My doctor prescribes a medication I took a few years ago. I wait…….

Finally the pharmacy calls and says the insurance requires authorization from the doctor. I am asked to call my doctor. I call….

Doctor says they hadn’t received a fax from pharmacy and tell me to call pharmacy and ask them to fax that info. I call….

Pharmacy says they will send a second fax. I wait….

Nothing….

I call the pharmacy and it still won’t go through insurance. They tell me to call insurance company. I call….

Insurance company says they need more information from doctor and that I should call the doctor. I call….

Doctor tells me that they need the letter from the insurance company and tell me to call them and ask them to fax. I call…

Insurance company says they will send a request for more info again. I wait….

Three weeks later and three migraines later, I still have no medication to help deal with them. So my question is, why is a very sick person having to call everyone over and over to get them to do their job? What is it I am paying all of them for?

~Frustrated patient.

I have the great privilege of receiving and reviewing Crash Candles. And I LOVE them!!!

Crash candles are made in the USA, in the Chicago area, hand-poured using 100% natural soy wax, cotton wicks, and complex fragrances. Crash is the only candle company featuring artwork by prominent, contemporary designers on the candle itself. Crash natural soy candles feature art collections by Lotta Jansdotter, Zuz Design, and Binth and most recently, Angela Adams.

The first thing that attracted me to Crash candles was the fact that they use a glass container that can be reused as drinking glass! How cool is that! I love repurposing instead of throwing away.

I also love that these are soy candles… so much healthier for my home environment.

As I browsed the Crash Candles website, I was intrigued with the designs. As an artist myself, I love that they feature artist designs. It really makes these glasses collectable.

The fragrances range from simple to complex. Being one who loves the fragrance of candles as much as the ambiance, I chose two complex scents. I received “Pine Cone” and “Skare”

“Pine Cone” is designed by Suzie McKee of Zuz Design. This studio produces artwork known for it’s play on contemporary shapes, distinct color and organic nature in a style Suzie likes to call “prairie modern”. I think these are my favorite designs!

It’s a beautiful pine cone/pine needle design and fragranced with Fresh green spruce, Canadian fir needle, lemon with jasmine and clove. Amber, cedarwood, sweet vanilla and musk. I found it to be a perfect Autumn candle! It’s lightly sweet, with a woodsy scent. And I will soon be drinking apple cider from the glass.

“Skare” is designed by Lotta Jansdotter. It’s an adorable wintery design. It is fragranced with fragranced with Spearmint, bergamot, nutmeg, lemon with spicy berry, vanilla sugar and coconut. What a combination!

I have only burned a little of it, enough to know I love the scent! I’m saving it for after thanksgiving. I’m amazed how well the minty scent, blends with the fruity and spicy. It smells like winter!! And when it’s gone, it will make a perfect glass for eggnog.

Neither candle is overly scented. They don’t smell the whole room up when you open them, but when burning, they have a lovely gentle scent that I love.

Crash Candles would make wonderful gifts. You can find a scent for any time of year, and all kinds of designs to collect. I highly recommend Crash Candles!

**I did NOT receive any compensation for this review, nor do I receive anything for directing readers to this company. The opinions are all my own, honest evaluation. I did receive samples the candles to try, in order to write my personal review.

Use the code PREHOLIDAY at check out and you’ll get 20% OFF your entire order.

I’ll probably have a “Black Friday” sale, and maybe a Christmas sale too, but this will be the very best deal I offer all season long!

Get a head start on gift buying OR treat yourself to some new wall decor before your holiday guests arrive!

These three, original watercolor painting ACEO’s are available separately, or as a set in my ETSY shop.

Happy Autumn to everyone!

Because I choose to push and “look” good on occasion, doesn’t ever mean I feel good. I do have days I feel better than others, but I always feel sick.

Yesterday, I found a very simple, but very profound description of this illness. It does a good job of defining and describing how I feel and why I feel that.

This was in answer to a question from a patient that wondered why all of his family members were sick with M.E./CFS. Here is the quote:

It is very possible that you and the family got exposed to an infectious agent like the cold virus and had an immune response against that virus. In most people such exposure to an infectious agent leads to an activation or stimulation of the immune system. This leads to all of the symptoms one gets with CFS and related to conditions since the symptoms come from the outpouring of products from the immune system. In most people the immune system is later quieted down by other cells of the immune system and the symptoms will go away. It is our impression that in people with CFS the stimulation of the immune system is not dampened or suppressed by the response of other immune cells to bring immune system back into balance. Thus CFS reflects a chronic immune activation condition. ~Jay Levey

(Jay Levy studies HIV/AIDS at the University of California, San Francisco. The main focus of his work is HIV pathogenesis. In July, he published a study in Science that failed to find XMRV in chronic fatigue syndrome patients.)

So basically, when the immune system kicks in to fight a bug, it creates all the “symptoms” we get… sore throat, headaches, fevers, achey, fatigue… etc etc.

The problem for CFS is that the second step of the immune process is not working. The immune response is not turned off… therefore the symptoms go on and on and on…. and on!

