Health and being little

Here's a small update while I'm by the chromebook dressed up before I make next weeks entry up and I think I know what I'm going to do for that for once!

Unfortunately I was going for a periodic rough spot healthwise so I'm rather short on both time and energy with this weekend devoted to recovery. 

Now this is coming after spending 2 days in to bed with the curtains drawn and flickering lights well away, to now resting with favourite music on at lowish setting as I start to recover bits of memory that got scrambled while I was unwell.

It's very likely if you saw a  girl in her grey pinafore dress getting through glasses of chilled milk straight from the fridge it would be me!

It seems crazy in a way but appears to me that rediscovering my inner little girl side is helping me medically recover apart from the psychological and emotional welfare benefits such as feeling more comfortable in myself.

Because we're equal...

I noticed this while doing some research for blog of mine and it kind of got me thinking actually.

I'm not big on Meme's but the point of this one connects here which is all to often everyone assumes all you do is both being a clothes horse, preferring to talk about what you're wearing rather than what you're doing and that somehow "All girls wear skirts".
Well that ain't true as a big number do wear pants and shorts (plus odd creations like culottes) as much as I love skirts and dresses for a host of reasons that may include practicality mountaineering in a frilly dress would leave you very cold and rambling in one may result in getting caught up in hedges.
While I like playing games in  a more traditional top and gym skirt, I'm not so sure playing soccer in the winter in skorts is much of an improvement over football shorts to be honest if you ever played on a muddy field!
The bigger thing is we can were what we actually prefer, what we feel comfortable in and we define ourselves our looks.

A message from the Plushies

Been a bit busy tidying up this week removing magazines and the likes and  I thought I'd post about something we all like.

 First off here's Lil'Simba in his dungarees showing us his "Oh man I'm really chilling" look although he's quite capable of giving us a Rawr! when he's in the mood. He'd like to meet his namesake in America, apparently.

 

 Hello. My name is bunny rabbit as Joanne hasn't gotten around to giving me a name  which I think is a bit of a  swizz as she's had one ever since she was little (and she's not gotten any bigger xD!) and I 'd like a name please. Pretty please?

You thought Bunny Rabbit had it bad but I'm just called Bear even though I know she's gotten  a Theo IInd which is worse than not even having your porridge cooked on time which is shocking.
I think the girl was going through a bad patch when she had us, feeling depressed and just never got around to it although I'm glad she found us again.
I'm a girl bear and I'd like someone to give me a name so I can be a proper bear, like, so would you please find me one and let Joanne know? Thanks.

Bouncing about

It's been an odd week for emotions which at times it can be  with me cos when I really feel things then it just is sometimes to the exclusion of much else and there's a lot of that "help out your playmate" in me that shows when she's in need of it.
That took me back a bit in time mentally...

Time was when skipping just for the fun of it was one of my favourite activities outside of any formal games or PE usually involving a traditional knotted rope with wooden handles that actually I kept up until I was about sixteen.
Part of it I think was being in control of my body, making it move which with my disabilities is hard going as it feels often like there's several internal wires missing carrying that information so I can't 'summon' it to move to will, something that perplexed many an adult.
Actually I got pretty good at it.
The other side of it is it makes me feel very girlish, just jumping and skipping from side to side in a carefree way and I think I'm in need of carefree spaces so something like that say at next Camp might just be the thing ideally in pink gingham.

Think Pink!

Sometimes  you come back with things you didn't expect and I don't mean colds and the like but in the best traditions of Littles and Middles people do bring things with them that they either no long want or perhaps bought and found didn't fit or something.
Well at Camp there was a full rail of things from various people with their own stories to tell and in the best tradition anything is between you and the girl (or their Caregiver/Groan up) including paying up for things you want not Camp organizers and the like.

Way back in late June last year I did get a dark blue gingham school summer dress that I quite liked not least for how Junior it made me feel, which as far as I'm concerned is quite a good  thing and I had been thinking about something in a more classic pink.
Coming in with a few things on Sunday last was this one with two pleats at the front I like - I'm big on pleats - that caught my eye from Jillian which having put it against me, seemed to be just perfect so I paid her for it in notes of the Bank of Purrland.
That was the one modelled on Monday with a long sleeve t shirt underneath cos it was cold out of doors otherwise being Winter.

The space between

I don't suppose I'm alone in sometimes having the difficulty  in feeling  in more little or middles space as distinct from just how I may present because of other things around of me some of which you can't really do much about.
One is having parents with health issues, having to do things to help with no support whatsoever from other much more capable mentally and physical siblings who don't even return phone calls and any interest in them seems more superficial at best.

