I don’t participate much in the blogosphere (who knew that was a word?) in memes or games.  But now I’ve been tagged and it would just be rude not to join in wouldn’t it?

Thank you to Families Recommend for tagging me.  You can read 7 things you didn’t know about them here: http://familiesrecommend.blogspot.com/2010/04/seven-things-you-didnt-know-about.html

OK, so here we go.  Seven things you didn’t know about me:

1. I once failed the Daz Doorstep Challenge. If you’re over a certain age (and live in the UK) you’ll remember those awful cheesey Daz adverts with Shane Ritchie popping up, with his packet of Daz, on doorsteps all over the country.  Well, he popped up on mine too.  The ads weren’t staged - believe me - but they didn’t use me on the telly because my washing didn’t come clean *hangs head shamefully but rather thankfully*.  My then 2-year-old thumped Shane when he got too close to her. And yes, Mr Ritchie was definitely wearing more make-up than me. A trowel springs to mind, actually.

daz doorstep challenge

2. I will be (yikes!!!) 50 this year. There, I’ve said it.  The world has not exploded. Not even a tiny bit.  I think I’m still in denial as I’ve booked a fair for the day of my birthday, 10th July.  It’s Stockton Heath Festival - I’m not going to miss that one!!

3. My birthday is on the same day as my partner’s birthday.  Although, let me add that he is older than me. Not much, but I have to make the most of every little bit now I’m approaching half a century! It’s odd, but rather nice, sharing a birthday with your significant other. 

4. I love playing Scrabble but can very rarely find anyone sad enough to play against me.  I think they are all rather scared of my finely-honed spelling skills and geeky knowledge of some rather spectacular words containing Q, Z and X.

Q

Q scrabble tile image courtesy of www.thinkcrafts.com

5. I love moss.  I love its springy sponginess, which reminds me of quilts and cushions.  Don’t worry if you don’t get the connection there. Not many people do.

6. Everyone knows I get migraines but very few people know how bad they’ve been.  I had several years when I was lucky to even get two or three migraine-free days a month.  I lost months of work to migraine, months of family life to migraine, and felt close to suicidal on many occasions.  Often, as one migraine was finishing, another was starting.  There seemed no hope (and they were so bad at times that I couldn’t speak, it was excruciating to breathe and I couldn’t even turn over in bed).  I went through one miserable would-be remedy after another, always having to try it for at least three months, until eventually anti-convulsant drugs (Topiramate/Topamax if you’re interested) helped but gave me other serious health problems, making me totally unemployable for nearly a year. HRT patches are my current lifesaver, magnesium is amazing, and eating healthily cannot be overrated.  Working for myself is a great help too - pacing yourself when you’re feeling ill can help you gain some control and manage your symptoms a little.  I still get them, and still get fairly bad ones, but they are much more manageable just now.  Just the thought of going back to how I was scares me stupid.

7. I realised I wanted be creative for a living when, after taking the anti-convulsants mentioned above, I couldn’t sleep and was unbelievably hyper.  I was getting less than 2 hours’ sleep every night (this went on for months!) and couldn’t sit still, much less lie in bed.  I started sketching to occupy myself when the rest of the house slept, and realised the drugs were making me unable to concentrate enough to even draw.  I obstinately stuck at it, upset at not being able to do something I’d always taken very much for granted. From sketching, I moved onto painting some very awful pictures - but the bug had bitten.  I don’t mind too much what I’m painting, but I love, love, love what I do now.  It’s a real privilege to create things which become a part of people’s lives, homes and celebrations. 

OK, there’s my seven things.  Now to tag five other bloggers.  I think they’ll be:

http://eljay1980.wordpress.com/

http://charlottehupfieldceramics.blogspot.com/

http://www.notjusthandbags.blogspot.com/

http://www.itsamistrydesignstudio.blogspot.com/

http://www.thelavenderandlimecompany.blogspot.com/ (I’m hoping this will bring the lovely Lizzy back into blogland from bogged-down land, which I know is where she’s been following a house purchase).

If you’re in the list above and you’re seeing this before I contact you, it’s because today (Friday) is a madly busy day for me right until very late.  I’ll be in touch!

If, like me, you get migraines, you’ll know that many things can make them worse but sometimes you come across something which can help a little bit.  When that something is drug-free, so much the better.

Ginger is something which is supposed to make a big difference.  Ginger ale helps.  But if you’d like some ginger ale with a bit more of the ginger “kick” to it, try this recipe.  You’ll need an electric juicer to get the ginger juice from the fresh ginger first:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/20/dining/201grex.html?_r=2

Very yummy as well as very good for the old head.  If you have an electric juicer, fresh root ginger works really well with other juices - I love it with carrot and apple. 

One of my other favourite migraine helpers is the humble Uncle Joe’s Mintball- a rep from the company told me it’s because of the pure peppermint oil they use in the sweets. 

Suffice to say, I keep a small collection of  ”Emergency Uncle Joes” in my handbag.  Better than any painkiller, they help keep me vaguely functional and clear some of the pain and fuzziness in my head.  And the mention of my Emergency Uncle Joes always raises a chuckle amongst friends and family.  It’s a useful remedy which usually helps to get me home safely if a migraine starts when I’m away from home.

I was really surprised to discover from the Uncle Joe’s website www.uncle-joes.com that this sweet is not more universally known.  Apparently, it’s a bit of a rarity outside our little bit of north west England, having its roots in the lovely down-to-earth town of Wigan.

Uncle Joes mintballs