Feeling Kinda Giddy!

My fall mantle decorations

Do I dare say it? Do I dare to believe that this wonderful reprieve from the oppressive ra will last? Well, I sure hope so and in the meantime I am going to use this small window of opportunity to its fullest.

I am giddy with it all. It seems like forever since I have had any stretch at all (even a day lately) without ra reminding me that it is tagging right along with me. More like dragging right along with me and add about a thousand pound weight to it also. But for whatever reason, my ra has decided to take a vacation and I am so happy.

So, what shall I do with this reprieve? Well, so far I went out to my favorite little goody spots for the past two days and I am hoping that this mild ra stretch will get me through this weekend as I have scheduled a garage sale. I HATE that word! Schedule that is. For some reason whenever I have to schedule something I am forced to remember that I might not be able to go through with the scheduled plans or event. And personally I hate breaking plans. And this particular event can't be cancelled that easily. I suppose on Saturday morning at about 4am I could repost on Craigslist that I have cancelled (and I may just have to do that) but I have plan B in place for this event. My wonderful 20 year old has offered to join the team. If you are wondering where Mr. P has wondered off to (my dear hubby), he is out and about visiting with relatives and won't be back in time for this fall event.

Now you may just remember that I have this Bucket List I am working on and this garage sale is for the next item on my Bucket List.  I so want to try and travel abroad one more time (I only went one other time to England...hello Stachys if you are reading this) and go with my daughter before she needs to head off into the great blue yonder of life after college graduation.  And that item is one big ticket item as far as our budget tends to go.  We have been stashing as much cash as we can over the past couple of years in the hopes of making this bucket list item a reality.

So wish me luck ( I will need it and that is for sure) and sprinkle lots of get rich fairy dust on our upcoming yard sale. Yes, I know. I know. Rome wasn't built in a day and getting there won't happen on one yard sale either but then again, I won't know if I don't try.

I am hanging my get rich fairy conspicuously so that she can continue to bring me good luck and perhaps good fortune too.

My Happy Tool Kit includes...Welcome to My Town

As you know by now, I love to take pictures. I am certain that in my own way I feel like I can express myself with pictures and since I can't draw or paint, the world is my canvas through the lens.  One of my favorite distractions from ra (or anything for that matter) is to get my camera and head out. Out will depend on just how much I can handle on that particular day and sometimes I am lucky enough to get further than my own back yard.

I have been known to be found in one of my favorite places which is downtown Wilmington. It not only has a wealth of history but I find a sense of humor there as well.  From the beautiful downtown waterfront

to the majestic steeples of our well known churches,

to the humor in the merchants advertising,

Wilmington has much to offer and not just to the tourist but the resident as well.  One can take a trolley tour of my hometown

or a boat tour of the river rich in history.

And if one has the energy, a lovely walking tour can be done in under two hours.  There is the famous Bellamy Mansion,

the USS North Carolina Battleship,

the many lovely shops at the historical Cotton Exchange

and, least we not forget, Thalian Hall.

photo from: http://www.thalianhall.com

Indeed, downtown Wilmington can distract my mind and also my stomach with its wonderful array of foods. Ahhhh....the many, many restaurants and lovely morsels at every turn. Most definitely, one of my favorite tools that I use regularly when I venture out for a Fridate.

I can only hope that your hometown makes you as joyful as mine makes me. I would love to know what you do in your hometown to keep your mind alive,  off of your ra aches and pains, and happy.

More reading on my blog...
My Happy Tool Kit
Happy Tool Kit Alert

Kissing Cousins of RA

A very dear friend of mine called me the other day to say that her sister was recently diagnosed with hepatitis C.  Immediately I thought of a blood transfusion as the cause. Boy, did I have something to learn. She in fact was diagnosed with autoimmune hepatitis. What in the world is this?

And that was the inspiration for this post. The longer I am blogging, the more I learn and the more I have to learn about what seems like to me, the many autoimmune illnesses that are kissing cousins of ra.  Yes, I know, what a lovely thought.  More things to possibly have to worry about.  But I am putting this information out there because so many of us have so many symptoms that just don't quite fit under that tidy one diagnoses we were given.

So here goes! Here are some of the kissing cousins of ra...

Medline Plus gives us the following examples of (kissing cousins of ra) autoimmune diseases:

• Addison's disease
• Celiac disease - sprue (gluten-sensitive enteropathy)
• Dermatomyositis
• Graves disease
• Hashimoto's thyroiditis
• Multiple sclerosis
• Myasthenia gravis
• Pernicious anemia
• Reactive arthritis
• Sjogren syndrome
• Systemic lupus erythematosus
• Type I diabetes

And if that isn't enough to digest, here are a few more that I recently found out about!

• Autoimmune hepatitis
• Autoimmune hypophysitis - in short this means your immune system is attacking your pituitary.

I have no doubt I have missed a few of our cousins out there. So if you know of any others, ask them to join this dysfunctional family through a comment.