The mother of all migraines

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The sickness and tiredness that I felt last week has just culminated in the mother of all migraines. It hit yesterday morning when I was sat in a meeting with my boss (no, he’s a nice guy not the cause the of the pain) and I think I must have turned grey as he packed me off home and told me to work if I could but rest if I couldn’t. I managed to drive the few miles home without incident and then promptly threw up in the underground car park below our apartment. Nice, real nice.

The next twenty-four hours were spent trying to drink a little water and sleep some of the pain off. Both without much success though. Husband to the rescue, rushed home to be by my bedside and tried to lure me back to the land of the living with ginger ale and jelly teddies. Both favourites, neither worked. Around 10:30 this morning, I managed to get out of bed and brave the sunlight and a small glass of milk. As the day’s progressed, I’ve managed a little to eat and drink and can slowly feel my strength return.

As I have a lot of work to catch up on and am worried about a repeat migraine-episode, I’m going to limit my out-of-hours screen time to a bare minimum so am bidding you adieu for a week or so. I am taking a blogging and twitter break but will see you back here soon.

Take care and have a fun week without me. But … if you come across any really good gossip … make sure you share it.

 

Piggy Bank Kids #spotthepig Photo Competition

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If you follow me on twitter (@farfromhomemama), you may have wondered what on earth I was up to today, wandering around the city with a little piggy in tow. Had I lost my mind? Had I grabbed the piggy’s hand instead of my son’s when heading out for a walk? Well, in a word, no. Instead, I have been out and about supporting the #spotthepig competition being held by Piggy Bank Kids.

Piggy Bank Kids is a charity founded by Sarah Brown and aims to change children’s lives for the better.

“We want to help as many children as we can: from the vulnerable babies whose lives could be saved with the right scientific breakthroughs, to those kids and young people who have the hardest start in life.”

To celebrate their tenth anniversary, they came up with the fabulous idea of sending us all out, camera in hand, to capture our favourite piggy shots. They could be of real pigs, fake pigs, hand drawn pigs, money-box pigs, basically any pig that takes your fancy. You can submit five of your favourites by posting them on twitter. Just tag @PiggyBankKids and include the #spotthepig hashtag.

For full details of the competition and the list of prizes up for grabs, check out the Piggy Bank Kids website.

I’ll leave you with mine and Piggy’s day out … a trip to the lake.

Hitting a brick wall without padding

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This week, I fear that my mind and body are in revolt. Neither want to work. My brain won’t engage and my body is following suit. Basically, all I’m good for is watching Jeremy Kyle. Even Loose Women would prove tough to understand at the moment. I’ve switched to auto pilot to get through the days. I’m getting things done, both at work and at home, but there’s little to no engagement or creativity happening. Simply put, I have hit a brick wall.

This has happened to me once or twice before where I’ve struggled to find the energy to generate more energy to get myself up and running again. Normally it’s just one or the other that fails, i.e., mind is willing, body is exhausted, or vice versa, but right now, it appears to be both. The key to getting back on my feet has always been to rest a little and get out in the sunshine a lot. Rest is tough to come by although I’m tucking myself up in bed before 10pm to try to glean some extra sleep. Some nights it works, others it doesn’t. We’re due a week of sunshine ahead so hopefully a good dose of vitamin D will help.

I can tell when things are bad as my brain refuses to plan ahead. I don’t want to commit to anything. I don’t want to be anywhere. I just want the comfort of my own home and my husband to bring me a hot cup of tea while I lie in my pyjamas with the tv on but not really watching. I don’t want conversations that tax my brain and I don’t want to answer questions that require me to think beyond what is on the tip of my tongue. I want light-hearted humour and meaningless chit-chat. I almost feel like it should be Autumn and I can hide myself away – hibernate – and it be perfectly acceptable because the cold, dark nights are drawing in.

And it’s always at these times that things don’t appear to run smoothly. Or is that because I don’t have the usual energy to deal and dismiss problems as quickly as they arise? It’s all just a bit bllllllllllleeeeeeeeeeeeeuuuuuuuuurrrrrgggggghhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Until next time,

From Mrs.Down-and-out-and-feeling-sorry-for-herself-in-Switzerland

P.S. Moan to me at your peril. If there’s one thing that I can stand when I want to moan is other people feeling like they’ve got more to moan about. I can’t possibly be true. My moans are the most important moans EVER.

P.P.S. Moan over :-)

Oh Roger, thou art my King of Switzerland

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This week sees the start of the qualifying rounds at Roland Garros – the 2012 French Open tennis tournament – so just another week or so away from seeing the divine Swiss player, Herr Federer, don his tight shorts and prowl on to court. Fast forward to the end of June and we’re in for an all-white delight as he makes his way to his home from home, the All England Lawn Tennis Club, for the Wimbledon Championships. Be still my beating heart.

Forget your dirty footballers with their questionable antics both on and off the pitch, forget your sullen F1 ‘to cool for school’ drivers and forget your battered and bruised rugby players. Show me a clean-cut, clean-living tennis player and I am in awe. Well … show me Roger Federer and I am in awe. In fact, one of my very first blog posts was dedicated to this unofficial King of Switzerland.

I force myself not to write about him too often because, you know, I’m sure he’s a massive fan of my blog and well, I wouldn’t want him to get too big-headed. That, and I wouldn’t want him to feel too uncomfortable when I ‘accidently’ bump in to him walking his daughters along the lake in Zürich (you wouldn’t believe how many times he’s been spotted doing that and no matter how often I hang around, I have never seen him).

Roger is one of the all-time tennis greats. Arguably, the best ever. Impeccable on and off court. Devoted husband and father. Charitable. Fluent in four languages. And handsome. My God, he’s good-looking. I know the world likes their bad boys but really, don’t we want better examples for our children?

Watch these videos and I defy you not to love him (after all, he is my reason to love Switzerland #8):

P.S. Before you start to worry for Roger’s safety and alert the stalker police, please note that I had the opportunity to give birth to my son in the same hospital that his daughters were born in. I chose a different one. Nothing to do with him not seeing me at my best should he have popped in for some reason or another. Nothing at all.