Scrap-busting sew along complete

As Jay is on holiday this week and we have stuff planned for everyday this will just be a quick one.

A while ago I wrote a blog post Scrapbusting in which I told you about a sewing challenge that I had joined. This was what is known as a sew along and the challenge was to make a quilt out of scrap fabric. I had never joined a sew along before as I never believed that I was good enough to take part. This challenge has totally changed my mind and I am so glad that I took the plunge.

I finished my quilt on Friday afternoon, at some points it felt like it would never be finished. The quilting was exhausting, as I had chosen to do a hexagonal design , which meant getting a very large quilt through a domestic machine on multiple occasions. Also getting the quilt sandwich together was a monumental task. The lounge had to be cleared of furniture so I had the room to lie the quilt flat on the floor. A quilt sandwich for the uninitiated is quilt top + batting / wadding + quilt back. All the layers have to be smooth so that when you are quilting it, you don't end up with lots of puckers. Of course I had my very own helper.

When I say helper I mean that in the loosest possible way. 

It took me around several days to complete the quilting. I had to take a week off after I started as I had my second corneal abrasion ( it was the second in 4 weeks this time I managed to scratch in a line above the pupil and I am fighting to get a referral to ophthalmology but that sorry tale is for another day).  The abrasion healed quickly but my eye was full of gunky ointment as it was so dry.

Whilst quilting I did wonder what on earth had possessed me to do such a complicated design but I was throwing caution to the wind and trying out new things. I managed to get the binding on in a day because I machine bind. I find using a needle and thread quite difficult so it is the only way for me to finish a quilt. The quilt police will be having a field day but I really don't care. I have to do what suits me and what allows me to complete a quilt, not what the quilt police want.

It is the largest quilt I have worked on coming in at 54 inches by 77 inches. I am very happy I have finished it as I was starting to get a bit bored as I was itching to start new projects.

I made my quilt label on my embroidery machine. I managed to get it sewn on yesterday but it was slow painful going. I really need some new hand sewing needles as I only have inbetweens which are tiny and a nightmare for me to work with my fingers decide to be uncooperative.

We are using the throw over the back of the large sofa as it fits it beautifully. Plus it won't be subjected to Dembe's nails there as the one on the small sofa is constant attack as he had decided the lounge window sill is now his. 

Empathy

When I wrote last week's blog post Rainbow Bridge  I never expected in a million years the response that it received. It wasn't just me hubby had people coming up to him in work, telling him that they couldn't read it without shedding a tear or that it said what they felt but had never been able to express it. I had followers on Instagram contacting me about their recent losses and long ago losses too. On Facebook it was the same, with many people contacting me or leaving a comment. . It was emotionally hard as I am very empathetic, so when people start to get tearful when they are talking to me, it makes me cry too. But when I wrote the post I was half expecting it to stir up a lot of emotions because I had been in such a mess as I wrote it. I have to be honest I never did a final check on the post to look for errors, mainly because I found it so upsetting to read, it was real and raw. I haven't even gone back to look at it now to refresh my memory before writing this one. I just can't do it, I have already been in tears today twice over the dogs. It is always just bubbling away under the surface for me at the moment, although to look at me or to see any of my social media posts you would never know.

I am so touched that something I have written has moved so many people. I thank each and everyone of you who commented or messaged me. It was very hard last Thursday as I had no idea how it would be received. I had no clue if people would think I was wallowing, being self indulgent or a drama queen. That people would think that I should pull myself together and get on with the rest of my life. I promise you I am not self indulgent, wallowing or being a drama queen. I just write about life and my experiences. I try to give a voice to those feelings that we push down and don't let anyone else see. I take a chance that people won't reject me or ridicule me because I try to talk about things that many would rather brush under the carpet. Although there have been several articles regarding the death of a pet in National newspapers it is still treated with some degree of disbelief by those who have never had an animal / pet in their lives. 

The whole point of my post was for you - whoever you are, know that it is ok to feel whatever you are feeling, to express your grief ( and it is your's and no one else's) anyway that you like. That these feelings are totally normal. You are not weird, you aren't wallowing in your grief, you aren't an attention seeker and you are certainly not being a drama queen. You are hurting and it will take time to process all that emotion. Hell I am only 8 months on and there are days where I can barely keep it together. Days where all I do is cry. Days when I feel guilty when I know rationally I have absolutely nothing to feel guilty about. I just wanted you to know you aren't going mad, I honestly thought at times I was losing it. All of those feelings, even the uncontrollable rage that even surprises you when you roar, is totally normal. It is the beast called grief and it doesn't have to be something that you go through alone.

