Update on my whereabouts

Hey folks,  I just wanted to apologise for the lack of activity on the site for the past few weeks and I want to give you an update as to what has been going on in my life at the moment.

Firstly, I have not been very well and the pain side of things has been kicking my backside of late.  This had led the doctors to change my medication but to do that they have to reduce the one I am on before swapping across to the new one which is more powerful.  Lots of pain ridden days have been the ‘norm’ for me but thankfully it wont be for too much longer.

The second things is that I have been busy with some creative writing for my Open University course and also a Photography module (I am off there this morning) which will hopefully add some variation and depth to what I have been posting about on this site.  I am really enjoying the creative process and hopefully the things that I do will be interesting for you guys to look at and read as well.

Finally we had an update about Pretzel which knocked us for six a little bit so I will definitely be posting about that in the upcoming weeks when I can get my head around how it makes me feel and what it means for the future with us as well.  I hope that you can bear with me because I am planning on some big changes with the blog and also the layout/design (if I have the time to do it).  I do appreciate all of the support I have had through this blog and I don’t plan on abandoning it  anytime soon so please do stick around to see what happens.

So for now I will be busy writing and snapping away to make some (hopefully) cool and nice things for you all to see very soon.

Until then stay safe and keep smiling!

A New look….Again

Hey there folks,

I just wanted to let you know why there has been a change in the site theme.  It was brought to my attention by the excellent people Ciara Ballintyne and Gabi Klaf that the new plugin I have installed wasn’t working correctly.  It is because of this that I have changed the theme as they don’t seem to play together very well and the plugin was more important to me than the theme.  To be honest the theme didn’t sit quite right with me anyway and I am going to look at getting my own made for me at some point I think.  Anyway, I want to tell you about the plugin I just installed called CommentLuv.

I know a lot of the seasoned bloggers out there probably know about this one but I will tell you anyway as I think it is very cool!  It basically allows you to add a link back to one of your posts with each comment that you leave on my blog as well as stopping a lot of spammy posts and links from appearing on my blog.  How great is that?  If you share my post to Facebook or Google you can choose from even more of your posts to put whatever link you like on my blog.  I love this idea as it lets me share some of the fantastic blogs that I read with all of my other folks who comment and hopefully you will check them out and love them as well

So there you go 3:30 AM and I am updating my blog for you folkies………aren’t I dedicated?

Until the next time folks  Stay Safe and Keep Smiling!

New Theme and Exciting times ahead!

New theme topics and exciting times!

Hey folks, I haven’t posted for a couple of days as I haven’t been too well.  I have been loaded with cold and with the kids away from school on their summer holidays it has been pretty hectic.  I have still been thinking about you all and how to improve this lovely little blog for you so we can do some pretty nice and hopefully exciting things together to take this blog forward.  I noticed there are quite a few bloggers out there who have theme posts for their blogs which happen on regular days throughout the week and I really like this idea.  It will give me a little bit more of a focus with what to write if I am looking at a theme as I don’t want to leave large gaps between posts and I want to keep it interesting for you folks to read.  I want to show everyone that there are a lot of things  in my life that keep me going and give me hope which I think have been slightly skipped over to fill you all in on my background story in the past 3-4 weeks so I have decided that my first theme post day will be called ‘Motivational Mondays’.

Motivational Mondays

For ‘Motivational Mondays’ I am planning to write posts about things that have got me excited for the upcoming week.  This could be something I have read, something that is in the news or something that has happened or is going to happen in my life in the upcoming week.  I figured it would be a nice way for us to cheer up Monday mornings a little bit as it can be so depressing thinking about going back to work or some of the more dull and dreary tasks we all have to do during the week.  I am hoping that I may be able to get some guest posters involved as well because I have read some fantastic posts from some really lovely people in the past month of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.

Wordsmith Wednesday

The second theme post day is going to be ‘Wordsmith Wednesday’.  For ‘Wordsmith Wednesday’ I am planning on having quotes, poetry, short stories, limericks, haiku etc.  basically anything that uses words as it’s focus.  This is where I am hopefully going to be able to share with you some of the creative writing that I have been doing and I also hope that you will be willing to share your creative writing with me.  Again I will be looking at getting guest posters involved as I have read a lot of really good things from some very talented writers over the past couple of months and I would love to be able to share them with everyone.

