Catching up again

I have a lot of catching up to do- both reading and writing this time. I think i'm going to have to take a bit of a break from the blog for a week or so, just until I can get myself all caught up with all sorts of other things that are going on at the moment. Things like:

* My nephew's first birthday
* My other nephew's first day at school
* Wrapping up Summer School for the term
* Getting reading to head back to Uni
* Making sure I tackle some health related stuff that i'm trying to ignore

It's my birthday on the 11th so I aim to be back by then- in the meantime I will probably post some of the photos i've been taking recently from all my little adventures.

Mikes International Walking Team

I've joined a walking group, the only problem is it's based in Australia! Luckily that's not really going to be much of a problem as Pip from Meet me at Mikes, who started the club, is using the wonders of the internet to get us up off our bums and out walking each day for 21 days, in the hopes that we form a walking habit. My first walk yesterday took me into town to the library to return some books (oh ok to return a DVD and some comics) and today's walk took me to the park with my Dad (where we ate lunch).

Pip is setting little challenges for us to follow if we wish:

on the next walk - pick a few flowers and pretty stems - the kind that hang through fences and grow lonely by the side of the road. the kind no one minds you picking. take them home and photograph them. then let us see them! and don't forget they should grace your desk to remind you of HOW GOOD YOU ARE!

We are also encouraged to come up with a play list for our MP3 players to listen to while we walk. I discovered that listening to Make Up whilst walking means you walk really fast, want to sing along and can't help smiling. Listening to Johnny Cash means you slow down and whilst still wanting to sing along you feel a bit sillier doing it. I recently re-discovered my MP3 player, having been convinced it had been stolen I found it hanging up under my coat.

I made a zine!

It's funny the things you can get done if you just sit down and DO it! I've just made a very mini zine all about my ankles...not the most exciting thing to write a zine about but I just started drawing and it ended up telling a bit of a story.

Yours for 50p- it's only 6 pages (8 with the cover). A5 size and in full black and white. I'll be listing it in my shop tomorrow (soon as I have a photo of it) but if you want a copy you can just leave a comment.

Breath in, breath out

5.30 in the morning, my bathroom looked so pretty, it's a shame I hadn't been able to sleep yet.

Yesterday I ended up at the doctors, sat with my face in a nebuliser trying to get my breathing working again. The short walk to the doctors had left me totally breathless and unable to talk very well- i've been having very bad hay fever for the last few weeks and it seems like it's hit my lungs now. I left with a prescription for steroids, anti-biotics and a new inhaler. The steroids kicked in pretty quickly and i'm much better today, but think i'm going to have to take it super easy for the next few days. In the meantime, this is what I had for breakfast:

Magic Cream from Lisa Payne

A while ago I took advantage of the Alchemy feature on Etsy and made a request for someone to make me a pain relieving cream that I could use for period pain, as well as on my arthritic joints. I got lots of responses, but in the end I picked Lisa, based on the fact she asked the most questions about what I was looking for- which filled me with confidence.After asking even more questions about me and scents I liked, medication I took etc etc she blended me up this pot of magic cream and popped it in the post to me.

I now can't stop showing it to people and thought maybe I should share it with you too. This stuff is so good! One day I did an experiment and only put it on one knee - sure enough that knee was pain free all day, and the other was stiff and hurty. I've got a lot of aches today and so have smothered my knees, ankles and shoulder with the cream and it's pretty much all gone away. I feel a bit evangelical about how good Lisa is at her aromatherapy skills!

It would be a pretty good story if it ended there, but it's a much smaller world than you might think because I have since discovered that Lisa is currently in Stockholm with Miss AMP, who is a good friend of my friends Alice and Lady Lucy. In another twist of fate we worked out that I was a cats whisker away from actually visiting her house at New Year, where Alice was cat sitting.

So not only does she make magic cream, she has some of the best people as her friends too. Now go and buy something from her. Look what else she makes: