That thing called bullying

Over on twitter a lot more Charities are getting involved with this social networking lark and doing a great job of it. Today I wanted to mention BullyingUK, as they released the widget that you can see above these ramblings. As children become more and more internet aware, so must the charities that want to reach out to them. The site has a whole range of advice and support for Children, Parents and Carers.This is not half hearted advice and info, its up to the minute stuff and well worth a read.

I am now the grand old age of 27 and I wish some of the things around now where about when I was a kid. I was never physically hit or abused verbally that much, on the whole I was just ignored. I was that tall, pale gangly looking kid that probably looked a bit messy. I remember some kids from the year above me, in Junior School, took a particular dislike to me and once brought toothpaste in for me, saying that my breath smelt. I remembering looking round thinking someone would stick up for me, but nope, no one did. The friends that I did have then just pretended it never happened. Did I go home and tell my parents what had happened? No.Did I tell anyone what had happened? No.

I have delved into the diary of 11 year old me lately for part of a college project, so I will be writing more about being that kid and what advice I would give to her. Here is a wee glimpse at what I have scanned so far:

 

 

You may have a wonderful relationship with your child, but they just might not be able to tell you how they are feeling, so its sites like Bullying UK that can help to bridge that gap.

So follow BullyingUK on Twiiter for the latest snippets on Anti-Bullying!
Also follow Unite Aginst Bullying on Twitter for Worldwide support.

Explodius Arsius (maybe)

I made some chilli con whatsit tonight for me and the dad, but decided not to eat any after adding some super hot sauce. The hot sauce was a gift for the dad that I bought whilst in America, from a cool hot sauce shop in a town called New Hope. On that shopping trip the awesometriffic JD and Jen naughtily tried to get me to buy some super hot stuff that you have to sign for, but I whimped out. I may have some of the chilli tomorrow with a jacket spud, but will have a fire extinguisher on hand in case I get cursed with a fiery ring of hell....

Latest update from the cube

Since her weekend release from the cube, The Mumborg's latest patch has begun to do its job and the healing process has took itself up a gear. The Mumborg is of course a golly good sport and got the nurses to take these lovely photos whilst they were changing the bandages. The gaping wound will continue to get smaller with the aid of the vacuum closure system, as it does they plug the area with an increasingly smaller sized sponge. This allows the wound to heal with the least amount of outside interfernce and all the goo stuff collects in a special container that has to be changed every morning.

Happy Birthday to Ewan

My nephew Ewan is ten today, which has flown by! Holy sheesh. He is currently living in Hamburg, Germany with my sister Jemma and other nephew Connor, so I miss another birthday with him. I got to spend the past weekend with him though and we had some fun times playing laser quest, even though he had a better score than me... So Happy Birthday Spud

Happy Mumborg Day and Stuff

Today its Mother's Day in the UK (Mumborg Day), so I thought I would share a few photographs, a wee video and generally record what I have been up to this week gone by.

The Mumborg was allowed home this weekend so that she could go to my Grandpa's 80th party and spend some time with my sisters and nephews while they were home for the weekend. I was not that happy about it, as I really thought she wasn't up to it at all, but of course she just ignored my sage advice(stubborn bugger).
To be fair The Mumbrg has improved since she has had the Vacuum Closure System installed/inserted or whatever last week, but is still very weak and fragile. When they were cleaning out the wound to finally stop the bleeding, it was in fact going septic, as things in there were going black and generally looking bloody awful.
So I was a right grumpy bastard when she decided to ask the doctors for leave and I told her I was going away for the weekend. She of course knew I was just being a shit and arranged things anyways. The district nurse had to come out 5 times a day to administer IV antibiotics and check on her, as they are still very anxious about her getting any sort of infection.
The vacuum closure system also comes in a handy portable size, which is basically a vacuum sucking the gunk out of the wound, through a sponge and into a container. I was going to take pictures, but it really does look horrid, so I just took a pic of the IV thing instead.