Feel Good Friday

Finally the last theme post of the week will be ‘Feel Good Fridays’.  ‘Feel Good Fridays’ will be a look back at the previous week to see what has happened that has made me smile, laugh, feel proud or anything along those lines.  It could be anything at all that has happened whether it be a joke I have heard, a story I have read, a video I have seen or maybe a photograph that has made me smile.  Again I hope that you will join in and share something from your week that has made you smile or feel good from the past week.  You never know, yours may just make someone else smile!

I am hoping that these theme posts will give us something really interesting to share with each other and they may evolve into something else or they might disappear in favour of another theme that we find as we go along.  As always your suggestions will be very important to me and if you feel you don’t like something or would like a different theme then please feel free to suggest it to me.  I am also going to try out some videoblogs for you guys to see how well they work and whether you can stand seeing my ugly mug filling your screen!  I did have some ideas about audio blogs maybe reading out some pieces of poetry or a weekly episodic reading of a piece of fictional writing.  I wasn’t too sure how much you folks would want this though so please let me know if it is something you would be interested in hearing as it is an idea I was quite keen on trying out.

I am going to be trying to have a fiddle around with the layout of the blog throughout the next few months as well to see if I can improve things or if there is a more suitable WordPress theme for this blog because as much as this theme I have now is O.k, it still doesn’t quite feel like ‘Home’ for Sleepless In Newcastle just yet.  I am no expert in any kind of theme design, graphics or web design so it is taking me time to pick up on how it all works but I hope by the end of it we can have a nice place to come and relax which feels a little more comfortable for us all.

Well there you go, those are the plans, that is the focus of the next few weeks for me for now but I really want to know what you think.  Do you like the theme ideas?  Do you have any better theme ideas?  Are you as excited to read/see/hear these different theme ideas as I am to get them up and running?

Until next time Stay Safe and Keep Smiling!

Am I really courageous for telling a story?

What is courage?

As defined at Dictionary.com Courage is the quality of mind or spirit that enables a person to face difficulty, danger, pain, etc., without fear; bravery.

The reason I ask “What is courage?” is because I was recently awarded the Courageous Confessionals Blog Award by Kina of Human in Recovery and also Athena Brady.  This award is probably the one that has meant the most to me so far because it comes from an idea that Kina had after going through some personal struggles in her own life and she found reading the blogs of others helped her to get past these struggles.  She decided to set up the Courageous Confessional Blog Award to celebrate those bloggers who tell their story in an open, honest and often exposed manner in order to heal themselves, aid their personal growth and wellness.  I was lucky enough to be nominated by these two fantastic ladies and brilliant bloggers who have inspired me and given me so much support on my journey with this blog.

Even though I am touched and genuinely honoured to have received the award I have to say I don’t feel like I have done anything particularly courageous.  Maybe it is my own perception of my life and maybe it is the type of person that I am trying to become that has made me able to talk so openly about my current situation.  You see I used to be someone who would never open up my feeling to ANYONE.  I would sit on my emotions and only ever let them surface when I was alone, usually late at night or when the rest of my family were out.  This was something that I have done from a very early age as I always thought that any sign of emotion was a ‘weakness’ in the typical strong man that I was ‘supposed’ to be.  Men didn’t cry, that was for women, they only showed aggression, determination and stoic bravado in the face of adversity.  At the same time as all of this I understood that as a man I was supposed to be the rock for everybody else and it resulted in my inability to cope, breaking down and I started to binge eat.

I hid my binge eating for years, hiding it from my parents, and later, my wife and children.  It really spiralled out of control and at one point I put on 14lbs in 7 days.  This had another knock on effect where my self-esteem became so low that I started to say ‘Yes’ to everything I was asked to do just to escape the paranoia that nobody liked me and  because, lets face it, if I didn’t like me then who else would?  I got so bad with saying Yes that it started to have a knock on effect on my relationship with my wife because I was often spending so much time trying to do right by others I was neglecting the needs of my wife and my daughters.  As you can probably guess I eventually had a breakdown and hit rock bottom.

