Happy Christmas.

HAPPY CHRISTMAS

Santa is very mooch for real!

There will be a 'paws' for Christmas and then I'll resume posting folks.

Post 600

I mentioned  a short while back at various places we were approaching the 600th post of this blog which by coincidence was just over a year and a week back and I was thinking about doing something a bit special.
Well other things intervened altering the posts between as well as the frequency a bit for good measure not least being very unwell recently and during that period I thought about some of things and people that matter  the most to me.
The first thing is there's a person who I've only known for a few years and due to distance I only see from time to time who in their own way has been such a inspiration and source of reassurance at times even though they themselves have had their own difficulties some of which we do have in common.
They've encouraged me to be more open about myself, who I am, what interests me with other people, to feel comfortable doing arts stuff like drawing which I've always had hang ups with just for the fun of it and above all just accepts me as I am.
The year has been hard for us both following the death of our (and probably for a good number of you, yours too) close friend where we've both been supporting each other  and both of us have been supported by others which has been a great source of comfort.
You're a star.
Then there are other people such as those that have given me a home from home where I can just relax with my mind free from some of the stuff that gets on top of me here, enjoying a meal and like minded company together.
Which if on it's own is something I'd be thankful for but you go much further than that, you look after me, not in a super fussy way but more an observing the scene and responding way, knowing that if I'm giving signs of been tired (and I tire easy) you'll get me to where I need to be, bed, in  suitably child-like way that leaves me feeling relaxed and very little.
Then there people who help me deal with some of baggage from the past because a number of my responses to situations has tripped me up, not just say from not doing something important but also making it harder for me  fit in cos I do things that can conflict with everyday norms, a good number of which I never really learned and was never expected to take any account of.
Sometimes because of some very bad encounters I had, I'd disengage first to avoid situations that had distressed me rather than mastering them.
Instead you've had higher expectations starting from the outset that I was to at least try to do what everyone else was expected to even if I needed a close eye on me and when I didn't you were prepared to follow through with appropriate child-like discipline to help me change.
A lot of people in a way gave up on me thinking I couldn't be given a second shot at getting this right but they didn't. Rather than feeling I could only mess up, they helped me replace it with a feeling I could get it right and if I messed up once, the by learning the right lesson, I get it right the next time.
For once I started to begin to look forward to social encounters knowing I'd be helped by firm, loving and caring people to handle them so I could enjoy my time with people more (and hopefully they'd feel the same).
And that does wonders for my self confidence.
In so many ways then  these things are the things that matter and have mattered so much to me over the last 100 odd posts here, the gifts that are priceless and to whom I am most thankful for.
**Thank You**

Gratitude

“Said you’re bored with your poxy presents did you Miss?” “I spent a lot of my time and money on them and to have such a show of ingratitude from you, Jo, I have no choice but to deal with your attitude here and now.”
Originally published over the Christmas break, as we look back over that period a month back, how many of us really felt appreciative of the presents people bought us and how as ever did we deal with the disappointments.
Did we feel ‘Meh’ as we unwrapped each and every one, even getting into a funk as we opened it up thinking “God, don’t they know I’d never use that?” even feeling insulted by their choice?
I have to be honest and say in the past i have been like that - proper miserable to live with - and actually a good hard spanking  with a simple to understand lecture would of helped set me straight.

Accountability and the Middle

Our lives as Middles have this running through them surrounded as we are around our clothes, our cute stuffies as part of everyday domestic life which takes me a very important area of Middles life and that is accountability.
Accountability as a concept is simply that as Middles we are expected to be held to account for those things that we are responsible for, such as our learning, our house-hold chores, the things we agree to do for others and our attitudes and behaviour as they affect us and those in our lives.
This is because, whatever as individuals we have difficulty with, we are capable of exercising some that within the Adult world we interact with. We need  and are expected to meet some basic standards to be with you such as being truthful, reliable and so on.
As middles, we need our parent-like figures to support, guide and discipline us when we mess up, letting ourselves and others down and to learn to expect ourselves to be held to account as a matter of course rather than excused from it, that some of us including me have been in the past.
Having to accept swift,very strict  punishment  is something some may baulk at but it is a need of ours to help us make the best of ourselves.
It’s a important learning we should not be excused if we are to grow up to be as mature as we can within our limits.

Chilling little style IV

The last entry of this series looked a bit more at presentation in the form of uniform and how that's changed and how that is a part of my life.
There are other parts of it too which have changed over the years, socks being oddly enough one of the first manifestations from buying school socks from the schools department of British Home Stores  every term usually grey from the late 1980's before moving gradually toward an exact replica uniformed presentation via 'Senior school' or 'Secretarial' wear.
Sometimes I have bought patterned socks like Harlequin ones in different plaid colours before moving more into that exact replica uniform by wearing actual school socks with it such as these Grey ones.

These are some I recently got although I usually wear white one of the same sort of design
except the bow would be a matching white.
The other thing that goes with it is underwear which has changed a bit over the years from all white around 2010 to grey or bottle green full school briefs when the original replica uniform came about.

 Now it is to go with the newer uniformed presentation I'm to be wearing mainly black high waisted Carta Gym Knickers which apart from being good for sports do keep me warm and cozy which is good thing at this time of year.
These arrived a few days ago and are to be worn from now on.

The waiting game

There  is a very good reason  for why this image features in the Header of my Dorm Blog. It is that that girl is the likeness in my gymslip , particularly when I was in white socks, of me having to wait as whoever is disciplining me makes up their mind which to use.
You see they all have a pretty full selection of implements, always on full display to choice what they feel is the best one to apply to my bared bottom to make the lesson I’m to learn the most effective together with some non cp punishments such as lines and corner time.
Making me face what may be used on me focuses my mind on what I did that will cause them to make my bottom painful and red
Corporal punishment is very good for me so I’m glad I’m given

Junior Jo

One form of Junior me was this, modified by a friend a few years back where the grey pleated skirt was changed for a straight hard-wearing one similar to that wear by girls at my high school and where the red sweatshirt is replaced by a V neck sweater allowing my blouse an school tie to show through.
The key word in this 'Junior', pre-teen, as that's very much how feel my inner child is and mentally I'm at as afterward the mismatch between appearing teen and how I was (and remain) really became more noticeable to the point I had to be looked after and even sheltered from some aspects of regular teen life.