Sunday Snippets - 20th December 2015

I’m sitting here watching Toy Story 3, in my Christmas jumper and burning a Yankee Snowflake Cookie candle to try and hide my latest fragrance, eau de deep heat! It’s been another fairly busy (and stressful!) week and I’m really struggling with pain after having to reduce my pain medication by 50%. Not what I need just before Christmas. I’m a little more organised than when I wrote last week – family gifts are almost sorted, but I’ve had to tell my friends that their presents will be late. I’m just trying to concentrate on the fact that Christmas shouldn’t be about all the presents, decorations etc, but about spending time with family and friends.

Last Sunday I somehow managed to get myself to the Christingle service at our church, which is always one of my favourite services. Unfortunately my POTS has really been playing up and I was finding it increasingly difficult to stay upright, but I managed it and that was the main thing. In the afternoon I settled down on the lounge floor to write some of my Christmas cards. I spread them all out on the floor, set up my iPad so I could catch up on some of Zoella’s videos and Alfie came to ‘help’ me by lying on top of the cards!

Monday was a fairly chilled day, which I needed after going out on Sunday. I spent the morning taking some photos for a blog post I’m hoping to get up before Christmas. I then had a session of reflexology, which I find really relaxing (and I’m pretty sure I fell asleep once or twice!) She used mandarin essential oil, which I really loved – it’s such a happy scent and I’m tempted to treat myself to some, but I’m not really sure what to do with it! I spent the afternoon writing more Christmas cards, and this little fella came and snuggled up on my lap.

Tuesday was pretty boring, but I wore these Percy Pig socks and then the Primark reindeer slippers to brighten my day. In the morning I had some more training for my DSA computer equipment, which always really tires me out. The afternoon was spent writing more Christmas cards, but I’m finding it very hard to feel motivated about Christmas at the moment. It all just feels a bit false, but I’m hoping it will get a little easier.

On Wednesday I had a really quiet morning (I got up rather late, so didn’t have much of a morning!) We had a session of Family Therapy in the afternoon, which is always pretty difficult and draining. Thankfully, my friends Helen and Sam, who I went to college with, brightened my evening up. They picked me up and took me to see these amazing Christmas lights. There’s a little box outside the house, which has buttons to press for 4 or 5 different songs. When each song plays there is a light display, and it’s all for charity. It definitely lifted my spirits and made me feel a bit more Christmassy. We then went out for a bit of dinner, and ended up chatting until the restaurant was closing!

On Thursday I ended up waking up a lot later than I planned, but I just seem to be even more exhausted than usual at the moment. I went to have my hair dyed so I’m now looking very festive with my red shiny hair. I then set up camp on the lounge floor again to continue writing my cards and watching Zoella. I’m loving that so many people are doing vlogmas – I think I’m going to have to spend January catching up with them all though! I’m determined that one year I will get round to doing vlogmas, but first I need to update my vlogging camera. My sister went to Pets at Home to buy the dogs some bits for Christmas, and she treated them to a bone each. As you can see, they were very excited by this!

Friday was a day of two extremes. I started with an early hospital appointment with a Dietician, to try and discuss the diet the professor wants me to do. Unfortunately it wasn’t that successful, and she’s suggested I try a completely liquid diet for six weeks to give my digestive system a break. I’m going to have to contact the professor to find out what to do, as I’m getting conflicting advice from different professionals.

My day then got much brighter though when my Dad drove me down to Winchester to catch up with a couple of friends. I met Jenny through an M.E. charity, and then went on to meet Sophie through Jenny! Sophie and I have been trying to meet up with each other since the summer, but life has kept getting in our way, so I was so happy to finally see her, and seeing Jenny was a very happy bonus. We went out to a cute little café for a spot of lunch (and lots of chatting!), which was so lovely. Jenny then went home, and Sophie and I went back to hers. We spent a good hour chatting away before my Dad came to pick me up. I had brought a whole bag of craft bits to do with them, but we ended up chatting too much, which is fine by me! I don’t really make New Year’s resolutions, but I definitely want to aim to catch up with these two more often in 2016.

On Saturday I was meant to get up at about 9am. At 9.45am my Mum came in to ask me if I was getting up – oops! I had a very quick breakfast and then my Mum took me round to our friend’s so I could have a massage. I needed it so much, especially with my back being as painful as it is (I received a letter from my pain consultant to say my scan shows I have advanced degenerative disc disease, as well as a tear/rupture near a disc in my lower back) and it was also good to have some time to completely relax. I ended up falling asleep with Freddie curled up on me when I got home, which was a bit frustrating as I have so much to do! But through the afternoon I managed to get all my cards addressed and all the presents bought for my family and a few friends. The cards are going to arrive late, but I’m just trying to be kind to myself and congratulate myself for actually doing them when it’s the last thing I feel like doing. I’m hoping people won’t mind the fact that I’m so disorganised this year – hopefully receiving presents going into January will help spread out the Christmas cheer and alleviate the January blues. We also decorated the tree in our lounge, and I put these hearts on that I bought after we lost my Gran. I thought it was a nice way to remember the people we no longer have with us.

If you haven’t read my blog before, I just wanted to let you know that I have a second blog, which mainly focuses on my health in more depth than I talk about it here. It’s largely for friends and family to follow and keep up with what’s going on, but if it’s something you would be interested in reading as well, you are more than welcome to follow me over there. It’s called Unicorns and Floral Crowns and you can find it by clicking here. I haven’t updated it for a while, but I hope to get into a routine soon. I’m also trying to post on Snapchat a bit more, so if you fancy following me, my username is Jennycole44.

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

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