My Own Reality

It's confession time.

I usually don't worry about what others think of me. I've noticed the older I get the less I care about what people are saying behind my back!

The one thing I try not to post too much about is my daily reality of living with arthritis. My fear is that if I write too much about it I will come across as always complaining or a whiner. Neither of those is appealing. To you or to me!

I started blogging when I was physically and emotionally spent. God knew I needed an outlet for my pain. I didn't even know what a blog was at the time! But step by step He helped me through and before long I was posting and making wonderful friends!

And what an encouragement you have all been! You've been there for me when my father died. When I had my first kidney stone. Then my second. And the third! And you lifted me up in prayer many times for my hip surgeries and other concerns I've had throughout the past.

I guess what I am seeking is maybe understanding of what I live with from day to day. I want a chance to express my pain, my frustrations and my accomplishments. And I can through this wonderful world I call Blogville.

I have been absent from Blogville for many days now because I had a major flare up with my arthritis. I spent a week sitting on the bed while others fed me and kept me going until I could move again. No fun for me or for those that have to take care of me.

When I mention arthritis do you think of it as the kind old people get? You know, the aches and pains we have here and there. Even some of you younger folks are feeling it too, aren't you? You know what I'm talking about!

Well, that is not the kind I have. I was diagnosed with Juvenile Rheumatoid Arthritis (JRA) when I was ten years old. I am now forty three. Do I act my age? No! I use the excuse that I have juvenile arthritis so I am allowed to be immature. ;o) And sometimes I laugh at the most inappropriate times. Again, the juvenile excuse gets played. But that in itself is a whole other post!

Okay, so I guess what I want you to know about me is that:

1. I hurt 24/7/365. Sometimes it is all over my body and sometimes it's only three of four joints giving me fits. The pain is always there. There is no escape from it. So while I tend to keep a smile on my face once in awhile there's a grimace or two.

2. My range of motion in any of my joints is severely limited. I am unable to wash my hair without the use of a handy dandy gadget my hubby made for me. I cannot put on my own socks or shoes. Which really I don't mind because I like to be barefoot! I tend to wear loose baggy clothes because that is what I am able to put on myself. Big deal, I was never into fashion anyway! And if I have an itch I may ask you to scratch it because more than likely I will not be able to get to it. Thanks in advance!

3. When I shop I always get the electric scooter. I used to be self concious of it, but now I just want to enjoy my time out and find as many bargains as possible! And I may not be able to run a marathon or play tennis, but boy can I cheer you on! God gave me a big mouth and a great whistle!

4. And because I am slow in the moving department this means that I can sit and listen to you. I can pray with you. I can be your shoulder to cry on or your friend when you need to vent. I'm a great friend that way!

5. If I post about my aches and pains please just bare with me. Blogging is one way to release my frustrations without unleashing them on my family. You have a choice whether to read it or not! I'm not looking for sympathy. I do know and understand that there are so many others facing far more difficult challenges than I ever will. I know that and I am thankful that God hasn't given me more than I can handle. He keeps His promises! And without my Lord and Saviour I would never be able to keep laughing through my tears. I give Him all the glory for He is good to me, even though I don't deserve it.

Thank you for caring about me and being my friend. I really do love all of you that stop by to see me! You mean more to me than you'll ever know. Really.

Full Friday!

1000 BLESSING'S FRIDAY

231. Last Saturday night we had snow. Early this morning we had an earthquake! 5.3 on the Richtor scale. Kinda scary when you're not used to 'em! Today I am enjoying 80 degree weather with a slight breeze! Perfect weather if you ask me. I have the door open to my office and am thrilled to see green, hearing the birds chirp and smell the charcoal grill! Yep, we are grilling out for lunch again today. Chicken is on the menu this time. My favorite!

232. My mother had her second cataract surgery this week and did beautifully! Plus her diabetes is staying under control too. I hope to have my momma arond a long, long time!

