My name, as you've probably guessed, is Carmen Azalea. I'm 25 year old Londoner (Great Britain, not Canada or America) and I'm also chronically ill. I have a number of younger cousins and nieces and I couldn't love them more.
The problem is that I'm no where near as physically capable as I used to be and my nieces especially, who see me regularly, have realised this. I can't take them to the park as I used to, or the Zoo, Museums, etc. Sometimes, it's all I can do to crawl out of bed, sit on our sofa (which is falling apart) and endure several hours of the Disney Channel, Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
I try to make it up to them in other ways though. If you ask anyone who has ever known me, as well as agreeing that I'm highly opinionated, they'll probably also agree that I'm very creative. I've always loved arts and crafts and I try to share that with the girls. We do lots of cooking, baking, making various things like Christmas ornaments, painting, making cards, boxes, paper beads, necklaces, bracelets, and more. This summer I'm going to make salt dough for them (they dislike the making part) and I've got clay on order. I've got my Amazon basket full of things like felt and foam sheets and lots of plans for them. We're going to make clocks and mobiles and more on the good days. Hopefully, my back and head will hold up enough to be able to do them all.
I do have a back up plan, however, for the days when I can't. I'm not a pessimist; I'm a realist. The bad days do and will come and I need a plan for them. I've got wordsearches, crosswords, colouring books, journal pages, and simpler paper crafts that they can do with minimum involvement from myself or my mother. The girls are between 9 and 11 years old and with a little help will be able to keep themselves entertained.
Many of the item come from various sites, which can be found in the links, but there are also a number that I make myself. I've made a series of Good Behaviour Sticker charts where the girls can collect stickers as rewards for good behaviour, chores and reading. Once they've completed a chart, they receive a certificate and a gift. A lot more reading has been done in this house since their introduction, let me tell you, and it's less than half the struggle to get them to do chores.
I've made quite a few now and so many friends compliment me on my work. I'd like to share my work with a wider audience and so here they are, for you. I'm very relaxed about terms and conditions but just so there's no confusion, please see the 'Legal Stuff'.