 That's sometimes where I find myself using spare bits of that time to frill myself up although I'm not normally at one with the uber-frilly side just cos it leaves me feeling a pretty carefree girl well out of more groan up space.
I also do a fair amount of colouring like yesterday between tasks to get back out of  as even for me personally  whole chunks are at the edge of  what I can cope with my my own needs.
Mommy saw and even liked some of my Frozen colouring yesterday!

New Year Changes

Okay we can move on over to the post I truly had in mind for this new year although there's a kind of connection between it and elements of the other.
I mentioned about over the last few months and on at least three posts a bit around presenting, my self image and how that goes together.
One issue happens to be around having multiple closets going back to the period Bob McMan was expected to be a completely separate identity with it's own unique look, a time it has to be said that felt so sad as if my emotional side had frozen over.
Over the years parts of it had changed mainly the more casual and anything more LB got converted to LG but formal tops had stayed their even though it was obvious 90% of the time I was picking out blouses and no matter where I went, that really was such a non issue.

It's true I'm not supergirl, and do have a few problem areas in my life like putting things off and generally being indecisive for which I am presently getting help with, however this year I've decided on one thing.
The last remaining bits of Bob McMan's tops are to be gone and they have left the building for good being replaced by blouses such as the one above that I can wear with skirts, pinafore dresses and trousers so for all intents and purposes I have just one closet covering all my needs which is simpler.
Anyway yesterday the mailman saw me sign for a parcel with my nails clearly painted and wasn't bothered at all.
I don't need anything else anymore.

Frilled edition!

A good good while back we had the Frill Free Edition now here's it's opposite!
Not something I usually talk about  and certainly never something you'll see peeking out all seedily on this blog ever but actually some of us do a bit of the frilly albeit in a restrained way possibly cos we're exploring things.

In my case probably more I just feel like sometimes being more girlie some of the time at least and something that is relatively plain with fully elasticated legs for a snug fit appeals more than some designs and I feel happy in them.

Plus I got a couple of pairs of these white frilly ankle socks to go with them and these do go just above the ankle which I prefer looking a bit more balenced with the skirt lengths I usually wear.

Something's afoot!

He he, that got y'all excited didn't it?
Mommy excelled herself this week with a couple of unexpected gifts for me

Cute bunny furry slippers for keeping me warm during the winter months.

And some cute kitty socks too!

Furry animal

Ha! that got you thinking, eh?
Well between the rain dampening my bones and the return of the gale force winds thoughts went back to creature comforts.

No, not the ace pet store in town, but rather cozy fleecy socks like these Mommy bought me the other day that should keep me warm. It's amazing she actually gets stuff I like quite a bit now.
Well kinda connected I guess is this

Okay they're flat ballet pump styled but let's be honest here with the effects of my cerebral palsy on walking as fanciful as heels might be, the one big problem I have is being able to walk maintaining my balance and I wobble badly in heels (maybe I need crutches?) so practicality wins out.
One the other hand they are feminine, do possess a bow and are sufficiently school like to wear with my uniform.
And before I forget a shoutout to Christine!

Sorting one's draws

Hi folks.
Seeing it's the start of that cold season, Winter, and I need to distract myself from some of the bad stuff I referenced last week in passing, I've been going through my draws (there's a British pun somewhere in there!) sorting through the condition of my stuff.
One discovery was some of my socks had holes starting to form at the heel and as they went back a few years where my prevalent mode of presenting was slightly different bordering more on Goth I thought it was time for a change.

I bought several pairs of these white school girl socks with bows on because they go more my with my uniform which is what I wear most of the time and the bows are really rather cute which I'm sure will look great when I'm in alg company which is where I'm increasingly headed.

Not quite 'regulation' but very pretty, I bought another pair of these thicker socks that'll work for less 'school' settings or with things like my skater skirts or possibly tailored shorts (I'm the kind of girl who feels 'girly' even when not in skirts being more tomboyish in actual childhood).

