Update: Tricycle, Design, and a Summer Goodbye

I am closing the Curvalicious Blog because of other commitments and don’t have the time to post regularly.  The blog will still be ‘open’ – the posts are still there to read – I just won’t be posting in this blog anymore. 

Anyway, despite so many viewings – yes, I can see you Visitors! – hardly any comments are left.  Maybe I have bored you too death already?  But then, good manners are out of date now, aren’t they?

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I’ve enrolled on an Eco Building Design course, level 3.  I knew that after my health had let me down, that for sure, I wanted to learn ‘design’, as whatever the medium, I love to create.  The combination of my limited mobility and constant, sometimes extraordinarily high pain levels, forced me to give up on the Fashion Design course at the local college – and after working so hard to be accepted on it, that was really a blow.  So I turned online and found a good college, and one of their qualificating bodies I recognised from my dressmaking class, the NCFE; and chose to do a paper based, home learning course.   

Architecture and interior design has always fascinated me, so I may then go on to studying and gaining a Spatial and Furniture Design degree next year…

Of course I still love sewing, but after my level 1 Dressmaking, there was not a single level 2, progressive course to take in my area – I live right out ‘in the Wilds of Norfolk!’ and cannot afford a long commute.  (For those of you who complain about the cost of living, and the cost of petrol / gas – think about us poor buggers in the UK:  in some areas people pay £1.50 a litre!!!  Daylight robbery, but I don’t want to get on a political rant.  The sun is shining, the birds are peeping and I don’t want to get really upset.)

I am sewing (just completed a garden cushion for the tortoise summerhouse) and have a waistcoat project for my mum to start, and a couple of characters to make as a surprise for a friend.  As well as the few summer skirts that are hanging about waiting for zips and a few finishing stitches.

This spring I managed to almost single handedly clear, clean and tidy the summerhouse in the back garden: the very spot in which I will be studying.  The body is weak, but the will is strong 😉

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Healthwise, everyone is still confused, even though some pretend to know.  (But isn’t that what people do anyway as they journey through Life?!)  I do believe that the physical battering my body endured some years ago, where I thought my attacker was actually going to kill me, has a lot to do with it…the left hip was especially assaulted – no, I won’t going into details. 

Just:  I am lucky to be alive, but my abuser got away free, still denies the attack to this day; he’s a ‘Born Again Christian’ – yeah right, the type that conveniently use Christianity as a means of hiding their monster. 

And…being a natural curvalicious, with boobs that even Dolly Parton never knew could be God given, puts a terrible strain on my back.  Believe me ladies, big boobs are NOT fun.  I cannot wait for my reduction.

At least I’m getting somewhat regular physio now and have a tricycle to collect next week, so I can attempt my own rehab along with that of the NHS.  The tricycle is adorable, I was surprised to find they exist for adults 🙂   Can I Walk again?  Might it take an actual hip replacement to righten things?  I’m 38 and for 3 years and 4 months I’ve lived with chronic pain, partial hip dislocations and all the other misery that goes with it: medical professionals and governmental bodies (refused’Disability’) not taking me seriously, exclusions from trips and going out with my family (I missed so much time with my parents, and now my father is no longer here), and hence: a lacking social life, fatigue, depression, further loss of confidence (things were tough BEFORE!), isolation…  My goodness, am I getting you down? 😉

But

I like to remember something really nice my dad said, and more often than not, the old bugger was highly critical of me…  “And Steff, you couldn’t wait to be born, you were too excited to start living.” 

Miss you Dad.

Mum and Fiance, thank you for your love and support.  It never goes un-noticed or un-appreciated.

And, Rita, if you’re reading this, we WILL get that interview done 😉

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There might be another blog to accompany my web site www.StephanieFaith.net but it’s early days yet.

Thanks to everyone who enjoyed reading and took a moment to write me a comment.

Have a lovely Summer.  It seems to have begun 😉

S tephanie F aith