My Brother and I 1982

Today I find my self missing my little brother. I had been thinking about him a lot lately because it was his birthday earlier this week and I had it in my mind that I would call him and wish him a happy birthday. We do not live in the same city and therefore do not get to see each other that often. I did not call him early in the day, it was a Monday I figured he was working; I had also gotten a late start that day and I figured I would catch him when he was home in time for dinner and this way I could talk with him and there would be no hurry. I was getting dinner started myself when I gave him a call. He answered, “Happy birthday!” I said into the speaker. “Thank you” he responded. After that there were awkward moments of silence broken here and there only by few tidbits of conversation which felt as though two complete strangers were engaging in.

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I bought these burgers mainly because my 7 year old, yes, Little One was begging me at the store for them. I was unsure about the purchase because well to be honest, what a waste if we did not like them! 12 burgers was a lot of food and here was a 7 year old guaranteeing me that he would eat them all! We do like our black beans, but this was new to us – especially to my husband and E. who still liked their ‘m.e.a.t’ quite a bit at the time. With the exception of E., the rest of us – not too big on beef OR chicken for that… Little One started that whole  thing!! Now on the rare occasion we do have beef, we just feel ill .

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Woke up this morning with enough energy to go for a power walk and it so happened luck was on my side – It was cool and cloudy this morning on my side of the globe . Just how my skin likes it to be when I have to spend time outdoors, if I don’t want to tote around that umbrella (lupus thing). I called out for the kids who to my surprise were a little apprehensive about the idea. It didn’t last long, that is I gave them the alternative of cleaning their bathroom, and they were back in their rooms getting their shoes and in no time back to the living room . They decided they would ride their bikes and I still simply wanted my walk…

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Beautiful Imperfections

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Why some people do the things they do… I can’t find time in my day to do the USEFUL, meaningful things on my list!  I gather for some people these are meaningful things; either that or they have nothing better to do than spread rumors and lies to the masses via e-mail. The worst part about all of this is when some media personalities take the information and then, without checking the source or confirming it’s validity, make the situation worse, even yet, by broadcasting it over the air.

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This is one of my ‘hit drinks’ every time we have friends over and one of my favorite things about this particular sangria recipe modification is that I get to use more fruit juice for sweetening instead of syrups or sugar.

For this particular recipe we want to start with a well, full bodied, red wine. Preferably something from the Garnacha/Grenache varietal or it may be a blend [Garnacha/Tempranillo], Spanish reds from the Rioja region will also fit well into the recipe. This does not mean you should go out and spend a lot of money on this bottle of wine. Most of these wines should be available to you for $10 or less. For example one of my favorites is Abrazo Del Toro, a blend of 80% Garnacha and 20% Tempranillo, this Spanish wine is available to me for approximately $5 at Trader Joe’s. So remember to use an inexpensive bottle because we are going to mask any imperfections with fresh fruit and fruit juice!

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Hello there, I guess this is where I tell a little about my self, regarding lupus and how I got to know her, so here goes a little bit of my life story. I am 34 years old currently living in sunny southern California with my husband and two boys. I simply LOVE the winters here as soon as the weather channel announces  it will be 80 degrees or higher I want to run for Main! Maybe Seattle would do… I have a severe allergy to the sun, amongst other things, due to my SLE (Systemic Lupus Erythematosus). Sure the cold bothers my joints ,sometimes, but nowhere nearly as much as the sun and heat bother and aggravate my lupus symptoms. Move? Love to, as soon as my husband can acquire a ‘position of choice’ at a less sunny, more ‘vampiric‘ like  place .

I have had Lupus all my life and was not diagnosed until 2006 at UCLA department of rheumatology. It was believed that Lupus was predominant in women ages 17 to 34. I was one woman to prove them wrong on that age theory.  It is now known that kids, men and women may fall ‘victim’ to lupus.

It was very difficult, first for my mother, a single parent taking care of a child who would get ill and be in pain with low grade fevers; Some weeks better some weeks worse, some days not sick at all and the doctors were clueless.

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