Product Review:

Product Review: “Speed Laces” – never tie your shoes again!

Now that my hands have been giving me more problems than usual, I was finding it very hard to lace and tie my sneakers. I hated the idea of not wearing my favorite sneakers, but I didn't think I had any other option. I found speedlaces.com and saw a simple solution. This little lacing tool w

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Product Review: Peapod.com Online Grocery Shopping

Product Review: Peapod.com Online Grocery Shopping

I had a bad week. I wasn't feeling well and I felt so useless because I couldn't get the things I wanted done, accomplished. I was tired with a fever and I just didn't seem to have the energy to run errands. A friend of mine suggested I try peapod.com It is an online grocery store and they deli

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What is Normal? Am I Normal?

What is Normal? Am I Normal?

Recently, it has been suggested to me that because I am receiving treatments regularly, the treatments mean that I’m not really sick. The assertion is that on treatment, I lead a “basically healthy” life and that I am “pretty normal”.  Well, let’s go ahead and examine this idea of norma

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The Gluten Free Diva: Maple Grove Farms Pancake & Waffle Mix

The Gluten Free Diva: Maple Grove Farms Pancake & Waffle Mix

“Is this gluten free?” Loaded question? You betcha, especially when posed by the smallest and most finicky person sitting at my breakfast table. My second gluten free product review is going to get a pretty high scoring from me again, but don’t start thinking that I hand out spoons too easi

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Top Ten Creature Comforts

Top Ten Creature Comforts

We’ve all been there - the nausea and vomiting that sometimes accompany a change in medication. My doctor recently changed some medicines over the past months, so I’ve been craving a lot of comfort items lately. Everyone's "comfort" items are different, however, here are a few of mine that possi

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Arm Yourself With Knowledge

Arm Yourself With Knowledge

I can't tell you how many times I've thought of a great idea only to forget it five minutes later. Then I get frustrated enough to pull my hair out because I can't remember what I was thinking about, and then five minutes after that wonder why I'm upset. The best part is when I completely forget the

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A Parent’s Love

A Parent’s Love

A thought occurred to me this morning, what is like for the parents of the chronically ill?  I have too many diagnoses to properly name, but the two prominent ones are Fibromyalgia and Lupus.  I first started showing symptoms of chronic pain around twelve years old, but did not actually have anyth

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Easing the Strain: Tips For Body & Mind

Easing the Strain: Tips For Body & Mind

As someone who has been chronically ill for 12 years, I could talk in excess about the number of things I have purchased to ease both body and mind.  I am almost entirely housebound, and as a result, I work diligently to make my home as disability-friendly as possible. If I had to pick ten thing

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Overcoming Cleopatra: Becoming More Than The Queen of Denial

Overcoming Cleopatra: Becoming More Than The Queen of Denial

With apologizes to Yogi Berra, chronic illness is 90% mental, and the other half physical. There are countless studies linking the physical pain to mental pain, and visa-versa. We all have experienced that stress can increase pain levels and that laughter can be a pain reliever. Often, chronic illne

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Not Tonight Honey, I Have Chemo: How To Rekindle That Spark

Not Tonight Honey, I Have Chemo: How To Rekindle That Spark

Heart racing.  Flushed face.  Can’t breathe.  Hot and sweaty.  On Valentine’s Day these phrases may conjure up images of feelings of love and desire to some. The way that certain someone makes the butterflies flutter around in a nervous stomach to most people means star crossed love is in th

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