Sunday Snippets - 7th May 2017

This week has mainly been taken up with knuckling down with my university work. I can’t believe I only have one week left of my second year – where is the time going?! So, because of this, I have crazy amounts of deadlines coming up, and if I’m honest I’ve been getting a little stressed. I’m still not feeling particularly well from this horrible virus that’s lingering around and, because I had my operation and have been unwell recently, I’m a lot further behind than I would like. But I’m trying to stay as calm as possible, plan what I need to do and use my energy wisely. This time next week it will all be over, and I will be packing my bags to head off to The Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore! I plan to do some posts on my blog about my journey with Stanmore, from referral to the three week rehab programme and onwards, but I’m not going to get anything up before I go. I will keep up with my Sunday Snippets though, so you will hear how I’m getting on while I’m there.

I got up pretty late last Sunday morning, which was much needed. I edited a few photos, watched The Simpsons and wrote and uploaded a blog post. While I had my Fortisip I watched the first episode of Little Boy Blue, which is based on the true story of what happened to Rhys Jones. I spent the rest of the afternoon working on my narrative article. I had such a bad headache, which seems to be a regular occurrence these days. In the evening my Mum, Dad, David, Emma and I went to The Heron on the Lake for dinner. I hadn’t been there in years but the food was really nice. I had this green apple and blood orange sorbet for pudding. But when I got home I was sick, which kind of put a downer on the evening. I really do hate having gastroparesis.

My Mum and I walked down to the May Fayre late Monday morning, with me in my electric wheelchair. Unfortunately it started to pour with rain as soon as we arrived. We met up with my Dad and then watched my Mum sing with ‘The Kitchen Choir.’ When she’d finished we had a look around the rest of the stalls. Despite it raining, the pond on The Green looked really pretty. By that point I was absolutely soaked, so we headed home and I got changed into some warm, dry clothes. After lunch, my Mum and I popped to Camberley and I managed to get a couple of pairs of funky exercise leggings from Sports Direct to take to Stanmore with me. Unfortunately they didn’t have a disabled changing room, so I tried to use the normal one and ended up feeling like I was going to pass out. I came home with another headache and tried to do a bit of Uni work. I’m not sure if I’m having a POTS flare up at the moment, but it feels like my heart keeps skipping a beat and it’s making me feel very strange.

My Dad drove me over to Uni first thing on Tuesday morning. I think I slept for most of the journey – I’m so tired at the moment. I had a voice training session with Amber and Sophie first. Then I saw my tutor and we chatted about my narrative article (and how stressed I am about getting it finished!) I did a bit of work and chatted to the girls for a while – it felt like ages since we’d all had a good catch up! My support worker then took me down to the library and I met up with my mentor to check in on how I’m getting on. My Dad brought me home and I was feeling really unwell. So I had my Fortisip and fell asleep on the sofa for quite a while. I popped out with my Mum so I could post a few letters, then came home, snuggled down with this little man and did some work on my article.

I was up pretty early on Wednesday morning so my Dad could drive me over to Farnham Road Hospital in Guildford. The traffic was awful and it took us nearly an hour and a half. I saw the psychotherapy lady again for more of my assessment. She is another person who questions whether I have the correct diagnosis, but I don’t have any more energy to fight it any more. After chatting for an hour she said she would chat things through with the rest of the team, but that she believes I would benefit from some health psychology input. I came home and spent a while looking through a suitcase of old letters for my article. After lunch, I had my reflexology session and nearly fell asleep I was so relaxed! Once I’d woken up a bit I did some more work to my article. I finally got round to opening my other Secret Spring Santa parcel in the evening (and my new Glamour magazine). More Disney TsumTsums for my collection!

I wasn’t feeling great on Thursday, so just spent the morning watching a bit of TV, doing a few things in my room and resting on the sofa. My Mum and I went to my friend, Katy’s. I did some work on my laptop while my Mum had her nails done. Then I had my eyebrows waxed and had a lovely relaxing facial (not using these products, but these are some that I’m currently using in my routine). On our way home we went to the polling station to vote in the local election, popped into the chemist and also Waitrose. I then had to pick a letter up from the Doctors. When we got home I did some more work to my article. My cough seemed to be getting worse again during the day, which is frustrating.

