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!!!

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

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!

Gardening Book Giveaway!

Go to this site http://sweeps4bloggers.com/2012/02/giveaway-the-heirloom-life-gardener-by-jere-emilee-gettle-2-winners-ends-31112/comment-page-1/#comment-1465144 for a great giveaway! It's a gardening book, so all you home gardeners get over there!!!

Not much to say, but...

Just thought I'd do a short update. It's been a couple months since I last posted. Not sure if I mentioned my youngest and her dental surgery, but we made it through that in October. Made it through Halloween and Thanksgiving. Now Christmas is upon us in just a few days.  All of the church programs are over and done with, and they were great!  Now we are looking at Christmas Eve and Day celebrations.  Especially the kids! They can hardly wait to open their gifts and enjoy all the family time! So that's what we've been up to. Short, sweet, and to the point! LOL Hopefully I will have more to update in the New Year. Health-wise, I've been okay. No severe blackouts that I can think of, just moderate problems. Nothing I can't persevere through!
Anyway, Merry Christmas and I'll see you next year! :)

Such a busy and tiring week...

Well guys, it's Sunday the 23rd of October 2011. It has been a very long week! This leaves me very tired and cranky but at the same time very blessed.  On Wednesday morning my four year old had an extensive and complete oral surgery under general anesthesia. She had to have her four top central teeth extracted and once they were in there they found that they were also abscessed. It's strange to me that my daughter never complained with pain and was continuing to eat! Anyway, she also got ten crowns... yes TEN!  And some fillings. I know what you might be thinking... this is a kid who never had dental care, but the truth is she has had the same care as my seven year old and she only had 2 tiny cavities! It blew my mind at how much work was needed on my 4 year old. She has soft teeth, she cut all her teeth early (at 11 months she had the full set), and she drank a LOT of juice for tummy problems. All this combined left her with a mouth full of problems which she handled like a champ! So we are four days post-op and she's eating almost everything she wants. It really just blows my mind at how quickly children recuperate! But I am so blessed because everything went so smooth during her surgery. It was about 2 hours that she was back and under general anesthesia and the first day she was sleepy and had moderately mild pain. But God truly kept her in the palm of His hands! Now I'm trying to recuperate and of course it takes me much longer to regain strength!  So I'm resting and sleeping and resting. And still never feel rested! *smile*  But I'll get there... eventually!
This week I have yet another Dr. appointment for the girls. The four year old has a follow-up with her pediatrician about her new allergy meds and my seven year old has shots. Oh and both are getting their flu shots. So another week and another doctor visit. It's like we never leave those offices anymore!
On a better note we have both girls Halloween costume bought and they are looking forward to Halloween. I think their favorite part is getting all dressed up as whatever they want to be... well almost anything they want to be. I mean I've got to draw the line somewhere and I draw the line at trampy looking costumes and ghoulish costumes.  But I never really have to govern in this area to much because at this points my girls are still vying for those cute little butterfly and barbie costumes!  So the upcoming weekend will be full of cuteness ( my girls of course!) and candy and trunk or treating at church. So in between all this we are still homeschooling this week. Last week was a light week considering the surgery and all. But we have plenty of days already and plenty of time if we need it. So until next time have a less tiring week than I've had! :) God Bless!

a lost voice is back...

Hey everyone! I've been either busy or sick and as a result my blog has been vacant of a lot of posting! But today is a pretty good day. My kids are doing their homeschool work which at the moment is a book about halloween that they are coloring and reading. This means I have a few free minutes to get a quick blog in. 

So, what's been happening around here?  I'm still hangin' in there. I did have another silent migraine episode or something on Saturday and as a result I couldn't speak for about 3 days. But thankfully things are back to normal. I still find myself having to think sometimes before I can get the words out. I know what I want to say, but I have to concentrate at times to get my mouth to get it out! Weird feeling. That should pass soon too, it usually does. I'm also having to try and "fix" my sleep schedule again. Everytime I have a bad episode I sleep for HOURS more than the average person for several days. And then I have a day or two where I can't sleep much at all. Then I have to start working myself back to sleeping a normal nights sleep. Last night I lay down and just stared at the ceiling for so long just trying to bore myself to sleep!  Finally I was able to fall asleep and slept well enough that I could get up 2 hours earlier than yesterday. So by the beginning of next week I should be back to rising around 7 and sleeping by 11. That's the goal anyway.

