I will leave you with my gorgeous pup Dembe, who despite me feeling as rough as a badgers arse still makes me smile.
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Thursday, 28 November 2019
The lurgy
Jay (or Mr Myasthenia Kid as you know him) have been struck down with the lurgy. I am not as ill as I was at the start of the year when I had a chest infection and sinusitis. But it is pretty close. For that reason there will be no blog post this week - it hurts to even tap on the keyboard.
I will leave you with my gorgeous pup Dembe, who despite me feeling as rough as a badgers arse still makes me smile.
I will leave you with my gorgeous pup Dembe, who despite me feeling as rough as a badgers arse still makes me smile.
Thursday, 21 November 2019
To feel human again
It has been a manic few days and it has left me utterly exhausted. I have seen that many people I could almost be accused of being a social butterfly. All I know is today I feel like the batteries have been taken out and I am working with my emergency power supplies only.
We have started back at dog training and we are going twice a week. On Sundays Dembe has his agility training which he loves and is doing so well at. On Tuesdays he has his obedience training which he loves in a different way. Both tire him out mentally as well as physically. The problem with the dog training is that there is just one day in between which doesn't quite give me enough time to bounce back if I am then adding in medical appointments or getting my hair done or seeing people.
Tuesday was my final medical appointment out of a string of 4 over the last 3 weeks. One medical appointment in a week is enough to knock me for 6. 4 in the space of three weeks has sent me crashing. It's hard to describe what you mean to people that aren't sick. For me it means I wake up feeling more tired than when I went to bed. It is an effort at times to even take a breathe in. As the day wears on I feel like I have been at the gin, without the fun part, so my eyes are bouncing around all over the place and I feel disconnected from my body. I look very pale and run down but inside I feel like death warmed up. I can struggle to maintain my body temperature so that I am freezing cold ( even in the height of summer). I can get emotional over the slightest thing, lose my temper usually with inanimate objects that aren't doing as they are told because my hands won't work ( so I am continually dropping them ) . It makes it hard for me to complete anything that requires attention to detail.
Add in me making the stupid decision to make all the Christmas gifts for family & friends but not starting the majority of them until a few weeks ago and I feel like I am on a hamster wheel that I just cant get off. There is no down time as not doing something for a day puts me further behind but this week I have had to take a step back because I am so tired I can't work without making mistakes. Doing nothing makes me feel like a failure and that I don't contribute anything to the world...which is why I have been teaching myself how to crochet so that on the days I can't sit at the sewing machine / embroidery machine I can do something else curled up on the sofa or in bed.
The stupid thing is I keep adding to this list of things to make which is then piling on the stress. I will get there but I keep having panic attacks when I see someone helpfully posting on Facebook that there are X amount of days / weeks until Christmas. I really need to learn to be kinder to myself as even on the days when I have felt drained I have still pushed myself to do just a little something. I like to break tasks down so that I when I come to make an item it is all ready to go and the amount of time it will take to get it all together will be massively reduced.
So like yesterday I decided to have a go at making the Doggie Christmas Stocking from Sweetpea Embroidery. Because I know I need to make at least two of these for gifts, as I prepped the fabric pieces for the first stocking I did the second. It took me longer, obviously but Jay was home and was doing all the running around for me so all I had to do was sew. When or if I manage to get to the embroidery machine today all I will need to do is stitch it out as everything is ready and cut to size. This is how I have to do all my projects, I do all the prepping one day or over a couple of days and then when I make the item I can concentrate solely on that rather than expend energy I don't have. It is very rare for me to be able to start and finish a project no matter how small in a day. As my actual time I am able to work is so severely limited. I can't sit at the embroidery machine or sewing machine all day, I am deeply envious of those who can. I am in pain within 20 minutes, so have to take regular breaks. I have an alarm on my phone that goes off every 20 minutes to ensure that I get up and move / change positions. Otherwise it will cost me £45 at the physiotherapist whilst she tortures me ( in the nicest possible way ) to correct the damage I have done to myself.
It's the same for material prepping. Everything is done in stages. Many times I make cardboard templates to help me with ensuring I cut out the right size fabric pieces. This helps with cutting down waste and ensures that even if I am not thinking straight as long as I have the right template ( sometimes that isn't as easy as it sounds) I can be trusted to cut my fabric out. Obviously making templates adds more time to a project, it tends to only happen if I know I will be making more than one of an item. Basically the majority of my life is spent breaking down tasks into smaller manageable chunks so that I have the energy to be creative and give my life some meaning.
