Good News!

I guess having a herniated disc might not be what most people consider "good news" but compared to my fears, it's very good news.  When I went in for xrays on February 19th, the Physician Assistant showed me what he called a "bony mass" near my spine.  Do not ever use the word "mass" without expecting one to immediately panic.  Although he said he wasn't that concerned, he did say, "You don't have cancer in your family, do you?"  So now I'm reeling!  The doctor is out of town so there was no one to ask for further clarification.  The PA sent me for the MRI on Friday so all that week and this week I've been fearing the worst!  The doctor says the "bony mass" near my spine is just a bone spur... a growth of cartilage near my spine that often comes as we age.  No big deal!  The sciatica pain I have been having is a result of a herniated disc.  He asked if I'd been in an accident or had an injury to cause a pretty badly herniated disc.  No!  Nothing.  I've never had back problems at all so it's a mystery to me how this happened.  I'm going in next week for a cortisone injection.  That's not as simple as it sounds.  I have to have an epidural just like women have when they're having a baby before they can inject the cortisone into my spine.  But compared to my fears run amok, I'm fine with all this!  Thanks for your prayers, good wishes and concern!  Phew!  

Looking forward to the boys being here tomorrow.  In my melodrama, I was wondering if I'd see them grow up!      

Worriers

My mother was a worrier, I'm a worrier and my son, Justin, is a worrier.  It's really such a pointless thing to do and there are so many sayings about it but this is one of my favorites.

Today I have my MRI to find out what's going on with my sciatica-like pain.  I'm trying not to worry about it but I'm not used to having any physical limitations.  I won't see the doctor until next Thursday so I probably won't know anything until then... so I'll try not to worry and I may or may not post again until I know something.  

Until then, I'm keeping busy today watching the boys.  I had Jacob with me for a few hours yesterday and he'll be back this morning.  We'll go to music at the library, shopping at Costco where we'll look for the forklift and big floor washer and then home for lunch and a nap.  We pick Ryan up at school at 1:30 and then Jeff will take them home when Jacob wakes up.  I'll be at my MRI at 3 PM.  Having them here keeps my mind off things.  Here's a photo from yesterday.  Jacob and Ryan both love all the kid's apps on my iPad.  I make then sit in the middle of a bed so the iPad is safe from being dropped.  In another month, Jacob will be 3 1/2.  He's such a sweetie!

As always, I'm looking forward to the Academy Awards this Sunday.  We've seen almost every nominated movie and performance.  It was a good year at the movies.  Jeff will bring me food and drinks.... it's my equivalent of the Superbowl!

  

Rainy Day Daze

Writing this as the rain is coming down on Tuesday afternoon but won't post until midnight so it shows up on Wednesday.  I was happy to have a visit from Jacob because he cheered me up after some not so great news.  I saw the Physician Assistant (of my orthopedic doctor) Tuesday morning and he took xrays of my back and I have various things going on that could be causing my sciatica pain.  I will go in Friday for an MRI and then see the doctor next Thursday.  I may need a cat scan as well.  Bottom line, it doesn't look like a simple fix to make this pain go away.  It's really not very painful- more of a dull ache- but I worry that it could get worse.  I've had it 24/7 since the beginning of January and finally had to admit that it wasn't going away on it's own.  I still do my exercise DVD 2 or 3 times a week so it's not bad enough to make me want to stop doing the things I normally do.  I am not used to having any health problems or physical limitations so it's frustrating for me.  Jacob will be back today and we'll go to storytime at the library.  I think our rain will be gone by then.

 Chris posted this on Facebook and I thought it was funny.  I don't know about in the UK but Downton Abbey is shown on PBS (Public Broadcasting System) in the US.  They depend a lot on pledges from viewers for support so that's the story behind this cartoon.  Not mentioning what characters they are referring to because I know some of my friends are just watching Season 1 and/or Season 2.  Our Season 3 just ended Sunday night.

    

Disappearing Act

Sorry...didn't mean to do a disappearing act but I haven't had much to write about lately as the boys have been sick and haven't been here.  I will be seeing them maybe today and then for sure on Tuesday.  I also finally made an appointment to see what's going on with my sore right leg.  I've given it about 6 weeks or more and it's still with me.  I think it's either sciatica or piriformis syndrome according to my symptoms doing a web search.  It's not that painful but just an annoying dull pain that starts in my right buttock and radiates down my leg to my toes.  The orthopedic doctor is on vacation so I'm seeing his physician assistant on Tuesday at 8:30 AM and he will get the ball rolling on an MRI or whatever other test I might need so when the doctor returns, he'll have some results to look at.

