One Brooch or Two?

So I finally got around to spending my birthday money, and maybe just a touch more. I didn’t feel much like shopping at the time and then when I took it with me to the bank holiday craft fair I didn’t see anything I really wanted to get.

Last week though I was prompted by reading someone else's blog(sorry I don’t remember who exactly) to take a look at the new Erstwilder brooch collection because it’s been a while, and they were wearing a lovely example of said collection.

Turns out that one of their approved U.K suppliers lives in the next village to me and actually has a cabinet in the little vintage shop in my home town!

I found this out when I placed my first order with her a while back and she very kindly told me not to pay the postage, she would drop them off there for me to pick up. Since then she suggested I should just email her with my purchase choice and she would leave it for me to collect.

Well when I saw there was a Mr Magpie in the new collection it was a done deal. Actually there were  a few I liked, I would love to have gone mad but as I can’t afford it I restrained myself to just Mr Magpie I swung by on Saturday morning to pick him up and here he is.

I also stepped into the half a dozen chazzas that I passed on my way there because, well, it’s been a while since I’ve done that too, and if nothing else one of them had an ‘Everything a Pound!’ sign in the window!

What more encouragement does a woman need? I bought a book and a dress, which as it goes I’m actually wearing right now as I type, and it’s accessorized with another of my birthday brooches. 

Talking of Charity shops it’s been quite funny because where we had been madly clearing out and donating a million bags to charity we had the unique experience one day recently of walking down to Sainsbury’s to buy some food and spotting something that we had donated in the window of every single charity shop we passed! As a colleague pointed out, we clearly donate a quality item.       

So my other two brooch purchases (one of which I'm wearing today) have come from that amazing Etsy store Luxulite. I have been admiring these brooches on various other blogs and favoriting particular ones in the shop for ages now. 

I finally decided I would buy one, but me being me, I ended up buying two.

I decided to go for the more restrained classic red cherry style but the drag queen in me just had to have a bit of sparkle so I went for the blue glitter instead of wood effect! 

Whilst browsing I spotted the Halloween themed brooches and dithered for a bit but just had to go for one of them so decided on the pumpkins, because I love pumpkins and so does my favourite Snoopy character Linus!

There was a bit of drama before these beauties landed in my grasping mitts, in which I have to say Etsy did not show themselves in the best light, a real disappointment to me if I’m honest. 

I had logged into my account and deactivated my old address, added the new address and ticked the box to make it my main default address. I naively thought that was enough to update my details, but apparently not! I only realised the order had actually gone to my old address when I got the email through to say it had been dispatched.

I contacted Etsy to find out why, and basically, they very unhelpfully said “It’s your own fault for not checking the address before you hit purchase, were you not aware you could see the address before you purchased an item? oh and if you haven’t already maybe you should also delete your old address from your account”

So I replied 

“As it goes no I wasn’t aware of the address at purchase thing, but I am now and will do so going forward but that doesn’t really help in my current situation, can you explain why the deactivation of the old address didn’t work?”

They never even responded to that email, so thanks Etsy, thanks a lot. Luckily I had set up a mail divert on my old address just in case, and after a bit of a delay we were able to pick up the package yesterday.

The final brooch on the block was from the lovely Vix. She had featured it on a blog post a  little while back and as I loved it at first sight I emailed her to say if it didn't sell that weekend could I buy it? 

But Vix being the amazing person she is just said it was mine and posted it to me. In fact it was my first parcel at the new house.

Not only that it had some elephants in it as well. she is the best.  

What else have I been up to? 

Well I went to see Kubo at the cinema, I wasn’t sure at first but once it got going I LOVED it. It’s funny, it’s moving, even my stony heart filled and a tear welled in my eye. 

We had a Well Being Day at work after they did a survey about how happy people were in there jobs and had shocking bad results. 

I signed up and got a 15 minute shoulder massage, attended a taster course on turning negativity into positivity where I got a free stretchy man stress toy and an assessment from a local osteopath with the option of a special offer follow up full assessment for a tenner. I think the whole department signed up for that one! They had a fancy schmacy gadget that you stood on and it took all your measurements and then told you how out of alignment you were. As it goes I was favouring one leg slightly more than the other and my hip and shoulder were askew. 

This did not surprise me because it’s been 3 years since I last did the Alexander Technique regularly and despite the Pilates my back had been complaining on and off again for a while.

I was quite despondent after my £10 session because I had thought 20 odd years of Alexander Technique had cured a serious issue I had had with my hip, but there it was apparently tipped up again on that same side, on top of a couple of other issues.

Thankfully after going again for a painfully expensive full priced session and talking with my Pilates teacher it’s not actually the same hip problem I had before but instead an issue with my right ankle. My ankles have always been a problem to but now the right one has grown so tight and inflexible I’m walking wrong. 

This made one of my toe bones collapse which is why not only have I been having the really bad pain in my foot (that I have been studiously ignoring for a while now!) but has also made my hip move out of alignment. 

Once explained I had visions of being presented with a long and expensive treatment plan, (which I can’t afford) as that has happened in the past, but thankfully again, I proved wrong in that assumption too.

Providing I keep up with the daily exercises I have been given, apparently 6 sessions should sort it. I can’t even afford those if I’m honest, so I am doing the exercises religiously at least 3 times a day and hoping I can spread out the sessions from once a week to more like one a month or at least something more affordable.