medium pieces, add to large stock pot, add tomatoes and cover with V-8 and water. Boil fast for 10 minutes. Then simmer until vegetables are tender. This soup can be eaten any time you are hungry. Eat as much as you want, whenever you want. This soup will not add calories. The more you eat, the more you lose. All week, the only beverages allowed are black coffee, tea and water, no sweeteners. And here is the instructions for each day of the week:

DAY ONE: You can eat the soup and all fruits except bananas. Cantaloupe and watermelon are especially lower in calories. Eat only the soup and fruits.

DAY TWO: You can eat the soup and all vegetables. Eat until you are stuffed with all the fresh, cooked, raw, or canned vegetables you want. Leafy green vegetables are especially good. Stay away from beans, peas and corn. At dinner time, reward yourself with a baked potato and butter.

DAY THREE: Eat all the soup, fruits and veggies you want. No baked potato. If you have followed the diet and not cheated, you will have lost 5-7 pound by now.

DAY FOUR: Eat soup, bananas and non-fat milk. Eat as many as three bananas and as much milk as you want. Bananas are high in calories and carbohydrates and so is the milk, but on this day your body will need the potassium and carbs, protein and calcium to lessen your cravings for sweets. (Personal note: I HATE milk, so this day was hard for me. I will NOT drink milk, so I added it in my day by making a coffee smoothie and a banana smoothie. I also put some of the soup in a blender with non-fat milk and basil and had a creamy tomato soup-like version of the soup. It was good and a nice change.)

DAY FIVE: Beef and tomatoes. You may have 10-20 ounces of beef and a can of tomatoes or as many as six fresh tomatoes, plus the soup. Try to drink at lest 6-8 glasses of water this day to wash away the uric acid in your body. Have at least one bowl of soup.

DAY SIX: Beef and veggies. Eat to your heart’s content of the beef and vegetables. You can have 2 or three steaks with green leafy vegetables. No baked potato. Have the soup at least once.

DAY SEVEN: Brown rice, unsweetend fruit juice, vegetables. Again, stuff, stuff, stuff yourself. Be sure to have the soup at least once.

Sad, sad story: while camping with the kids, my beloved Palm Centro took a dive -and I’m not talking in the pool, not that it matters. Water damage is a death sentence to a cell phone. I had no insurance. I followed the prescribed care: how to save a wet cell phone  to no avail. I’ve come to accept that it is dead. I have been a loyal Verizon customer for over a decade, and the rest of my family and most friends are on Verizon. My dilemma? Well, I have two choices: to buy a new Palm, or Blackberry or other PDA offered through Verizon (excluding the iPhone, because it is with ATT exclusively). OR, I have been coveting the iPhone since its birth, patiently awaiting the day it becomes available through Verizon. Should I jump ship early and buy the now $99 iPhone, and pay the $70 early termination fee? It’s just that I was with ATT once, and it was not good.

 Is it worth dropping Verizon and going with ATT to be an iPhone owner?

Phone in the toilet

OK. I thought I was being thrifty and gourmet at the same time. But now I have a jelly roll pan full of polenta and don’t know what to do with it. We did serve it warm with shish-ke-bobs, but now what to do with all the leftover? I’m looking for creative ideas. Any out there?

Served this at a Father’s Day BBQ pool party today. It is easy, different than your usual corn, and always a huge hit! Has a little kick to it, due to the habanero peppers, but you can add more or delete them for your crowd and spiciness tolerance.

Chili Lime Corn on the Cob

Ingredients:

• 6-10      ears of corn
• 2            sticks butter
•  1/2       bunch cilantro, chopped up
• 2            cloves garlic
• 1            habinero chili (or more if you dare)
• 1            lb. Mexican Cotija Cheese
• 2            limes

Directions:
- Peel back (but don’t break off ) husks of corn.
- Get all that yucky silk string stuff off, then put the husks back down
- put corn upside down in a big pot of water ( you want to soak them, because they’ll be BBQ’d later, husks on, and won’t catch fire this way.
- Get 2 sticks butter, cilantro, garlic, habanero pepper, and whip up in the food processor.
- bbq the corn, turning to brown. Then put on tray and pull husks back.
- Then with a pastry brush, put lots of butter mixture on, grated Mexican Cotija cheese, lime juice.
-Serve! Yummy!

I’m always searching for cheap or free stuff to do to keep my kids busy over the summer break. One thing they look forward to every summer is the free movies for kids that the chain theaters put on. They are either free or $1 and they usually have a special $3-5 snack pack of soda, popcorn and candy. I’m going to post the links here to them.
AMC Theaters:
http://www.amctheatres.com/smc/index.html
Regal Theaters/Edwards Cinemas: http://www.regmovies.com/nowshowing/familyfilmfestivalschedule.aspx
Krikorian: http://www.kptmovies.com/aboutkpt/upcomingevents_details.cfm?ue_id=56

Alright, it is the FIRST day of summer break today and my kids are already bored! I’m gonna go crazy by August! I work from home most of the time, so it get’s quite annoying, the “I’m booooord! What can I do???” that I get every 20 minutes. They watched way more t.v. and computer screen than is the recommended quota, and when I demanded it go off, I just get the “I’m boooooooord!!” again. We don’t have many kids in the neighborhood, but still, I remember playing outside a lot more when I was a kid.

What can I suggest for them to do for the next 3 months that doesn’t require my supervision and doesn’t involve the kids staring at a screen? Any advice out there?