crochet

Back to School

Half term seemed to fly by so quickly, how long until Easter? The kids went back to school today and I went to pick them up. Hubby had to take eldest daughter to a very important meeting on the other side of town so it was down to me to fetch the kids. I had to get eldest son to come with me as I’ve still not been out alone. It feels strange, that I’ve not been out alone in more than two years, what happened to my independence? I guess that’s something I need to work on, starting with the blogger’s retreat that I’m going to in April.

Anyway, back to the kids. It was so, so, cold, even snowing, when I ventured out in my wheelchair. I had my biggest warmest coat on, gloves, hat and scarf. I took my handbag to sit on my lap and provide an extra layer of protective warmth and of course I had my boots on. I still nearly froze to death! Jeez, how cold it was! The school is one and half miles away. I know this because I measured it when I was trying to keep fit and measuring the amount of walking I did each day..ironic, I know! At that time I was having to pick the Little Man up from nursery so walked the journey there and back three times a day, that’s 9 miles!

The kids were excited that I came to pick them up and didn’t seem to mind walking home, even though the snow had stopped.

Shopping

I do my shopping online, for two reasons. One, I find it extremely tiring going around the supermarket, even in one of their powered trollies. And two, I find I can budget better online, it’s easier to put things back than it is at the checkout in the store!

I find shopping online incredibly tedious though and I’m often tempted just to fill the virtual shopping trolly with last weeks shop. Still, as I work through it all I’m very prone to make mistakes, so I do it on Saturday and then spend the next day or so editing it until I’m sure I’ve got it right. I remember the time I ordered 4 kg of frozen chips! Or 3 whole chickens.

This week I didn’t do the shop until Sunday and with the going back to school preparations I didn’t go back to edit it. It wasn’t too bad though, I didn’t forget anything (apart from ANY toiletries whatsoever!) I did order an extra loaf of bread, 2 boxes of choc ices instead of 1, and the wrong sausages for the Little Mans lunchbox. I’m thinking there may have been more errors but hubby was shoving it all away at the speed of light because he had a new PS4 game to play.

Reading

Can you call it reading when you’ve listened to a book on audio? Well, I have been listening to books for a while but I steered away from fiction thinking I wouldn’t enjoy it as much as a book. The truth is, I LOVE IT, you can listen while doing other things, like cleaning or, my favourite, crocheting. Anyway, the book I listened to was The Girl on The Train, Paula Hawkins. I’ve not read it before or seen the film and I have to say, I loved it. The narrators where amazingly good, I couldn’t stop listening.

Just one thing though. I never, ever skip to the ending of a book, I really don’t see the point of spoiling it. However, while listening I was interrupted by the Little Man and had to pause it. Then when I switched it back on I had somehow managed to skip ten chapters and was near the end. I KNEW, I’d missed part of the story, I KNEW I was near the end, but I was so gripped I carried on listening anyway. Then I had to go back and listen to fill in all the gaps. Why did I carry on when I would never do this while reading? I just don’t know, but I still enjoyed the book anyway. I really want to see the film now.

Crochet

I’ve joined my first ever CAL or Crochet Along. I’m making a blanket, one square at a time, along with a group of other people on a Facebook group. The pattern is printed monthly in Simply Crochet magazine. I’m hoping it’s not going to be too difficult but I guess I’ll have lots of help if I run into problems.

I’ve also bought a book of cuddly toy patterns that I’m keen to try. You can get these sort of patterns on the internet but I think it’s nice to have them all in one place in a book. These are bigger than the amigurami toys I’m used to making so I’m hoping I don’t lose patience with them. They all have cute little outfits too which you can interchange for different looks.

Rare Disease Day 2018

February 28th is Rare Disease Day. As you may, or may not know, I suffer from an extremely rare condition, Stiff Person Syndrome. I’ve written a post about my story, which began only two years ago, and if you have five minutes you can read it here.