My very first NaBloPoMo post

Today is my very first post in participation with NaBloPoMo. I've been reflecting on my blog and how I haven't really been posting much to it lately. I have many things churning in my brain as possible blog posts, but a lot of things start turning into long articles when I try and focus on them, and then I loose steam with editing and never actually post. So, for November, and in an effort to get myself back on track with using my blog, I'm going to try and pick a few themes I want to work on and make my posts a bit smaller so I actually get around to writing them. Some of my themes will be a bit more serious, and others a bit easy going. I've decided that in order to better keep on track I'll also participate in the Simple Woman's Daybook posts on Mondays, so that will be one of my themes and some of the lighter posts. I also plan on shining light on different people groups and their perplexing journey's while still showing hope. I hope by doing so I'll keep to my blogs theme as well as participating more openly.

(As I'm actually working on this particular post a couple weeks early I'm still planning out the rest of the month, but I think so far I have a good start.)
To those I'll soon meet from participating in this challenge, welcome to my blog. To give you a little background about it I write about my life dealing with multiple types of arthritis, allergies, and infertility. I've been blessed with a great struggle of many health issues. It deepens and strengthens my faith as I have to grow my strength and trust in God. In addition I sometimes post about political topics that effect my perplexing journey as well. Particularly health care reform, topics surrounding medications, and the pro abortion/ pro life debate. I understand these topics are not for everyone, however I make no apologies about my views & feelings.The posts I make are my views and this is my blog, I would hope that readers who comment will be respectful of my views. I pledge to do the same as well.

About blog commenting. I preview all comments before they are allowed to publish to my posts. I did this because when I had commenting fully open I was getting more spam comments than actual comments and it was a waste of my time and my readers time. Please know that you won't see your comment on my posts immediately as I will only be approving comments about once a day. Duplicate comments, spam comments, and disrespectful comments will all be denied publication. This will be at my personal discretion as time permits. Thank you for your cooperation.

If you are a NaBloPoMo participant as well and you have a blog or posts that you believe I'd be interested in based on the feel of my blog feel free to leave me a comment telling me how I can find your blog. I think by following others it'll help us all have more ideas on how to keep on track with making our posts each day. Thank you for taking the time to visit my blog. God Bless.

More about that mystery post.

OK, so the "official word from blogger" is that it was a small bug with some routine testing. But still I'm not really happy about this and will likely move this blog to a different publisher soon.

As another blogger said, "Some people seem to think that this is an accident. Personally, I think it's much more dubious than that. Either way, I hope that the folks at Google fix the loophole that lets people post (either accidentally or on purpose) to other peoples' blogs." I've got to agree, not knowing initially how that happened I feared the worst about my blog and am now uncomfortable about the idea that something else could potentially be published on my blog that I didn't write that next time might not be so benign. Yeah, I'm really thinking this google glitch is a little to big for me to feel OK with keeping my blog publishing through them much longer.

Anyone want to teach me the finer points of iWeb or Wordpress?

Blogger hacked? "eeyore is cute!"

Update: Apparently republishing removed the post, and I've seen this mentioned on several other blogs. Making a new blog post republishes the blog, so when I made this post it apparently "took care" of that mystery post. Still I am nervous as to why & how this happened though.

Here is an image copy of that mystery post


Kevin & I have no idea about that last post. Heck we were both in bed at the time that posted. Please do not do anything in response to that post. We are trying to find a way to remove it. (not readily available, so I'm kind of freaking out.)

At the moment I can't seem to find out too much info yet, but I did see a message board post somewhere saying that 2 of the blogs they follow had the same post made on them. And another blog that mentioned they and many others they know about had that happen too.

I also find it interesting that this happened from Kevin's account and not mine as he barely uses his, and I log into mine all the time. I don't know if there is any relevance to "whose" account posted it, but I mention it incase it is again posted from my account onto this blog.

This just makes me all the more encouraged to remove my blog from blogger and maintain my blog completely on my own/own site. The only commonality I can find with my blog and the other blogs effected is that they publish via blogger. Leading me to believe the security issue is on the Google/Blogger end, and not our own.

Just a quick note

The computer I'm using to post this is horribly slow, and the good computer is down until we can afford to repair and find the parts to repair it. It's times like this where we're wishing I too had a good computer, most days we can make do, but right now it's really at a bad time. With tax season starting Kevin needs to do this soon, but we also have car repairs to worry about as well. So you probably wont see many posts from me until we can get all this worked out, and sadly, I'm just not able to keep up with all the wonderful blogs I normally follow because this computer is too slow to load most of your wonderful pages.

I do check for comments every few days, so if there is a post you particularly want me to know about leave the link in a comment to this post and I'll try to check it out when I have some free time.

In the mean time I miss bloglandia, but wanted to let you know what's going on.

12 snapshots of my blog - a year in review

Kelli over at "There is no place like home." had a neat end of year blogging idea, so I figured I'd join in as best I can.

"Post the first sentence of your first blog post of each month. You can also add a favorite picture from each month. Here are mine:" (well, I took some liberty on how I did this, but that was to keep the flow of this post.)



12 months ago I was trying to pick paint colors for the house, "Because I really wish we could paint the house...", We've since bought some paint, but still need to do it.



11 months ago I tried my hand at painting while dealing with an arthritis flair, it didn't turn out so bad, but I'm not giving up homemaking to become a painter.





10 months ago
I made an artist trading card based on Proverbs 31:22.





9 months ago was really hard on me. "Yesterday all I did was lay on the couch and watch TV, and I hated that, but it was all I could do."


8 months ago I shared things I was learning about just what is Biblical giving.



7 months ago I wrote about my home
"The building itself is a modern ranch manufactured home. I'm just fine with it too, it's plenty of home for the two of us, even some kids someday, Lord willing. I'd like to get shutters on the sides of the front windows, and maybe someday hang my flower boxes in the windows. Though I've been advised against it because of rain, but we don't really get rain right on the building unless the wind is also really wild, so maybe we will put them up someday. I currently just have them sitting on the decks. One of the front deck, and the other on the back, they seem to be OK as just planters too, but since they can be mounted, I do think it'd be nice someday."



6 months ago I was glad it was overcast!
"After work yesterday Kevin felt bad for me and my sweat dripping face so he took me to Subway to get sandwiches, then we drove up to Deception Falls! Best things ever! Subway was like a refrigerator in the store!" And let me tell you, even though there is still snow on the ground for the last 20 days I'm so glad it's not hot out like it was just 6 months ago. I'm fine with bundling up, I go nuts when I can't cool off.



5 months agoI shared photos from Nadine's wedding, and our family reunion.




4 months ago I thanked people for helping me reach my goal in fundraising for the Arthritis Foundation walk. "I have now reached my fundraising goal for my walk, but I still encourage everyone who can to help!"



3 months ago I was up all night swollen, more dealings with arthritis. "Yup, my hands are swollen. I had to ice my hands after cooking dinner tonight. Pretty sad, but hey, that's arthritis."



