Don't Kill The Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life

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 In  Don't Kill the Birthday Girl: Tales from an Allergic Life, Sandra Beasley presents a sad but at the same time humorously written account of life with multiple food allergies.  Weddings?  As careful as she is, nearly half of them have left her gasping for air during an allergic attack.  Traveling overseas?  Don't forget plenty of meds, they may not have the same food items available.   

What a joy when a doctor relative gifts you with six months of allergy samples -- or they make them in a different way by compounding medicine.  While this is a memoir, I learned a lot about food allergies and some of the theories behind them. Do Bambas help reduce the risk of nut allergies? Did you know that China doesn't have the incidence of peanut allergies the United States does?  Does dry roasting peanuts make a difference in the higher rate of peanut allergies in America?  While that's not known, she does present some interesting facts about food allergies sprinkled through the book.

Macular Degeneration Can Happen in Any Family

My dad was a volunteer fireman for  nearly 50 years.  He first volunteered because his town had so few firefighters that they allowed the boys to leave school if there was a fire if they had joined.  So, naturally, what sixteen year old didn't want to get out of school?  He signed up, and volunteering because his lifeblood.

By the time I was ten, he had a slew of health problems from heart disease to high cholesterol to diabetes.  The one thing that no one was very concerned about at that time was the health of his eyes.

My mom grew up around books and as a child she plunked out stories on the 1915 Oliver typewriter her family owned from the coal mine business.  As I grew up she wrote stories for me, which I treasure.  She would love to read of an evening, and as a child on winter evenings we would curl up together on the couch under an afghan each of us with our own book and a cup of hot chocolate.  She didn't get her eyes checked regularly because it wasn't covered under her insurance.

Making the Dinner Table Family Time

This is a sponsored post on behalf of U.S. Cellular.

I think most of us have always thought that sharing a meal together is good for spirit, brain, and health of all family members.  The Family Dinner Project has confirmed that.  October is Eat Better, Eat Together Month, but I really think every month of the year this concept should be practiced.  In fact, I often stay up very late until my husband arrives home from work for us to have dinner together.  (We do not have children, so this is possible.) 


When he works late, the responsibility for fixing dinner is on me.  While I use my cookbook collection (remember those?) my husband, on his nights to cook, prefers using apps.  It's not uncommon for me to wander into the kitchen and I ask what is for dinner and see him searching Yummly on his iPhone 8.  Sometimes he uses the AllRecipes Dinner Spinner to seek out something interesting to cook for dinner.  (Yes, ladies, you can be jealous that my husband considers cooking a hobby!  I realize how lucky I am!) 

My 5 Favorite Fall / Halloween Children's Books From My Childhood

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I love doing these posts to help introduce a new generation to some of my childhood favorites.  I hope you find something you and your child enjoy here.

The one Halloween book that stands out to me most is Grandpa's Ghosts Stories.  I'm not the only one who would put this at the top of the list -- it FINALLY came back into print after the ones from the late 70s and early 80s were going for huge prices on eBay and Amazon.  (I have to confess, I sold mine once when I desperately needed the $60 it was going for.)  Now that it is back in print, I plan to get another copy!  But enough about the high prices this one could fetch, let's get to what I remember about the book.   It was fun, and I think you would enjoy love it.  There's a scary thunderstorm out, and Grandpa starts telling stories of things that are a lot scarier -- like a witch that turns little boys into spiders.  I got it from Weekly Reader book club about 1979, and it's the first book I think of when I think of Halloween.  (Although this isn't exactly a Halloween book, the content is appropriate for the season.)

The KJV Know the Word Study Bible & Kindle Fire Giveaway

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Diving deeper into God's Word can be easy and rewarding if you break it down book by book, verse by verse, or topic by topic with the new KJV Know The Word Study Bible by Thomas Nelson. The book-by-book series of notes leads you through the main points of each book of the Bible. The verse-by-verse notes help you to dig deeper into God’s Word. The topic-by-topic articles, which cover 21 theological topics, guide you through a series of insightful notes and give you a thorough biblical understanding of each topic. With the beautiful and timeless text of the KJV translation, the KJV Know the Word Study Bible offers you choices of how to study Scripture and grow in your relationship with Christ.




This fall, become a regular student of the Bible and enter to win the Kindle Fire giveaway!







 

One grand prize winner will receive:



Enter today by clicking the icon below, but hurry! The giveaway ends on October 31. The winner will be announced November 1 on the Litfuse blog.

• A copy of the KJV Know The Word Study Bible


• A Kindle Fire 7


• A Kindle Fire case (winner's choice)