Kanan has a teeth cleaning appointment on Wednesday.  His breath has been smelling like dead fish lately despite my best efforts at brushing his teeth with an enzyme toothpaste, an enzyme mouthwash-like spray, denta-bones, you name it.  I guess we just have to bite the over $400.00 bullet and pay for the cleaning.  It's insane the cost- they have to have bloodwork first, then the anesthesia and then follow-up antibiotics.  I think the vets in our area are just way out of line with their charges!  Have a great week ahead!

 

Survivor!

I have watched every episode of Survivor since it first premiered in 1997!  For me, it's "must see TV!"  It makes Wednesdays a day I look forward to all week!  This season, the 26th, Survivor is fans vs favorites where ultimate fans take on favorites from past seasons.  Although I'm a fan, I could never be on Survivor.  Could you?  I could not stand being outdoors in those rainy, cold, bug-biting elements for 40 days!  No way!  Not even for a million dollars.  I would do okay with the lack of food but not having nice bathroom facilities would be a game-ender for me!  But I do enjoy watching the social dynamics of the show.  I'm a people-watcher so I find it interesting.  This season takes place in Caramoan which is an island area of the Philippines.  I'm looking forward to everything but Phillip in his pink underwear!

I'm writing this as I watch TV Tuesday night looking at the cabin burning that has the murder suspect, a former LAPD policeman, inside that you've probably heard about on the news.  He has really terrorized the Southern California area.  The area where he was apparently hiding out was in a cabin near a ski area- Bear Mountain- that we've been to many times.  I hope this brings this all to an end.  I wasn't even sure if we'd get to see the State of the Union address but they are beginning it after mentioning that they will break in with any news what's going on here in SoCal.

Caught up with Downton Abbey last night since we missed it Sunday night because of the Grammys.  It was a 2 hour episode that we enjoyed quite a lot but was so surprised when they said next week was the season finale!  What?!?  It just began!  What kind of season is that?  Not happy!    

VCRs

Does anyone still have a VCR? We have one but we never use it. Video tapes have been replaced by DVDs and now BluRays. We had some of our home movies copied to DVD but we still have boxes full of old movies on video. I took a quick cellphone photo of a box of videos and sent it to Justin asking if he was interested in any of them. Most of them were movies that were his favorites...like Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Arc and other movies that he could watch over and over again. Here's the photo.

Of course he wasn't interested so I googled, "What to do with old videos" and a good suggestion was to donate them to your public library so I will take them this week if Jacob is well enough to go to his Storytime on Wednesday.  I did save quite a few children's Disney videos and put the VCR in the "boy's room."

Our big entertainment center has really nice roll out storage racks for videos but the racks won't hold DVD's or Blu Rays so once again, I googled, "Blu-Ray Storage Pull Out Tray" and found THIS. 

This will be perfect and over the weekend, shipping was free.  Here's a photo of our entertainment center.

The storage rack will go in the cubby on the bottom right with the wood door.  Behind the wood door on the left are XBox and Wii games.  I was able to get the old video racks to hold them.  As much as I love our entertainment center, it is limiting in that we can't get anything bigger than a 40 inch screen.  It's not that big of a deal because our furniture floats in the middle of the room so we're close enough to the TV.  Anyone else have any outdated technology?  Typewriters, cassette players?  What else?  Jeff was inspired by my cleaning and found lots of old 3.5 floppy discs to toss.  Remember those?

MUFA's

MUFAs...whatfa's?  Poor Jeff, he knows he's always in trouble when I'm watching another Dr. Oz show with pen and notebook in hand.  Our latest additions to our healthy diet are MUFAs.  MUFAs (pronounced moo-fah) are monounsaturated fatty acids, plant-based fats found in some of the world's most delicious foods—avocado, nuts and seeds, oils, olives, and dark chocolate! Studies show that these good-for-you fats enhance heart health and protect against chronic disease. And now the latest research shows that these dietary superstars may even target fat where it's hardest to lose—in your belly!  You have to eat MUFA's in moderation.  If not, the alternative title for this blog post would be "My healthy diet is making me fat!"    Here's a list of MUFA's and the calories for each.

NUTS/SEEDS - 2 Tbsp, raw or dry roasted unsalted, 1 cup for edamame
	Almonds - 164 Almond butter - 202 Brazil nuts - 186 Cashews - 163 Cashew butter - 188 Hazelnuts - 178 Macadamia nuts - 203 Pecans - 196 Peanut butter, natural, crunchy - 188 Peanut butter, natural, smooth - 188 Peanuts - 166 Pine nuts - 191 Pictachios - 161 Pumpkin seeds - 148 Soybeans, boiled (shelled) - 298 Sunflower seeds - 165 Sunflower seed butter - 186 Tahini (sesame seed paste) - 178 Walnuts - 185
OILS - 1 Tbsp
	Canola oil - 124 Flaxseed oil - 120 Olive oil - 119 Peanut oil - 119 Pesto sauce - 80 Safflower oil - 120 Sesame oil - 120 Sunflower oil - 120 Walnut  oil - 120
OLIVES - 10 for olives, 2 Tbsp for tapenade
	Black olives - 50 Black olive tapenade - 88 Green olives - 50 Green olive tapenade - 54
AVOCADO - one quarter cup
	Avocado, California - 96 Avocado, Florida - 69
CHOCOLATE - one quarter cup
	Semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips - 207

