Generally Gemma

Decorate

Bye bye Easter.

When I was younger we always had an Easter tree. To start with it was blown decorated eggs but when we moved to Germany M found gorgeous wooden Easter decorations that I have loved ever since she bought them. The last few years I have spent most Easter commiserating with myself that I didn't have and couldn't find a similar set for myself. Because Easter isn't Easter without an Easter tree you know.

This year however, I found some. In Paperchase of all places! I was thrilled. They aren't quite as pretty as M's but they are all mine and a good place to start my collection.

It was just a shame to put them away yesterday. The house always feels so empty when you take decorations down. It will feel especially empty this week as G is away at Brat Camp and whilst I do appreciate a little peace and quiet it is awfully lonely to come home to an empty house.

Rejuvination

It seems incredible to think that only a few days after snow the sun can come out and be as brilliant as this.

It does feel like that finally Spring might be on it's way and that warmer weather and brighter days could soon be upon us.

 

This year it seems to coincide with me coming back to life again as well. I always have difficulty with the darkness of the Winter and struggle with the fact that depression seems to desperately want to engulf me again and this year has been especially hard as I've been ill for so long. But I won't bore you with that whole story again.

Suffice to say I feel better this week than I have done for a long time. I have a spring to my step and a smile in my heart. I feel as though I have the motivation to get back on to the healthy eating and exercise again, I have enough energy to actually do some crafting in the evenings instead of just falling into bed. The last couple of days I've even got up early enough to stick some eyeliner and mascara on which makes me feel almost human!

If this is what homoeopathy can do for a person then I think I am a convert never again will I assume that my immune system will always be there for me. I'm also a reconvert to my macro function. I haven't been this up close and personal with a daffodil before I don't think. I love the tinge of green in the centre, so subtle that for so many years I haven't noticed it and taken for granted that they are just yellow. Just goes to show that things aren't always as they seem and that there are things in life you should never just take for granted.

Easter

Easter is the holiday where I don't need to compromise my traditions. G's family doesn't really do Easter as an event, for them it was more about the chocolate. Which of course has it's place in our family traditions but for us it has normally been a family gathering day with roast lamb, cake, snoozing in front of the tv and the eating of too much chocolate.  And that is exactly how we spent Sunday at my house.

Bro and his girlfriend joined us for the day which was lovely. They are moving in together in a few weeks and are rather excited. And as far as I am concerned no house is complete without an Emma Bridgewater pint mug and so that is what M and I bought the two of them as a moving in present. It was great having the two of them there especially as T (girlfriend) threw herself into the spirit of the GRAND EGG HUNT!

Perhaps not as spirited as J and G were about the whole thing, but she was determined to get her share of the eggs and bunnies that were littered about the shop.

Speaking of bunnies

G did not get me an Easter Egg! I was unimpressed so he disappeared Sunday morning to join the throngs of other men doing guilt shopping. Part of the forgiveness process is me ritually humiliating him here. So please do enjoy. In fact here is a close up in case you can't quite see the detail clearly!

Bless him. It's a good job he loves me!

This isn't the greatest photo in the world but to me it is what Easter is really about. Family around the table. It was odd sitting there with Bro and T. Pulling crackers, (did you know you could get Easter crackers!)telling jokes and swapping stories. I occasionally have these moments where it hits me that I am a grown-up and that was one of those times. Sitting in my house, eating proper food, drinking nice wine, (thanks T!) gently taking the piss out of each other. It was good. In fact it was great. Sitting in front of the tv later with munching and snoozing was even better. Everything was exactly as it should be and exactly how I hoped it always would be when I thought about how being a grown-up would be. I felt lucky. Lucky that Bro and I still get on, (well most of the time) lucky that G and T fit in so well with the two of us. It was indeed one of those moments that I want to freeze and store in my mind.

Invasion

These little ladybirds appeared over night. They had stolen in through the window and wended their way into a bit of a tangle around my daffodils.

They are an essential part of Easter. As is the grand Easter Egg Hunt. Bro's girlfriend will be witnessing the horror of the family on a chocolate hunt for the first time. I am doing the hiding so I am now wondering at how to make it fair so that G and Bro do not end up in a knock down fight over chocolate eggs in the middle of the garden. In addition to which it is apparently going to snow. However, this also will not deter us from the hunting of eggs. I am concerned that Bro may be dumped by the end of the day! I had G locked into a house rental before I let him witness such things!

Good things

Beautiful flowers

Internet friends that I have never met who send beautiful parcels of soap and smellies that they have made themselves! (This arrived before I left for work this morning. I can't WAIT to get home and fondle them properly.

My house is clean and dustless.

The brilliant sunshine that was part of my walk to work this morning

PLUS not a single nose blow before 10 this morning. I think I might officially be getting better!

It's a good day when all things happen before nine in the morning and I spend the rest of the day as a happy little Gemma.

Cleaning

Is what I should be doing. G and I are currently having a conversation as to whether colour co-ordinating the bookshelf counts or not.

Turning the corner

Wowzer, how on earth did that happen. I was certainly away a little longer then I intended to be. And once I've done something like that I find it hard to get back into the grove of blogging regularly so in an attempt to explain and get back on track this is a bit of a rubbish post with no pictures really.

I don't think I've ever hidden the fact that I find this time of year terribly difficult. The dark and the cold do not make me feel at the top of my game and when you add to that the fact that I have pretty much been ill since October/November it makes for quite a depressed little Gemma.

It seems somewhat churlish to moan and groan about what amounts to little more than a sniffle and a cough when there are so many people with worse health problems than I, but it is so terribly wearing. That and nothing gets done, despondency sets in along with the dust and the mess in my house and before I know it I have taken to my bed and am asleep by nine o'clock every night. None of which helps with the supposed healthy eating plan and exercise regime I am supposed to be following.

Once upon a time I did used to be a fairly healthy young lady but the last few years have seen me catch every bug going and find it harder to shift than anyone else who seems to catch it and the last run of ill health has really pushed me to the end of my tether.When you go to the doctors and say I seem to have no immune system and they tell you there is nothing they can do and they just prescribe anti-biotics and bed rest and over the counter remedies means that I was beginning to feel as though I had nowhere to turn.

However, it is not all doom and gloom. I decided that if the conventional medical community couldn't help then perhaps I ought to try something unconventional. I did a bit of research and I have decided upon homoeopathy. I have found a nice practitioner round the corner from me and my first visit was last week. I'm not going to go into the ins and outs of it. But I will say this. I feel better! Still a bit snuffly, but deffo better. I feel more positive, energy is coming back and I think that I possibly see a light at the end of the tunnel. So fingers crossed that this is the turning point. I so hope it is.