If I could wrap up this month’s occurences in 3 phrases, it literally would be migraines, plumbing and Married At First Sight Australia (MAFSA).

I’ve experienced all three in huge quantities and it hasn’t always been fun. First up, the plumbing. We recently updated our family bathroom – it’s been a long time coming and desperately needed doing.

But doing the bathroom unveiled a number of other problems; namely a radiator system that so desperately need flushing and leaking pipes under floorboards that would mean a ceiling would have to be taken down to address the problem. Let’s just say we’ve most definitely kept the plumbing company in business!

Health Life

Moving on to the migraines – since Chemo finished in December 2019, my headaches and migraines have been getting progressively worse. I’ve since had a MRI scan and appointments with neurologists, ophthalmologists – and at one point was told that I had fluid on the brain, whatever that means. Turns out it’s excess fluid in my pituitary gland.

Naturally, I Dr Googled it and discovered that it doesn’t seem to suggest anything serious. But this month I’ve had the unfortunate experience of getting the mother of all migraines. It absolutely floored me.

It actually came a few days after someone had recommended that I try cranial osteopathy. In fact, I was to experience a series of migraines in the days that followed – to say that I was frustrated and depressed about the whole thing is an understatement. I emailed the osteopath after my treatment to ask if it was normal and was reassured that it was, so I’m going to stick at it. In the meantime, the neurologist suggested that I move things up a level by going on beta-blockers (Propranolol).

In all honesty I don’t believe someone in their mid 40s should be taking so many pills a day; I hate it. I would much rather be treated naturally without the pill popping, but equally I know that I can’t carry on with migraines the way they are going. They are so debilitating and so very depressing.

In other health news, I’m enjoying the fact that I have now moved on to Prostrap for my breast cancer adjuvant treatment rather than Zoladex which is a monthly job. It means that I no longer have to endure monthly visits to the doctors and then have to call them every month to make a new appointment – just because their system doesn’t stretch beyond a couple of weeks in advance. Yep, I didn’t make that up! So at least now I get to call them every 10 weeks as opposed to every four.

Little Finds

You might have noticed the picture of me holding a purple bottle at the top of this post! In a bid to improve my health, I have been looking at making little changes in my daily life – and one of these is to drink more water. I did some research and discovered that we should really be drinking half a gallon of water every single day. It occurred to me that I wouldn’t want to measure out half a gallon of water every day, so I looked online to see if half gallon bottles existed – and they did!

I found mine on Amazon for less than £15 and, apart from when I’ve felt ill or had a migraine, I’ve mostly been finishing the bottle. But I had to slowly build up first – I think the first bottle I drank was a huge shock to the system!

Another fab find that I have to tell you about is a product called StylPro. I first read about it and saw the demo on my good friend Alex’s blog, Living Pretty Happy. Alex describes the product as being revolutionary in cleaning her make up brushes and she wasn’t wrong. It was actually designed by one of Lord Sugar’s Apprentice winners (remember Tom the scientist?)

The product basically cleans – and dries – each makeup brush in less than 30 seconds. And after looking at the state of some of my make up brushes, I remembered Alex’s post about how good it was and went back to her blog post to bag one for myself.

And I’m delighted with the results. Alex suggests using soap and water for powder-based products – and to use one that smells nice, as that’s what the brushes will end up smelling like. A good natural one is Tropic’s Signature Scent hand wash – it’s antibacterial and smells lemony and fresh. For oil-based products such as foundation and cream blushes etc, you can buy an oil-based cleaning bottle from the same site.

Blog & Business Goals

This month a friend and I started up a new business experiment. It’s called the Productivity Pod and the idea behind it is that it encourages people to work with intention. It’s like doing an accountability session online (on Zoom); the whole concept is a little odd, but trust me it works!

You basically log onto Zoom and state your work intention in the chat box. After everyone has done so, we mute ourselves but keep the cameras turned ON. After 45 minutes, we return to the zoom call and one by one we state whether or not we did the work we intended to. Just knowing that strangers are watching while you work makes you work double hard and double fast!

If you fancy giving it a go (it’s free and I’d love you to experience it), then just send an email to productivitypod@post.com  We’re currently running sessions at 6:30am and 11:30am on Mondays. Most people join in to either do their social media, write a blog post, do their accounts/admin or even tidy a cupboard – it’s certainly not limited to those who own businesses – anyone who wants to get a job done is welcome. Oh and we’re on Facebook and Instagram too.

This month I also had the pleasure of working with MoldyFun – a company that offers giant sized cake and biscuit molds. I loved them as soon as I saw what they offered – from Jammy Dodgers and Bourbons, to Custard Creams and Oreos! Nadja and I were sent the Party Ring biscuit and we really enjoyed some mother-daughter time in the kitchen concocting a giant Party Ring! The results turned out so well (check out my Instagram post) – and I was really impressed.

MoldyFun then asked if we’d like some giant letters, and Nadja and I were excited about coming up with something a bit different – and chose to make chocolate alphabet molds with Smarties to enjoy on a Saturday night – as you can imagine, they were a right treat! What I later discovered was that the silicone baking molds can also be used to hold resin and even concrete – and now I’m thinking ahead for garden projects this summer!

Oh, and if you’d like a piece of the action yourself – quote my name as a coupon code (LAURETTAWRIGHT) and you can get 10% off all orders!

Life In General

It’s finally wonderful to get the bathroom that we’ve always dreamed of (more about that in an upcoming blog post) – it has made such a difference and actually feels like we’re being pampered walking into the room.

In my last little round-up I promised that I’d divulge what the animal communicator said about Jessie, our beautiful rabbit who sadly passed away. The good news is that she felt Jessie’s spirit was very much around us still, which was lovely and that she was a very gentle, intuitive soul who was happy. It helped with closure – and each week since, her passing has become a little easier, plus we’ve been paying special attention to the other rabbits to offer some comfort. I’m really looking forward to the weather improving so that we can put them out to enjoy the garden more often.

On a brighter note, Mother’s Day was lovely – I received two handmade cards from the kids, which was nice and a voucher to spend at John Lewis – oh how I can’t wait for the shops to reopen after this third lockdown…shopping online just isn’t the same as walking into a shop and using all your senses to enjoy the experience.

What’s Next

By the time I come to write this again, we’ll have moved onto Stage 2 of lockdown when rules around meeting others and shops opening up are eased – and I for one cannot wait. That doesn’t mean that I’ll be gallivanting everywhere, but I have to say that I’m looking forward to catching up with friends and enjoying coffee and cake treats with people I love spending time with.

I’ve also got my sights on completing one or two home projects – now that the bathroom is completed, it has spurred me on to look at what else we can improve. So if the weather’s nice for the Easter holidays, I’m planning on getting out into the garden and undertaking some upcycling projects that I’m desperate to do – watch this space as they say!

What are you looking forward to next month?

The post My Life This Month: Migraines, Plumbing & MAFSA appeared first on Home and Horizon.