When my son was little his pediatrician diagnosed him with eczema. I wish I could remember exactly what eczema treatment he gave him, but there are really quite a few.

This is a condition many children as well as adults live with every day. If I’m not mistaken, his doctor prescribed a topical steroidal cream containing hydrocortisone. But depending on the severity, a prescription may not be necessary. Milder over the counter steroidal creams can be found in any pharmacy.

One of the keys to preventing flare-ups is to stay clear of harsh soaps and detergents, avoid bubble baths, avoid clothing that doesn’t breathe, such as wool or polyester, and avoid heat.

Now that’s not to say the sufferer can’t ever take a bath. In fact, a daily 10 minute bath actually helps to rehydrate the skin. However, the other main key to keeping eczema in check is to moisterize, moisterize, moisterize. Just be sure to moisterize after the bath, and all throughout the day with a greasy moisterizer, such as Vaseline.

One of the best mild soaps on the market is Cetaphil. To be truthful, Cetaphil is a good soap for people of all ages, whether they suffer from eczema or not.

My son is lucky, he grew out of his eczema, like many children do.

I am so over reading wrinkle cream reviews and I’ll tell you why. I have earned every single one of these wrinkles, and I just can’t be bothered to slather on some greasy cream every day. For what? It’s not like I’m fooling anyone.

That being said, the one vanity thing I usually keep up with is covering the gray. Yes, I have earned every one of these gray hairs, but DAY-UM! There’s so many of them! Plus, for less than $10 once every couple of months or so, I can have the illusion of the glorious hair of my youth for a brief moment in time. While I am more than okay with the wrinkles on my face, I am not okay with all this gray.

A girl has to draw the line somewhere.

I have a close friend who has undergone gastric bypass surgery. She has lost an astounding 165 pounds. Believe me when I tell you gastric bypass is not an easy fix for obesity — she went through a rigorous pre-testing phase, coupled with the surgery itself, and has to really monitor her food intake and needs to supplement with vitamins.

She has gotten me in the habit of taking some myself. I’m not really sure if it’s making a difference health-wise. The last time I took vitamins was when I was pregnant, and I was not a fan. Those prenatal vitamins were huge and gave me wicked indigestion. However, my friend turned me on to Flintstone Gummy Vitamins, and they’re a lot more pleasant to take.

I also supplement with borage oil, COQ10, and folic acid to help with my blood pressure, plus B12 and a baby aspirin a day. It’s quite an array of pillage I have going on in the morning, but we check in with each other to make sure we’re taking them. For her, it’s a matter of life and death — and actually, it is for me too.

Hey, at my age, I’ll take any edge I can get.

I don’t live in the Gulf, or anywhere near it. I am neatly landlocked, although I am quite close to the Mississippi River. However, I am a fan of seafood and I like to consider myself, if not an environmental activist, at least aware of the damage we humans are doing to the planet and adjust my actions accordingly. Of course, I am more than disgusted and outraged at what has happened in the Gulf.

It doesn’t take a complicated, scientific green study to tell me we will be feeling the repercussions for decades. I can only hope BP is held totally accountable, but I ain’t stupid, either. Chances are they will walk away from this none the worse for wear. Not much I can do, other than to refuse to purchase gas at any BP stations and I’m sure that will hurt them about as much as a fly pooping on my nose will hurt me. Still, it’s the principle involved.

Several groups have formed to help clean up the oil and help out the businesses and people directly impacted by this disaster. One of the most interesting to me is Matter of Trust, who has been spearheading an effort to help by taking donated hair (and other materials) and making oil-soaking booms. They take clean donations from hair salons across the nation, and make “booms” out of material that would otherwise be thrown away. Apparently the hair soaks up a lot of oil. There could be an industry here that may even help out the fisherfolks so affected by the oil spill. This is something everyone can get behind, even if it’s to alert their local salon to the opportunity. Check them out if you get a chance.

I’m sure there are many more groups, but this one really caught my eye. Do you have any helping links to share? Please feel free to leave them in the comments.

From the time my son, Z-Man, was about 9 or 10, we let him wear the big baggy style of pants that was and still kind of is, popular in hip hop clothes. Actually, from what I can tell, the style might have originated with skate boarders and inline rollar bladers. They needed the looser, less restrictive style to pull off their stunts. As a matter of fact, I remember the poplar hip hop brand, Ecko, starting as a skater brand of clothing.

Some of his friends’ parents had a problem with his baggy pants (although I never let him wear them below his butt– “Pull your pants up, boy!” I used to always tell him) because I guess they thought he was into drugs or running around getting into trouble. They really didn’t know my kid at all; other than the way he expressed his not-like-the-rest-of-the-pack individuality in his art, dress, hair, music and yes the occasional piercing, he was and still is a straight arrow. Sadly, those parents, and others, chose to judge the book by its cover. What a shame, and what a valuable lesson missed for them.