2 months agoI thought "My cold FINALLY feels like it's gone, which means I can inject again!" but it lingered on a while longer. It was almost 3 month long with having back to back colds! I'm so glad that's over. Tonight I plan to inject my second time since getting over those colds, so I'm still doing good in that department.



At the start of the month I posted about a video I found on-line.

"The following is a video on a topic I am very concerned about. It's something I've seen as a growing concern in 'Christianity' today. Churches that want so desperately to attract seekers and teach almost exclusively on the gifts and blessings of salvation that they forget to even address why man needs salvation or what a growing faith looks like."






And now we come to tonight, the last day of 2008!
This coming year I plan to continue my doctors appointments. Hopefully start growing our family. And to continue to lead my peaceful life as a homemaker. I know it's important for others to understand God's hope and salvation, so I plan to continue to speak about that here. I also believe it's important for people who don't know what life with chronic illness is like, so I plan to continue to write about that as well.

I hope to share more photos, but I'll probably need a new or repaired camera for that. It's very hard right now to get pictures such that they're worth posting. I kid you not, our Christmas picture took about 40 shots to make the light just right, and then I still had to work on it digitally, just so I could use my broken camera with no flash.

I'm not one for new years resolutions, so this is the closest I get to that. But I do think these plans are mostly all attainable.

Happy New year! I hope all welcome in 2009 safely, and that in the new year God brings you many blessings.

I need a life, iLife that is.

I've been dealing with some frustrations with Blogger. Don't get me wrong, it's a great blogging option for someone just getting into blogging, but the more I'm trying to reign in control of our site, the more I wish I just had my own program... the more I keep looking at Mac iLife, the more I end up being convinced that the next time I can spare $80 (which honestly is never, but I can hope...) I plan on getting this program. With it, I can use iWeb and make a much more personal site. I know this site, the way it is now, for blogger is pretty unique, but I keep dreaming. My blog is probably where I invest the most artistic creativity lately, simply because it's like my own scrapbook of life and stuff on line, and so on.

Anyway, no real purpose in this post, except if you have a copy of iLife laying around and you're looking for a new home for it! ;0)

YAY SNOW!

We've finally gotten our first snow for the season. It started at 9 last night. Hasn't snowed much this morning though the clouds certainly look like they could dump more at any moment, and the temp is still low enough for snow and not rain!

Siggy loves snow just about as much as me, it seems. As soon as it started snowing he wanted to be taken outside. It was funny watching him eat snow flakes as they plopped from the sky. So excited, it was really cute. But because that was happening in the dark, I couldn't get a video of it. Maybe we'll get back out if it snows some more during daylight today.

Yesterday was a fair amount of rain before the snow, so it is a pretty wet pack right now. But with lots more snow on the horizon it should continue to get even prettier as time progresses. Maybe tomorrow I'll get some pictures taken before church.



The only down side about any weather system coming in and changing the weather so rapidly is that my arthritis goes super crazy. I was plastered into the bed all night and slept a somewhat restless 12 hours! The arthritis index is pinned at extreme for the next few days, and it certainly feels like that for me. Oh well, my cane is my friend, if only it were a walker, but I'll make do.

I'm just praising God for the beauty of the snow. I love how transformed everything is, from dirty and dry, to covered in white, this time of year, when it snows. It's so beautiful.

On to other topics. I'm thoroughly engaging in learning as much as I can about adoptions right now. We are more and more convinced that foster adopt looks like the route we want to go. Because adoption can be tricky with timing and placement, and with foster kids - emotions, we feel that while it's been good for us to have the adoption blog site, we'll be taking it down soon. Some posts will come here, and the things we can talk about will be posted here, but having a blog specifically, and only for our adoption story, isn't appropriate. If one wants to follow just adoption related posts they will be able to do so using the tags feature once I have things shifted over.

I've had some complaints about having my comments be registered users only. I'm not sure what to do right now, I need to keep my comment moderating secure, and it hasn't been fair to readers when commenters who do have a site registered somewhere post "anonymously" with just their name, this is meant to have commenter accountability. A lot of blogs function this way. What I may start to allow is a way to e-mail a comment in too, where I have the e-mail address, but it isn't visible in the post, and then allow comments that way. I've seen that on different blogging sites, but as of now, I haven't seen that feature available, readily, on blogger.

So, snow is pretty, arthritis is not, adoption stuff being studied, blog changes happening. Oh, and I'm blessed to have Kevin all to myself for the next 5 days as he's on vacation! While I may be in a lot of pain, life feels pretty good! Praise be to the good, one and true GOD!

Oh, and did I mention, YAY SNOW!

What is your favorite Christmas song?

This is a super short post, and hopefully it'll get lots of replies because I really want to know...

What is your favorite Christmas song?

Mine is Little Drummer Boy. It's such a sweet and humble song, showing how a simple little drummer boy could see baby Jesus as the Christ King he was born as. It's something awe-inspiring to me that the little drummer wanted to give a gift to baby Jesus to, and yet all he could offer was his talent, and that was given and enjoyed.

So come on now, share in the Christmas spirit and tell me what you're favorite Christmas song is and why.

A GLASS HEDGEHOG ORNAMENT!

OK, So a few years ago when we lived in our last apartment, we had a very mean neighbor below us. He would pound loudly on the ceiling just from gingerly walking around our space. We could hear quite footfalls from above us, but never thought it necessary to be angry at them, it's the drawbacks of apartment living. Anyway, the Christmas we were there I had a very special glass hedgehog ornament. Those of you who really know me know this is my FAVORITE animal. As we were setting up the tree, he pounded so completely loudly right under my feet that I jumped in the air and dropped what I was holding. I swear for a split second I thought he had shot a gun at the ceiling and it really freaked me out. When I got my nerve back up to put my ornaments on my tree again I looked sadly down to my poor little hedgie ornament that was broken beyond repair. I quickly went back to Cost Plus to see if I could get more, and sadly they were already all gone.

For years since I've tried every ornament shop since to try and find new ones. And here today one almost falls in my lap, well finding out where to shop anyway.

My sweet blog-friend Sondra wrote me here yesterday to tell me she just got a catalog for plow and hearth and that there were some hedgies in it and that she thought of me when she saw them, how sweet! So I went and looked at the items she pointed out to me, all I can say is so cute! And then I went on to search Hedgehog on the site to see what other things there might be, and then I saw this!



I'm ecstatic! I so want this sweet, handsome little thing adorning my tree. He's even cuter than the one I sadly lost. Oh, I hope I'll be able to get at least one before they sell out. So sweet!

Thanks Sondra for telling me about the items in the catalog.
The chocolates look yummy, but I don't think I could eat a hedgie, and the brush style ornament has been a favorite of mine, yes, I love them. I have the one standing up, but still don't yet have the brush style that's down on all fours. It's fun knowing that a friend I've made on-line has gotten to know me so well as to be able to tell me things she's come across that she'd know I'd like. Thanks Sondra, that really put a smile on my face!

