Fundraising towards finding a cure for M.E

Once upon a time I wasn't ill. I had a good job & a great social life. The end! And if I could write my story now it would be a fairytale with a happy ending. However, living with M.E changes everything.

Over 12 years of suffering with this incurable chronic illness means I am somewhat of an expert but you wouldn't think so if you saw me on the days when I am crying & saying how I can't cope with it anymore. No matter how long it goes on it never gets easier. Ever. It probably gets worse as the light at the end of the tunnel gets further & further away.

Every year I am still ill makes me feel a little less optimistic about ever getting better. However I can't lose hope. And the more research that takes place, the closer they are to finding a cure. Which is why on 12th May, M.E Awareness day, a group of us sufferers are taking part in a fundraising event. We have come together to form Team Princess - see my previous post here about it.

We are all raising money for different M.E charities & I have chosen to support ME Research UK. Research is vital towards finding a cure & without funding it won't happen. So I am trying to raise as much money as possible. As I write this, I have exceeded £200 & I am very grateful to everyone who has donated so far.

With less than 3 weeks to go until the event I would love to massively exceed that amount & I cannot do that without the support of people. People who know me or may know someone who suffers from M.E & knows the devastating effects of the illness. People who know how difficult it is for me being a mummy with M.E. People who know how I used to be before I got ill & how much my life changed as a result. People who want to help make a difference. To help support a great charity & give people like me a chance of a cure being found.

It is my birthday a few days before Awareness day & I always get emotional around then as it feels like another year has passed that I am still poorly. But I am going to stay positive & hope that I can manage to do a little bit of something on the day. If you fancy donating in lieu of a birthday card & some cake then I would appreciate it lots!

My JustGiving page is at www.justgiving.com/princessali or you can text AMLC99 £1, £3, £5, £10 etc to 70070.

On the day we are holding an auction on our Facebook page here. Some of the crafty members of Team Princess are making stuff & I will be making some bracelets. Any money raised I will be donating to Smile for ME, which is a brilliant charity who send sufferers gifts when they have been nominated by family or friends.

Thank you so much for reading & for your support.


Ali
ME Mummy A
xx

Lucky Dip Club March unboxing & Megabox prize!

I have mentioned my love of Lucky Dip Club before but for those who aren't familiar, it is a total box of awesomeness!! It is a subscription box that you can either buy as a one off box for £18 or subcribe to for £15 per month. Which is a bargain when the contents are of such beautiful quality & worth way more than that.

It is run by the very fabulous Leona Thrift-ola who is not only very lovely, but she is super talented & thinks up everything for the boxes herself. Every product is brand new & produced or manufactured by Leona & despite Lucky Dip Club not even being a year old she currently produces 1000 boxes each month. So amazing!

The theme for the March box was Birds of Paradise & each time the boxes appear through my letterbox they produce the same reaction from me. Much giddiness & lots of ooohs aaahs & eeeks!!

So, I thought I would do an unboxing post so you can see it as I do when it arrives. The first thing your eye catches when you open the box is a vine (which I love reading with a cuppa) & it always has a positive motto or phrase on the front. This month's says 'Pretty Flamingo - Create your own Paradise'. I have a love for all things flamingo so it is perfect!

The details & packaging are as pretty as the contents so I always feel a bit mean for ripping it all open!

Each month Leona does a collaboration with a different illustrator/designer/maker. This month it was with Hollie Harris who designed these exclusive Birdie bobby pins. How cute are they!

There is always a DIY kit & this time it was some origami flying birds to make. I was watching House of Cards last night & there was one in the episode I saw, spooky!!

There is also usually a stationary item & this month was this lovely note/list pad which says 'Today's the day' which I love. And it has a flamingo on too, yay!!

There is always a personalised item & I just love love love this keyring. The Pink Flamingo Motel sounds awesome!!  I may even change it to a necklace which is what I have done with some of my other LDC ones but I'm not sure yet. I currently have it in a jar hooked over my personalised name pencil from last month's box!

