Welcome to the slow, gentle spoonie life of chronically ill bookworms. Here you’ll find out all about our week. What have you been up to this week – do drop a comment and let us know. Tell us if you’re a fellow spoonie too!
“Cake is the answer, no matter the question.”
– Unknown
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Friday
Well today was what I like to affectionately call a SPLAT day. It’s when the previous days have been too busy and our bodies just need recovery time.
Library Time
I didn’t manage much but Daddy and Floss made it out of the door at 3.45pm just in time to get to the library. Floss signed up to the Summer Reading challenge 2023. There’s still time if you want to sign up – find more details here.
She was delighted to be asked by the librarian all about the latest Genie and Teeny book she’d returned. Floss is a huge fan of this series by Steven Lenton and could rave about them for hours to anyone! There’s always a great ‘how to draw…’ section at the back of each book.
I thoroughly enjoyed our next installment of Bunny Vs Monkey Rise of the Maniacal Badger before bedtime and it was early nights all round.
Saturday
A little vintage fun for a slow Saturday morning. We’d got family over for a BBQ in the afternoon so we had to pace ourselves to make sure we were guest ready!
Screen Free Fun
Do you remember the Questron? I’m showing my age. I think it came out in 1986 and I adored mine. A little screen free fun. Floss loved reading the stories and doing the activities with the special pen. A big success of an eBay purchase!
Family Time and Safe Spaces
A lovely BBQ this afternoon but Floss was too tired and just wanted quiet time. She’s got a secret like hiding space under the stairs that she stayed in while family were here.
After the family left the band got together and entertained us into the evening. I may have napped a little during the rehearsals but the final performance was superb and I had a horizontal seat from the sofa!
Games and Books
We’re a family game loving family. I spotted this new game called Dixit. Have you heard of it? Also a Link Logo game. Going to further research both of these.
Wintering is a new read for me that became available as an eBook on Borrow Box (it’s free and all you need is a library card). I can certainly relate to the feeling of wintering. There’s so many quotes from the book I’ve jotted down to read back.
Bunny Vs Monkey Rise of the Maniacal Badger continues, we’re so close to the end now and we’re both enjoying it. It’s one of those books that the content appeals to such a wide age range. Even those of us in our 40s.
Enjoyed a little poetry from a book we’d had on request from the library for a while. I love these seasonal anthologies. Fancy getting into the habit of reading poetry every day – check out this blog post.
Sunday
Arts and Crafts Preparation
It’s been a busy day of preparing for the arts and crafts community group. I’ve cut out lots of apertures so that group members can do iris folding. If you’ve not discovered iris folding before check out my blog post here. It’s a brilliant craft.
I’ve prepped calico squares and Bondaweb for group members who fancy doing some landscape collages. We had an expert artist come in and show us how to make these last week. The image above is my Mom still tinkering with hers. They’re a lovely project that you can easily pick up and put down.
Some of our group members find sewing a little tricky due to eyesight or finger dexterity so I’ve been having a play with a papercraft version for them to do this week. I raided Floss’s craft stash and had a go at making a seaside landscape scene. Looking forward to seeing what the group do.
Friendship
A wonderful few hours spent this afternoon with dear friends. So lovely to hear Floss chatting and laughing with one of her friends she made as a baby. Just the most wonderful sound.
Bedtime Reading
Finished Bunny Vs Monkey Rise of the Maniacal Badger tonight. What a brilliant ending that really did come as a surprise for me. Floss has read this book before and I can’t believe she managed to keep it a secret the whole way through!
Monday
It was the dentist for Floss with Daddy today. It went really well but she was very nervous about it.
Preparing fruit is something I really enjoy. Does that make me weird!? It’s one of my Monday jobs to get ready for the arts and crafts group meet up. I had a lovely time and did some iris folding. Totally exhausted now.
When I returned home Floss gave me a list of ingredients that we need to make fairy cakes. Hint hint! I was too tired today but I’ve said we’ll make them tomorrow.
Bedtime Reading
A Necklace of Rainbows is the bedtime book. It’s a collection of stories and the first one is A Necklace of Rainbows. It’s a beautiful traditional story and Floss was utterly spellbound by it. Looking forward to more from this book.
Tuesday
A tricky night for everyone in the house. Floss was awake in the night and although I updosed it was clear that I was heading into adrenal problems again!
Floss woke late and decided she wanted to organise her books that she no longer wants so she can donate/ sell them to make more room for new books!
