News and Updated on "Ramblings"...

We will also be donating a copy or two of my new book "Ramblings of A Seasoned Soul" to our local library. I am going to see if they will allow a book reading, which I believe they do there also. I have thought about also giving one to my High School library, since I was an Editorial writer there for our newspaper and a couple of my teachers in Jr. High and High School were some of the encouraging reasons why I continued to write to this day. They really lifted me up about my early works back then. I have never forgotten some of those things, and also the great feedback I got off of some of my Editorials! I remember writing about our old parking lot at the high school. It was so full of pot holes you could lose your car in them! So, I did a story about having the school get those fixed. I used to have copies of some of the articles, but after so many shuffles around, moving and so forth, they I believe got left behind when I moved up to Seattle WA, which sucks. I wished now I had left them at my Mom's in her cedar chest. But, hind sight as they say is always "20-20"! But, never the less all of those things still live inside of me as great memories, where they shall last an eternity. I think Jim is going to get the information to our local newspaper, and they also do a monthly nice little magazine for our area, and I hope to get an article printed in both of those if possible. My Mom really is so excited and wants to let all of our relatives know, but since she does not get out of the house a great deal, other than grocery shopping and errands, or going with me somewhere, she would love for me to have it in the paper where other relatives can see it. I am finally getting some cards made up and on the way, that can be given out to those I see and want to let them know how to view it online. So, my "marketing" is coming along, slowly, but a little at a time. I appreciate all of the wonderful ideas I keep getting, and again thanks for being such an appreciative and encouraging bunch of friends and as an "audience"... Rhia

Ramblings of A Seasoned Soul "Amazon", Face Book & "Likes"

If you have a chance to go to Amazon and read some of my poetry since it is now up on the "Look Inside" where you can ,please also click the "like" button for FB there(it does not record the "Likes" from my FB page TO the Amazon page. It has to be liking it in "Amazon" first, or please give me a rating of what you think about my poetry, if you have an opinion I would love to know.:) I know it took Amazon a while to get that part up so you could all see the titles and some of

the poems, but hopefully now you can really know what I write and have an idea of some of my works. This is just one small portion of a "sea" full of emotions and feelings I write about. I hope to put another book out from 6 months to a year from now!!:) I may do another poetry book first before I put my "musings/prose book, or my kind of "autobiography" it... you really would not call it a total autobiography per se', and I am not really sure exactly what "category" it will fit in. It will not be fiction, and will be all facts, but it will also include other things besides just "my story" I guess I am trying to say. LOL!!! They will prbably have to "invent" a new "category" for my book...I NEVER do anything like the "rules" say!:):) Anyway, that is a while down the line and before I make it there, I have lots of work to do ahead to get more out for all of you to enjoy. :):) Please keep encouraging me if you wish, I really need to "feel" like I am helping others and giving them some light in their lives... for that is my main purpose for any of this, it to help touch the reader and allow them to feel the warmth and the faith, passion and hope of life!

Rhia's Bio and Amazon and Book Pages

"Ramblings of A Seasoned Soul"- Brush Strokes of Life In Words now has "Look Inside" up on Amazon!!!

IT IS UP NOW!!! The "Look Inside" on amazon for Ramblings of A Seasoned Soul - Brush Strokes of Life In Words now has where you can see inside aand view some of my poetry!!! Go to this URL, click the book and "Look Inside" You will see "Surprise ME!" When you click it, a new poem will come up each time!!! I am so thrilled you can finally see some of my works!!!!
 

 

http://www.amazon.com/Ramblings-Seasoned-Soul-Brush-Strokes/dp/1461061946/ref=la_B009Z901AG_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1353356199&sr=1-1

Autoimmune Illnesses - MS, Lupus RA and More (LIGHT) possibly on a cure to come...

I read this today and it sounds so promising. I wanted to share it with you.

http://vitals.nbcnews.com/_news/2012/11/18/15246299-new-approach-could-treat-ms-other-autoimmune-diseases?lite

Families, Holidays and Being Far Away from One Another...

