I had to read today’s daily prompt a couple of times to get sense out of it. I ended up looking it up as I had never heard it. On the same site was a massive list of all possible clichés, ever with country of origin and its popular meaning. Still no inspiration, so I started to think about the original phrase.
I couldn’t relate to it because I couldn’t think of any recent opportunities, no list because I thought of it meaning you were better sticking with the job you had instead of fighting for a promotion that may never happen. Anyone with any sense of ambition surely woyld not stick to this? Then it hit me. That’s what benefit claimants who could be working do. Stick with the opportunities benefits gives them rather than search for a job which may not materialise and may not have the same income. So they stay stuck. Someone needs to boot them up the backside then?! That’s an opportunity worth volunteering for! !
Author: jacksdavie
Giggly Scot who uses wheels to get around. Experienced at living with chronic pain, chronic illness, an ostomate and #nursinghomedweller. Christian, #spoonie, writer, colour-in-er, avid reader, snackaholic.
My blog's a hybrid of all the different parts of my life. #wheels #pain #care #nursinghomedweller #mentalhealth #family #friends #faith, politics, and life in the UK as a woman in her late thirties defying most norms!
oh so long ago..
Today’s daily prompt: Dig through your couch cushions, your purse, or the floor of your car and look at the year printed on the first coin you find. What were you doing that year? I found a pound coin dated the year 2000. Seems as though it was another lifetime altogether. For one thing, I was still in high school, in the fifth year, with another year of school left. If I recall correctly, that was the year we had to begin to seriously consider which universities we might realistically apply to. It was also the year of much hard work and tests and exams. The first year of something baffling called ‘Higher still’. really don’t know what else happened that year. I think it was the year I had my first boyfriend. I shan’t elaborate, tho he was lovely. Thirteen years ago I had no idea of the struggles to come. I an so glad I didn’t know. This should be proof enough that we are best not ask God what is to come even if it seems like a good idea at the time, and even if we want to know!
My lovely Godly Gran!
I’ve not had the energy to post in the previous few days, or else other things have taken priority. I have thought about this particular post, and I think I’m ready to write it out of my head. I love this daily prompt from the 17th asking about mentors. I am both fortunate and privileged to have had a few wise and Godly people in my life, including but not limited to my Mum, My friend who is also key-holder and tablet-overseer, among other things, and a number of friends. My Gran though has been there for me through thick and thin, as have my other grandparents, and my parents, and for that I really am Blessed with a capital ‘B’. Since my Grandfather went to be with Jesus when I was about 15, I’ve gradually got to know my Gran in a different way. One step removed from my parents, but just as reassuring and a wonderful listener, we have had many conversations over the years, including many debates, and times when we ‘put the world to rights’.
If I have done anything which my Gran has felt is out-of-order, she will tell me straight. She has also mopped up many tears, and along with others, prayed for me every single day. I will never truly know the results of all those prayers this side of Heaven. However, times such as when I have a big fall or whatever, I have known God’s peace, and it’s never been as bad as it might have been. The same goes for day-to-day health. By rights I should have more hospital admissions and infections than I do, given my medication and so on, but I am convinced all those prayers have kept me well.
There have also been times when, choked with emotion or a breaking heart, my Gran has prayed with me over the phone, or just after the phone call has ended. Times when I have been unable to pray for myself. She has also when need by reminded me of what has gone in the past, things I’ve been though or come through, things God has brought me through or times he has provided.
The one lesson that sticks in my head, above all is that Gran has taught me to be thankful. Even in the darkest of days, to find three things to be thankful for. It is something I am still learning, but I do so know the importance of it now. I am glad for her forbearance with me in the times I have been out-of-order and the times she has spoken her mind in love. I am thankful for these times also. I guess it’s all these things put together combined with wise, Godly wisdom which makes her a kind of mentor really. Mostly, she’s Gran, and I love her to bits! I am truly thankful for her, and all that she’s taught me and all the fun times we’ve had too. Hopefully there will be many more times to come.
