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Monday 13 July 2009

Not Bright and Cheerful



This group of brooches is bright and cheerful but not representative of how I am feeling at the moment.
(I have put a few of the more subtle colours in my etsy shop but if you are interested in any of these please get in touch. They are all the same price)

Its a mystery to me why one day you feel quite happy and motivated and the next you have the blues for no apparent reason.
I have been very busy for a long time and have been looking forward to today when I can get on with other pressing matters..(really pressing; ironing actually among other things) but I woke up this morning feeling as if my face was on the floor.

Then I went into my local town and found it as always a deeply depressing experience.
Streets full of charity shops and pound shops and empty shops and people walking about eating pies for elevenses.
Horribly uneven pink block paving covers the lovely old cobbles on the main street; the Market has been enhanced by two ridiculous pointy structures that William Morris would have loathed. They are neither useful nor beautiful...but I doubt our local planners have any inkling who William Morris was.

I could go on and in fact composed a whole 'what a depressing town' post in the car in my head on the way home but will save it for another day when my mood will allow me to do it with a more tongue in cheek approach.

The event at the weekend, in a far nicer place, while yielding a few sales was not as successful as I had hoped.
As we have had a good week in the healthy eating department I kept myself down the non-food end of the village hall, and for two days successfully resisted hot potato pies, and cream cakes.
Even when they brought the unsold cakes down to the table next me to be sold off I stuck to my resolve and didn't binge when I got home.


So I can only conclude that todays mood is a result of not eating cake.
What do you think?

48 comments:

  1. Yep been there. Hey you have the same city planners as I have. What's up with that?
    I agree with arlee....cake will do it. Actually cake and coffee. That way you get the sweet with the caffine!

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  2. This is so familiar,(in all respects) I think it could be most places at present.Mind you I have the charity shops to thank for my continuous supply of vintage haberdashery!

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  3. Definitely eat the cake! Even if you still don't feel productive afterwards, and still think your town is ugly, you won't be sorry you ate cake!!! It will be something to smirk about!

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  4. I don't like Mondays... spring to mind..!?
    Yep EAT CAKE....!!!
    Go do it NOW.....
    Marion ;0)

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  5. Try the cake and see if that brightens up your mood! Might work and it's worth a try isn't it? Most big towns across this part of Lancashire seem to be hit by the 'odd architects' virus - you should see Burnley!

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  6. How refreshing to hear an honest post about real life. Thank you for sharing that Jackie, it touched a nerve with me too on almost every level. I veer from wildly motivated to almost horizontal with gloom and lack of energy, it is such a showstopper. As we have said before, family life and even ordinary things like trying not to eat cake can sometimes tip the balance and bring us low. And I also live in a place I don't like (beautiful, elegant Victorian villas occupied in the C19th by some of Manchester's most elite minds and radical thinkers and now trashed by landlords and streets strewn with rubbish) although Chorley is a lot nicer so you can take some comfort from that. Although those pointy things are really bad :-(

    Take heart Jackie. Tomorrow will be better. (By the way, I've just eaten half a whole jam-and-cream sponge, only £1 in Somerfield, so I practically count as one of those pie-eaters, he he.)

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  7. The endless small shop closures and the 'take over' of chain stores is, I agree, very disheartening. Seems to be happening in most of our towns???? In my local town, every other shop is empty.
    If there is one thing I can't abide is people shoving Gregg's/Baker's Oven Greasy pies in their mouths as they are walking along, revolting!!!!!
    If you had had a rip roarer of a Fair Jackie, your mood, I'm sure would have been on a higher level today. Such a lot of effort and time spent for a few pennies, I find depressing.
    As for the cake...... rock and hard place situation. Eat it, enjoy it, then guilt ridden for rest of day, if you are anything like me! :-(
    On a happy positive though, you are one talented lady and you always make me smile, my friend. x

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  8. Perhaps you have been working a bit too hard and need a bit of TLC. Most towns are full of pound shops, charity shops and empty ones. Ours is only a small town and we have two pound-type shops and five charity shops - and even more empty ones. It is depressing, but more or less the same everywhere. Hope your mood lifts soon and your next venue for sales will prove more profitable.

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  9. Definitely the not eating cake!
    Go for it!

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  10. Go for the cake. As for why you are up one day and down the next...you are a Cancerian are you not? Goes with the territory. As well as being hugely creative and imaginative, caring and food loving. Take it from a fellow crab.