Currently there are boxes everywhere with bits of fabric / templates / batting all cut to the correct sizes waiting to be embroidered and sewn together. It will all get done but it will be done slowly and in the best way that I can pace myself.
I am so exhausted today as Sunday I had two visits from friends who had come to collect their table runners that I had made them, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. It was great to see them but we also had dog training in the middle of the day.
The table runners had taken a lot out of me getting made and I had been stressed out about getting them straight and sewn together nicely. I took a lot of time over it. The top stitching alone left me needing a nap afterwards last Friday. I sewed the rest of it together on Saturday afternoon.
Monday I had my hair done for the first time since August, it needed done desperately as I had already used my dressmaking shears to hack a sizeable amount off the fringe ( bangs ). After my attempt at hairdressing it was even more important that it was sorted out. I am lucky that I have a wonderful friend who does my hair for me and knows I find the whole process exhausting. Doing it at home means it takes 2.5 hours instead of 4 hours being overstimulated by lights and sound in a hair salon. 4 hours in a salon would probably lead me to be bed bound for around a day.
Tuesday - the last medical appointment was for my filling. I did it without diazepam the first appointment in ages where I have managed that. My dentist and I have now got a process that works and reduces my anxiety. I had to ask him just to not tell me any detail about the procedure. I only need to know that I require a filling not what he will be doing. It worked brilliantly as he didnt tell me on the 4th of November what the process would be and yesterday as he did it he kept quiet . It worked like a charm. I was just left with TMJ pain in the afternoon and evening, which triggered a migraine. I spent a lot of the dog training session last night losing the vision in my right eye and the feeling that my scalp was shrinking.
Today ( Wednesday ) I have woken up with the remains of a migraine, waves of nausea and just generally feeling washed out and knackered. I will push myself later to get something on the Christmas present to do list made or completed but for the minute I am drinking bucket loads of coffee in the hope it will make me feel more human again.
We have started back at dog training and we are going twice a week. On Sundays Dembe has his agility training which he loves and is doing so well at. On Tuesdays he has his obedience training which he loves in a different way. Both tire him out mentally as well as physically. The problem with the dog training is that there is just one day in between which doesn't quite give me enough time to bounce back if I am then adding in medical appointments or getting my hair done or seeing people.
Tuesday was my final medical appointment out of a string of 4 over the last 3 weeks. One medical appointment in a week is enough to knock me for 6. 4 in the space of three weeks has sent me crashing. It's hard to describe what you mean to people that aren't sick. For me it means I wake up feeling more tired than when I went to bed. It is an effort at times to even take a breathe in. As the day wears on I feel like I have been at the gin, without the fun part, so my eyes are bouncing around all over the place and I feel disconnected from my body. I look very pale and run down but inside I feel like death warmed up. I can struggle to maintain my body temperature so that I am freezing cold ( even in the height of summer). I can get emotional over the slightest thing, lose my temper usually with inanimate objects that aren't doing as they are told because my hands won't work ( so I am continually dropping them ) . It makes it hard for me to complete anything that requires attention to detail.
Add in me making the stupid decision to make all the Christmas gifts for family & friends but not starting the majority of them until a few weeks ago and I feel like I am on a hamster wheel that I just cant get off. There is no down time as not doing something for a day puts me further behind but this week I have had to take a step back because I am so tired I can't work without making mistakes. Doing nothing makes me feel like a failure and that I don't contribute anything to the world...which is why I have been teaching myself how to crochet so that on the days I can't sit at the sewing machine / embroidery machine I can do something else curled up on the sofa or in bed.
The stupid thing is I keep adding to this list of things to make which is then piling on the stress. I will get there but I keep having panic attacks when I see someone helpfully posting on Facebook that there are X amount of days / weeks until Christmas. I really need to learn to be kinder to myself as even on the days when I have felt drained I have still pushed myself to do just a little something. I like to break tasks down so that I when I come to make an item it is all ready to go and the amount of time it will take to get it all together will be massively reduced.