I feel so ashamed to admit this but I contemplated suicide at one point.  I was so miserable, my binge eating had totally taken over me, I was gaining weight like you would never believe and I had shut myself off completely from all of my family and friends.  I was a man behind a mask, a mask that showed an outgoing personality who would make fat jokes about himself before anybody else got the chance.  I would laugh and everyone else would laugh but with each time that I did it a little piece of me was chipped away.  There eventually came a time where there was nothing left.  I had no more to give so I thought my time was up.  I was useless now that my personality, self-esteem and self-worth had been destroyed.  I had even made a plan of how I would go about doing it.  There were two things that stopped me each time though….my kids and my wife.  For some reason my wife stood by me and suffered all of the mood swings, nasty comments and the snarky remarks to offer me the support I needed.  My kids would do something new or paint me a picture and there was a smile,  I realised the smile was mine.

My kids and my wife went about rebuilding their broken and shattered man.  Piece by piece they worked on my self-esteem, praising every tiny little thing that I did, no matter how small the achievement.  With each step there was a little more of the ‘real’ me returning.  It has been a long process and 11 years later I am still rebuilding myself and my wife and kids are still there helping me piece by piece like they have from the start.  I can’t explain in words how much they saved me.  They brought me back from the brink of the abyss and I am almost back to the person I want to be.  My fighting spirit is back, my determination is back and my confidence is almost fully returned.  I do have the benefit of claiming some other things through this experience though, I now have a greater sense of empathy and I have developed a good sense of humility.

This journey is one of the most difficult journeys I have ever had to take as I had to deal with a number of difficult situations such as the divorce of my parents, the break up of both parent’s second marriages, the death of my grandfather and then much later on the situation with my daughter and the death of my stepmother.  Each of these was a setback on my journey to recovery but each time I have manged to brush myself off and keep going.  You see I made a realisation when I was undergoing Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) for my binge eating disorder, if I am not happy with my life and the choices or decisions I make then I become a poison that slowly seeps out through the branches of my life affecting everything around me.  I had to relearn the value of the words ‘NO’ and ‘ME’.  I had to start being selfish, in a way,  and think about what I wanted with my own life and what would make me happy.

The one thing that has kept me going through all of this is my wife and my kids.  They have had to deal with a lot in their own lives and, in the case of my kids, they have had to deal with a lot for being so young.  They do it without complaints and without any resentment and that makes me so proud of who they are and what they are able to achieve.  It is for this reason I know that my kids will be fantastic adults who will go on to achieve and excel in anything they set their minds to. I could not be the man I am today without their care, love and support.

Therefore I accept this award not for myself but my wife and my children for the courage that they have shown and continue to show in helping me become a more confident, secure and happier person.  The truth is I wouldn’t be writing any of this without their support and love.  For that I love them all more than they could ever know.

Until next time Stay safe and keep smiling!

 

Blog Challenge End

Blog Challenge Ends!

Well here we are at the end of the Ultimate Blog Challenge.  It has been a strange experience for me throughout this challenge as there has been so many different things that have happened along the way that has both surprised and humbled me.

I started this blog in the beginning of June with a couple of posts but it wasn’t until I started this challenge that I really started thinking about blogging and writing seriously.  The fact that I needed to post every day made me really think hard about what I was going to write about but also made me think about how I wanted the blog site to work out.  I started out being hosted on wordpress.com and after around 15 or so posts I started to get frustrated at the restrictions that prevented me from doing a few things so I started to look at getting hosting and a domain name so I could have more control.