As I touched on in my blog post even when you have suffered from a significant bereavement such as a partner / child / sibling / parent / friend, people who haven't been through that kind of grief can't begin to imagine the enormity of the feelings of loss and pain. They may see you red faced, tear stained and see your grief but that is soon forgotten because it has no direct impact on their lives. The next time they see you, taking the kids to school, going to work, getting the shopping - all things you have to do despite the pain and grief they assume you are "better". They don't understand that grief goes on forever. They seem to think that grief has a timeline and by a certain amount of time say 6-12 months maybe sooner if they are real dicks, you "should" be "over" it. How do you explain that there is no getting over it? You are just getting through each day the best you can. There will be good days, bad days and the worst kind of days.  Life will probably never be the same again. But there will never be or has there ever been for anyone who is grieving a time when they are over it. Getting Over It has to be the most grotesque phrase ever. Followed by Time is a great healer. There is no healing from grief, you carry that pain forever.

I had people contacting me about dogs they had lost thirty years ago during their childhood that they still mourned for.  Others told me about their recent losses that they just couldn't process or that in the proceeding days before my blog post it had hit them, after thinking that they could keep going and carry on as normal. I was quite honest when I spoke to them and told them Jay and I have very little memory of January and February this year.

 We know we got Dembe, we know he was tiny but ask us to recall anything significant like where we took him on his first walk. What the date of his first walk was, his first bark, his first growl all the stuff we would normally remember and we draw a blank. It's not because we didn't care about it, purely our brains were overloaded processing what had happened when we lost Frankie and Mollie within 7 days of each other. I am so glad that I started the Dembe Diaries blog and his diary that I base the blog on, so that in years to come I can look back and see all those things in black and white that my brain was unable to absorb at the time.

 I do remember Jay barely spoke in the first 4-5 days after it happened. It was quite stressful as I went into list mode, trying to control everything because my anxiety spiked. His anxiety spiked because I was making so many demands on him all the time and obviously he needed to have some control in his life too. It was very difficult trying to get him motivated to help me sort the house out ready for Dembe's arrival. Especially as we couldn't stand being in the house as it was just full of reminders of how empty it was. We did cry together and we did talk about our babies, all of our babies. But the pain and grief was hard because although it has happened to both of you (or all of you) it is also an individual thing that no one can make better or take away from you. People grieve in different ways. Just because Jay wasn't breaking down in tears every 5 minutes like I was didn't mean he wasn't hurting or struggling to cope. You only had to take a look at him, ashen faced, tired and so very quiet, grief and pain was written all over him. For a few days I was worried that he was going to drop down dead from a heart attack or stroke he looked so ill.  

Grief is weird one minute you can feel like you are doing ok and the next minute it feels like the world is imploding. There is no rhyme or reason to it, you are carried on its current and it takes you wherever it pleases. There is no control of it, it controls you initially, even denying you sleep when it wants to. Both Jay and I suffered from terrible insomnia in the 7 days after Mollie and Frankies passing. We would find ourselves downstairs in the middle of the night watching crap on the TV whilst eating chocolate biscuits and drinking sugary tea in the hope we would just pass out from a sugar overdose. I remember one day within about 20 minutes of each other we both left the electric shower on, when we left the bathroom, returning to it a few minutes later, neither of us could work out why we had left it running. We had no recollection of leaving the bathroom.  Life really was being lived on autopilot, all we could do was keep putting one foot in front of the other and get through another day.


I want to tell you that things do get better, the grief becomes less overwhelming.  I feel like I am finally starting to live life again instead of just simply going through the motions. I am not saying that in 8 months you will also be feeling better, it could be less time it could be substantially more time. But there will come a time when you let a breathe out and know that you are starting to be you again.


Up until about a week ago the last time I listened to music and enjoyed it was 29th December 2018. That was the day that Frankie passed away and I had been listening to my Sinead O'connor LP. I didn't play any music for a couple of weeks. After that time had passed, I tried but I found the noise too much and overwhelming. I had no emotional connection to the music. I would rather be in silence or have the TV on low in the background.  For the last two weeks I have played music non-stop. I have sung at the top of my voice and quite possibly scared the neighbours. I have found the joy in music again. I haven't played my Sinead O'Connor LP, I think that one will take some time. I may not play it again for several years, I'm not setting myself a target, I will let it happen, I won't force it. One day I will sing something from the album and it will be like an ear worm that won't die until I play it. At the moment anything from that LP makes me sad.