Well, here is truly the downside, and a note to other parents. Because we did let him go through some of his physical formative years wearing those baggy pants, he has developed a, um, a distinctive walk. A wide stance walk that comes from 10 years of trying to keep his pants up.

But, hey, he had a decent upbringing. We took him to OzzFest when he was 12, letting listen to whatever music he wanted, let him dye his hair whatever color he wanted, but we were strict on the values that really mattered and had plenty of rules in place. So as long as kids know right from wrong, let them express their individuality however they want.

I’ve been stricken with belly fat my whole life. I’m not sure how it works, I’ll have to do some research, but I wonder if I need some type of belly fat burner. I’m not really sure it would work for me. Some of the belly fat burners reduce the amount of the stress hormone, Cortisol, in your system. One of the reasons I have so much belly fat to begin with is because for 20 years, I was given Cortisol for my Crohn’s. So to strip away some of the natural Cortisol I have in my system, may not be good for my Crohn’s. Oddly enough, I’ve been pretty stressed in the last several years and that Cortisol may be why my Crohn’s is in remission at this moment.

So I think what I’ll do is join a gym. I had to take a rotation in college for my gym credit through a circuit training class and I loved it. I felt better, had more energy, and it really helped me cut back on my smoking. The best benefit, is that in just 6 weeks (or was it 9? I’ve slept since then) was I lost two % off of my BMI (body mass index, in other words, my fat.) I’ve found a gym down the street with circuit training for a pretty good price, $34 a month. I think I can afford it. It will be tough on a fixed income, but I think it’s doable. And hey, if I can only afford it for 4-6 months, just think how much fat I’ll lose and how toned I’ll be. Yay!

For now, until I can join, I’ll just pull out the rubber bands and see if I can get started on loosing these ugly arm flaps that take on a life of their own around our age.

Although it has been hotter than the butt crack of Lucifer around here, there are some chores around the house you just shouldn’t put off. It may seem like the cooler weather will never get here, but before you know it, it will be time to turn off the air conditioner and turn on the furnace.

Before you do that, take the time now to change out or clean your furnace filters. Do it now, before the weather turns and you are caught unprepared because there only thing that’s worse than feeling like you’re frying in a frying pan is turning on the furnace and getting bupkis.

Personally, I prefer the cold over the heat because of one simple reason: when it gets cold, you can always put on another layer of clothes. When it gets this hot, you can only get so naked. And baby, it’s miserable.

Stay cool. At least until autumn hits. I CAN’T WAIT.

Remind me I said that when I’m bitching about how cold it is, willya?

One thing I have learned in all my years of moving from place to place, and that’s how to buy mattresses. This is one piece of furniture I will not buy used and on which I will not skimp. Especially at my age when a good night’s sleep is of premium importance, I will have a good mattress.

Not too soft, not too firm…and actually, the most comfortable mattress I ever had was a hotel mattress. I miss that thing, I truly do. My last purchase was a Serta, and with the addition of a memory foam topper, it is very comfortable and I love it.

A good night’s sleep starts with a good mattress. It’s worth the money.

Cad oh Cad, wherefort out thou? Why so melodramatic? Well, I always wanted to learn cad drawing. See, I taught myself Photoshop (although I still have a lot to learn) years ago. I do have an artistic bent. I have always been intrigued by architecture. From my earliest Humanities or Art Appreciation class, even History classes, I have always had an interest in architecture. One day I will visit Catherine the Great’s palaces.

Back in my day, if you wanted to be an architect, you had to take draftsmen classes. And back in my day, very few females did, if any. It was even worse than daring to take woodshop (which I did in Jr. High.)

Nowadays they have these nifty Cad programs. The only problem is I could never be an architect. And you know why? Same reason I can’t make video games. My math is appalling.

I won’t apologize for sucky math skills. Some people have it, some people don’t. I don’t possess math skills. I prefer to think of it as I know my limits. So I’ll let others create the pretty buildings; I’ll just try to create the pretty things that go inside.

I’m paranoid, I am. I grew up with bronchial problems all my life. I spent the first six years in a hospital taking breathing treatments. So what do I do? Instead of moving to the “dry heat” of Arizonia, I head to the most humid heat of anywhere except maybe Houston.

You know, I grew up with one in my room. My mom used to fill it with Eucalyptus and before I knew it my lungs were clear. Yes, I grew up with a dehumidifier.

My mom explained how I wasn’t breast fed. Thanks, Mom, for not giving me the extra anti-bodies I need!

Oh, I kid. I couldn’t breast feed my son because I was taking a steroid. So consequently, Z grew up with a dehumidifier himself.

Look, I have no desire to visit Arizonia. In the meantime, I’m just going to purchase a dehumidifier to keep me comfortable in this humid weather. And who knows, maybe I can get the fancy one that also takes out allergens!