Mental & Emotional Health

It seems that these days I am a disaster in the making.  I can an do make more mistakes in judgment than ever before in my life.  I have been swooning to attend Blogher for 3 years.  No kidding last year I even wrote a post about all those who went and my opinion was very wrong even then.  This year I was going to Blogher one way or another.  I found people (sponsors) to help me pay the way, however, so did hundreds of other people. 

On Wednesday night I had a great time in the lobby, chilling with a few other people.  Literally I mean a few other people.  And then…it began…..

On Thursday I attended an event with 49 other women, and then Thursday night it was one massive party after another.  One breakfast, one lunch, one session, one huge expo hall, all of them cram packed with people.  And I like people, right?

Of course I do.  But apparently I like my people in groups of 5 to 10 as opposed to 500 or 1000.  I had a lot more fun hanging with the few than hanging with the many.  Moreover, it was quite obvious to everyone that this was the case as people I knew would pass by me and say, “wow you look tired” and yes, indeed, I was tired but I was also over-whelmed.  I was feeling the effects of an emotional rollercoaster.  The desire to belong in every room, at every party with every group and the counter attack of wanting to hang out in a room or in the lobby with just a few people and enjoy it. 

I did spend some time in the lobby just hanging out alone.  GASP!  Me?  Hang out alone?  I hate to be alone.  Actually I wasn’t alone, there were a couple of thousand other people there and watching them made me much happier than joining them in many cases.

All I can say is who would have thunk it?

I have written in depth about Michael Jackson on many of my blogs…as has most of the blogging world.  Is it really something that one person could touch so many people’s lives and he lived basically as a recluse.  He rarely went out, he wore masks, he covered his children’s faces and he basically did everything he could do to stay out of the limelight. 

Except for when he was the limelight.  He was the superstar.  Then, he was good at what he did and then…back to plain obscurity.  I honestly am not sure what to think about the man.  I mean, he was a great artist.  He and Lionel Ritche wrote We Are The World and neither of them can read or write music.  That is talent.

But, he could just couldn’t manage to stay out of trouble.  The lawsuits, the drug rehab and the plastic surgeries, over and over again.  He probably was addicted to pain medication.  If he did indeed have 13 plastic surgeries, he was probably given your everyday pain killers for a long time.  And, then, they quit working and you have to up the anti.  So, what’s to do right?

Showbiz keeps asking is it too early to talk about his trash.  Well, since no one was mentioning his trash until he was dead?  I don’t know, do they think Michael somehow pulled that off too?  I mean, come on.  He was what he was and that is he was one of the most talented musicians ever.  The one, the only?  I don’t know that it is necessarily the case.  But, definitely an elite.  One of the few.

Let’s just hope his children can move on, get closure and live a semi normal life.  Lest Mr. Jackson thrust them into the spotlight and puts them on stage immediately.  Singing…and dancing…of course.  See I didn’t even touch on what a skilled dancer he was.  Yea, let’s just leave it be one more day.

I’ve spent most of the week trying to prepare a website for local exposure.  I will have my site featured in the Life Styles of our local paper again.  This website is set up strictly for the parents, students and teachers in our community.  Well, all actuality, there’s two of them. 

I know that neither of them refer to you guys but if you get a chance, swing by, leave a comment for me and let me know what you think about the over-all site structure, idea behind the websites and just general opinions.

I promise I will get back on gear over the weekend.  I am also redesigning my Mom~E~Centric site but that has to wait til later.  Also, I’m being bombarded by ideas and can’t keep my head on straight.  Here’s the sites, see what you think…

Education Uncensored:  The Blog

Education Uncensored:  The Social Network

Cross posted all over the place, just letting you know…

I have a very close cyber-buddy (I mean, you know, as close as two people can be in cyber space) and she has the most upbeat attitude that sometimes I wonder if maybe I need some of what she has stashed in her kool-aid drawer at home.  Either way, I’ve seen her make photos of thunderstorms and turn them into happy times.  She’ll pour a glass of wine and visit with the neighbor while the children play and she sits back with her wine and enjoys it all.

She’s been known to chase their dog around the neighborhood in her PJ’s and barely stops to wonder if anyone notices.  Basically, she just has a great attitude. 

Have I ever known her to not have a great attitude?  Of course I have, no one is that perfect all the time.  But, she knows how to block the punches, skip over the rocks and dunk under the timbers and land flat on her feet right in front of the river of rainbows.  Yea, she is that good.

