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My eyes are an ocean in which my dreams are reflected

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Writer's Block: Me 10 Years Ago
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How would your best friend have described you ten years ago? What about today?


I'm exactly the same. I even look the same, talk the same etc... Some of my friends on here have known me for 7 years in person and I'm the same person I was then.

At least I think so. Shoot, I've even had boyfriends from 20 years ago tell me I look exactly the same and I'm exactly the same person I was then. I think with me, what you see is what you get...


Owl Giveaway!
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Y'all KNOW how much I love owls if you've been around for even a bit, and  My Owl Barn is giving away owl souvenirs if you blog about it!
I'm SO THERE.
it's a GIVEAWAY!!
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National Celiac Awareness Month
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May is Celiac Awareness Month.
So first, some facts about Celiac Disease also known as coeliac sprue, cœliac disease, c(o)eliac sprue, non-tropical sprue, endemic sprue, gluten enteropathy or gluten-sensitive enteropathy, and gluten intolerance.
  • 1 in 133 Americans have Celiac Disease or about 3 million people. These are very similar to percentages in other countries (barring pure Japanese, Chinese, Hawaiian and some African peoples)
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  • I have 95 people on my friends list. Odds are at least one of you has Celiac.
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  • 98% of people with Celiac disease go undiagnosed OR their symptoms are diagnosed as another issue.



Some Symptoms:
  • Funny looking stools (Loose? Hard? Small? Large? Foul smelling? Floating? Clay, Light tan or Gray-colored? Highly rancid? Frothy?)
  • Muscle cramping
  • Sores in/around mouth
  • Skinny feet (loss of fat padding)
  • Bad gas (ie: hurts, smells awful, constant etc)
  • Depression
  • Inability to concentrate
  • Bone issues
  • Hyperparathyroidism
  • Lactose intolerance
  • Easily bruised
  • Systematic lupus
  • Parasitic infection
  • Fungus problems (severe athletes feet, candida overgrowth)
  • Nose bleeds
  • Failure to thrive in babies
  • Vomiting
  • Red urine
  • Hypocalcaemia/ hypomagnesaemia
  • Panic attacks
  • Stunted growth in children
  • Voracious appetite
  • Obesity
  • Abdominal cramps, gas and bloating
  • Anemia
  • Borborygmi (stomach rumbling)
  • Diarrhea
  • Fatigue or general weakness
  • Fluid retention
  • Gastrointestinal symptoms
  • Gastrointestinal hemorrhage
  • Hypocalcaemia/ hypomagnesaemia
  • Infertility
  • Iron deficiency anemia
  • Muscle weakness
  • Muscle wasting
  • Nausea
  • No obvious physical symptoms (just fatigue, overall not feeling well)
  • Osteoporosis
  • Pallor (unhealthy pale appearance)
  • Peripheral neuropathy (nerve damage usually in extremities)
  • Vertigo
  • Vitamin deficiency
  • Vomiting
  • Extreme thinness
  • Bloating - especially in stomach
  • Back Pain
  • Dehydration
  • Night Blindness
  • Dry Skin
  • Severe food cravings

Conditions and Disorders Associated with Celiac Disease:

Dermatitis herpetiformis is an itchy, blistering skin disease that also associated with gluten intolerance. Rashes usually occurs on the elbows, knees and buttocks. dermatitis herpetiformis can also cause significant intestinal damage identical to that of celiac disease. However, people who suffer from dermatitis herpetiformis may also be entirely free of noticeable digestive symptoms. Treatment with a gluten-free diet, in addition to medication to control the rash, usually brings about significant improvement.

 Getting Tested
There are some simple tests that aren't absolutely 100% , but it is WAY TOO EASY for a doctor to give you one, barely accurate test, tell you it's negative (and be absolutely wrong) and damn you. Your chances of cancer are aprox 50% higher if you are eating gluten and your body is intolerant of it.

