wagwaan?

Yikes it was hot last night, wasn't it? Well it was here. I tossed and turned rather a lot... We woke up to brilliant sunshine but it's starting to cloud over.  I'm just waiting for a delivery of some scrapbooking stash and then I'm popping over to the Community Centre to "help" with the painting. Well, I've been told that I can be the tea-lady and gopher rather than tire myself out wielding a roller, thank goodness.

On a completely different note, I've just seen on Facebook that Tara Whitney's blog has been named one of the Top 20 Baby Photo Blogs by babble.com. Who's surprised? Not me! I love all Tara's pictures, so well done Team Whitney!!  Also, thanks to babble, I've got 19 other photo blogs to have a look at now :)

Right, better get my bum in gear so that I'm ready to go as soon as my delivery gets here. Cheers m'dears!

 

 

Interesting...

I am well aware that about 6 months ago I said I wasn't going to blog about the "brain thang" any more and that I was moving on. Sadly, the "brain thang" has a mind of its own (ha ha, no pun intended) and is still making its effects felt. 

The Brain and Spine Foundation people contacted me the other day to say they read my blog and could they quote me in an article about fatigue. Of course I said yes - and today it's gone live. So if you feel like reading up on what fatigue is like for me and other survivors, you can read it here.  They also link to "The Spoon Theory" which I had heard about but never seen in full. Here it is in English, et pour mes lecteurs français voici la version française. 

It's interesting that this has come up now, because I've been so exhausted these past couple of weeks. The more I try and do, the less I can do it seems. I have also gone off plan with my eating at the same time and I'm sure it doesn't help. Although I'm still 2 stone lighter than I was, I need to get to that place in my head where I realise that "you are what you eat" and if you eat processed anything, or refined sugar, then you are not going to be healthy. End of!  

Wish me luck!

Music Tuesday

Another one from the mists of time. Oh how I love this album!  You might get more excerpts from it in future...

 

This 'n that

Uh oh, the tiredness has hit back with a vengeance recently. Nearly 18 months post op and I keep thinking I'm fine and then.... If you've been reading for a while you know what I mean, ha ha.  Sorry to be so predictable.

So yesterday I got myself down to the osteopath's in what I thought was plenty of time for my appointment. I was early, so I thought I'd get myself a GP appointment, as it's in the same building, and then, oh yes, please can I have a repeat prescription, Mrs Receptionist?  After I was done I ambled along the corridor to find that the door of Consulting Room no. 1 was ajar.... and the osteopath was waiting for me. Turns out, I had put 12 noon in my calendar instead of 11.30am.  Oops.  And I've never met this particular osteopath so I had grovel. A lot. She was really nice about it but I could have cried. The past couple of weeks have been like that: forgetting things even though they happen every week, leaving taps running, you know, the kind of stuff I haven't done for months and months. All I can think is that my body is telling me I'm trying to run when I should still be walking. Boring and repetitive and oh so frustrating.  When I got home, at around 1pm, I just had to have a lie down. Next thing I knew it was 6pm and the phone was ringing....

On a happier note, I said I'd post about what happened the other day. It was a day when Claire was either not working or starting late, I can't remember which, and I had decided to not rush so I had gone back to bed after breakfast. At 9.15am the doorbell rang, and I went down to get it, shouting out to Claire on the way "have your ordered something online again?". When I got to the door, all dishevelled, hair unkempt and wearing my slinky nighty with tatty PJ bottoms (not my best look), there was my friend Vanessa. She handed me a Cath Kidston bag. "I saw this and thought of you" she said "and I'm a firm believer of getting gifts for people when you find the right one, not just for birthdays or Christmas". And with that she was off to work, leaving me open-mouthed and struggling for something intelligent to say (I did say thank you, though, my brain's not that messed up).

She'd only gone and got me a set of Cath K nesting tins! What a lovely friend she is!  I just don't know what to say, except that I'm glad I moved to this neighbourhood or I'd never have met her. 

Girly stuff

Oh look, here's another picture! A grainy one, but you can see my new glasses and, if you look carefully, my cute turquoise and blue enamel turtle earrings. I got myself a whole bunch of earrings from Claire's the other day because I hardly have any left. I don't know what happens to them all... I think I take them off when they begin to hurt, then put them somewhere "safe" and the rest is history.

So as well as the turtles I got a set of assorted coloured teeny stud earrings and a set of three square "diamond" studs in varying sizes. I was really tempted to get some funky ones like I used to wear when I was younger, but then I thought maybe, just maybe, I  might not be able to carry that off any more, haha! They had some really cool cupcake earrings; another set had a teeny bobbin of thread, scissors and thimble; yet another had an Eiffel Tower, tricolore heart and "j'aime". There are some really cool earrings to be had.

At last!

Ooh look what I did! I made a mosaic of my scrapping weekend. I only had the point and shoot with me and I very cleverly managed to miss several of my girls (including the gorgeous Debbie who organised the whole thing!) but it still gives you a flavour of what we get up to on these getaways...

(click to see it bigger)
 

Very moving

I've just watched "Alex - A Life Fast Forward" on the iPlayer about a young lad who had bone cancer and who lived his life to the full. He is such a shining example of "positive thinking" - he used to concentrate each day on what fun stuff he had planned, rather than dwell on the pain or sadness. He said you might as well be happy! Sadly, he died just after his 22nd birthday but what a legacy he leaves.  I know you can't watch the iPlayer if you are out of the UK but maybe one day it will appear on Youtube. There is a very bad copy of the BBC News report on the programme on Youtube but the sound is awful....

Remember: Carpe punctum!!

Knowing that the weather this afternoon was going to change to heavy, thundery showers, I thought I'd do a quick run into town while it was sunny to pick up some household essentials. A quick detour via the shop where I get my reading glasses to see if they had another pink "swirly" pair and I struck lucky, so decided to get them in different colours to suit my outfits...

As I hadn't had breakfast I had a plain pretzel and coffee at Prêt à Manger, which has opened in town recently.  I was the only customer at that point, and chose a comfy chair in the window where I sat and people-watched whilst listening to the jazz funk they were playing. It really was a lovely way to spend half an hour. 

I've got to go and upload some pictures now - I need to make a quick mosaic of the Debden photos and I want to show you what turned up on my doorstep yesterday. Watch this space!

Music Tuesday

Another oldie that I listen to on my iPhone. Wonderful.

 

Carpe punctum*

*seize the moment

After seeing excerpts from the movie "Peaceful Warrior" with Nick Nolte, I found myself looking at videos of author Dan Millman on Youtube. This series of 5 (of which more later) from a radio show was another serendipitous moment: just the other day I was telling Claire I had decided that sticking to a healthy diet was easier if I just dieted for one moment at a time, i.e. if I chose a healthy snack instead of chocolate THIS TIME, and if I ate a balanced meal for dinner instead of a take-away THIS TIME. Does that make sense?  I am only human, I don't manage to do this all the time, but instead of beating myself up when I slip up I've decided to just get back on the wagon. Or as Dan Millman says, use the tool that we can learn from St Nike: JUST DO IT.... Turns out, "St Nike" is a philosopher in the same vein as Socrates or Confucius!!

Anyway, it was such a timely reminder to seize the moment (as opposed to seizing the day) that I thought I'd post a link to the first Youtube video out of the 5, and you can go on to listen to the others from there. Just a heads up: there is something like a 4.5 minute intro on that first video which you'll probably want to skip.

So, remember people: SEIZE THE MOMENT.  Happy Sunday to you all.