The Magpie Diary

I was diagnosed with depression in early November and have fought an uphill battle ever since. I started medicating but experienced terrible side effects that gave me hallucinations and ‘brain ghosts’. Life didn’t really seem worth living. After a change in medication my mind has recently started to brighten and I am ever so thankful about that. This depression is one of the worst things I have ever been through. The exhaustion, the constant crying. No matter how many hours I sleep every night it never seems I get enough. I have to take naps in the day to make it through but when I wake up I don’t feel energized at all. I’ve noticed my memory isn’t quite working, I’ll be on the phone with my someone and as soon as I hang up I’ll have forgotten what the other person said. I have lost my words. I often struggle to find everyday words. It seems they have vanished from my mind. I’ll tell my husband we need to buy soap, but won’t remember the actual word ‘soap. “Alex, we need to buy… eeh. Thing! For.. hands. Washing…. Bathroom! You know? The thing.” And it’s frustrating.

Winter is still holding us firmly in its grip. My mind is ready for spring, I need the snow drops and the daffodils. Tulips. Flowers budding everywhere. I want walks in the sunshine, wearing short sleeved tops and being just a little cold. Walking in the woods with my husband and camera.

Here’s a quick post, just to show how my top hat looks now that I’ve polished it. To polish a silk top hat, you use velvet (and preferably wet the hat), and just brush the hat anticlockwise with the velvet. This aligns the silk so it all lies flat and parallel, giving a better shine.

Compared, here’s the photo of the hat before the polish.

Unfortunately, my top hat has slight structural damage (due to having being knocked before I bought it – there are a few lumps and bumps on the structure underneath the silk, and now that the silk lies flat it’s more visible. This can be repaired, but I’ll have to get it done professionally by Patey’s Hats in London. You can see one of these lumps on the middle of the left side of the hat in the top photo.

We have had a small chest of drawers on our night stand for ages. It actually used to hold our Magic the Gathering cards.  It was a quite ugly piece, pink with monkeys all over it. I remember when I bought it I really liked it, I even had a matching lampshade. That’s a few years ago now and my tastes when it comes to interior decorating has changed. I still like it cheerful, but not in the same way as before.

So I set Alex up with a task. He was to re-cover our little chest of drawers with something new and nice. Here’s a what it looked like before.

And this is what it looks like now! All it took was some glue, 2 pieces of scrapbooking paper and some patience (not one of my strengths!)

Isn’t it pretty? I’m not sure what to store in it now, it feels like our Magic the Gathering cards aren’t fancy enough for it anymore. I love it. Squeee!