Ever since then I have had a huge learning curve in trying to sort out what different plugins did, how stylesheets work and how S.E.O affects everything.  I am still nowhere near an expert in any of these things but I have learned an awful lot along the way.  I am now looking at trying to learn how to create my own themes and plugins to see if I can customise my site even further making it totally unique.  I have so many different ideas that are coming soon to my blog that I can’t wait to take a little bit of time to sort them out and implement them.  Some theme days may be in order and there will hopefully be some audio/video content coming along as well.  It should be an exciting time getting all of this in there and once I get it up and running I hope it will be enjoyable to all those who are reading at the moment and hopefully it will attract some more people to grow my lovely little blog.

The biggest advantage for me from the whole challenge has been the many hundreds of bloggers that have joined me on the journey.  I have read so many exciting and different blogs covering so many subjects that it has been so refreshing.  I have learned more from these bloggers in the past month than I have learned from the media on TV or the Newspapers in many years.  Each blog is unique and holds a small amount of the writer in them and it is nice to see how each one approaches the same subjects or situations in completely different ways.

Along with that there have been those bloggers who have given me such amazing support along my journey so far and they have really become friends and I look forward to reading their blogs each time they post.  There have also been many great awards that I have received and passed on to various blogs throughout this month which has been a pleasure and an honour at the same time.  I do hope that everyone else has enjoyed their Ultimate Blog Challenge experience as much as I have and I can definitely say that I will be joining in again when the next one goes up.  I do hope that those of you who have supported me so far along my journey will stick with me afterwards and I can say I will definitely be following many of you along for a long time to come.

So if you were one of the fellow Ultimate Blog Challengers then Congratulations on finishing and I hope you have had a great experience. I will see you on the next challenge, if not sooner, so until then:

Stay safe and keep smiling!

Heading in new directions

Heading in some new directions with some new ideas.

As we head towards that last day in the Ultimate Blog Challenge I find myself thinking about a few ideas I have had for this little blog of mine.  I am going to expand out some of the things I have spoken about over the past month and start putting them into place.  I am planning on having a Short Story/Creative Writing section of the blog which will include any creative writings that I want to share with everyone as I got through my journey of self-discovery, heading in a new direction.  I hope that you will give me feedback and encouragement as I am probably going to need a lot of it as I start out from a beginner to hopefully becoming good enough to publish a book or collection of short stories.

The second idea that I was toying with was some video reviews……..Yes that would be yours truly, giving a review on products/books/toys/equipment or anything else that I feel is worth having a look at.  I would not do these all of the time as I don’t want it to be a money making venture but more fun, informal and honest review of something you maybe considered getting for yourself.  What do you think to this idea?  Does the thought of my ugly mug being in front of you make you want to vomit or could you cope with the accent and ‘rugged’ looks telling you what I thought of a certain product?

Finally I had thought about doing a question and answer session to be done as an audio podcast on the blog.  This would be me talking about anything you want to ask me.  It could be about politics, health, spirituality, special needs, being a guy…..you get the picture, it would be me trying to answer whatever particular questions you felt like posing me.  It would be one per week with a small audio podcast of maybe 5-10 minutes in length (Maybe more if it is a good topic).  Do you have anything you want to ask?  Would this sort of idea appeal to you?  Would you be willing to listen to a 5-10 minute piece of audio instead of reading it?

 

You also may have noticed that the site has been changing around a little bit here and there with design, colours etc.  This is because I am trying to find a theme for the blog that ‘fits’ where I think I am with the blog.  If you have anything you would like to see change then please let me know as this is just as much your blog as it is mine.  I want it to be as easy for you to read and interact with as possible.  Kina has already made some suggestions which I am working on but as I am not used to any kind of programming you will have to bear with me.

Well that is my idea head burnt out for the meantime as I haven’t been to bed AGAIN, so I will leave those suggestions with you folks.

Until next time, Stay safe and keep smiling!