I STILL have this cold, but thankfully was able to feel just well enough to get to church yesterday. I'm still coughing a lot, lots of lung junk, and a come and go sore throat, but for the most part I think I'm finally heading towards being on the mend. I just pray it continues to leave so I can get well enough again to take my arthritis injection. It never completely takes away my symptoms, but it does enough to make taking them worth it, and then when I can't it feels like all my symptoms are taking over again. Oh the joys of living with an auto-immune disorder!

Well, here's hoping that I can squirrel away a little of the grocery money next week, and get myself this sweet little guy. Thanks again Sondra!

Today is Tuesday, here is an update, but I can't think of a title.

I was told that I haven't made a post in a while. Yes, I'm not sure what to write about these days. The comments that made me consider closing my blog had brought tears to my eyes. I cried a lot, and it's been hard to want to write since then. The things I post on here are things I spend lots of time considering, so I do take things personally. I am thoughtful, some commenters are not.

I've also been at a loss of what to write about because mostly I'm just writing about my symptoms. I'm so thankful to be over physical therapy, but I still feel worn out and sleepy a lot. It seems like after therapy I started getting cold after cold and with feeling sick and tired a lot I don't really see much to write about. I've spent a lot of time reading. I finally finished the first Harry Potter book, and am now in the second book. I loved it! I love reading, especially this time of year where the cold just makes me want to stay covered up and with my nose in a good book.

I'm working on my Thanksgiving list. I should post it soon, probably on Thanksgiving. That'll be another post from me soon too.

My family visited last week. It was OK. Dad was sick for the most part, it seemed like he slept a lot. Everyone did lots of chores for me, which was appreciated, but also overwhelming. I'm still waiting for a photo CD from my mom from their time here. I'll probably post some pictures once I get it. While they were here my arthritis wasn't horrible, which was good. I was afraid because I was mostly stuck in bed even up to a day before they came. I was finally over the colds I had, only to catch the cold they had about halfway through there visit. This cold has been the worst of the 4 I've had in the last 2 months. But it seems to be moving fairly quickly. I came down with it Wednesday, and already am feeling a lot different... not quite better yet, but MAYBE in a week or so I'll feel well enough to get back on my injections! I pray so, I feel so much inflammation in my body. The worst being my ability (or lack there of) to move my back. And pain that surprises me when I do try to move.

My mobility has been an issue, even with the help that physical therapy was. I've really found that my mobility is tied so much to my inflamation. When it's worst I can't move hardly at all, when it's better I can move around fairly free, though that's been rare lately.

While they were here we visited a museum and I used a wheelchair there. It was actually rather freeing to have a chair available, I'm glad the museum had that available. It reminded me of the words of an on-line friend of mine. She has A.S. and she told me the best thing she ever did for herself was to buy herself a walker so she could keep moving on her bad days. I'm grateful for my cane, but sometimes I need support on both sides of my body. About half of the rest of the time I was using my cane. There where a couple of times I didn't use my cane and this confused my sister. She didn't quite understand that I don't need it all of the time. And that I try not to use it when I don't need it. I think this is one of the hardest things for people to understand about my arthritis, just because I'm doing good one day doesn't mean I'm better, and just because I'm stuck in bed another doesn't mean I'll always be stuck. It also doesn't mean that I've given up, or given into my disease. Just because I need my cane sometimes, and would truly benefit from a walker doesn't mean I want it, it's just tools for better living. It's not something about attitude, but realizing what I need to do to have the best life possible.

I'm really saddened sometimes by the lack of understanding some people have. I try to be very open about what I deal with, and sometimes it's hard for people to understand that this is not something I'm doing to myself, or allowing to happen to me. There is no cure for it, just some things that help. Believe me, if there was a cure-all for this all of my on-line A.S. friends and I would be talking about it and shouting it from the roof-tops. No one wants a cure for this more than the person dealing with it. False hopes, and advice that (falsely says) there's a cure out there are very discouraging. God alone can deal with this. Medications and exercise CAN ONLY DO SO MUCH! Even if I'm someday blessed with total remission, I would still live with the reality that it could pop up again. Even if I someday get my hip replaced to fix my O.A. that still won't change the R.A. or A.S. it's complicated, and my life is even more complicated since I live with multiple things.

The first day my family was here (actually on our way home from the airport) we went to the mall and they bought us a stationary recumbent bike. It's great. I think it's even nicer than the one I was using in physical therapy. Siggy has already started scratching on it, which makes me mad. He's a good cat for the most part, but everything looks like scratching posts to him. Very frustrating. I've put a towel over the seat to help prevent his scratching, so far so good... I'm just wondering how long that will last.

The weather has been cold, and I'm surprised we haven't had snow yet. Any time we do get moisture it seems to head up from the south, so it's fairly warm.

My dear friend Juliet called me yesterday because I missed church last Sunday and she was wondering how I was doing. I sounded like a grumpy frog on the phone. Stupid cold. I've been half asleep most of the time, and my voice sounds funny. But getting her call was a ray of sunshine. It's so encouraging knowing I have such loving and caring friends. It truly blessed me.

Only sort of closed. Just temporary.

UPDATE: OK, so maybe closed isn't quite right. I'm looking to rename my blog, and change the focus on what I write about. There are lots of you both on blogger and facebook who have encouraged me that this blog is appreciated. I'm just tired of being hurt by negative, hurtful, mean-spirited, and misguided comments and messages. Many I don't publish, some I have. You may not see it all, but I do since it comes to me. And sometimes it feels too painful.

One thing that made me reconsider closing this entirely is a sermon I watched early this morning. I was up all night watching various things on T.V. I watched "Love Comes Softly" and "Loves Enduring Promise" and had a good girly cry a couple times during those movies. With it being just me at home I've kind of been a basket case. But I also watched a sermon by Charles F. Stanley called 'A Call to Godly Living'. It really spoke to me and gave me the courage to stick this blog out.

The sermon this week by Charles Stanley totally blessed me in the wee hours of this morning! My sleep is all off and I have no energy at all because of my arthritis. I'm sore and stiff and I'm basically awake when I can be awake, and asleep when I can actually get some sleep right now. I've been feeling so down and lonely this weekend, being home alone, and this message TOTALLY encouraged me!

If you catch this post within the week you can view the sermon here OR if you come to this post later you can purchase this sermon here. I plan on purchasing this sermon as I know this is a message that will encourage me again later too. Additionally you can read the sermon outline here

I still think this button is true for my blog...



But I am uplifted by the many kind words today. It's those of you who are kind who continue to make it all worth it. For the moment I'm still going to keep the archive off of the site, but will return it after I've migrated some posts for my own reasons. I tightened my blogs visibly as far as it being able to be searched for. I am also removing my e-mail address from my blogger profile and blog. Hopefully these measures will help shield me some from mean internet trolls.

Thank you to my kind readers. You are true friends!

I love Jennifer Leeper.

I'm posting this link to my friends blog post, not because of the pat on the back that she gave me, but because I love her too. I've posted before about how she's a missionary teaching in Thailand. Her friendship and personality are an encouragement to me. Go read my comment to her in her comments section if you want to read more gushing.