I’ve chosen to schedule this post on a Sunday as this is when I often specially think of her, singing praise in Church to her Lord and Saviour Jesus, whom she loves very much. Unlike me, Gran has a wonderful singing voice 🙂 I’m hoping I can visit her at some point this summer, as a visit is long overdue. Those of you who read this blog who are Christians, please can you say a prayer of Blessing for her after you’ve read this?! Thank you!
Great Songs no fillers!
Today’s daily prompt: Write about what you did last weekend as though you’re a music critic reviewing a new album.
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This was one of those that only come along once in a while. So good you replay it over and over, every detail, every nuance. The First have was The One with The Wedding. Great music for a party, the sort of music everyone loves and can join in with. That everyone loves, with few exceptions. So good you want to dance. It makes your body move and your spirit sore, and wish you could write music like that. But hey, let’s leave it to the experts, the ones who meet The One, and can show it as such, appreciate it and grow it, and protect it, and mature it for years. This is their gift, just as others have the gift of making music. Some of the songs on this album are traditional, but the music does not suffer, rather it is all the richer for it. This album could be the sound track to the kind of party that goes long on long into the night, but it is so good nobody cares.
Part two. Another day, a plan for another party
The second half of the album sparkled, full of excitement and promise. The final couple of tracks sang of a future full of love, fun and good times. They are as much a part of a good party as great food and good wine. This is one that will stick in the memory for a long time to come, a success that will not be easily repeated.
not your average memories…
Wherever I write about food it’s never that well read. I don’t know whether I lack the skills to adequately describe it, or people don’t expect me to write about it, but this time this post is to do with food. For me though, the important bit is the people I am sharing my favourite meals with. I generally love something I have not had to make myself!
My favourite meal about 4 months ago was fairly simple. I was at my favourite pub, at a table at the back of the restraunt, in the corner. Someone I thought I was in love with was holding one of my hands, and chatting away, leaving me free to eat with the other hand. To save myself some embarrassment I had picked finger food I thought I could eat with one hand. Perish the thought that I might have to spoil the first date/meal out/pub date by asking my date to cut my food for me! I had taken a risk and chosen messy food. Risky strategy for someone with cerebral palsy. Dare I take a risk and say there is something a bit sexy about messy food?! (TMI??!!) cheese, nachos, salsa, sour cream, guacamole. A huge plateful meant there was no need for chips, a starter or a desert.
I do not remember what we talked about. I just remember the general things. How it felt to finally hold hands, to see the face the voice belonged to, to have the opportunity to do such a human thing and feel ‘normal’. The food sounds remarkably plain, even if you add in a half of draught cider. In my opinion, good company can make the plainest of food taste amazing, especially if it’s something I make for others and it turns out well, no matter how simple it is. It is often such a delight to do something for other people for once, instead of me being served.
I have no idea how long we stayed in the pub. I remember the minutes we waited for the taxi. I will spare you the details, save to say I was glad I hadn’t eaten a massive meal when my date decided it might be fun to lift me. We are no longer in touch, because things came to a natural end. I hope one day I get to have a first date with a gentleman who may be ‘the one’ as this person did not prove to be. For now though, I remember it with fondness and satisfaction, and somehow separate from the rest of it.
The next time I went to this pub, I went with friends, and had what was my favourite meal from my childhood. SCAMPI, (shrimp?) and chips. Homemade scampi no less, and the obligatory half pint of cider. It more than just satisfied my hunger, as it proved to live up to the memories too, of countless childhood fish-shop suppers. Hot, salty and delicious. I wonder who I will visit my favourite pub with next time?
From Nothing to Something
I am dreaming big dreams…
Daily Prompt: A Plot of Earth
.You’re given a plot of land and have the financial resources to do what you please. What’s the plan?