Grandpa's party was yesterday, although his birthday is today and everyone enjoyed themselves. Most importantly The Mumborg and the Grandpa did.
I had spent a ridiculous amount of time working on a photographic slideshow, totally messed it up several times by trying to save it in the wrong format, scanner breaking etc etc. So I was late to the party and upset that it wasn't as perfect as I hoped, but it went very well in the end. People laughed and cried in the appropriate places and the Grandpa loved it. The photographs from that slideshow will eventually be made into a Photobook for him to keep, so it was worth spending all that ruddy time on it. I will probably flood flickr at some point with all the images from it, but for the moment I need a break from looking at all those ugly mugs.

Heather and Jemma both headed back home today, Heather to Scotland and Jemma plus Kids to Hamburg. As The Mumborg can't have real flowers in hospital we compromised and got the flowers in the photographs. They are ridiculosuly cheery, but rather fun and at least there is no nasty pollen on them. Although I hope they are machine washable, as dust bunnies may take over....

Just to remind folks that I am a bit mad creative,in case you forgot, here is a video of the mini mumborg ( a wind-up toy for the mum off the Jemma). Somehow, after watching it, I ended up wandering the streets with five toasters, a microwave and a hairdryer, odd.

Got my card! woot

Rugby and beer

My funny hands

International Women's Day 2009

International Women's Day is all about celebrating inspirational women all around the world.

I was mainly going to waffle on about the dear old mumborg, god love her. As she is by far the biggest inspiration in my life. Married for nearly 30 years, three wonderful children (one of them is me! haha)and two gorgeous nephews. The mumborg happily gave up a career in nursing to be a mum, I am not sure if she planned to ever go back to nursing. That decision has taken out of her hands when she had a brain tumour, which then led to the million and one complications that she has now. I could go on and on, but I wont today.

For those that read this blog regularly, you know that I am studying to be a counsellor/therapist. This has opened my eyes, mind and heart to many aspects of the human condition that I had only paid the briefest of attention too beforehand, from the affects of phobias and depression to the damage caused by the many forms of abuse. The women in my class, fellow students and tutors are a big inspiration to me. You have to share a lot in class, probably more so than in any other other educational setting. It is at times scary, terrifying, ruddy awful, but mostly its inspirational, uplifting and challenging. Which is of course, just what we ask our clients to do to and they in turn inspire with the stories of their lives.

One of our class mates celebrated her 40th birthday and I took upon the task of picking out a birthday present from the class. After much searching for the perfect thing, I stumbled upon a necklace. It was a bohemian styled necklace, with a old key and charms. It also had the words 'Be the change' embossed on a little copper tag. As soon as I read that, I knew I had found the perfect necklace. Not only is she the mistress of change in her life, she is also inspiring change in others.So, might I add, are all my other class mates and tutors with their various work on placements and in class.

On reading a bit about International Women's Day, I stumbled upon a theme that stuck in my mind, Its Women and men united to end violence against women and girls . Having recently covered Domestic Violence in class, this topic is fresh in my mind. Also a few of my class mates work for an organistaion called Women's Aid , so I would like to dedicate this post to that organisation and they great work they do. Not only only in helping women to saftey, but also offering hope that you can change your life for the better.

“Be the change you want to see in the world.”
Mahatma Gandhi

Be the inspiration! Be the Change.

If you have posted about International Women's Day on your blog then sign up over at Bloggers Unite and read the many great posts on this topic.

Bloggers unite for International Women's Day.

A day of blood loss

Individual photographs found here 

On Friday the 27th of February I finally got off my arse and gave blood for the first time.
I decided to live tweet the event, because I needed some moral support (virtual kick up the arse). So it went something like this:

1.Mumborg has just gone off to theatre and I have just stuffed my face with spinach and rocket in preparation for #giveblood session.3:13 PM Feb 27th from TweetDeck
2.Nearly at blood place now. Feeling nervous and dishevelled. #giveblood5:37 PM Feb 27th from txt
3.Filling in forms now and there is a big queue. #giveblood5:47 PM Feb 27th from txt
Reading booklet thing about blood safety whilst waiting to #giveblood6:05 PM Feb 27th from txt
4.Just been health checked and iron levels are good. Its on to the next stage #giveblood6:18 PM Feb 27th from txt
5.Palms are getting sweaty now its getting nearer to #giveblood time!6:24 PM Feb 27th from txt
6.I think its me next halp! #giveblood6:25 PM Feb 27th from txt
7.I am now losing blood feels okay! #giveblood6:42 PM Feb 27th from txt
8.Half way! Still feels fine. #giveblood6:47 PM Feb 27th from txt
9.http://twitpic.com/1qb45 -6:51 PM Feb 27th from TwitPic
10.I am done in eight minutes flat biscuit and juice time. #giveblood6:54 PM Feb 27th from txt
11.Do it for the biscuits they are yum! #giveblood6:57 PM Feb 27th from txt
12.http://twitpic.com/1qc3z -7:24 PM Feb 27th from TwitPic
13.http://twitpic.com/1qcet -7:35 PM Feb 27th from TwitPic