Sunshine, creativity and inspiration

Sunshine, creativity and inspiration award for my blog

 

I wrote in my earlier post about the life changes that I have made to try and improve the different aspects of my life that I was not happy with.  I also wrote how today was a good day for me but it actually got even better when I found out that the lovely Melissa over at The Bright Side has awarded me the Sunshine Award for my blog.  I know I have written a few posts saying thank you for the different awards that I have received but when I read this one I was touched to find out that there is a reasoning behind being given the award.  The sunshine award is given to “bloggers who positively and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.”  It is amazing to think that I am inspiring others with my writing but there are so many very talented and inspirational blogs and bloggers that I read that I feel I am one of the ‘small fish’ in a sea of truly inspiring ‘bigger fish’.  I hope that I can live up to this award and keep inspiring others to be the very best that they can possibly be and that they can go on to live life appreciating all of the good that there is in what is almost always portrayed as a negative, destructive world.

The rules of this award are that:

• Post the award along with a link back to the person who gave the nomination
• Answer the questions below
• Nominate 10 fellow bloggers for the award and link to their site
• Comment on your nominees’ blogs to let them know you’re sharing the love with them

 

Who is your favorite philosopher?

I honestly can’t say I have just one.  I tend to find quotes that resonate with whatever my core beliefs are and use them, share them or pass them on for whatever reason.  I do tend to find I quote a fair bit from Ghandi, Lao Tzu and Buddhism.  I am a fan of any kind of thinking that celebrates equality, balance and respects the viewpoints of others.

What is your favorite number?

13 is my favourite number as I was born on Good Friday on the 13th April.  My daughter was also born on the 13th and I like the idea that some people can be frightened or steer clear of a simple number.

What is your favorite animal?

It would have to be the Wolf.  I admire how they live in packs and through working together they survive through the toughest odds. Their speed and strength is matched in their grace and finesse at the same time.   There is also something that seems to connect deep inside me when I hear a wolf howl and it makes me think of being free and wild, unrestrained by the cares and problems of my daily life.

What are your Facebook and Twitter URLs?

You can find my on Twitter at http://twitter.com/nosleepintoon, You can find me on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/kitbass and my Blog Fan page on Facebook is http://www.facebook.com/sleeplessinnewcastle

What is your favorite time of day?

I prefer night time to be honest.  I have always had an affinity with the small hours of the morning when there are very few people around and the world is silent.  I love looking at the night sky and smelling the fresh, clean air with no sound to be heard for miles around.

What was your favorite vacation?

It is a tough one to answer as there are two that spring to mind for different reasons.  The first would be the second time I went to Florida with my family and also my parents and my niece.  We rented a villa for two weeks and had the best time ever. We visited Disney World at halloween and the kids and Zanna got into fancy dress and loved it.  We actually both ended up in tears sitting in the back garden one night because we new that we had to come home.  We still feel like we could live over in Florida if we ever got the chance.

The second would be the time that I went to Mallorca with my family, my parents, my sisters and my niece.  It was a pain the first night we got there as our rep gave us the wrong directions to our hotel so we ended up paying to stay somewhere else at first.  After that was sorted out we had a lovely time just relaxing and talking most of the time but it was the last holiday that I had before my stepmum passed away from cancer.  I still look back at that time with the fondest of memories as we had a lot of fun laughing and joking.

What is your favorite physical activity?

erm…..well…. making love to my wife 😛  I know that might be a little too honest for some people but it is completely true.  I love the connection that we have and it is the experience of being completely and totally in love with someone especially as it is my soul mate.  I knew that she was the one person I wanted to spend my life with from the first day I met her and that is still the case today after 15 years of being together.  To me lovemaking is the true expression of love for someone and I could never imagine being able to do it without having a trmendous amount of affection for the person you are with.  There, it is out there in the world now and I am blushing!!!!!

What is your favorite non-alcoholic drink?

 

Root Beer.  I find it so difficult to get over here in the UK as nowhere seems to stock it.  I first tasted it in the USA when I was there on holiday and I have been hooked ever since.  I wish I could find some way of getting it over here or making it as I would happily drink it all day, every day!

What is your favorite flower?

I would have to say it would be the Black Baccara Rose because it instantly reminds me of my wife, Zanna.  I once walked 6 and a half miles to college every day to buy her some black roses for valentines day one year because I had no money and I saved the bus fare for about 2 weeks until I could buy them.

What is your passion?

