The Bronze Killer and Me (+Patriotic Desktop Pix)

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Still trying to catch up to where I left off before my trip. Too much to do but my body and mind just refuse to cooperate for more than a half-hour at a time. I am truly thankful for the fact that I don’t suffer from the huge mood-swings or periods of sudden rage that often accompanies Hereditary Hemochromatosis, at the same time though, I’m really frustrated by the increasing inability to focus both my mind – and my eyes. It’s like I’ve suddenly developed ADHD at the age of 56 and someone keeps moving my monitor closer than farther away then closer then… Well, you get the idea. HFE is such an odd disease in that it can have so many manifestations and it seems that no two people have the exact same combination of symptoms and the mix changes constantly.

Read More about Hemochromatosis Awareness Month

I’ve got great doctors – but none of them have HFE so they can’t really relate to what I’m going through, and I’ve been searching for other who have HFE to compare notes with. Through those searches, I came across a reference to the book “The Bronze Killer” by Marie Warder and on Amazon.com there were a ton of reviews of the book that were all just raving about how it’s considered the BEST book on the subject of HFE and more specifically, on the experience of the author’s husband and both children having it and how it’s affected all of them. Marie’s husband is like me in that he was not diagnosed until after he had already suffered permanent damage to his liver while her children were fortunately diagnosed before the disease had advanced that far. I ordered the book on Tuesday and received it Thursday. I used to read at least 1 book a day but those days are long gone and so I’m only on page 11. I’ll fill you in as I get farther along.

Completely off-subject but appropos for this weekend when those of us who are blessed to be Citizens of The United States celebrate our Independence Day on the 4th of July, I’ve created a few patriotic icons as well as a Desktop Picture (in 3 different screen sizes) for you. Enjoy!

Free Clip-Art / Icons & Wallpaper of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered on this blog are free for your personal use while subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives 3.0 license. (See sidebar for details)

Star Spangled 1600x1200

1280×854 px 1600×1200 px 1920×1200 px

Old FlagColumbia

Freedom Flag

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Small Steps, Big Feat

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I’m baaack! Actually, I got home from my little expedition to my Dad’s a week ago tonight but the trip took so much out of me, both physically and emotionally, that I have pretty much slept for the past 7 days! – To so many of you who had written to me both on and off this blog, Thank You so much for worrying about me and for being patient with me and forgiving me for being “off blog” longer than I had originally planned..The trip I took (approx. 350 miles from my home in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio to my father’s home in Allentown, Pa.) was for only 4 days but was a monumental event in more ways than one.

Forgive me for boasting, but in light of my having been (literally) confined to bed for the last 7 years, the fact that I made it there and back again in relatively good shape feels like a huge accomplishment. For several months before we went, I had to work really hard to build up the stamina to be able to sit up by myself for an hour or so at a time and then to be able to walk (with my spiffy blue Drive Rollator) for short distances (like from a parking lot to my seat at a table in a restaurant). And then, perhaps most importantly of all, I had to work on being able to simply stay awake for more than a 2 hour stretch at a time! In some ways, it sounds ridiculous to be so pleased about having attained such seemingly meager goals, but from where I started, it IS a big deal. Of course, I couldn’t have done it without the help and inspiration from me hubby and son, who were absolutely wonderful in their support and keeping me safe and doing all the driving (8 hours each way!)

Forever Young T-Shirt

“Forever Young” – Image on the T-Shirt I created for my Dad’s 85th birthday features a photo of him when he was 25 yrs. old.

One of the other reason(s) this trip was so monumental was the purpose of it: We went to celebrate my Dad’s 85th Birthday!! Now THAT’s an amazing accomplishment and blessing! Not many folks are lucky enough to reach that age and I’m willing to bet that of those who do reach 85, very few have the honor of throwing out the first ball at minor league baseball game!

Dr-Sigal-Anticipates VIctory

“Dr., Lt. Commander, Roland L. Sigal, throws out 1st Ball at game between the AAA Phillies Iron Pigs and AAA Wilkes Barre Yankees. And,
Yep! That’s Ron Shegda, our Republican Candidate for PA. State Representative, 136th District, guiding “Rolly” onto the field.”

I’ll have a lot more to share from my trip in future posts – right now my head is still swimming and trying to sort out my thoughts and feelings. Rather deep things to think about first. In the meantime, being yet another early, early Wednesday morning, so I leave you with a few more law-related icons. Praying today will be Justice Day!

Free Clip-Art / Icons of the Day

The following images are either full or reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Unless otherwise noted, downloads are 512px X 512px in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered on this blog are free for your personal use while subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives 3.0 license. (See sidebar for details)

Sections-Rules-Statutes

Statutes And RulesStatutes and Rules on Background

Dewey A Gree

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Book It, Pops!

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I’m taking a few days off of the computer to enjoy my family and a few good books. I’ll get back to posting next Wednesday (June 23). In the meantime, I wish all you fathers out there (including my own plus me Hubby) a Very Happy Father’s Day! And I’ll leave y’all with this morning’s freebies – two original images sized to print out at 2” x 7” each, at 300 dpi (high resolution). Enjoy!

Free Clip-Art/Bookmarks of the Day

The following images are reduced size previews. Simply right-click (or control-click) on the preview to save the image(s) of your choice to your desktop. (Downloads are 2″ X 7″, 300 dpi, in .png format). As always, usage of any of the images offered on this blog are free for your personal use while subject to the limitations of my Creative Commons Non-Commercial – Attribution – No Derivatives 3.0 license. (See sidebar for details)

Proust Groucho

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