Cake Time
I really struggled this morning, lots of playing while lay on the sofa to help the nausea. Floss was keen to make fairy cakes and it was really hard having to tell her I just wasn’t well enough yet. Finally had to do a hydrocortisone injection when the throws of adrenal crisis started. At least it meant I could very gingerly make fairy cakes with Floss with help from the other half in the afternoon.
Floss had a brilliant time and it’s always so good knowing that not only is she having fun but there’s so much English and maths learning at the same time. Reading recipes and measuring out ingredients! Learning through play.
Floss is dairy free and I’m gluten free. We used a recipe I haven’t used before from BBC Good Food (you can find it here). They were so good! The only bit we did different was to add a good couple of heaped tablespoons of cocoa powder to make some of the butter cream chocolate flavour.
Bunny Vs Monkey Event
I had an email through from Waterstones today that alerted us to am exciting event happening for the launch of Jamie Smart’s new Bunny Vs Monkey – The Invisible Pig! To say Floss is excited about this latest title would be a mega understatement. We’ve booked on for the book signing! If you’d like to find out more click on the image above or this link .
TV and Podcasts
At some point I watched the 2nd Amazing Hotels: Life Beyond the Lobby – Joali in the Maldives and today we managed half of episode 3 – Nusfjord Arctic Resort. It’s a fascinating, incredible hotel made from an original fishing village!
While cooking dinner (tonight was hard work) I really enjoyed finally listening to this podcast by Simple Farmhouse Life. You can check it out here. I say finally as I’ve listened to it every night for the last weekish and never managed more than 5 mins before falling to sleep. If you struggle to fall to sleep I really recommend listening to a podcast before bed!
The Great Fire of London Book
Bedtime book for tonight was Fire Cat by Pippa Goodhart and Philip Hurst. Lovely story and great information about the Great Fire of London – Floss’s school topic in September. You could probably tell from the library haul on Friday!
Creative Time
I knew I needed to try and keep myself quite calm tonight so decided to do a little painting using an ArtBase tutorial. To make sure I actually do something creative after I’ve settled Floss on an evening I set it up before I go upstairs with her. That way I come downstairs and it’s ready and waiting!
I’m not a proficient painter but it helps me to switch off. I loved the colours of the dragon and I sat with the back doors open listening to the church bells. It was lovely. Here’s my list of acrylic painting essentials for beginners if you fancy having a go like me.
Floss was struggling to fall asleep. I went and showed her the dragon and she decided it was the perfect match for one of her books (except it doesn’t have horns she tells me). Dragon Girls Azmina the Gold Glitter Dragon will be our next bedtime story book tomorrow.
Wednesday
Wordless Books
Listened to a great podcast today while sorting out the washing (I’m starting to get better at having podcasts lined up that I want to listen to and squeezing in time when I can). In the Reading Corner is a podcast hosted by book guru Nikki Gamble.
This podcast she interviews Jo Ellen Bogart and Maja Kastelic who collaborated on the book Anthony and the Gargoyle published early last year by Walker Books. It’s a fascinating listen especially as Anthony and the Gargoyle is a wordless book with an author! My naivety at not realising that an author doesn’t need written words to tell a spellbinding story.
More often a wordless book is illustrated by the person who constructs the narrative. This is not the case in this book and it’s great to hear how this dynamic formed the book. If you’d like to find out more about wordless books check out this blog post.
Lottie, St Michael and the Lonely Dragon Review
Reviewed a lovely book today Lottie, St Michael and the Lonely Dragon from Floris Books. It’s a perfect book to celebrate Michaelmas on 29th September. Check out the review here along with other lovely resources to prepare for the Autumn Equinox.
Tonight’s Story
Dragon Girls Azmina the Gold Glitter Dragon was out book for tonight. We’re still eager to return to A Necklace of Rainbows. So many books so little time! We’re thrilled with Dragon Girls. It’s an early chapter book where a trio of girls turn into dragons and go on a special quest to save the magic forest. The perfect story for Floss and me.
Thursday
The Phoenix Comic arrived in the post today. Absolutely loved spotting our previous home city on the cover. Floss was eager to turn to Thingamajigs and get reading!
Art and Appointments
We were booked onto an online art session this morning but Floss was exhausted today and just needed a morning of being curled up on the sofa. It’s one we can catch up on for a couple of weeks with a recording so hopefully we’ll have a go soon.
It was an appointment afternoon at the doctors for Floss which always raises the anxiety levels. After we managed a really short trip to a local art exhibition. It was just what we all needed and then returned for a sofa afternoon.
On the Blog
I added a book review to the blog today. A very intriguing, kooky book called The Skull. You can find my review here. I also updated an old story book and toy post that you can find here.
Well that’s our week. I hope you have a lovely weekend!
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!