Rhia Reaching Beyond Lupus - "The Wolf"

I have known this gentleman for many years online. And although we have never "physically" been able to meet "he is now in Malta", we have kept a kindred type of spirit between us. Out of despair on both of our ends at one time and the other, we tried to lift one another up and keep each other trying to look at the positive realms of what seemed like extremely negative ones at the time. I can say that he has found much happiness and I am so proud of him and for him. :) He posted this on FB this morning about my poetry book and about our long over the years friendship and I asked Norman if it were all right for me to put his post here on my blog... "I would like make a very short personal contribution about the author by describing Rhia as a person of unique qualities that are hard to find nowadays. This is not a rhetoric statement because I have known Rhia for a long time and she has always inspired me with her poetry but above all she has insp...

As I was shopping yesterday with my Mom, I made a very "formal" decision. I AM going to publish my 2nd poetry book in the next 6 to 9 months. Then, I AM going to have at "least" the rough draft of my book ready within 12 months! Those are my two "resolutions" if you want to call them that for 2013! I did a great deal of soul searching as I went through the two different stores, really thinking abo ut how important it is to my own self to get those two books out for others to read. I did this first poetry book and I am so proud of how it turned out. I also already have began work on the 2nd poetry book. I have named it, started on the cover page, and Jim is actually designing me a Logo, that will be on my books, writings etc. from now on. I wanted it on the first book, but time kept us from really getting it the way we wanted it to look. So, the poetry book is already set in motion. But, I have a great deal of work ahead of me in 2013 to hav...

I had been thinking about a subject to write on this morning, and my first thought was how it absolutely sucks to "misplace" something. Later you are wracking your brain, and wrecking your home to find that one thing you thought you put in a "safe" place where you could find it! Well, call it too many things going on, chronic illness, old age, senility, Alzheimer's, or any other of the 1001 reasons we do these kinds of things, but it happens to the best of us. I usually "put" up something that could be a "special" item that my Mom may have given to me from my Grandmother, or Lord knows hiding a gift for a birthday and so forth. Then a couple of weeks later I go to where i "thought" I put it and "viola'" it is NOT there. It comes to mind for me since I have been on a rampage for 2 days now trying to find something that I truly NEED to find, but I am at a loss completely as to where I put it. So, frantical...

Only 22 years old.... just goes to prove this horrid disease does not discriminate... age, color of skin, race, nationality, gender... rich, poor, all Star, or just an everyday person... it can strike and be deadly... we need a cure desperately so more of us... including 22 year olds with a entire life ahead of them do not have to die from Lupus... http://lupusresearchinstitute.org/lupus-news/12/11/25/sending-our-condolences-death-nba-coachs-daughter

We had our Thanksgiving with family the weekend before. My daughter and her family got to come up from Corpus Christi and I was so thrilled. We all gathered at my son and his girlfriend's home over in Waxahachie (Indian names) LOL ... it is our county seat about 15 miles away... Jim and I took Mom with us ... so it was the entire family ... I got to finally see my 3 Grand Kids ... the two youngest ones, Logan is 3 and James is 5, going to be 6 in December, then her step daughter who they have raised since she was 2, Heather who is now 15! That seems impossible. My daughter started dating her husband when his daughter was only 2. Now here they are with the two boys, Heather is a teenager, and it all seems like just yesterday. I had said in my blog, that I was kind of sad that Saturday. The two smaller ones, especially Logan really don't know me very well. Since they are so far away, they almost "forget" who Nana is. We only see them 2 or 3 times a year, so it is such a...

As I poet, writer, and even a bit of a "dabbler" into writing song lyrics, I feel I always need to "say" something very special when I write. As that comes to light in my poetry, it is kind of like my tattoo's, each one representing an event, or a realm that was extremely a rare situation for me. I have 8 tattoo's now, and honestly would love to have more. But, due to all of the medications I am on with the Lupus, RA, and so forth, even a very good tattoo artist feared they for one may give me a hard time in healing, plus just due to my thinning skin because of the Predisone and Lupus itself, I may not be happy now with a new tattoo. I was always thrilled with the others, thus after speaking with him, and giving it much thought I decided that was yet another thing taken away from me in my life by illness. If you are not aware of these types of chronic illnesses, along with all of the medications you take while going through the "slings and...

Yesterday afternoon, I called to check on my Mom. She had lost her house key on one of the local parking lots here after buying groceries, and had to call us to take her the extra one I keep for things such as that. As I spoke to her , the first thing she said, is "Thank you so much for the beautiful card for Thanksgiving". Of course that made me happy to know first of all she received it (I was running a little late putting them in the mail), but also that it meant enough to her to mention it to me and say thanks. Which of course is what the "season" and the "reason" tomorrow exists. It is for all of us ONE day out of the year to reflect on all of the things we are "thankful" for. So, yes I do send out Thanksgiving Cards, to those I care about, and try to let them know I am truly thankful they are in my life. I send out "physical" cards to my close family, and then for my "extended" family on line, I send out e...

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...

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 ...

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 adn 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-S trokes/dp/1461061946/ ref=la_B009Z901AG_1_1?ie=UTF8&q id=1353356199&sr=1-1

I was very excited to read this article earlier today. 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

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, gra...

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...

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. M...

W 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...

"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 word s 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...

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 ...

First of all, here is a "shorter link in amazon.com to get to my Author page and book, both Kindle and the book versions. https://www.amazon.com/author/rhiasteele Secondly, I want to give a huge Thanks out there to all that continue to send praises about my poetry, my very 1st published book, and just how proud they are of me. Even several of my doctors, and others around in our community that know already have given me congrats! cards etc. I am so filled with positive emotions to have people take the time to tell me how they feel! I am still busy trying to get it into our newspaper. We have not had time this week. After doctors visits 3 days in a row, along with everything else, I am hoping to get more done over the next few days and I am really thinking about getting another group of poetry together and go ahead with a 2nd book soon. I am working on writing my 1st "book, book", as I call it. I have several titles in my head, but I am not sure yet, thus I just say ...

I just have to tell you very early this morning (my dog actually woke me up, so I just stayed up) . I had a visit to my Rheumy yesterday. I was telling him the entire ordeal about the double vision, and about the "specialist" that I went to, and he had this strange look on his face. Comes to find out, Jim and I were very "hit the nail on the head right" about that entire thing!!! My Rheumy was VERY FAMILIAR with this other doc. He had seen patients before that went to him and they had gotten caught into the same web if crap I did! First, the "HIGH" number of the "blood test" ran that this eye specialist did, was THE WRONG TEST! I had thought so. It tests more about inflammation and what it has to do with the HEART, not the temporal artery! 2nd of all this HIGH was NOT that far from NORMAL! He told me ay number of things could have caused that small of a shift in the inflammatory part, of which I HAVE, Lupus, RA etc. Then the BIOPSY was a total wa...

I am sure I am not the only one sick and tired of the way we have been inundated with enough election media and information to last us at least another 4 years! It seems when we feel it cannot get any worse as far as media and some of the worst "lies" that ever comes from politicians mouths, the next election brings even more. This whole ordeal with "big corporations" being allowed to "foot the bill" on their favored candidate is a bunch of "Malarky" as VP Biden put it. What ever happened to the people having the say as to whom runs our nation??? Well, when a choice few with the big bucks can have more pull than the everyday people who are the ones that keep this nation running, then this world has turned upside down and inside out! I am so hoping, (and I know it ion the bottom of the totem pole list of things to do) that their is an overhaul of just how the election process is ran by the time another 4 years rolls around. We need some people in ...