Blogging Every Day in August: Get Crafty (Day 8)

Sarah at Yummy Mummy In Training has set herself a challenge of blogging every day in August and has listed her prompts. As my blogging is a bit hit and miss at the moment, I will be using her prompts to generate some ideas too.

Today's prompt is: Get Crafty

I have a variety of crafty things on the go at the moment, but due to depression lack of motivation is killing them all. My current O.U. course is Design and Designing, which involves lots of drawing and sketching, but the course is really draining and I'm struggling.

I have also got some plastic bottles to make the sensory bottles / bags with. I just need the contents now.

I'm sharing a couple of sketches from a recent assignment, please remember, I'm not an artist by any stretch of the imagination!

I'd also like to share a blog hop with you, I'm not a member as I cannot find the time or motivation, but I enjoy reading them.


Handmade Monday over at Handmade Harbour:



And also Wendy's new website:

 

I look forward to trying out some of the ideas on Handmade Monday eventually, and playing with digistamps, something new and exciting. 

Do stop by.

Baby Shoe Pincushion

I found Wendy's at Handmade Harbour blog a while ago, and fell in love with her style as well as her fabulous makes. 

One of my favourites was How to Make a Pincushion from an Old Baby Shoe.

The link shows the original blog post with instructions. 

I made two (obviously a pair of shoes!) from a pair a pair of boots Kiki had outgrown. I kept one, and gave the other to Kiki's Nanna for Mother's Day. 

 

 

Stress, stress, and progress

On Friday I started with painful stomach cramps, not knowing what is and isn't normal in pregnancy as this is my first baby, I used the NHS Direct website symptom checker. Having completed the options, I was presented with a recommendations page. Nothing to worry about, but someone will call you within the hour.

Within minutes, I received a call from a nurse. She went through my details, symptoms, etc. again. After the phone assessment, she advised me to call my midwife or the delivery suite at the hospital where I am planning to give birth. 

At 16:50 on a Friday I didn't hold out much hope of getting in touch with my midwife team, but they answered and talked me through what I was feeling.

The midwife said it was possible it was Braxton Hicks although a little early, or it was ligament pain from where the baby had moved to. Basically either way, take some paracetamol, rest, maybe add a bit of heat with a hot water bottle if needed. 

I had been rushing around and the cramps were only lasting a minute or two at the most, but they were around every five minutes. Once I actually sat down, it started to calm down. I think knowing from the midwife that it was normal, made me relax. 

It's times like this I wish I had family / friends close by.

Today I had an appointment with the JobCentre for Work Related activity re ESA. The personal adviser I spoke to was a lovely lady, she gave me lots of details, etc. but did inform me that company may not take me on to the program as I am pregnant. They usually don't take people who are within 11 weeks of of their due date or with a child under 5, so I now have to wait.

As I mentioned in my What am I doing to get my groove back? Or just get one? blog post, I have started:

• to gather various quote on to a page aptly titled Quotes. 
• used the sewing machine and cretaed a couple of baby related items.
• started to collect my library of note books with various scribblings in, to make a current portfolio of work in a degree of drafts.
• I have started my next TMA (Tutor Marked Assignment) for OU (Open University) course.
• I have registered my interest (or rather intent to start) the next module of my degree. Of course, that largely depends on my ability to finish this one adequately!

What am I doing to get my groove back? Or just get one?

Another Groovy Mum blog post

Following on from my blog post about becoming a Groovy Mum, I am going to list what I am doing to help achieve that.

• Crafts - I used to do a lot of craft style things, card making, scrap booking, etc. but I haven't do anything creative in a long time. I aim to restart this in some way. My first thing is sewing. My mother was a seamstress and I'm ashamed to say that I never learnt beyond the very basics, and that was a long time ago. I have recovered the sewing machine from the cellar, it's had a service and I am trying to get back into it. 

• Pampering - We all love a bit of pampering. I had a great pregnancy massage from Karen @ The Green Room recently. It was lovely. I WILL book another this week. I will also make an appointment for a hair cut, or at least look at new styles.

• Creative Writing - I have always had a passion for writing, be it technical, creative, poetry; but again, it has become a casualty of my depression. I will post some other my writings and ask for feedback. As I am currently studying Creative Writing with the O.U. I really should be more on top of this. 

• Quotes - I like quotes. Sometimes I agree with them, sometimes I disagree, some make me laugh (intentionally or not), some are triggers for writing. I have various dotted about on my blog, my Twitter timeline, various notebooks, etc. I will combine them all into one place.

• Acceptance - I must learn to accept sometimes I just cannot do things for whatever reason, it doesn't make me a bad person. I like to think I am gracious in accepting help, but I want to be able to train myself in to believe that asking for help is not a sign of weakness, regardless of what it is for.

One of the greatest pieces of advice I was given was:

 

Treat yourself how you would treat a friend.

Are you harder on yourself than you would be to a friend? 

Be kind to yourself.

So how about you? What are you going to do for you?