We have also started planning things for the future. We have booked  a short break in the UK next year and we will be taking Dembe with us. It is very exciting. This will be the first time since 2006 that Jay and I have had any sort of holiday. It is only 3 nights away but it will do us all some good just to get out of the house and away from the day to day. I am nervous as hell as I have become a real homebody since becoming ill. Other than stays in hospital I haven't been away from the house in 13 years. It is hilarious to me that I am getting a bit anxious thinking about it when Jay and I have travelled to Sri Lanka, USA (Florida), Antigua, Paris, Menorca and various places all over the UK for weddings / christenings. I know that we can do it, it is just my world has been so very small over the last 13 odd years.

So please be kind to yourself, wherever you are in your journey with grief. Everyone does grief differently, there is no one size fits all. What works for you may not work for anyone else.  Remember living life does not mean that you have forgotten those who are no longer with us. At some point things will get easier, you will reach a new normal. It is not a journey you have to do alone. If more of us start talking about grief and how it affects us we will educate those who have never experienced it and maybe create a little more empathy. The world could really do with more empathy at the moment.

Rainbow Bridge

I have  called this blog post Rainbow Bridge as all pet owners will know what I am talking about and can make the immediate decision whether or not to read this post. If you decide to skip it, I understand . I can't even read the poem Rainbow Bridge without breaking down and turning into a snotty, red faced, tear stained mess. So if you decide from the outset that this post probably isn't for you, I get it. I will just reassure you that I will not be talking about Frankie or Mollie's passing at the start of this year. That shit is just too raw still to deal with and I would prefer to spend the remainder of the day functional rather than being the snotty, red faced, tear stained mess I know I will become.

The blog post is called Rainbow Bridge because I want to talk to you about the very real depth of grief losing a pet, any pet can cause you. A grief that you can feel embarrassed about because you didn't know it was possible for your heart to physically hurt so much and you not keel over and die. A grief and depth of feeling that unless you have lived the experience you can not begin to even comprehend what the other person is going through. And a grief that you feel you have to hide from the world as grieving over an animal is still seen as self indulgent, selfish, weak, being melodramatic. A depth of feeling that is so strong that it even takes you by surprise.

We are in this country ( the UK ) crap at dealing with other people's grief, even when they have lost a child or a partner. We seem to assume that once a person returns to work or starts doing normal things again that they are ok. Many people seem to think that there is a set period of time that a person should grieve for and after that time has passed, all that emotion and sadness should just turn off. If they don't you are seen to be wallowing or attention seeking. A lot of people just don't seem to understand that grief is not a linear journey and that it never ends. You will always be dealing with your grief one way or another. Time is not a great healer, there is no healing for grief, there is a just getting used to it. What initially in the first days, weeks and months seems all encompassing does slowly reduce in size but it never leaves us. It is something we carry always.

Those of you that aren't pet owners may be surprised to read that it is exactly the same for those who have lost a pet. I really hate using a the term pet as I feel like it diminishes their status. But until someone comes up with a better word, I will have to use the one that is universally understood. Most people these days understand that our pets are more than just "pets" they are much loved members of the family within their own rights. Which is why it cut me to the core when somebody recently clumsily said to me " You were so lucky to get Dembe when you did to replace..." she stopped herself continuing with this statement as I think she realised how awful what she had said sounded. 

There is no replacing a beloved cat, dog, guinea pig, hamster or horse. The same as you can't replace a mother, a father, a child, a friend. Each one of those like our pets are unique. So why people use the dreaded replace word I have no idea. I'm glad it was said recently to me rather than just after it had happened because I don't think I would have been able to control myself. I may have got physically violent because it was just so insensitive. Now because there is a little bit of distance from the event and I am not caught up in the overwhelming emotion of it, I can understand that it was clumsy and not ever meant the way it sounded. Why do I know that? This person has recently lost her mother and father in the space of a couple of years. She knows there is no replacement for them, she is also a dog owner and knows they can't be replaced either. Had she said this in January I wouldn't have been so forgiving.

