If you’ve read my post on my Amitriptyline Reduction, you will know that I’m starting to find things a little harder. My joints have become sore & tender and I’m starting to find that I can’t do certain activities for long periods of time. I need to start implementing something called pacing, which is where you do activities for small amounts of time with rests in between. This is the first post where I am attempting to dictate my prose, so I hope this works! If it does it will definitely take away some of the strain from my elbows hands and wrists. I need something to help me plan out my days to help with pacing, so you can imagine how thrilled I was when I was contacted to design a diary with TOAD diaries!
PLEASE NOTE: THIS POST CONTAINS PATTERNED IMAGES.
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I really enjoyed the process of designing my diary. There were loads of different options to choose from. I liked that one of the options was to have wider lines in the notebook, something I would find useful with my Mears-Irlen Syndrome. I also liked that you could have different types of music staves, which is something I haven’t seen before, and that you can choose to have different types of pages, for example a grid/blank page.
I created a A4 sized fuchsia week to view appointment diary with 30 min slots*. I chose the duration of 18 months, starting in September. I liked that there is the option to change which day of the week the diary started on, and also whether to print on yellow paper. The option to print on yellow paper could be beneficial to those with dyslexia and Mears-Irlen Syndrome, if they do not use coloured overlays or precision tinted lenses. I like how you can view the cover and the content while creating your diary, and also that the price is updated with each change you make, so you can see what you will be spending. The option to add a quote to the front and back of your diary is a nice one, I chose “Life is tough… …but so are you.” As I felt it was apt for what I am going through at the moment with coming off my medication & to help keep me focussed on what I’m trying to achieve, a baby. Unfortunately, as you will find out below, this feature ended up being neither here nor there for me.
My diary arrived within a couple of days. I was disappointed because when it arrived I found that the front & back covers were patterned, as was the inside. The options that I chose on the website showed a plain front cover, as shown above. The website now shows the true, patterned image. It was also the only non-densely patterned front cover option for the type of diary I wanted. There was no option to see the inside of the covers. For this reason, if I had purchased the diary myself, I would be sending it back because of the way patterns negatively affect my Migraine and Mears-Iren Syndrome. It was a shame that not all of the front cover designs were available for all of the diaries and notebooks. I would likely have chosen something else if it were available. Because of the pattern, I had to cover the front and back covers of the diary with the remains of my marble effect sticky back plastic that I bought for my blog photos. This is the only way that I will be able to use the diary, as the pattern is too much for my brain to cope with and will make me ill.
The paper quality of the diary feels thin. I use gel pens instead of Biros, as my hand therapist recommended them because of my Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome so I don’t have to push as hard against the pen while writing and end up bending my finger back too far. I was concerned that the gel pens might bleed through to the other side of the paper but they didn’t and was really pleased with the paper quality. I liked that the paper’s thin, as it keeps the diary as light as possible.
If it weren’t for the difficulties with my Migraine & Mears-Irlen Syndrome, this diary would be perfect. I’m really pleased with my diary now that I’ve covered the pattern & know it will be really helpful in both pacing & planning!
You can buy this diary for £17.64 from toaddiaries.co.uk, or you can design your own.
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