So like yesterday I decided to have a go at making the Doggie Christmas Stocking from Sweetpea Embroidery. Because I know I need to make at least two of these for gifts, as I prepped the fabric pieces for the first stocking I did the second. It took me longer, obviously but Jay was home and was doing all the running around for me so all I had to do was sew. When or if I manage to get to the embroidery machine today all I will need to do is stitch it out as everything is ready and cut to size. This is how I have to do all my projects, I do all the prepping one day or over a couple of days and then when I make the item I can concentrate solely on that rather than expend energy I don't have. It is very rare for me to be able to start and finish a project no matter how small in a day. As my actual time I am able to work is so severely limited. I can't sit at the embroidery machine or sewing machine all day, I am deeply envious of those who can. I am in pain within 20 minutes, so have to take regular breaks. I have an alarm on my phone that goes off every 20 minutes to ensure that I get up and move / change positions. Otherwise it will cost me £45 at the physiotherapist whilst she tortures me ( in the nicest possible way ) to correct the damage I have done to myself.
It's the same for material prepping. Everything is done in stages. Many times I make cardboard templates to help me with ensuring I cut out the right size fabric pieces. This helps with cutting down waste and ensures that even if I am not thinking straight as long as I have the right template ( sometimes that isn't as easy as it sounds) I can be trusted to cut my fabric out. Obviously making templates adds more time to a project, it tends to only happen if I know I will be making more than one of an item. Basically the majority of my life is spent breaking down tasks into smaller manageable chunks so that I have the energy to be creative and give my life some meaning.
Currently there are boxes everywhere with bits of fabric / templates / batting all cut to the correct sizes waiting to be embroidered and sewn together. It will all get done but it will be done slowly and in the best way that I can pace myself.
I am so exhausted today as Sunday I had two visits from friends who had come to collect their table runners that I had made them, one in the morning, one in the afternoon. It was great to see them but we also had dog training in the middle of the day.
The table runners had taken a lot out of me getting made and I had been stressed out about getting them straight and sewn together nicely. I took a lot of time over it. The top stitching alone left me needing a nap afterwards last Friday. I sewed the rest of it together on Saturday afternoon.
Monday I had my hair done for the first time since August, it needed done desperately as I had already used my dressmaking shears to hack a sizeable amount off the fringe ( bangs ). After my attempt at hairdressing it was even more important that it was sorted out. I am lucky that I have a wonderful friend who does my hair for me and knows I find the whole process exhausting. Doing it at home means it takes 2.5 hours instead of 4 hours being overstimulated by lights and sound in a hair salon. 4 hours in a salon would probably lead me to be bed bound for around a day.
Tuesday - the last medical appointment was for my filling. I did it without diazepam the first appointment in ages where I have managed that. My dentist and I have now got a process that works and reduces my anxiety. I had to ask him just to not tell me any detail about the procedure. I only need to know that I require a filling not what he will be doing. It worked brilliantly as he didnt tell me on the 4th of November what the process would be and yesterday as he did it he kept quiet . It worked like a charm. I was just left with TMJ pain in the afternoon and evening, which triggered a migraine. I spent a lot of the dog training session last night losing the vision in my right eye and the feeling that my scalp was shrinking.
Today ( Wednesday ) I have woken up with the remains of a migraine, waves of nausea and just generally feeling washed out and knackered. I will push myself later to get something on the Christmas present to do list made or completed but for the minute I am drinking bucket loads of coffee in the hope it will make me feel more human again.
Thursday, 14 November 2019
I'm back
Like all holidays that sabbatical seemed to go alarmingly fast! It seems like 5 minutes ago I wrote and told you I was taking a break, for the first time in forever. Loads has happened
since I wrote my last blog post back on 24th October. Despite the fact it has only been 3 weeks. Crazy how life goes.
Hubby and I had a good birthday and were spoilt by our friends and family. Due to being unable to get the time off work I spent the afternoon of my birthday with Heather. She brought a load of second hand clothes with her from a local group, where you offer things to the community and in return if you take an item you donate fresh food to the families being helped by the group who are receiving food bank parcels. The group is currently helping around 20 families who through no fault of their own are struggling. In all my life I don't think I have ever known so many people who are struggling financially or so many people relying on food banks. When I was growing up I had never even heard of a food bank. Yet for some families these days it is the only way they can feed themselves once the rent and bills have been paid. So whilst I had fun with the clothes at the back of my mind were these poor families.
