Monday Magic – Inspiring Blogs for You!

Good afternoon!  For many in the UK this is back to school week – today hubby and teachers across the country have school inset training days, whilst the kids enjoy their final days of summer.  The school uniform is bought, the pencil cases packed and soon the countdown will be on for Halloween.

Monday Magic Inspiring Blogs for You! Sept 3rd

This is the first year in about 18 years that school uniform hasn’t been bought in our house!  The lovely girl has a very loose, smart “own clothes” code for the sixth form – although mum has a feeling that this could prove a lot more problematic!!  The first line of the code made me both smile and sigh – “no underwear to be on show”……so no knicker skimming skirts, shorts need to be long and tailored, no bras or cleavages on show.  How times have changed since my day – the only concession we got in the sixth form was girls didn’t have to wear blazers or ties; the boys had no concessions.  Skirts above the knee….forget it! The girls have been out shopping – last week they visited the interesting God’s own Junkyard with its displays of neon lights amongst other places – and she did return with a skirt….it definitely doesn’t reach her knees!

 

The young engineer has been away at a festival this weekend, but it is far removed from those visited by his brother this year.  I think an accurate description would be a “Geek” festival where like minded inquisitive souls meet up and CREATE!  Never will you attend a camp with such power, high speed wifi and every imaginable technological gadget – one comment on instagram said “You know you are at @emfcamp #emfcamp and not any other festival when the guy in the tent next to you is running a server from the porch of his tent :)”  It is based at Eastnor Castle in Herefordshire and this year additional power and wifi had to be installed, so my bet is the local villages will have the fastest internet connections in the whole UK!

 

Last year the young engineer and his friend built a giant (8 feet) version of Guitar Hero – wires and lights were arriving at our house for weeks before (you can see it on Youtube here: https://youtu.be/AOU09T3l9Kg).  This year he has taken his better half who is a software engineer but frankly I’m not sure that he knows what he has let himself in for.  They are due back later today…..

This week the young engineer officially becomes a Master of Engineering & Software when he graduates at the Royal Festival Hall.  I am hoping that I will have some very embarrassing pictures to share of him wearing his gown and mortar board!

The first blog on today’s list is about the EMF camp, but if this doesn’t grab you then hopefully you can be inspired by the others on the list.  I have found a post about an artisan Mead brewery (having seen them featured on a BBC programme), some timely back to school views from a teacher, and a new blog from a cyclist touring through Kyrgyzstan to Nepal.  There are also some great life posts and my favourite title has to go to “The Special Stank of a Boy”!

https://hackaday.com/2018/08/14/looking-forward-to-electromagnetic-field-2018/

http://viking-mjod.no/apothecary-mead-legends-of-sherwood/

https://butismileanyway.com/2018/08/30/the-onset-of-inset-days-backtoschool-teacherslife/

https://inspiremystyle.com/2018/08/26/leading-a-fulfilled-and-healthy-life/

http://www.secondhand-life.com/2018/08/anxiety-storms-demons-on-the-boat/

http://janetgivens.com/at-seventy-seven-thoughts/

https://thewildreaderwithacat.wordpress.com/2018/09/02/beautiful-houses-%F0%9F%98%81/

https://woods-wanderer.com/2018/09/02/cycle-touring-chapter-7-osh-to-kunelek-kyrgyzstan-an-ode-to-kolbek/

https://butterflyinremission.com/2018/08/21/how-i-experienced-mindset-shift-motivation-life-change/

https://hotmessmemoir.com/2018/09/03/the-special-stank-of-a-boy/

I hope that you enjoy this great mixture of posts…..please like, comment and share!

Have a great week,

Claire x

 

 

Monday Magic – Inspiring Blogs for You!

Good Morning and welcome to another week, another Monday Magic and some more great blog posts to explore!  Monday Magic

Here in England the schools return this week, much to my daughter’s disgust, and it feels slightly odd that we only have one child still at school.  I have almost missed the ritual trip out to buy school shoes and stationary, but my 15 year old doesn’t need me for this any longer.  Note that I have said ALMOST, not really missing queuing up with a numbered ticket in a branch of Clarks along with a bunch of harassed mums and boisterous children……however there are going to be some shopping lists I should think, ahead of the soon to be politics student going off to uni in a couple of weeks.  He is more concerned about his football season ticket and joining the Facebook freshers’ group than how many sets of bed linen and cutlery he might need. Who am I kidding? One set of bedding will last the term, won’t it – there is no way my 18 year old son will change it of his own accord, YUK!

Moving on swiftly, September is Chronic Pain awareness month and naturally with my background I will be mentioning it….just a few times!  This week also happens to be Fibromyalgia awareness week – which falls under the chronic pain umbrella – and Kat writes about this over on Chronically Composed – a Scottish journey with Chronic Pain.  The other posts I have found this week include a back to school guide, an emotive poem about depression (you can see I have commented on it), a young dad struggling with illness and surgery whilst raising his family, and a face that many of you are already familiar with – Danny from Dream Big who is currently concentrating on his Youtube channel and MS awareness.  Plus a great post looking at what is more important in blogging…numbers or friendship?

But to kick off I have kindly been given permission to bring you this fun poem from Anna on Healing Hugs and Hope blog……

An Ode to My Heating Pad

Oh, heating pad,
 your warm hugs ease
my aches and pains.
I need your healing squeeze
When my feet get cold,
or when I get one of my migraines.

From arthritis to subluxations,

you’ve nursed me through.
When I find my muscles tied,
I cuddle up to you.
It’s so nice and toasty,

with you by my side.

Due to my poor circulation,
I’m often very cold.
When my thyroid acts out,
you are too hot to hold.
Still, you know I’ll be back,
  it’s your gentle hugs I’m mad about.
If you love your heating pad so much, why don’t you marry it? Well, maybe I will….

A Silly Poem for People with Chronic Illness by Anna Ottlinger HEALING HUGS AND HOPE

So now time for feet up, cuppa in hand and enjoy some great posts!

https://chronicallycomposed.wordpress.com/2017/09/03/my-fibromyalgia-awareness-week-2017/

https://thezebramom.com/2017/08/24/back-to-school-guide-for-parents-with-chronic-illness/

http://lifesapolyp.blogspot.co.uk/2017/09/dialectical-behavioral-therapy-for.html

http://angelanoelauthor.com/inspiration-motivation/be-awesome-in-real-life/what-matters-more-numbers-or-relationships/

http://channongray.com/talk-mental-health-awareness-stigma/

https://thisreallifedad.com/surgery-going-knife/#comment-332

http://www.homeschoolinsights.com/2017/09/trials-of-chronic-illness.html

http://www.weareholistic.com/mental-health-care/might-call-depression/

 

I really hope that you enjoy these as much as I have – and had a giggle at the poem from Anna. It appealed to me as I really can’t go anywhere without my heating pad!  Please explore the blogs leave some messages and share posts you enjoy.

Claire x