Looking after yourself

My boyfriend sent me this a few days ago and today I have pleased him by following its advice.  I've also managed to cope on only two doses of painkillers so far which is pretty good but I have spent a fair amount of the day being barely able to move out of bed so it all balances out (yesterday I had 5 doses and pottered around).  This is for anyone out there who is having a hard time and needs some cute.

Live below the line

A friend posted a link on facebook to Oxfam's 'Live Below the Line' campaign, where you are expected to spend no more than £1 on food and drink per day, for a week.

https://www.livebelowtheline.com/uk?lang=en

It's a challenging project and one that strikes a chord with me as I am being more concerned about money matters at the moment.  Fortunately I'm able to move back in with my parents and they are supporting me and maybe one day I'll even get some employment support allowance, but there are so many people who don't have that and for whom sustenance is scarce.

Here is my response to my friend's request for people to join her:

"I think it's a very thought provoking idea and would certainly provide a lot on insight into how poverty can affect your life. It would be really difficult to do!! It's sure to cause a lot of stress and if anyone is already finding life a struggle it might not be the best thing to do. I know I use food as comfort and treats more than I ought to and also that I probably eat more than I should - but when I look at my life overall and take everything into account I think there are more important things to be concerned about. For me to challenge what I eat even further than adjusting those things and trying to carry out LBTL would just be unrealistic and I think it's really important to consider all the energy requirements of your body, life stressors, emotional relationship with food etc etc before committing to something like this. That's not to say that you (or anyone else) shouldn't do it though"

Povery is a huge problem and although I'm not going to raise awareness by participating in the campaign I wanted to post and maybe make you think a little about it too.  A *bit* of a departure from my norm as it is very unlike me to speak about anything like this (whatever I might inwardly think) but I hope you will accept it and that my next entry will be craft related.

Patchwork

I haven't finished the first block but I've decided to more on to the next one...

The first one is going to have the word 'health' stitched across it in ribbon (you can see the start of the word in the picture).  My boyfriend's parents gave me a necklace for Christmas where you have a little oyster to open and you get a pearl to put in a setting.  Mine came out a peachy/pinky colour which is supposed to mean health which for me is very applicable.  So the colours of the block reflect that and it was to be the start of a positivity project.

Unfortunately my health has not been *quite* so good and I've been quite down about my circumstances and haven't wanted to complete the block as it felt like adding insult to injury.  Today however (after a mini meltdown and chatting to a very lovely friend) I have started a new block.  It's laid out and I'll leave it for a day or so to see if I want to tweak it at all and then start stitching.  Hopefully this time I can make it square!!

 

The purple fabric on the left will be appliqued on in this block's word: HOPE.  I want to carry on in a more positive frame of mind and try and accept the limitations my body has at the moment but believe that it will get better.  And also try to allow myself to stop and rest and relax and take the time that I need to recouperate.  I can do this, I hope.