You can rest easy now people, I'm back ...

At the beginning of October, my parents flew out from Illinois to stay with my husband and I for a week. We spent the whole time relaxing, going to local restaurants and shops, and working on the house. I was able to get all the sleep I needed and take better care of myself by eating real, home cooked food, both of which gave me the energy to help complete a lot of home projects.

It has been so long since I have felt like myself, but the time off of work and with my family allowed me to feel like me and not some depressing slob. It reminded me that I am so much more than this disease. It may be a part of my life, but it is not my whole life.

So I have decided that I am going to keep up with my blog and write about my experience with Rheumatoid Arthritis, but also about everything else. There is so much more to my life!

Since our vacation I have been doing pretty well. I have been experiencing pain, but I have also been pushing myself to keep active by working around the house or at least cooking dinner (and it had been awhile since I had done that).

So here are some pictures of what has been going on in my world -

My parents helped us put up a new gate so we no longer have to park one car on the street, which can be a serious pain when there is street sweeping two days a week.

My dad, Rommel, and the dogs were so exhausted from the gate and other projects that they crashed in front of the TV for a full day of football.

We grilled out a lot and it was soooooo good. My mom also tried to make our garden look decent since I have not spent any time working on it this summer. We found a wonderful nursery not far from our house and I literally could have spent hours there. We ended up leaving with some mums and zinnias which are gorgeous.

I had to get a picture of my parents and Rommel posing in front of the new gate!

Then there was Halloween, which is probably my favorite holiday. I made over a hundred chocolate covered oreos for work. They were quite heavy on chocolate, but no one fell into a sugar coma. I also made meatballs, but I did not think anyone would want to see a picture of those. They did win second place though.

My mom made this adorable mouse for me. She is so incredibly talented! I told her that she really needs to make some dressed as Santa too.

Finally, a picture of me dressed as Lucille Ball.

I do have some news on the RA front, including finding a new doctor, but I will write about that another time.