We had a good laugh trying on the clothes, my brain is taking a long time to catch up with the fact that I have lost 4 and a half stone (63lbs) I see smaller size clothes and think well that will never fit and then almost die of shock when I can get it on. Some of the clothes were hideous or just too revealing. But I am so grateful for the stuff I have been able to take from it to tide me over until I get to my target weight. At the moment its jumpers and stuff I can layer up that I need due to my poor temperature regulation and menopausal hot flushes. I am either freezing cold or throwing every item off because I am suddenly dripping with sweat.
Heather gifted me a wonderful birthday present, which I haven't stopped using since I unwrapped it. It is a hot water bottle that is long and skinny. It must be over a metre long and about 10-15cm wide. It can take up to two litres of hot water. What I love about it is that I can wrap it around myself. So I can apply heat to my lower back and hips in one go. Where as before this could have only been achieved using three.
Mr Myasthenia Kid bought me a wool pressing mat to help me with my sewing and embroidery. It means I don't have to wait for him to be home to get the ironing board out. Any surface can now be turned into an ironing board and it produces the most amazing results. I also got a beginners book on crochet. I have wanted to teach myself for ages and wasn't expecting anything crochet related until Christmas so it made a lovely surprise.
I managed to get lots of things made which reduced the panic I had been feeling. I still have a mountain of stuff to do but it is a much more manageable mountain. I was feeling before like I was being suffocated under the list of jobs that needed done which is why I took time away from the blog. I just needed to get rid of the jobs that I could and focus on the stuff that I needed to get done. Some stuff I can post here but the rest I can't due to them being people's Christmas presents.
I'm still making my way through lots of stuff but I no longer have to keep pushing myself beyond my limits. I am no longer surviving on painkillers and very little sleep.
We also managed a trip out for a few hours for a walk, somewhere I could take my scooter. Dembe adored going to Haldon Forest. He was spinning around like a kid with excitement.
It was so lovely to get out and blow some cobwebs away. I said to Jay in the car on the way home "if you told me at the start of the year that I would be able to feel this happy again ever, I wouldn't have believed you". Even when we had Dembe in the beginning I just felt like I was going through the motions. Now I feel like I am living again and want to be present.
I have taught myself to crochet ( how well I have no clue) I started on the 2nd November ( badly) and found some videos to help me. My hands have been fine up until today, the base of my thumbs are killing me this morning and my fingers are really stiff. I have managed to make myself a snood / infinity scarf from a yarn tea cake ( huge ball of variegated yarn ) which I finished last night and I am also working on a Christmas blanket.
The pattern on my snood is almost like one called vintage shells. So it is raised up and not flat, I made a lot of mistakes, mainly counting - thanks dyscalculia but I am incredibly proud as considering I hadn't even picked up a crochet hook until 2nd November 2019 , I think I have done well.
I've had two appointments, the eye hospital where they were incredibly pleased with how well my eyes are doing with these new drops. I still have the odd evening where I forget to apply them because I have fallen asleep but on the whole I do remember. I had the dentist last week and as I thought I need a filling so that will be happening on Tuesday next week. I am trying to keep that at the back of my mind. Tomorrow I have an ultrasound on my neck to check out the lump only I seem to be able to feel. It is non stop fun here.
We are back at dog training again. Dembe loves it there and cries with excitement as he knows where he is going on a Tuesday evening. We have also started dog agility training for fun, our first lesson was on Sunday. Dembe did incredibly well, his obedience training has really paid off as he was by miles one of the best behaved there, even though he was sick - probably because he had been swimming in the sea before we went. Yes my baby had swam in the sea!
This Saturday is Dembe's first birthday! Can you believe it? It is crazy as we still see him as our tiny pup. He won't be fully grown for another 12 months but I think he will always be our dinky dot.
And yes I am knackered and in pain from all this going out. I have to try to pace myself and get some down time in between excursions but unfortunately that isn't always possible. I am learning to be kinder to myself and not see rest days as a failure or lack of achievement.
since I wrote my last blog post back on 24th October. Despite the fact it has only been 3 weeks. Crazy how life goes.