We had a wonderful visit with my daughter, her husband, and my Grand Daughter and 2 Grandsons on Saturday! We also so enjoyed being at my son's "Better Half"(I am just kidding, but she is a wonderful lady and we are happy to have her in the family) :):) at their home, in which they were gracious enough to host the early Thanksgiving Dinner there. Everything was just incredible. My daughter is an excellent cook, and did a great job with it all. My son in law did a "deep fried" turkey!!! It was delicious! Definitely a new treat to add to the menu as the menu kept growing when we got it all ready. My daughter did most of the cooking, and my Mom slipped in a pecan pie, and I took my son's favorite the banana pudding I make that is richer than rich! I also had my husband do the mashed potatoes. He is famous for his secret ingredient he puts in them... LOL ...between sweet potato casserole, and I did make some home made cranberry salad, a ham, stuffing, rolls, gravy, regular cranberry sauce, and my daughter had also brought her famous pumpkin roll which was absolutely to die for. I think she had orders for 15 last week and already has another 25 or more orders waiting on her when they get back home, which is down South around Corpus Christi. That is what made it so special. We jut don't get to visit as much as we would love, and being able to really have everyone of us in the same home, at the same time together is a special treat. I know my Dad was looking down on us and smiling. He would have really enjoyed all of the food for sure. It was the perfect "holiday" before the holiday, and my only regret is that they could not stay longer. They have the kids to get back in school for part of the week, and of course everything else that goes along with taking care of the family. By the way my son's girlfriend has one monstrosity of a "tournament" sized pool table that they played a few games on before we left to come home!! It is a beauty to say the least!!! She loves to play, and plays on a league, so she really has something to practice on for sure. As always, it is difficult to see them go. It seems we never get enough time to really visit like we would like to. I realized it so much when I was talking to my two Grandson's. One is 5, going to be 6(I believe) and one is 3. I realized when I talked with them, they have been around me so very little due to the distance between us, that they don't "know" me. Not like they would if they lived closer where I was around them more. It kind of "got" to me, when I saw that they almost feel like I am more of a stranger just due to them being smaller and me being not around much... they are not used to having me around them. But, life is life. We must do some things, like live further apart than we wished.. because we must also do what we have to for our own families etc. Yet, even with that I tried to take in every moment and thoroughly enjoy them:):):)!!!!

Speaking of Fleeting Time... How Quickly Family Life Changes & Our Holiday Time Together

Our early Thanksgiving with my kids and their families was so incredible yesterday. We are so spread apart from one another, and even though all in the same state, it is still not often we get to really visit. Honestly, it made me sad yesterday, when I saw that my own two Grandsons, one is 6, going on 7 shortly, and the other is 3, did not really "know" who I am. Oh, they understand that I am their "Nana", but since they only see me about 3 times a year, they really see me as almost a stranger, not their Grand Mom. I know it cannot be helped. We live 7 hours apart. My daughter, of course is constantly busy with them and her home, and my son-in-law of course stays busy working. Due to my husbands type of in home work, we also can't really just pic up any time and leave, and then be gone for several days either. Plus, with all of their activities with the kids, they are constantly on the run, with everything in the sun. I am so proud of them. My Grand Daughter got to know me more when she was here in the same town, and spent a great deal of time with me when she was small. So, even though I don't get to her her as often she knows me much better than the two boys. I am so proud of all of them, and what they have achieved, yet I am saddened by the fact that my own family is really not able to be near for me to experience their birthdays, holidays, ball games, events at school, and all that goes along with Grand Kids. My son is also out of town, but at least much closer. Yet, even him and his finance' don't visit very much. Both of them have jobs out of town and commute daily. They are busy with their own lives, home, activities, so even getting to see them is not something we do very often either. So, yesterday was a very important day to me. Since it if not often that all of them, plus my Mom and I are together at the same time. Sharing the laughter, the food, the interaction, and all of the blessings that surrounded us yesterday brought a very warm feeling to my soul, that i our daily walk of life we often miss, especially with family not very close around. With me being the "only" child, that also in itself brings an entire situation on. I have taken over much of Mom's responsibilities that she has just not been able to handle by herself any more. So, even though our relationship is very close because I am with her often, it is not the same as when we are just relaxed and visiting. Usually we are caught up in paper work, so it turns more in a chore than it does a visit most of the time. I get swept up in the daily things of what is going on with her, either physically, mentally or emotional situations that require something be done at that time. So, even the visit with Mom was much different that my usually time of running over there, talking about insurance, bills, etc.