Okay here is some filler, because sometimes a simple tweet is not enough, even though the needle twitpic was probably too much for some.
On arrival at the blood donation centre (a church hall), I was told that there would be a long wait for folks with no appointments. As I was one of those folks, I could of legged it then, but I was determined to do it. So I filled in my form and joined the other blood givers. The form filling wasn't difficult at all, just a brief tick list of recent travels, if you have had any unprotected sexual encounters and brief medical history. All very basic yes/no stuff, so if your a bit form phobic like myself, there is nothing to worry about.

Then after waiting awhile perusing though the facts and figures of blood giving, I was called for my basic health check. This involved going through the initial form in a bit more detail and a pinprick to test for iron levels. The pinprick was painless and they then drop a blob of blood into a phial, if the blood sinks, hey presto you can give blood. I think the spinach and rocket came in handy, as I always have to reassure people that I am not anaemic just very very pale.

Onto the next waiting area, which was two rows of chairs away from the first waiting area, alas no luxury for us blood givers. I have to admit that the palms were starting to get a wee bit sweaty at this point, but I wasn't left long enough to get too nervous. I had to hop up on a bed and then the nurse took my blood pressure. There were six beds in total, right in the middle of hall for everyone to see, but it still felt very relaxed. After a few making fists and releases, I then had to make a fist and hold it tight (not sure if that sounds right). I had to this for both arms to see which had the better vein, they were about the same. Which was good news for twittering! As I got to keep my right arm free. The nurse didn't seem too impressed by twittering, I think she thought I was just jabbering away nervously.

Now that she had a picked my left arm, I had to make a fist and release my hand a few times and finally make a fist and hold it.The area was then cleaned with an alcohol swab and the needle was inserted. I wont lie and say I couldn't feel a thing, because I could. It was not painful at all, not even horrid like the needles they use at the dentist. It was just slightly uncomfortable because you could feel the needle there.Once the needle is in and the blood is flowing you can relax your hand. To keep the blood flowing nicely, you just gently make a fist and release it constantly. I just lay there listening to the background music (Kings of Leon) and twittered a few times, before being told I was all done! Eight minutes was all it took to potentially save three people's lives.

After the needle is removed, painless again, the area is cleaned and plaster whacked on. You get up nice and slowly, wait for a moment to sit up properly and then you are released for biscuits and juice. The nurse recommended that your drink a cold drink at your first session, not sure why. The biscuits were yum and I found myself sat there feeling peaceful and slightly smug with the satifaction that I had done something nice. I have to wait a few weeks to hopefully get my card and see if my blood is any good. Then in four months, I will be giving blood again. I may video it next time!

1.Simple steps to blood giving found here

2.Virtual session here 

Thanks to the tweeps!
The folks on twitter really gave me the support I needed to do it. Sometimes it just doesn't work when you say 'Oh I think I will give blood this time'. By tweeting it, I added that little bit of pressure to live up to the promise I had made to myself. Also to everyone else that gave me support, god this is turning into an Oscar like speech, but it really helped honest!
I tried to keep track as much as possible using the hashtag #giveblood and following it on my tweetfeed.

Of course in the back of my mind was the mumborg, as I was waiting to give blood, she was losing it in surgery.The wound was successfully cleaned and the clot removed. To hopefully prevent any more clots forming, she now has three drains coming directly out of her leg. They look like mini hosepipes, rather horrid. So things are feeling uncomfortable for her at the moment, but the leg is otherwise fine, sort of! I think you should give blood regardless of personally circumstances, but it took this latest bout of mumborg surgery to really make me think about it. Please don't be like me and give blood when/if you can.