My Chronic Life

I hope that you all had a very Happy Halloween! We did today and even started a bit early yesterday. Peanut’s school had a Costume Party where there were games, crafts, scary stories, a costume contest and of course lots of candy.

Today we gave out candy in our church parking lot to the students at the school across the street. Tonight we celebrated with friends and went trick or treating.

Peanut has a huge bowl of candy. Plus we have almost one whole bag of candy we bought to give out and one unopened one. I have to get rid of it because it’s chocolate and I’m a chocoholic. With chocolate I have no will power.

OK off to check Peanut’s candy to be sure it’s all safe for her to eat. Oh and I think I’ll take a few pieces of chocolate before we donate the bag to church. Don’t tell anyone.

Please pray for a friend who has her appointment at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL. She has Sjogren’s Syndrome with Vasculitis. Her rhuematologist referred her to Mayo so that they can see what can be done about the vasculitis that is affecting her central nervous system.

Sjogren’s has many symptoms. Some are difficult to live with, like dry eyes, mouth and skin. Others are more harmful to our bodies like when the dryness affects our internal organs so we have gastro or lung problems. And some are severe such as vasculitis when it affects the blood vessels in your brain.

Please pray and learn more about Sjorgren’s Syndrome. If you know someone with this disease don’t alarm them but be sure that if they have unusual symptoms they see their doctor about it. And be sure they inform all doctors about this disease.

In order to help my body stay as healthy as possible I take a multivitamin and some other supplements. Having two chronic illnesses that can make swallowing difficult at times, I’m always looking for alternatives to horrible tasting vitamins that get stuck in my throat or large capsules that look and feel like horse pills.

Liquid Vitamin Shop may be a solution for these needs. These vitamins are in liquid form, have no added fructose or sugar and are 100% gluten and casein free. This is good news for people with diabetes or with allergies.

You can search for Vitamins and Minerals by brand, category, gender or product making this is a shopper friendly site. There’s even a Learning Center with health related articles.

There’s no need to sign up for an automatic re-order on your purchases like some other companies require. The return policy is great too. This gives me piece of mind. It allows you to return your product up to 90 days after purchase for a full refund.

Another thing that’s helpful is that you can click on any supplement and see the full label from the bottle. No fine print. It’s all there for you to see.

Guess what other plans I’m making for this December? Not only is it Christmas, our favorite family holiday, Lady Ali’s Graduation and Peanut’s birthday it’s my wedding anniversary too.

We always joke that we need to take out a loan for December and January. January is  Lady Ali’s birthday. So the gifts, parties and planning goes on and on.

Hubby and I are considering renewing our vows. We were supposed to last year but it just got too crazy time wise and we couldn’t afford it. But maybe this year…

In my obsessive planning mode I started to look at anniversary invitations. I was shocked to see that anniversary parties are more like weddings now a days. But what fun to look at the items they have!

Since I like to shop from the convenience of my home I found anniversary invitations online. There are a lot to chose. Deciding on what type of party you’d like will help you decide on the invites.

Since our wedding anniversary is in December we’d stay away from the tropical or floral themes. I’m thinking more along the lines of something simple but fancy. I was able to find champagne invitations. That may work because our anniversary is close to New Year’s Eve. Maybe we can have a combination New Year’s Eve and wedding anniversary party!

Oh no, my mind is going a million miles an hour now.

Does this happen to you? Either right before or the day of your period do you get klutzy? Drop things, trip over your own feet, spill drinks? I’ve noticed a pattern through all my years and it’s getting worse now that I’m in perimenopause. Just yesterday I spilled a full glass of water, dropped the top of the margarine (with flaxseed) cover on the floor then the tub of margarine in the sink under the faucet and to top it all off almost fell by getting tangled up in my own feet.

Is this common? I always feel extra tired and get that pre-period headache, but this is the most annoying of symptoms. I can laugh about it all now. Yesterday these things caused me to cry and feel downright silly.

Our health insurance policy is pretty darn good but the deductibles add up fast. The dental part of it is awful. I think the rates they use are from the 1970’s because they don’t cover anything close to what the real costs are.

Because I have Sjogren’s Syndrome I need to proactive with my dental care.I have my teeth cleaned four times a year and need special dental care products. Our insurance won’t cover the fourth visit even though my dentist writes a Letter of Medical Necessity. They sure don’t cover the extras I need.

Being able to receive discounted costs for dental, vision, medical, prescription and even chiropractic care would be very helpful for me and for other people with Chronic Illnesses.

Even people without health issues know how much these type of costs add up. Ameriplan offers a way to save money on these much needed services and you can start to save money immediately!

This program is not health insurance but a program that offers you discounted pricing with providers who are contracted with Ameriplan. There’s no paperwork to fill out and the discounts are yours for the taking right at the time of service. You can visit their site to check which providers are in your area before you purchase a plan that fits your needs.

Ameriplan is also a work from home company. When visiting their website please be sure to use the Contact page to learn more about this opportunity.