If you are going to get tested, check out here first:

The other thing is, if you hardly eat gluten containing food as it is, and you get tested, your results will be wrong. You need to be eating the equivalent of 2/3 pieces of bread for about 3 months before you get tested. (it's the reason my 16yo hasn't been tested, she felt so GOOD when she quit eating gluten she's not willing to loose 3 months of her life just to have the diagnosis)

If you think that you might be gluten intolerant, and your doctor is reluctant to test you. First, my mom, who has been a nurse almost 40 years says that when she, and most doctors were in school. They were taught that Celiac was very rare. More than that say Multiple Sclerosis. So quite a few doctors, unless they keep up on their research, think that Celiac is a 'fad disease'' and are reluctant to test.
Insist.
If you can't get tested. Then go gluten free anyways. Give it 2 months. If you feel better. Awesome. I suggest you write in a journal. Chronicle what your body ACTUALLY feels like before and after. After 2 months. Eat gluten. If you get immediately sick, there's your answer. Or you could be like me, sick comes later. First I get extremely irritable and make everyone around me miserable for days. It's pretty hard for me to see what I'm doing at first. Because hey, I'm pissed, and I think I have a right to be. But it's the gluten. I'm normal off of it, on it, I'm a miserable bitch. Because next comes the body pain, the neuropathy, and then the fatigue, flu like symptoms and just general malaise. For about a week. Then I'm more susceptible to illness for about another month. Yes, it takes that long to recover. Some people are so sensitive after quiting gluten it takes them almost 6 months to recover after being glutened. You can imagine those people don't let gluten in their house.

Also, even TWO YEARS ago, it was difficult to find gluten-free food. Now, most companies (barring buttheads like Cambells) make their food with a gluten-free label, Heinz, Progesso, Lays, General Mills and Betty Crocker to name a few. Nowadays you don't have to be an extraordinary baker to get good tasting food. Yes. It's more expensive. But personally, this is good. It makes it so I rely less on ready made products like bread and donuts to eat and more on healthier things that are fast cooking (like eggs mmm and cheese). General Mills is even coming out with a 'hamburger helper' and 'bisquik' this Summer!
So don't use the difficulty of eating as an excuse to not go gluten-free. please.

 

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I have an awesome friend here in Livejournal who lives in Tennessee, as you may know, there was some really bad flooding there this week. My friend lost everything due to the flood and some looters/thieves who took advantage of others misfortune.

She, her husband and their animals have a place to stay, but they need help. If you have items you can give them. Please, that would be so awesome. If you could send them money, again with the awesome. If all you can give them is good thoughts, prayers etc, that is still awesome and so needed.

Check out moonstone_fae’s posts here or here.  See if there is anything you can do.
Even if all you can do is pray, could you pass this on?
Good people, in hard times, with faces and names.

book list 91 - 93
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91. Those Who Went Remain There Still - Cherie Priest
92. Kushiels Avatar - Jacqueline Carey (this is a re-read from years ago)
93. Kushiels Scion - Jacqueline Carey (another re-read)

Book List 87- 90
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87. Kushiels Justice - Jacqueline Carey
88. Kushiels Mercy - Jacqueline Carey
89. Storm Glass - Maria V. Snyder
90. Dreadful Skin - Cherie Priest


Hah. Reviews. Yes, I hardly ever do them. If I'd only *remember* to post the books I read every few days I wouldn't have 10 books to review instead of 2-4. Which is way to overwhelming for my stressed to the gills brain.

Jacqueline Cary - Great characters as always - edgy sex - as always (though much much less in these 2 than the ones that focused as Phedre as the main character, so don't read em if you are just after the pervy s n m sex). Sweeping sort of epic. Lots more various lands, love reading about them and having the surrounding lands filled out in my brain. I also like how her characters are human. They have faults, angst, demons that ride them, and bravery, insight and deep abiding love as the current that holds everything together. Good reads.

Maria V. Snyder - I liked it. Didn't love it. But I requested more books from the library. So that says something. I liked the main character and am interested to see what's going to become of her love life. She was a *bit* to angst-y for me (and hard on herself). These are Young Adult books in my opinion - appropriate for teens who know about sex and whose parents are ok with them reading about it (like my 11 yo old probably) because there aren't any details at all. Just knowledge that it happens between 2 of the characters. So no 'keep it in your pants till your married' recc.'s. LOL
Cool idea - but reminded me a lot of Tamora Pierce's Winding Circle series. But I think tammypierce  did it a lot better. (I reread her various series about every year.5 or so)

Cherie Priest - Interesting premise - Nun hunting a werewolf. The characters weren't fleshed out super well. But the jumping from character to character style and the set across the post-Civil War era didn't really encourage that either. Not my favorite werewolf book, but definitely memorable for a book this slim. I dreamed about it after I put it down LOL. I'm not doing the best job of describing it. But this is the 4th book of hers I've read and I'm going to keep requesting them until I've run out. There is something really down home, yet creepy and otherworldly about her writing style that I really enjoy.