When I found myself in the position of losing Frankie and Mollie within 7 days, having lost Willow 55 weeks earlier, I honestly didn't know how I was going to carry on without them. The pain, the grief was just so overwhelming. The house had already felt strange after Frankie passed and then when Mollie was no longer here, it seemed so cold and empty. I missed the feel of their fur, the warmth of their bodies, the noise their paws made on the laminate floor. The pools of water Frankie liked to dribble all over the floor after having a drink. The barking, the farting, picking up the poo, the bonio (dog biscuit) crumbs. Everything that had meant being a dog owner for the last 15 years had just been suddenly snatched away with no warning. Everything seemed so bleak and miserable. You will never know how much you will crave a cuddle with a dog ( or any pet ) until you suddenly are no longer able to do it. 

That was the hardest thing to cope with in the days that followed their passing, that I couldn't stroke a dog, be licked, have a tail wag. Jay and I spent every minute that we could out of the house because being in the house just magnified our loss. We were lucky in the respect that a week after Mollie passed away we brought home Dembe. I dread to think what life would have been like without him. I know some people will think that far too quick and that they don't feel that they could take on another dog / animal whilst they are still mourning their loss. Everyone is different and there are no rights or wrongs in this situation. Had there not been any puppies available we would have had to wait, it is just the way things happened. We felt at the time and still do that it was written in the stars. The breeders had the same surname as the breeders of Mollie and Travis. Dembe's mum was called Willow, it all seemed like it was just meant to be.

Did having Dembe stop the grief? Of course not. In some ways it complicated things because initially I was terrified that Dembe was going to die. My anxiety went up through the roof. It had been a very long time since we had a puppy in the house and it all seemed very alien to us. So whilst trying to come to terms with losing my babies - which they will always be to me no matter how old they were, I had a new baby to deal with. It some ways it was also good for us, we threw ourselves into socialisation and getting lots of experiences under his belt. That meant we had to leave the house and see people. We invited lots of friends over to get them involved. I don't think for us any time would have been the right time to bring a puppy into the house. Our lives had revolved around our Weimaraners and this was such a massive change to our life, it will probably take us years to get used to it or our heads around it.

What did surprise me was the way the people seemed to think once we had Dembe that the grief would just suddenly disappear - as in the replacement theory. There were good surprises as well, people that I had only ever known on facebook sent flowers, cards, gifts. We had so many messages from people. Even though at the time it was hard to read them, not because there was anything wrong with them but just because they were so kind and thoughtful. I heard that Jay's boss broke the news to his colleagues at work and a couple of them burst into tears because on the previous Saturday the poor man had also had to tell them that Frankie had passed away. No one could quite believe that life could be so cruel. I still don't believe it but I am happy that Frankie and his mum / best mate are together again.

Initially I felt like we had to hide the fact that we had been looking at puppies and we had visited Dembe, paid the deposit two days after Mollie had passed away. It wasn't because we didn't love her, I have been crying on and off as I have been writing this. It is because Jay and I are realists, we knew the dogs couldn't go on forever. Mollie was 14 and quite deaf, Frankie was losing the use of his back legs, had arthritis in his hips and spine, he hadn't been able to wag his tail for months and was a huge 41kg, 12 year old dog. He had lived far longer than anyone had expected. Even before we lost Willow in 2017 we had been discussing when we got a dog in the future what breed it would be and what his name would be. We had always said we would have a boy, due to the fact both girls had spay induced incontinence after being spayed as emergencies. We said a Labrador as Mollie had always had a thing for black Labs, she adored them. We never knew why but if she met a black lab on a walk her face would light up and she would play bow. The Weims were as much part of our decision making process as we were, as we wanted their blessing. I know none of them would have wanted us to live our lives without a dog.

I saw a Meme not long ago that said Dogs fill your life with many happy days and the one worst day of your life. It is pretty true, although the worst day is the worst day when you have to say goodbye, the not so worst days follow, where you have to face life without them and hope that Rainbow Bridge is true and that one day you will all be together again.

In Loving memory of 

Travis Morris

Mollie Morris

Willow Morris

Frankie Morris

Not a day goes by that I don't mourn your loss. Not a day goes by when I don't talk about at least one of you to Dembe. You would have loved him so much.

Travis

Mollie

Willow

Frankie

Everyone thinks they have the best dog ever,  none of them are wrong.