What I found strange this morning is that I don't think I have a single picture of the two of us together! How can this be!? Oh well, someday we'll correct that.

I praise God for my dear friends because it's their love that encourages me day in and day out. Even with the entire Pacific ocean between us, I daily have contact with her, and that is so cool! The internet is cool, and I'm glad we're able to use it to stay connected across miles of ocean and time-zones!

She cracks me up, I just got to looking at her Blogger profile page and had to laugh. OK, so on Blogger, when you're setting up your profile page, Blogger asks completely random questions. Mine is about a statue made of cheese, but her random question... well, here;
"Your superpower is that you smell like dandelions whenever someone lies. How will you maintain your secret identity?

'As sad as it is, in this day and age we are constantly surrounded by lies. I will always smell of dandelions which is a heck of a lot better than poop.' "
I just had to laugh out loud because of that! Truth and humor, it's great!

So anyway, I'm thankful that even though I got up way too early this morning, that I came to the computer to read something from my dear friend Jennifer.

The faith and conviction of a child.

My bloggy friend Dana made an amazing post and I just want to pass the link on for others to read. Children learn more than we may realize a lot of times. They have amazing hearts, and they are constantly processing and forming opinions that often times adults are too lazy to care to contemplate. A child isn't afraid to form their opinion, and what a blessing it is when the proper environment instils a love for the Lord in a child, and that Love for the lord guides their hearts in their choices and decisions.

Of pot roast and pot pies.

Living with chronic illness means that there are a lot of times when we eat prepared meals. It's not something I'm proud of, but sometimes I need a little help from the grocery store, the nights I'm not well enough to stand in the kitchen and cook.

I always make way more than we need each time I do cook so we can have leftovers, and I try to make things we won't get tired of or that I could quickly adapt into something else later.

Anyway, so last night, the highlight of my so unproductive week long flair up, was making pot roast. It wasn't the greatest, and I certainly noted a few things to do different next time. Didn't matter to the Hubster... He devoured his entire portion and praised me for it most of the evening. Even willing to have it as seconds tonight. So tonight I made us pot-pies to go with our pot roast. By 'make' I mean I thawed out and baked some brand name pre-made ones. Now, mind you, we've had these before, but normally as a snack, not eating them with something else. As we ate, we wondered how we ever ate these before! What was it that was in these that made them so completely bland, and the roast I made so flavorful. It felt like a magic trick of the taste-buds. I got to thinking, hey, I'm not that bad of a cook. Really I know I'm not, but I'm trying to remain humble.

Needless to say, I'm thinking about buying more freezer containers and making even more meals ahead on my good days, this is just pathetic. It was strange too to recall times when these little pot-pies have tasted so good and how disappointing they were tonight. It was also quite shocking to see that this particular brand has now taken to supplementing the meat with soy... no wonder the meat tasted gross and was so un-naturally soft. We agreed that Marie Calendar's is probably the only pot pies we like anymore... and even still, we probably should have me make home-made stuff ahead of time, as much as possible from now on.

This is an honor and a frustration though. I pride myself in becoming as best of a cook as I possibly can, so I'm always happy when I hear my food does please and satisfy, but as someone who most days doesn't have the energy I need to get it all done this also becomes quite a chore. I want to make us the food that is best for us, but if I'm too sick to sit or stand at the stove what do I do? And yes, I sit... I've bought a few different bar stools at different heights and it's a definite help with a lot of meals. Realistically though this isn't always a help, and I need something more.

Recently I've made some friends on line who also have Ankylosing Spondylitis and I was talking with one of them on-line last night, and she convinced me I need to invest in a walker. She was saying it's the best things she's done for herself. Believe me, it's something I've seriously considered quite a bit this last year. If it's something that helps keep me going on the bad days than that's a good thing, I think. There is now said walker on my amazon.com wish-list.

One of the hardest parts about chronic pain is that there are bad days, worst than bad days, and OK days too. And a lot of times people look at someone with a chronic pain illness and think well, their good days are how they are, and they just have to push harder on the bad days, and really that you've just given up. First of all, that outlook causes emotional pain. Daily life is such an ordeal with these illnesses, I know all my friends with chronic pain illness, and myself included, would give darn near anything to feel as strong and healthy as we once did. It does us no good to simply act as if we're just lacking a needed push. It makes us feel misunderstood, pained, and frustrated. Believe you me, if this was a matter of willpower, it'd be a different story.

The blessings of networking with others on-line & sharing these frustrations is that as we write, we share ways of sharing, giving perspective, and maybe, hopefully a new angle to share with others how our life is different.

I want my healthy friends and family to read this post by a fellow A.S. sufferer because as I read it I kept thinking that what she was writing was a cliff-notes version of my blog, and maybe hearing her share her words could give you better insight into my life. Yes, it's from her perspective of this disease, but I didn't read anything that isn't what I'd say, or have said.

This road is tough, and I need love and support from those around me as a result.

I need to honestly say that I'd love and appreciate meals brought over, this time of year especially. Don't break your bank, but home made, as opposed to pre-made is so much better, and I hate when we settle. I don't want to be a burden on anyone's grocery budget though.

Well, I need to start heading to bed. I've been sleeping about 11 hours on average lately, and I have women's fellowship tomorrow and don't want to miss it. At this rate I'm looking at taking a shower after I log off, crawling into bed, and when I roll out of bed tomorrow head on out to the meeting. It's at 1:00 PM. Now before you say, "Oh, I wish I could sleep like that!" Please know this is no luxury! I'm not getting rest at all these days, and much of that time is spent laying in bed praying the pain will go away enough to sleep well, only to dream about the pain, and wake up not rested. I hope tomorrow will be better, but I have to look at realistically how this week has been so far.

Good night blog friends, and blog readers. For now, I try to sleep.

God knows what He's doing - So true!

Often times I come into discussions with people who want to pray away my arthritis or infertility. As if these issues are simply a weakness of faith, and they can fix it. This saddens me. Not the question of faith (though that has it's own issues) but because it limits God, His will, and His plans.

I would love to rid myself of these burdens, but intellectually I know that this is my body, my make up and my issues to deal with. Intellectually I know there are medical steps I can take to care for and manage my diseases, and I know my doctors have my best care in their interest.

Chronic disease and illness and infertility are all things that non-believers deal with too. These health issues are something that alienates and frustrates, even depresses. Who is going to reach out to such a person? To help them find grace and hope in Him? Someone who leaves them with broken promises and an accusation of not having enough faith to heal themselves? No, I think the people who might reach those people are the ones who know the depths of that despair and yet still have some hope in something. In God.

I want a normal life again, I want to have a day go by where I'm not limited with daily back pain and fatigue, and sleep issues and all the rest of the things I complain about, but if I didn't have these things, would I still have that connection with others? Would my story matter to them as much?