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  11. I agree fully! Bake and eat a cake and you will feel better.

    I however understand, I have a mound of ironing that if I think about too long I will never get out of bed again. Hang in there and have a bit of cake and coffee and put your feet up.
    I love your bright brooches!

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  12. absolutely! I would have to say - eat the darn cake and be happy! That's what I do. I know what you mean with the mood thing. I wake up like that some days without any real reason for it - it just is what it is. I hope you feel better tomorrow.

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  13. I eat cake at any opportunity.....I think you should too...I know what you mean about your town...thats what the place where I work is like...with horrible kids at every stret corner mis behaving...and as I am not at work when I venture there I dont want to get into a confrontation...not that I often get into confrontations...hope you feel better tomorrow...love H

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  14. Hi Jackie, hope you feel better tomorrow! Have you checked your biorhythms?

    http://www.facade.com/biorhythm

    I think there is something in it! I woke up full of beans and bounced around the house doing my housework today, even helped shift a 150kg cast iron bath, I checked my biorhythm chart just now and I'm 100% physical today

    Biorhythms sometimes explain how we can feel up one day and down the next

    Anyway, whatever it is, I hope you feely bouncy tomorrow xx

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  15. Definitely, you need cake! Also, could you be suffering from 'sleep deficit'? That's guaranteed to make anyone feel blue. Hope you wake up feeling more 'chipper' tomorrow. BFN. Lesley

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  16. Know what you mean - and I had a slice of fruit cake this morning ...

    Seriously I think its the weather. I am sure I have summer SAD - or SSAD I suppose.

    How sad is that?

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  17. Did you see that programme about the state of retail,they looked at Dunstable and another town?
    Mary Portas showed how some towns were trying to improve but alas some had turned to ghost towns,very sad.
    I think councils should use empty shops to display arts and crafts and help towns to stay alive.
    We have a shop local campaign.
    I too would eat cake and chocolate! xx

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  18. Definitely eat cake! Follow that with a little (or a lot) of nice white wine and/or coffee. Then, go and play with your absolute brightest fabrics. Just pour them out on the floor and sit right down in the middle and play. Best therapy going!

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  19. You'll just have to have some cake tomorrow with the Fellside Felters.

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  20. I am susceptible to quick shifts in energy and mood, and it leaves me baffled as well. Get some rest, eat a (small) piece of cake, go for a little walk, (somewhere other then town) and hopefully things will look better soon!

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  21. I prescribe cake made from Green and Black's chocolate or similar. It will combine the proven abilities of chocolate to enhance mood through the dopamine system and the joy of cake. Doubly medicinal.

    Alternatively, a bl**dy good chick flick might help. Sit in the sunshine with a g & T - also ace medicine.

    The vagaries of one's neurotransmitters and their ability to dictate mood are a pain in the proverbial. It mystifies me too. Wrong side of the bed? Wrong side of the serotonin? Bleugh.

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  22. I had exactly the same experience as you in my local town this morning; dozens of charity shops, more and more empty ones and Greggs doing a roaring trade.
    Maybe just a small (chocolate) cake???
    ;-)

    (Notice you've changed the brooch description, lol! Well now I think it should be 'mint and chocolate'!)

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  23. I just had a thought - could you take a small trip to Kendal? A little more cheery x

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  24. That's just how it is some days. I made pretty rubbishy blueberry muffins last night, moaned about them and then proceeded to fill my face with them this morning.... Other days I can leave cake totally alone. Why???????? x

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  25. You poor dear - it is probably sugar withdrawal and it will go! Eat more protein!! Get your sugar hit from fruit and create beautiful things- and yours are particularly beautiful! We all get the blues occasionally so you are not alone and one is far healthier not eating cake, so good on you to have such willpower. Love your blog and love your work.

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  26. Buggar the cake .... go for chocolate!!! It works every time.

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  27. I know exactly what you mean...for me, it's generally a weather thing...I crave sun constantly! Along with chocolate, sweets, chips - well this is going nowhere! Bravo for not giving in to temptation! And perhaps I could send a tornado your way (we have pletny to spare!) to take care of that red point on your poor long-suffering building!

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  28. First of all well done for not eating the cake. I would of said the weather was affecting your disposition but of course it is summer where you are.
    However my suggestion for a cheer up which never fails for me is to put on your favourite up beat music and have a bit of a boogie.