So, the entire day was lovely! They are leaving out today though. They have other relatives to visit with later later, then they will leave for home probably fairly early

When those moments come along, whether it is with family, friends, or whomever that are not often there, be sure to really "soak" them up, and carry them with you through out your journey. For it maybe a long while before you get that opportunity again. A age comes along, we so much more realize how precious times like that are. Those days of feeling "invincible" and like life shall go on forever go away and give us a feeling of holding onto the precious times that come along, and savoring them as we would a fine wine....

May your Thanksgiving week and Holiday time be filled with precious moments with family, spouses, friends and may you be surrounded by love. Hold closely the things that mean so much to you....

Happy Holiday Week!  Rhia

As time is Fleeting...

It seems each moment we are here, taking a breath, time is just a fleeting "realm" for us. There must be some reason why when we are younger, it seems we have "all the time in the world", or so we think we do. In our younger years we tend to put things off that we probably should do, or choose to do certain activities we want to do rather than really put our noses to the grind stone and get those thing done.
I realize it is a cliche' to say the time gets shorter with age. Yes, that is certainly a fact for us, that a we get up in years our days "seem" more numbered, and the more than likely are than someone young. Even though none of us are "stamped with a guarantee" or "Warranty" of how long our service "Life" is here, we expect those that are younger to have many more years ahead to experience life, than those of us that have already lived for 5 decades, or already past half of their life more than likely. Many things play into the fleeting time for us. Being busy is one. When we are busy times seem to just take wing and fly. Yet for the older ones, even though we may not be "as busy" as someone younger, it takes us longer to accomplish what we do, than it did when we were younger.
I used to be able just a few short years ago, to study my college classes, clean my entire home, do laundry, get the market shopping over with, and be dressed and ready to go out on Saturday night to dance the night away! Now, it takes me three times as long just to do laundry or fold clothes. Cleaning the house may mean a whole day, and part of another one. Whether I am baking something, doing laundry, getting dressed to go out, or whatever task I may be doing at that time, you can bet there is no way I can finish it as quickly as I did just a few years back.
We begin to think about our "mortality" when that "half-century" and damned does that sound old!, mark rolls around. Something else that can hit us right between the eyes is suddenly our own illness coming along that changes our entire quality of life, or taking care of a sick loved one, or the one that had really gotten to me lately is seeing classmates that I went to High School with passing away. That truly is kind of a shock into reality to know we are really getting up to that place things like that are possible, more of course than back when we were "wild and crazy"...