One other discover was my spare grey pair of slipper socks were showing some signs of wear at the heel and as my other oldish Hello Kitty pair had gone down well at GHS as well as helping me dropping straight down to age appropriate behaviour to the point I could drop my 'groan up' guard, I bought a couple of pairs of these. Anything that aids that has to be good for me in the longer term.
They are also easier to pack than slippers for things such as alg meet ups and camp.
Finally I found a grey ragged sweat shirt that was definitely ragged in the elbows, one I'd bought around 2004/5 when much of this ten and half year adventure as documented here was starting and was in two minds as to do a like minded replacement or not as I have another grey one in much better shape.
Following a conversation at GHS around my green skirt and my explanation on why I didn't bring that, the suggestion was that actually red would go with it, I decided to get another red one from my usual school sweatshirt supplier like the one I'm pictured in a few entries back.
No doubt quite a bit of this will feature at the upcoming GHS meet up where I'll be in attendance.

Joanne has it licked

After this weeks stormy winds that blow a big garden arch of mine over and loosened the tape that holds the tv antenna coax to the masting, it is finally sunny with bees buzzing about. Buzz, buzz, buzz!
But sunny warmer weather leads to wanting to do things very much what this blogs about and one of them happened yesterday. It was warm, much warmer than it was first thing in our town so skipping off the bus, I called into the newsstore to pick up a magazine when I had this strong urge to get a lollipop, the sort of lolipop that's very little .

These are Swizzlers Matlows Mega Double Lollies the sort with two flavours in one billed as being "the original long lasting" and my little just took over and picked  up a Lime one from the candy rack in the store and paid for it.
Within minutes I was unwrapping it and skipping in the sidewalks licking it!
Instant regression.
You might recall my past a few weeks back with the image of the girl in her uniform reading while licking on her lollipop. Does Art imitate life or is is life imitating Art? All I know is for that moment I was back in time and it felt good.

I want to see the lights

Well I'll start this blog entry with a thanks to Pink and Frilly for following this blog.

Okay guess where in the UK this might be seen? You see I went off on another little adventure to a place you might have childhood memories of  and is surrounded by fun things you might want to do.This place has trams a plenty running up and down some like these are modern ones but at weekends and high season the old types are run.

Okay that place is Blackpool, Lancashire, Northwestern England, a place that is  unapologetically loud and I travelled on as coach using the Motorway network although we as a bit naughty and used the slip road but a few miles from my main road to join it! Being very near the entry point to one of the principal motorways has its advantages.
Like a number of UK resorts it's has a pier that jets out into the sea with various attractions including amusement arcades on them. This one had a Victorian Photography booth where you can wear and be photographed in period attire.

 You can see just how far out it goes! It's as well there were things undercover as it rained hard for a period in the afternoon. I went to Harry Ramsden's for lunch where the service was exemplary and the Plaice lovely and moist.

One prominent landmark is the Big Wheel although going on that is out of bounds for me as I'd lose my head if I went on on it.

That's the big Tower which is being restored near the SeaLife Centre, Dungeons  and the waxworks museum. I spent quite a bit of time in Toymaster looking at the dolls, colouring books, sylvarian families toys and that. I'm sure the assistant clocked me!
In the foreground is one of the illuminations that was one of the main reason for going as these lights have partially renewed allowing for more fantastic effects. There were fairies, teddybears, diamonds and at a Quarter past six, we assembled to go through them all illuminated at Seven PM. It was beautiful.
By Eight-thirty, I was back home for a light snack before putting my jim jams on  as this little girl was dead tired and needed her sleep.

Joanne takes a break

Well I did promise you a new entry a few days ago and being the kinda of "that girls so contentious" person I am, here it is.
Yesterday I went to the seaside on a coach not being a car driver.
Most of the people on the coach were groan ups who looked very groan up but me being a little said "Naw, I'm a little"  so went in my red school sweatshirt, grey shorts, the most cutest cat socks you could imagine with a pretty pink bow and regular unisex brogue style children's shoes. In addition I had my Hello Kitty childrens' flight and tote bag!!!
We set off travelling south through Jennifer's beloved Staffordshire Black Country (Btw it's more green than you'd think) that,being subject to long delays around Walsall and Bescot we had good views of. There were further delays on the M5 just south of Birmingham as far as Worcester North but the run through Bristol passing the bridge with good views across to South Wales was much easier.
When we arrived in Weston Super Mare, although I had been snacking on Barley sugars and chocolate finger biscuits - too bad they didn't have any animal shaped ones in - I was hungry so I called in at the Dragon Inn, a Weatherspoons public house that does food.
The food was nice , I had a Steak and Kidney pie and the manager was really funny!

Having eaten I felt like going on a bit of a walk around as I've never been here before and I'd have to say everywhere was super clean with litter pickers active during the day.

