LiveKen

21/08/2021

Join us today for an craft session as part of Saturday sessions.

We've got material for scrap skirts, jars, gift bags and boxes to decorate, and hair clips that can be made.

Here from 11 am to 2 pm

03/08/2021

Yesterday was a difficult day for me. It was one of my best friends' birthdays and the first one she wasn't here for us to celebrate with her.

It was also my first day with everyone back at work/childcare. As I'm still recovering from catching the girls cold during lockdown, I decided to prioritise rest after I got the house cleaned in the morning.

I spent a lot of time thinking about my friend and remembering her, listening to music and crying... I also spent time watching tv and we had a friend over for dinner in the evening. I ended the day with a bath and meditation to unwind and relax.

25/07/2021

I've been fairly quiet during the current lockdown. To be honest we've been struggling a lot here. Not only did both girls get sick just before lockdown (definitely not covid but A had 2 colds and little E influenza), both E and I have now caught one of their colds as well which doesn't help my normal pain and fatigue levels.

We did manage one nice walk down near the river and have made some nice sourdough and started toilet training little E, which has been going surprisingly smoothly.

Neither E nor I have managed to get much work done around looking after both sick girls.

I'm currently collapsed on the couch. I'm somehow managing to get through the day to day...

28/06/2021

With starting soon, I'm running several beeswax wrap demonstrations over the next 2 weeks. Today I'm preparing some diy kits for attendees to take home.

Using secondhand material helps to reduce the footprint of these products even more.

04/06/2021

Found this while out with the girls today. We're all slowly recovering from our colds and has a rather busy day. Was nice to slow down and spot the different things we could see in nature.

I've really struggled with my energy and pain levels. Between getting sick, looking after the girls and working I've been really struggling to find any real balance. I feel like I'm running on fumes at the moment

I think I'm going to be fairly inconsistent with my posts for a while. I need to prioritise on my health and wellbeing at the moment

08/04/2021

What's in a name?

I'm often asked where our name came from so I've created this little infographic (if that's the right term) to explain our thinking behind it and our logo.

LiveKen is a combination of "Live", to live/function/work/exist with, and "Ken", knowledge/understanding/awareness/vision. We chose this because our primary focus is to help others to do this in relation to living a simple, sustainable and meaningful life and living with chronic illness.

Our logo is a handdrawn frog, again representing both life with chronic illness (based on our book Foggy Frog and the Pain Gang) and of a healthy sustainable life on earth.

Overall, our focus is on living a simple, sustainable and meaningful life with or without chronic illness using our knowledge, awareness and understanding to achieve this.

04/04/2021

A short walk before bed and Easter Sunday 2021 is mostly done (peppermint tea and tv for the adults before we retire for the night).

We've had a busy but fun day visiting with family.

Thanks to daylight savings clock changes we had a rather early start from little E so definitely ready for sleep at bedtime and I'm struggling a bit with pain and energy levels.

Both A and little E thoroughly enjoyed their Easter Egg hunt and A is super excited about the chocolates (although we did limit how many they ate today and will pace them out over the next week or so).

02/04/2021

It's the Easter long weekend. I hope everyone enjoys their break if they get one. I'll be spending time with family and friends and hopefully getting a chance for a much needed rest.

After the break I've got a couple of workshops lined up and will be aiming to get back to blogging.

I've set up a short survey to help determine what it is you'd most like to see moving forward and would love it if you could complete it!

https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7R5MN8F

It's hard to get a good shot of a hyperactive and bouncy child but here's my oldest Easter bunny at a 1st birthday we were at today.

31/03/2021

Hi! I'm Megan, the face behind LiveKen. It's been a while so I thought I'd introduce myself again.

I'm a 30-something, mother of two girls, living with fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and asthma. I've always had a strong interest in the environment and living sustainably and for over 10 years I've been helping others live simple, sustainable and meaningful lives.

Since the fibromyalgia and chronic fatigue first flared up over 8 years ago I've been working on finding balance so that I can focus on what's important to me and help others to do the same.

Living the best life I can with chronic pain while working to save the planet and reduce my impact on the environment can be difficult because it's a balancing act at times. For example although, for the environment, I want to use cloth nappies on my girls 100% of the time I don't. I found it unsustainable for my health to attempt to do everything I want to do. Compromises are a part of life and it takes work to do it right!

Follow me on the path towards are more simple, sustainable and meaningful life.

29/03/2021

One of two youth beeswax wrap workshops I'm running in April.

Help save the earth - Learn how to make your own reusable cling wrap. Suitable for 13 - 18 Years.