I got up fairly late on Friday morning, took a few photos and watched some TV. My Mum and I went over to Homesense to have a mooch around and I picked up a couple of bits – this jar to make something with and a cute to-do list to help me keep on top of things. I also wore this flamingo jumper from Next, which I absolutely love. I felt so shattered, so when we got home I rested on the sofa and watched a TV programme I had recorded. I then spent the whole afternoon working on my narrative article. I got up to about 1500 words, so made some good progress. I also did a little bit of filming for a vlog.

My Saturday morning was fairly quiet after a bit of a lie in. I went down to Waitrose with my Mum and bout some peonies – my first of the year! When we got home I rested on the sofa and looked through stuff on my phone for a bit. Then I spent pretty much the whole afternoon writing my article. I’m now up to about 3800 words, which is just over the minimum word count, but I still have quite a lot to write. My friends, Sam and Helen, picked me up at about 6.30pm and we went to The White Lion. We sat outside with our drinks until we got too cold, then went inside for a long chat, including talking about Sam’s wedding, which I’ve been asked to film.

You can check out my YouTube channel here, where I have recently uploaded a few new videos (and hope to continue doing!)

I’m also trying to post on Snapchat a bit more, so if you fancy following me, my username is Jennycole44.

If you don’t already, please give me a follow on Bloglovin here - I would love to reach 800 followers and we’re so nearly there! I do have a little giveaway planned for when I get there!

What have you been up to this week? I always enjoy hearing about your news and adventures!

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Tea Tourist Subscription Review*

If you have been reading my blog for a while or follow me on social media, then you will probably know that I’m a little bit obsessed with tea (OK, probably more than a little bit!) So when the lovely people at Tea Tourist tweeted me and asked if I would like to try out their tea subscription box, of course I jumped at the chance!

My box arrived at just the right time, while I was recovering from my operation. I was feeling pretty miserable to be honest, as I was dealing with some complications and just felt really tired and sore. And what better way to make me feel better than trying some new teas. I pretty much live on tea, and have a huge box full of the stuff, so it’s always nice to find new flavours and brands to try out. The Tea Tourist’s promise that every month they will work their socks off to bring us teas we’ve never tried from tea companies we’ve never heard of, and they sure did that in this March box!

Inside each box you will find six sachets of tea, each from a different brand and in an exciting flavour. Each sachet gives you enough tea to make around three to four cups, which is the perfect number for trying out something new. There was a real mix of flavours and ingredients in my box, from boozy brandy and comforting chai, to creamy chocolate and tantalising turmeric – I couldn’t wait to get stuck in! The box is thin enough to fit through a standard letterbox, which is always great because who wants to get that red card of doom from the postman?!

Each tea sachet is attached to a card. One side gives you instructions on how long you should brew the tea for, at what temperature and how many spoonful’s you need per cup. There is also a tea profile, telling you whether the tea contains caffeine, where it originates from and when you should drink it, and there’s also space for you to rate the tea so you can remember your favourites. On the other side it tells you a bit more information about the tea, the ingredients, allergy information and some details about the tea company. I found it so interesting learning about six new tea companies and understanding the heritage of the brew I was drinking.

I was really excited to try the teas in this month’s box. The Honey Lemon Morning Blend from Teagime has been perfect while I’ve been trying to fight off this throat infection/cold virus/lurgy thing! It really helped to soothe my throat and made me feel all warm and snuggly. Turmeric Root Chai from Chai Kai Tea Co. is also something I think will really benefit me, as turmeric is known to be good for reducing inflammation, so I’m hoping it will help with reducing my pain levels a bit. And the Chocolate Orange from Nelson & Norfolk Tea Co. well, where do I start? Chocolate and orange is one of my favourite combinations, so to have it in tea form is literally like heaven in a cup!