Some people don't realize the danger encouraging Seagulls with food can cause especially if you're a child having a picnic with your family.

The beach was cleaner than a good number in North Wales I could think of with finely grained sand.
There is one automatic response when I see a beach and it involves a bucket and spade so guesses for what happened next! Also the next response is something like getting a Pirates flag and waving it around while jumping up and down. Nobody I was with said anything!

Seaside towns often have amusement arcades, something the bigger side of me isn't too keen on but who couldn't resist the chance to win your very own Hello Kitty plushie? Well I sure couldn't.

The Pier was burnt down a few years ago but a great job was done of rebuilding it with associated facilities for that whole strolling along the pier experience. For an out of season weekday, it sure was busy.

Finally I had to be super careful not to get in the way of this the Great Western Land Train  that runs to the Harbour and back along the sidewalk. I think the Great Western was train company that operated in the South West of England before nationalization (and privatization in the 1990's).
The return back was much smoother stooping at Frankley services south Birmingham to freshen up

Dear reader

Hi peoples.
I woke up with this idea for a post cos the next scheduled one would be a in a few days time but before I went to bed with Theodore, I noticed something here at The World of Joanne_chan I want to talk about.
The first thing is while I've been doing my Math schoolwork this week, we have had a grand total of 18,814 views since the blog was started and in the last month 2,014 which is a lot of views.
I also noticed we gained two new followers, which is always nice so Croeso to Kitsune and welcome to Clare.
People have many reasons for writing a blog, some being very much with the authors own needs such as making a dairy of their lives, interests and important events getting a great deal of satisfaction in reviewing them as time flies.
Well, that's partially true for me but another reason for writing a blog is to better inform people about some interest or aspect of your life because many do not understand it or worse still think they do on the basis of sensational stories in magazines and the popular press.
 For me, it is that I wish people who encounter this blog randomly, to understand what being an adult little girl is about, like it's not  seedy, a dirty little secret, a threat to society or worse still Children's welfare.
It's an very important part of a everyday responsible life that you're engaged with that is stacked with childlike innocence, fun and a refreshing spontaneity. We also have mainstream hobbies and  a sense of humour!
As well,  many of us contribute in different ways to making lives better for others by solving scientific problems, making things people like or helping people navigate complex personal needs.
That's why having people stop over at this blog as well as other peoples too is important because it helps to break down these erroneous preconceptions so having good viewing figures matter to get the word out.
Thank you dear reader for stopping by today and if you haven't already please either spread the word about this blog or consider following it.

Joanne returns to school

Well I did leave a bit of a hint a few weeks back but I will be undertaking a bit of learning this term brushing up on my numeracy, penwomanship and English as for one thing I'm a litle rusty part from my dyslexia, dyspraxia and other learning disabilities I'm not too good at this stuff.Really I'm not.
I'll be doing some UK KS1/2 worksheets as appropriate to my needs each week sat at a desk suitably dressed which no doubt Jennifer would wholeheartedly approve off although sadly I won't have a Games Mistress. The rotters!!!   Playtime will happen though.
But that means I need some new tools as my tools well, there a bit old really dating from the last time I set foot in a classroom.

That's right Jennie, a circa 1977 Commodore 796M LED calculator that if you knew how you could spell words on it! I'll be getting a newer one with pink keys but in the mean time this laptop has one although I'll be only using that to check the answers with cos I really need to bring my mental arithmetic aka Math up to scratch.
Spelling as well as picking the best words for something in English isn't my strong point and you see, if your dyslexic like me, a spellchecker only gets you so far plus it often suggests world you weren't thinking of so I'm going to have to learn new words by rote and learn to use a dictionary from now on.

Well that's my old very battered one the girl immediately under the Head Girl at my boarding school gave me back in the day but apart from the seams going, English has gained quite a few new words over the years as well as some old words having newer, more current meanings that I don't understand.

Well Hello Kitty can help me learn as she's made this new version that's easier to follow and as well as having some tips on how to use words better which I'll be using.
Dyspraxia means in simple terms I have difficult making and co-ordinating small movements such as those you use to draw and critically write. It's a pain!
My handwriting  has never been good and for a period stopped completely following the industrial injury that further messed my life up (in some ways at least, in others it bought the inner kid to the fore).

I'll be following the exercises Hello Kitty uses to practise my letter drawing together with forming the shapes that make the top and bottom of letters which is something I'm really really bad at.
Sometimes even in this electronic age we need to write things and many people appreciate a hand written letter, postcard or birthday greetings card so being able to make a good job of it will be a help to me.