233. A couple of weeks ago my SIL's father, Tom, had most of his pancreas removed because he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. He was given about a year to live if he had the surgery. We just received a call from him and he told us that the doctors misdiagnosed him and he does NOT have cancer! Yes, several people have already focused on the fact that he had surgery and it was a terrible and frightening misdiagnosis. But Tom is rejoicing in the fact that he does NOT have cancer and unless the Lord has other plans for him Tom should be around a long time!

We have to remember Romans 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

We may not understand it at the time, but we have that promise in Him!

234. My husband and I are still struggling. I have been going to counseling for awhile now to learn how to handle his anger. One thing my pastor always reminds me of my situations is ~ Hard is just hard. It's not bad.

There are days I don't think I can take it anymore, but I remind myself that God's hand is in it. God is up to something good! And to be involved in that something good that's headed our way!

235. I do consider it a blessing that God has allowed this tough time into my life. He has me right in the palm of His hand! He wants to mold me into the image of Him. I fail miserably every day, but isn't it wonderful to know that I can go straight to Him and confess my sins and all is forgiven? He never turns His back on me. So why should I try everything my way first? It hasn't worked so far!

FRIDAY'S FEAST

Appetizer

Name a color you find soothing.

While blue is my most very favoritest color of them all I don’t consider it soothing because blue just makes me smile too much! Yes, I am strange. I find that a really soft yellow makes me calm and mellow.

Soup

Using 20 or less words, describe your first driving experience.

Learning to drive a stick was a special time between my father and I because he was a patient man!

Ha! And you thought I wouldn’t keep it to under 20 words or less. LOL!

Salad

What material is your favorite item of clothing made out of?

Do pajama’s count? I bought an over sized Minnie Mouse nightgown at Disneyland on our honeymoon, which was almost 24 years ago! Over the years of wearing it and washing it so often has made it very thin, but oh so comfy! It’s too see through to wear around my son now. It is so soft that even my hubby tried it on just to be silly one night and he understood why I love to wear it so much! I had to fight him to get it back! Not really.

Main Course

Who is a great singer or musician who, if they were to come to your town for a concert, you would spend the night outside waiting for tickets to see?

Those of you that know me will think I am going to say my man, Donny Osmond, but I am not! Now don’t pass out on me just yet peeps! I would spend the night outside to buy tickets for my very favorite Christian group 4Him! Sadly, they are no longer together because God has called them to different ministries, which really is a good thing since they are following His will.

Have you ever noticed when you listen to Christian music it’s hard to stay in a bad mood or feel down? I like to focus on God’s promises and His plan for me!

Dessert

What is the most frequent letter of the alphabet in your whole name (first, middle, maiden, last, etc.)?

This question was interesting to me. The most frequent letter in my name is “I”. I have five of them if I include my maiden name. And I use 14 letters of the alphabet in my name. That was more than I thought I would!

If you are still reading this I say THANK YOU! What is one blessing you've had this week?

Wordless Wednesday - Yeah, right!

One of my daily stops each day (besides you!) is the live Giraffe Cam! Someday I want to visit this zoo as well and feed my friends. They also have a Meerkat cam too. You know I love my giraffes and I was excited to see a little one in the bunch!

Have a wonderful day everybody. I'm going back to watching one of God's many creations!

Laughter Is The Best Medicine

No matter how lousy my day can get all I have to do is bring up YouTube and listen to a baby truly laughing from the heart!

1000 BLESSING'S FRIDAY

226. What a blessing it was to spend the whole day with my daughter on our shopping excursion. Even if we didn't find the great deals it would have been a blessing because it was time with just her! Now I need to make a date with my other two kids for some one on one time.

227. Blessed with gor-ja-mous weather today! We had lots of needed rain yesterday and today we basked in the warmth of the sun. And had a barbeque at lunch with our employees. FUN!

228. I sit at my desk in amazement everyday. Last year at this time I was bedridden and in tears the whole day because it was just to painful to even exist. I am blessed with freedom of pain and the ability to help at the shop again and have a clear sense of mind to actually do the work my husband needs me to do! So very thankful to my Lord for seeing me through!

