Old School Blogging

 I was visiting one of my favorite blogs, Hope and Coffee, and I saw that she did this "old school blogging" post. It looked pretty fun, and yeah, I needed something kind of fluffy to post (I admit it!). So I borrowed her template and here's what I got:

What where you doing 10 years ago?

Wow, OK, so "fluffy" isn't exactly going to happen as much as I thought... I just realized that 10 years ago I was as close to dead as you can get. I was a junior in high school. I had everything going for me: National Honor Society member, top 10 student ranking, Pipe Major in the pipe band (our town has a Pipes and Drums band -bagpipes- that competes internationally), soloist in the symphonic band (piccolo), tons of friends, AP classes, scholarships, etc. I was extremely healthy and fit. I only ate whole foods (way before the trend) and was a vegetarian. Then the floor fell out. I became very ill, very fast. With in 3 months I had dropped 30lbs (I was 4'11", so 30lbs is A LOT). The weight loss was largly due to an underlying medical condition that caused crippling pain whenever I ate anything. The doctors didn't know what was going on. By the time I had reached such a low weight, I had developed a full-fledged phobia of food. All I had to do was see food and my stomach felt like it was being stabbed. Everything that happened when I ate, I would suddenly feel. I was admitted to one of the country's best children's hospitals (All Children's Hospital in St.Pete, FL). At one point the doctors, along with a chaplain, pulled my parents aside into a conference room and told them that if they couldn't get me to eat with in 6 months, I would die (that's while being on a feeding tube, TPN, oxygen, etc.) Long story short less long, I was fighting for my life. I later acknowledge that I did have an eating disorder, but I also had a chronic medical condition. My eating disorder was ignited from the combination of that undiagnosed medical condition and my need (obsession) to stay healthy and fit. The later has just recently become recognised by the eating disorder community as orthorexia. So, in a nutshell (albeit a large nutshell) that's what was happening 10 years ago.

5 Things on your To-Do list

1.  Keep kids entertained, engaged, learning, etc... Ugh, can't that be my 5?
2.  Laundry
3.  Write/Research
4.  Make dinner
5.  Clean snakes' cages and feed Opal

What are 5 snacks that you enjoy?

Can I count coffee? Because coffee is my favorite everything ;) OK, fine, I'll put down 5 actual foods - Chocolate (the darker, the better), fresh fruit, pretzels, Luna Bars, raw veggies.

Name one thing you would do if you were a millionaire? Pay off our debt! Pay off my parents' deb, my mother-in-law's, and my Yia Yia's too. Fix our house in NC so someone will actually buy it (shoot, at this point it would be just so someone would actually want to sell it) and buy one here so my parents can have their house back. Savings! Donate!

Name some places you have lived: My husband and I both grew up in Dunedin, FL. When we were dating he became a US Marine in 2004 and was stationed in Jacksonville, NC. We married right after his training ended and lived there for 8 years. Although, the 8 years were broken up with deployments. During long deployments I moved back to FL due to medical reasons. My hubby just ended his tour in the Corps and we are settling back in Dunedin. So if anyone knows anyone who wants to hire an honorably discharged Marine for more than part-time (you know, so we could actually pay our bills), that would b awesome ;)

Name some bad habits you have: Checking (more info here), not resting when my body says it needs to rest -but seriously how can I when I have tons of stuff I need to do? Always being sick is sooo annoying! Am I right? You know I am.

Name some places you have worked: I have had several jobs over the years, but they all ended ether by hospitalizations or moving. Some of those jobs/places would be: Gymnastics coach (I was a gymnast for 10 years), Victoria's Secret, and Neilsen (market research). I was also in school for a chunk. I've done a little freelancing here and there, but now I'm a SAHM.

Friday Fluff

Friday Fluff

I would live on coffee, dark chocolate, and red wine if I could.

Dogs shed only twice a year - the first half, and the second half.

 Always make more food than you intend to eat because no mater what it is, the little ones are going to wan some. If you already have it made, it just saves time/effort.

 Even with my allergies raging, I would rather be outside than stuck in the house - I mean, that's what inhalers are for, right?
              
There is a very fine line between the amount of coffee needed to function and the amount that will cause you to be up half the night. -and also- How much coffee does it take to equal the energy of a 3 year old? The world will never know.                      

 If you give a Kelly a cookie, she's going to ask for a glass of milk... When given the chance, my husband WILL embarrass me.

Advocacy Aspirations

Day 5 for the WEGO Health blog challenge is Aspirations. 

 We are supposed to write what our dream activism aspirations are. No limitations - money, time, health, or otherwise. We are told to dream BIG! 

Wow, no limitations? Really? That should make it easier, but it doesn't. I've become so used to my limitations that its hard for me to think outside of them. After a while, I started to grasp the idea and actually formed something - and through that "dreaming big" I was able to find things that were actually with in my limitations. Coolness. Identifying these aspirations helped me realize what I really want to advocate about and what isn't all that important to me. 

