Free For All Friday:Top 10 Things That Make Me Feel Better

So I'm still wallowing in my pity party for one.

The germs are slowly being driven out or at least drowned by copious hot drinks.

So here is my Top 10 Things that make me feel better when I'm poorly sick. In no particular order

1. Hot fruity drinks. Hot blackcurrant squash and hot lemonade, the clear fizzy variety.

2. Blankets. Huddling under a blanket with a magazine.

3. A cheesy girly book. I revel in the bliss that is a cheap novella from Amazon's Kindle book store.

4. Sleep. Sad but true. I love my bed.

5. Scrolling on by on Pinterest.

6. Watching Lifetime movies and TV shows. This week I've been binge watching Witches of East End love some frothy wiccan adventures.

7. Sugar. In all shapes and forms. It keeps me pepped up and stops me falling into a stooper in the office. I'm usually an avid coffee drinker, unless I have the germs in residence. Then I forgo the caffeine and top up on sugary goodness. Not that my waist or teeth will thank me for that.

8. Pottering. I just potter. I move from one place to the next, not particularly doing or achieving anything. There is something of an aimless wanderer about me when I'm that way inclined.

9. Youtube. Oh my sparkles. I'm a vlogger lover at the best of times, but I fall into the black hold of YouTube when I'm poorly. Right now I'm loving Jack & Dean, comedy shorts that I'd love to be longer.

10. Soup and bowl foods. There is something about soup or any food that needs to be served in a bowl and can be eaten with a spoon that I find comforting. And when I'm drowning in my own goo packed and stacked high with chilli. So pass me a bowl of chilli, soba noodles broth, spiced chilli beef soup, cheesy rice bake with baked beans... I think you get the gist.

Put It in a Box

This is not my usual Tuesday blog fare. I felt like expressing something, and that's tricky when you're reviewing something.

Everyone copes with bad stuff in their life. But I feel that how we are able to express it, and handle our feelings and emotions is what makes us.

I'm no different to anyone else, I have my ups and downs. I've had lots of downs that I have had to pick myself up from. I take medication to keep my moods even. I have to employ methods to get me through both the beige and the grey days.

I have a tendency to over think, to dwell, to plan. This can help and hinder. I have routines that I employ that keep me occupied. I like order. I'm not keen on surprises, yet I am impulsive. I am my own enigma wrapped in a conundrum.

I stay busy and I channel my emotions good or bad into different projects. I find that by making a promise to be somewhere I overcome my desire to stay in the house behind closed doors and get out there. Helping others in that time makes it doubly worth it.

Paying it back reaps its own rewards.

In essence I still employ the technique I was given after my mother's death, put it in a box. Then shut the lid. Do or think 3 things and pile them on top of the box.

So if you have a problem, work it out. Break it down into manageable pieces. Then put those pieces together and fix it. If it is a thought, a bad memory, your inner voice telling you something bad... put it in the box and cover it with good thoughts, ideas and actions. The good will outweigh the bad, and as with every good smultzy film good will vanquish evil.



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Family Friday: 10 Facts About Me

1. I have a conflicting streak where I love to be the centre of attention, but don't like people paying too much attention to me.

2. I have a thing about science fiction/fantasy and superheroes. TV series, films and graphic novels I love them all.

3. I get bored far too easily, and then I have crazy ideas of things to do.

4.  I get distracted by shiny things far too often.

5.  I make my own wine, and then I drink it.

6.  I share my birthday with the day that Holst first performed the planet suite.

7.  I stand by the idea that carrots scream when being uprooted, after reading it in a free book of facts I got in a magazine.

8. I was asked to leave cookery and needlework classes at secondary school.

9. I have never officially solved a Rubik's cube.

10.  I played violin for 8 years, and can't remember a note.

My Life Mondays: What an Experience

Oh my word.

This weekend was surreal to say the least.

Along with a team of other Scout leaders I took my pack of Cubs (and 5 others) on their Humberside District Sleepover at The Deep in Hull.

What an amazing experience.

After the public had all left for the day over 100 Cubs arrived at the 'submarium' for their big adventure.

First we took the tour around the facility, stopping to marvel at the jellyfish as they glowed in their tubes, stopping to pet the starfish and a sea urchin the children's minds started to spark with what was ahead.

After marvelling at a purple-spotted and pregnant ray in the petting tank, we continued to a slightly larger tank filled with tropical fish. Including the most darling of a fish with a polka-dot belly and a rather deflated puffer fish. They're almost cute when not looking like they have swallowed a balloon.

We turned round to be brought face-to-face with a shark and some of the hugest fish I have ever seen. Not a clue what variety they were but goodness they were fast.

We got to eat supper near the shark tank, then moved on to design some t-shirts and badges. This is where I sloped off for a crafty latte in The Deep cafe. If you do go I wholly recommend that beverage, creamy and caffeinated just what I needed!

Quickly, 10pm arrived and with it bedtime for the cubs... believe that you'll believe anything. My pack were next to the shark tank. As soon as lights out happened the giant swordfish came out to play. There were truly a sight to behold.

One by one the Cub fell into slumber. That's when as I leader I got to play. I tend not to sleep on residentals/sleepovers if they are only for one night and they are going home soon after. I got to tour the facility with the lights off, the sharks were amazing and the fish sneaky.

It was such an amazing opportunity, and all my cubs loved it.

All the staff we had contact with were brilliant and I can't wait to return once the penguin's arrive, their new enclosure already looks like it is going to be out of this world.

Silent Sunday