I had spent several of my what I think of as "prime years" in my mid-30's with online groups, lots of online friends, chat rooms, and that whole "new way" to meet people from all over the globe, when it was the 1st time of being a real "hot rage". Now we still have it, but it is different from those first chat rooms we had, on "dial-up" internet at that, but we certainly had fun. There were night I stayed up all night long "policing" mine and talking to friends from all over the world. There are some that I still keep in touch with, and some we still email every once in a while and check on each other. Of course the first ones, like MSN's groups, that were kind of the "original" and I guess "AOL" had theirs also, but I never really got into those. have faded away. But, I had one "group" from a older site that kind of took over after some of those like MSN, Yahoo, AOL, and a few others sold out, closed down, and we were kind of lost out in the array of technology, hoping to meet one another somewhere else one day. And I have done just that. I still run into a person or two on Face Book, or some other blog, etc. and get to ask how they are doing. Amazing what knowing people all over the world feels like. But, this morning as I decided to go log into the old group, I knew it was the very "last blast" at my younger past. IT was a piece of the puzzle of life, that time has changed forever. I will never be that "person" again, for I have evolved and changed. Oh, of course we always keep bits and pieces of our "original" selves around, but we grow, we evolve, we move forward, we make new friends, have new jobs, careers, families, or choose other path ways, that just a few short years back we may never even guessed we would be doing. When I first got to Seattle on October 31 2001,never would I have dreamed how much in the next 10 years my life would change. IF someone would have been able to look into the "crystal ball" of my life and tell me I would be where I am, done what I have done, been through and survived all that I have survived, I believe I would have told them they had to be mistaken. Never in a million dreams did I think I would be back in Texas, in my hometown of all places. The night I made it to Seattle on that bus, and I got off of it, I felt "at home". I cried this morning because even though I have been away from there now since 2005, I still miss it everyday. Life has its own way of taking us where it wants to take us. All too often we may not realize the "why" at the moment. Sometimes it is years before it is "revealed" as to all of the questions to be answered when we find ourselves moving quickly in the opposite direction we really wanted to.
They say if you are "still" too long, just like water, you become stagnant, thus our lives do move as a river, sometimes, slow, winding, and with a small, pleasant breeze. Other times, those waters are like white rapids, rushing us to and fro, jumping over rocks and crevasses, leaping into the air, like salmon on a run up stream, and making us tired of the fight uphill against the currents. Yet, we must continue our climb. We look for faith and love to guide us. Yes< I miss those pieces of my life. I am happy with others that I have now, that I did not have back then. I got accustomed to being "alone" without being lonely. I was liking taking care of myself, all by myself. Even though that did not last for long, there were many lessons learned from that entire experience. From the moment I climbed on the bus in Dallas, made that 3 day ride to Seattle, and arrived at 8pm on Halloween night, 2001 until we climbed into the U-Haul truck from Everett WA, made a short 3 month stay in San Pedro CA, and then got here the 19th day of December 2005, I learned so much more about myself than in all of the other years put together. For that and forever my life is so purely blessed. I would do it all over again if I had the same choices. Although, I still as I have mentioned above, wished at times I was in Seattle, and I miss those times, I realize we don't always understand what is in the works for us, but must accept it with open arms, an open heart, and definitely an open mind.

