Happy thoughts
I am fed up of illness in our household! I knew we'd be affected by all these new germs what with the kids starting another new school earlier this month but I'd like one week where someone isn't home sick or in pain. Merida stayed home with laryngitis all last week. A couple of times we weren't sure if we should have pushed her out the door and demanded she go to school, but after she fell back to sleep on both days for at least 3 or 4 hours we knew she still wasn't right.
Now it's little Rose's turn. She's like her mum and not good or patient with being ill. She was up every hour in the night so this morning's alarm clock ringing was a bit of a shocker. Poor Frank trudged off to work looking so tired, but he reassures me they have nice coffee at work so at least he'll survive the day...if be a little high on caffeine when he gets home.
And then there's Finn. Good old Finn who gets on with stuff in a happy way he so often gets ignored. Lately he's not been happy, bless him. Usually he's such a happy chap that to see him struggling is hard. Also, he doesn't really know that his frustration has come from loneliness. In a new situation he's normally one of the first to start chatting and making new friends but the lack of understanding the French language has really caught him out. Actually it's caught Frank and myself out too. We are a sociable family so to not randomly chat to people in the supermarket is a bit weird for us. So whilst Finn has been well he's not been right. He's been expressing his frustrations in fits and spurts of either violent outbursts or running off around the house and garden. He's never done anything dangerous but all it takes is a slip on our tiled floor and he gets more stitches! We're being patient with him and giving him the right kind of attention when his little moments end. One thing he does to eliminate stress is draw. Yesterday he drew the picture below for Rose and she immediately recognised the picture as herself.
Isn't that the sweetest?! He's so good at drawing that I must find him an art class to go to as he's asked several times.
Like Finn I find that beautiful things help my mood. I've started gathering flowers for the house and garden. I found some of those narcissi and grape hyacinths you find in supermarkets. You know, the ones which are crammed several bulbs to a pot. Well after Christmas I got some and repotted generously so we now have flowers starting to bloom on every windowsill and in a couple of strategic places in the garden. Such a little thing helps so much.
[caption id="attachment_1674" align="aligncenter" width="540"]
Grape hyacinth[/caption]
Throughout all this illness I've not been good. My endometriosis has really flared up lately. I'm hoping all will calm down and return to normal soon so I can stop complaining about being so tired. I feel like all I do is complain lately. It's rubbish having a long-term illness, especially when it's not easy to treat the symptoms. It would be really nice if for my birthday, later this week, I could have a happy, healthy family and have no pain whatsoever. That would be the best birthday present ever. I know others have it worse but it really grinds you down. This is the third week at home.
So I am thinking happy thoughts and whistling a happy tune and trying to be positive. All this TV time for me and the girls means I've been getting somewhere with my crochet projects (in between fetching toast and hot chocolate to order!). A jumper I've been working on for over two years and am determined to finish this year is nearly done. It's all pinned and ready to sew. Hopefully next week I shall show you more of it.
I'm also planning my next few crochet projects. Who knows, maybe this year I'll actually make things for the kids for Easter. I got some great pattern books for Christmas.
And there are more flowers around the house. Flowers that bring colour and a glorious smell. There's this white flower which graces our dining table and with its dark green and white reminds us that the dark days of winter will soon be the brighter days of spring. I find the dark green just as soothing as the white. They compliment each other so well. I love seeing it bloom in different sections. There are always some flowers open.
Update: I've been reliably informed by my friend Sue that this flower is a flowering Kalanchoe. Apparently there is some debate as to its pronunciation but my friend sent me this handy link which will help me look after it : Flowering Kalanchoe. Thanks Sue.
Outside we have two bushes of Winter Jasmine with lovely yellow flowers (see the picture at the end of the post ). One bush greets us at the front of the house and the other we can see through our big doors at the back. Little dots of yellow bringing little bits of happiness. They're so simple and so lovely.
And then there's this: my beautiful smelling hyacinth. It's somewhat given up the vertical challenge as it was suddenly so heavy with those beautiful blooms it fell over. Even the knitting needle I inserted to hold it up couldn't keep it vertical. It was just too enthusiastic! But I've been reassured that's just what indoor hyacinths do. So it is having a lovely chat with our clementines and both combined bring a wonderful splash of colour to our kitchen table.
