So there is quite a bit to talk about in this post. That’s down to the point that after my rant, I was completely shocked and stumped when I found out that Carol had passed away. For a while I didn’t know what to say or what to do.

I know we hadn’t spoken for a while but she was a great friend. We went to lots of different places together and loads of events. She introduced me to lots of different people and some of them went on to become close friends. She did the door at my class and kept me organised and everything running smoothly.

Carol’s funeral was in 23 December. If you know me because of the messed up emotions, inability to deal with stressful situations, anxiety and depression I can’t deal with funerals. I end up a blubbering wreck that isn’t fit for anything. That then leads on to the anxiety about what other people think of the state I’m in. It’s a Vicious circle thing that goes on and on.

When I found out about Carol’s passing I just remembered the fun and the good times we had. I thought I felt her energy round me but I wasn’t sure if I did or if I just imagined it because I was thinking about her. So I had a chat with some medium friends who confirmed everything for me. They said that what I was feeling was true. Carol understood why I couldn’t go to her funeral and was telling me to stop worrying about it. You know being told to stop worrying about it doesn’t stop me worrying about it. I knew Carol understood what started to worry what other people would think about me not going. Because of that, I decided I need to message someone that I knew was going. So I messaged that person and almost felt like I needed to justify why I couldn’t go. I think it probably came across as me waffling incoherently trying to put my point across. I don’t know if that person I messaged understood me or not, but I tried my best to say what I felt I needed to say.

So because I was worried for other people would think I decided to write a letter to Carol and send it to her in my own personal way here is a picture of the letter I wrote

I’m not going to talk about how I sent the letter because that is something personal between me and Carol.

Also, the weekend after Carol‘s passing a great auntie had also passed away. Her funeral was on the same day. At pretty much the same time. Mum and dad went to that funeral which meat that I couldn’t go to Carol’s. I wanted to make a card for carols family but I didn’t know where to send it and because of the postal strikes it might not have made it to them. Here is one of the cards I made for family.

As per usual for me, I forgot to take a picture of one of the cards. I don’t like making condolence cards because of the sadness of the people involved. But, it gives me a chance to remember some of the good things about the people who have passed away.

Now to talk about everything else that happened in the last few weeks. I went to the first meeting of the Neuro Rehab patient carer group. That first meeting was Old Trafford (Man United’s football ground). The group organisers sorted out transport for me to get to and from the meeting. I just thought a taxi, as in a car would come and that my wheel chair would go in the boot. The transport arrived and it was a bus with a lift on the back. Because he turned up earlier than expected I was a bit flustered. So I get on the bus and while my chair was being loaded I realised I had left my pipe and phone inside. So a quick (as quick as I can be, and that isn’t very fast) dart back in to get the bits I’d forgotten. The invite for the meeting said it was in an accessible pitch side box, so because of that everyone thought it would literally be at the side of the pitch at ground level. It turned out the room. The meeting was in was about the furthest possible place away from the drop-off point. I am so glad I had my wheelchair with me because there isn’t a cat in hells chance that I would’ve made it on foot. So I got off the bus meet the person I was supposed to be meeting with then set off to find the room because I was in my chair and pushing myself around it ended up shredding my hands, so I got blisters all over the place.

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When we eventually found the place the meeting was, it was then like going through a labyrinth once we were inside to actually find the room itself. When we got to the room to start off with, they took us to the wrong room and then we go into the right room where other people are waiting. It was quite a grand view from the box we were in bought because of the damage to my hands that sounds really bad but because of the damage to my hands and the fun we had to get into the room. Just confirmed for me the reason I don’t like football.

The meeting went really well, and I didn’t really know what to expect or what we would be talking about and what we would be doing. But it just turned out that session was a get to know you session and talk about things like rules and things like that. Because the group was for people with neurological issues, it wasn’t just people with MS. There were people with all sorts of neurological conditions. some had issues walking, some had cognitive issues. There were even people there that work with the dementia society.

Because of some of the issues, people had the rules were put in place to allow people to speak, and fairly get their point across.

So the next meeting of that group is due to be sometime in January, so I’ll find out more as time goes on.

Other things that have been going on. Because it was the run-up to Christmas. There were a lot of Christmas cards that I had to make and here are some pictures of them.

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They’re probably more Christmas cards, but I will have forgotten to take pictures of them. I also made some tags as well

It’s also been Harvey’s birthday and Katie’s too so I needed to do cards for them. Here are the cards I did for Harvey. 1 from me, 1 from mum and dad and 1 from a dads auntie and uncle.

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It’s was Katie’s birthday too so needed to do a card from mum and dad and another from me. This is the card from mum and dad

And because I love my sister I needed to do a special card from me

And on the inside it said

Over the last month, there’s been quite a bit of tangling involved. Each day from the 1st to the 24th of December we did a mini tile which came together to form a larger piece.

Last year I put a boarder round it but this year I don’t feel it needs one.

On top of that, there were the normal tiles as well. Here are pictures of those and one of them was tiles 300.

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Sticking with tangling on Christmas Day, Sandra was on hobby maker. She was launching a new Stansel sat called choose your wings. You can probably guess from a name like that the set was about different types of wings. Our hearts and gems in the stencil set to. I did a larger piece and passed it on to Sandra. I didn’t think she would use it but she took it with her and used it as a sample on the show. Here is the picture I did:

We have a board in the kitchen that has information about what’s going on during the week.

As you can see there are bits of art work round it. All of them are bits I’ve done or bits I’ve coloured in. Mum wanted some new bits of art. So I pulled out the stamps and pencil crayons and got to work. This is the stamp I coloured in.

I also gave her the Angel piece and I pulled out an old piece of colouring I did.

So they will take pride of place around the board.

There are probably other things that have happened but I can’t remember them.

I’ll leave things there.

I hope you had a great Christmas and I wish you all the best for the new year.

Love and light.