Following the ongoing appalling treatment of some Irish women seeking diagnosis and treatment for Breast Cancer and indeed inspired by Avoiding Life's ongoing months of waiting to be seen and get a diagnosis as to what is causing her breast to bleed Sabrina Dent has launched a fantastic campaign called Two Tits and a Vote which is calling for better access to Breast Health Care for the women of this country. Please drop over to the site and sign the petition and add your voice to the protest against the second-rate service that women are receiving at the hands of the health service in this country.

Technorati Tags: Sabrina Dent Avoiding Life Two Tits and a vote Breast Care

I have a new best friend!

This evening when I got home I was going through my post - full of the usual bills etc. when I noticed one letter that wasn't a bill. It was my first letter from the little girl I sponsor in Burkino Faso, which is the poorest country in Africa. Although she didn't write herself, as sadly, she doesn't attend school, it was written by a local volunteer and translated into English for me. She is only 7 and her family are really poor subsistence farmers, this is the letter she sent me;

"Hello Curly K,

NK and family are writing this letter to send you some news from them. She is healthy as well as her family. NK and family thank you very much for what you are doing for their child NK who has become your best friend.

NK informs you that her parents are farmers and that they all live T, a small rural town 170km far from the capital Ouagadougou. They inform you that they live only from farming and breeding and also from fishing and gardening. They leave you on these lines and hope to hear from you soon."

It is one of the shortest letters I've ever received and written in far from perfect English but it is one of the best letters I've ever received! I'm so glad that little NK is healthy and doing well. I wish, for her sake, she was able to attend school but unfortunately there is only so much any aid agency can do to encourage children to attend school and apparently it is not unusual where NK lives for children not to attend school. I must write back to her very soon, I've been meaning to write since I began sponsoring her and have not yet got around to it.

Unfortunately, the charity I am sponsoring NK through do not allow you to send parcels but I do want to include a lot of bright and interesting pages in my letter, such as a coloured map of the world and a few things like that. Got some nice little stickers as well that I can include. Any ideas of anything else that can fit in a letter envelope are welcome!

Technorati Tags: Sponsor a child Burkino Faso

Shopaholic?

Anyone that knows Curly K well will know that I hate shopping and generally speaking shop like a man - see something I like and buy it, no going backwards and forwards between shops trying on a million outfits for this gal. I've even been know to buy the same thing in several different colours if I like it and think it suits, as many of my male friends do!

So, I'm quite shocked to say that recently I've spent quite some time browsing online catalogues and ordering quite a few clothes! Whilst I've ordered the clothes item online before I've never placed orders like I have in the last week or two so now I will have to wait and see if they fit and if I like them. Still find it strange to order stuff and not pay upfront. Not something I like doing so bills will be paid immediately - my previous experience with a (relatively small but still substantial) creeping credit card balance have at least taught me that much in life! (Old age and becoming financially sensible is a strange experience for an undisciplined woman like myself!! )

Bugger, am I a skittle, bell, or a brick?

So Trinny & Susannah have come up with a new classification for womens bodyshapes and I don't fit easily into any one of them - bloody typical! They have none to fit brood shoulders, tiny tits (relatively speaking - even though they a 38C/D - 40C/D!), big belly, a massive arse, tree trunk thighs and cankles!

Might just have to send them an email to confirm just how badly shaped I am - maybe they'll add the "jesus, she's massive" label to their current list;

• The Skittle – average size bust, slim waist, okay tummy with big thighs and chunky calves (e.g. Halle Berry)
• The Bell – small shoulders, bust and waist, short waist with big thighs and bottom (e.g. Hillary Clinton)
• The Pear – small bust, long waist, flat tummy, saddle bags and heavy legs (e.g. Sandra Bullock)
• The Apple – average bust, tummy larger than bust with flat bottom and okay legs (e.g. Kathy Bates)
• The Vase – large bust, gently curving long waist, hips same width as bust with slim thighs and legs (e.g. Kate Winslet)
• The Column – shoulder width same as hip width with a slight waist and long legs (e.g. Nicole Kidman)
• The Brick – broad shoulders, no waist, average tummy, flat bottom with chunky thighs and calves (e.g. Kim Cattrell)
• The Cello – large bust, hips, bottom and thighs with slim lower legs (e.g. Oprah Winfrey)
• The Hourglass – large bust, small and short waist, large hips and full thighs (e.g. Salma Hayek)
• The Goblet – broad shoulders, large bust, no waist with narrow hips and long legs (e.g. Catherine Zeta Jones)
• The Cornet – broad shoulders, small bust, no waist with slim hips and slim long legs (e.g. Cameron Diaz)
• The Lollipop – large bust with slight waist, slim hips and long legs (e.g. Angelina Jolie)

Technorati Tags: Trinny & Susannah Bodyshape

On a more positive note!

After my gloomy last post just wanted to ensure first post of the new year is much more upbeat and positive (sorry folks, have been dosed with one of the bugs that has been doing the rounds - if what you do on New Year's Day predicts your forthcoming year I'm fucked as spent the entire day under two duvets sweating a high temperature flu / tummy bug combo out - but enough of that!!)

We're all familiar with the saying that it's much better to give than to receive but without wanting to sound really preachy, it is so, so true. I don't want to go into details but today I carried out a random act of kindness, which I have posted about before, and really the feel-good factor makes me feel like I was the one who got something. So, if you see an opportunity to do something nice for someone in the next day or two, why not go for it. It is contagious so what better way to begin the new year other than spreading a bit of feel good factor around!

Also, in the last day or two things have just had a few occasions where things have just fallen into place;

• having spent the last number of months looking in vain for black ankle boots to replace my reliable everyday pair (they had to be leather, not too high-heeled, with a solid block heel and wide-fitting - you wouldn't believe how hard it was to find a pair that matched my requirements!) I managed to find two different pairs that fitted the bill exactly and they were cheap as chips - got them and a pair of "Gluv" shoes for work for €55 for all three!!!
• think I have finally found a suite of furniture that I like, knew I would know it when I saw it, went through the whole leather/fabric, recliner/non-recliner, corner/non-corner, modern/traditional dilemmas and still hadn't decided and then when I wasn't actually even looking for a suite I saw it, the first suite that I had ever considered buying! I knew immediately that it almost perfect but there were a few things I wanted to tweak. I had stumbled upon the suite in a shop which is part of chain and the staff were very helpful but I did want to check if the guy in my regular furniture shop could get something similiar as I really didn't want to walk past him with the business as I've always found him to be very honest, helpful and reasonably priced and a small local business. So I visited my friendly local with picture of said suite and eureka, he can get something quite similiar but with all the tweaks I wanted (firmer cushions, higher legs and higher back, in any material that I choose) for the same price or less and in half the time once I order it!!
• all that and one of my best friends and my former housemate got engaged on New Year's Day!

So all in all, things are good right now!

Technorati Tags: Random Acts of kindness