MUFA's are a major part of the Mediterranean Diet.  We bought black olive tapenade and pesto at Costco.  We always have Costco's mixed nuts on hand as well as dark chocolate and avocado.  A typical MUFA meals has 3 oz of lean protein, 1 complex carb, unlimited veggies and 1 MUFA.  Each meal should be 350 calories or less.  Don't even get me started on PUFAs!

Update on the boys... Ryan is feeling better but Jacob is still running a temperature.  He doesn't quite understand the concept of a fever.  He keeps saying it's hot in the house.  He was at the doctor on Thursday and they say it's not the flu.  Not sure how they came to that conclusion.  Hopefully they'll both be better after the weekend of staying warm and cozy at home.

Arm's Length

We are keeping Jessica, Pat and the boys at arm's length.  Both Ryan and Jacob are sick.  They have fevers and bad coughs.  They had flu shots so we don't know if it's the flu or not.  They say flu shots are only 60% effective anyway.  I sent Jeff over to their house Tuesday morning with a small care package of Children's Advil, a temporal thermometer, Hulk Juice (Green Machine but we call it Hulk Juice) and cherry tomatoes and a few Starburst thrown in for good measure.  When Jeff arrived, he asked Jacob how he felt and he replied, "I'm very sick."  So there will be no storytime at the library for me and Jacob today.  Jessica has today off work so that will be good.  They will be very careful to make sure this doesn't turn into pneumonia because little children are dying from complications of the flu.  Fortunately, Pat's mom manages a Pediatrician's office so they get prompt and thorough care.

 New category- "Things that make you go hmm."  The Taste.  Okay, I admit it... I don't understand the appeal of this show.  With The Voice (which I don't watch but I do watch American Idol) you can at least listen to the contestants, hear the judges comments and make up your own mind but what's the appeal of watching a show where you obviously can't taste the food yourself?  At least with shows like Dancing with the Stars, The Apprentice or Project Runway it is something you can form your own opinion about.  So we just take their word for it if recipe is awful or delicious?  I don't get it.  Anyone?

Mudhole Mutts

Cooper and Kanan went along with Jeff and Chris mountain biking in Ojai.  They really get great exercise running alongside the bikes.  Chris' Visla, Bill, went along too but he didn't partake in the mudbath.  I always say that Kanan and especially Cooper never met a mudhole they didn't like.  Here's photographic evidence.

They were shedding gritty mud and sand all over the house so we took them both to the groomers for a bath and what they call a "tidy."  That's where they clip their nails, brush their teeth and things like that.  I brush their teeth a lot so they are used to that and I use an enzyme spray that is also good for their teeth.  I also clean their ears with wipes you can buy at the pet store.  They came home with neckerchiefs which Jeff immediately removes thinking they look silly.

On Friday, I took Jacob to the park.  Before we left he said, "Nani, are you ready to go to the park?  I said, "Yep!" to which he replied, "Gimme a minute."  He says the funniest things and always makes me laugh.  We walked to the park with Jacob in the stroller and then we went to TJ Maxx looking for some Valentine's, St. Patrick's Day and Easter decor.  I found these Easter eggs for my hurricane that I like to change seasonally and for holidays.  The photo doesn't do the eggs justice because they are so sparkly when you see them but here's the photo anyway.  They are made of pastel sequins.

    

Amazing Places to Visit

I subscribe to a Facebook page called "Amazing Places to Visit.  Every day they post a photo of some truly beautiful and fascinating place.  Yesterday, they posted about "Cenotes" which really caught my eye. "A cenote is a deep natural pit, or sinkhole, characteristic of Mexico, resulting from the collapse of limestone bedrock that exposes groundwater underneath. Especially associated with the Yucatán Peninsula, and some nearby Caribbean islands, cenotes were sometimes used by the ancient Maya for sacrificial offerings."  Here's a photo of a cenote in Chichen Itza, Mexico.

If you click HERE, you can see google images of many cenotes.

So it's Superbowl Weekend which is always a good excuse for lots of hors d'ouerves and dips.  I'm having pita chips with some spinach dip made with lowfat Greek yogurt.  No chicken wings here although I hear there's a shortage of them.  I mostly watch the Superbowl for the commercials and the halftime show.  Poor Beyonce...everyone will be watching to make sure she doesn't lip sync.  What a non-issue as far as I'm concerned.  Then there's Puppy Bowl 9 on Animal Planet if you prefer that to football.  Happy February and have a super weekend!