Welcome to the slow, gentle spoonie life of chronically ill bookworms. What have we been up to this week?
Take time to smell the roses – or the umbrellas?!
Friday
It’s been a much needed #SlowLife day today. We had a lazy, special breakfast followed by some playing, some creating and plenty of reading. Do you love slow days or do you prefer to be on the go?
Our special breakfast is a new thing we’ve started where we all make sure we’re together for breakfast and go a little more fancy! It was a big hit and we’re already looking forward to next week.
Floss had a great time early in the week with her auntie and cousin at a Butterfly Farm. It’s meant she’s been butterfly obsessed for the rest of the week. You might like to see some of our butterfly book recommendations and craft ideas we’ve shared in the past here.
I’ve read a super intriguing book – The Skull. You can find my review here.
Floss and I love painting together, it’s one of our happy spaces. We sit side by side sometimes with an audio book on absorbed in our separate projects.
Other times we like to learn together. We use a subscription from ArtBase that’s an online art tuition recommended by a friend. The butterflies are one of their projects.
Floss and I are currently shared reading a really fun book called Super Happy Magic Forest: The Humongous Fungus by Matty Long. Shared reading is great. It helps you get through a book with a little more pace. You can listen and support your child reading and they get to hear you read.
Saturday
It was a hospital appointment for Floss today. She’s very familiar with going to hospital but it’s high anxiety for her. We have certain little rituals which help – one of these at BCH is that we go and visit the owl and bear and have a photo taken. You might find this post helpful if you need to go to hospital appointments.
Why we decided it was the perfect day to turn the house upside down after getting back from the hospital I don’t know. Luckily I popped ingredients for a chicken chasseur in the Food Ninja before we started. We decided to change the purpose and key spaces in the house. The biggest change was moving the other half from a small box room of an office into the spare bedroom. We very rarely have people stay now and he spends so long in the office that it feels only right to give him more space.
I definitely overdid it though! I think I might pay for it tomorrow.
Sunday
I’ve got a great stack of middle grade reads to work through over the next few weeks. They were kindly sent for review by Scholastics. The Bad Guys – really hooked me. You can read my thoughts here. I’ll be writing a review of the first The Inflatables soon – it’s 5 star, hilarious read!
A lovely BBQ today with family followed by Mario Kart tournaments on the Switch. We’re always very excited when the family bring it with them as we don’t have one. I won the first tournament and then you could gradually see my brain function decline as I paid the price for yesterday – heading into another adrenal crisis. Well you have to give others a chance to win somehow!
Monday
I wasn’t sure I was going to make our community arts and crafts group today as I had an adrenal crisis over night. I’m so glad I did as it was an amazing textile landscape workshop. We were supposed to sew during the session but I was too shaky still so I positioned my pieces and I’m looking forward to sewing later in the week. It also got me thinking about how to do a papercraft version for those who don’t enjoy sewing or who find it challenging due to eyesight or finger dexterity.
My Mom comes along too. It’s a lovely time to spend together and it always make me feel safer having her there when I’m not feeling 100%. I love her landscape. It was a wonderful 90 minutes but I did pay the price with another adrenal crisis.
Tuesday
Everyone in the house woke up unwell today with different issues! Floss was exhausted but her breathing is a little better. It was a day of creating for her in her favourite place – her craft area.
I was excited to discover that the Food Ninja has a proving setting. We love making flat breads and I usually make them from scratch but there’s a packet mix (Free and Easy brand) that we adore that needs proving. It did a great job and then I used the seer setting to toast the flatbreads. Yummy!
I’ve been trying a new way of getting Floss to help tidy up after herself. I’m realising it’s a skill that needs to be taught rather than just asking her to ‘tidy’. Therefore, I’m trying two things, always staying with her when we are tidying and being specific about what I’m asking her to do.
By early afternoon I knew I wasn’t feeling very well and by early evening it was clear I was heading into an adrenal crisis. There goes my usefulness for the day.
However, I managed to read some of Bunny Vs Monkey Rise of the Maniacal Badger with Floss before bed which filled both of our cups.
Wednesday
An early start this morning for an immunology appointment at the hospital. Followed by my first trip out in a while to meet a dear friend for lunch. Unsurprisingly, returned home and fell asleep on the sofa.
Really wanted to fit in some reading but good for not much. Hoping tomorrow might be a reading day. Floss and I did manage a little more Bunny Vs Monkey before bed. They’re such funny graphic novels and we’re both really starting to find out voice and give some personality to the characters.
I did catch Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby. It’s a new series (series 5) and first up was Kasbah Tamadot. I liked how the native Berber people take tea five times a day and each time it’s a tea ceremony with tea made from herbs and spices from the garden. Monica described the tea ceremony as like going into a tea trance.
Several months ago, before I got quite poorly, Floss and I used to have poetry teatime. It was one of our favourite parts of the day. We’d share a pot of herbal tea with a tasty snack and read a little poetry together. It was magical and it feels like the right time to return to this pleasure.
Thursday
Another hospital appointment today but a great opportunity to soak in some everyday magic. Absolutely loved spotting these umbrellas in Worcester city centre.
My Mom always says to make time to smell the roses. I feel like taking the time to look up at the umbrellas is the same sentiment!
Returned home from the hospital to The Phoenix Comic Issue 607 through the door; always an exciting event in our home. There’s a new addition this week from Daniel and Emily Kimbell – Thingamajigs – we loved it and looking forward to more from this pair.
Floss was delighted to spot a new drawing event being hosted online from The Phoenix. She’s decided to spend her pocket money on it and is so excited. It’s about how to draw dragons. You can find upcoming events here. We signed up to the Donuts Vs Bagels event too.
More About Us
The slow, gentle spoonie life of chronically ill bookworms. We’re often too tired and not 100% to do everything that we want to and we’re learning that that’s ok. We struggle to keep up with ‘weekly’ themes, memes and life in general – we do like to drop in when we can. We’ll often have to cancel on you last minute and rearrange! Snuggles, books and being creative are things that bring us joy and are often the few things we can do.
What is the meaning of Spoonie Life?
The term “Spoonie” originated from a chronic illness blogger who utilised spoons as a metaphor to illustrate the daily energy levels of individuals with chronic illnesses, revealing how simple tasks such as washing or dressing consume a portion or all of their available energy. Each day you wake with a limited number of spoons; some days the spoons don’t get replenished!