So I can complain and gripe but all these things are short lived. It's easy to get bogged down but these little spots of colour from these spring flowers and the little signs of love we all have for each other are keeping us cheerful. And as the ever-wise Dumbledore says “Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
Ta ta for now.
Josie Xxx
Now it's little Rose's turn. She's like her mum and not good or patient with being ill. She was up every hour in the night so this morning's alarm clock ringing was a bit of a shocker. Poor Frank trudged off to work looking so tired, but he reassures me they have nice coffee at work so at least he'll survive the day...if be a little high on caffeine when he gets home.
And then there's Finn. Good old Finn who gets on with stuff in a happy way he so often gets ignored. Lately he's not been happy, bless him. Usually he's such a happy chap that to see him struggling is hard. Also, he doesn't really know that his frustration has come from loneliness. In a new situation he's normally one of the first to start chatting and making new friends but the lack of understanding the French language has really caught him out. Actually it's caught Frank and myself out too. We are a sociable family so to not randomly chat to people in the supermarket is a bit weird for us. So whilst Finn has been well he's not been right. He's been expressing his frustrations in fits and spurts of either violent outbursts or running off around the house and garden. He's never done anything dangerous but all it takes is a slip on our tiled floor and he gets more stitches! We're being patient with him and giving him the right kind of attention when his little moments end. One thing he does to eliminate stress is draw. Yesterday he drew the picture below for Rose and she immediately recognised the picture as herself.
Isn't that the sweetest?! He's so good at drawing that I must find him an art class to go to as he's asked several times.Like Finn I find that beautiful things help my mood. I've started gathering flowers for the house and garden. I found some of those narcissi and grape hyacinths you find in supermarkets. You know, the ones which are crammed several bulbs to a pot. Well after Christmas I got some and repotted generously so we now have flowers starting to bloom on every windowsill and in a couple of strategic places in the garden. Such a little thing helps so much.
[caption id="attachment_1674" align="aligncenter" width="540"]
Grape hyacinth[/caption]Throughout all this illness I've not been good. My endometriosis has really flared up lately. I'm hoping all will calm down and return to normal soon so I can stop complaining about being so tired. I feel like all I do is complain lately. It's rubbish having a long-term illness, especially when it's not easy to treat the symptoms. It would be really nice if for my birthday, later this week, I could have a happy, healthy family and have no pain whatsoever. That would be the best birthday present ever. I know others have it worse but it really grinds you down. This is the third week at home.
So I am thinking happy thoughts and whistling a happy tune and trying to be positive. All this TV time for me and the girls means I've been getting somewhere with my crochet projects (in between fetching toast and hot chocolate to order!). A jumper I've been working on for over two years and am determined to finish this year is nearly done. It's all pinned and ready to sew. Hopefully next week I shall show you more of it.
I'm also planning my next few crochet projects. Who knows, maybe this year I'll actually make things for the kids for Easter. I got some great pattern books for Christmas. And there are more flowers around the house. Flowers that bring colour and a glorious smell. There's this white flower which graces our dining table and with its dark green and white reminds us that the dark days of winter will soon be the brighter days of spring. I find the dark green just as soothing as the white. They compliment each other so well. I love seeing it bloom in different sections. There are always some flowers open.
Update: I've been reliably informed by my friend Sue that this flower is a flowering Kalanchoe. Apparently there is some debate as to its pronunciation but my friend sent me this handy link which will help me look after it : Flowering Kalanchoe. Thanks Sue.
Outside we have two bushes of Winter Jasmine with lovely yellow flowers (see the picture at the end of the post ). One bush greets us at the front of the house and the other we can see through our big doors at the back. Little dots of yellow bringing little bits of happiness. They're so simple and so lovely.
And then there's this: my beautiful smelling hyacinth. It's somewhat given up the vertical challenge as it was suddenly so heavy with those beautiful blooms it fell over. Even the knitting needle I inserted to hold it up couldn't keep it vertical. It was just too enthusiastic! But I've been reassured that's just what indoor hyacinths do. So it is having a lovely chat with our clementines and both combined bring a wonderful splash of colour to our kitchen table.So I can complain and gripe but all these things are short lived. It's easy to get bogged down but these little spots of colour from these spring flowers and the little signs of love we all have for each other are keeping us cheerful. And as the ever-wise Dumbledore says “Happiness can be found in the darkest of times, if one only remembers to turn on the light.”
Ta ta for now.
Josie Xxx
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