I have two passions really, the first would be music.  I have had music in my life from being a very young age and I have always loved to play musical instruments, listen to music in the house and to go out to see live music whenever I can.  I find that different music can invoke such powerful emotions and I love that it is accessible to everyone.  Each culture, religion, civilisation has had their own musical heritage and it is a signal of the uniqueness of each one.

The second would be writing.  I have only discovered the passion for writing in the past couple of months that this blog has been up and running but I have had an amazing journey of self discovery and now it is the first thing that I think about when I get up and usually the last thing I am thinking about when I go to sleep at night.  I would love to get better at doing it and I plan on doing as much as I possibly can to hone the craft of writing with the aim of sharing it with as many people as possible.  Maybe it will happen one day and I look forward to it!

Now I need to pass the award on to some other bloggers who have inspired me so here we go:

 

Family Bugs

Kat’s Cafe

Daphne Shadows

The Daily Hottentots

Recovery Corner

Just Bring the Chocolate

My Inspired life with Fibromyalgia

Suddenly they all died.  The end.

Trip the Eclipse

Journey Through the Chrysalis

 

So there you have it, thank you very much for the nomination and the award and please check out those that I have nominated as they are really good blogs to read.

Until next time folks, Stay safe and keep smiling!

 

Is your website feeding the perverts?

 

Hi again folks.  I wanted to write today about something that got me a little bit disturbed and a little bit worried about certain aspects of my website.

I was looking through my site stats for yesterday and I noticed there were a number of disturbing searches that seemed to be hitting on my website.  The terms used in them were things that would sicken most people but as a parent of 3 daughters it made me physically sick.  Needless to say I wanted to know what was causing me to have these scumbags clicking a link directed towards my blog.

As I am new to blogging I had no idea what could be causing it so I decided to see if anyone else had been having the same problems.  Not much came back but thinking about it logically the first place I decided to check was my files on my server to see if anything had gone wrong on that side of things……..Nope, everything was fine there so the next thought was to check the ping links on my posts……nope everything was fine there too.

I managed to find someone who had a similar thing happen and it turned out to be their images on the page so the next stop was to check Google image search.  Unfortunately this meant I had to actively search for these things with my site name in the search as well but still I got nothing back.  I was starting to doubt my sanity by this time until I realised I hadn’t searched for the actual terms in Google web search.  Off I went to enter the search terms making sure to include my site name as one of the parameters (I didn’t want to see anything that these sickos get off looking at) and there were some hits.  Each search term seemed to come back to the same post and fortunately it highlighted the terms that it had found in bold.

As it turns out because I had mentioned the same words, totally unrelated in any kind of context, on the same page in my website it had picked up my website as a possible match.  The term that was causing most of the problem was the latter half of the word ‘half-naked’.  Needless to say I went straight to the offending post and changed the terms that I used to try and stop these animals reaching my blog.

The downside is that it has started to get me a little concerned.  On this blog I have posted pictures of my children.  None of the photographs could be seen in my eyes as being inappropriate or possibly being viewed in a lecherous way, but then again I am not one of these sickos.  So I am now in a bit of a difficult situation. 

Do I leave the photographs of my kids on this site and show off how proud I am of them and who they are but at the same time run the risk of those sick people who may want to use those photographs in an unsavoury way?

OR

Do I take them down and stick to the stock photos that I can find to illustrate my posts at the same time killing one of the reasons why I started writing this blog?

It is also something that I though other people should be aware of and may not realise.  I wrote an innocent post totally unrelated to anything that was being searched for by a small minority of sick individuals, yet I still possibly could have exposed my family to their attention at the same time as possibly allowing photographs of my children to have been used in ways I don’t even want to think about.  I know in future I will be very careful in how I word things on this blog when I am writing and I will be making sure that I double check eveyrthing before it is posted as well.  But the question I want to ask you is:

Is your website feeding the perverts?

Hopefully there will not be any further incidents such as this but it is something I think all bloggers should be aware of if they have photographs of family members on their blogs.

Until next time folks, Stay safe and keep smiling!

Awards, Recognition and Nominations (Part 3)

Awards Galore!

