Salty Zebra

   Disneyland truly is one of the happiest places on earth for my husband and I. Several times over our relationship, including our honeymoon, we've popped down for a few magical days. It's been about ten years since the last time we did this, and both of us are starting to feel like it is time. Yes, we've been to Disney World since then, but it's really not the same. Because I've been to Disneyland so many times, it's a familiar, comfortable booking process for me, but just in case it's new to you, I thought I'd share my steps. What Comes First?  With most trips, you need to decide whether to book the flight or the hotel first. Most of the time this will land on the side of the flight, but because we are blessed with the ability to fly for free with my daughter's airline benefits (she's a flight attendant), the first piece of this puzzle I need to consider is the hotel. Because of the huge variability in hotel and ticket prices with Disneyland, ...

 I have a condition called foot drop. It comes about when there is an impingement, or pressure, on the nerve somewhere between my brain and my foot. It causes my foot to periodically, and unexpectedly, not lift my toe up all the way when I'm walking. When I am wearing just socks, this usually doesn't cause much of a problem, but when I am wearing shoes, it causes me to trip over my own feet.  Historically, when this happens, I feel really dumb how foolish am I that I can't even pick up my feet right when I'm walking? But my doctor, recently, taught me that this condition is inherent in my system. No matter how much my brain tells my foot to pick up my toe, my foot is not getting the message. I could look at my foot the whole time I'm walking and tell my foot with every step to pick up my toe, and I would still not do it every once in a while. Now, perhaps this is because my foot doesn't have ears to hear my mouth speaking, but that's what nerves are for. And...

  God spoke to my heart recently at church and the message has stayed with me so strongly that I really wanted to share it with you today. I'll wait to post it though so that I can link the sermon, although the song will take longer to be recorded. You see, our worship pastor, Michael, is also a song writer and God has used him to share some beautiful, impactful messages through music. A few weeks back, he shared a new song he had written and it touched my heart. This week, he shared the song again and invited us to sing along, but it spoke to me even more deeply because of the message a guest speaker had given. One of our fellow church members, Bryan, spoke yesterday on John 5:2-9 , the story of Jesus healing the man at the pool of Bethesda. He focused on Jesus' words in verse 6, “Do you want to get well?” This may have seemed like a strange question, but there are lots of reasons that someone may not want to get well. Illness may be all they've ever known. This man may ha...

  Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord. Psalm 27:14  Have you ever found yourself in the Waiting Place? I wrote about this last April with regard to waiting for Jesus to return and take us home to be with Him. This week it’s taken on a different connotation for me. Two weeks ago, I heard a speaker share about when Jesus asked the man at the well, “Do you want to be healed?” (post coming soon, once the song it discusses is released 😉 ). This last Sunday, God followed it up by a teaching, at a completely different church, on healing, specifically discussing the story of the man born blind and his healing we read about in John 9 . All this stirred up in me the old questions I have about healing. Things I thought I had resolved and found peace with are churning once more in my heart and mind. I *think* this is God’s doing, that He wants me to revisit these things and explore them with Him in light of a new season of my life. It’s uncomfortable. I d...

 Last year about this time, I wrote to you all asking for a little help from my friends , and you showed up! We raised $357.68 in donations over the month and I wanted to share with you today how that has influenced my blog this year.  First, it showed me that there were real people out there reading what I was writing who actually valued it enough to contribute financially. That means more than I can possibly express! I love  writing, but it's hard when you put things out into the blogosphere day after day and you wonder if anyone sees it, if anyone cares, if it's making a difference. When you all showed up for me last December, it encouraged me to keep writing, to keep traveling, to keep learning and sharing things with you. THANK YOU!!!  Next, by having some level of financial income, my blog was legitimized as a business. This enabled me to open five different credit cards and two bank accounts earning me 365,000 points/miles and $1,200 in account signup bonuses....

   Sometimes life isn't ideal. Let's face it, most of the time it isn't! So, we do what we need to, to make things work. In my "Making It Work" posts, I share life hacks and ideas that have helped me so that maybe, they can help someone else too. I hope you enjoy!   In past hospital stays, I had been given a puny, almost worthless little "kidney shaped emesis basin" when I was nauseous.   Needless to say, these don't do much to contain mess and are fiddly to try to hold when you're very sick. During my tenure at the hospital (several different ER visits and stays, including nearly 2 weeks in the neuro ICU) over the course of my three brain surgeries in 2023, I became acquainted with a much more practical, useful tool, the emesis bag. In  part 14  of The Whole Story of my Brain tumor and surgeries (really the story is ongoing, but this is the name of the series), I mentioned my use of " green bags " as well as a funny happenstance where...

  Sometimes life isn't ideal. Let's face it, most of the time it isn't! So, we do what we need to, to make things work. In my "Making It Work" posts, I share life hacks and ideas that have helped me so that, maybe, they can help someone else too. I hope you enjoy!  Today's culture would like to have you believe that there are supports and accessibility options aplenty all around us. Many people I've spoken with have the impression that if you're in a wheelchair you get to skip the line wherever you go - especially in Disney parks. People have seen allergy information on menus, so most think that allergy friendly food is offered at most restaurants. The bad news is that just isn't reality. Yes, there may be options available, but it isn't likely that anyone will offer them to you. Yes, you sometimes get to skip the line, but that's only if you know to ask. And no, most restaurants are not  allergy friendly, and those that are usually only ha...

   It's 5 o'clock - do you know what's for dinner? This was the question that plagued me day after day for years. I had shopped diligently and filled the fridge, pantry and freezer, but when it came time to fix something to eat I was stuck in analysis paralysis. Instead of embracing the opportunity to provide a healthy meal for my family to sit around the table together and eat, I was dreading the decision, and I often put it off for as long as possible. Then, inevitably, at the last minute I would want to make spaghetti or tacos, but the meat was still frozen. Too many times I caved into asking my husband to pick something up or having pizza delivered. Not only is this expensive, it wasn't the healthiest option either. So what was the turning point for me and my family? Meal planning.  If you've been following me for any length of time, you've probably picked up that I'm a planner by nature, so this fits right in with how God made me. In more recent years, ...

  When you have food allergies or intolerances, traveling can be really tricky! That's one of the reasons I love cruising, but even then, you encounter strange lands, like * Miami*  where you have to forage for food outside of the main dining room. When you have Celiac Disease, or you're even just intolerant to gluten, getting exposed while on vacation can put a rather unpleasant spin on your experience. Enter Find Me Gluten Free . This fabulous, crowd-sourced site and app are a great place to start when trying to hunt down that elusive gluten free meal in a new town, or even the one you live in!   The app is a really handy tool to include on your phone and can be found in your product's app store for free. I, however, typically like to do my searching ahead of time on the computer, but unfortunately the web version no longer includes a map for free, so I use the app for that part. I like to start by searching for everything and then begin to narrow it down from...