229. Blessed by my momma everyday! She drives me crazy at times because she calls so often to see how I am feeling, but I am thankful for her. She cares very much for me and unlike my father, she is still here on earth and I am able to hear her sweet voice everyday ask, "Are you hurting today honey?" And then she sighs when she hears my answer and then says, "Then I just need to pray that much harder for you. I'll get down on my knees right now." I am loved!

230. Even though this has nothing at all to do with me directly I feel blessed in seeing God's hand in people's lives. My aunt had to have emergency surgery due to an appendicitis and developed an infection, my cousin had a lung collapse and was in ICU for many days and my SIL's father had surgery for pancreatic cancer. Through lots of prayer my aunt is doing very well now and back to work. She is almost 70 but you'd never know it. My cousin is totally better now. I still have yet to find out if they know the cause of the collapsed lung. And Tom, my SIL's daddy did AMAZING! He is well into his 70's and again, you would never guess it. His surgery was very long and I really thought he would be in a lot of pain. But nope! He is one tough bird. He's home and moving like he was never cut open!

I wanted to share a couple of food blogs that I have been enjoying. Check 'em out when you have a chance!

A Year of Crockpotting

Cookie Madness

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend! Reminder: Donny & Marie are hosting the beauty pageant tonight. I know how all of you are into beauty pageants! LOL. But please don't call me because I'll be glued to my television screen. Maybe even licking it!

Thursday Thirteen

13 DEALS WE FOUND ON OUR SHOPPING SPREE!!

My daughter and I love to spend a day together shopping, eating and being silly. We also enjoy the thrill and the hunt of finding the best deals and using coupons to get stuff for free! It can be addicting, I tell ya.

1. I had many coupons for different food items. And since we didn't want to waste out money buying food we used these for our lunch. One coupon for a free chicken sandwich at Chic-Fil-A. Two free coupons for a lemon ice at Fazoli's. One coupon for a free value basket at Culver's which was a huge double cheeseburger, fries and a large drink. BTW, Culver's has the best tasting root beer! So we had more than enough food between us and was ready to start our shopping spree!!!!

2. Our first stop was Fashion Bug. I had a coupon for $10 off anything as long as I spent $10. Score! I also had a gift card with $4 left on it. They were also having anywhere from 20% to 60% off clearance. Double score! I found a really pretty pink and white striped sweater and an awesome huge black purse with some kind of print on it. I think I am going to give it to my secret pal because she loves purse too! Plus I got a pair of cute socks and I didn't pay any $$$ out for any of it! How cool am I? And I did look kinda cute in my new sweater. ;o)

3. My daughter didn't have any coupons, but she also found a really cool purse similar to mine, only a little more hip. Which is good considering she is only 20! She also signed up to get a charge card so she could receive 15% off her order. She only paid a little over $3 for the bag and a pair of leggings. Makes a momma proud! She also charged her order and then immediately paid it off. She is trying to build credit for herself which is a good idea!

4. Wally World was the next stop. It's not my favorite place to shop, but it's about the only place I can find tennis shoes to fit my wide, flat feet. Sure enough I found a pair and they were only $9.50! Cool beans! I don't spend much on tennis shoes because I am not hard on them at all and I have never been able to tell a difference in the expensive and the cheap. So why pay more?

5. My daughter also found a cute pair of backless tenny bops for $4!! And they were a good name brand. I just can't remember right now.

6. I love going to The Dollar Tree! That was next on our journey and I only spent one dollar and bought a long handled scrub brush for taking my showers. I love it and it is quite useful for me because I have limitations on my range of motion. I should have bought two!

7. Although we did not stop because we were still full from lunch we saw that they have built a Sonic! I have read about Sonic on other blogs and can't wait to try it sometime. Any suggestions on what to get?