Awards time again but this will be the last awards post, I promise, after writing two over the past two days for the Daisy Award and the Fabulous Blog Ribbon. This one is for the Liebster Award and I was nominated for this one by Kina over at Human in Recovery once again.  I can’t believe the amount of love my readers are showing me at the moment by giving these awards to me but as always any interaction with my online presence is appreciated and cherished.  I just hope that you keep coming back and keep letting me know if there are things that you really enjoy or if there are things that you aren’t liking.  I am almost at the end of the Ultimate Blog Challenge which has introduced me to some fantastic people and some brilliant blogs.  It is through reading those and looking at how they do different things that has helped me to learn so much in a very short time and has led to me getting these awards and I am very appreciative of it.

Shall we move on to the Award rules and nominations then?  I thought so 😛  Well here we go then.  The rules for the Award are as follows:

• Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog (done).

• Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you (done and done).

• Copy and paste the blog award on your blog (done, done, done).

• Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.

So 5 blogs with under 200 followers, there are quite a few that I can think of that I could nominate and it is tough to pick out 5 so please don’t take it as I don’t enjoy your blog if you aren’t nominated this time.  I am sure I will get an award to you at some point.  For this award though I am throwing out some love via the Liebster Award to my fellow SWAN UK bloggers.  We all have children with undiagnosed genetic condition and most of them have needs that require a lot of attention so these blogs may not be updated every week but they are well worth a visit and a read as the stories that are in there show just how dedicated these parents really are.  That goes for all the SWAN parents/carers but the five I am going to choose are:

1. Half A Decade Old
2. Down in the Jungle with Monkey
3. Living with Allergy Children
4. Orange This Way
5. Areyoukiddingney?

There you have it those are my nominations.  I urge you to go and pay them a visit as these bloggers have a special place in my heart as they have helped me in so many ways either with their support of my blog, listening to my rants on the SWAN UK Facebook group and understanding what it is like to have the same/similar situation as we do with Pretzel.  They may not have much time free to work on blogs or update them all the time but each and every post is well considered and is put up there with intent and has great meaning within it.

Well I will leave you with those new blogs to go and peruse at your leisure.

Until next time, Stay safe and keep smiling!

 

Awards, Recognition and Nominations (Part 2)

Awards Galore!

Yesterday’s post mention two bloggers gave me some awards so this is the second installment of that post.  The second nomination I got was for the fabulous blog ribbon and it came from another great blogger, Angie over at The Daily Hottentots.  I love reading my edition of the Daily Hottentots when it comes as there is so much in there that is new to me.  I love the three weekly series idea (I may have to ‘borrow’ the idea for some subjects over here, sorry Angie :P) that she does which has shown me some new quotes to think about, some new songs to go and listen to and some excellent old films that I may never have seen if it wasn’t for reading about them here.  I seriously recommend you go and check it out and you too might just find yourself learning something new!

The Fabulous Blog Ribbon Award

The rules for these awards are as follows:

Thank the blogger who gave you the award

Name 5 Fabulous moments in your life

Name 5 things that you love

Name 5 things that you hate

Pass some awards on to 5 more bloggers.

To begin the awards ceremony I will have to look at 5 fabulous moments in my life.   This is going to be tough as I have so many to choose from that narrowing it down will be tricky.  In no particular order of importance my 5 moments would be:

5 fabulous moments in my life are:

1. The day that I met my wife-to-be and fell madly in love with her (it sounds corny but it WAS love at first sight for me) and of course our wedding day!
2. The birth of each of my children, but especially my youngest daughter as she was resuscitated at birth. Hearing her cry was like I heard an angel sing. (the fact she hasn’t stopped since probably means it was a devil’s trick 😛 )
3. The look on the faces of my kids when they first stepped foot into Disney World in Florida.
4. When I got my award at Slimming World for losing 3 stones (more on the way I hope)
5. When the band I was in were put on the soundtrack to a film called ‘In A Man’s World’ which went to the Cannes film festival!!!