Anyway, she has a new site up and running and in case you haven’t figured it out already, the site is Happiness Is The New Black.  I sent her a snarky little email asking her what she was trying to prove by not letting me in on the secrets of her blog life and she sent me packing to the about page and the submit page.   But, since I’m in such a grand ol’ mood, I’ll give you a quick blow by blow just in case you are interested in contributing.

In the about section, this quote summarizes the site for me, "True happiness is deep, pure and everlasting. It is subtle and it is popular because we all share an intrinsic need for it."  And, with that, you can share your happiness or just read about the happiness of others.

The Submit section will answer questions for you like, How do I contribute?, What do I contribute? Why should I contribute? as well as the When’s? and How often’s.  Go on check it out, it could make for some serious emotional healing….happiness is contagious The New Black

Our local paper did an article on my blogging.  I am not one to boast or brag about myself and I was perfectly content knowing that my information would be in the Lifestyles section of the paper yesterday. 

When word came through that the article would instead be front page of Monday’s paper, you know Labor Day, I almost threw up a little bit.  Wow!  I mean, it is Labor Day, right?  And, my article is about how I labor from home, right?  But, man….how fascinating is that?

And, I’m giving you the link, feel free to go check it out, as a matter of fact, I’d love it if you would go check it out.  And, if you have a minute to leave me some feedback, I would greatly appreciate it and I’m sure the writer of the article would as well.

So, I give you Carbon Hill mother makes money from blogging.

I recently started reading another great Mental & Emotional Heath blog called Mental Health Notes and I’m really enjoying reading it. Alicia Sparks wrote a (mostly) light-hearted Christmas-themed post today about The Top 5 Things My Brain Wants for Christmas and I am stealing her idea … so I bring you:

The Top 5 Things My Heart Wants for Christmas

1. to physically feel well - I haven’t been talking about it much here (been concentrating on those depressed elderly) but I’ve not been feeling well. I have blood work scheduled for Friday to rule out some more things and we’ll see … but I’d like to not hurt this Christmas

2. to be anxiety-free - not only is my health stressing me out, but I feel like I’ve got a lot of other things to deal with lately. Life is changing, and while I absolutely love change, it stresses me out and makes me feel like I have too much going on. I’d love to not be anxious for the rest of the year … or the rest of my life, actually.

3. to have mental illnesses be stigma-free - while we’re definitely not in the dark ages regarding mental health, it’s still not an “okay” diagnosis to have. It bears stigma over cancer, diabetes, IBS and the like, and I just wish it didn’t. While we’re at it, can we remove the stigma from and HIV or AIDS diagnosis, too?

4. a good night’s sleep - like heavy, full-night-long, deep as the ocean sleep. I’ve been so tired and so stressed about being tired, that I can’t sleep and it sucks. Someone let me sleep!

5. the guts to karaoke - I don’t sing very well, but I can hold my own at church and in groups. I have NO guts when it comes to karaoke. I’d love to get these guts in a pretty container … maybe with some tasty tea, too.

So, dear readers, what five things does your heart want for Christmas this year?

This post was actually written on Tuesday evening … I like to do the future-post thing!

Today’s lecture in PHE 363: Chronic & Communicable Diseases was about the horrible things that stress does to your body.

Guess who left the class more stressed out than when she walked into it?

Oh, yeah, that would have been me!

(more…)

300: a great movie. I enjoyed it. *nods*

300: the year the year the city of Split is built.

300: how many more hits I need in September to break my March record! Pass the word on, people!

I’m in a funk today. I’m overwhelmed, stressed out, not laughing, and just not myself. *le sigh*

I think it’s because of the major change in my life lately but I’m not sure it’s 100% that. I haven’t seen MamaDee in almost two weeks and I miss her. I am going to see her on Sunday, but still that’s been too long. School has me stressed out, I’ve had a lot of random little things to do this week and have had some snafus pop up with regards to school. I am thinking about finding a part-time job on top of everything, but with this week being SO stressful, I don’t know if that’s a smart idea!

mental & emotional health, blog hits, raising traffic, Portland State University, college, education, friends

Diana, of Somebody Heal Me tagged me in a weird things meme over a week ago! I’m slow getting to it, but here are

Six Weird Things About Me

1. Like Diana, I have a hatred towards hair. Mine is a little more specific though; I cannot stand WET hair on me. In the shower, it totally grosses me out. If I start washing my face and there is hair on my hands when I do it, I totally get grossed out and have to rinse my face & hands and start all over. I am really grossed out by wet hair.

