Merry Christmas!

To all my readers and friends, Merry Christmas! Or if you celebrate something else or nothing at all, I hope you have a wonderful day!

I’ve had an awesome Christmas so far. Yesterday Sammie came over for a bit to pick up her presents, which meant real life hugs and squishes were had 😀 Best present ever!

Today I’ve been completely spoilt with masses of presents, from lots of family and friends. I’ve been unable to get all mine to others sorted in time for Christmas this year, but I’m hoping to get those I’ve missed within the next week or two. My favourite was a gift from Sammie- she made a ornament of us two as penguins, me being purple and her being pink, hugging each other. Me being a purple penguin and her being a pink penguin has been our thing now for many years, so it means a lot to me. She also got me new penguin bedding and a matching cushion which are super cute 😀

Johan had bought me a telly for Christmas a few months ago, but surprised me with a Pingu ball (Hafu Pingu rather than telly Pingu), and Rarity, Rainbow Dash, Fluttershy and Twilight Sparkle soft toys. My sister Meggy had visited a few days ago and she gave me an amazing super soft penguin which I love to stroke. My other sister Becca gave me some awesome penguin pyjamas and penguin stickers. Esther gave me some penguin fuzzy socks (I love fuzzy socks!) and an awesome penguin Christmas jumper. Other presents included penguin stationery, a loom band penguin and money/gift cards. Very very spoilt Danni 😀

I also saw my brother on Christmas Eve, which was a lovely surprise. I’ve spent most of the day on Skype with Sammie, sometimes playing Minecraft (with her and her friend), sometimes just talking. I’m so grateful that I’m well enough to speak to her, be on my computer, listen to a few Christmas carols and songs and hopefully later have Christmas dinner. I even managed to speak to my mum-in-law on the phone for a minute. Now is time to rest and hopefully I’ll continue to have a good day 😀

How Can I Deal With Frustration?

I’m frustrated. Mostly because of illness/disability stuff. And I don’t know how to deal with it. There are various things I’m frustrated about, but I don’t know how to deal with them without making myself more ill (I can explain the basics okay but going into the details is so draining I can’t just ask someone else to help). The frustration isn’t helping.

The kitchen is a pigsty. Again. I tried to investigate cleaners but I’m not up to contacting them and explaining everything that would need to be explained. The carers are limited in what they can do, and it’s back to the point they basically can’t do anything. Johan can’t do it due to executive functioning issues, and can’t ask anyone else to do it (or let me ask someone else to do it if I have a good day) due to anxiety issues. Esther has similar executive functioning issues to Johan and it isn’t fair to expect her to do it all anyway. So I’m stuck. I’m sure nice people would offer to call people for me but it took me 2 years to get a 2 page document to give to the carers written and printed so it’s highly unlikely I’ll be able to provide them with the information they need anytime soon. I want to just go in there and do it myself but that’s impossible from bed.

My bedroom needs tidying. I don’t have enough storage space for everything in here. Now I can ask the carers to help with this, but at the moment when they come I’m either asleep or feeling horrendous, and I don’t feel well enough to cope with the movement/noise until after 10pm. I might need to just suck it up and deal with the payback it’ll cause if they do it while I’m not really well enough as I’m meant to be going to the hospital on the 16th and I’ll need the room for the stretcher. But it takes so much energy dealing with the constant questions about where things go (which I mostly can’t answer because I can’t see if there’s room on the shelves or in the cupboard or anywhere else). Then it takes one day for there to be random stuff on the chair, wipes on the floor, I knock things off the bedside table, random bowls or plates to be left in here, toothpaste not taken back to the bathroom. No one is to blame but I can’t fix it, and I’m not well enough to ask anyone else.

I need to sort getting the sofa, broken wheelchair and boxes of electronics taken by the council. I nearly got the first part of this this done but needed to know how many boxes of stuff there are as they’ll only take what’s listed. Johan said he’d let me know but never did. The second part requires Johan to pay for them to be taken which I’m scared he won’t be able to do when it needs doing. At the moment there’s no way to automatically pay online, and I’d need the council to tell me how much it’ll be because there’s nothing on the price list for boxes of broken electronics and computer parts. With Johan not doing well we’re stuck and it means I can’t buy the daybed and they might refuse to put my hoist in there (and in here if my bedroom is still a mess).

We’ve heard nothing about Johan’s support. The last we got was a letter with a provisional budget and his statement of needs but it’s been silence since then. Neither of us are in a fit state to be chasing it up. The support for him would, in combination with my care being rearranged to work with it, solve most of the problems we’re having, as some of it is to communicate with other people for us. I basically can’t read letters on paper now without massive effort (the words fade in and out and the letters keep switching around – it’s better on a screen with larger text as they stay put more) and made myself stupidly weak just trying to read the DLA form that was meant to be in months ago. I want to fix things but I can’t.

I’m not asking for advice on how to solve the issues I’ve mentioned, just wanted to state some of the things I’m frustrated with. What I am asking is how can I cope with the frustration of things being wrong but not being able to fix them?

Christmas Plans

I’m meant to be reading a book so I’m procrastinating by writing this blog post instead 😛

This year I actually feel well enough to make tentative plans for Christmas (also Newtonmas for those who don’t celebrate Christmas). I can’t buy the bulk of the presents I want to get people until the middle of the month (all my big bills come out the day before I get paid) but I’m starting to plan them.

So far my ideas are:

  • Buy presents for people. Get them wrapped by Amazon if possible, to reduce the pressure on Johan. Sammie’s presents are the exception, as I want to get specific wrapping paper for her Christmas and birthday presents.
  • Decorate my room. Will need a bit of a tidy first, but I want my Christmas tree up and maybe some tinsel around 🙂
  • Attempt to make Sammie a birthday card. This may backfire spectacularly so I’m not mentioning it to her, but now we have a colour printer that works and I’ve got lots of nice card and things, I’m going to try and make one (I’ve asked Johan if he can do the cutting out for me). I’m hoping my hands hold out.
  • Have a nice meal. The actual date is fluid as it depends on how well I am, when Esther is here and stuff like that, but I’ve started an order with some nice food in it to be delivered a few days before Christmas, and it’ll be nice to have a meal together. I’m hoping to organise it by finding out when everything goes in the oven and helping Johan by setting timers and reminding him so he can concentrate on the actual cooking bit.
  • Watch a film. Not sure what one I’ll be watching but I do want to manage a film if I can.
  • Watch the Doctor Who Christmas special. I need to catch up first really, but I’m hoping I’m well enough to watch this on Christmas day, or at least soon after.
  • Talk to Sammie. The most important one on this list. If I manage nothing else, I at least want to speak to Sammie around Christmas/her birthday.

I’m still a bit up and down but overall not doing too badly for me. I’m hoping if I pace things, I’ll manage most things on this list. I’m going on my computer nearly everyday with no payback so it should be doable 🙂