Lies by T.M. Logan: A book review

Hello dear reader.

How do you prove something didn't happen? Joe Lynch lives a simple life. He teaches literature and spends most of his free time with his wife and young son. In one normal afternoon his life gets turned upside down. Joe finds himself caught up in a game of cat and mouse. Who's doing this to him and why?
The story is full of twists and turns all building to an ending I never saw coming. 
It pulled me in and didn't let go. I'll be looking for more books by T.M. Logan.
I received an advance copy of this book from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

This book will be available September 11, 2018.

Creative Solutions

Hello dear reader.

With as many diagnosis as I have, it’s often difficult to know which illness is causing what problem. For example, let’s look at the back pain I’m dealing with right now. It’s located in the top half of my back. I’ve had to be on oxygen for several days. When I take it off I drop into the high 60’s or low 70’s. That’s a COPD flare up or even pneumonia, either of which could be causing my back pain. It could also be the scoliosis causing it, or all the driving I did last week.

Scoliosis, COPD, fibromyalgia, and Chiari can all increase my headache. COPD and fibromyalgia can cause my extreme exhaustion, or it could simply be a result of pushing myself so hard last week.

Why does it even matter? If the back pain is coming from my lungs, soaking in a hot, Epson salt bath can make it worse. Humidity makes it harder to breathe. If something else is causing it, a hot bath can help a lot. So how do I know what to do?

I’ve learned to be creative. In this case, I’m sitting on a heating pad. If that helps I’ll know it’s not my lungs and will go take a bath. If it doesn’t I’ll know it’s from my lungs.

I’m certain many of you face similar dilemmas. What are some of the ways you’ve come up with to handle them?

I think it’s wonderful when we can learn from each other. Each of our experiences can help someone else. Isn’t that what it’s all about? I’m looking forward to some of your ideas.

Until next time…

Escape Book Club check-in

Hello dear reader.

We began reading Her Name in the Sky a week ago, so it’s time to check-in with you and see where everyone is. So here are a few questions I’d appreciate all of you answering so we can get a picture of that.

1. How far into the story are you? Please answer that by naming the chapter so we don’t spoil anything for someone who may be behind you.
2. How are you liking it so far? Is it keeping your attention? Are you struggling with it?
3. Are you handling the subject matter okay?

Please answer these and feel free to express anything else you’d like in the comments area below. Just please be careful not to put any spoilers in your comments. I’m excited to hear how it’s going with all of you.

I spent 20+ hours driving round trip and listened to it on Audible, so I’ve already finished it. Personally, I had a difficult time with it for the first few chapters but it got a lot easier after them.

Until next time…

Home

Hello dear reader.

I got home yesterday from my visit with my daughter. It was incredible to get to spend time with her and my son-in-law. I’m extremely thankful that my pain levels stayed where I could push through them for the majority of the visit.

The pain started getting bad the day before I left. I don’t know about any of you, but I can usually tell if it’s just a bad day or settling in to stay for awhile. This was the settling in kind of pain. My daughter and husband both asked me about staying one more day to see if it would ease up, but I didn’t think it would help.  The drive home was not fun.  Wednesday was painful, but yesterday was much worse.

There are so many times I deal with flare-ups for no reason at all.  This one is worth it. I got to visit Louissa. We spent the weekend just hanging out around the house and talking.  We have many of the same interests, so that itself was worth the drive.  I got to go meet a couple of her kids on Monday, which was a lot of fun.  When we left the school she brought me up to the Holy City .  Here’s a link to pictures and the story of it in case you missed it:  The Holy City of the Wichitas .  Then Tuesday evening I got to go to the school’s 4th of July pageant.  It was great!

I’m planning to spend this weekend sitting around the house with Tim and the dogs and taking long naps.   I’m going to read (or listen to) a good book and relax.  I think that’s part of finding life too.

We’ll be checking in on the Escape Book Club the beginning of next week.  Check that out if you haven’t gotten involved with it yet.  We’re going to have a good time with it.  Here’s our first book:  Escape Book Club Book

Until next time…

The Holy City of the Wichitas

Hello dear reader.

Louissa brought me to the Holy City of the Wichitas yesterday. It’s on a small mountain (2,385 ft.). It was a beautiful drive to get up there.

The Holy City itself was amazing! First we went into a wonderful chapel.

The paintings on the ceiling and the stained glass took my breath away. There were niches all around containing statuettes. If you look closely, you’ll see that the wooden pews have little doors to get in and out on each end. I loved it!

It’s called the Holy City because in 1926, when Reverend Anthony Mark Wallock went up the Wichita mountain it reminded him of Judea. He began bringing his Sunday school classes up there to teach them about Jesus. He built what looks like the ruins of an ancient city and began doing an Easter pageant there and opened it to the public. By 1930, over 6,000 people were coming to see it and it has increased every year since. In the beginning only a handful of people performed, now the cast includes hundreds.

