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Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Happy Birthday Mom! Part 2

For her birthday I wanted to share a memory that I have of my mom, which also loosely inspired the painting that I posted earlier. There's no doubt I could share over a thousand things that I have done with my mom, or that she has done for me, and I don't think that I could list any of them by importance. Every memory I have is special, and this one is no different.

It's September 30th, so it's fall and the leaves are changing. One thing I really enjoyed doing as a child was looking for and collecting brightly colored leaves that had fallen off the trees in my back yard. I would bring these damp, sometimes crumbly, leaves into the house and from there Mom would press them for me between two pieces of wax paper. It seemed like a magical process and even as an adult I'm not sure if I could do it without making a mess of my iron, I know I would get something wrong.

She usually did this for me as part of a leave identification project for school, but I know that it was also sometimes just for fun. I could probably have had hundreds of leaves a year if I wanted. I'm not sure what happened to my leaves after I got tired of looking at them, because the next year we would do it all over again.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Wednesday, September 16, 2009

More + Than -

I haven't been the most active at blogging lately. But it's for a very different reason than it has been in the past. Lately I've been way more active in real life. After spending four weeks with my wonderful nephew and sister I came back to Ohio. I bummed to be leaving them, but was glad to see my friends at the Annual Block Party for the OSU-USC game. The outcome of the game wasn't desirable, but the party was amazing.

Since then I've been getting caught up on real life. I've visited the chiropractor, neurologist, and counselor in the last 3 business days. Yesterday I also visited MTSO and picked up some paperwork to return to school in the spring. It's all been pretty refreshing and energizing in the spiritual sense. Physically I'm pretty tired.

Today I slept in, took a shower, and went to the Post Office to mail a package. Since I was already in Grandview Heights I stopped by Stauf's for an iced latte. I'm not a huge coffee drinking, but enjoy Stauf's which is a local roaster. It always smells great and everyone is so friendly. There are people socializing, doing school work, reading for pleasure, or just stopping in for a cup to go. The majority of customers bring reusable mugs which I need to get one for this purpose.

Now I am sitting on the fire escape enjoying the AMAZING weather. There are only a few white wisps in the sky and the tempeture in the shade is very plesant.

So that is what is going on with me. Hopefully I will be writing more informative posts soon.

Wednesday, September 02, 2009

30 Things About My Invisible Illness You May Not Know

Invisible Illness Week is September 14-20. Check out the website at www.invisibleillnessweek.com

1. The illness I live with is: Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Asthma, Borderline Personality Disorder
2. I was diagnosed with it in the year: 2008
3. But I had symptoms since: 1981
4. The biggest adjustment I’ve had to make is: Learning to say no and cancel plans
5. Most people assume: I've been healthy my whole life
6. The hardest part about mornings are: Getting my joints moving
7. My favorite medical TV show is: If I had a favorite I guess it would be Scrubs, but I don't really watch any medical TV shows
8. A gadget I couldn’t live without is: my laptop
9. The hardest part about nights are: getting comfortable in bed so I can sleep
10. Each day I take between 12 and 30 pills & vitamins. (No comments, please)
11. Regarding alternative treatments I: love massage and chiropractic
12. If I had to choose between an invisible illness or visible I would choose: I feel blessed to be able to live the life I do, and would not wish for anything else.
13. Regarding working and career: I will get there some day, but right now my full time job is being healthy. I imagine I will be self employed or only work part time.
14. People would be surprised to know: I am still very sensitive about being left out.
15. The hardest thing to accept about my new reality has been: Not being able to do everything that people ask of me.
16. Something I never thought I could do with my illness that I did was: Travel to Texas and had a great time.
17. The commercials about my illness: irritate me beyond belief... I am not an old retired woman.. I am 27 years old.
18. Something I really miss doing since I was diagnosed is: camping
19. It was really hard to have to give up: my crazy lifestyle
20. A new hobby I have taken up since my diagnosis is: crocheting
21. If I could have one day of feeling normal again I would: throw a big party
22. My illness has taught me: patience
23. Want to know a secret? One thing people say that gets under my skin is: You look great! (because I usually fell horrible)
24. But I love it when people: give me hugs
25. My favorite motto, scripture, quote that gets me through tough times is: Philippians 4:13
26. When someone is diagnosed I’d like to tell them: be kind to yourself
27. Something that has surprised me about living with an illness is: that even some of the best health care plans are still lacking
28. The nicest thing someone did for me when I wasn’t feeling well was: There has been SO MANY nice things done for me and Ryan. I think our church families have been the best.
29. I’m involved with Invisible Illness Week because: Raising awareness is important.
30. The fact that you read this list makes me feel: Loved.