In a follow-up to yesterday’s post on writing resources, someone asked on Facebook what references I use for writing style. My answer in general was that it depends heavily on the writing project. My first resource is the publisher’s own guidelines. Each publisher may have its own requiremente regarding writing style; and those are the […]
Posts in the asthma and allergies category:
Gardening with Chronic Illness and Disability, Part 5: Caring for the Garden, Safety, and Resources
General care and safety are the most important aspects of my garden life. In saying this, what is uppermost in my mind concerning safety isn’t always the same thing as what is uppermost in other people’s minds. Other people are thinking about what things would be like if they suddenly couldn’t see. I am thinking […]
Gardening with Chronic Illness and Disability, Part 4: Choosing and Arranging the Plants
There are a million different ways to design the garden. Most importantly, what do you want to grow? This can be a hard question for a person who has never had much experience with plants. It was good, in that respect, that my mom simply brought me some easy starters to help build my interest. […]
Gardening with Chronic Illness and Disability, Part 3: Navigating in My Garden
Most sites I have read that discuss designing gardens for blind people encourage designers to install rails and all kinds of tactile pathways. The writing comes across as if the designers are sighted and the blind people are going to walk around smelling the air and won’t be doing much actual gardening. If you really […]
My Body, Disability, and My Self: A Complicated Relationship
I have been reading The Wisdom of Your Body by Hillary McBride (Brazos Press), releasing October 12. When I signed up for the launch team, I was not sure what to expect. Certainly I did not expect such a profound emotional journey into deep places I have not visited for a long time. I cannot […]
Arrival of Cat Daddy
Today is the eighth anniversary of Kevin’s first day in Anderson as a resident. We were talking this week about what a hard week it is in terms of remembrances. Just before Kevin arrived in 2012, my retired dog Meghan crossed the rainbow bridge. The next year, Loretta went to live with her retired family […]
What Hospital Staff Could Learn About Communicating From Blind Patients
I watched an interview with a doctor this evening in which he said that one of the most difficult things for him about all the COVID cases was that his patients could not see who was treating them. My reaction was to feel anger at all the times Kevin and I have been in the […]
Monitoring Symptoms of Illness: Some Tips Based on Life with Chronic Illness
During the last few weeks, I have read a lot of articles about COVID-19 and have also read some posts from people who have experienced the illness. COVID-19 is not a predictable virus. Some people experience mild symptoms that resolve in a few days, and others experience a lengthy struggle with symptoms that seem to […]
Living Well with Illness and Preparing for COVID-19
Kevin and I have lived all our married life with illness somewhere in the background. On the Tuesday before we were scheduled to get married, he was admitted to the hospital, into a regular room. The next day, he was suddenly moved in the middle of the night and his food and water was withheld. […]
Finding Good Commentaries for Exegesis
In my upper level Greek and Hebrew classes, students are required to submit an exegesis paper using proper sources each semester. Many online students struggle greatly to find adequate sources for their papers. I think there are a number of reasons for this. I hope, in this post, to make the process of research for […]
Gluten-Free Brownies
I have been making gluten-free muffins for a while and have been searching for an acceptable flour ratio that tasted good, didn’t crumble, and had good texture. Another challenge is that I don’t react well to xanthan gum or guar gum. Needless to say, I have had to do a lot of experimenting. My ideas […]
Gluten-Free and Allergic to Wheat and Oats
With a sensitivity to coconut and an allergy to gums and oats, trying a gluten-free diet in order to combat my wheat allergy has been a challenge. I should note that I continue eatint wheat and oats on rotation. However, I feel much better when I eat gluten-free. Eating gluten-free typically involves a lot of […]
great shampoo departure
Almost a year ago, I started a new journey due to an allergy to an ingredient found in most shampoos. I set out to find a way to cleanse my head that didn’t result in too much frizz. I am not always thrilled with the results. My hair is highly sensitive to humidity, especially now […]
Sarah’s Gluten-Free Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins
Kevin has graciously been trying out my crazy cooking ideas over the last two and a half years. He didn’t know he was signing up with the kitchen experimenter extraordinaire. Since I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, I have had a hard time giving up my favorite snacks. I started out by experimenting with […]
controlling allergens in the home
I spent an afternoon yesterday helping to claen my parents’ new house before they moved in. I took over a bag full of cleaners and went to work on carpets and shelves and bathroom, getting rid of dust and grime. All the work reminded me that I promised, a few weeks ago, to follow up […]
Beating Allergies Without Giving Up the Animals
During the years before we were married, Kevin made several visits from his home in Washington State to mine here in Indiana. He was, of course, introduced to my animals and got to know them as part of this process. One problem arose early in his first visit. He had a violent allergy to cats; […]