If this has tempted you into picking up a box (or three!) you can either buy a past box for £15 including delivery (UK only), sign up for a rolling monthly subscription or pre-pay for three or six months from £12 per month. With the rolling subscriptions you are also able to stop or snooze whenever you want, with no tie-ins, which I think is great because it allows you flexibility depending on your circumstances. There’s nothing worse than being stuck on a subscription that you can’t get out of! Boxes are shipped around the 20^th of each month, which should give you something to look forward to as the month goes on. And to make it even better, if you join today you can get 10% off your first box by using the code FIRST10 at the checkout.

As you can probably work out, I’m really impressed with this Tea Tourist service! I love the fact that each tea you get is from a different brand, as it gives you the opportunity to discover loads of new tea companies that you can then investigate even more. And I think adding in the brewing instructions and information about each tea and company really gives it a personalised feel, as well as helping you feel more connected to the people who produced the brew you are drinking.

What do you think of the Tea Tourist subscription service? Is it something that appeals to you? Are there any other subscriptions you would recommend I try out?

*This subscription box was kindly sent to me by Tea Tourist to review. However, all opinions are my own and I only ever talk about things on my blog that I truly believe in.

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Sunday Snippets - 23rd April 2017

The last week has been pretty hard to be honest. I’ve continued to get more unwell with this virus/infection and have struggled to do even the little things. I have a lot of university work to do, with deadlines fast approaching, so have been getting a bit stressed out because I haven’t been well enough to do as much as I would have liked. And I’m also feeling a bit down about my blog and YouTube channel at the moment. I have so many ideas of content I would like to create, but being more unwell has meant I’ve just had to get out little bits here and there, which isn’t what I want to do. I’m just hoping I can start feeling better soon, get my university work sorted and can then spend some more time and energy on my blog and YouTube videos. I hope you will all understand and can put up with me while I try and get myself sorted out!

Last Sunday I felt really poorly when I woke up, but decided to go to church with my Mum, Dad and Bekkah. We met Richard and Lisa there – it was a lovely service and the music was really good, but I felt really unwell by the end. When we got back I sorted out my medication for the week ahead, and then wrote and uploaded my Sunday blog post. In the afternoon I filmed myself opening a bit of post including this awesome Secret Spring Santa parcel from a swap I did. How cute is the Nutmeg and Arlo otter card! I then watched Despicable Me 2 and did some bits on my laptop for the local mental health group that I run. In the evening I started feeling really sick. I feel sick most of the time, but that evening it got really bad.

I’m loving the fact it’s tulip season. They are one of my favourite flowers – they’re just so happy!

I won Bryony Gordon’s book ‘Mad Girl’ in a Twitter competition and am so excited to read it!

Sunday night was pretty awful – I felt so sick and kept retching, was clamming and my heart was racing. I kept waking up feeling like the room was spinning. The joys of having gastroparesis! I felt a bit less sick when I woke up on Monday, but still not great. I decided to go to Redfields Garden Centre with my Mum, which was possibly not the best move, but I did buy some pots that I can plant some seeds in. I rested when I got home because I felt awful. These two were sitting on the other sofa – they pretend not to like each other, but secretly love each other! I watched a bit of TV and did some Uni work. I then started writing a packing list for when I go to Stanmore. In the evening my Mum, Dad, David, Rosiie, Callum and I went round to Richard and Lisa’s for drinks and nibbles, which was really nice. I was feeling really unwell after a while, so we came home. I also seemed to be losing my voice.

I curled up on the sofa on Tuesday morning feeling pretty ill, watched TV and ordered some cards for May. I also dozed a bit because I felt shattered. At around lunchtime, my Dad drove me over to Farnham Road Hospital in Guildford for my Psychotherapy assessment. I spent an hour and a half with the lady, which was really difficult for someone with no voice! We somehow managed to go through a lot of my past history and also how I’m feeling now, which was pretty tough going. I’ve got to go back in a couple of weeks to continue with the assessment. When we got home I went in the garden for a few minutes to look at some of our flowers. Our little crabapple tress is blossoming and it looks so pretty. A man came to fix a couple of problems with my electric wheelchair, so fingers crossed it will now be a bit easier to use. I had absolutely no voice by the end of the day, which hasn’t happened since I was at secondary school. I was also finding it really hard to breathe.