Now I'm not saying I have a track record of saving souls through my illnesses, I honestly have no idea if there are people out there seeking God because of my words, but, I have hope that I am doing His will, and that as a result others would see God's grace through me. I do know that people listen and internalize though, and that maybe they might not make a change of heart at this moment, but maybe it plants seeds and from there growth and spiritual healing begins, and isn't spiritual healing more important than any earthly physical healing?

Sometimes I hear people say God doesn't desire struggles and sadness for His children, but I struggle with accepting that at the same time as knowing there is an entire book, the book of Job, where God allows so many things to happen to Job. I am not saying I am Job, but I am saying that the Word does show us examples of God allowing His faithful to endure horrific things. And in the end is what matters. In the end of Job's story he has a deeper understanding of the awesomeness of God, he has a greater appreciation of the gifts he receives from God, and his testimony of faith grows from it. What an amazing legacy! And all through suffering.

Our pastor recently wrapped up a sermon series on the book of Job, and the whole thing was very much an encouragement to me. Even though the sermons have now switched gears to the book of John, God is still having me examine Job's story... Yesterday I made a new online friend who also has Ankylosing Spondylitis. It was so encouraging to see another sister in Christ dealing with the same issues as me. I'd never wish this on anyone, but knowing I'm not walking this road alone was a great encouragement! Still thinking about Job, while rejoicing over this new friendship, I opened my blog feeds to see a new post from her, and it was on none other than this very topic! Amazing how God is laying the same Word on our hearts!

After I read her post the ending stood out to me quite a bit.

God owes no one anything. No reasons. No explanations. Nothing. If he gave them, we couldn’t understand them. God is God. He knows what he is doing. When you can’t trace his hand, trust his heart.

Please read her post as a whole, but I had to share that part because it's so true. If God heals me of this disease and/or gives me children that is only out of His goodness, grace, mercy, and would truly be a gift. But I can't be envious of not having that gift. Just because it's possible doesn't mean it's intended for me. I may have far greater gifts and blessings in my future that I can't understand now... Having an entire book in the #1 read book in all the world certainly would be a huge treasure, but I seriously doubt Job had any idea of that as he endured his sufferings.

I firmly believe there is a purpose for me being at home, sitting on the net in my PJ's, making connections with others on this road and praying for and with them about these things. This will not change the fact that I have days like yesterday where all I could muster was to text my hubby to pick up pizza on his way home. Or the times when the chemical issues of my illnesses cause me depression, but what does change is how I get through it all, that while things feel overwhelming on a constant basis I still have my hope and faith in Christ. I still trust that a day will come when His believers are taken to a new life, a heavenly life. I so look forward to that day! I hope my journey encourages others to find such a hope for themselves as well.

I'm so thankful for this new friendship. The isolation has felt overwhelming, and as I was going through her blog I was reading things that I swore I've written myself. There is a sense of camaraderie there, that isn't found elsewhere. And I can't think of many other causes or reasons that would bring a new friendship together between to different people on opposite ends of the states together other than God and His amazing gifts. The internet is a powerful tool, and I'm blessed that when I prayerfully use it, God uses it with me to my benefit.

I've also been focusing on Romans 5:1-5 (ESV) My dear friend Dana brought it back to my attention recently and I am seeing it with a greater understanding this time. Dana is also a blessing of friendship that God has blessed me with. She also struggles with her infertility, and yet continues to find her hope and faith in Him. Her openness, honesty, and candid reflections of her journey blesses me. I've often meditated on Romans 5:1-5, but have found now that I've missed a major part of it.

Therefore, since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God. More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.

The part I have been missing is the journey. It's so easy to see the gifts in this passage and say "Yes, Lord! I claim this for me! Give me!" But there is a reason this passage lays out a journey. You don't get instantly teleported from sufferings to hope, there's mile markers along the way, there is endurance, and character, and then, finally we get to hope. I see how in other parts of my life and spiritual walk I've arrived at hope, but I see that in this particular journey I'm still somewhere between suffering and endurance. I see too that the times I've made this journey have given me the roadmap to hope on this particular trek, for that I am thankful. The peace I have through faith is how I am reminded of this. It's were I've seen my past sufferings grow me to the point I am now, and equipping me with the understanding that "More than that, we rejoice in our sufferings!" because only by dealing with suffering can I walk the path of endurance, character and hope.

Another blog post I cam across that follows in this thread is here, for those of you who want to read this topic further now.

5 sentances

This is an interesting idea that my brother in law told me about during family reunion. I'm not too sure what I think about it. I tend to sometimes do this and yet at other times write novels in e-mails. I do also tend to write posts here that are more meant to be seen by anyone of my friends and family (and random internet visitors) reserving other types of communication to be either e-mail or social blogging.

The content of the site reads...

The Problem

E-mail takes too long to respond to, resulting in continuous inbox overflow for those who receive a lot of it.

The Solution

Treat all email responses like SMS text messages, using a set number of letters per response. Since it’s too hard to count letters, we count sentences instead.
five.sentenc.es is a personal policy that all email responses regardless of recipient or subject will be five sentences or less. It’s that simple.

Just thought I'd post this as it's a curious proposition. Honestly though, I think my main problem getting through e-mail is wadding through e-mails from companies I am interested in hearing from when I'm looking to use them, but at the moment trying to find the personal messages. As a result we've set up addresses we give to businesses and different ones to individuals. This has helped us a bit more than this commitment might. It also doesn't really change what I'd RECEIVE in my in-box, those people who all ways write long messages will continue to unless they themselves become compelled at some point to make such a commitment. Just thought this was all something interesting to think about.

Help! Or complaining about life vs. explaining about issues.

(Update at bottom of post.)
The following seemed fitting that I read it today on a day were I napped as much as I was awake, am feeling agitated about everything, gritting my teeth from back pain, and feeling bad that I haven't blogged in several days, and feeling like it means something bad about me that I can't think of anything fun to do or blog about when I feel this low.

I'm never one to want help, or to want to talk when I don't feel good. I'll just say I'm OK and act invisible when I feel like this. The times I have shared how I truly feel makes me feel disconnected with others and I'm acutely aware of just how many people seem to think I invent this back pain.

If I could give it up and have happy things to blog or talk about I'd give it up in a heart beat. I'm not one who wants to feel sorry for me, or looking for attention, but it does become a burden to deal day in and day out with these things and not tell anyone about it. So then I explode rants on here and probably become the opposite of what I'd hope.

Well, here is the quoted post. I'll reply more after the block quote. (and the link for this post is at the end.)

Most people don’t want to be around a chronic complainer. You know the one that shows up at the family picnic. You see her coming and everyone starts disappearing, but wait you couldn’t get away from dear old Aunt Bertha. So you endure the conversation, wondering when she’ll ever quit whining about Uncle Harold’s snoring and Aunt Beth’s teeth. You sit there for the 30 minutes wondering when you will find your out.

While writing this it got me to thinking, where do I rank on the complainer score sheet? Yeah, it’s hard not to complain when life seems to suck when you’re in a lupus flare, and the pain never seems to end. You wake up and if its not one thing hurting it’s another new symptom.

