30 Things About Me:

One of the Twitter trends recently has been 30 things about me, so here you will find out 30 things about me.  (I’m going to start with the points and then I will expand on them and give some information over the next few days)

1. I was a teenage mother.  I was 16 when I had my first and 17 when I had my second.  (I will give my views on teenage pregnancy and motherhood later)
2. I love art and craft activities:  This blog focuses on my crochet projects, but I will expand on my other likes when I start doing them again.  At the moment crochet is my thing.  (I paint, knit, cross-stitch, work with clay, make clothes and jewellery)
3. I love cooking and baking
4. I am petrified of moths and spiders.  Now I know that these are quite common phobias, but I have reasons for being so scared.  When I was about 6 I picked up a spider that was crawling on my bed and put it out my window.  My step-father told me that the spider was going to get all its friends and family and whilst I slept they were going to come back into my bedroom and attack me.  I’m not so bad with spiders now, I can cope if I know where they are and they aren’t scuttling around, but once they move and if they are too big I freak out.  Sometime in 1995, after the death of my grandmother, I become scared of moths.  I had done something my father didn’t approve of and he had me sat in a chair telling me off.  Whilst I was sat in the chair (which happened to be my grandmother’s chair) a moth kept flying into my nose.  My father kindly told me it was my grandmother come back to haunt me and that by flying into my nose she was smacking me and showing her disapproval at what I had done.  To this day I cannot remember what I had actually  done.
5. I will do anything for anyone (within reason) and sometimes I feel like this good-nature and willingness to help people ends up in me being used and that some people take advantage of me.
6. I am doing a law degree (ok so you knew that).  I am studying law because I want to give a voice to children, so that their true views are taken into account when it comes to divorce, separation and care proceedings.  I would also like to work with child offenders and give them the help and support they need to change their lives around.  Ultimately I want to become a judge.
7. I love my digital camera – I am always taking pictures of my children and filming the special things they do – instrument solos, dancing and playing amongst other things.  I love digital photography as there is no cost involved in snapping away, I can preview the images straight away and delete any that aren’t any good.  It is easier to share and display my digital photography and it’s so easy to edit a digital photo to enhance it.  Very handy for gaining beautiful pictures that would otherwise have been ruined by red-eye.
8. I find it difficult to make new friends.  Part of this is down to always feeling ‘different’ at school and never feeling like I truly fitted in anywhere.  I have a few very close friends but widening my circle is incredibly difficult for me.  I lack confidence in approaching someone new and striking up a conversation with them.
9. I love music!  Music is a major part of my life.  Generally I listen to music from the 60’s, 70’s and 80’s.  I also like male voice choirs (shivering, covered in goosebumps just thinking about male voices), brass bands, Christian hymns and contemporary music.  I enjoy classical music and most music classed as relaxing – generally this is stuff that is in the style of classical music but with a modern feel.
10. I do not have drinks with caffeine in them.  I love tea and coffee, but I drink de-caffeinated brands.  Since changing to de-caffeinated drinks I have noticed an improvement in my sleeping and moods.
11. I have a strong faith in God.  No matter what I have been through, my faith has remained true.  I admit it is very difficult to believe sometimes, especially when things don’t seem to be going right or are unfair but I have faith, and that gets me through the day.
12. I love nature: especially the beach, I can’t get enough of the sound of the waves lapping on the sand and the feel of soft, gentle sand between my toes.  I love the forest, listening to the bird song and seeing the amazing colours that nature gives us.  I love the shapes of trees and the beauty of flowers (not lilies or orchids as I’m allergic to them)  There is a serenity with nature, an imperfect perfection that never ceases to inspire me.
13. My children are my inspiration.  They taught me more about my faith and relationship with God than any amount of time spent in a Sunday school class.  They taught me about unconditional love, and how even when I do things that aren’t what God would expect from me God still loves me.  I know this is true because I still love my kids even when they do something naughty.  God, as my father is the same, it took me having children to understand this in my heart!  They have shown me God’s plan, and how God doesn’t send bad things my way.  Just like I want the best for my children, God wants the best for me.  Unfortunately there is a thing called free choice.  Just as I can’t make my children do the right things, God can’t make me do the right things, or make someone else do the right things towards me.  It’s hard to accept sometimes, but again, having my children made this click into place.