Just as a normal person forces themselves to work even though they have a sore throat and are achey and fatigued, I too can have times where I am up and interacting with others. However, I don’t really have the “luxury” of taking a couple of days and ignoring everything and everyone. My couple of days have turned into 9+ years.  If I always dressed and looked the way I feel, I’d have no friends – no family – and a very very sad and lonely life. I choose to push and “look” good on occaision – because I have to.

I choose not to let this chronic immune activation to take away my life.

The flip side is… people see me smiling, dressed, sometimes with make-up on and they have a hard time believing that I’m getting worse… or even sick! One kind word and a smile at the doctors office and they hardly believe I feel ill. (And yet, if I don’t smile and am not friendly, I’m labeled “depressed”,  or a difficult patient)

But it’s in my nature to be kind and friendly. It’s my personality and I don’t want to lose that. I’d much rather be misunderstood, than walk around with a mopey, down-trodded face to show off how sick I feel inside.

I hope this quote helps my friends and family understand a little more about how I feel all the time. I also hope it helps those of you who also suffer with M.E./CFS.

I was given the great opportunity to sample some teas from Village Tea Company. I’d like to tell you a bit about Village Tea Company by sharing some of the letter from the CEO I found on their website.

The Village Tea Company brand is a young brand, less than 3 years old, but  prides itself on providing exceptionally tasting teas packaged with the  environment and consumers in mind.  Our packaging is completely  environmentally friendly but it’s what’s inside the package that consumers  truly  love….the tea of course!

The Village Tea team spends months every year traveling to tea farms and meeting with farmers that have become friends over the years to hand pick each tea that you enjoy.  We stay on site at each farm and commit ourselves to understanding the culture and demands put on our friends on a daily basis.  It’s this commitment and effort that drives us to advance the message of loose leaf tea and it’s benefits.

I must say, I was super impressed with the packaging of the teas I received. I loved that the containers were a heavy paper board. But they are also very sturdy, seal tightly and keep light away from the tea!

When I opened my first container, I found that the loose leaf tea was packaged in 2 separate muslin bags to help keep it fresh. I even received tea sacks tucked in beside my tea. What a nice treat to receive these with loose leaf tea! One package was filled with pyramid tea bags and the tea that filled the tea bag is a very nice sized/ high quality leaf.

I received 3 different teas: A white tea “Strawberry Passion”, a green “Smooth Jasmine” and a black “Mintastically Minty”.

My favorite? Well… right now my favorite of the three is the Strawberry Passion! We have been having a very warm September… and I love to brew up a large batch of white flavored tea as iced tea! However, I know when winter comes, I’m going to be turning to the Smooth Jasmine often in the evenings!

My favorite aspects of each tea:

Strawberry Passion: A very nice, full bodied, white tea! Very low in caffeine. Flavored ever so gently with a strawberry, with some dried strawberries in the mix.

 

Smooth Jasmine: A nice gentle chinese green tea – not too bitter, with a touch of sweetness. The tea is not only flavored with jasmine, but also has some scattered dried jasmine petals in it. This blend is like satin on the tongue!

 

Mintastically Minty:  Organic!! I love organic tea! Lemongrass adds a lovely dimension to the spearmint and peppermint!

 

 

Having tried 3 different teas and being impressed with all three, I would highly recommend Village Tea Company.

I look forward to trying their “Sassy” Green Tea which has green tea, ginger, flavor, orange peel, peach pieces, chilies, cloves, safflower, acai (some of my favorite flavors!!!) I also look forward to trying their “Royal Organic English Breakfast”!

 

**I did NOT receive any compensation for this review, nor do I receive anything for directing readers to this company. The opinions are all my own, honest evaluation. I did receive samples of the tea to taste.

I’d like to introduce you to an artist I’ve met on Fine Art America – Irina Babinova.

I recently held a contest for artwork featuring orchids and Irina’s photograph “Orchids” won first place!

I asked Irina to share a little bit about herself so that I could introduce you to her and her beautiful artwork.

Irina is originally from Bulgaria but is currently living and working in Japan. She recently finished her Ph.D studies, and soon after became a mother. Despite her interests in science she is very artistic in nature – being involved in singing, dancing, acting, modelling since she was very young.

Photography has always been her hobby and passion. She says, “I think I got the love for photography from my father who was spending a lot of time taking pictures of me as a baby and revealing the fascination of the ‘dark room’ later. I love to take pictures of everything that catches my eye- beautiful and unusual things, as well as ordinary things that we pass by every day and do not even notice. I love travelling so my pictures are taken in various countries around the world.”

Irina is a recent member of FAA where she is showing and selling her artwork for the first time. You can visit Irina’s website HERE where you can purchase prints of her beautiful artwork.

These are only a few of my many favorites in Irina’s portfolio. She has a terrific eye for her photography, and excels at manipulating her photographs to create gorgeous art pieces.

I hope you’ll visit your website and leave her a few comments on your favorite pieces.

Thank you Irina for joining in the Orchids contest and for allowing me to feature you on my blog!

The President then…

The President now…

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Thank you Former President George W. Bush. Thank you President Obama.