2. I always have background noise going on. Whether it’s the TV (50% of the time), music or podcasts (equally split), there is always something on making noise. Right now it’s the Big Brother 8 finale. I have seen 90% of the season through OnDemand. I don’t always watch (I type blog entries while it’s on) but I like the background noise.

3. I love underwear. I have probably six-weeks worth of underwear. I just talked to my mom earlier about laundry and she worried that if I didn’t come down tonight I’d not have clean underwear for school. I got to tell her that I probably have another month’s worth of underwear in my drawer right now. My favorite type of underwear is a Maidenform pair of Samba’s. I adore them!

4. I’m a stacker. I stack everything. Papers, books, boxes, notebooks; they’re all stacked. My desk is normally a stack of papers and note pads and looking over right now, I clearly see a stack of papers to be filed. In front of me, on my coffee table, there is another stack of papers (for school). I like stacks to be neat and put together though.

5. The smell of sage takes me back to grade school age, but I have no idea why. I don’t remember what happened, why I love the smell of it, or exactly where it takes me back to, but the smell of sage is a powerful reminder of something. I have blackberry sage candles burning right now in hopes of figuring out WHERE I’m going with the smell.

6. I love a dressed-up-guy. This may not be weird, but I think ANY guy looks hotter dressed up. Put a suit & tie on a guy and I’ll swoon. Put him in a tux, with a long (not a bow) tie and I’m smitten. There is something about a guy all put together and cleaned up that just does it for me. Maybe that’s not really weird though.

Now I’m supposed to tag 6 people. If you’d like to do it, please do!

1. MissMiss … she doesn’t have a blog online but she has a MySpace.
2. ChelleBell … same as MissMiss!
3. Master of Irony
4. Terra of Eating Disorder Talk
5. Amanda of Depression Talk and
6. April of Life As A Christian Woman

mental & emotional health, somebody heal me, Diana Lee, meme, 6 weird things, hair, TV, Big Brother 8, underwear, Samba, Maidenform, organization techniques, sage, candles, boys in suits

Look up! Do you see anything new?

Um, that gorgeous header was created by Diana of Somebody Heal Me: The Musings of a Migraineur! Isn’t it gorgeous? She’s currently working on another one for my About Portland, OR blog, too! I’m excited to see how that one turns out!

I read a lot of blogs. I read health blogs, mom-blogs, photography blogs, fact blogs and every kind of blog in-between! I had a relaxing weekend where I was finally able to catch up on ALL of my blogs and found some that I wanted to pass on to my readers! Enjoy, follow the links, leave them comments and let me know what you think!

This post at Eating Disorder Talk made me stop, pause, and then re-read. “Heidi is a 25-year old girl. She allowed me to interview her and this two-part series is the result of her honesty and candidness. Today, I’ll cover what led her to present day’s habits. “

Depression Talk Online has a good entry about giving up her security blanket. She has been very candid in her feelings on giving up alcohol and I commend her effort and have faith that she’ll be able to do exactly what she wants.

I have written about Master of Irony beforehand, but lately her entries have been really moving me. MOI has recently taken the steps to get on disability and writes about her medication switch. She also has been playing with her blog layout which is always fun to see!

I’m a new reader to Life Tips Daily but am enjoying (and sometimes laughing) at the entries posted there!

Get Incensed sometimes makes me laugh (especially on Fridays) and sometimes makes me think, and sometimes just really makes me get incensed!

Later on in the week Diana, of Somebody Heal Me will be more fully featured, so I’ll keep it simple here; Di inspires me to take care of myself. She struggles to put herself first even when she’s hurting badly. I do the same.

Amalah’s latest entry What We Do When We’re Not Making Fun of the Dog was just another on the long list of entries that she writes that make me laugh. I consider her part of the cool crowd of blogging women and so I probably don’t comment there as often as I should, but she rarely fails to make me laugh!

Another blog that always makes me laugh is I Can Has Cheezburger. Seriously. Funny.

What do you regularly read that you think I should check out?

