Why Not a Little Bit of Silly for Halloween?

After my serious video in the last post, I thought I'd add a funny one in honor of Halloween. Who doesn't remember Batman doing the batman dance? Enjoy! Oh, and Happy Halloween!

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Testimony from Annette Whittemore - XMRV Retrovirus

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I Choose Hope

Once you choose hope, anything is possible.

~Christopher Reeve

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Delicious Gluten-Free Brownies

I walk in from the pouring rain and errand-running. My small but ever so efficient mind is completely absorbed with the thought of having that much deserved afternoon cup of coffee. Imagine my delight when, upon entering the kitchen, I smell an aroma so mouthwatering, so chocolatey.

What is it, you ask? Why it's Betty Crocker Gluten-Free Brownies, still fresh from the oven! Yes dear, you heard it right - Betty Crocker - good old Betty has gone gluten-free. (I know it's been around for some months now, but we're a little slow here on the uptake.)

What did I do? Well, after practically knocking Jessie over hugging Jessie gleefully, I first ran to my coffee, then cut a large piece of brownie and proceeded to enjoy my fifteen minutes.

Where is my artistically created photo of the brownies? Alas, by the time my small but ever so efficient mind grasped the thought of blogging about this culinary delight, the brownies had been consumed. As a result, I'm submitting a picture from Amazon.com.

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Looking Up

I'm posting a few pictures from this weekend. Jes and her friend, Frank, had a blast going to a local pumpkin patch, then carving Minnie and Mickey Mouse jack-o'-lanterns. It took all afternoon, but they sat on the porch and enjoyed the sun. Things are looking up.

Enjoy the pictures.

Notice the phone? Open and ready for the next text.

A little scary, don't you think?

A glimpse of the evil eye.

Cute. And the pumpkins are too bad either!

Almost done.

What a great day.

Hope you enjoyed our pictures.

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Dr. Oz...CFS...Inaccuracies?...Read On

I'm posting a link to Sue Jackson's blog, Learning to Live with CFS. Sue posted her response to a recent Dr. Oz segment about chronic fatigue - interesting stuff. Read up and offer your opinion.

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F-F-F-F-Friendship F-F-F-Friday

That's my scary, it's almost Halloween, title. Creative, don't you think?

I only have a couple of blogs to share today as I've been a little slacker this week. Been working on my other job. How's it working, you say? NOT TOO GOOD. I've been painting a portrait this week and I'm now reminded of exactly WHY I hate to paint portraits. Moving along...

Sick Momma, by Aviva. I love her writing style and sense of humor.

Off the Wheaten Path, by Mrs. McKracken aka Margo Anderson. Mrs. McKracken? Yes, you heard it right. Love the name. Margo also writes about autoimmune disease.

*Brief update*

Happily, Jessie is doing quite well this week. Last weekend's adventure had practically no effect. Could she be pulling out of the woods? Possibly. I think that pulling out of school and dropping that difficult routine may have done the trick for now.

Jessie's doing her schoolwork at home during the day and is able to see friends more often. It's a good thing! Works wonders for that laser-eyed, "Don't look my way or speak to me or I'll scream" attitude. She has been busy for the past two nights and will be babysitting 4 year old twins this afternoon for a couple of hours. Sounds like a regular, spoiled rotten, obnoxious, killing her parents, happy teenager to me.

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X-Associated Neuroimmune Disease

Check out this interesting article in the NY Times

Looks like we could have a new name. What do you think of it?

A bit more legit than the last one, wouldn't you say?

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Survival

Happily, we survived the weekend. Jessie did well. Her boyfriend, who is very much aware of her condition, is great at balancing activity with rest. They watched tons of movies, including the Exorcist, which I now know why I never watched in the 70's - UGH - disgusting. The staged photo is a carryover from the awful horror movie lineup. Nice and convincing, huh? Jes needs to work on her menacing look. I'm not sure what Nathan was planning to do with a meat mallot and a bread knife.

After taking Nathan to the airport Sunday evening, Jes went to bed with a killer headache at 8:30 and slept until 9:30 Monday morning. I'm thinking, "Oh great. Here comes the punishment for having a big weekend." However, after 13 hours of sleep, she woke without a headache and worked hard on school all day long. Now if she makes it past the 2-3 day delayed crash zone, we'll be good to go.

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ABC News - XMRV Retrovirus

Click on the link below to view the new video.

Does a Virus Cause Chronic Fatigue?

Shared via AddThis

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IIItttt'ssss Friendship Friday!!

A little lame? Could be, but I'm having trouble coming up with a regular title. So until I do, I'll will continue with the "HEERREE'S Johnny" routine. So sue me...

Moving along, I've found a few new friends this week. I'm going to share the love and wholeheartedly encourage you to do the same. Feels good.

On the ME/CFS front I've found:

Fibro Viv lives in Texas and you can visit her at Invisible Illness CFIDS/FMS.

Catherine Morgan is a writer and nurse with CFS. She's over on Wordpress at Living With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Another Wordpress discovery: Rachel at the Blue Coffee Mug

AND on the Celiac front, I've found:

Wasabimon, a beautifully colorful, fun blog.

Learning How to Cook...Gluten Free

and last, but certainly not least, one of my original faves...

Brian, the fireman, over at Fire and Salt.

Pay all of these good folks a visit. They really are pretty nice. :)

Finally and perhaps most importantly:

Pray for me. Pray hard for me. Nathan, aka Satan himself, is flying in for a weekend visit. Oh, I'm just kidding. I love Nathan to death - good kid. I will, however, be braving Atlanta's wonderful 5:00 rush hour traffic as his flight arrives (hopefully on time) at 6:00. It's sure to be a lively, fun, action-packed weekend. Pray for me. I'm not joking. Teenagers in love, it's an unnerving thing for 40-50ish parents.

