My educating yard sale

I heard about a month ago that our subdivision was having a yard sale.  I don't like going to yard sales and I don't like having yard sales.  I find that it's just too much effort for little return. Although I suppose if I put out a little more effort, I might sell more.  I decided I would not do anything for the community yard sale and then I had a light bulb moment.  I saw it in my head - and thought if I helped one person - it would be worth the hassle of setting up a yard sale. 

So I got up bright and early this morning (too early for a Saturday!) and began to put together my stuff.  My stuff you ask?  Well - my LYME STUFF.  I got a table - and a chair to sit in.  I took it outside and covered it with a lime green liner - and I put out there my lime green binder with information about tick-borne illnesses in North Carolina.  Then I grabbed Lyme Disease Association brochures and a flyer I created on proper tick removal.  I grabbed about 10 shirts that are too small and 10 pants that are too small and set out to have a "yard" sale where I didn't have a goal of selling a thing and that every single person that came over would get a mini-presentation on tick removal and Lyme Disease. 

I needed my husband's help to set up the clothes - and then he brought out some "manly" things.  Again, wasn't really looking to sell anything - but if I did I did.  Now for me - yard sales are a pain because it means I'm outside - for four straight hours.  I don't like to be outdoors.  It's just downright painful for me, but we do have professionals spray our yards so I'm trusting that our yards are safe (I've not found a tick on us since we started using the professional guys). 

My goal was to educate one person and to sell nothing.  Don't you know I wound up educating 33 people and getting $45 in my Lime Green Jar - $25 of it was for my husband's things - but $20 for my Lyme Awareness Campaign.  Out of the 33 people I talked to - at least 1/2 didn't know that ticks carried bacteria or how to remove ticks properly.  Out of the other 1/2 that did know about tick borne illness, 1/2 of those were also taught the improper way to remove ticks.  So 75% of my table visitors were educated. I think I saw about 7 people that either had been diagnosed with Lyme or had a close friend or family member with Lyme and half of them had the chronic form of the disease. 

One lady said it best, "I never got a schooling at a yard sale before. Thanks for the lesson.  Keep up the good work." 

A family came over and I asked if they knew how to remove a tick if they found one.  The teenager said his Mom had "burnt one off me just yesterday."  My mouth dropped and I explained that can cause the tick to throw up in their bodies.  I think they looked like they were about to vomit.  So I sent home with them a lot of brochures and tick cards.  I even gave the guy a tick tool and showed him how to use it properly. 

So who knew - you can get an education at a yard sale.  :)

While I don't plan on doing these a lot, I found a new way to educate the public about Lyme.  If your community is having a yard sale, consider doing one - and having a table to educate your visitors about Lyme Disease and other tick borne illnesses in your area.  Set out a donation jar and someone might just pop in a dollar or two.

900

I ended my very first post like this:

"I am still trying to figure out the best way to start this so hang on as I figure out how much I want to share with the outside world. A lot of posts may be repeats of things I write on other websites. So buckle your seat belt, hold on to your seats, this is gonna be a bumpy ride."

Seems like I figured it out - because somehow - I've written 900 posts since September 6, 2008.  So many things have happened since that day.

Family Stuff:

• My brother graduated from college.
• My Granddaddy passed away.

Health Stuff

• Experiemental Therapy for Lyme
• PICC Line pulled after 7 months in.
• Fell and hurt my wrist
• Chelation therapy for Aluminum poisoning
• wrote out my background story for the first time.
• Had a mini-remission in 2010
• Started sliding backwards in 2011 with migraines.
• Used soft chamber hyperbaric machine.
• Ear Growth removed
• MRSA on my  nose.
• Had to quit my full time job.

Friend Stuff:

• Reconnected with friends from the past.  
• Met a friend for the first time and watched her graduate high school
• Went to Carolina with friends multiple times.
• Went to Western  Carolina with friends multiple times.
• My friend Pam died suddenly.
• My friend Alisa's beautiful baby boy lived for 61 minutes.
• With urging of friends, met Eric Montross (TWICE)

Advocacy Stuff

• Congressional Meetings
• NC Lyme Advocacy
• Support Groups
• began selling silicone bracelets, "We Fight Lyme Together."

Other Stuff

• Got my hair cut - and dyed. 
• Got a few new pair of glasses.
• State Fair Trips
• Beach Trips
• New Home. 

I'm sure I'm forgetting things, but wow I've done a few things in the last 900 posts.  Thanks for reading.

We Fight Lyme Together Bracelet Sale!

This particular offer has expired.

From now until April 15th - help out my efforts to provide awareness in North Carolina and you'll receive a bracelet.

Perk A:  Donate $10 (plus $1 to help out offset the paypal fees) receive 3 bracelets
Perk B:  Donate $15 (plus $1 to help out offset the paypal fees) receive 5 bracelets
Perk C:  Donate $25 (plus $1 to help out offset the paypal fees) receives 10 bracelets.

You can order easily this way - (it's also on the right hand side of the blog).

This offer is limited until April 15th or while supplies last.  Early morning on the 16th, this option will  no longer be available on the blog - If you make a donation -and we are out of the size you requested, I will contact you to find out if you would like the other size, wait until we have the size you requested in stock, make the donation without the perk or receive a refund.  However, if I'm getting close to running out of a size, I will make note that it is in limited supply. Size 8 inch is in limited supply. 

Thanks for your help with helping North Carolina Lyme Advocacy. 

If you feel the desire to make a monetary donation without receiving any perks, you can do that - by using paypal for your donation - send it straight to livinglymelife@gmail.com.  I assure you - all the money I received from now until April 15th will be used to help us with Lyme Advocacy Awareness - whether it's for printing off flyers, brochures, other copy & print items, ribbons, booth costs and any other item that may make our booth pop on May 11th.  I can't wait to get this booth up and running and post a picture of it.  

Chutes and Ladders: The Game With Our Health.

I remember playing these types of games when I was in elementary school.  I loved climbing the ladders and for some strange reason even loved sliding down the slides.  I think I even added a little "wheeeeeeeeee" when I'd land on the number that forced me to slide down.

If you're not familiar with this game, each player starts just left of the number 1.  You spin the spinner.  Some people were really great with the spinner while others spun duds.  The dud spinners always cracked me up.  I was a champion spinner.  Whatever number the spinner landed on is how many spaces you would move your piece forward. If you landed on a ladder, you got to climb up.  The best most wonderful spot to land on was number 28 because it would let  you go all the way to the number 84! Amazing game - Of course the goal was to get to the number 100 before your cohorts, ahem enemies, ahem friends.

Today I went to meet up with a friend and she made the comment about how she would take a few steps forward with her health and then slide backwards.  For some reason I immediately connected that with the game Chutes and Ladders.  Of course, I wrote it down on the back of a business card to jog my memory later.  It was a bloggable moment. 

I'm sure you know where I'm going with this, but let me run with it.  :)  So when you begin your Lyme journey, you start off left of number one.  With each new medicine, you spin the spinner.  Sometimes the medicine makes you feel better and you land on a number that allows you to go up the ladder.  However sometimes you take a medicine that makes you feel worse so you land on a number that makes you go down the slide.  And just when you think you have the light at the end of the tunnel, you land on number 87 and you slide all the way back down to number 24. That's what happened to me when I began Rifampin. Well I hadn't exactly reached that close to the end of the tunnel, but saying I was on number 16 and slid down to 6 doesn't make the visual impact as 87 to 24.

Yep - Treating Lyme is like a game of Chutes and Ladders.