June Bugs

 

Well June was a weird month, wasn't it?  It's been s month of faltering steps and bugs in the machinery of life. After record heat in May, June was like Winter, here in Cornwall. Often wet, sometimes very cold and far from 'Flaming June'. And then suddenly, almost out of nowhere, we had temperatures in the 30s and awful humidity, which is rare in West Cornwall, where it's rarely too hot and rarely too cold. It would be Goldilocks weather, but we have to put up with mizzle and Atlantic storms.  It was a shock how quickly it got warm. No gradual warming up. Just suddenly it was stiflingly hot.

The hot weather did cause some serious problems for us. Hot weather isn't good for MS sufferers and it badly exacerbated my Wife's condition. As a result, she had a nasty fall, which required an ambulance call out. Thankfully she wasn't hurt, but it was a scary situation. She's also feeling poorly with a nasty lesion on her tongue. She's been referred to the ENT department for an urgent appointment because they are worried it could be cancer. So it's a difficult time at the moment, and heatwaves aren't helping. She's got an appointment next Friday. Fingers crossed things work out ok. There was some progress made on the caring front because I have completed my hoist training. 

The hot weather did impact my ability to dress, because it's not comfortable wearing a wig and make up in that heat. But I managed some dressing sessions both pre and post heatwave. For the first session of month, I decided to wear my silver blonde wig. I haven't worn it for a couple of years. I really must wear it more because I really like it. I wore it with a new dress that I got from Damart, teamed with my navy cardigan. I also gave a first wear to my new white trainers by Redfish, which were a bargain from Shoezone for just £5. It was a simple everyday kind of look that I loved.

Towards the end of the month, when things had cooled down, I managed to have another couple of dressing sessions. I had another new dress to debut. This one was a very vibrantly coloured dress that I purchased from Lands End Clothing. It was reduced from £110 down to £33. It's a beautiful dress and really good quality.  I wore it with my short blonde wig, and was really pleased with my look. It was a very enjoyable dressing session. 

My next dressing session saw me wearing one of my Lady Vintage dresses. I chose my 'Cobalt From The Blue', Hepburn dress and teamed it with a lace cardigan and matching gloves, with my white trainers. I wore my short blonde wig again and topped of the look with a straw hat. A very summery look, although the weather wasn't too seasonal, being a bit cloudy and overcast. But these conditions are better for photographs than struggling to cope with bright sunshine, so I wasn't complaining, and it certainly made the colour of the dress pop.

In both photo sessions, I wore my new discovery. Snag tights. I much prefer tights to stockings or hold ups. I find stockings to be such a faff and literally style over substance. So ok occasionally and for an occasion, but not for everyday use.  And Hold Ups, perhaps should be renamed Fall Downs! I also prefer tights of 30 denier plus, because I have a very noticeable scar that runs down my left shin, from 3 inches below my left knee to just above my ankle. It's the legacy of a road traffic accident on my youth and operations to put metal work into my leg  and then remove it a few years later. I also get some psoriasis flare up on my lower legs. So opaques work to hide all that. However I do have an issue with tights. Due to having an apple figure,  they have a tendency to roll down my torso and bunch around my waist.  But because of some, strange voodoo magic, Snag tights don't. They stay put. There is a size for literally everyone. The material clings well and the bands are engineered to keep them in place. So no more tights roll down, and I'm a happy girl. And the packaging they come in is super cute. All candy stripes and loveliness. Some companies go the extra mile to make receiving an order from them, a special event, and these are one of those companies. I loved this card they enclosed with it's positive message. 

I've made a conscious effort to exercise more this last month and I've managed to get my weight down to 93.6kg, so it's definitely going in the right direction. It's hard to keep a regular fitness routine, due to all of the curveballs being a carer can throw at me. But I am trying to exercise when I can. My next target is 90kg and I'm closing in on that. 

I am going to be getting some tattoos on my arms done, hopefully beginning in the Autumn, and I have been working on what I want. I have found a tattoo artist I want to use. Mad As A Tatter in Redruth.  I intend to begin my tattoo journey with two music themed tattoos. I've always been drawn to the red rose design on the album cover of Violator by Depeche Mode. It's an album that I love, by one of my favourite bands and I've always been tempted to get it inked on me.  I also love The Cure, and so I have come up with the idea of having their logo on my arm just above my wrist. I created a design to show this.

I may add some of The Cure's whimsical line drawings from the cover of the Wish album, into the space between The Cure logo and the Depeche Mode tattoo at a later date.

These will be the first pieces of ink that I get done. I'm also thinking about getting a tattoo of the original Harley Quinn, as drawn by Bruce Timm, in the DC Comics, Batman stories. This will be on my opposite inner arm. Something like this, but I will give the tattoo artist carte blanche to create their own design.

I'm quite excited at the idea of getting myself inked. Somehow it seems life affirming. Especially for someone in their early 60s.

  

So what plans do I have for July? It's difficult to say, because of the uncertainty surrounding my Wife, but I definitely will try and have a few dressing sessions. I'm waiting to hear bout respite care, but that will probably have to he deferred until we know more about what is going on with my Wife's health.  I'm going to try and hit my weight loss target, but won't commit to that, but I will definitely make an effort to keep up with my exercise. 

 

Have a good July everyone. 

Dee

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