The City now has representations that are used to tell the story of Jesus from his birth to the resurrection. It has everything from Mary’s garden to the tomb.

The Holy City is open to visitors (free of charge) all year, but the performances are only done on Easter Sunday. It’s easy to feel like you’re back in the time and place Jesus walked. I enjoyed it thoroughly and hope you do also.

Until next time…

Hardly Children by Laura Adamczyk, a book review

Hello dear reader.

Hardly Children is a series of short stories about children who have to deal with adult issues. The stories seem random, but have an underlying theme of innocence being lost.
I found some of the stories difficult to read because they seemed very harsh. That said, I was compelled to keep reading.
Some of the stories stuck in my head and I found myself thinking about them long after I finished reading them. Laura Adamczyk writes bluntly from the children’s viewpoints and has the ability to draw you in quickly.
I’d recommend this book as an interesting read. However, I feel I have to add a trigger alert for people who had, for lack of a better word, difficult childhoods.

I was given a free copy of this book by Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Hardly Children will be available November 20, 2018.

Until next time…

Happy

Hello dear reader.

I’m laying down for a little rest, trying hard to keep the headaches under control. So far, so good. It’s definitely there, but they’re staying manageable.

Anyway, I thought I’d take this opportunity to sort of check in and update you on my visit.

Yesterday we didn’t do much, sat around the house, but I enjoyed every minute of it. It’s so good just to be here with my daughter. The best thing has been seeing how happy she is. She and her husband are doing great. They recently moved into a new house which she loves (with good reason, this place is gorgeous). She’s been working as a teacher at a daycare/school for a little over a year now. It’s the perfect job for her. She loves it and is extremely good at it. Tomorrow she’s bringing me to the school to meet her kids (she took the day off) and I can’t wait. I’ve heard so many stories about these kids I feel like I already know them.

Originally, I was going to leave for home Tuesday morning. That’s changed. Her kids are doing a “program” Tuesday evening. They’ve been practicing their songs and dances. So I’m going to stay another day so I can go to that. It’ll work out well because she and her husband will be at work during the day, so I can spend it resting. Then I’ll get back on the road Wednesday morning.

I have to brag about my husband a little bit. When I talked to him about extending my stay here he wasn’t just okay with it, he was happy for me that I would get to go see the program. He told me that I should soak up every opportunity to enjoy myself. I’m truly a fortunate woman to have such a caring and understanding man.

Until next time…

Escape Book Club Book

Hello dear reader.

It’s time for me to announce the first book for the Escape Book Club. Drum roll please……

The book is Her Name in the Sky written by Kelly Quindlen. I didn’t want to start out with anything difficult, but I wanted to find a story that would open up some good conversation. I’ve never read anything by this author, but the premise of the book seems quite interesting. This is the description:

“Hannah wants to spend her senior year of high school going to football games and Mardi Gras parties with her tight-knit group of friends. The last thing she wants is to fall in love with a girl – especially when that girl is her best friend, Baker.

Hannah knows she should like Wally, the kind, earnest boy who asks her to prom. She should cheer on her friend Clay when he asks Baker to be his girlfriend. She should follow the rules of her conservative Louisiana community – the rules that have been ingrained in her since she was a child.

But Hannah longs to be with Baker, who cooks macaroni and cheese with Hannah late at night, who believes in the magic of books as much as Hannah does, and who challenges Hannah to be the best version of herself.

And Baker might want to be with Hannah, too–if both girls can embrace that world-shaking, yet wondrous, possibility.”

Everyone is welcome to read and discuss this with us, even if you didn’t ‘sign up’ for the book club. We’ll check in on the 7th of July and see how everyone is progressing with it.

Until next time…

I’m here

Hello dear reader.

I made it. I’m here with my daughter and son-in-law. Hugging her is one of the best feelings in the world.

Louissa is one of my very best friends. I don’t know if that’s common with a mother and daughter, but I feel extremely blessed to have that relationship with her.

I wrote a post the other day about how friends can become family. I think that happens more often than family becoming friends does. That’s been my experience at least.

I write a lot about how hard it is to deal with chronic pain. I think it’s even more important for me to write about how thankful I feel right now. These are the things that make everything worth it.

Until next time…

The Trip

Hello dear reader.

As I write this, I’m in a hotel room seven hours from home. Tomorrow I’ll do four more hours and be at my daughter’s house. Louissa said I are very close and I haven’t seen her in over a year.

I did better than I expected to today. My head started hurting about three hours in, but the meds helped and it hasn’t gotten insane. I’m exhausted, but laying in a bed relaxing. I’ll be going to sleep very soon, I’m sure.

I’m very thankful to have a wonderful husband who is completely supportive of me doing this. He worries because of my health issues, but is happy for me that I get to go spend time with my daughter.

This is finding life through pain. Right now, laying in this hotel room bed writing this post, I’m feeling thankful.

Until next time…