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Gluten-Free Roasted Red Pepper Soup

I was recently lucky enough to acquire this recipe from my friend, Dennis, who is an exceptional gardener and cook. Now Dennis uses his home grown red peppers as well as his own crushed red pepper for this recipe. However, since I have the keen ability to kill even a Chia Pet, I successfully created the recipe using roasted red peppers from a jar and dried, crushed red pepper. It works just as well. As with many great cooks, please note that his recipe is not exact.

This delicious soup is super healthy, delicious, and perfect for the upcoming season.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

roasted red peppers (I used 3 jars)

basil (to taste)

Vegetable or Chicken Broth (I used GF chicken broth - about 3/4 of a box)

2 - 15 oz. cans of whole tomatoes

5-6 cloves of garlic

3 tsp. balsamic vinegar

1-2 tsp. olive oil

1 large onion - roughly chopped

crushed red pepper

Bake the onion, tomatoes, peppers, garlic, basil, vinegar & olive oil in a roasting pan at 350 for approximately 45 minutes. Blend until smooth. In a dutch oven, combine the roasted vegetable mixture, broth to desired consistancy, and crushed red pepper to taste (I used maybe 1 tsp.) until heated through.

Enjoy!

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What Were You Doing?

It was the first weekend of November, 2005. Jessie had recently finished fall soccer. At 12, she was becoming a much better player - aggressively chasing and maneuvering the ball. She was having a great time with weekly horseback riding lessons and occasional mountain biking excursions with her dad and brother.

On Friday, Jeff and I went away for the weekend and Jessie eagerly went to spend a few days with her best friend, Sarah. On Saturday, we got the call that Jes had become sick. Could it be the flu or mono? Another friend was at home sick with mono and Jessie remembered that they had recently shared a water bottle at school. Assuming that she had mono, we kept her at home. The following week, we took her to the doctor, where she tested negative for mono.

Two weeks later, her friend was well and back in school. Jessie's fever had finally subsided, but the headaches and flu-like symptoms were relentless. Two months later, confined to her bed or sofa and beginning physical therapy, we were told that Jessie had tentatively been diagnosed with something called Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome. We were so happy to have a diagnosis! We knew so little then. We had no idea that on that first weekend of November, the course of our daughter's life would be changed.

For more information and to learn how you can help,

visit SolveCFS.org.

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Meet My New Acquaintances...

The internet, a source of so many bad influences, can also be a source of friendship and support for so many dealing with unusual chronic illnesses.

In an attempt to connect even further, I'm starting something new. When I find new blogs I will share their link with you. Here are two of the most recent I've found:

Laura Louise, a 26 year old young lady from Vancouver, at Hope Help Health

and

Robyn, a 23 year old student, at "How are you?" and Other Silly Questions

Drop in for a visit. I'm sure they would love the company.

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Finally...See She Wasn't Making it Up!

We have promising news in the study of CFS. The news will authenticate what millions of patients with Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome have been claiming for years. It's an infectious disease. A seemingly simple claim, but so very important to people dealing with CFS.

More importantly, the discovery of the relationship between CFS and the XMRV Retrovirus will, hopefully, lead to more research and an eventual treatment for this debilitating disease.

For a better explanation:

Scientific American

The New York Times

The National Cancer Institute

Encouraging to say the least!

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Delicious Autumn

Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.

~George Eliot

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A Young Girl In Love

Well, she is. On our trip last week, we stopped off in Charlotte to visit our favorite store, Anthropologie, and to have lunch. (This was during the sore throat but before the fever.) Anyway, this book quickly caught Jessie's eye and she was glued to it, which is saying something when you're surrounded by beautiful clothing in Anthropologie!

Double-Chocolate Crumb Cake, Lemon-Poppy Teacake, Carrot Cupcakes...

The book is called Babycakes: Vegan, Gluten-Free, and (Mostly) Sugar-Free Recipes by Erin McKenna. Oh people, it's a keeper. Babycakes is well written and beautifully designed. It's a feast for the eyes as well as the tummy. A few of the ingredients were new to us, but we easily found them at Whole Foods.

As I said, it's a keeper.

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CFS, Homecoming, Road Trip, Movie, and a Virus

It's over. We're home. Cleanup after two very nasty males and enough laundry to clothe an army has been completed.

It's been an eventful week! Jessie (above in the blue) and I went to Virginia so that she could go to a homecoming dance with friends from her former school. Unfortunately, her date became sick within 15 minutes of arriving and had to leave. Fortunately, she was surrounded by tons of friends so she still had a blast - sans the boyfriend, who is, by the way, NOT the happy dude in the white bow tie. (Isn't he a cute little riot?)

The day after we left for Virginia, hubby became sick with a nasty virus that we thought was the flu. He even went to the doctor and was given Tamiflu. He was completely over it and back at work in three days. While on the way home from Virginia, Jessie became sick with the exact same virus. We went to the doctor and she tested negative for the flu. This will be the sixth day and I hope she wakes feeling better. The fever is gone, but a nasty cough remains - along with the typical CFS backlash of achy muscles. Of course, we half expected the CFS flare after such an active long weekend.

Oh, one more thing. Jessie talked me into reading the Twilight series last year. We're not fanatical fans, but we are looking forward to the second movie, New Moon, which comes out on November 20th.

Here's the trailer. Any Twilight fans out there?

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