It's been a long while.....

It's been ages but I'm back!

Finding beauty around us.

There has been a lot happened since I last blogged, lots of it has been good and some of it has been dam right scary. They say live each day to the best of your ability and of late I've realised just how important that statement is. 

So what's new?

So at the start of this year I made a promise to my extended family that this years Christmas gifts would all be handmade and crafted. I spent time choosing patterns and falling in love with amazing wool and made a good start on completing two huge gifts. Who they are for? I'm unsure yet but they will all come together once I have everything I want to get done and then can choose what I want to give to whom. 

The two pieces I completed already have really gone down well with everyone I've shown so far for a second, third, millionth opinion which is always a fabulous confidence boost. Being crafty it's hard to trust your own judgement as you see so many wonderful pieces of work on the web and in groups your in that you begin to doubt your own abilities.  The fact that others would like duplicates of what you have created is a fabulous confidence boost. I have realised with events that have happened recently that sometimes I need to trust my judgement more and not worry about the consequences, this I'm sure without a doubt we are all very guilty of doing if we are honest to ourselves.

So my year has been bubbling along nicely. 

I've continued to battle the bulge, not as successfully as I'd like but that long battle is still on going. The intention is there every week I leave the slimming group and during the week but it never seems to stay 100% through out the week. I must and will change this. With new plans afoot I'm hoping things will soon change x

I meet weekly with the three crafty girls, I love my Thursday nights we laugh, giggle, put the worlds to right, (I tell you now between us the world would run far more harmoniously) be silly, support each other and share our skills to make ourselves more confident in new things. Most of all we are there for one an another and sometimes a silly message or a virtual hug goes a long way to making a day that little bit better. It's hard sometimes being so close to a group of people and not being able to do more to help them when they are having a hard time, thankfully we try to support each other and all our quirks as much as possible.

Something I'm working on. Something for me or not?

Meditation! Seriously I think I'd be even more of a fruit loop if it wasn't for Elly at Evangeline Therapies (she can be found on Facebook). The group I meditate with are a mixed group of ladies and a gent. We do guided meditations, breathing exercises, Om, Pranayama breathing techniques (I admit I get the worst case of the giggles doing these, sorry guys), crystal healing. With Elly and her magical powers she is able to calms and empowers us all to make the world a more harmonious place. 

After meeting Elly I've realised a lot of ways in which I've not got the best out of life. Elly talks about everything having an equal balance, so if you take from the world you have to put something back, which makes complete sense. So every negative thought or action you undertake you eventually have to give something positive back and vise versa. I'm trying hard to embrace this thought now and make better choice with day to day choices. With Elly and Chrissie I did my Reiki one course and have been using the disciplines I've learnt to 'love' myself (this is really hard as I know you'll all understand) and tried to have a more positive out look on life and be more grateful for the smallest of things. Often when I got up in the morning I'd groan as it was time to get up, it was miserable outside, the kids we moaning, I needed to to do this that and the other. Now I try to get up in the mornings a say a mental thank you for being able to get out of bed that morning, thank the birds for their beautiful song whilst I've been showering, thank you for being in a warm home with everything I need. I'm know I sound like a hippie but you know what? I don't care! This new out look has helped me a great deal the past 5/6 weeks and I'm sticking to it! 

The five principles of Reiki in trying to live by.

Work is good, the school I work in is more like extended family in lots of ways and recently it's been more evident than ever how much we all look after each other. I'm proud to talk about the school I work at. I'm passionate about it in all aspects, sometimes too passionate LOL. The simple off the cuff comments the children make that can turn a good day into an amazing day, the care and attention and love they show for everyone and thing, watching them grow into the people they're going to dazzle the world with. It's not all about the children it's the staff around you who are there to make your day sparkle, make you that surprise cup of tea or fetch your lunch without being asked, just a smile or Hello, How's you? All these things help make my day seem so much better. 

All sounds merry and bright in the world of me ATM but it hasn't all been that way. On a normal Tuesday morning at the beginning March I woke up feeling quite wheezy (I'm asthmatic) and I used my inhalers as I would normally. It had gone really cold over night and I convinced myself I would be fine it was just a 'wheezy' morning, so I went about my morning in my normal routine ignoring the breathing and lack of length in my sentences. there were at least 6 opportunities where I should of just stopped and got my blue inhaler and sorted myself out but being me and being stubborn I carried on until it was too late. 

"I don't have asthma attacks unless I'm unwell" 
"I get plenty of time to get my inhaler"
"I can use my blue inhaler and I get sorted quite quickly"
"I only ever had an ambulance called because my asthma wasn't under control" or so I thought! 

The long and short of that horrid morning is I didn't listen to MY body, to it telling me I NEEDED help NOW, to it saying NO this isn't right and sort it out NOW. Like I mentioned I have been taken by ambulance to hospital because of my asthma in the past, mainly when I'm unwell and it all kicks up or when I was first diagnosed and it wasn't under control but this was nothing like any of the other times no matter how bad it was. This time I lost consciousness, only briefly but I did. This time I'm very lucky I'm still here able to write this. This time it's scared me, frightened me, terrified me. This time I've learnt that ASTHMA isn't something to be messed with. ASTHMA can kill and if the ambulance and friends (staff) around me hadn't acted so quickly I probably wouldn't be here to write this now. No I'm not over playing my hand here I am very, very lucky things turned out the way that it did the other option isn't worth thinking about.

It could be anyone with asthma at any time, please take it seriously.

The other side of all this is that it's taken far longer to get over this than I expected, it's made life very hard, It's effected every part of me both physically and mentally. I owe everything to the people who helped me that day, I owe lots to my amazing family, my husband has been my rock. If you know me you k now how lucky I am to have Mr W as my husband he's always done loads more than the average husband, put us before all his own needs, done his up most to make sure that we have everything we need. This experience has frightened us both, he has done everything for me and made sure that my recovery has happened as best it could. When I've struggled to get up and down stairs he has cleaned the downstairs loo that we don't use so I can access it easily and without a hill of stairs to climb. Made sure that I had people visiting when he had to go back to work so I wouldn't be on my own 'just in case'. He rang regularly to check on my well being. Made jokes to lift my spirits. Came to appointments with me to support me. Listened to me as I had issues being out the house on my own by making me calm and reassuring me. He has been my everything. Would I of got through this with out him? Yes. Would I have got through this and come out the other side as well without him? No without a shadow of a doubt I wouldn't of. My Mr W I love you and am eternally grateful for all you do for us x

If you've got this far I'm grateful but there is other people I need to thank for helping me the last few weeks. Friends, lots and lots of friends. Something like this makes you realise how lucky and loved you are as a person. Many of my friends have been another rock for me. When the anxiety of being out on my own they've came and checked on me, talked me through the situation, made me go out and break my safety blankets. They've unexpectedly dropped in to check on me bringing beautiful surprises with them to lift me spirits. Cards... lots and lots of cards. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all you've done xxx

Cake? Cake makes the world a better place!

So what is next? I have the rest if the Easter holidays at home with my family spending time together (when Big teen isn't at work) I'm not going to be beaten by my anxiety or the experience I've been through stop me going forward, no matter how hard it is. I'm going back to work, I'm going to make the most of every opportunity given to me, I'm going to continue being positive, friends and family are going to be a huge part of my life and we will be spending much time together xxx

Some of mothers day flowers, I feel very loved.

So that's it for now. I promise I will be back very soon 


S xxxx



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