Hubby and I had a good birthday and were spoilt by our friends and family. Due to being unable to get the time off work I spent the afternoon of my birthday with Heather. She brought a load of second hand clothes with her from a local group, where you offer things to the community and in return if you take an item you donate fresh food to the families being helped by the group who are receiving food bank parcels. The group is currently helping around 20 families who through no fault of their own are struggling. In all my life I don't think I have ever known so many people who are struggling financially or so many people relying on food banks. When I was growing up I had never even heard of a food bank. Yet for some families these days it is the only way they can feed themselves once the rent and bills have been paid. So whilst I had fun with the clothes at the back of my mind were these poor families.
We had a good laugh trying on the clothes, my brain is taking a long time to catch up with the fact that I have lost 4 and a half stone (63lbs) I see smaller size clothes and think well that will never fit and then almost die of shock when I can get it on. Some of the clothes were hideous or just too revealing. But I am so grateful for the stuff I have been able to take from it to tide me over until I get to my target weight. At the moment its jumpers and stuff I can layer up that I need due to my poor temperature regulation and menopausal hot flushes. I am either freezing cold or throwing every item off because I am suddenly dripping with sweat.
Heather gifted me a wonderful birthday present, which I haven't stopped using since I unwrapped it. It is a hot water bottle that is long and skinny. It must be over a metre long and about 10-15cm wide. It can take up to two litres of hot water. What I love about it is that I can wrap it around myself. So I can apply heat to my lower back and hips in one go. Where as before this could have only been achieved using three.
Mr Myasthenia Kid bought me a wool pressing mat to help me with my sewing and embroidery. It means I don't have to wait for him to be home to get the ironing board out. Any surface can now be turned into an ironing board and it produces the most amazing results. I also got a beginners book on crochet. I have wanted to teach myself for ages and wasn't expecting anything crochet related until Christmas so it made a lovely surprise.
I managed to get lots of things made which reduced the panic I had been feeling. I still have a mountain of stuff to do but it is a much more manageable mountain. I was feeling before like I was being suffocated under the list of jobs that needed done which is why I took time away from the blog. I just needed to get rid of the jobs that I could and focus on the stuff that I needed to get done. Some stuff I can post here but the rest I can't due to them being people's Christmas presents.
I'm still making my way through lots of stuff but I no longer have to keep pushing myself beyond my limits. I am no longer surviving on painkillers and very little sleep.
We also managed a trip out for a few hours for a walk, somewhere I could take my scooter. Dembe adored going to Haldon Forest. He was spinning around like a kid with excitement.
It was so lovely to get out and blow some cobwebs away. I said to Jay in the car on the way home "if you told me at the start of the year that I would be able to feel this happy again ever, I wouldn't have believed you". Even when we had Dembe in the beginning I just felt like I was going through the motions. Now I feel like I am living again and want to be present.
I have taught myself to crochet ( how well I have no clue) I started on the 2nd November ( badly) and found some videos to help me. My hands have been fine up until today, the base of my thumbs are killing me this morning and my fingers are really stiff. I have managed to make myself a snood / infinity scarf from a yarn tea cake ( huge ball of variegated yarn ) which I finished last night and I am also working on a Christmas blanket.
The pattern on my snood is almost like one called vintage shells. So it is raised up and not flat, I made a lot of mistakes, mainly counting - thanks dyscalculia but I am incredibly proud as considering I hadn't even picked up a crochet hook until 2nd November 2019 , I think I have done well.
I've had two appointments, the eye hospital where they were incredibly pleased with how well my eyes are doing with these new drops. I still have the odd evening where I forget to apply them because I have fallen asleep but on the whole I do remember. I had the dentist last week and as I thought I need a filling so that will be happening on Tuesday next week. I am trying to keep that at the back of my mind. Tomorrow I have an ultrasound on my neck to check out the lump only I seem to be able to feel. It is non stop fun here.
We are back at dog training again. Dembe loves it there and cries with excitement as he knows where he is going on a Tuesday evening. We have also started dog agility training for fun, our first lesson was on Sunday. Dembe did incredibly well, his obedience training has really paid off as he was by miles one of the best behaved there, even though he was sick - probably because he had been swimming in the sea before we went. Yes my baby had swam in the sea!
This Saturday is Dembe's first birthday! Can you believe it? It is crazy as we still see him as our tiny pup. He won't be fully grown for another 12 months but I think he will always be our dinky dot.
And yes I am knackered and in pain from all this going out. I have to try to pace myself and get some down time in between excursions but unfortunately that isn't always possible. I am learning to be kinder to myself and not see rest days as a failure or lack of achievement.
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