I felt pretty fed up on Wednesday to be honest. I woke up still feeling really unwell and still didn’t have any voice, which was incredibly frustrating (especially when you’re a chatterbox like me!) I spent most of the morning watching This Morning and then falling asleep on the sofa. It wasn’t what I had planned, as I have so much Uni work to do. In the afternoon I was meant to be going to visit my friend Vikki, who set up Postpals but I just wasn’t well enough so had to cancel. I was then going to go to Pets at Home with my Mum, but decided it was going to be too much. So I spent some time doing a bit of Uni work, but not as much as I needed to do. My Mum did take me down to Waitrose so I could get a couple of bits for when my friend came round the following day, but it completely wiped me out. The best part of the day was opening this letter from my friend Suzie – I love the Disney TsumTsum stickers she used on it!

This postcard definitely describes how I’ve felt this week! Sass and Belle have got it spot on!

I got up later than I’d planned on Thursday and felt pretty terrible. Bekkah helped me to set up a little Easter Egg hunt in the garden, and then my friend Charlie arrived with her children, Izzi and Joe. We went straight out in the back garden and Izzi and Joe went searching for eggs, which they seemed to enjoy. It started to rain just as we were finishing, so that was lucky! We all came inside and Charlie presented me with a huge pile of these Haribo Rhubarb and Custard Splats because I haven’t been able to find any anywhere recently, and a Disney TsumTsum from their trip to Disneyland Paris to add to my collection, which was so sweet of her. We did some arts and crafts with the children and then had an indoor picnic for lunch. In the afternoon we chilled out and watched Tangled – definitely one of my favourites. Charlie, Izzi and Joe left at about 3pm and unfortunately I was feeling pretty poorly with a terrible headache. So I curled up on the sofa, watched a bit of TV and then fell asleep for a few hours. Since having this infection my taste seems to have completely disappeared and I’ve been feeling so sick. I kept my fingers crossed on Thursday night that my GP would be able to work out what was wrong and give me something to make it better when I saw her the next day.

I had an awful night on Thursday night, with really strange dreams, sweats and dizziness. I had to get up quite early on Friday and managed to get downstairs, but kept feeling like I was going to faint so ended up wrapped round the loo. Eventually I managed to get a bit of porridge down me, which seemed to help a bit. My Mum took me down to see my GP – my chest sounded clear but she was concerned that I’ve been ill for so long (this has been going on since February) and have such a nasty cough, so she prescribed antibiotics in the hope they will help. I came home and dozed on the sofa for a while. My friend Katrina came over – we were meant to be going out for brunch but I didn’t feel well enough, so we stayed at mine and chatted (as much as we could with me having no voice!) We also booked a mini hen do, as I’m not able to go to her proper one. After Katrina had gone, I had a bit of lunch and watched TV. I managed to do a bit of Uni work and dozed a bit – I haven’t been able to stay awake for very long recently. I was struggling a lot with nausea and have been finding eating even more difficult that usual, so have been trying to sip one of these Innocent smoothies to try and get some vitamins inside me.

I had a better night on Friday night and managed to have a lie-in on Saturday morning as well, which I definitely needed. I took things pretty slowly when I got up, just watching The Simpsons and Come Dine With Me. I then fell asleep on the sofa for quite a while. In the afternoon I did some work on my dissertation proposal, but kept falling asleep. I popped down to the chemist with my Mum to speak to the pharmacist about getting some cough medicine, so I’m hoping it might help a bit. The lovely people at Tea Tourist sent me another one of their awesome boxes to try. It seriously brightened my day, especially considering I’m living on tea at the moment to try and soothe my poorly throat.

You can check out my YouTube channel here, where I have recently uploaded a few new videos (and hope to continue doing!)

I’m also trying to post on Snapchat a bit more, so if you fancy following me, my username is Jennycole44.

If you don’t already, please give me a follow on Bloglovin here - I would love to reach 800 followers and we’re so nearly there! I do have a little giveaway planned for when I get there!

What have you been up to this week? I always enjoy hearing about your news and adventures!

Follow me on Bloglovin, Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Google+ and YouTube