Jewellery is something else we always get in the boxes & from this month there is a new thing called Charm of the Month. We have received a necklace with a swan charm on & a bracelet too. Each month there will be a new charm sent with the boxes, so by Christmas we will have a bracelet full of unique ones.  Such a cool idea.

I am always so happy with the boxes & they literally brighten my day/week when I get them. I have lots of quirky LDC jewellery & accessories now as I have been subscribing for a while. Plus why shouldn't we treat ourselves to something nice? It is like your birthday every month! And when you have chronic illness there isn't always that much to make you smile so when something like this guarantees it, then it's a must I say!

If anyone is interested in subscribing then you will need to be up super early on the 1st of each month to try & get one as new boxes launch at 7am. They sell out really quickly so signing up to a subscription is the most reliable way of securing a box each month. They make lovely gifts too. The theme for April is Raining Cats & Dogs so if you want to try to get one, set your alarm for 7am on the 1st of May! Link to website is here.

****************

As if receiving the normal box wasn't enough, I was lucky enough to win the Megabox competition. Leona runs a competition on Instagram & each month there is 1 winner. This time it was me!! Woooop.

This huge box arrived & there was much excitement!

My little Miss helped me rip it open & there were excited gasps as we got into it & discovered lots of stuff wrapped in blue (my favourite!) tissue paper.

Sticking with the Birds of Paradise theme, this is what was in it. And with my love of flamingos, could it have been any more perfect? I love it all!

A super duper fabulous flamingo snowglobe

A candle from Flamingo Candles

 (which I've been lusting after for a while!)

A gorgeous flamingo pocket mirror

The cutest puffin & pineapple 

(another fave of mine) lip balms

Some flamingo pocket tissues

Hope you've enjoyed seeing all the pictures! Let me know if you have a subcritpion already or whether you plan on trying to get one!

Ali

ME Mummy A 

xx

Primark haul!

With my illness I don't get out much. No, really! Shopping is a bit of a nightmare as looking at clothes whilst in a wheelchair is not exactly ideal. Plus it wipes me out so much that it isn't much fun. Long gone are the days of me disappearing for hours on end whilst I browsed the shops & returned laden with bags.

However I really wanted a few bits, specifically some new PJ's & a few slogan T-shirts to throw on with jeans, so where better to go for cheap & cheerful but Primark. It is the fashion lovers/bloggers/generally everyone's number 1 place for a bargain. Everything is mega cheap & if, for some bizarre reason, you have never heard of it then I really don't know what to say!! Get yourself there. Right now.

Usually my problem is that I haven't bought stuff for ages so I will go & go crazy. I end up looking everywhere but by the time I am not even a quarter of the way through I start feeling like I will pass out. Whilst a pile of items gets higher & higher on my knee as I have nowhere else to put them.

But this time I had a plan. And I stuck to it! My mum came with & I was very good at just looking at the things I had planned to look at. It is impossible to go into a Primark without buying stuff but I was sensible for once. Sort of. One of my bags ripped under the sheer weight of stuff in it so perhaps I wasn't that sensible!

First stop was the slogan T-shirts. Which they have hundreds of! I could have bought loads more than I did but I settled on a few.  I wanted them slightly oversized so I sized up on most of them. This is my favourite & it was £4. I can just picture 'the girl with her hands in the air who looks like she's saying Talk to the Hand' emoji saying it..

I also got this one for £6. Everyone knows I love blue but I liked the folded sleeves & well, how could I resist!

I wanted a plain one that I can dress down or dress up with a blazer so I settled on the brightest I could find. I love this shade of pink & it was only £4.

I also found a few on the sale rack for £3. The one is cute & the back is cut away so it's quite nice.

 

I picked this up to go over a bikini on holiday & it was in the sale for £2.

Aplogies for everything being creased on the pictures.. everything is crammed into the bags & I took the photos once I got home. Ain't nobody got time to iron newly bought shopping!!

