Success

So I know that yet again I have managed to leave it an annoyingly long period of time between posts, but hey this is me, probably best to get used to it lol x

December was crazy and eventful and emotional and well pretty good on the whole I guess.

It was full of an insane amount of assignments due in for college which swamped my time, coupled with an impending driving test I threw the rest of my time (and money) into extra lessons. So pretty full on.

Test day drew nearer, I got more and more stressed and anxious (not great for someone who suffers anxiety on a daily basis already) and then, 4 days before test day, they cancelled! I got an email whilst at college telling me due to unforeseen circumstances they had to cancel my test and gave me another date for February. FEBRUARY!?!?!? I cried. In the middle of college's library, I bawled my eyes out. So much stress and tension for nothing. Gutted is an understatement. I was hoping to drive to my mum's for Christmas (so also praying I would pass) which I definitely wouldn't be able to do :(
All I could do was keep checking online for cancellations and hope that a) something sooner would come along and b) I could keep running the car I'd bought and pay for more lessons.

But it was not all lost! Oh no! For the very next morning on my third check since getting up (like within an hour I was getting a bit obsessive to say the least) a cancellation popped up! For December 23rd! OMG. Booked without hast and praying my instructor was free I was overjoyed. Bouncing I went off to college and once my instructor confirmed that yes she was available I couldn't stop grinning all day. Whether I could drive to mums all hanged on hopefully passing my test the day before, scary but I was overjoyed.

Turns out it must have been for a reason because the Friday morning (original test day) I had an accident involving my daughters buggy's wheels collapsing under themselves and flinging us both straight over into a busy road. We are ok, miraculously she was unharmed despite plummeting forwards. Me not so much as I badly damaged (typically) my bad knee. I'm so thankful for the two cars,coming in opposite directions, stopping and getting out to help us out of the road and making sure we were ok. (oh and not running us over too!) but yeah I was in alot of pain and pretty shaken up, but I'll take that over miss K being hurt any day.

So test day was drawing closer again but this time I felt so much more prepared, and although I was still nervous (sick to my stomach) it was less panicky so I truely believe it was for a reason. Two days before however I get an email from UCAS. "There has been an update on your Track, please log in to view" I had only gone and gotten my first university offer! WOOHOO!

So the point of most of this post? Well you have probably guessed by now in my joyful tone, that on Wednesday 23rd December 2015 at 30 years of age, I finally, (and first time I must add!) passed my driving test!!

It's sooooo weird! Driving down to my mums for Christmas was a scary trial by fire I tell you, but I am slowly getting more used to it. Driving to college every day now is amazing, I have so much more time there and of course have gained the time back from when I was learning too :)

But yeah it has been a busy month. I also got to see my brother at Christmas as he was able to come back for the holidays (currently stationed overseas with the services) which was great but now everything is slowly going back to normal with everyone back at school/college etc

Poppy Challenge

I belong to a running group on Facebook made up of mums across the globe. Whilst I am a beginner and can't run often I find the community incredibly supportive and encouraging for all abilities. A great sense of community between the ladies in there.

In conjunction with this group is another that runs online "races". Built around the frustrations of not being able to find races to join the founder created an online community where people could join up online and submit timed races in their own area to compete against people pretty much anywhere. There are distance races and fun runs and charity runs etc it is amazing and you get medals too! Some of the designs are so pretty or funky :) http://www.virtualrunneruk.com/

Anyway one of such races is a November poppy challenge where participants were challenged to complete at least 33k across the month by walking, swimming or running etc.

I had intended to use this challenge as a kick start back into running for myself, but life, stress and my body decided otherwise. Thing is with Fibro you just can't chose your energy levels and when so much else is going on in your life it just makes adding anything else in near on impossible.

So I walked. I walked my children to school. I walked into and back from town for shopping. Walked little by little chipping away at that 33k goal. Until today. This morning, at almost the end of the months time limit I have finally reached my 33k target (33.09 to be precise!)

For some people 33k is nothing, there are members completing hundreds of kilometers to add to the challenges grand total and hats off to them! But for the people living, like myself, with chronic pain and fatigue 33k is a massive amount to accumulate and I am chuffed at the achievement.

I have received nothing but love and support from the community when I posted about my achievement this morning and even inspired other members with the condition which brings me great joy.

The poppy challenge started as something close to my heart, with family in the forces and I will wear my poppy medal with pride when it arrives. But the challenge has shown me something so much more, that I can beat you fibro, you will not better me, or keep me from achieving my dreams. Determination to improve has brought results, little by little I will better myself!

Remembrance

This time of year is an important one for the British public.