I’m challenging myself not to complain as much about living with lupus and pain, even if it does suck. After all everyone one around me knows I have lupus. It’s not like you can’t figure out when I’m in pain. I’m not very good at hiding it, although I have tried to hide it. I won’t say that I will not complain about living with lupus by no means.

Here’s my thinking, if I don’t complain as much, maybe I won’t be constantly reminded of how much I hate lupus. Yeah, it’s given me some positives, but the negative ones outweigh the positive ones. (that’s another post-tba)

So I’m going to ask you to try this test:

Find yourself a pen and paper and write down all your complaints for the day.
Look at each one and think how you could possibly reduce the amount of complaining you do in a day. Is the complaint something you could fix? Is the complaint something you have been avoiding doing? (get it done, so you can check it off your list).

So, the next time you complain about something find something that you can compliment. You see the compliment is good for the receiver and for the giver. You both should come out feeling O’ so good.

Now, if after reading that you want to go to that blog and leave a comment the link for it is here.

So, after reading that I became aware that there is a BIG difference to someone dealing with chronic issues verses someone who is never happy with those around them. It probably comes off as the same to most people hearing it all, but personally I have a much easier time hearing someone share with me their own personal physical battles, much more then hearing about how mean one family member has been to another or other mean-spirited gossip like that.

These days my good days tend to be filled with catching up. I got behind on so many parts of life after our last trip, and then we had a flu bug, and this last flare up in my back has lasted almost two weeks, with only a break this last saturday (Which was nice because my best friend and I just spent the day hanging out and shopping and having a lovely day.)

I don't want to write about the mountain of dishes in the sink, or how my poor plants are suffering because they aren't in the ground yet, and the many other things around that really need my attention. But the reality of my life is I still haven't been able to get around to them. I want to, I'm not being lazy, and I'm constantly doing something when I am able to move. I need help, but I don't know who to ask, or what to ask, I'm at a loss. And I hate needing help.

I got around to refilling the cat's food, and water dispensers, as well as adding new water to the fish tank, and then I needed to rest. Now, our filtered water does need to be pumped, so there is actually quite a bit of work to it, but it bummed me out because I had hoped to get so much more done before I needed a break again.

I miss the days of only having a handful of doctors appointments a year. These days I have so many. It becomes really tiring. I've had this list of appointments I need to schedule that has grown over the last couple weeks and it just brings me down. I don't want to have to spend any time I leave the house being only doctor appointments, but that's how things are turning out.

Now personally, what I read in blogs and message boards ends up sounding, often a lot like this post. But I've noticed that of those posts I read and relate to they are very often on blogs only for those issues. The name of my blog "Crystal's randomness" reflects this about me, I think, that I never blog about only one thing. I've tried keeping a specific and separate arthritis blog, but it never seems to go anywhere. And then there are times when I try that and I spend days blogging only to make it seem like I've fallen off the blogosphere here. So to me the balance seems to be to really only maintain one blog, and try to keep the tags on the posts separating thing. I can click a tag and poof I'm taken to just my posts on a specific topic, and to me that works just fine. But all this got me to wondering if the other blogs are people who are too afraid to come off as complaining. I mean in a lot of these places, only people in the same boat are reading them, so aside from empathy, I'm not sure what more there is. I'm not saying it's wrong, but it doesn't seem so complete to me. Personally, this blog is obviously personal and a reflection of me. So why not reflect all the aspects of me. If you're reading this far, you probably are a good friend who cares about me, or family who wants to know I'm well. Well, to be honest, well isn't something I've felt long term in quite some time. I have hope that for various reasons down the road things will improve, but right now this is me. So do I hide it under the rug of a different blog, or not share it at all? Or do I suck it up and say "Hey friends, here is what I'm honestly dealing with."?

I know different people would read this all and react in different ways, some might pray for me, others might become over concerned and call and tell me they "know I'll be just fine, and can get over it." I can't tell what's right and what's not. I just know that if I don't say what I'm dealing with I get this sense that people do think I'm lazy, or boring, or avoiding them, and it's just not true. I know some out there will see this as another one of "those" posts and just skim it if they even read it at all. But what can I say, at least I'm putting something out there. Right? I am communicating.

Here is my latest to do list.

It's only the crucial items written down, so it doesn't mention the regular things like dishes and laundry that I mentioned earlier. Right in the middle of my chicken scratch you can read the list of all the appointments I'm supposed to make right now. I really do think I'll try to at least make some of the calls tomorrow. But most days lately, I don't remember to think about it until after office hours have ended for the day.

So all this has me wondering... and maybe this is all this post is really about... how much of "being honest" comes off as just as bad as a mean spirited gossip, and how much is seen as an honest reflection of the trials of a person with chronic illness?

(UPDATE:)
I actually feel rather convicted that a difference needs to be addressed here. So I thought I'd look to scripture a bit. Here are a few things that caught my eye.

Ephesians 4:25-32
25Therefore each of you must put off falsehood and speak truthfully to his neighbor, for we are all members of one body. 26"In your anger do not sin"[d]: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, 27and do not give the devil a foothold. 28He who has been stealing must steal no longer, but must work, doing something useful with his own hands, that he may have something to share with those in need.

29Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. 30And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. 31Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. 32Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.

Ephesians 4:11-13
11It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ.

So, in response to these scriptures I sense that we are to be aware of the needs of others, and in doing so we need to be able to expect of one another an open honesty of what our needs are. If I keep my needs to myself I stop others from serving me in ways they may be called for, and vice versa. It takes an open and honest two way acceptance that life isn't pretty in order to get past feeling like it's impolite to talk about the bummer parts of life, or to be open enough to listen to others needs, but Christ calls us to this. We are to serve one another. My needs may be physical, someone else's needs may be emotional, but when we come together in open honesty and talk about how things are, we can bond together and help each other out. I think this is the greatest gift a church has to each other, but often one that out of "politeness" is cast aside and not dealt with.

Romans 12:1-2
1Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual[a] act of worship. 2Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God's will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.

Romans 12:4-6
4Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, 5so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. 6We have different gifts, according to the grace given us. If a man's gift is prophesying, let him use it in proportion to his[a]faith.

Romans12:9-13
9Love must be sincere. Hate what is evil; cling to what is good. 10Be devoted to one another in brotherly love. Honor one another above yourselves. 11Never be lacking in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord. 12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality.

I hope these verses further flesh out some of what I was getting at with this post.

Psalm 34:12-14
12 Whoever of you loves life
and desires to see many good days,

13 keep your tongue from evil
and your lips from speaking lies.

14 Turn from evil and do good;
seek peace and pursue it.

All verses sited are from the NIV (Yes, not typically my first choice of translation, but for this message I think all versions would still ring true.)

1 Peter 4:10
Each one should use whatever gift he has received to serve others, faithfully administering God's grace in its various forms.

OK so...