Dembe

I am a survivor

Well I am still not feeling the blog. I don't know what's going on but I am really finding it hard to come up with stuff to write about. I am spending 7 days waiting for inspiration to strike and it just isn't happening. By Tuesday each week I am in a bit of a panic, I like to try and write on a Tuesday if Jay goes out running errands. If not I will wait until Wednesday morning but I don't like leaving it until Wednesday as I always panic if I have a migraine or something and no blog post is produced.

At the moment the days are just merging into one. I haven't seen any of my friends for over a month although I keep in regular contact with some of them. I have come to realise over the last 8 months that some of the people that I thought for there for me, disappeared when Frankie and Mollie passed away.  I understand that everyone has their own lives and families, with their own shit to deal with but it has been a very isolating experience. Some people have made a supreme effort to be present and other well not so much. It's ok as I have a long memory and will be sure to return the favour when the shit hits the fan in their lives. I didn't expect to be visited constantly but the occasional text message would have been nice, especially when they know my situation of living alone and Jay working.

Thankfully though I am pretty self sufficient, whilst dealing with my grief, I was juggling a new puppy and attempting to find time to sew / embroider. It hasn't been easy but Dembe and I have found a new routine that works for us. He is pretty good at entertaining himself whilst I am busy sewing. He always positions himself in a location where he can keep an eye on me and ensure he knows if I have moved. He likes one of three places, the bed by the washing machine, the sofa that looks into the kitchen or out under the gazebo on the bench surrounded by all the cushions. I can't believe my luck that he doesn't get bored and then start destroying things. When I have finished sewing he knows that is our time and I will ensure I spend the time playing with him, doing training or just cuddles depending on his energy levels. I have been blessed with a pup that is so very well behaved and so very loving. His favourite spot for sleeping is right beside me on the sofa. This is him right now as I am writing this post.

My life has totally changed this year, I have re-assessed a lot of relationships. I have made the decision that I won't swim an ocean for people who wouldn't jump a puddle for me. I have decided that instead of worrying about what everyone is thinking or saying about me behind my back and believe me you'd be surprised the shit I hear being spoken about me by people who should know better, that I shall just carry on living my life and enjoying myself. The best revenge on those sad twats is to enjoy yourself and plaster it all over social media. It totally then fucks up all the fairy tales that they have been telling people for years. 

I am also getting out of the house a lot more, this does have to be limited and planned for. I haven't suddenly magically got better, it is just with one dog things are a lot easier. Especially as Dembe is such a friendly dog and on the whole pretty well behaved, although we have now hit the teenage years and recall seems to be a take it or leave it thing! Fatigue still grinds me down. I like using my energy for things for things that make me happy. So using my mobility scooter on Woodbury Common and getting out with Jay and Dembe has been unbelievably healing and grounding. 

It has been the one thing I have missed most since I got sick. The wheelchair trike although brilliant is an absolute ballache to transport. The wheelchair is fixed framed so that would take up the whole boot and then I would have to juggle the trike attachment with me in the front of the car. Not exactly safe. Then I piled on a load of weight when I developed my CSF leak and was virtually bed bound for a year, then in 2017 and 2018 we suffered a number of bereavements and I tend to self medicate with gin, chocolate and junk food / takeaways. I was 5 stone over the optimum user weight for the trike. So anytime I did try to use it the battery drained in minutes. I've been too embarrassed to say that because I allowed myself to get fat as fuck, I haven't been able to use it. Hopefully now I am back losing weight ( it's taken me until the last month to feel like I can actually do it) and I am back to 3 stone down, ideally at least another 3 to go so I will be massively under the optimum user weight. The trike will be used in the future as it is more suited to the rough and rugged environment of the common.

I do love my mobility scooter though and it has given me back my independence. It is easily taken apart to it can fit in the back of the car. It makes life so much easier if I need to go to the doctors or the hospital for appointments.

Over the 2 months I have got back into sewing and actually enjoyed it rather than feel I am going through the motions. From January until June I made a bloody good show of pretending I was ok, ensuring I used my embroidery machine every week and appeared to be enjoying myself. At points I felt like I was dying inside. I felt like a shell of the person I was. I didn't feel I could voice the pain I was in. I know others struggle with grief especially when it is over an animal and not a human being.  Like I said earlier it has been one of the most isolating experiences of my life. There just felt like there was no one there. I do wonder if there had been someone their if I would have still felt so isolated.

