Monday, December 10, 2012

2 weeks till Christmas Eve

Today marks 2 weeks until Christmas Eve 2012! My kids are VERY excited. They love all holidays and really get all in to every detail. I am so blessed to have the family I have! This isn't going to be a typical blog from me, it is going to be short... very short! I basically just wanted to take a spare minute and say Merry Christmas to everyone who drops by my little place on the web! I pray you are blessed this Christmas season and are able to be a blessing to others around you! May you have good health and enjoy this time we set aside to celebrate the birth of our Christ. May you enjoy fellowship with family and friends. Be joyful and spread good cheer and show the love of Christ through your actions! Have a wonderful Christmas and God Bless!!!
Merry Christmas from my family to yours!



pics on Sodahead

Friday, October 5, 2012

Miranda's Stitches 4 You!!!

Hey everyone! This is going to be a super short post because it's late and I'm tired...lol  I just wanted to share my handmade items for sale! I am crocheting, knitting, and more to make money to help contribute to my medical bills. We all know how costly they can be with our disease and all it's quirks, and I just want to be able to do something to help my family. Soooo, having said that if you would like to view the items I have made and am selling you can go to Miranda's Stitches 4 You on facebook and I update it with all the items I have made. I can also make each item in the color YOU want! All the details are there and if you are interested just send me a message or email me! It's that simple! And remember, I typically add new items no less than every third day or so. Sometimes multiple items per day! So check in frequently! Thanks again for dropping by my site and if you check out Miranda's Stitches 4 You then I'll say thanks in advance for that! God Bless! Have a great day!!!

Wednesday, August 8, 2012

Back to the school routine... my body is struggling to adjust

  Hi everyone! While the kids are working on their homeschool work I decided I'd check in and see how my viewers are doing. I know most of you have Dys./POTS or other chronic diseases and really I would like to know how you are doing so feel free to leave a comment!
  So we are in our fourth week of homeschooling for the 2012-2013 school year. The children are doing fabulous so far. I am very proud of them and the progress they have made! The youngest is starting her kindergarten year and my oldest is starting her third grade year.
  At the rate we are going so far, they should be on track to finish school 6 weeks ahead of the local county schools! They are very excited about that and are already talking about where they want to vacation once they are finished! And as for us finishing 6 weeks early, well we started 6 weeks before the public schools here did. That's a great thing about homeschooling!
  So how am I managing? Sleeping a LOT. Pacing myself. Not overdoing it. Resting with my feet up while they are doing work that I'm not needed for. Just basically listening to my body and doing my best to do what it needs me to do. We rearranged our school area and that gives us better organization as well as allowing me to rest on the sofa while at the same time being within reach of their work areas. It works out well. Much better than years past.
  I will be going to my specialist sometime this month, closer towards the end of it.  I'm thinking we may need to adjust something in my meds. Having dizzy spells and short blackouts more frequently with little to no warning at times. This happens though and I'm blessed to have a specialist who will listen to what I say and work with me to get my meds to work for me the best we can.
  Well, that's what has been going on in our little part of the world. Be in prayer with us as I should be having my appeals for my disability filing by end of September. We really need this to work in our favor. God knows I would be out working a full time or even a part time job if I were able, but facts are that I am not able. Sure I may have a great day here and there, but this disease is so unpredictable that I never know from day to day or moment to moment what will happen with me. So please be in prayer with us in this matter.
  Thanks for dropping by and taking time to read my blog. I hope you are having a symptom free day and enjoying it!
~~Miranda

Friday, April 20, 2012

Head Cold and Dysautonomia = UGGGHHH

Hey there. I haven't blogged in just about forever. But, since this stupid sinus infection slash headcold has knocked me flat on my behind for 4 days now, I guess I'll take the time to blog! So, I'm not even sure where I left off last blog, so I suppose I'll just do a basic update.  Before I got this latest bout of sickness I was trying to keep up with the most therapeutic thing I'd had going in my life. Small Gardening! I know what you are thinking. How on earth can you garden!?!
Well, that is easy.  Raised beds! They are hardly any work at all after the initial setup and even non-gardening people are capable of helping you out with that! So at the start of the year I had 2 raised beds set up for me. Each are both 4'x4' and 10" high and filled with a mix of composted manures, peat moss (would rather have had coco coir, but wasn't available at the time), and mushroom compost. We do square foot gardening so the beds are marked into 16 individual squares, each 1 square foot. You wouldn't believe the amount of vegetables you can grow in this amount of space!  I've had LOTS of time where I haven't been able to do much of anything and that has given me LOTS of time to do research! So last year I started researching and there is a great book by Mel Bartholomew that can walk you through it!  Click HERE for a link to buy that book!
Anyway, I have the 2 4x4 beds marked into 16 square feet. Planting is SUPER easy, can be done sitting on a bucket, the ground, or a milk crate!  This is GREAT especially for those of us who can't stand for long! So I get to garden while sitting and it only takes short amounts of time to get it done! No weeding! Very little watering! And no digging, tilling, or hoeing!  Just the pleasure of getting to watch things grow and produce food! My favorite part is the flowering right before the food starts growing. It's so pretty! My other favorite part is that even my little girls can garden easily like this! FINALLY something I can do with my kids since I got sick!!! That in itself is to me a miracle!
Oh, and the taste of organically grown fresh produce... OH. MY. WORD!!!  Seriously, give square foot gardening a try if you need something rewarding in life to keep your spirits up on those super hard days!
Speaking of the joys in life, my daughter has gotten herself some chicks and a rooster. He's a beautiful white silkie bantam and the chicks are 2 of each Aracauna, Silver Laced Wyandotte, and Buff Orpington.  I am enjoying watching her learn responsibility and life lessons while caring for her birds! Plus in the afternoons sitting in the shade while the girls play, I get to watch the chicks and let me tell ya... chickens are funny creatures! So interesting to watch or maybe it's just because I've been forced to change the way I live in the last several years...lol  Who knows!?! But either way it's relaxing and completely stress relieving.
As far as the stupid disease goes, I'm doing everything in my power to live life to the fullest without killing over!  I have really learned to read my body and most importantly listen to what it's saying. I rest frequently yet try to keep active as much as my health allows. I'm finally sweating again (yeah, never thought I'd be happy about sweat!) so I'm not overheating as often. That is a HUGE plus here in the South!  Along with staying REALLY hydrated... I should own stock in bottled water... and eating better and taking short walks around my house as often as possible to build strength... I feel pretty good about how I'm handling life with Dysautonomia these days.
At the checkout at Target when I got some meds filled and got the kids easter basket I met a lady. She was our cashier. She was working with more enthusiasm and speed than any of the other workers there. The catch... She was in the middle of radiation treatments for cancer. I knew before she even said it because I've had family members receive treatments for breast cancer before and she had the look they had. But I can't stop thinking about her and her attitude about her life. She was choosing to live for the moment. Live and enjoy every moment. Be happy despite her circumstance.  That's what we have to do... Live for the moment and love the life you are living! I'm not saying that every moment is easy... heck it's definitely never easy with a chronic disease. But how we feel when we are sick doesn't have to be depressing! Find joy and laughter and cling to the happy moments! Never take a single moment for granted!  It's true that laughter is the best medicine! Find something in life that is enjoyable and therapeutic for you and enjoy it as much as your health allows!
Until next time, I hope you have an amazing day and a dys free one! If you are here and you don't have dysautonomia but some other chronic disease... then I pray it's a day free of pain and all that stuff!
And if I'm rambling then I'm SORRY! Can't blame a girl for trying to write with a sinus infection and head cold for 4 days straight!