My 'break' isn't going to be like I completely ignore the digital world. I was watching the news today and had a very strong urge to blog about it, but really, what I mean by my break is I know that in order to do the things I need to do in the next few weeks, I'm not going to be able to be on-line as much as I'd like to.

I feel bad when I don't make time every day to check my favorite blogs, but I also know I can get sucked into bloglandia and ignore the real world a little too much and right now I need to play catch-up.

So, that thing in the news I was thinking about blogging about was my reactions to news that an 11 year old girl passed away because her parents didn't take her to the doctors to treat diabetes and she was so sick for a month straight before she died, and it all was so simply medically preventable. The parents said they simply didn't have enough faith. I'm thinking sure, there is faith in people too, not just prayer to God. I'm not saying that God can't just make a miracle happen if we ask, but I do think he gives doctors wisdom and ability to heal. He is the great physician, but He isn't the ONLY physician.

I take this pretty personally. I know that there are lots of folks out there that think traditional medicine is evil or bad in some way, but I know that with all the things I deal with, I am extremely grateful for the help and care of my doctors. I pray that they will have the knowledge to help me during our visits, and that I'll have the clarity of mind to express correctly what I need to share so my doctors know my concerns and understand my issues. I trust that God allows me to deal with the diseases I do so that I have the interactions I do, and, quite honestly to express that this is a broken fallen world, and only in HIS glory will we be free of ailments and issues. So long as I'm on this sinful rock I'll have to deal with something. I'm OK with that. I pray God uses me.

So my heart aches that this young girl lost her life because her parents couldn't trust medicine and doctors and limited the girls treatment to only prayer. I am amazed and grateful for all the people who know me in real life, and only in bloglandia who pray for me simply because I express my health issues. But I know that isn't the only way to treat things. The power of prayer truly is amazing, I don't deny that at all, but things like this just make me think about the fleck and the plank that Christ spoke about. Sometimes things are as simple as removing the physical issues. Just make a step to do something. I guess, not everything is to only be treated with prayer.

I don't want to offend someone who refuses medical treatment, and I am amazed that there are those who only want to put their faith in God. I admire that, and in a lot of instances I'm sure it's just as well, but as someone who knows that my life is better not just through prayer, but medical treatment, it just feels limiting, and I never want to limit God. If I'm called to take pills and this is something God wants me to go through in this life, I have to trust He has a reason for that.

I'm sure I'm going in circles, it's 2:30 in the morning and I'm mostly asleep, but I wanted to get these things out of my head.

Good morning/goodnight my blog friends!

Blogging break

I don't know how long or short it's going to be, but I'll be taking a break from blogging for a while. I need to regroup, spring clean, and help my husband. We have some trips planned, starting with Kevin going to SLC, Utah for a business trip.

I also want to really focus on adding lots more to my Etsy store. That means more production and more listings.

I have a lot on my plate.

I've been dropping out of swaps left and right, as well as not signing up for more. I'd love to keep going on this hobby, but it's another one I need to step back from for a while. I will fulfill my current commitments.

To all the bloggers I follow, please let me know via e-mail of posts you want to make sure I don't miss during my break. My e-mail address is in my profile.

My arthritis still has me slow, even though I'm not as bad as I've been during the winter. I still have a lot of slow, and stiff days. I still need to schedule my MRI's, now that I know I can.

Anyway, I'm midnight blogging here so I don't know how much sense it makes, but I thought this needs to be said. I just wanted to let people know I haven't fallen off of the face of the earth. :-)

LJ collage thingy.

I made this off of my Live Journal that I never use. I basically keep a live journal account to post on some blogs, but I thought this was cool so I'd post it here too.

My Interests Collage!

Create your own! Hosted and ReWritten by 

My newest blog!

I've started a blog for my hedgie obsession!

Please check it out! Soon I hope to post pictures of my personal sweet Hedgie collection, including the sweet little vintage Hedgies my dear friends the Garbarino's found for me!

Nearing 700!

I can't believe it, but I'm actually about 15 posts away from my 700th post! WOW! I know I've been blogging longer then most people I know, but wow! I write a lot! Anyway, for my 700th post I figured I'd do what I've seen some other bloggers do for their bloggaversary post, answer reader questions....

So have at it, with in reason, ask me questions and I'll write my answers in a few posts. Make this fun!

Blog migration, and boring ramblings about my R.A. clinic visit.

Yesterday I had a doc appointment at the R.A. clinic. Actually it was with the nurse practitioner who I like so much better. I'm going to always ask that my appointments be with her from now on.

She totally listened to me. Helped me go over my meds list to change things up. As much as I was hating to go (I've been thinking of just finding a new Rheumatologist), I'm so glad I went! She looked at the sores on my head (I've got some scalp sores that at first I thought were winter itch, but they haven't been healing) and she said they were from one of my RA meds that she's having me stop anyway.

She gave me some topical patches to try, I'm wearing one and it's working very well. I'm so tempted to just mummify myself in this stuff, but I've got to make the sample last.

I'm set to get an MRI soon. I'll be making that appointment next week. She was very concerned about my hip pain, I was squirming in my seat a lot so I didn't have to express it too much, though I did have to describe it. It was completely night and day compared to my last visit when I saw the doctor who basically told me with RA I shouldn't have back and hip pain and wanted to know if it's maybe just stress. So I stressed out this whole month knowing it wasn't stress, but wondering what the heck might be going on. The nurse agrees with me that it's probably some form of spondyloarthropathy, which is just a big fancy word for RA in the back and hips. Duh, I've been telling them I'm dealing with that for almost two years now! From now on it's Nurse Chris! I really think she's the most on top of narrowing things down for me. After the MRI we figure out if I'll need physical therapy or just start with the massage therapy alone. I've got to find that gem of a prescription. I mean I get to go for massages once a week with it, how could I loose that! I suppose I could have asked for that to be re-written but I'll have to call in a couple days for the patches to be written up too so I'll do it then. In the mean time I'm just so grateful that the first signs of spring are starting to show up! My pain levels have gone down a lot, even though the last couple nights my hips have kept me up, I am doing better. My hands are amazingly so much better that I've crocheted two and a half scarfs in the last couple weeks. I even brought my crocheting with me to the office. I felt like the other patients where staring at me, but it kept me busy, I know a few months ago I'd be jealous of that too. And when nurse Chris saw me crocheting she immediately said, "So, the hands are better huh!?"

Now 'bout blog migration. If you were to look at my blogger profile you'd see I have a ton of blogs. And really this is the only one I use. So my plan in the next couple weeks is to migrate content from those blogs to this one and link them together with tags at the bottom of the post. Then I can keep a link on the side-bar to have the topics all together still, but unified under this one blog.

Like with this post, I've been finding I'm doing more of my health blogging here and have ignored the health blog for a while now. Plus I just have been wanting to simplify ever since blogger introduced tags to posts here. Sorry to the less blog savvy people out there. I know I've just totally geeked out on you. Anyway, I don't think there will be too many noticeable changes here, except that my # of posts will increase.