I also wanted some denim shorts so as they were only £5 I got 3 pairs. Because that's so logical. And we get such lovely weather here in the UK haha. I did actually need some as the ones I already have are not the best. I can wear them with the ice cream vest!!

Next was to the PJ's & Primark have such a good range. By this time I was starting to flag a bit so I didn't look at them all. I picked up a couple of sets with long bottoms & T-shirt style tops. They were about £10 each.

I passed the accessories at some point so I grabbed a pair of sunglasses for the grand total of £1 & a case for £1.50.

I also got an accessory hanger which I wanted for my numerous scarves. It said £2 but when I checked the receipt it went through at 90p.

I grabbed a glittery thermal mug which was £3 & I love it (glitter!) but unfortunately the first time it was washed, water leaked in between the mug & the casing. Never mind.

I also wanted some new mugs that I had been eyeing up online so got 6 of them. However one of them cracked the first time we used it whilst hot water was in it so I would not recommend them. They did look nice though!

All in all a decent haul & I was quite impressed that I stuck to the plan. I didn't even go in the changing rooms which is a first for me in Primark!

I saw a lovely little pastel blue bag which I regret not getting now. And I didn't even get any of the flamingo or pineapple themed stuff that they have in at the moment. Must be something wrong with me!

Would love to hear what people have been buying there recently & what you think of my haul. 

Ali

ME Mummy A

xx

Crown & Glory Glitterati

The beginning of each month means one thing & one thing only to me... The arrival of my Glitterati box!! It is a monthly subscription box run by Crown and Glory & it is always full of gorgeous things. I have mentioned before how much I love it & considering not that long ago I didn't really do much with my hair, I am now a fully fledged addict. And proud!

I thought I would do an unboxing post so here goes...

This month's box had a Spring/Easter theme & it was all so pretty.  It arrives in a box wrapped with silver glitter tape. This time when the postman appeared & said he had a parcel in his bag, my response was "oooh is it my glittery one?". Yes, when you are as glitter obsessed as me even the box makes you giddy!

They are always wrapped so beautifully it feels like you shouldn't rip it open, so I try to be careful! The anticipation of what's in it is overwhelming. You see tissue paper & there's always a sticker with a clue to the theme.. oooh it's just so exciting!

There is always a cute postcard listing the contents with the RRP of each item but I never read this until afterwards as it just spoils the surprise otherwise. The value of every box is at least £50 so for £20 it's a bargain.

So in the April box there were the following things..

Chiffon tie headscarf RRP £15

Glitter bunny ears RRP £10

Metallic vegan leather bunny ears RRP £5

Daisy bobby pin set RRP £5

Not a lotta Rosie headband RRP £15

With it being an Easter themed box there was also an extra surprise of an egg containing treats such as sweeties & discount codes. Some people were lucky enough to receive a shiny egg containing extra presents like jewellery or makeup but I was chuffed with my purple egg! Or I should say a certain little girl was...

What I really like about The Glitterati, as well as receiving pretty goodies in the post & meeting a load of fab ladies, is that I get things I would never have chosen myself but when I try them, I love them. My collection is mighty impressive & I have a lot of stuff on show as it's too pretty to hide away!

My little girl usually manages to get a few things out of it too so she has her own stash now!! She said the other day that she wished she was part of the "glitter group". And by that she meant the secret Facebook group that you get access to once you join The Glitterati. It has become a proper glitter-loving community & it's brilliant. People chat & share pictures but there is also a group where you can swap items you don't like or would prefer in a different colour. What my daughter doesn't seem to realise is that she is pretty much a member already!

If anyone likes hair accessories (or even doesn't realise they do yet, like I was!) or likes glitter, flowers & pretty things then The Glitterati is the place to be. You also get a special birthday crown & mine is next month so I am excited to see what I get.

A link to all the information about it is here .

Thanks for reading, let me know what you think of the box!


Ali
ME Mummy A
xx