Book List 53-86
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in no particular order:

53. Shadows Return - Lynn Flewlling aka otterdance
54. Many Bloody Returns - Charlaine Harris, Jim Butcher (and others)
55. Dead over Heels - Charlaine Harris
56. Magic Steps - Tamora Pierce aka tammypierce
57. Cold Fire - Tamora Pierce aka tammypierce
58. Seven Wild Sisters - Charles de Lint
59. Curse the Dark - Laura Anne Gilman aka suricattus
60. Sword of Ice and Other Tales of Valdemar - Mercedes Lackey and other awesome authors
61. Blood Drive - Jeanne C. Stein
62. Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand - Carrie Vaughn
63. Pure Blood - Caitlyn Kittredge aka blackaire
64. The Bone Dolls Twin - Lynn Flewlling aka otterdance
65. When Demons Walk - Patricia Briggs
66. Swordspoint - Ellen Kushner aka ellen_kushner
67. Expendable - James Alan Gardner
68. The Vampire Files Volume 2 - P.N. Eldrod aka p_n_elrod
69. Bloodring - Faith Hunter aka faithhunter
70. Vanished - Kat Richardson aka katatomic
71. Magic Bites - Ilona Andrews
72. The Broken Crown - Michelle West msagara
73. Hidden Warrior - Lynn Flewlling aka otterdance
74. Princeps Fury - Jim Butcher aka jimbutcher
75. Forest Mage - Robin Hobb aka robin_hobb
76. Not Flesh Nor Feathers - Cherie Priest aka cmpriest
77. Four and Twenty Blackbirds - Cherie Priest cmpriest
78. Wings to the Kingdom - Cherie Priest cmpriest
79. Rosemary and Rue - Seanan McGuire aka seanan_mcguire
80. Walking Dead - C.E. Murphy aka mizkit
81. Staying Dead - Laura Anne Gilman aka suricattus
82. The Uncrowned King - Michelle West msagara
83. On the Prowl - Patricia Briggs and other authors
84. Hunters Oath - Michelle West aka msagara
85. Blood Lines - Eileen Wilks
86. The Oracles Queen - Lynn Flewlling aka otterdance

Book List - 49 - 52
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49. Briar's Book - Tamora Pierce aka tammypierce 
50. Daja's Book - Tamora Pierce aka tammypierce 
51. Charmed Destinies - Mercedes Lackey, Rachel Lee and Catherine Asaro
52. Street Magic - Caitlin Kittredge (new author to me, I liked!) aka blackaire 

Book List
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38.
At Graves End - Jeaniene Frost aka frost_light 
39. Ravens Strike - Patricia Briggs
40. Stalking Darkness - Lynn Flewelling aka otterdance 
41. Reserved for the Cat - Mercedes Lackey
42. Traitors Moon - Lynn Flewelling aka otterdance 
43. Magic Steps - Tamora Pierce aka tammypierce 
44. The Hidden City - Michelle Sagara West aka msagara 
45. Kitty Raises Hell - Carrie Vaughn
46. The Charmed Sphere - Catherine Asaro
47. Poppy Done to Death - Charlaine Harris
48. Shaman's Crossing - Robin Hobb aka robin_hobb 

I have to say. I tried some new authors this week, Jeaniene Frost, Catherine Asaro, and Robin Hobb. Out of the 3, I went IMMEDIATELY back to my pines (GA online library) and got more Robin Hobb. When I run out of other stuff to read, I'll get more Catherine Asaro, she was good, but not riveting. And Jeaniene Frost is pure mind candy. I'll be reading her stuff when I need to not think and have some good ol' fashioned Snickers for my Brain you know? Oh and Patricia Briggs? She needs to write FASTER. I mean like James Patterson fast.

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