Huge Overhaul

Hey! I've been having a super deep think about my blog, it's direction, what I post about, and most of all if it's actually what I set out to do in the first place.

I've found that the more I look at other lifestyle blogs I keep thinking "why isn't my blog like that?" full of cool events and cute little cafes, reviews, hauls, marble backgrounds in the pictures, insanely gorgeous Instagram feeds, interesting and conversation starting tweets...And I've kind of come to a conclusion on that.

• My blog isn't full of events, because I don't go to any other than Barn Dances, Vegetable Festivals, and farm festivals /celebrations. 
• I don't do reviews and hauls in particular, because my monthly budget doesn't stretch that far to be able to try out new things that I'm not sure about.
• I don't have any marble backgrounds in my instagram -or any - photos, because my house is an old semi-detached house in the middle of the fields on a farm and hasn't been majorly redecorated for years, and I don't feel like spending money on my blog just yet. 
• I don't really get into huge conversations with people - even though I really want to - because when I do get into a conversation, after a few tweets I feel like I'm annoying that person.

My main goals of this blog were to help others and to document my life to look back on in years to come. Telling people about how this lifestyle changes you as a person, makes you appreciate the little things and the hard work that goes into it all. Giving my experiences / opinions on things that have happened to me and my family, hopefully to help others going through the same thing. 

This doesn't mean I'll only be posting about veg, ducks, chickens, and farming in general. I'm going to be writing about other things like family, cleaning, cooking, etc. much like I have been until now. I just feel the focus of my blog has shifted through nobody's fault and I've lost sight of why I started and where I am.

Having said all this, I'm sure you've gathered that The Life of a Farmer's Wife will be changing. For starters the name has changed too.

The Homesteading Life

This is what me and B do. We're not full time homesteaders, we don't spend our days in the veg garden and making home-made lavender soap - however much I want to! - but these factors are definitely big things in our life. 

As this is a lifestyle blog, it doesn't make sense to write it without including our major lifestyle choices and circumstances. I was at first embarrassed or worried about posting about vegetables and livestock, mainly because I've got one foot in the Homesteading community and one foot in the lifestyle blogging community.

I have also decided to move over to Wordpress. This gives me more opportunity to control the look and appearance of my blog, although I've had to read a few tutorials on it all. 

You can find the new blog here

I realize I will lose following, I will lose readers and I'll lose any ranking my blog had made up until now, however small or big that may be. I'm not too concerned with ranking and google searching, it's just numbers to me at the moment.

I do care about my followers, my readers, but I also don't want to build up a reputation while doing something I'm not entirely happy with. I can't write the best posts, or give the best advice if I'm not happy doing it. I'm sure many others can understand that.

I've been blogging for around three months now, and to be honest I think this is around the time most bloggers start to find what makes them happy, what makes them want to blog more and more, what their readers like & don't like... It's like the first three months of blogging you get swept away into the magic of the blogging community and meet all these wonderful people, and then you start to settle into a routine, start to know what you want to blog about for definite, find the right way to portray yourself as close to reality as possible.

I suppose this is the time for me to do that too. It's starting to sound a bit like I'm saying I'm leaving but I'm not. I'm changing for the better and making this stay something I enjoy doing instead of viewing it as a job.

If you stick around and come with me on my adventure, I would really like that. I do understand that homesteading and farming isn't what everyone wants to read about, so I know some won't want to continue reading if this becomes a main feature, but as it's the main feature in my life it's going to be a main feature on my lifestyle blog.

Thank you for reading, and I'd love it if you went over and had a look at the Introductory Post on The Homesteading Life.

Bella x

Fitness Journey Week 6

Hey everyone! So today -kinda- marks 6 weeks of getting fit and healthy. I'd done a lot more this week than I have any other week, but again I think that has more to do with having a more positive outlook  than I did before. If you're not motivated and ready for life in general and just a bit blah, the though of going for a run or walk or whatever instead of eating a chocolate bar doesn't really exist! Not for me, anyway.

PCOS - Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome

Hello! I've just come back from having an ultra-sound scan done to officially diagnose me with Poly-cystic Ovarian Syndrome. I had been planning a post about PCOS and my personal experience leading up to being diagnosed with it for a while now, but never had much motivation to write it as when it came to sitting down and writing it I really didn't know what to tell you. 

Now it's all fresh, I'd like to tell you a little about it and about my personal experience. If you're a bit squeemish about this sort of thing, feel free to sit this one out and maybe read one of my other posts on Health or one of my most popular posts.

What is PCOS?