Chronic illness - yeah, I have them and they suck. I have battled them for years. Yet, I know so many other people who are doing an amazing job advocating for them that I don't really feel the need to (Living With Bob and Just Mildly Medicated, I'm talking about you!) That leaves me with EDs and special needs. These are equally important to me. I watched my family struggle to provide what my sister needed (wheelchairs, specialized therapy, modified housing and vehicles, etc) and I know how hard it is. My ED almost took my life. The fact that it was so heavily influenced by the chronic illnesses I faced made it much harder to be properly treated. My Advocacy Aspirations ED (in order from most realistic to Dream Big No Limitations)

• Gain blog traffic
• Meet other advocates
• Be able to pay some bills with my blog
• Link up with NEDA and participate in events and
• Speak at events
• Host an event
• Link people together with organizations who can help
• Help place people in treatment centers/ help fund their treatment (it's ridiculously expensive and most insurances don't cover them)
• Start a charity or program of some kind

Special Needs (same order minus the "blog" stuff because, well, it's the same blog)

• Raise awareness
• Link families together with local resources and support networks - and through that, help families obtain those critical things that are so hard to get: wheelchairs, therapy, lifts, prosthetics, braces, etc.
• Link families together with enrichment organizations/events (recreational, fun stuff)
• Help my mom start her non-profit

Leibster Award

The other day I was reading a blog post from one of my favorite blogs, Just Mildly Medicated, that was about the Liebster Award. I had never heard of it before and, luckily, she explained it in her post. As I scrolled down the page, I came to the part where she gets to pass the torch on to other bloggers who are deemed worthy of the award. Then I saw my blog...

My blog. My barely there, baby blog. I can't believe it. I am so incredibly honored to receive the Liebster Award. I am still a bit dumbfounded and very giddy. I mean...

  Seriously?... You picked me? Wow! I'm pretty much speechless - ok, not totally speechless. I have never been totally speechless in my entire life. I was surprised, ecstatic, great full, and so many other things. Ok, so here's what it's all about in case you don't know what the Liebster Award is either: Via Just Mildly Medicated -  the Liebster Award (German, meaning “dearest” or “beloved”) is granted by fellow bloggers to up and coming bloggers they feel are deserving of recognition and encouragement. It is an award that passed on from blogger to blogger and here is what each person receiving the award must do: 

• Each person must post 11 things about themselves.
• Answer the 11 questions the person giving the award has set for you.
• Create 11 questions for the people you will be giving the award to.
• Choose 11 people to award and send them a link to your post.  Go to their page and tell them.
• No tag backs.

* She only did 5 of each, because well, she doesn't understand that rules/guidelines apply to her (her words, not mine). 11 Things About Me

1.  I'm oddly fond of learning. I am one of those weird people who attend lectures for fun and actually like the books on mandatory reading lists. I love Shakespeare, Homer, Ayn Rand, Charles Dickens, Victor Hugo... The list goes on and on!
2.  I like animals way more than people. When I was in elementary school, random animals would follow me to school and then back home.
3.  My sister is severely disabled. She has severe autism, cerebral palsy, and epilepsy - so childhood was a little bit different for me.
4. I love the moon, especially full moons! The irony is that full moons effect my epilepsy a lot... I know, now I sound really weird. But it's not just me. My sister, cousin, and aunt also experience seizures/seizure activity during most full moons.
5.  I love art! I love to sketch, paint, and create.
6.  My favorite animal is the wolf. That's not really a surprise, though. They are very misunderstood. These beautiful creatures are necessary predators in our ecosystem. I hate the 'big bad wolf' stigma.
7.  I have come very close to dying 3 times - one of which, I had to be resuscitated.
8.  I love tattoos and have a lot of respect for true tattoo artists. I believe it is one of the most difficult art forms to master.
9.  I could live on dark chocolate and coffee. There's no need to explain that.
10.  My husband and I met in band class. I played the flute, piccolo, and bagpipes and he played the alto saxophone , bass drum, and tenor drum (but he can play many other instruments as well).
11.  I had a sever eating disorder (largely due to an underlying medical condition) that almost cost me my life.

  Just Mildly Medicated's 5 Questions For Me

1.  Favorite Book? Definitely A Tale Of Two Cities by Charles Dickens, and We The Living by Ayn Rand
2.  Favorite Quote? " And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music." - Nietzsche             "Even the darkest night shall end and the sun will rise." - Victor Hugo     "Though she be but small, she is fierce." - Shakespeare
3. Why did you start your blog? Well, I guess I needed something to focus on that was just mine. After having kids and trying to stay on top of things with out running out of spoons, I lost a lot of things that were just for me. I needed something that was beyond the day to day To-Do lists.
4. How do you find time to blog? Well... I don't - evident by my infrequent posts. Most of the time, I end up blogging late at night after everyone else is asleep.
5.  What did/do you want to be when you grew/grow up? I wanted to be a doctor. I was going to specialize in either neurology or psychiatry - though a duel practice would be amazing since most patients need to see both specialists. I was even accepted into a great med school program, but then I fell very ill and was unable to attend. But my true dream job would be rescuing/rehabilitating animals. Right now, I just try my best to be a great mom and wife.

  Ok, now on to the good stuff! Here are my top 11 Liebster Blogs! ... Oh wait... That's right, I'm completely new to all of this blogging stuff and actually don't know that many blogs (yeah, you can stop laughing anytime you want). Well, I guess I do know that many, but none of them are up and coming - they're already here! So I'm thinking that I'll go ahead and list my favs anyway and hope they don't mind getting a newb award. Growing A Jeweled Rose Fantastic Fun And Learning Imagination Soup The Deliberately Unintentional Mom The Madness Of Mommyhood Hands Free Mama The Pursuit Of Normal Bookworm Mama CHRONICALLYsILLY Fit vs Fiction Living With Bob My Question For You:  

1.  What is your favorite quote?
2.  What is your favorite book/author?
3.  Name something on your bucket list?
4.  Name something you've crossed of your bucket list?
5.  What is the best advice you have received
6.  What advice would you give others?
7.  Family Motto?
8.  What would your dream job?
9.  What is your favorite animal?
10. Name one strange quirk of yours
11.  What is your favorite food/drink?

So congratulations! Now go and pass the torch ;)