8. Next stop you ask...Bed, Bath & Beyond! I needed to buy a wedding gift. Now bear with me on this one because I hope this makes sense. I had received a coupon for 20% off one item in the store. I was also returning an item that I had bought two months ago for $12.99. On the receipt along with the $12.99 item was another purchase for $49.99. With me so far? I picked out a wok to buy for my wedding gift that was on sale for $14.99. I was also having it gift wrapped and shipped directly to them. When I was checking out I noticed the cashier took the 20% off the old receipt of $49.99. I reminded her that I was buying a wok for only $14.99 and that coupon just took $10.00 off my total. She said that was correct! I asked how. She said that it didn't matter how old the receipt was and that if we brought in a coupon they would take it off the highest priced item. I said I felt like I was ripping them off! She said, "No, we want to save you the most money we can and we want to keep your business." So after my return and buying a wok, wrapped and shipped I only spent $2.21!! I will definitely go back and I will be saving ALL my receipts!

9. We were off to the mall to enjoy the rest off our day. My daughter wanted to buy a cell phone cover from one of the kiosks in the middle of the mall. Before she went I taught her to never pay full asking price. You and I both know those covers probably cost a whole fifty cents and they were asking $25.00. Can you believe that? I told her to offer them half, but she got scared and asked if they would take $5 off. Of course they said yes! Grrrr. While she considered it a deal I knew that she could get that little, glittery, pink with hearts piece of plastic for a lot less! Live and learn I guess. She's happy with it and that's all that matters. Plus it was her money so what do I care? LOL!

10. We were getting hungry again so we went to Subway for their foot long subs for $5. We split one and went without a drink because we thought we might splurge and get a smoothie. We had heard that if you ask for the broken cookies at Subway they have to give them to you and no charge. We tried it and it worked! So we each had a couple of broken cookies!

11. With a full tummy we were off again and we went to Old Navy. I needed some prizes for my girls at Awana and I found some! They had the prettiest backpacks on clearance!! Wheeeeee! They were big and sturdy and ever so cheap.....only $2.00 people! I grabbed what was left, which was five and I high-tailed it out of there because I felt like I was robbing the place! And yes, the girls are very happy with them!

12. No shopping trip is complete without stopping by Bath & Body Works and Victoria's Secret! Raise your hand and shout~You go girl! if you agree with me! Now we did end up spending most of our money there, but a girl has got to smell good, ya know?! We had our coupons and took advantage of their sales. We each got adorable purses filled with three good sized bottles of stuff at VS. And at B&BW we also walked out with a huge bag of soaps, lotions and sprays! I love those stores, don't you?

13. The best deal of my day was getting to spend the entire day with my daughter!!!! I was giddy the whole day through and she kept laughing at me because I would smile and giggle and just be silly in general. I was thrilled, too, because even she was having so much fun spending the day with her old momma!

This was only a few of our bargains found that day! We had our van FULL of packages and honestly, we barely spent any money! What's a great bargain you've found lately?

Wordless Wednesday~Sort Of!

Meet my kids that I am so thankful for each and every day! They are the sweetest, most thoughtful kids you'll ever know. Many people tell them how blessed they are to have my husband and I for parents, but I always stop them and say, "No, we are the blessed ones!"

10 Minute Tuesday

Faithful Chick's scripture for today is:

Psalm 139:1-4

O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD.


This passage of scripture can either be comforting or put fear in you.

He knows me. He knows every bit of me.

The day I let my anger take over at a stocker at Wal-mart and I said several things I shouldn't to her. He knows about it.

The day I had a temperature and didn't feel well and used that as an excuse for my ugly behavior towards my family. He knows about it.

The day I was buying items for the local food shelter and was happy to do so until I started thinking selfishly and wanting praise from man. He knows about it.

The day I was given back too much change at the drugstore and I noticed the mistake and gave it back. He knows about it. He also knows that my first thought was ~ it's less than a dollar and I don't have time to mess with it right now so I'll just keep it.