It is a time of remembrance and solace, where we look back and remember all those that fought for our protection in the wars. Many giving their lives so that we can live in freedom.

We wear a poppy out of respect, we fall silent for 2 minutes to reflect and show honour to them all.

It is particularly poignant for families, like my own, with brothers sisters, mothers fathers, uncles etc. still serving today. We stand with them hoping our strength and love can travel across the seas to where ever they are now.

Shoulder to shoulder with all who serve.

I've got a lovely bunch of coconuts lalala

There are certain things in life that you just get used to buying pre-prepared and in neat little packages. Then when you see the whole product in its natural form they appear scary, complicated, even frightening.
I certainly felt this way about things like pineapple, coconuts and other exotic fruits.
So when the opportunity to try them out for Tesco came along I jumped at the chance and I am so glad I did!
Learning how to open and extract coconut took a little research I will admit. I was convinced I would need several kinds of power-tool equipment to open this fruit. Armed with a shed of equipment (not to mention the family owned hardware store) and hours of YouTube videos later I felt ready to tackle this seemingly daunting task.

But it wasn't hard at all! Find the soft hole the lady of coconut wisdom said and it really was that easy I didn't even need a sharp knife. A little poke with the arm of a spoon and we were soon drinking delicious coconut milk. Yum.
Drop it on the floor (after draining - i cannot stress enough how much you should complete the first step. Unless you like a coconut milk glaze to your tiling, who am I to judge?) and ta da two coconut halves. I followed another tip to freeze for a couple of hours and book easily peel-able flesh.

It was so easy and dare I admit it, FUN!!

Thank you Tesco for the opportunity to overcome my fears and enjoy some of your marvelous exotic fruits. I will certainly be trying them again in the future!


Although I had the opportunity to try the fruit for free for Tesco all the above reviews and opinions are my own x

Its been a while

Ok I have been away for a while I know. Turns out this college life is actually quite time consuming!
It may well be a part time course but gosh it ends up being so much more than that!

And I have to admit I'm just not that organised yet, with the lunch boxes and meal plans and getting kids and myself to all the places we need to be at the times we need to be and so on and so forth and *breath*. Yeah so a bit crazy around here!

But I am loving it, so much :) Actually so much so it has completely changed my whole idea for the future and careers and everything! Ive decided to pursue science! Actually it makes a lot of sense really. 1 I love it, I really do, I had forgotten just how much I love science. 2. It makes a lot of sense for my health in reality. I don't know what the future holds for me and fibro and a career in science should be a lot easier to maintain than a career in nursing if I am brutally honest with myself. And lastly I hate people. Haha just kidding. But I do prefer the less people focused aspects to life so really the thought of a career where I can spend my time staring at microscopic cells in reasonable solace does appeal.

So yeah that's where I am at. Although there is a possible spanner in the works regarding funding due to previous attempts at college in the past but that is something that will need to see what happens.

In other news we have new pets!! Couple of days ago we brought some mice home to live with us! Rose and Clara are settling in well and for babies are handling beautifully too. The girls adore them and even my toddler is being very good with them so far which is awesome :)

 Rose and Clara

I also realised I never posted about the second Colour Rush! So I did it! My first ever 5k and not a bad time either at about 55mins :) I need to get back into running again properly really, I have been very slack. But I have signed up for a November challenge which requires a minimum of 33k to be covered over the month eek! This time the funds are going to the british legion which is a close thing to my heart x

Me and my friend Vix after completing the 5k colour rush

Back to studies!

This week and next marks a lot of tears and quite a few sighs of relief (go on admit it) from many parents across the country as children return to (and start) school.

Mine included with my eldest starting her second year of school and my littlest is off to start with a childminder, after having myself as pretty much her sole career for the last few years. Scary stuff.

But what's even more scary (well actually pretty exciting) is that on monday I too return to school!

It's been quite a few years since I last attended any kind of education, and if I think of it like that then it is actually quite a daunting thought. But actually I am really very excited about returning to study (and having a break from the kids!) even if it is something as academically taxing as full on science.

Hopefully, for me, this is the start towards my new career goals over the next few years. I'm aiming for university next year and so will be working on my application for that in the next couple of months as well (stress!)

Training Run

I've been quite bad with my run training really. I could blame my shin injury and it is true it's still playing up. But generally I just haven't been pushing myself enough.
I went for a first run post injury last week and it felt good. Ran further without stopping than ever before which considering 6 months ago I couldn't make it down the block is a massive achievement really.

Anyway this week we are away visiting family and I got the chance to run with a new training partner.
She certainly pushed me harder than I'm used to and we had a great time running together!

Half husky half gsd one hell of a runner and great time had by all :)