Wednesday’s daily prompt is a ‘no-brainer’ for me. I immediately knew what I would do. My church has looked for land for sometime. Not just to do the obvious; build a church but also a new kind of community centre where people can go to spend time there, or groups can meet. There’s not anything else like this in the area. There is not much to do otherwise. There is a small café run by a local church. A Godsend. There will be the new health and well-being centre too which is partly funded by the supposedly broke local council. Perhaps this will fulfill some of the need, who knows. Even so it can’t meet the dire spiritual need.
People need to know they are loved
There a lot of elderly people round where I live, because everything you might immediately need is in a compact area, so there’s no need to walk far. A small supermarket, two doctors surgeries, good local bus links. You have to go anywhere, really to be able to do something. There is a small outreach thing for older people who I considered volunteering for, but I don’t think that is enough. In winter, lots of people are in even more need. In the winter of 2010, lots of people had no way of getting basic food shopping and heating, as many seem to have pre-paid meters. I’d love it if we were able to provide extra groups for elderly people, just somewhere for people to go, have a cup of tea and some company, maybe get help or advice. No agendas other than being there for people. It would let me set up a group for disabled people too, as there is no accessible venue which is not in a church, the local community school being adverse to ‘religious people. I don’t know what else we’d want to set up.
We are fortunate, that in general we have somewhere to meet on a Sunday. It’s award when that goes wrong, and I know church as a whole would love to be able to do more. At the same time Church is full of busy people and I am not sure we would have time for all this. We know though that there are many people in need on the estate that just need to know the Saviour’s love and acceptance more than meeting basic needs like providing food, or debt advice or a listening ear. In the absence of a land-fairy, I will keep dreaming of a transformed place of life, hopefully in this life, and not just in the next, as we are called to live sacrificial lives. One day…
The meaning behind the name
I’m a few days behind with the daily prompts and today’s is rather too personal. I decided to answer one from the 11th instead. It was actually Carer B who gave this blog it’s name. I am not as good at these things as they are, and I wanted something original that wasn’t kind of arbitrary. They’re are HUNDREDS of blogs which focus on the disability, illness or wheelchair in the title or use the blog to rant with and nothing else; so I was more determined that I wouldn’t do that. I also wanted a hybrid which could talk about lots of things not just my different circumstances and so sat n all that took of from there…
Lent 2013: day 2
I have never really bothered about lent before. I did give up chocolate for lent about 6 or 7 years ago, because a friend dared me to. I did actually manage it much to my friend’s amazement.
I suppose by now you might be wondering why I am bothering about Lent now. It is partially because I am a #digidisciple for bigbible. I happen to see some of the promotional press release for bigread13. The more I read, the more I wanted to be a part of it. I read a post by my friend Bryony explaining that she would be blogging for #Bigread13.
Bryony also talked about something she had found on the web called #notbusy. This is where you spend between 10-30 minutes quiet contemplation and solitude, and then tweet about it afterwards using the hashtag ‘notbusy’. I decided I would love to do that too. It’s something I can do quite easily even from my wheelchair. My only qualm was whether I would fall asleep during the stillness. However, I am wide awake today, which almost never happens so I stayed awake throught the 15 minutes. Things started to come to mind that I need to do today so I quickly found a notebook, jotted things down and left it at my side in case anything else came to mind. The rest of the time, I half prayed, half thought. Sometimes people came to mind. The rest of the time I thought about a devotional piece I have just read about the excesses of Christ’s love for me. Very appropriate for valentines day. I am off to read today’s # bigread13 devotional and download Rowan Williams book.
If only they could see me then…
I guess I would say I have had a few surreal experiences in my life, given my precarious start, and the diagnosis which said thinks like I wouldn’t walk or talk, maybe be basically a adult-child in a chair. at eight months old, I was 6 months behind,. mentally, and it was anyone’s guess whether I’d catch up or not. Catch up I did, but only after 4 years of intensive medical care, operations, thousands of pounds worth of therapy, a few years in a ‘special’ (needs) nursery and more besides.