Well, yet again I'm midnight blogging. I had gone to bed about 7 and then got up after 4 hours, I've been doing that tons lately, very frustrating. Anyway I should probably log off the computer, have a light snack and crochet until I'm lulled back to sleep. I just wanted to let everyone know an update.

I still plan on finding Kevin and I a new GP and to find Kevin and ear, nose, throat doctor, and an allergist and naturopath for myself. Anyone got any referrals for one in the Everett, WA area?

I also found this web-cast to be pretty informative in regards to spondylarthropathy. Also, this link was interesting considering I'm set to get an MRI soon.

Awards?

Wanna give my blog an award? LOL! There are some pretty random ones here, but some neat ones too. Anyone know of other sites like this?

Can you tell I'm blogging bored today?

Thank you Kevin!

Kevin slaved over the HTML of my blog all day yesterday to clean up little issues and to re-do the layout such that my music player is on the top of the page now. He did a great job! Truly, thank you dear! I'm pleased that now if someone wants to turn off the music when they come to my page they can to it rather easily, instead of having to wait for the page to load and then scrolling all the way down. Kevin, thank you for making my page work a lot better.

This and that.

I really liked this blog post! I hope everyone has a wonderful Thanksgiving!

My dearest friend Mica made a wonderful doll dress! I love it. She's such a talented artist.

Here are some household tips I got from an on-line pen-pal. I've done/tried some of these, but not all of them. I for sure use the cotton ball trick with broken glass. And the bed sheets thing is something I REALLY need to do, our bedding is so unorganized!
As far as the fruit-flies goes. We've had them bad this year and so far our best trick has been a glass jar with flat beer, and some fruit spread. You put a piece of plastic wrap on top of the jar with a rubber band, and then poke a small hole in it. They can get in, but can't get back out. This has worked well for us, though we still have a problem.
I've also used the conditioner more often then shave cream for the very reasons it mentions in here. I'm glad to see others have found that to be a good trick too.
If you know more tips like this please post them in the comments!

========================
Bed Sheets

After drying my sheets, put both sheets and one pillowcase in the other
pillow case. Fold neatly in a square. Next time you change sheets, you
just take the one pillow case and all the sheets and pillow case are
inside. No need to look for matches.


Reheat Pizza

Heat up leftover pizza in a non-stick skillet on top of the stove, set
heat to med-low and heat till warm. This keeps the crust crispy. No
soggy micro pizza. I saw this on the cooking channel and it really
works.


Reheating refrigerated bread

To warm biscuits, pancakes, or muffins that were refrigerated, place
them in a microwave with a cup of water. The increased moisture will
keep the food moist and help it reheat faster.


Broken Glass

Use a dry cotton ball to pick up little broken pieces of glass - the
fibers catch ones you can't see!


Easier thank you's

When you throw a bridal/baby shower, buy a pack of thank you cards for
the guest of honor. During the party, pass out the envelopes and have
everyone put their address on one. When the bride/new mother sends the
thank you's, they're all addressed!


Proof it's your Kids Bike

If you purchase a new bike for your child, place their picture inside
the handle bar before placing the grips on. If the bike is stolen and
later recovered, remove the grip and there is your proof who owns the
bike.


Flexible vacuum

To get something out of a heat register or under the fridge add an empty
paper towel roll or empty gift wrap roll to your vacuum. It can be bent
or flattened to get in narrow openings.


Reducing Static Cling

Pin a small safety pin to the seam of your slip and you will not have a
clingy skirt or dress. Same thing works with slacks that cling when
wearing panty hose. Place pin in seam of slacks and -- voila -- static
is gone.


Measuring Cups

Before you pour sticky substances into a measuring cup, fill it with hot
water. Dump out the hot water, but don't dry the cup. Next, add your
ingredient, such as peanut butter, and watch how easily it comes right
out.


Foggy Windshield?

Hate foggy windshields? Buy a chalkboard eraser and keep it in the glove
box of your car. When the windows fog, rub with the eraser!
Works better than a cloth!


Reopening envelope

If you seal an envelope and then realize you forgot to include something
inside, just place your sealed envelope in the freezer for an hour or
two. Voila! It unseals easily.


Conditioner

Use your hair conditioner to shave your legs. It's a lot cheaper than
shaving cream and leaves your legs really smooth. It's also a great way
to use up the conditioner you bought but didn't like when you tried it
in your hair...


Good-bye Fruit Flies

To get rid of pesky fruit flies, take a small glass fill it 1/2" with
Apple Cider Vinegar and 2 drops of dishwashing liquid, mix well. You
will find those flies drawn to the cup and gone forever!


Get Rid of Ants

Put small piles of cornmeal where you see ants. They eat it, take it
"home," & can't digest it so it kills them. It may take a week or so,
esp. if it rains, but it works & you don't have the worry about pets or
small children being harmed!


Take baby powder to the beach

Keep a small bottle of baby powder in your beach bag. When you're ready
to leave the beach sprinkle yourself and kids with the powder and the
sand will slide right off your skin.

==================================
As a side note, I'm doing better. My face is pretty much normal now, though I'm still sleeping a lot. It was sure strange to have such an allergic reaction to a medication that could have helped me. I go back a week after Thanksgiving. In the mean time I keep wishing it would snow so the cold weather would be worth it. It's just a pain otherwise.

Well, I'm very sleepy still so I'm going to head back to bed for a nap.

Just a quickie

Just a quick couple of notes...

1.) I'm having a heck of a time posting to anyone! Doesn't matter if it's typepad, blogger, lj, I just can't seem to keep a connection during posts. Kevin has had issues with secure sites. We're getting really fed up with our internet (lack) of service. But such is living out in the country and having to have internet by satellite!

2.) I'm spending a fair amount of time on the soulcysters.net site. comment if you want to know my profile there.

Thank YOU Mica!

Thank you Mica for my new header! I love it! It's simply perfect!

Shrook, Mac RSS Feed reader.

Just a quick side note that the blogs I follow I'll be able to follow a lot more effectively now. I was using (sporadically, because it was painfully slow) Safari to get my feeds, but eventually just gave up and kept reopening blogs in tabs. Slow still, but actually slightly faster.

So yesterday I noticed I was just missing out on some things some people have said and I got fed up, decided I was going to find me a real Mac feed reader that works, and with just a little poking around I found something great, free, and fast!

I'm glad to say I now use Shrook, if you have a blog you want me to read (and I may be asking for spam with this) then post it in the comments of this post and I'll look into adding you. If you are already on my blog-roll on the side of my site, then you are already added to my Shrook feeds.

Happy Blogging! And for you Mac users out there I highly recommend Shrook!

Happy Birthday Blogger, and me!

So apparently one of the many things that shares it's birthday with me is Blogger itself!

I was just trying to figure out how long I've been blogging and I found that this is my 400th post and I've been blogging in one form or another since Christmas of 98.

The history of all old blogging has been migrated here, but back in the day I used to use AOL, and then my brother-in-law and I used a message board thing for a bit, and then we both moved to using blogger. I'm proud to be an early adopter on the blogging scene.