 

Now for the 5 things that I hate.  This could be tough as well because as I am getting older there seems to be a lot more things that I hate or I am starting to hate.  But hey-ho here goes:

5 Things that I hate are:

1. People dying in the world because there isn’t enough food or water to go around when in other places people throw away too much food and waste water.
2. Waking up every morning in loads of pain and having to take so many pills and potions just to walk about.
3. People who text/facebook/tweet etc. the most MUNDANE things in their life.  I don’t need to know that you have just bought a bagel or some lettuce!
4. Discrimination or prejudice in any form.  There really is no need in this day and age to have a grudge against anyone becuase of race, religion, colour or anything else.
5. COTTON WOOL. It is the work of the devil.  I hate the way it squeaks if it rubs together…..*shudder*

As for the 5 things I love , I reckon this one will be the easiest as there is so much that I love that I will be able to pick them out easily.  That said, I might have a few too many as well!

5 Things that I love are:

1. My family of course.  They are the most important thing in my life and there are LOADS of them.
2. Slipping under freshly laundered bedsheets.  There is no feeling like it.
3. Writing this blog.  This has become such a joy to do and I am continually thinking about it and what I can do to improve it (Any suggestions are always welcomed).
4. Music.  I miss playing in a band an awful lot but I still love listening to all types of music.
5. Stepping on the scales to see I have lost weight.  Hopefully the feeling will be even better once I reach my target weight.

 

Well there you have it, you probably know a little bit too much more than you needed to know about me but hey I hope you enjoyed the journey.  Now to move on to the 5 blogs that I am going to nominate for the awards. These blogs are fantastic places to go and visit and I suggest you check them out as they are really good.  Here we go:

My first nomination goes out to Kina over at Human in Recovery.  She is a super fab person and her blog is very inspiring to me.  She has also just recently set up a tribe over at WANATribe, called Bloggers United! for those people who blog and may need a little help.  It is so inspirational to see someone who struggles at times but still gives back to the community around her.  You deserve this!

My Second nomination is for Cymber Lily over at Reiki Healing Harp. She has been so very supportive of me when I am starting out this blog and it is very much appreciated.  She has a huge amount of information on Reiki at her site and what I found really interesting as well was the Harp.  I have a real love for the instrument and it is fantastic when it is played well.  The tracks that are a sample on the site are simply beautiful and you really need to check them out and buy the CD as well.

My third nomination goes to Kat over at Kat’s Cafe.  I came across Kat’s site very early on into my blogging life and I was totally inspired by it.  The whole cafe idea was really good as it makes me want to sit down with a cuppa and just read through the articles, reviews and many more things she has to offer over there.  She does a lot for others as well and there is always something she is trying to raise money/awareness for or someone who needs picking up with an e-card/letter etc.  Head over there and check it out!

My fourth nomination is for Renata over at Just Bring the Chocolate.   Renata is someone who I have never met but I would call a real friend.  She has helped me in lots of ways through reading her blog, her involvement at SWAN UK and in setting up my blog over here.  Her site is one that is really well done and describes how she goes about ‘extreme parenting’ as she puts it.  She gives an open and honest appraisal of what it is like to have a child with an undiagnosed genetic condition and if you like my site then you will definitely love hers.

Finally I am nominating Stacie over at Savour your Spoons.  Stacie is a Real life friend who was diagnosed with Hypermobility Syndrome and her blog is all about how she manages to be a wife, mother and still go to work while suffering chronic pain with this Syndrome.  She almost always has an optimistic twist on things and in every picture she is smiling despite suffering in pain.  She is a very creative soul and I suggest you head over to her blog and see what she is up to!

Phew that is everything I think…….Oh wait…….it seems since I started writing this I have been given another award!  The Liebster Award.  My gosh this is getting to be a little too much.   I am starting to think you folks might actually be enjoying what I am writing and spouting off about.  Now my thoughts are do I carry on thanking people in this post for the other award or save it for tomorrow…….Looking at the length of this post I think tomorrow might be an unexpected third part to this posting.

Oh well, until then I will leave you with the usual sign off….

Stay safe and keep smiling!