After a lengthy email, April featured me at Life as A Christian Woman. Go check it out (if you want to know more about me) and leave April a comment - she deserves it!

mental & emotional health, life as a christian woman, salvation story, featured blog, guest writer

Welcome back to my interview with Terra Atrill! Today we concentrate more on her specific illnesses and what she does to counteract some of the issues that they can create in her life!

**Are you currently taking any medications for your afflictions (OCD, ADD & cyclothymia)? If so, would you mind sharing which ones? If not, how do you cope when you have an episode?
I’m not currently on medication - I went off a cocktail of Lithium, Effexor, Seroquel & Clonazepam when I found out I was pregnant. Cyclothymia is a largely manageable condition - it’s about knowing what words for you and doesn’t and not pushing the envelope too far. Which reminds me of all of my marble entries! For example, monotony is BAD for me but also soothing to a point, so if there’s a horribly monotonous thing I need to do, I’ll break it into segments of time. I have learned to, for some amount of time, allow myself to just … do nothing or do everything, depending on what the mood entails. I usually feel guilty or selfish or some other form of negative emotion for “giving in” such as in cases of unwise spending, but usually it feeds the monster little bites so it’s not starving and willing to eat a whole village, if you know what I mean. I absolutely understand, I deal with that guilt with regards to taking care of myself vs. taking care of everyone else’s needs. I hate it but I love it. It makes me an incredibly compassionate person, but I also frequently get told that I’m too nice for my own good. I struggle with who to put first in a lot of situations. I am learning though!

**Tell me about an experience (best, worst, whatever) with medicating your illnesses.
This is not a good story. During my psychotic break, I was taking Celexa, Wellbutrin & Ativan. I ended up hallucinating & experiencing voices talking to me in addition to being extremely suicidal, which lead me to think that if I just WALKED aimlessly at 2am in the West End, my head would clear. Walking around, I was paranoid & angry, thinking that all of the men on the street were planning to attack & rape me, leading me to challenge one of the local homeless mental men to a fight (which I ran away from). I ended up in the local emergency room where they prescribed me more ativan. After an hour of pacing the small room I was confined to and thinking the staff was plotting to kidnap me, they quadrupled my normal dose of ativan and sent me home with extras … which I promptly broke up & snorted with some cocaine, leading me to sleep for the first time in three days. Wow, a bum fight and cocaine … your first sentence was right.

**You’ve mentioned before that you have OCD, what are you obessessive/compulsive about? Does this get in the way of your daily life sometimes?
I’m a constant organizer and cleaner. (Welcome at my house anytime!!) Which is hard, at best, with a willful toddler, a cat & hardwood floors in a smaller one-bedroom apartment. I find myself endlessly sweeping (up to 8 times a day) (wow, I’ve swept once since I moved 3 months ago!) and mopping (to the point of moving furniture) (I haven’t ever mopped my new place) at least three times weekly. This gets in the way of personal hygiene (that showering deal, again - especially since if I take a shower or bath I’m compelled to clean the bathroom afterwards, which I don’t have time to do, so I will tend to just skip it).

**You’ve also mentioned your ADD; how do you get stuff done, take care of your daughter, keep food cooking for her AND finish this interview if your brain is all over the place?
The ADD is only a factor when under stress - which lately I constantly am. I find using lists and requiring myself to complete a minimum number of things on the “to do” list even at the cost of sleeping, eating or showering to help. My daughter’s health and welfare come first, so in the instance of say cooking, if I’m having a rough time, I will choose to make things for her that, though are still healthy, expend a minimum of energy to get on the table (instead of pork chops, mashed potatoes & steamed veggies, I’ll make a peanut butter sandwich, cooked baby carrots (which are constantly stocked in my fridge), a yoghurt and a banana). It’s still balanced but required little to no preparation, therefore little to no concentration. That was a great example. Thank you!

**You can cure all but one of your afflictions, which one do you live the rest of your life with and why?
I’m most comfortable with my OCD. I don’t see it as a hindrance for the most part, it really just leads to a tidier lifestyle.

**When you’ve had a particularly bad day, how do you safely express those frustrations & feelings? What about a particularly great day?
I blog, walk, crochet, or sometimes just veg out with a movie. I have a few close, good friends who I can call, MSN (you have MSN? Let’s use that rather than Google chat next time!) email & I find that since I’m such an open person, catharsis tends to beget relaxation. With regards to the particularly great day, it’s the same as the tough day. I reward myself with a walk, take Zoe for an extra-special treat or adventure, talk to those friends about how great everything is going, write, generally try to focus on how wonderful things can be and be thankful it was a good day. I love that you treat Zoe to something extra-special when you’ve been feeling great.