I do have a tendency when things are tough to disappear into myself and attempt to shut out the world. I still kept on posting on social media, I still kept the creative things going but in all honesty I was going through the motions. It is only now that I can watch anything remotely sentimental without breaking down immediately. I only now feel like me. I feel like I have been on some weird journey where at points I lost myself. It is true what doesn't kill you makes you stronger because in January / February this year I honestly thought the pain would kill me or I wished it would.

So I skillfully went off on a tangent there, I am enjoying sewing again and being creative rather than having to force myself to do it in the hope at some point the joy would come back. I am still working on my scrap busting quilt sew along. I found out yesterday that it is between a double (bed) and king size (bed) size, so it definitely is the largest one I have ever worked on. I made the back panel for it yesterday.

And in case you have forgotten what the front looks like

This morning I sorted out the wadding ( what you call batting in the USA ) which needed sewn together. I also made some plastic templates  to draw around as I have decided to tray something totally different with the quilting. It has taken me a few days of mulling it over to come to my plans. I have drawn it out so I have something to refer to. I now just need to have Jay clear the floor space in the lounge so that I can put my quilt sandwich together quilt back + wadding / batting + quilt top. I use temporary basting spray to hold it together but as it is so large I will also be pinning it. This ensures that the fabric stays nice and flat so it doesn't shift and give you puckers. I also managed to sort out the binding yesterday. So it is all ready to be quilted shortly. I will be quite glad when it is finished now as I hate half done projects hanging around. I am really ready to now get myself into new projects and stretch my skills.

Anyway I started with no clue where this post was going and have managed to ramble on forever!

Dembe has changed locations

He likes it so he knows exactly where I am in the house at all times.

I think this year I have learnt a lot, and we are only in August. My heart has hurt more than I ever thought possible without keeling over and dying. I have learnt in the depths of grief you are still able to love unconditionally and you must never feel guilty for that. I have also learnt that the majority of people run away from grief and think that is acceptable behaviour. Despite all this I have come back stronger, love another dog more than I ever thought possible but when you have this gorgeous mutt in your life how could you not?

And yes he is holding my thumb in his mouth!

This is the year that nearly broke me, the year that changed everything and has just proved to me I am a survivor.

Mish mash

I will admit I am pretty tired and have lost my mojo with the blog this week so I thought rather than post nothing at all, it will be a bit of a mish mash of lots of different things!

I had my physiotherapy treatment today, which consisted of deep tissue massage and ultrasound treatment. I am feeling very sore, nauseous and headache. Which is what always happens when my neck has been messed around with. I will feel better tomorrow but for now I feel like I have been through the 1600rpm spin cycle of my washing machine! The good news is that the pins and needles I have had in my left arm/ hand and shoulder has already improved significantly from this session earlier on today. I am booked in again for a treatment in September as my physio is away in August. Lucky for some. She is a miracle worker and I enjoy my sessions with her as we have long chats sometimes very in depth and emotional and sometimes fluffy. But it's a good laugh even though the pain of being prodded makes me levitate above the bed sometimes. 

My neck muscles have become very tight again which is obviously the complete opposite of what EDS is supposed to do but we believe it is my bodies way of trying to keep my neck and head safe due to the lax muscles, ligaments and tendons. I hold all my tension in my neck and all my headaches come from my neck. It is a situation that has got worse over the last few years. At the moment I am resisting wearing a collar full time as whatever strength I do have in my neck will disappear completely. I am also aware that nothing touches the pain of a neck induced headache, well that isn't strictly true as diazepam is the only thing that helps. But quite rightly the doctors don't like prescribing that and I really can't be bothered at the moment to go and beg. 

The other reason I won't wear a collar full time is vanity, plain and simple. It makes my face look fat and it doesn't need to look any fatter than it already is.

I promised a mish mash so here it is. Ages ago I wrote about my hirsutism, it initially started when I was put on steroids in 2008. I have always had a blonde moustache over my top lip but the steroids made the blonde hair thicker and much more noticeable to me.  I also grew more peach fuzz on the side of my face. Age and possibly being at the start of the menopause has given me a lovely crop of black hairs on my chin that like to go unnoticed until they are 2ft long or I have had the dentist / doctor / hairdresser / friends over. They only stop playing hide and seek about an hour after you've been at the dentist / doctor / hairdresser or had company. Despite the fact that you checked your known outcrop spots religiously using both natural daylight and the torch function of your mobile phone.

