A little moan and then catch up on some good things!
The last two weeks have felt like a struggle. It’s probably hormonal, my period was on the late end of my typical 28-35 day cycle so I spent a whole week in grotty PMS limbo dying for the relief, followed by 5 days of fatigue while I bled.
Plus the weather has also been pretty grey and rainy (I like the rain for the garden but too much is bad for my mood!). Where is the summer?
I’ve been quite run down the last week especially. I’ve had headaches, and a nightmare mouth ulcer under my tongue. Under the tongue I think is the worst place I’ve had an ulcer. Who knew how involved the tongue was in drinking?! It lasted days. I had the bonjela on it, corsodyl and swishing salt water around my mouth. The best cure is always sleep, but I’ve been struggling with that a bit.
My partner has had a sore throat so maybe we have a bit of a bug, but I’m wondering if I’m also burning out a bit at work. After 9 months I am still enjoying my job but it’s a lot more mentally demanding than my old one was. I am happy I’m being given interesting challenging projects, but it’s been a bit relentless lately. I’m sure I’ll get to a point where I can ease back the effort but I’m not there yet!
I put in a request for Friday and Monday off next week, my boss is off this week but hopefully he’ll approve that when he’s back. I’m starting to really feel the need for some time to just slow down, and focus on embroidery to restore myself.
I’ve not worked on the cat portrait for over a week. I’ve got a bit stuck with it to be honest, getting too anxious about my skill level and how it’ll look compared to how I want it to look! I’ve already unpicked half of it and retried. Working on it in my current churning state of mind won’t help either.
Joyful moments
Anyway, it’s Friday tomorrow and I’m determined to find myself again. Here are some good things that have happened recently, despite my feeling horrid!
1. A couple of weekends ago I had a lovely day out with my Mum and sister. We went to Newstead Abby, enjoyed the gardens on a glorious sunny day and ate a giant 99 Mr Whippy. GIANT. The teenage girl in the ice cream van was feeling very generous.
I also learned that Ada Lovelace was Lord Byron’s daughter, his only “legitimate” child (not that she knew him)! I had no idea!
I also love how much Byron loved his dog Boatswain.
2. I finished Gardens of the Moon and I did enjoy it, and I’ve enjoyed talking to my partner about it! I also appreciated how it made me drill down a little more about what I respond to in a story. I also finally wrote a little guide to my book ratings.
3. We finally decided what we want for the bathroom! Two trips to the tile place and the bathroom showroom, but we’re happy I think. We’ve just got to wait another 2 months for our fitter to be available! (Time to sort out the ceiling and fix the down stairs shower!).
4. I started watching My Lady Jane on Prime and OMG I love it. It’s so silly! I really enjoy people in Tudor dress throwing out modern swears left and right. The narrator is hilarious. I had no idea how funny Domic Cooper can be! He’s really enjoying his role. It is a lot of fun. Also, I feel like a smarty pants because I just read Unruly so I know/currently remember who Lady Jane Grey was IRL.
5. I also started rewatching New Girl, because I ran out of Bobs Burgers at last and I need a cosy 20mins sitcom for my lunch breaks. I always forget how funny New Girl is! I don’t super love Jess as a character (maybe it’s my internalised misogyny, she seems too unrealistic, even for a sitcom), but Schmidt, Winston and Nick are so great! And it reminds me of “New Girl” days when post breakup I moved in with strange men from the internet, and they helped me find myself. 😂
I also have watched a bit of Veronica Mars and it cracks me up that Schmidt is Officer Leo!
6. We’ve played some good board games recently. I am now obsessed with that Calico for our Date Nights. It’s cute and relaxing. But I am better at it so we might have to play something else next week! 😂 We also had a lovely weekend date to our local boardgame cafe and played Cascadia which I also loved (just give me the tile matching games!) and to co-op survival game Forbidden Jungle which we smashed!
7. I just got some new hair clips which I’m excited about! My hair is slowly growing out the awkward inbetween long length and I’m experimenting more with putting it up or half up with claw clips. It’s also finally long enough I can put it up in a high ponytail without bobby pins. I am inspired by Jess’s hair in New Girl (she has the best fringe, along with Jameela Jamil!), I next cut I might finally get some shorter layers around the front to frame my face when I put it up.
This might seem like a weird thing to be excited about at 36 but because of my protruding ears I’ve only in the last year been comfortable going out with my hair up away from my face. It took a long time to stop feeling self-conscious about it!
8. We went to see Inside Out 2 last night, which was good but not as good as the first one. I did like that it explored anxiety. Maybe I’ll write something about it! I also enjoyed my raspberry and cherry ICEE drink too, it’s nice to go out to the Showcase for an occasional treat and to sit in the reclining chairs!
9. This little wonky cactus I’ve had for years has started to grow little balls at its base. It’s looking more weird-thin-penis shaped every day. My other little warty cacti has put up big spikes with little bell flowers! It’s never flowered before! It was too hard to take a decent photo of that though.
10. I got this bag from Lucy & Yak a while ago, and especially when it is sunny it’s perfect to fit my sunglasses, phone and keys. And the back of it is a purse! I love it, I can just grab it when I’m popping out on a walk or to the shops instead of loading my pockets or carrying a big bag I have to dig awkwardly in to switch my glasses. Oh also, like all L&Y stuff I’ve had.. my kindle fits in it! (But not glasses case and kindle). Sometimes it’s just little things like a fantastic bag that makes life a bit easier!
11. Almost forgot, but we don’t have a Tory government any more!! I’m not particularly inspired by this lot in Labour but they’ve got to be better than the revolving door of increasingly useless idiots and soggy Sunak. I love Jim’ll Paint It on Instagram, this piece cracked me up. Took me a minute to see the lettuce!
