https://jdaviesx.wordpress.com/you-recommend/
Leave me a message on the above thread and I will get through as many as possible
Please get dressed first
Please Get Dressed before coming to your appointment (orange quirky news)
What is the world coming to when people think it is acceptable to attend welfare offices in their pyjamas? Surely people should be treating their welfare appointments as if they are job interviews and wanting to make a good impression and show willingness.
I am under the impression that a condition of receiving welfare payments is to be actively seeking employment and not doing anything which could have a detrimental effect on being successful in gaining employment. I also understand it that if someone fails to comply with the conditions that they have their welfare payments stopped. Surely this scenario would come under the category of an action having a detrimental effect on gaining employment? Should they then have their welfare payments stopped for not dressing in an appropriate way?
But where do we draw the line? What is deemed acceptable? I can remember a careers counsellor telling me that it wasn’t appropriate to wear blue jeans, as there is no place that you could work where it would be acceptable. How wrong were they?! When I worked in health care (adults with learning disabilities, mental health issues and challenging behaviour) we were actively encouraged to wear things like blue jeans so when we supported our service users in the community we wouldn’t draw attention to the fact that we were careers and they needed help.
Would we then have cases where people were told they couldn’t get their welfare payments if they wore blue jeans? What would happen if a woman went in showing parts of her body and the interviewer was from a religion/ culture that expected women to cover up. (I’m not talking obscene, maybe just an ankle/ knee, or arms and low-cut tops)
So what is the answer? I honestly don’t know what the answer is, but I think it is very sad that notices like this are having to be put up in places and that people have so little respect for themselves that they really cannot be bothered.
Crochet a little happiness (3): Rainbow poncho
- Wearing the rainbow
Elise proudly wearing the rainbow poncho I finished today. This is the only smile she has given today as she is not feeling well; she has a nasty cough that sounds like it could be an asthmatic cough, she sounds exactly like her brother Martyn did when he was her age.
Anyway, Elise and I took a trip to our local craft shop on Tuesday and she loved the chance to look at all the wool. She was so excited to be able to choose the colours (although we did have a disagreement about whether pink was in the rainbow or not).
Normally when we go into shops I ask her what the rules are, and she’ll reply “don’t touch and don’t run off” well on this trip she was allowed to touch, after all she had to know how soft it would be as she would be wearing the finished product – she was so excited!
I’m not too happy with the shade of orange, it seems a bit too yellow, and the yellow isn’t particularly bright, but on reflection I think it looks ok – and she’s happy so that’s all that matters. I have loads of the wool left, so the next task is a big rainbow blanket. I don’t know whether I am going to do a big ‘granny square’ or if I’ll do it as a circle, I guess I won’t know that until she tells me what she wants.
Unfortunately I am running out of time to crochet things nows, the next module of my law degree starts on the 4th February, so will soon have my head back in the books. It will be good to study again, but I’m going to miss the creativeness and happiness-giving crochet time.
I have been keeping a note of some Twitter trends that I particularly like and when I have some more time to concentrate, without having ‘tired-mummy-brain’ I will update my blog with them. I will also get on with the book reviews (when I can remember what the books were about) and I’m feeling fresher and more able to concentrate. I haven’t forgotten.
Anyway, I am going to wish everyone a good night and try to get some sleep before the coughing wakes Elise up again – it’s been a rough few days/nights! We have a follow-up appointment with our family doctor a week tomorrow so hopefully we shall get some answers and a plan for managing her coughing.
Crochet a little happiness (2)
I caught Elise with the wet wipes, a pull-up and her doll laying on a cushion. Apparently the doll need it’s nappy changing!! Not having much of this wool left, I asked her if she would like a bag and some ‘wet wipes’ she was really eager, so out came the hooks!
Ok so I know granny squares have holes in them but they are so quick to make up, (and we are only pretending here) so Elise now has a pile of wet wipes and this little bag to keep them in.
Her doll’s have stayed fresh and I’m not picking wet wipes off the floor to throw them away – smiles all round 🙂
The only thing I have to do now is some triangular ‘nappies’ as her brothers’ just couldn’t keep their mouths shut!
Clawback – Gemma Rice – 5*
Although I have tagged this with “Christianity” and “faith” it’s not what I would describe as a religious book. I have added these tags due to one line when Steffani is getting a tatoo of a cross done on her hip –
Sometimes we’re nailed to that cross; sometimes we’re carrying that cross; sometimes we find salvation and peace through that cross.
She describes how she is into symbols and that this is the reason she is getting the cross tatoo, and this quote really stood out for me.
I’ve also tagged this as being “controversial” and “may be disturbing to some”, this book records the story of Steffani being in an abusive relationship and details the cheating, isolation and fear that she experiences and goes on to show the good new life she forms for herself when she is finally able to break free completely and become a survivor.