I rest in the fact of how knowledgeable He is about my every move and thought. When I do make these mistakes I can go to Him and confess these sins and ask for forgiveness. And He does forgive.

I know that He loves me more than anyone ever could. Yep, even more than my own mother!

John 3:16 For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.

FUN MONDAY

This is my very first Fun Monday! Today's FM is being hosted by Jo Beaufoix and she asks “I want to know about your first ‘celebrity’ crush. You know, the one you fancied from that band, or that film, or who read the news, or who won Gold at the Olympics.”

Now some of you don't know me, but those that do will automatically think I am going to say this cutie pie. Nope, not for my very first crush. Shocker, I know!

It was Steve McQueen that stole my little ole heart when I saw him in The Great Escape. Now, I would have only been a year old when that movie came out so I don't know when I saw it, but I do know I was no older than six when I "discovered" him.

Having a brother and a father that loved any kind of action movie meant I saw all kinds of things that I probably shouldn't at such a young age. So I saw this fine hunk of a man in The Great Escape, Bullit, Papillon and The Towering Inferno all before I was ten years old.

Don't you love his rugged, handsome good looks? Me too! Yum, yum, give me some! LOL!

Blessings & Friday's Feast

1000 BLESSING'S FRIDAY

221. Blessed to be among the living again! I have been to work every single day this week and have been able to go to church both on Sunday and Wednesday! I even took a business trip with my husband to Ohio for a couple of days!

222. I like this number! Does anyone remember the tv show Room 222? I loved that show so much as a little girl. I thought Karen Valentine was the prettiest actress I had ever seen. So I'll say my blessing is receiving some dvd's from my secret pal at church of one of my other favorite shows The Monkees! I can't wait to watch them with my kids. I bet they will like these more than they liked my Donny & Marie dvd's. Go figure!

223. Blessed with much need rain. Everything is starting to green up a bit more!

224. I've recently bumped into several friends and have been surprised at the feuding going on between brothers and sisters. It's so very sad. I am blessed with two wonderful families where everyone always gets along. They really do!

225. There are so many amazing stories going on in people's lives that they are willing to share in Blogville. I am inspired, encouraged and blessed to be able to pray for these families and be allowed to see how God works in their lives. Thank you for letting me be part of yours!

FRIDAY'S FEAST

Appetizer

Invent a new flower; give it a name and describe it.

I would name my flower~DaBluems...of course, they are a beautiful shade of blue! It never needs watering. It smells like pineapples...Mmmm! And you know what's best about my flower? You can actually eat it. Yep, that's right. And it tastes of fresh pineapple and is a whole lot cheaper too. Oh yeah, it has no calories either!

Sometimes people ask me what color the sky is in my world!

Soup

Name someone whom you think has a wonderful voice.

Besides Donny? My husband, David, has a beautiful voice and can sing anything. He really can! He's very talented. If I ever figure out how to put it on my blog I will add one of his cd's he made for me. Then you can all hear and judge for yourself.

Salad

On a scale of 1 to 10 with 10 being highest, how clean do you keep your car?

If it weren't for taking my precious Woo with us everywhere then it would have to be a 9, but nope. Let's just say we stay stocked up on duct tape because her hair is so short and hard to sweep up so we use the tape!

Main Course

How do you feel about poetry?

Honestly, I've never given it much thought

Because poetry is a book I have never bought

But I suppose if I were to give it a try

I might laugh or even cry

Now you've got me wondering a thing or two

Is poetry something I could do?

Dessert

What was the last person/place/thing you took a picture of?

Last night at Crawfordsville High School we had a big hoopla for our homie Luke Menard who was in the final 8 guys on American Idol. He is quite good looking in person I must admit!

Wordless Wednesday

This is my very first WW and I knew I wouldn't be able to keep my mouth shut! Surprise.

Meet David Joseph. In this picture he is just one day old! Look how serious he looks...lol! David is the first child for some our very dear friends and I can't wait to meet him!

For more WW participants stop by 5 Minutes for Mom.