Some of you know that we (my husband and I) decided before children that homeschool was the way to go for us. It makes more sense now than it ever did and I'm so grateful that I'm allowed the opportunity to spend all this time with my kids. Watching them learn every day and getting to be a part of that is a blessing! Granted our homeschool routines are likely MUCH different than your average family! For starters I spend the entire lesson sitting with my feet up on the sofa. We pull a fold up table out from under the sofa and they drag over a couple kitchen chairs. I have all our supplies on the counter behind the sofa so everything is within an arms reach for me. This helps me not be as symptomatic as if I was standing or sitting with my feet hanging. This small detail is very important because the longer I stand or sit with my feet hanging the less blood flow I get to my brain which means less oxygen and that just spells disaster! But we have a system that works for us and so we use it. The girls have their responsibilities as far as who get/does what. The less physical work that I have to do, then the more clear-headed I remain. 

Anyway on a good note. I was so scared and worried going into this school year. I worried all last spring and throughout the summer. I just couldn't figure out why my oldest daughter, now 7, couldn't read yet and why she was still having trouble writing some of her alphabets correctly. I even talked to my husband and mother in law about putting her in public school because I felt as if I were failing her. After much encouragement and a lot of prayer I did some research online about kids who struggled to read and write like she does. I found a lot of answers. All under one little word... Dyslexia. We haven't had her tested because it usually isn't covered by any medical insurance because it's not considered a medical problem and it's VERY expensive. But she meets all the criteria for a dyslexic child. So I changed my method of teaching her. I let her guide me in what worked best. I never considered asking a child what would be best... after all I am the teacher! How blind we can sometimes be as adults, huh!?!  So after a couple weeks we worked out the kinks. I left the alphabet up for her so that she could look at the letters and then write what she saw. This worked well because she is great at drawing what she sees, so she would refer to the alphabet every time she came to a letter that she typically mirror imaged. Now it did take time. I still catch some of those letters mirror imaged if she's in a rush. I still have to look at her work and correct her by letting her know she mirror imaged a number or a letter, but by doing this she's began to check her own work more and compare it to the correct letter/number to see if they match. It's working out great! 

Another thing I learned about kids with dyslexia is that they may be able to read a word at one moment and in one situation but in the next not recognize it. This was SO true with my daughter! Take a word out of a sentence and she'd be lost. Take the pictures away from her reading and she had no way of guessing what those words were! So I let her guide me in how to correct the problem. Phonics don't really make sense to her. When she sounds words out, there will be sounds and letters that aren't even in the word! BUT if we cover part of the word and work one letter at a time, most of the time she can get it. Her reading has improved from reading simple words like cat, dog, etc to reading at her level! I did a reading test this past week on her and was surprised to find how much she'd improved! Very blessed to have family who supports us in our decisions and prays for us to find guidance! I know that without God guiding me I'd have never learned so much about my daughter and would not be able to teach her the way I do now! 

Let's see... other news in the Powell household.  We've had to do numerous Dr. trips. Vision for the oldest, she needed very low prescription reading glasses. Dental for both. The oldest had a couple small cavities and got sealants. The youngest, now that's a dental nightmare. She's having dental surgery the 19th of this month. Keep her in your prayers. She also had to have a pre-op appointment before the surgery and we've gotten that out of the way. Total Dr. visits in all so far? 6 I think. I might have missed one in my counting though! That's not counting my husbands dental visits! Whew, that's enough to wear a healthy person down...just ask my mother in law who has taken us to every single visit! (Thanks Ni!) 

For an extra curricular activity for the girls they chose to do the Build and Grow program at Lowe's. They go twice a month on Saturday morning and build a project. They get a certificate and a badge to sew on their Lowe's apron. It's a great project and I was surprised at the amount of kids they have going! The girls really enjoy it and we've made this our family day. They get to spend any chore money they've earned and they get to pick where we eat for lunch. So every other Saturday they have chosen Chinese food! Good thing we all like East Palace! :) Maybe next time they'll choose Mexican, Italian, or anything else kind of food... but I doubt it! 

Anyway, the oldest is finished with her book. She's colored it and then she's read it aloud to me, all on her own. Two months ago that wouldn't have been possible, so right now I'm a very proud mama!

Until next time, stay strong, fight hard, and LIVE! Life isn't worth anything if you don't live it to your best ability! Keep fighting Dys, and have an awesome day! Oh, and here's some spoons to help you through your day!