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  29. I say eat cake too :) We all have days where we get the blah's. Hope hyou are feeling much better soon.
    Dot xx

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  30. I thought my town did crazy things but your pointy thing has mine beat. What is that thing? Its nice to know I'm not alone in my bad moods. Just know "this to shall pass" My thoughts are with you.

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  31. Hi Jackie!
    Thanks for your lovely comments on my blog!
    Right an answer to your Q re: the Landmark Arts Centre - which fair are you referring too? is it the one that is happening in Nov? the contemporary craft & gourmet food fair?
    I'm taking part in this one for the first time this year. will help with Q's any way I can - let me know, my email by the way is - hello@meplusmolly.co.uk ;0

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  32. EAT Cake !
    I get fed up when I havent had my chocolate !
    Or maybe you have been soooooooooo Busy that you are drained of all your energy .
    Hope you are feeling better today .
    Love from sesga xx

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  33. There are just times when you need cake. Mondays are so bad that you might need another indulgence to help you past it!

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  34. well you know it has been a bit of the same for me...

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  35. Well done you restraining in the cake and pie department...what strong will power you have!!!
    I hope you are feeling a bit brighter by the time you receive this comment...

    Jacky xox

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  36. My advice is don't eat the cake unless it's VERY good cake - in my experience it only makes you feel more cheesed off if the cake isn't utterly delicious.

    However, as you posted this yesterday, hopefully things are looking brighter today!

    PS 2 years ago our town was named the best independent retailer town centre in the country. Today even the charity shops are closing.

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  37. Cake always saves the day :-) A cuppa tea and piece of cake at 4 o clock in the afternoon.
    The best!

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  38. I think all creative types are prone to these mood swings, you know... some days are fine, we are in control of whatever life chucks at us, others are... well, HARD. Depressing and tough to get through hour to hour. Cake DOES help a bit, as does chocolate and/or wine, whatever is YOUR thing. I prescribe half a day off to do what you like, read some good magazines/books, eat something nice, and plan something really nice to look forward to very soon. Meanwhile, we all know how you feel...

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  39. Mew doesn't eat cake Jackie, but she is crafty at getting to Amie's special dog sausages. Quite a feat really as she doesn't move that fast.
    Have to send you some pictures of Exeter to keep your faith in town and country x x x

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  40. Forgot to add, no happier little soul than Mew.
    You don't need the cake x x x

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  41. In my case, it's not cake, it's a glass or two of the red stuff. Mind you, too many and I'm so relaxed I come to a complete stop!Our pleasant town on the south coast is, I'm afraid, becoming just like all the rest. I can't believe how many charity shops we have here, and since the popularity of car boot sales, not much in them that I can use these days. As for the people eating pies, my mother taught me never to eat in the street. She considered it common and the height of bad manners. She never smoked in the street either. And what about the people going down the street draining a can of especial brew before nine in the morning. Holy Moly, now I'm depressing myself!!
    Maybe that's why I tend towards a lurid colour palette?

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  42. well done for resisting the cakes and pies. Maybe you need strawberries and cream in a beautiful handmade bowl and a little mug of fragrant coffee? I hope this morning dawned brighter for you.

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  43. Yep definitely cake is the answer.
    Bradford is pretty gross atm too. It was lovely here when we came 16 years ago. Now we have one set of shops that were pulled down to make a new shopping centre that has had goodness knows how many firms working on it. All we have is an empty fenced it site and nothing happening.

    Work being done on another part opposite city hall. No shops to speak of in the city centre.

    Bus services are being paired back although mine has had a reprieve for the time being

    So the only consolation is cake.

    Love the brooches

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  44. Charity shops are go and bad really. They do harm the high street shops but goodness, practically all my books and a lot of my clothes come from them. I would be walking around half naked and poorly educated without them...ha ha. As for the cake...you must have a will of iron.

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  45. Eat cake and more cake, that should help you feel good. These brooches you make just keep getting better and better. Our town is just the same and we'll just have to wait a couple of years and things will get better.
    One empty shop has been converted to a lovely shop selling bags in Chester.

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  46. Sorry, eating cake is not the right answer. ........sugar high!!then back down..always worse. Well that's my experience and believe me, I've had the experience many many times..
    You can't feel any worse than me, the wedding is looming and I'm stuck, weight wise, I'm trying so hard, I'm walking at 6am because it's so hot, eating very little and still the scales do nothing or go swinging the other way.
    Take care

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