Over the years I have tried a variety of hair removal tools and they have all been crap. Hair removal cream results last for about 12 -24 hours until you can start feeling the regrowth. Plus I became allergic to them so whilst I would have a hair free top lip I would end up with a red raw line above my lip. I even ended up with chemical burns on one occasion so after that I haven't used hair removal cream again. I have tried plucking but that is ridiculously time consuming. You also need very good eyesight and light to get a reasonable result. I then tried using Jay's ear hair trimmer as it had a variety of different cutting heads. The problem was the hair would be back within a few days and feeling prickly because of the blunt ends caused by the cutting blades.

So a while ago I looked into waxing, I have no idea what prompted it. I use an epilator for my legs, so it probably came from that. I looked around on Amazon and came across the wax warmers, wax beans and all the bits you need to give yourself a wax treatment. I ordered all the kit and last week I started trying it out. I have found it remarkably easy and I don't need really good eyesight to produce good results. I won't lie the first time I did my top lip it made my eyes water but I was amazed at how much it took off. I bought some wax for sensitive skin and without colouring. As the wax was pale I could see all the hairs trapped in it, so despite my eyes watering I was pleased. 

After my first go it was clear I needed to work on my technique, so I watched several videos on YouTube. That has been a massive help, as with the wax beans you don't use cotton / paper strips to stick to the wax, the wax sets firm enough that you just pull the wax strip off.  The real skill is creating a lip at the bottom of your wax strip so it make it easy to remove. I haven't quite mastered that yet but I am getting there. I had another go before physiotherapy - that's another occasion these hairs like to come out of their hiding places, this attempt went better. I think it is going to be one of those things that the more you practice the better your technique gets. The results have been really good and lasting much longer than any other hair removal technique I have tried.

Going off on another tangent, like I do. I have been managing to get out and about up on the common accompanying Jay and Dembe using my mobility scooter. With the weather being so dry the ground is nice and compacted making it must easier for the scooter to cope with being off road. Dembe gets really excited when I come out with them both for a walk. I have been managing to get out a couple of times a week.

Dembe is 8 and a half months old now and loves his walks. Although he doesn't go as mental as the Weimaraners did. 

I  am still working on my quilt, I managed to square off all the blocks at the weekend and they are sat waiting to be sewn together. On Sunday I was on a local facebook group where people offer things to give away for nothing, in return the people that have stuff off the page must make food / toiletry donations to help those families in need locally. I spied some curtains that had been posted on the page before but no one had shown any interest. At the time I was drawn to the birds on the material. I thought I would be able to upcycle the fabric into bags or something. However when I got them home I realised how much I liked them and wanted to use them as lounge curtains. I had been looking to replace the curtains in the lounge for years but I had just never seen any curtains that I liked. 

The curtains needed some TLC, I don't think they had seen the inside of a washing machine for many a year. They also had some holes in them where the fabric had become weak from being exposed to strong sunlight. What should have been a simple job turned into an all day event. I repaired the curtains in the space of an hour but found that they were too short for my window. So I ripped open the bottom seam as I could feel there was extra material contained in the seams. I only needed 4 inches at a pinch 3 would do. As luck would have it one curtain contained 17 inches and the other 15 inches. The lining had also been folded up. I was worried as these curtains were very old that the fabric that had been tucked away in the seam maybe brighter than the fabric that had been exposed to the sunlight but there was no discernible difference between them. I altered the curtains and the lining and now have a wonderful set of curtains for the lounge.

The fabric design is called Spice Island and was produced from the 1960's until the 1980's. It was sold in the UK department store called John Lewis and the designers name was Pat Albeck. You can find out more about her here - https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2017/sep/15/pat-albeck-obituary

Quite spookily she was Emma Bridgewater's mother in law. For those of you who follow my blog you will know that I collect Emma Bridgewater pottery. So it seems apt that I have the Spice Island designed curtains in the same room as the majority of my pottery collection.

I am so pleased with the job I have done on the curtains as I have never done them before due to the worry about having to be 100% accurate - not something I am brilliant at when it comes to straight lines. Mr Myasthenia Kid loves the curtains to, it was his idea that we have them ourselves instead of me cutting them up and using them to make bags.

Anyway like I said this week is an utter mish mash of stuff. I hope you have enjoyed the many tangents I have gone off on! 

See you next week.