FB Post About Being A "Published" Author and the Way You Make It to That Point Emotionally

We had been discussing having the "strength", wear-with-all, tenacity and actually having the "nerve" to publish your work and put it out there for all the world to see. That can be a very scary thing to do. It is okay for friends, family, and spouses to see it, but to have the entire globe out there to "critique" your work is something that you must be willing to stand up to, and know inside what you write is good. It may not be awesome to some people, but for others it may touch them deeply. So, this was a post from this morning about my feelings of finally becoming published...

I have written for many, many years, as the information said, since I was 13 actually. Yet, I was in fear of being rejected for a long while, thus I did not have anything published. About 6 years ago, I bought a book with all of the publishers in it, and how to send your poetry to them, and details of just what they wanted, when, how and so forth. It has not been that long ago that even "self-publishing" was extremely expensive. Just to get a book published in that way may cost upwards of $800.00 and possibly much more, then you had to buy a certain number of books to even be able to get through all of the process. Things are so much easier now (there is still lots to go through, especially if you design it all yourself), but you can do the majority of the work yourself, and the costs have went down so they have made it more affordable for those that may not have found it that way just a few years back. When I went through the entire process of mailing my poetry off to different publishers, that was a nightmare honestly. Many of them of course were rejected, for one reason or the other, others I never heard from, but I did have one publisher, that even though he rejected a poem I sent in, he took the time to actually in his own hand writing, give me some suggestions, and told me to resubmit my poetry at a certain date. He was very interested in it, and would consider publishing me the next time around they took poems in. that process really is for someone that can stand rejection and not take it personally. Kind of like Tom Clancy, whose first 3 books were rejected when he submitted them. Then someone lied his 4th book, and what happened? Not only did it get published, but so did those other 3, that previously were rejected. So, it takes a great deal of tenacity, and the ability to know your work is good, but it may just not be what they are looking for at the moment. I finally got some poetry published online through a gentleman that still does a monthly newsletter. He posted several of my poems monthly, along with some of my other writing. After that, I became ill with the Lupus (or was finally diagnosed with it the RA, possibly FM, and went into 7 surgeries in a year, along with several more after that). I was not able to sit at the computer for very long. So, I had to put off the publishing portion, but I still tried to write daily. Many of my pieces are current, and then others are some from a few years ago that are my favorites in this first book, "Ramblings of A Seasoned Soul" - Brush Strokes of Life in Words. I think I relate writing in many ways that I do trying to have the stamina, the strength, the internal power, with out eyes on the "goal", of living! We must fight these illnesses from moment to moment, kind of like writing is a daily process that takes a great deal of the same things... you have to find that inner part of you that just will not give into the nightmare of pain and chronic illness. So, we have days that we find ourselves riddled with all kinds of doubt and dismay. So, we have to find our way out of that black hole, and into the light again. Same way in writing, days it feels awesome, and other days you feel like you cannot write a word. But, we do it, live, write, whatever we do, we pull out that part of us that in i the very core of our being. I hope all of you ow just how strong you are, that you are fighting the "good fight" as the saying goes, and you are truly worth it. May you be blessed during this holiday season, and find all of the pure and true reasons you are thankful for.

Those That Can Give "Until Our Cup Runneth Over"

"Rhia, congratulations on this special compilation of your poetry. I write poetry as well & know your work has rendered me 'to do something' for self-publishing as well. My story is a bit different but has to do with pain as well. Your brushstroke of words are appealing, raw, and true. You will be reaching many who need the encouragement to feel, keep moving forward, and to enjoy life as fully as possible. You are gifted & I will pray for your success with this project. You are already successful as a poet. Not everyone can be a poet & so much of what we write is for our own journey and healing--it's a deep, deep place to go. I'm glad you are sharing & I'm really praying for God to give me the GO and the HOW to get my poetry out there as well. God bless you..."

The beautiful and thought provocative words above come from a dear lady on a group that I belong to on FB. I was so touched by her sincere and heart felt post about my poetry and my 1st book, that I cried tears of joy when I read this last night. I had to share her words with all of you also. This is what my writing is truly about. If I have reached out and "painted" a brush stroke of encouragement to one person, then I feel my "job" in life is complete. I shall leave her name off for now, but I will ask if I can put her name in. She is also a writer and poet. I would love for her to share with me, if she would like some of her work. :)


Rhia

This Makes me totally Ashamed to be from my Own Home State!

http://www.sfgate.com/politics/article/Texans-petition-to-secede-from-U-S-4035480.php

Honestly, I am SO ASHAMED of my OWN STATE! I HATE SAYING I AM FROM HEAR!!! And then we find out the Idiot of a Governor we have (thank goodness not PRESIDENT) is responsible for spreading this rumor!!! Here is THE TRUTH! Of course I cannot

fathom Texans would even think about signing this.... give up our Federal Benefits, Social Security, Medicare, help with all kinds of infrastructure, health care for the disabled and elderly, help with our schools, colleges, can you imagine a state on its own trying to "police" itself and pay for everything???? this is total insanity!!!! I am s freaking appauled I could just spit!!! Like I said this just is the kind of mess that causes me to feel totally ashamed of my accent, and my heritage in this state. What happened to PRIDE!!!! What happened to being the "United States?" I feel we can blame that idiot in Austin, and the GOP for this one... 

Believe me I definitely have lots more to say on this one... but I want to get the initial post up and try to save "face" for those of us, that do NOT agree with this madness!!!