14. I write poetry;  I have to be feeling intense emotions before I can write.  It’s a release.  I can write technically good poetry without the emotions, but the emotions make the words flow like water from a tap.  I would not have made it through some stages in my life if it wasn’t for the outlet of poetry.
15. I cannot bear it when people don’t speak properly.  Adding or dropping letters from words irritates me.  It’s not “somethink” but “something” and it’s not “wa‘er” but “water” (I could list dozens of examples but will settle for just those two).
16. Now this one is kind of embarrassing.  My father is a gardener (not embarrassing yet) he has the most beautiful garden and hanging baskets and pots everywhere (still not embarrassing) I however cannot grow a single thing (very embarrassing considering my father)  I cannot even get weeds to grow!!  I used to have Giant African Land Snails (GALS) and I pulled some dandelions, planted them into a bucket using the soil from where they came from – within 3 days they had died!  The dandelions on the grass next to the bucket were still living, waving their bright yellow heads at me.
17. I love colourful clothes, but somehow I cannot bring myself to wear anything beyond black-white and blues.  I do have some pink jeans, which I have worn occasionally, and I do have some pink t-shirts, but I generally only wear those under a jumper where they are hidden.  My daughter on the other hand, hates to wear dark or single coloured clothing – the brighter ans more colourful the better with her.
18. I have always loved reading.  I can lose hours inside the pages of a book, but then I regret it due to my hands.  I was so upset at not being able to hold a book for long that I had given up reading.  I looked at e-readers for months, but couldn’t bring myself to take the plunge.  I didn’t think it would be anything like reading and somehow thought it wouldn’t be a valid form of reading.  I also couldn’t get my head around the idea of being able to read in sunlight.  Well I took the plunge – I bought a Kindle and I am in love!  I read so much now, and I love being able to write notes and highlight passages without it looking messy.  I love the free books that amazon make available and have discovered some amazing new authors and genres that I wouldn’t ordinarily have chosen.  I’m ashamed to admit that I would judge a book by its cover and blurb and would easily pass by books that I probably would have enjoyed if I’d given them the chance.  There have also been some books that I thought I would love that I have hated, I always give every book I read 5 chapters now – if after that I still don’t enjoy the story I will leave it.  With the Kindle this is as easy as deleting it and my house isn’t looking cluttered with books on every surface.
19. I am a huge fan of comedy – not so much the modern stuff, although I laugh myself stupid with Michael McIntyre, Lee Evans and Jim Davidson.  I prefer the older comedy’s – the two Ronnie’s, Only Fools and Horses, Porridge, Are you being served? to name just a few.  Laughter is said to be the best medicine – if that’s the case why aren’t comedians available on prescription?
20. I used to play lacrosse and netball, but I broke too many fingers playing and my wrists have weakened to the point of making these two sports too risky for me.  I hate football give me rugby to watch any day!  My exercise these days is confined to walking up and down my stairs and doing housework.  My children love to dance so I do dance with them sometimes (hips and back allowing) and I do sometimes brave putting the Wii Fit on.  I have to do low impact activities.  I would love to start swimming again, and I keep saying I’m going to go but something always crops up meaning I can’t get out.
21. I taught my eldest two boys at home for 18 months, it was a time of frustration but great rewards.  I learnt a lot of things with my children during those 18 months and the trips and projects we did make up some of my best memories.
22. Animals:  We used to have a chinchilla-persian cat (like Snowbell from Stuart Little) she was beautiful, but unfortunately when I fell pregnant with George she started to attack me.  She also developed double incontinence. On investigation at the vet’s she was diagnosed with cancer and so was put down.  Ryan and Martyn were so upset, and even now they will get tearful thinking about her.  I decided that I wasn’t prepared to get another pet, and instead we sponsor a guide-dog puppy.  I dream of one day being able to swim with dolphins.  For me the eagle sums up total freedom, strength and beauty.  Sometimes I imagine I am an eagle soaring away from the troubles of life.