I’m over it. I just want Halloween to be over. It’s too much and it’s everywhere I look. I walk past these huge displays of decorations and costumes and party supplies to get to the good stuff - Christmas ornaments and decorations.

They’re all there in their glory. They’re a bit hidden but they are there. I’m mesmerized by them. There’s talking, singing Santas, penguins, snowmen, angels and teddy bears. Then there’s new fake trees with lights that dance to music. Oh and snow globes by the dozens. I have to keep my wallet zipped and my credit cards in the freezer for a long time. That’s how bad I have it!

Saturday evening we were on our way to a church festival. I was tired but really wanted to go. I knew there would be a place for me to sit as they have a huge tent with all kinds of food made right there - yum! So we headed out.

Hubby was driving, I was in the passenger seat and Peanut sat in the back in a booster seat. We all had seat belts on. We were just about there when we got into a fender bender. A driver hit us as she was making a right turn on red. Her problem was she didn’t stop first. Instead she used our car to stop.

None of us were injured, thank God but it got me and Hubby thinking about our insurance coverage. Here in Florida there is only a minimum of $10,000 coverage for each person’s injury in the case of an accident. With all of my medical issues even if I had a minor injury my hospital and doctors’ bills might rack up to much more than $10,000.

We decided to compare car insurance coverage in Florida just to see how we’re doing. We learned that we’re doing pretty well with the way things are right now. We do pay for Lady Ali’s insurance which is very expensive no matter what due to her age.

Mozdex insurance coverage in Florida gave us some food for thought at just the right time. Please consider all of your life issues when purchasing insurance. We know better now. I hope you don’t have to learn the way we did.

Brought to you by your friends at Mozdex Insurance.

Christmas is the biggest, most celebrated holiday in my house. We start decorating Thanksgiving night. And we just love everything there is to do with the meaning of the day and the season. Yes we believe that the real meaning of Christmas is Jesus’ birth.

We go all out on Christmas. There isn’t a room in our house that isn’t decorated, even the bathrooms. Call it gaudy. We don’t care. We have  three Christmas trees. One is real, one was made by Hubby’s grandmother (ceramic with lights on it) and one is for Peanut (a pink Disney princess tree). We have stockings with our names on them and stocking holders.  We have an old fashioned train set that goes around the real tree.

My favorite collectibles are snow globes. We have three mangers. One is made of wood with beautiful ceramic pieces. That’s the center piece of our shelf. There’s lots of candles, wreaths, door knob hangars, M&M figurines, Christmas tins, etc. etc.

We always go to Disney World around the Christmas season. The decorations there are unreal. Just visiting the hotels to see their trees and gingerbread houses is fun.

We donate money and gifts to certain charities. One in particular is Samaritan’s Purse. Our church takes part in the Shoe Box Ministry. That’s a lot of fun to do.

For our family plans, an advent calendar is a must. Peanut likes to count the days down to the special event. We cover Baby Jesus in the mangers and take the cover off on Christmas morning as we sing Happy Birthday.

Church events are also a major part of our holiday time. Christmas Eve we have an Italian Fish Dinner. The cooking and planning for that takes a long time but it’s all worth it.

So far we haven’t decided on presents but that’s a minor part of Christmas for us. We enjoy giving gifts to our children, family and friends but being charitable, sharing the true meaning of the season and honoring that meaning is what makes it special to us.

I know it’s not even Halloween but look in the stores and you’ll see Christmas decorations up already. When this time of year rolls around I start planning for our holiday season because there’s so much to plan and because I’m compulsive (that’s another post for another day).

For Halloween, Peanut’s school is having a party the night before - yeah! I know she’ll be going to that as we like to participate in as many school events as possible. On Halloween Peanut has early release. That means she’ll be out of school around 2.

My church is going to set up a tent in the parking lot and hand out candy. We’re right across from Peanut’s school. I’ll be there helping to set up and after I get Peanut helping give out candy.

That night we’ll either go to a friend’s house for a party, just pizza and trick-or-treating, while I get to stay home and relax, or we’ll do our trick-or-treating in our own neighborhood.

Now for Thanksgiving. Peanut has off that whole week this year. This is going to really help me out. Cooking and preparing for our big meal is a lot of work. I either don’t do it or if I do I’m a nervous wreck.

I don’t know exactly what causes my anxiety about entertaining but it’s real. I feel unable to cook properly because I mess up a lot when cooking and because my concentration is pretty much shot. Then knowing that I’ll have people to serve and wait on, even if it’s my own family doesn’t help.

I’ve changed so much in this area that it upsets me. Our home was always the place to be. We had parties at the drop of a hat. I cooked up a storm and decorated our table and home so nicely. It’s all gone now. That saddens me a great deal.

I’m really going to give Thanksgiving a try this year. I’ll start cooking days in advance. Maybe that will get me feeling more confident for Christmas.

To be continued…