Friday 24 June 2016

Brexit Schmexit

I, for one,  was confused as to which way to vote yesterday. I had my concerns on both fronts.

But I'll be honest,  I didn't fully understand all the ins and outs and actually how much of an impact staying or leaving would have on me and my family directly. I generally avoided watching all the debates etc on the TV because it just confused me further.

I'm not embarrassed to say that I am not a politically minded person and that I perhaps don't fully understand all the implications.  But I am extremely embarrassed by the ignorance that so many voters actually have.  I'm embarrassed by the attitude of "let's get rid of all the foreign workers" - "they've stolen our jobs". And that is what their vote has been based on.  End of.  

Now,  don't get wrong,  I have a degree of issue with certain aspects of our immigration policies. But when you see these migrant workers doing all the (and let's be very truthful here), mostly real shit jobs, jobs that usually involve bloody hard manual work - ask yourself this. .. where are our own younger generations?  Are they banging down doors to go and do these jobs? I think not.  I think they're all too busy popping out kids and claiming benefits.  Do they even realise that the majority of these migrant workers have paid more tax into our country in the period they've worked here than most of these morons in their entire lifetime? I think not. I could go on about it but there really is no point.  

What's done is done.

I honestly hope that this will turn out to be just what we needed.  But time will tell.

As I said at the start.  I really was confused and I ultimately applied the attitude of  "better the devil you know". And so I voted to remain. 



 WORD FOR THE DAY: Moron - noun
                                                              a stupid person



THE NEXT SONG ON MY PLAYLIST:                                                     
                                                     Sam Feldt feat Kimberley Anne - Show Me Love















Monday 20 June 2016

Building Bridges



I grew up with two brothers and two sisters.

Since becoming adults and going off on our various different paths in life, needless to say, like most families, we have all had our disagreements and fall outs.

Unfortunately, and without boring you with my side of the stories, one of my brothers and both of my sisters and I have not spoken or been in contact for around 5 years (for the shortest period) and then 8 years and nearly 10 years for the others.

During the time that Max has gone through all of his surgeries and difficulties, and me with my own serious health issues, I have not had these people in my life for the most part. Along with my mother.

Now, this may surprise you, but this has actually not been a bad thing for me. I have managed to deal with all that has been thrown at me without their "support". Sometimes, people have far too much going on in their own lives to be able to give you the kind of support you need.
But when circumstances change sometimes, and you are seeing that one of your siblings has been going through some very difficult stuff (which is not actually of their own doing), it is an opportunity to try and reach out and start to make amends.

My younger sister is in the very blessed position to have had a bit of a fresh start in life. A new relationship which resulted in marriage and two beautiful little girls. All in the last 3 and a half years.

However, her youngest daughter is only 6 months old and has spent the most part of that time being in and out of  hospital with health issues. At times, the situation has actually been life threatening. Having been in a very similar situation with Max as a baby, I can honestly understand what she has been going through. She has had the added pressure of having a 2 year old that she hasn't been able to be with as much as she would have wanted to because of having to stay at the hospital for weeks at a time.

So, I decided that I needed to make the effort to reach out and let her know that I care. That I wanted to try to be around for her should she need me to be. Several weeks of messaging later, a visit to the hospital to meet the baby, and here we are. And it seems to all be plodding along quite nicely.

On Saturday, I finally met her eldest - a celebration for her 3rd birthday.

I can honestly say that I couldn't be happier about being able to go and be with my sister and her little family. To meet my other beautiful little niece. She is a gorgeous little character. Very bright and confident and hugely affectionate. The baby is a complete angel. She's so placid and very happy to have cuddles despite all the poking and prodding that she's had to endure with her hospital visits. I couldn't be any more proud of them both already. For those of you who know me well enough, you'll know that generally speaking, little girls aren't my thing. Haha. Screeching and whinging is most of the experience I've had when in little girls' company and i just. Can't. Ha ha - Oh well, grumpy me.

To top off the visit, my brother and his family were able to get there too. so my 6 year old nephew and my 5 month old nephew were also there. Gorgeous little monkeys, the pair of them.
 
I was spoilt for choice being surrounded by my nieces and nephews. For the first time in a very long time, I felt the little part in my heart that has been a bit sore for the lack of "family" these past few years and the sadness of not yet being able to have another baby, start to feel a bit better.
I can only hope that my relationship with my sister and her family continues to be a good thing in each of our lives and that my two new nieces get to know us as their Auntie, Uncle, and cousin. I cannot wait to see them again. The gorgeous little sausages!

I do have a "never say never" mentality in life. But I do struggle with bullshit, selfishness, liars and aggressive people. I've always  been pretty intolerant like that.And i'd rather just distance myself from people like that, rather than just keep having the same old arguments over and over. Even more so since my own health problems. As much as I sometimes wish I could forgive a lot more easily and just move on, I struggle a bit.  Ha! But, the steps I have taken so far with my little sister has rewarded me with having these two munchkins in my life.

There's definately the beginnings of a silver lining here. Who knows what tomorrow may bring for us all. xoxo




WORD FOR THE DAY:             nonpareil - noun
                                                                                                        a person or thing having no equal




 
THE NEXT SONG ON MY PLAYLIST:  
        Zac Brown Band Feat. Jimmy Buffett - Knee Deep
Such a holiday song!! 





