Support Spencer's Little Free Library

Spencer's Little Free Library

photo credit: Facebook

Follow this link for more information on how you can help Spencer stand up to the City of Leawood in his effort to change the city code so he can keep the Little Free Library in his front yard. From Spencer's Facebook page:

Help Spencer work with Leawood, Kansas to amend its city code to allow Little Free Libraries!

Please contact Leawood City Hall and request that they change the city code to allow Little Free Libraries in the city! 

Contact information for the Mayor along with the City Council:
http://www.leawood.org/council/default.aspx

Media information on the status of the library:
http://fox4kc.com/2014/06/18/boy-plans-to-fight-city-ordinance-that-shut-his-free-little-library-down-in-leawood/

http://www.kctv5.com/story/25812411/city-to-fine-owners-of-little-free-libraries

http://pvpost.com/2014/06/18/leawood-man-faces-citation-for-putting-little-free-library-in-his-front-yard-28711

http://www.kmbc.com/news/city-orders-boys-free-library-to-be-removed/26567808

http://www.kshb.com/news/region-kansas/johnson-county/leawood-family-forced-to-take-down-community-library-from-yard

http://pvpost.com/2014/06/19/pulse-of-northeast-johnson-county-how-should-leawood-respond-to-outcry-over-little-free-library-citation-letter-28728

More Information on the Little Free Library Organization:
https://www.facebook.com/LittleFreeLibrary

Reading enhances our minds. Sharing emboldens our spirits. Little Free Libraries are good for our communities. Let the City of Leawood hear your voice on this important issue.

Entertain a Thought

Human

I'm human.

You're human. 

Let's be people together a while.

-- Anne Lamott, Plan B

The Itch

I wonder if Edvard Munch had poison ivy when he painted his famous work, "The Scream"? He should have named it "The Itch".

This is how I feel. This is how I feel after two steroid injections, Zyrtec, Benedryl, and Prednisone. I can't shake the unstoppable itch.

Poison Ivy II: The Unbearable Itch Continues

This is what I looked like Sunday. I look worse now:

I feel about the same. Which is to say, miserable. 

The burning and itching of my poison ivy rash got so bad yesterday evening, I gave up and went to the doctor. She said not only do I have a rash from poison ivy, it looked like I was having an allergic reaction to the Tecnu wash I was using. She told me to stop putting anything on my face. Not even plain ole calamine lotion. She gave me two steroid injections--one supposedly for immediate relief and one long-lasting--told me to take 24-hour Zyrtec (which I'm already on for my mold allergy), Benedryl if I'm not at work or need to think clearly, and a prescription for Prednisone pills that I'm supposed to start Saturday if things don't clear up. 

The burning is much better than it was last night. My entire face, down my neck, and onto my chest was bright red with blistery bumps. Less red but just as itchy were my fingers, my forearms, my sides, and under my breasts. OH. MY. GOD. THE. ITCH. Almost an hour after I received the steroid injections, the burning and redness subsided. The itchy bumps have not gone away. In fact, they've spread behind my ears and onto my scalp now.

I called the doctor's office today to ask if I could start the Predinone pills early. They called back and said the earliest I could start taking them is tomorrow evening. She told me to take Benedryl and try to wait it out til then.

So here I sit, an itchy, bitchy mess. I feel like simultaneously screaming at the top of my lungs and curling into a ball, weeping in bed. Not under the covers, though. The soft cloth would just make me itch.

I feel both anxious and depressed, I suspect thanks to the steroid injections and Benedryl. I read that some of the side-effects of steroids is mood swings and high blood pressure. Great. I'm already moody, but at least my blood pressure is super low. It was 111/53 in the doctor's office last night. So I might go crazy, but it's likely I won't have a heart attack. There's that.

I can't wait until tomorrow night gets here. 

All this from my body's reaction to a plant. I'm telling you, some days it feels like I'm allergic to life.

"Sun in a Blue Sky" by Katie Carleton, Age 7

"Sun in a Blue Sky" by Katie Carleton, age 7

Poison Ivy On the Face

Poison ivy ON THE FACE?!?! Well, happy frickin' summer. What's your favorite treatment for a poison ivy rash?

Gay Christian Fellowship at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church: 6:30 Thursdays

Gay Christian Fellowship
Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church
11100 College Blvd
Overland Park KS 66210

6:30PM Thursdays

Food, faith, and fellowship!

Hope to see you there!

Love Your Body

Buddy Becky the Baptist

Buddy Christ lives on top of our stove next to the Smoking Baby who long ago lost her cigarette, the tiny Baby Jesus I once bit into while eating a piece of King Cake, and Schmitty the S'more Reindeer. I like to think Buddy Christ guides me in my culinary life. Sure, I still occasionally burn broccoli, but Buddy Christ does a pretty good job of protecting my family from any food-born illnesses my cooking might cause.

Because he lives on top of the stove, Buddy Christ gets dirty. Not just dirty, but greasy. If you think Jesus Christ got dirty walking the desert in sandals and a robe, just imagine how dirty Buddy Christ gets dodging grease fires and spaghetti sauce spats on top of our stove.

When Buddy Christ gets so disgustingly dirty even I can no longer cast my gaze upon him, it's bath time. I feel a little like John the Baptist when I give Buddy Christ a bath in our sink. Maybe my name should be Buddy Becky the Baptist.