Although I like the great outdoors, having chronic illnesses, makes it unsafe for me to go too far from home, especially where I have no access to a cell phone. Plus, if I’m too far and I need immediate medical care, that’s another reason to feel unsafe.

My best bet to enjoy the outdoors is to be in nature but close to help. A beach is good pick for me, a lake that has access to a main road or a resort that has an area that is just far enough to be quiet and peaceful, but not too far to be unsafe. When I’m in a flare, I’m usually at home in my backyard. We have birdhouses, some trees and a fenced in yard.

I love when my husband grills and we sit at a picnic table to eat. The only problem is that we have a gas grill where it isn’t easy to make smores because we really can’t roast marshmallows. I’ve been bugging my husband to get a firepit so that I can sit outside, relax, feel comfy and eat wieners and smores. It gives me a good feeling to be in the great, be it fake, outdoors.

My mother was told by three doctors that her difficulty breathing is related to stress. She has had numerous tests done and everything comes back normal, except for some signs of asthma. The asthma is not serious and she is on inhalers. But what was noticed during tests was that as she got anxious, her breathing, blood pressure and heart rate went up.

She does have a medical condition, asthma. She is very stressed due to taking care of her sister who is in a nursing home and she does suffer from anxiety. I am not saying that being short of breath is only due to stress, but it does make it worse.

She is almost 80 and won’t agree to seeing a psychiatrist or even a therapist. She’s been this way all of her life, she says. So I try my best to help her the best I can. It is difficult when you know what is best for a close family member but they won’t agree to it.

I’m sure that many of you have been in this position. What have you done to cope or to help?

I try my best to be positive, but there are some days when I can’t help but be disappointed with living with chronic illnesses. Today is one of those days. We arrived for our first day at Disney World. I knew that it was going to be hot of course and planned accordingly.

Instead of visiting the parks during the heat of the day because it affects the Myasthenia Gravis, I planned on keeping busy indoors and going to the parks after the sun goes down. Today we did just that, well almost. I stayed in the resort during the day, looking around and of course checking out the shopping. We ate lunch here too. I got to take a nap in the late afternoon and we planned on going to Epcot about 7 PM.

Unfortunately the minute we got outside the heat hit me and I felt terribly weak. So weak in fact that I couldn’t even use my scooter. Not good for me or for my husband and daughter. I have been going through some serious issues with the MG lately so I guess this was to be expected.

We were able to take our van to go out to eat instead. Torrow is another day and I’m using my positive attitude to think that I will feel better. I’m going to get a good night’s sleep and be sure to take my meds on time, eat right and not stress.

I’ll keep you posted on how things go. The one great thing about Disney is that even if I don’t get to the Parks, there’s so much that I can do indoors to have fun.

Inviting Home is online company that provides quality products for your home. The products they offer are usually only available to professional builders, interior designers, etc. but by shopping online it’s like cutting out the middleman. So the prices are a lot less expensive than buying through a professional. But, the information on the website is there for you. For each type of product sold, there are pages devoted to detailed images, installation and what works in your home. You can also call customer service and view the decorating ideas on the site too. If you choose to become a member of Inviting Home, you will receive a newsletter, discounts and information on promotions.

We are still redecorating my home. It’s been a long process but there’s still a lot of work to do. In our den, my husband built a new wall but we still need to add molding to the bottom of the wall. We’re also thinking of adding some around the wall, because it is a recessed wall.  I would love to use something like this:

While looking through the site, I also found Corbels which would really add beauty to my kitchen counters, especially the part that hangs into the living room area of my home. I found photos of people who did the same thing in the Inspiration Gallery section called “Sharing Success”. Plus, I love any company that has their own blog.

Finishing up my home is something I need to get done to reduce my stress levels. I hate when I’m not feeling well, I’m sitting around the house and I look at all of the things that still need to be done here.

I had so much fun as a young child. I hardly ever sat in my house watching TV or playing unless it was raining or I was sick. Even though I lived in the Bronx, we were safe to roam the neighborhood, play with our friends and know that our neighbors would keep an eye out for us. I was never alone, usually being with a group of friends but sometimes with just one or two others.

If I did something wrong, my parents would hear about it. It was normal for a neighbor to call and tell my Mom that we were found jumping fences or walking without our shoes. Today, I’m afraid to let my younger daughter outside in our fenced in backyard without me watching her every move.

I remember going out with neighbors’ families to the drive in movies or to dinner. My parents would do the same with my friends. And we’d have parties in our yards where everyone was invited. Things were so different then. Now we hide in our homes and don’t even know our neighbors. Our idea of spending time with our neighbors is bringing them mail that was delivered to our home by mistake. Drive In Movies are now a pop up tv set up in our pool.

This morning we awoke to loud banging on our door. It was the police informing us that there was a rash of break ins to unlocked cars in driveways. Thankfully our cars were locked and nothing was stolen from us.

It still is a scary feeling knowing that something this terrible happened so close to home. The feeling of safety and neighborhood is gone. I hope this helps to pull us together.

Did you have a good Christmas? Did you spend time with your family and loved ones? I did have a good day and it was so nice to be with my family, to see the joy of the day written all over my younger daughter’s face and to be blessed with decent enough health to be up and around for the day.

My older daughter was not able to be home with us this year but will be joining us soon. And my Aunt feel on Sunday night and broker her shoulder and cheek bone. Not having either of them with us made the day a bit sad but having my 10 year old daughter brightened it up for us.

I hope that your day was filled with joy, peace and time to spend counting your blessings.