PCOS - or Poly-Cystic Ovarian Syndrome - is a genetic, hormonal, metabolic and reproductive disorder that effects 1 in 10 women. It is the leading cause of female infertility, and can also lead to other serious conditions such as severe anxiety and depression, obesity, endometrial cancer, type 2 diabetes and/or cardiovascular disease. 

Common signs and symptoms 

-irregular periods
-excess facial and body hair 
-severe acne
-small cysts in the ovaries (picked up by ultra-sound scans)
-insulin resistance
-anxiety and depression
-infertility
-weight gain
-male pattern hair loss

Some interesting facts about PCOS

• 10% of women of childbearing age are estimated to have PCOS 
• It's thought that 50% of women with PCOS go undiagnosed 
• Women with PCOS consitute the largest group of women at risk of developing cardiovascular desease and type 2 diabetes.
• Some studies have shown due to symptoms of anxiety and depression, suicide attempts are up to seven times more common in women with PCOS than other women.
• Pre-teens and teens can develop PCOS. Earlier diagnosis can give them the opportunity to better manage the emotional, internal and physical effects of PCOS. It can also help them prevent the onset of more serious illnesses related to PCOS.
• Despite affecting millions of women and the serious health consequences, PCOS is unknown to most people and a staggering 50% of the women living with PCOS are going undiagnosed.

I'm not suggesting you run down to your local doctors surgery right now, especially if you do not have any of the symptoms. If you do have a symptom or two -or more- I recommend you go to your doctors and discuss any concerns you may have with your doctor. 
If you have already been diagnosed with PCOS but are now concerned with anything I've mentioned above, don't feel embarrassed to go to your GP and talk about it with them. 

My Experience

I was completely oblivious to the fact that anything could go wrong with my ovaries until I was about 13. Up until then, I thought it was just kind of there and didn't really do much until you got pregnant. Goes to show how uninformed I was! 

How it started

After missing my cycle for three months straight, I told my mum. We straight away got a doctors appointment. At the doctors I explained what was happening, and I was given multiple blood tests and had to give a urine sample. I was a little insulted that I was given a pregnancy test at only 13 - even after I had told them I had never been intimate with anyone - but I suppose they can't rule things out until they have evidence.

For around 5 years I was passed from doctor to doctor, from hospital to clinic to hospital again. I wasn't being given any answers, only more appointments that were 8 months in the future and more paperwork that didn't have one non-medical word on them. 

At 17, I eventually had my last - or what I thought was my last - ultra-sound scan. The gynecologist I had been given this time was not pleased that I had not been told anything, and sent an e-mail to my head doctor -while I was still in the room with her - telling her not to treat me for any problems related to my reproductive system, and to send me straight to her if I ever complained about anything in that region. I was quite pleased about this, because my head doctor at the time was - quite frankly - useless. 

I was diagnosed with PCOS by this gynecologist, and I never really heard anything else from them and didn't go back with any complaints. I thought that was that, I'd been diagnosed and there was nothing that could be done. I was put on the contraceptive pill to regulate my cycle, and that was it.

Fast forward to last year...

In 2015, I made a huge change in life. I dropped out of college sometime around Christmas or New Year ( I do explain a little more about that in this post I did for Rachel over at No Space For Milk ), left my boyfriend after being together for almost three years around February time, and moved to the UK in the summer of 2015. It was a HUGE year for me. 

Also last year, I took myself off the contraceptive pill. That alone was an experience in itself! 

For a while, my cycle completely stopped. I went for about two or three months with nothing, nada. Once it did make an appearance, it wasn't regular by any means. It was much better than it had been - before I could go 5 or 6 months without a period at all - but it wasn't every month yet.

After around 6 months, it settled into every month. Well, it depended when it fell, as I had gone from a 28 day cycle - what the average cycle is - to an almost 35/40 day cycle. I could skip a month, but I wasn't really skipping as that is how it fell on the calendar. I hope that makes sense.

I'm happy to say that it's stayed at around 35 to 40 days on every cycle since. I can still be late, but it's generally only by a few days at most. This is great for me as it means I no longer have to take anything to regulate my cycle - though I do think it would have sorted itself out quicker if I had not been on the pill for so long. 

Present Day

Over the last few months I have had some very uncomfortable "pains" in my abdominal area when I lay on my sides or on my stomach. I went to the doctor, and having been diagnosed with PCOS so young, was given an appointment for an ultra-sound just to make sure I wasn't having any big problems. 

A small part of me hoped that I wouldn't have any cysts there anymore. That it could have been to do with the hormones of puberty. 

Well, it wasn't. I still have them, and I'm okay with that. It'll mean I have to try harder to conceive, keep healthy and fit, and keep on top of any symptoms of other illnesses, but it's just one of life's little gifts, isn't it?