**What would be your advice to someone who feels like they’re struggling with OCD, ADD or cyclothymia?
As a rule, I’m a self-educator. I think reading before being diagnosed is a double-edged sword since a lot of people will look for symptoms after reading about a condition. Alternatively, if you can remain remote & unbiased, in my experience, it helps doctors when you go in with an educated opinion - at the least to be able to answer their questions effectively.

**Where do you realistically see yourself in five years? Zoe will be 6, in school full-time and you’ll be doing what?
My personal goals for the future include:
*writing for a few more websites
*seeking publishing for a book based on things single parents do right
*a memoir-style fictional book
*building my administration business to the point of hiring people to do work & mainly managing that
*going back to school to finish my undergraduate degree when Zoe goes to kindergarten
*and starting graduate school when she is heading into second grade
*being able to be entirely financial independent: of child & spousal support, government funding, etc. as well as having healthy, manageable debts and a credit card without anyone’s help
*becoming more self-accepting and like “I can do this” whatever this is without total personal implosion. I would like to figure out how to take time for myself without feeling selfish, as though I’m taking something from Zoe

I’d like to take a moment to thank Terra for her time and her thorough answers to my mundane questions. I’d also like to wish her HEAPS and piles of luck and motivation in getting her list of goals accomplished in the next fives years. I hope I’m able to check back then and we can cross everything off the list! I enjoyed getting to know you better and believe that we have started forming a friendship that will last. Back to the discussion we had about similar people being magnetized towards one another!

*shouts* THANK YOU TERRA!!!

Mental & Emotional Health, Eating Disorder Talk, Terra Atrill, OCD, obsessive compulsive disorder, ADD, ADHD, adult ADD, attention deficit disorder, cooking, parenting a toddler, blogging, talking, self-educating, doctor diagnoses, personal goals, in the future, writing, single parenting, memoirs, administration business, back to school, undergraduate school, graduate school, financial independence, success, Lithium, Effexor, Seroquel, Clonazepam, Celexa, WellButrin, Ativan, bum fights, homeless, cocaine, medication stories

Last week I had the great opportunity to talk to Terra, of Eating Disorder Talk and I felt like we instantly bonded. After a late evening of LOLing together (it’s a new word, get used to it), I realized that she’d be a perfect person to be my first featured interview of Mental & Emotional Health fame! (Because I’m sure it’ll be my interview that makes Terra famous. *nods like she really believes herself*

I came up with some questions, some random, some not so random that I posed to Terra and off we went! (My own notes mid-conversation are in italics!)

**If you had 24-hours to do with absolutely as you please, resources (financial/babysitting/etc) not being an object, what would you do?
I would do as any mom and take a long bubble bath … after having a few rounds of spontaenous daytime sex … maybe with a 20-year-old? Oh how this made me laugh! I’d shop at a leisurely pace, do some yoga on the beach two blocks from my house, cook and eat an insanely spicy meal (want to invite me over then?), drink to excess (but not too much so), go out to the movies (maybe even alone!), clean my house from top to bottom, and organize my filing system and photo albums. Then maybe I’ll look for a 30-year-old. hehehe

Already Terra had me laughing, and so I had to continue!

**What is your all-time favorite song? And don’t give me any of that “I-can’t-pick-just-one” bull, pick one!
ALL TIME FAVOURITE: (damned Canadians spelling their words with “u”’s!) At Last - Etta James (though I also adore covers done by Christina Aguilera & Cyndi Lauper. Gloomy Sunday (originally done by Seress in 1933 - geeze, this song has an interesting background, Terra) covered by Sarah McLachlan. (I am going to have to find a copy of this song and listen to it. I’m totally intrigued by the background!)