Thursday 16 June 2016

Clear for another Year

Yesterday I received the news that my MRI scan had come back "All clear. No tumour."

Just waiting for confirmation in writing, but hopefully, this means I won't need another MRI check up for another year. Yay me. 


WORD OF THE DAY: Terraqueous
                                                                                                  adj - Consisting of land and water




THE NEXT SONG ON MY PLAYLIST:  
                                                                 Needtobreathe - Happiness












Sunday 12 June 2016

I'm Building a Website

Here we are at the end of another weekend. It always seems to go so fast. 

Last night we watched "Criminal" with Kev.. - Kev Costner. Pretty good film. Ryan Reynolds is in it too (albeit short-lived). I am trying to build up the courage to see "Me Before You". It's based on a book of the same title by JoJo Moyes. Even now, just thinking about the story and the trailer for the film I get a bit choked up. And then, whenever I hear "Photograph" by Ed Sheeran, which is on the film's soundtrack and which features in the trailer, I am generally having to stamp my feet and puff my cheeks out to stop myself collapsing into a snot wreck. So if and when I finally watch the film I will probably be uncontactable for about a week due to the utter heartbreak of watching the story unfold. Sooooo weak. Any of you lot seen it yet??? 

Last week was relatively uneventful, which is fine for me and my brain. Max had a check up with his consultant and his leg is doing fine. Still a tiny bit of bone healing to do but really nothing to worry about. The next step really is to get some serious exercising going on to build up muscle definition in that leg as there's not enough there right now - especially when you compare it to his other leg. So, swimming will be the first thing on the agenda. We are very lucky to have a small (but well equipped) gym in our village with a swimming pool. It's not about the posturing and grunting that goes on in other gyms, and so as a starting place for Max it will be ideal. 

Amongst the usual day to day stuff and a couple of bad head days, I did 3 product reviews for The Libbie Club (part of Glamour Magazine) and so I've decided to start putting together a web page for all things beauty. I kind of thought that for the boys who might read my blog, that sheet masks, serums and mascara may not necessarily be of much interest - unless they're looking for gift ideas for the Mrs - at which point they can have a little look on the other website specifically. I am building the page myself and so as it is a little bit more sophisticated than just a basic blog page, may take a little bit of time. But it's great to be learning something new, even if it is taking HOURS to do just one little section! I think it's all in the editing for me. I can be a bit indecisive and I really want it to look good. So having spent the last few days working on that, there's really not much else to report. By all means take a note of the web address www.liveandlovebeauty.com

Men can also share in the delight of getting sheet faced
Late last night saw the (hopefully very brief) return of the monster that is vertigo. FFS. Seriously. I thought it had buggered off. Nope. And today has mostly been spent in bed with one of the idiot squad, Bert. A migraine, nausea and staggering around like a drunk again. Of course, Matt has looked after me and is getting dinner ready as I type. 
I never heard from my consultant about my MRI results last week, so that's on my to-do list for tomorrow. 
So, for now, I'm going to have my dinner and get sheet faced!


I hope you have all had a good weekend and hope that you are all healthy and happy. Thanks for popping in - see you soon.  xoxo



WORD OF THE DAY: Magnanimous - Adj 
     Generous in forgiving an insult or injury; free from petty resentfulness or vindictiveness 

~~~~~

THE NEXT SONG ON MY PLAYLIST: 
ROB BASE & DJ E-Z ROCK - IT TAKES TWO
(Click and be transported back to 1988)!   




Friday 3 June 2016

MRI Scan


So last night I had my follow up MRI scan on my little, sore brain.

At the moment, I have to have these scans repeated yearly to make sure the tumour I had removed in 2015, hasn’t started to grow back.
It’s not my favourite experience in the world, but it is a necessity. Luckily, Matt was able to be with me as it was an evening appointment.

I filled up on Rescue Remedy and I went to town and added in another Bach Flower Remedy, White Chestnut, which is for helping get rid of repetitive, negative thoughts and promote positivity and tranquility. 

I won’t go into too much detail about the type of repetitive and unwanted thoughts I have when I allow myself to think of laying in the MRI tunnel. Let’s just say it involves not being able to get to a toilet… Please go ahead and have a little snigger about that. I do once I’m out of the panic phase. I think it’s the actual build up and waiting around that is my worst time. Once I’m in, I’m usually ok. I always have to have a contrast dye injected into my arm as well after the first few images have been done. I don’t have a needle phobia or anything but I do have a bit of a hard time with the nurses trying to find my veins. They are very deep and sometimes I have to get stabbed a few times before they hit gold. Urgh….


If any of you have not been lucky enough to have had an MRI before, they’re not the quietest, to say the least. Even with the ear plugs in. Plus there’s usually a bit of vibrating and shaking going on too..... Or is that just me? Ha. I imagine the bit that freaks people out the most is the mask/helmet thing you have to wear when you’re having your head scanned. Somewhat claustrophobic. And certainly not a great look! Oh and good luck if you get an itchy nose!
 

Anyway. Hoping to have the results back in about a week, so please feel free to keep things crossed or indeed send up a little prayer that it all comes back clear.



Word of the day:    Jubilate - verb - To Rejoice



The Next Song on My Playlist: 
Needtobreathe feat. Gavin DeGraw - Brother  (click & have a listen)