So here's the deal...

I don't want my experience with crappy doctors - or some of the possible illnesses that PCOS make you more prone to - to scare you. I'm telling you all this so you know what could or couldn't be happening down there. If I had been more informed about what I was doing, what I was taking, and what was actually happening to my body, I feel it wouldn't have taken so long to get to where I am. 

I could be completely wrong, but I think it's important for women - and men! - to know about lesser known illnesses. Some we might not be able to prevent, but some we can. And if we can't prevent it, we can treat it. 

I'm not here to give you medical advice, I'm only here to get the word out and help you stay healthy! So if you do have any concerns related to your health, make and appointment with your GP and get yourself checked and have a little chat with them. It's better to be in the know, and be able to do something about it, than not know or ignore it.



Did you know about PCOS before reading this? Is there anything I have mentioned that you didn't know about PCOS? Comment down below!

Thank you so much for reading, 

B xx

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Fitness Journey

 Week 5

Hey everyone! I completely forgot about writing this weeks measure-in after being nominated for the Liebster Award (TWICE!). I got completely scooped up in the excitement and  forgot to write this until about 16:00 but then spent an hour doing bits and bobs around the house so I could feel I was allowed to spend my night writing up a few posts to schedule this week and next.

Back on track. If you read last weeks installment to my... I don't know. This "series" doesn't really have a name. I think it might be called "Fitness journey" from now on, as it's not so much a journey to lose weight (although that is a VERY nice side-effect) as it is a journey to getting fit and healthy ready for the next chapter in my life.

Measure-in Update

It's been a wile since I did my last "measure-in" and talked about what I've been doing in an attempt to get healthier - about a month or so if I'm not mistaken. If you read this post, you'll know quite a lot has happened over the last few weeks, but I'm back in the blogging game!

I'm hoping I've at least not put on more weight -or inches in this case - more than having lost any, as I know I haven't been keeping to any routine or diet. I'm continueing on Week 4 because I don't think the last 3 to 4 weeks really count towards anything health-related.

Weight-loss journey: weeks 2 & 3

First off, I'd like to say thank you for your support and interest in this mini series and in my blog in general. It means so much to me! I'm planning a Twitter give-away when we reach 500 followers to say thank you to you all :)

Getting back to this post, I joined two weeks together as I was insanely busy the day Week 2 was meant to go up. I'm trying to get some more time to sit and write, and fortunately it should only be 2 or 3 more weeks of absolute mayhem and after than life should go back to relative normality.

Weight-loss and Fitness Journey: Week 1

It's been a week since I my first post on losing weight and getting healthy. If you haven't read it yet, you can find it here. I've had a very busy week, so I've not done exactly what I wanted to, but I definitely have changed a few things.

10 Things That Make Me Happy

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Lots of things have been playing on my mind recently. Hopefully one day I will be able to write about them and help others going through the same, but for now I have to stay positive. So I'm going to list 10 things that make me happy.

Weight-loss journey

So I've decided to lose weight. It's not the first time, and I'm sure it wont be the last. More than just wanting to, I need to. 

Some of the reasons why I want to lose weight are to feel more confident, for medical reasons (which I will be writing about in another post), and to be healthier.

The confidence side of things is a little complicated. I'm happy with who I am, I accepted myself a while ago. I know a lot of people don't like me, and I accept that too. Come to think of it, I won't go into a full-blown confidence talk. I can do that another time. That's one of my things, I talk. A LOT.


I know a lot of other people are losing weight, whatever the reasons are. I also need something to hold me to it, so I figured if I write a weekly post I'll have to keep to it. Good for me, good for the blog.

As I'm only just starting, I'm asking for advice. I don't really want to just make it a diet, I want to make it more of a lifestyle change. I honestly have no idea where to start.

For now, I have a few things I'm going to change:

• Drink 2L of water a day
• Eat less pasta
• Plan meals and eat regularly
• Eat breakfast

I'm going to post once a week, and include things like weigh-in or measurements, meal plans, exercise, etc. Come to think of it, I need to buy some bathroom scales. I really need to do that. 

I know this is a short post, and I promise the next one will be more detailed. For now, I'd like to ask you for some tips or advice on being healthier and losing weight. I'd like to add things into my daily routine, or stop doing them, and make it a lifestyle rather than a 3 month diet. What do you do to be healthier? Are the specific things I should or shouldn't do even though they are healthy, while I'm trying to lose weight?

Leave any advice you have in the comments, or you can Tweet me @farmerswifeblog :)

Bella x

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