The Great Sewing Revival - I'm not letting it pass me by!

Thanks to Kirsty Allsop and friends, sewing and crafting is very much 'on trend' at the moment. Craft magazines are flying off the shelves and the WI is enjoying a real renaissance, but the whole sewing revolution is just passing me by. Now I am a fairly creative person, I enjoy crafting, gardening and cooking but I really struggle with sewing.

My Mother is a great seamstress and often makes her own curtains and and has made beautiful things for my daughter. You would think that would have rubbed off on me, but I think it has skipped a generation. In fact my daughter loves nothing better than to spend time making little creations with fabric and thread. One of her favourite activities is arranging and re-arranging all the bits and bobs in her sewing box, a cherished gift from Grandma. I don't even have a sewing box, anything remotely connected with this past time is kept in the junk drawer, including my collection of loose needles. There it all sits, next to the sellotape and the bit of grey blu-tak. It's like a little booby trap, waiting for you to route around for new batteries or the instructions for the telly, then it attacks and you inevitable find yourself at best a little pricked or worse looking like an acupuncture trainee! (OK so we will add sorting the junk drawer out to my to do list, then I can write the post titled 'Feng Shui for your kitchen drawers' that I have always wanted to).

So what? I hear you say, make jam instead and still be part of the craft revolution, but the thing is sewing isn't just a fashionable past time for all those stay at home mummies, its actually a really useful skill to have under your belt. As I have progressed further into my adult life it has become apparent that simply buying a new pair of trousers because the hem has come down isn't really the most viable option, and running to my mum every time I have a loose button, can not go on forever. what really brought it home to me was when my daughter got three badges to put on her Rainbows uniform, she looked at me with sad despairing eyes and

sad "oh no Mummy, what are we going to do? Grandma is on holiday"!

So I am taking the bull by the horns and going to give it a go, I am persevering, It may have taken me ten weeks but by hook and by crook I have got two of those badges on!

Writing For Pleasure and Fun!

Start Writing

like now!

So why the renewed energy I here you ask? well two reasons. One - Demand Media have just excepted my other blog for distribution through their network. My other blog, which can be found at blog.stocksigns.co.uk, is for my other job. When I'm not trying to be "Supermum" or an "Eco warrior" I actually have a proper job. The writing for that is going rather well, and lovely people from all round the world tune in to read my hints and tips on safety signs for the workplace. (did you see what I did there? all part of my link building campaign - a bit of self promotion never hurt any one!). My second reason is that I have a very dear friend that has been subtly telling me to get on with it. She's not being pushy at all you understand, just a gentle couple of words every now and then at the end of our general chit chat emails.Just a teeny weeny reminder to start writing again just enough to shame me into action!

No More Excuses

Get writing!

Actually I have a third reason - I like doing it and I have so much to say! Not because I love hearing my own voice or that I think that what I have to say is of great importance to all that read it but because I have learnt so much from others. I like most people, well those that are honest with themselves anyway, struggle. I struggle with working full time, with trying to be a good Mum, with trying to make all my relationships work, in essence I struggle with life. Friends,
 and the good old Internet have all passed on valuable information to me that have made my struggles easier to deal with or at the very least made them a bit more fun, all survival tips for the modern age which I want to share with other strugglers.

So mutterings over with for now. I am going to stop daydreaming about the life I want to live and start creating it.

Helping Depression with Vitamin B

Can Vitamin B help with the treatment of Depression?....my story

After the birth of my beautiful daughter I spiralled down into Post-Natal Depression. I didn't actively seek help until my daughter was two years old and by this time my depression was deeply ingrained and I had reached rock bottom. A visit to my GP (and I would always suggest that your GP should be your first port of call if your are suffering from depression) diagnosed the problem and a course of antidepressants and I was put on the waiting list for counselling. In the first instant the relief to have been diagnosed was overwhelming and family life became easier but it was the counselling that opened my eyes to vitamin B. My councillor, Angela, suggested a strong vitamin B supplement to take in conjunction with the antidepressants.

Eventually my equilibrium was restored and I was able to come off the antidepressants and I stop the vitamin B.....but I slipped back into depression. A demanding job, running a home and my partners shift work took its toll. That's when the vitamin B came into its own. Rather than going back onto prescribed medication I took a high dose of vitamin B. The effects have been marvellous, I feel reinvigorated, calmer and alive. It doesn't solve everything but I can tell that when I stop taking them my mood slips back. The effect has for me personally (and remember every one is different, and what works for one may not necessarily work for every one) has been so good I wanted to share my story and investigate further. This is what I have found our about this wonderful vitamin complex.

 

Can Vitamin B help Sufferers with Depression?

Some Scientists believe so

Vitamin B supplements may help people to fight depression, research suggests. The depression website depression-guide.com has these comments.

Scientists have found that people with depression responded better to treatment if they had high levels of vitamin B12 in their blood. They suggest taking vitamin B supplements may be a way to boost the effectiveness of anti-depressants. The research, by Kuopio University in Finland, is published in the journal BMC Psychiatry. The research involved the monitoring of 115 outpatients who were undergoing treatment for depression for more than a six-month period. They measured vitamin B12 levels in the patients' blood when they first came to the clinic, and again at their six-month check up.
The patients who responded fully to treatment had higher concentrations of vitamin B12 in their blood at both the start and the end of the study than those for whom treatment was less effective. The association remained significant even after other factors such as smoking and drinking habits, type of treatment received, and family history of depression were taken into consideration. From this it can be said that taking a supplement to keep Vitamin B levels up would be beneficial.