23. Work: I used to work for the National Health Service with adults with learning disabilities, challenging behaviour and mental health issues.  It was hard work but also very rewarding.  We got paid too much for the good days but for the bad days?  It was nowhere near enough.  I also did home care – I didn’t like that so much as you didn’t have the time to really create any relationships with the people we looked after.  I firmly believe that when you are providing such personal care as washing and dressing someone, you should have the opportunity to get to know the people we are caring for.  Without that relationship there is the risk of seeing them as just a half-hour or hour call and ‘forgetting’ that they are a real person with feelings, hopes and fears.  I currently do a lot of volunteering and I am enjoying the opportunities I am getting, and am constantly amazed by the people I come into contact with through this work.
24. Generally speaking we are in good health.  None of us come down with coughs and colds very often and we are seldom unwell.  Martyn has issues with asthma and eczema but that is well-managed without the need for resorting to medicinal treatments.  George and Elise have an inability to tolerate any medicine orally so when they get ill we can’t just reach for the infant paracetamol – it is tepid baths and fans to try to keep their temperatures down.  It looks like Elise may suffer with asthma, she has had an awful cough for quite some time now and it’s worse at night and during the day if she has been out in the cold too long or too active.  I have some problems with stiff joints and muscle spasms – it affects me if I try to do things beyond my limits, but as long as  stick within my limits, my life is limited by the stiffness.
25. Social networking:  I have had Facebook for many years, and was addicted to it – constantly updating my status and sharing pretty much everything.  I got fed up with it when I liked too many pages (news, politics etc) and my news feed was becoming clogged up and I was missing out on what my friends were saying.  I decided that I would remove all the pages from my Facebook and I followed them all on twitter instead.  This worked out well as I got everything in one place and wasn’t missing out on much.  Now I have linked my Kindle to my twitter and this blog so I publish the rating on the books when I have finished them on twitter and review them on here.  I much prefer twitter at the moment.
26. Weather:  There is something awesome about seeing lightning and hearing the roll of thunder.  If the storm is in the right direction, I take my children down on to the beach and we watch the lightning over the sea (we’re sat in the car on the beach side)  I also enjoy listening to the sound of rain when I am warmly tucked up inside with a hot drink and a good book.  I find the sun gets too much for me at times, and I don’t like being too hot – after all there is only so many clothes you can take off to cool down.  I love the eerie feeling of first thing in the morning when it has been snowing (if we are lucky enough for it to have settled) snow appears magical to me and I make up stories about the path of footprints that get left in the snow – whose were they and why were they here?  When my children are all adults I want to go storm chasing.
27. Travel:  I haven’t really travelled in this country let alone going abroad.  I want to go to Scotland, Ireland and Wales, I would like to go to the Peak District.  I want to travel the world, I can’t see it happening any time soon – but I will keep dreaming and one day when I can save enough money I will go.
28. When I was younger I had a mug with a twist half way up it – on this mug was written “I thrive on chaos” and to this day this is so true.  I like to give the illusion of being organised (my diary is all colour coded) but the reality is I am hopelessly disorganised.  I can hardly ever find what I am looking for, and no amount of planning actually makes any difference.  I start off each new year with good intentions (and I’m still doing ok for the time being) but generally within a few weeks I have lost the diary and chaos returns.
29. I am such a romantic.  I prefer the simple things in life – a candlelit dinner at home, a walk on a star-lit beach, a picnic in the park, a good take-away and a film curled up on the sofa, or just a drive through the country.  I’d prefer a candle-lit bubble bath with soft music and a glass of non-alcoholic wine any day.
30. Lastly I am a worrier.  I worry about everything, and with 4 children there is always something to worry about.