**Tell me a little more about yourself; what you do for a living, what do you like to do in your spare time, boxers or briefs, that sort of stuff!
I am a stay-at-home mom who is struggling to write for three websites (Eating Disorder Talk, From Manic To Mommy & Single Parenting on a Low Income ), maintain a neat & clean home, raise my 13-month-old (virtually alone), work from home as an admin-assistant/bookkeeper, keep my eating disorder in check, shower regularly (who has the time?) and maintain a healthy sex life (this is normally the inspiration for showering). LOL When I have spare time, or if I’m avoiding responsibilities as I do when I’m MAXED out on overwhelmtion (I love that word!) , I write, crochet, organize, make lists, read, sing to female artists (likely, badly), and clean. Sometimes I even bathe when there’s no reason to, “just cuz I can.” Oh, and I prefer old-old school, plaid, cotton boxers. None of that boxer brief crap for me - only two men look good in those: Mark Wahlberg & Ashton Kutcher. I absolutely agree with that. Also, I’m a natural red-head and my eyes change colour with moods (as do my daughter’s my mom’s & all three of my sisters’ - I call them witchy eyes). Neat!

**Now onto “afflictions” (I really doing like calling them illnesses, so bear with the word for a bit) what do you currently live with?
I currently have mild cases of cyclothymia, attention deficit disorder, & obsessive-compulsive disorder. They are heightened by stress but often managed via behaviour during stressed moments. This is where, if I had been interview Terra in person, I would have just stared at her … completely confused. Run that by me one more time? On some level, they take care of each other in that my ADD causes me to lose focus on 12 tasks simultaneously and my OCD leads me to order & clean things (and count, but anyways) and the cyclothymia leads me to cycle between exhaustion (which makes sense for my lifestyle) and hypomania … meaning:

When I get stressed, I go through a hypomanic phase and clean a little bit of everything!

I will get distracted from that main cleaning task; say I’ll be doing dishes, but decide mid-way to throw the towel into the laundry, I’ll then sort the laundry to be washed after Zoe goes to bed. I’ll move the sorted laundry in baskets to the living room so it’s close by when the time is right, but in the living room I see something on the floor so I’ll sweep. I’ll pick up the laundry baskets, set them on the furniture until the floor is swept and notice something on the sheets (on the bed that serves as my living room furniture) so I’ll change the sheets ultimately causing me to resort the laundry. (I’m out of breath reading this and thinking about doing all those things in a span on ten minutes. I also have a very funny picture of you running around like a loon doing all this stuff!)

Point: I got some of the dishes washed, laundry sorted and maybe even done, floors cleaned up - and later I’ll go back to mop it, probably finishing the dishes and sweeping again.

All of this feeds the OCD which relaxes me, therefore making the ADD symptoms virtually nil. Most of the time.

**What have you lived with (but overcome?) in the past? Have they all been doctor diagnosed afflictions?
I was chronically depressed from the age of 11. This was exacerbated by the use of opiates. When I quit opiates, I got more depressed, feebly attempted suicide a few times (though my first attempt was prior to age 11). At 16, I was diagnosed as borderline schizophrenic, and at 19, major depression. I was first diagnosed as anorexic at age 12. At 23/24, I went through a psychotic break (also owing to drug use and severe fasting). I was diagnosed as full-spectrum personality disorder - meaning I kinda want to fit into a whole bunch of categories and the doctors couldn’t just PICK ONE. That was eventually downgraded to my current diagnosis.

If you’d like to learn more about Terra, come back tomorrow for the rest of our interview!

mental & emotional health, personal interviews, Eating Disorder Talk, Terra Atrill, dream day, favorite song, Etta James, Christina Aguilera, Cyndi Lauper, Sarah McLachlan, From Manic to Mommy, Hub Pages, mothering a toddler, writing, crocheting, organizing, list making, reading, singing, cleaning, Mark Wahlberg, Ashton Kutcher, cyclothymia, bi-polar disorder, attention deficit disorder, ADD, ADHD, adult ADD, obessesive-compulsive disorder, OCD, chronic depression, opiate use, suicide, attempted suicide, borderline schizophrenia, major depression, anorexia, anoretic, personality disorder

Over at Kerrie’s blog yesterday I was fascinated by an article linking depression, women, migraines and childhood abuse. Instead of writing a half-formed in-awe post about it, I’m linking you to HER blog since she does an amazing job re-formatting and emphasizing pivotal points within the article. This is prompting me to do more research on the subject as I find the connection and the idea of “serotonin dysfunction” absolutely fascinating.

So yeah, go read the blog! (And leave Kerrie a comment, I’m sure she loves ‘em like I do!)

Oh, and I drew a name last night! The winner of the contest will be featured (with his/her permission) tomorrow!!

mental & emotional health, migraines, depression, childhood abuse, women, contest, book winner, Daily Headache