Laughing my life away

As my regular readers of this blog knows, my life has been a bit of an emotional roller coaster for last 6 months or so, from our having to leave Trinidad, to returning to the UK, to selling our house, then having the house sale fall through, seeing good friends go through separations after years of being married, our big move to Canada, moving twice within a month, settling of our children into school, getting my work permit, changing the restrictions on my work permit, trying to get a licence to practice as a nurse here, volunteering at school, making new friends..... the list goes on. It's a wonder that I have not been committed as yet.

Through all of this, I seem not to have lost my ability to laugh at the lighter side of life.... perhaps this has been the saviour of my sanity.  Ok ok, maybe I have not been laughing as much as I am used to, but nevertheless I am still able to laugh at whatever challenge life decides to throw at me next.  I guess the proof of this is when people say I am funny. I am hoping they mean funny haha and not funny in the head, though I suspect a bit of the latter may well be true.  Daisy commented on one of my many status postings on Facebook that she thought she was funny till she met me and that I am so funny. I will take that as a compliment.  It's good to have a laugh, it raises the spirits, chases away the doom and gloom and apparently research has shown that people who laugh hardly fall ill!  This was claimed by one of my yoga teachers, Nash, I have written about his class in an earlier blog.  He is a truly inspiring person, and I go to his class for some spiritual uplifting, not for the weight loss that I so crave, I leave that to happen in a hot yoga class.

Humor is infectious. The sound of roaring laughter is far more contagious than any cough, sniffle, or sneeze. When laughter is shared, it binds people together and increases happiness and intimacy. In addition to the domino effect of joy and amusement, laughter also triggers healthy physical changes in the body. Humor and laughter strengthen your immune system, boost your energy, diminish pain, and protect you from the damaging effects of stress. Best of all, this priceless medicine is fun, free, and easy to use.

This just an excerpt from the website http://www.helpguide.org/life/humor_laughter_health.htm

I know it doesn't quote the research behind their claims, but I am sure you could dig them up if you wished to.

Anyhow, in my last post I mentioned making a doll for a book launch, here is a picture of the storyteller I was asked to make.

Sorry, the image is a bit on the small side. I used the pattern for basic sack boy doll from Golden Jelly Bean, who I think is amazing, she's on youtube and has made videos teaching you how to crochet your own sack boy. Thank you Nikki for sharing your wonderful patterns.

sack boy and girl that I made 

I started off making the head and then the face, as I thought if I could not get the face right on the doll, it was not worth going any further.

It looked like it was going to be ok, so I continued to 

crochet the doll...

I know, it looks like a mutant at the moment, 1 more leg and two arms to make and....

beard and moustache of course.

Turban on, now shoes and pants left...

Hoja sitting happily on my bed

Viola! All done and he's sitting on my bed. Ms S was so pleased with him that she ordered another doll, and I was paid very handsomely for making them... here are the 2 dolls together, she calls them the twins..

You can just about see my smile behind them....Hoja number 2 has a different coloured turban, closer to the illustration, but it also meant me using a heavier yarn and so his head was not stable and was bobbing over, I had to make some repairs and stitch his beard down to make his head stay upright. 

So, all in all I am still laughing. I spent the day at school today and Mrs P and I always have a good laugh, poking fun at each other and winding each other up. Sue Wong, a fellow parent and volunteer extraordinnaire is such great fun too, all in all a day well spent. I was exhausted when I got home though, a day spent laughing sure wears you out, but is so very good for my soul, so very good.

I have not written about the lunches we have at school when I spend the whole day there, I will leave that for another posting as I did not take any pictures today. I will bring my camera next week as it looks like we're going to have a pot luck lunch!