Ordinary things others achieve have been momentous for me, as they have been for other children with cerebral palsy, or experience of congenital disability in general. After that there’s the really ‘out there’ moments; snapshots in time where I’ve almost had an ‘outer-body experience’… I’m both in the moment, and watching the scene from above. These would include the rugby union lesson in P.E. in primary seven, I was good at it, me who wasn’t expected to walk; but the real subject of this post is the award I got when I was 17 for the highest marks in the Health and Food Technology exam in Scotland.
I got to go down to London to the Royal College of Physicians and meet Princess Anne, and be part of a celebratory lunch, banquet style. I remember very well the ‘Library’ where the presentation was. It was just beginning of the fur-ore surrounding the ‘Harry Potter’ franchise. I remember walking into the room and thinking it really did look like something out of Harry Potter, dark mahogany bookcases from floor to ceiling, wooden floor, and a cavernous room. We also got treated to a visit to the ‘London Eye’, and I remember a coffee at one point which was the size of a small bucket. I also remember the flight down to London from where I lived in Scotland, and not liking it much. BA staff also tried to tell me they’d lost my wheelchair. that would be because I didn’t own one at that point ! Snapshots in time, that I know happened, but still feels somewhat surreal, two University degrees later. Every-time I see her in the crowd at Murrayfield to watch Scotland play rugby, my mind wanders back to that day. Maybe I’ll get to meet her again one day, though it seems unlikely. Even if I do, it still will not top that day in the 18th year of my birth. If the doctors present in the first year of my life could have seen me then, it would have been surreal for them too!
Not your average room
Today’s daily post subject is welcome relief from the morbid fascination of late. These deep thinking posts are good to do once in a while just not all the time. Write your eulogy, epitaph, 5 things you would save if your house was burning, go back the next day and look for what you left… ugh!
It’s a welcome relief to think on something I ponder on in a while, if money was no object. Would have to have a calming colour on the walls, even a light yellow, if there would be any wall space left once the floor to ceiling bookshelves were finished. I’d definitely go for the best quality wood I could afford due to the cost, and for durability.
I’m trying to think how to make them accessible. I remember seeing something on Extreme Makeover: Home Edition once. This was a shelving unit too, but this one rotated at the touch of a button so that the button was held down until the required item was in reach, that would be amazing. I’m all for a quality product made in an accessible way, that appeals to everyone. This is also known as something called “Universal Design”. All it is, is a design everyone would want to use. My college tutor was fond of using the example of a part of the University where there were some steps side-by-side with a ramp. According to him, almost everyone used the ramp, rending the steps pointless and meaning the ramp could have been twice as wide, allowing more people to pass more comfortably.
The practical design would continue, with an adjustable height desk, and quality drawer space. I’d love the new windows 8 tablet that converts to a laptop, almost £1000k, without the accompanying keyboard! I’d have a proper keyboard, and as much software as I needed. As this is my dream set-up, the software would be compatible with windows 8 from the beginning of the process, instead of being a few months/ a year behind (at least) as is common. I’d save some money by not needing an office chair, obviously.
I’d use this money for either an electronically adjustable recliner armchair or a chaise-long, to be able to read comfortably, with soft overhead lighting. I’d absolutely have to have the best coffee maker and china mugs, and a popcorn machine. I would have plain popcorn, the kind a student I once knew used to live on when they were studying. It was delicious and much healthier than the salt, sugar or something in-between flavours.
What have I missed? Oh yes, the view. Given I haven’t seen the sea for such a long time, I’d love a sea view. I wouldn’t much mind which sea it was, though I’ve only ever lived near the north sea.
I wonder if I’ve missed anything?
What would any of you have in your ideal reading and writing room, if money were no object? I’d love to know 🙂
sat n' all that 