I have been saying for months now that I would get my act together and join in with Sheryl’s Link Up Party over on A Chronic Voice…..so this is finally me getting my act together, just in time to sneak into June!  Sheryl provides prompts so that we bloggers can learn just a little bit about each other – and ourselves!

Prompts for the Month

1. Reminding
2. Pacing
3. Surrendering
4. Improving
5. Flowing

 

Reminding

Over the last couple of weeks my kids lives have been galloping at  a great speed, reminding me that I really am that middle aged woman who stares out from the mirror!  The household exams came to a finish this week as our girl took her final GCSE – as a parent I have been through them 3 times and that is it, no more!  Then my baby went off with her bag containing a party dress, shoes and makeup to get ready with friends for their end of year party – I doubt that she will let me post a picture, so you will have to take my word for it that the girls looked beautiful.  Reminding me how long ago I was 16!

Son number 2 came home from his first year at university sporting a slightly shaggy, slightly ginger beard and looking skinnier and taller.  Last night the hall was suddenly full of very large shoes as a group of 19 year old males gathered for drinks and football before heading off to a party. “Don’t wait up!” reminding me yet again that my youthful days of partying are long behind me.

The final straw came in the form of a large white envelope addressed to son number 1 bearing the stamp of Companies House.  “This is really happening” said my girl at the realisation that her annoying big brother has finished university and is entering the big wide world with a tech Start-Up! Reminding me that I really do have adult kids!

Pacing

If yours truly had remembered all that I read on a regular basis and tell myself about pacing, perhaps today (Saturday) wouldn’t have been a “crash & burn” day.  It has been a major crash at that, meaning PJs and sofa all day.  But it is not every week that hubby goes away on a school trip to France and my birthday falls slap bang in the middle of said week.  Now of course hubby going away means that my new carers for the week are the kids, so pacing in the house goes out of the window immediately.  But add into the equation several lovely groups of friends wanting to take me out to celebrate and the kids actually arranging a meal out too, then there is the recipe for an epic failure at pacing.  It has been great though!

Surrendering

Recently I have recognised that “surrendering” to my diagnoses and accepting my limitations need not be a negative.  Too often we think of ill health in terms of “cure”, and with ever changing medical advances there can be an unrealistic expectation of the medical profession to be able to put everything right.  But the reality of many chronic conditions is that there is not a cure and the best that can be done is to manage symptoms and keep as healthy as possible.  I know that some people didn’t understand why I started to use a wheelchair when I can still walk, and they will view my surrendering as something very different.

But for me surrendering to my conditions and accepting them has been liberating.  No, I’m not “giving in” and am definitely not negative, but rather acknowledging that to live my life in the best way possible way sometimes I need a bit of extra help.  If using a wheelchair means that I can still go round the shops, or on a family walk then so be it!  If I need to rest and binge watch on Netflix, I won’t feel guilty (that is a work in progress!).

Improving

Much to the disgust of my kids, I think that my computer and social media skills are really improving.  If you listened to them you would be forgiven for thinking that I am the mother who constantly posts pictures of my little darlings every move.  Get over your selves, kids – I have other things in life to tweet, post to Facebook and Instagram!!  I have finally swapped to a .com blog account with wordpress, I am now able to link up all the relevant SM sites on my book reviews, I have set up several Facebook pages and I am an admin to a group.  Of course when I asked the then student engineer to set me up a blog when I had my spinal cord stimulator, it was just laughable in the kids’ minds that anyone would want to read anything their dopey mum had to say.  But my followers have grown slowly and steadily from all walks of life, and this old girl is pleased to report ongoing, improving IT skills!

Flowing

I’m going in a completely different direction with this prompt and want to share some fun that we had a few weeks ago.  For the past couple of years I have made the birthday cakes for the daughters of a friend, varying from My Little Pony to Cat Woman to a magic unicorn tiered cake.  This year the brief was sent by the soon to be 8 year old in the form a photograph with attaching note – NO fondant or buttercream icing!  “OK, leave it with me” I said to mum, wondering on earth I would achieve anything vaguely resembling the finish on the picture.  Then I learnt about “Mirror glaze” cakes!!!

So, with cake made and Youtube videos watched and admired, the lovely girl, hubby and I set to work creating.  The covering is made using a combination of gelatine, white chocolate, condensed milk and a few other goodies.  Then the colourings are added before pouring the icing over the cake until it is flowing down the sides and completely covers the cake.  Depending upon when the colouring is added and how many are added to one layer will alter the final cake covering.  It was great fun, the kitchen saw more flowing condensed milk than it has ever seen but for a first time I was pretty happy with our Mirror glaze galaxy cake!

 

Hope you have enjoyed my prompts!

Claire x