Fur side story

After all that standard Olympics stuff and don't forget we have the Paralympics too which the UK played a big role in establishing in 1948 I thought I'd write about something I've referred to in chat but not never really on sites.
When I was living in the Greater London Area, I used to travel out a lot across and just beyond the City and on one Saturday morning in the spring I was in the Covent Garden area, a favourite part of central London of mine where I came by this:

Aww she's cute, very fluffy and and a hand puppet being made by hand and I just had to have her, walking across the area clutching her tightly afterward. This was well before I had any idea of what being a little even was!!!
Well I used to take her to work - as this is the internet and a public site I won't say where - but the job was super important for children's welfare over here and every lunch time I'd put on an impromptu puppet show. We called it Peaches the Panda show and it was ever so funny. At all other times she was on my desk and I'd start playing with her as people drifted about the office.
Shortly afterward I got another fluffy thing but this was more a Plushie I named Spikey cos 'es an Hedgehog.

I found them a few days ago as I was sorting out my closet so I give them a bit of clean and fluffing up and their back out on display.

Hello and goodnight from me

Hi people.
First things first, we've a number of new visitors to this blog according to the numbers thing Google provide, and if that's you please read the About and if you wish, add a comment to the Hellos sections you click on from the top of the blog as they'll explain what this blog is really about and why I was so pleased Samantha amongst others publicly recognized the value of it.
I also wish to welcome PowderKid ,teenb101,Pickachu, tinkerbell and Noodle to my home of schoolgirlish innocence as well as Mary who returned to GT this week.
People at  Adisc and GT may have noticed something, namely my avatar yes the one form the same series as the delightful image I'm claiming this week, looks well, sharper, because when I edited it last time to fit the square 150x150pxavatar size restrictions at both sites, somehow the online resizer made it very grainy something Noodle rightly brought to my attention so I redid the resizing.
Last week I talked about sleep having lost several spoons to staying awake for longer than is good  for me and sleep is something that has been mentioned before as in Little Modes Sleep both at GT and there's a current thread running on it at Adisc plus there's my "Downsized Sleep" entry on here about talking about how and what I got from throwing the groan up stuff out of it!
Anyway peoples you'll recall I'd converted sleep into a going to sleep and waking up  as a adult little girl experience with age appropriate bedlinen, teddy bears, posters, pretty much the works really and it was wonderful.
Well, how well do you find actually switching off, closing your eyes and going to sleep? If you're like most of us maybe a bit iffy even if we turn off the Tv for a bit before getting into bed. But there's something, you might remember it, that used to work pretty well for you when you were younger and I'm suggesting you try it.
Recently faced with this, I recalled this reassuring routine of either being read a short story or maybe of listening to soothing songs -Lullabies- that from being in bed get you into a relaxed sleepy frame of mind from my own childhood.
It happens that Amazon has a pretty good recording of Lullabies in contemporary arrangements in stock that is available as an inexpensive download as well as a cd and I bought it.
Lullabies-the rainbow collection which I'm sure is available on Amazon in the States and Canada too.
It runs for about 35 minutes which is just long enough for you to start to drift off clutching your teddy and it does really help having adopted this into my sleep routine packed with favourite songs and rhymes from the past.
Until the next time and IK chat.
 Hugs Jo.

Online colouring

Just while checking this photo program out, I went over to a colouring book site site that links to online colouring books where you can can  click onto virtual paint and colour in.

 It's listed on the favourite sites page on this blog.

Here's one I did earlier:

As you can see the tools are well laid out so you just click to load your brush (cursor arrow), move to where you want and click to paint that part.

It's also the first post entirely made from the laptop as I've had to learn where everything is stored!

Introducing Lauren

Last weeks cryptic clue escaped a few of you including Zee but yes it's finally here.
Although I don't endorse living your life as a stereotype - I sure haven't lived mine like one! - I have a classic girl fixation with dolls something that's been with me since childhood actually that in that typically confused way was 'permitted' by Mommy when many other things weren't.
I've written about a few of my dolls before but this one is special cos I found it in a store that was scheduled to close down within a few days.
She's a Vanity Fair doll coming with a certificate of authenticity that the designers called Laura but I beg to differ about that name so I went ahead and Christened her Lauren instead as I just love that name after removing all the packaging  with bubble wrap over the joints.
I like her face and hat.