I normally struggle when reading stories about domestic violence as I have been there. However, I have to admit that this story was so accurate and believable, making me want to continue reading to find out how the story ended. There wasn’t masses of detail about the types of abuse that Steffani experienced, but it clearly showed the way a person slowly and surely becomes the centre of your world and isolates you from everyone else you know and everything you like.
This is one of the few books that has made it to a 5* rating with me, and one that I will definitely re-read.
They say that every story has an element of truth to it, and I just pray that the writer of this book wasn’t modelling her character on herself. It was written in a way that makes you wonder if she has personally been there. If she has been there, it certainly looks like she has come out the other side – but then is this just a fantasy of how she would like it to end; her hopes and dreams? I do not know and would not like to make something of nothing, but there is an accurate truth and insight with this story.
So many people wonder why when someone is in an abusive relationship that the person doesn’t just get up and leave – this book explains it perfectly and would be a real insight to someone who hasn’t been through it personally or by knowing someone who has gone through it.
Diary of the Displaced – Glynn James 5*
I have to admit this is not the typical kind of book I would normally consider reading. However, I have an ‘addiction’ to downloading the free books from www.amazon.co.uk for my Kindle. I have found some amazing new authors by allowing this ‘addiction’ to take hold. It’s not an addiction that makes me feel bad, because I’m not spending anything to feed it.
Anyway back to this book. Zombies, dog-like creatures and ghosts fill the pages of this book, but it is written in a way that is fascinating and makes you want to keep turning the pages. Although there are details of zombie killings and fighting, it’s not overly graphic. Glynn has the art of leaving enough out to leave your imagination to really soar and creat the scenes in your head.
The story charts the struggle for survival and escape, the bond between a man and his ‘dog’, a faith in your own capabilities and a belief in a life after this one.
Led by intuition, and friendships with the ghosts and ‘dog’, James (the central character) learns to survive. The majority of the time, I felt like I was actually there with James, and I could feel his emotions and struggles as he learnt how to be self-sufficient and live off nature.
The development of the storyline was believable and at a pace that was easy to keep up with. There was sufficient detail in the writing to know what was being described and experienced, but not so much that it detracted from the plot and gave your own mind plenty to feed on
QI: The Pocket Book of General Ignorance – John Lloyd et al – 4*
This was a great read (not a favourite read though). I found it funny, informative and quite often shocking (not in a bad way – just questioning what I thought I knew)
There are a wide range of subjects, all of which appear to be well thought out and presented.
Maybe a treat for today, as the second book is available for 99p – hope it’s as good as the first
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/feature.html/ref=tsm_1_fb_s_kin_lxqklb?ie=UTF8&docId=1000577623
Promises
Thursday 19th January 2012: The view from outside my kitchen door.
“When the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and I will remember the agreement that continues for ever between me and every living thing on the earth.” Genesis 9 v 16
This got me thinking; God isn’t the only person to make promises, and this is by no means the only promise God has ever made to us. However, it really got me thinking about the promises I have made, and I’m going to take this as a sign to revisit every promise I have made and see if I have kept them – if I haven’t? Well, I’ll need to make my own sign to remind myself.
Crochet a little happiness
Elise’s wonderful and caring eldest brother, Ryan, bought this doll for her at his school fayre, unfortunately it didn’t have any clothes to wear. For about a year this doll has been able to wear Elise’s baby clothes, however, although the clothes fitted the doll in the length, they were too big for it. Elise got annoyed that they kept falling off.
After seeing me crochet some little bits for a friend’s baby, and after doing some hats for Elise, she asked if I could make her doll something.
We went off to the shops and I let her choose which wool she would like, and I set about creating these trousers and top for her doll. Elise is over the moon at her doll’s clothes and is busy telling me her list of what she wants next. Guess the crochet hooks won’t be going away for some time.
Something so quick, easy and cheap and yet the ‘payment’ or reward of having a happy smiling child is worth more than all the money in the world.
(Elise doesn’t look particularly happy in this picture, she had just finished dinner and didn’t want to pose for a picture, being more eager to get off and play)
Time with my youngest
Whilst the boys were at school, I spent a lovely morning with my 2.5 year old daughter, Elise, in the garden. It was pretty cold, but the fresh air did her the world of good. We got the pastels out and drew all over the concrete.
She asked me to draw a rainbow, and then asked questions about why there had to be a sun and a cloud with rain.
“You can’t have a rainbow without the rain” – Dolly Parton
Whilst carrying the box of pastels back up to the house, Elise dropped them (independence of a 2.5 year old :s), and they shattered. (Yes I really should have been using harder chalk) Between us we picked up as many as we could, but most were in tiny pieces that couldn’t be saved. Rather than dwelling on what had broken, we turned it into a fun extra piece of art work. Stamping, shuffling and riding over the little bits with her scooter, we created a ‘firework display’ to be proud of.
jdaviesx 