Posts made in September, 2010

Writing Workshop: Priorities

Posted by Josie on Sep 30, 2010 in Writing, Writing Workshop | 10 comments

Welcome back to this week’s Writing Workshop…

At the bottom of this post you’ll find the Linky to link up your posts, but first it’s my turn. I chose prompt number one: a re-think of my priorities…

Priorities Right Now

1. Days shall be got through One At A Time. Worries about future plans shall be pushed into the fuzzy crevices of my mind along with my memories of how to make pastry.

2. Naps shall be permissible as frequently as required and for as long as they can be gotten away with.

3. Blog business shall be neglected as much as desired. Posts shall be late, infrequent or not at all. Walks in the sunshine, sleeping and curling up with a good book shall always come first.

4. I shall remember to eat.

5. I shall remember to eat something that is not a Nutella sandwich.

6. Reading stories, playing monsters, drinking milkshakes in cafes and poking things with sticks shall be my primary parenting focuses. I shall measure my level of achievement by the intensity of the resulting giggles. All other apparent measures of ‘successful’ parenting shall be ignored.

7. I will find something that makes me laugh every day. And do it twice.

8. I shall endeavour not to snigger when my DVD pilates instructor says “powerhouse engagement” and “glutes”. Yes I know they are silly words but those damn exercises are doing wonders for my muscle tone and I should be grateful.

9. I shall also endeavour not to stare at her bum when she does that hip swivel thingy. Blimey.

10. I shall remember that I am loved and seen and supported. If I forget I shall let people remind me.

11. I shall, at all times, repeat the mantras “This too shall pass” and “You are doing just fine you dozy cow. Now go and put the kettle on and have biscuit”.

12. I shall find a job. Some how. I will.

(P.S. I’m sorry about all the vague secrecy just now, I really am. Some stuff is happening, some of you know about it, some of you don’t. It’s not a secret but I can’t really talk about it publicly so happy to chat ‘off record’ if you really want to. I’m ok though. I think. No, I am. Thanks x)

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So now it’s your turn. What prompt did you chose?

1. What’s your biggest priority right now? Do you need to rethink yours?

- Inspired by Cosmicgirlie’s beautiful photos of her boys over at Mocha Beanie Mummy.

2. A time you got lost.

- Inspired by lovely Paula at Battling On who ended up in completely the wrong place last week.

3. First steps.

- Inspired by Young and Younger and her gorgeous twins’ first shoes.

4. Tell us about something a little out of the ordinary that you did over the summer.

- Inspired by Rosie who is blogging this week about her amazing trip to Cameroon on behalf of Pampers and UNICEF. Can’t wait to read all about it!

5. Imperfection

- Suggested by Debbie from I am not a Colour!

Which one did you chose?

Leave your name and the URL to your post in the MckLinky below (the URL should be to your post not just to your blog) If you have the time it would be great if you could try and read and comment on at least two other entries. And be kind! It’s supposed to be a bit of fun – we’re not looking for the next Booker Prize winner here.

If you haven’t had chance to respond yet, then you’ve still got till Sunday to enter your link! Or just wait till next week, when there’ll be five brand new prompts to get you thinking.

The Gallery: Gingerbread Art

Posted by Josie on Sep 29, 2010 in Photography | 13 comments

I put this on my Posterous yesterday, but then I remembered that Tara’s Gallery theme was food this week and it seemed too good to miss.

This is what happens if you make me do proper parenting stuff, people.

It starts out as a regular “it’s raining, let’s make gingerbread” kind of day and before you know it I’ve got bored and decided to recreate Picasso’s ‘Guernica’.

Tomorrow I shall be cooking pancakes and hanging them over boxes Dali-stylee. (I totally stole that idea from my friend by the way. But I will pretend it’s mine).

This post was written for Tara’s Gallery

The theme this week was Food

Loved

Posted by Josie on Sep 28, 2010 in Sponsored Posts | 7 comments

My favourite people today are Interflora UK. You know why? Cause they just made a very special person’s day.

Interflora have been offering to send out beautiful bouquets to some bloggers. It was a lovely offer to receive but I thought I’d be a bit cheeky and ask if my bouquet could be sent out to my friend instead.

For me, giving flowers are one the best ways to make someone feel loved. And this particular person deserves to feel very loved indeed.

They arrived today and made her and her girls beam big beaming smiles as they all decided what colour each flower smelled of.

Thanks Interflora x

In which I give you a biology lesson and you either go “Ooh! That’s interesting!” or fall asleep.

Posted by Josie on Sep 28, 2010 in Me | 17 comments

Did you know that emotional stress hurts? I mean, actually really fricking painfully hurt? Well, it does me anyway. And because I am currently lying in bed, in too much pain to sleep, I thought I’d tell you why…

I have Fibromyalgia. Regular readers of this blog will know that already, but I don’t tend to talk about it all that often so maybe you don’t. I started getting symptoms when I was really little, maybe 8? ‘Growing pains’ we would call it or ‘a touch of the flu’, although growing pains don’t normally put you on crutches,  and the intense fatigue would wipe me out for weeks and months at a time. My body’s always had a rather odd way of working sometimes, having inexplicable sensory and physical reactions to things. It left me very ill for most of teens and in a wheelchair for most of twenties, before I really leant to understand the way it worked and how to manage it. Anyway. It’s been a lot better for the last few years and I’ve finally got a handle on it, but it does like to come and bite me on the ass from time to time.

Like now. Because I’m stressed, see? And Fibro bodies don’t really process stress in the same way as healthy bodies.

Fibromyalgia is the diagnosis I received in the end and current research into the illness and the things being discovered about the role of biochemicals in Fibromyalgia is beginning to shed some light on what it is exactly that is different about the way my body works.

Most people tend to think of Fibromyalgia as a bit like arthritis, or a bit like MS,  but although it sometimes presents a bit like both, it’s actually something quite different.

Fibromyalgia is a nervous system malfunction, more specifically a biochemical malfunction. Now, biochemicals are the things in your body known as “infomational substances” – that is, the substances that convey information from one part of your body to another. This includes exciting things like hormones, neurotransmitters, neuromodulators and other things with fancy names. They affect your entire body and your brain, almost every aspect of the way your body functions, and in Fibromylagia it’s the way these informational substances are balanced and used that causes the problems. Most significantly in Fibromyalgia, it seems to be the biochemicals used to process pain and sensory stimulation that are most out of whack. That means lots of OWWWWs. Lots of them.

Now there’s LOADS of examples I could give here – Fibromyalgia is a complicated disease with a multitude of symptoms, but it’s the way it makes your body respond to STRESS that has always been the most pervasive for me.

I could never understand why emotional and physical stress made me so ill, and by ‘stress’ I mean anything that put my body under pressure. Intense emotions, sensory stimulation, physical injury… For a long time it was assumed that the ‘pain’ I reported to feel was psychosomatic. And I actually believed it for a while. Despite being in more pain than even morphine drips could keep under control at times, I was told it so often I actually believed for a while that I was going mad. That’s pretty hard when you’re twelve, I can tell you. What took years and years to realise was that my body wasn’t responding psychologically to stress, it was genuinely responding physically.

We all know that external stresses causes the body to react in a specific, physical way. Certain hormones and chemicals are released, like adrenaline and cortisol and lots of others with names I can’t remember. In layman’s terms, stress, of any kind, can cause a ‘fight or flight’ response, a way of priming your body for the appropriate action. Emotional stress may leave us shaky and tired as we recover from shock, physical stress like really bright light will make us squint, or hurting ourselves will produce pain messages that make us stop and rest while we heal. It’s all the body’s way of regaining balance.

In really chronically stressed people, the effects can last a while, but in generally healthy people, once the stress is removed, the chemical messages adjust themselves and things return to normal. The problem in Fibromyalgia seems to be that that doesn’t happen. You know when you have a sudden fright and your muscles tense? Well, imagine that once the fright passes your muscles stay tensed and won’t release. Imagine that the way looking into a bright light makes your eyes hurt continues even when you’re in a dark room. And imagine that your body keeps being told it is hurting, even when there’s absolutely nothing to cause the pain.

That’s pretty much what happens with Fibromylagia. And levels of these stress chemicals just build up and up. They leave you exhausted, unable to think clearly, even SEE clearly sometimes. They cause pain in your muscles and in your joints, leaving them tense and stiff. Every tiny new stress creates a whole new cascade of chemical reactions that cause even more imbalance. Just being ill and in pain itself is a huge stress. It becomes a self-perpetuating cycle. That’s what happens in a flare-up. And that cycle can last months, even years in my case, before it slowly settles down again.

(You still awake? Wow, you’re doing well. Don’t worry, nearly finished now. Painkillers kicking in at last…)

So stress, not so good for me. Now generally I can manage the little stresses these days. My sensitivity to light and noise and physical stress is LOADS better. I do the right things to keep my body in balance and I avoid those big cascade reactions and that horrible trapped cycle of stress leading to pain leading to more stress leading to more pain.

But emotional stress? The really big kind? Yep, that still clobbers me.

You can’t take a break from emotional stress. It’s there all the time. It’s not fixed by sleep or by taking it easy for few days. Even a short period of really acute emotional stress and it’s all too easy for my body to start getting in trouble very quickly.

I’m pretty emotionally stressed just now. And the biochemical response that it’s causing is leaving me shattered and in a lot of pain. It’s hard to deal with that as well as everything else just now, but generally it’s more of an inconvenience than anything else. I get ANNOYED! I’m frustrated just now. Just at the time I need to be thinking clearly, making plans and taking control, my body is letting me down again. I haven’t got time for pain or a body that wants to just sleep all day.

Anyway. It’ll pass. I’m savvy enough now to not fall into the traps of things that make it worse.  I’ve just got to keep my head above water and tread it out.

But still. Pretty shitty huh?

Thanks for listening.

Night night x