Accessibility Life The House

This Old New House

27th January 2022

And so, my first ever blog post started with ‘Hello, world. Is this thing on?’ So let’s go there again. Also, how the hell are ya? I wrote a BUNCH of words last year, but only 3 or 4 blog posts. Hi, again. As an update to my wheelchair-accessible house wish list, we found one, and are in the midst of making it even more accessible. And also generally modernising a 1950s bungalow. I not-so secretly call our crew the…

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Accessibility Disability Life

A Note From The Girl In The Wheelchair

21st September 2021

‘Whose idea was this hill?’‘Yours,’ Neil and Isla chorused together, as we trudged around the zoo.The zoo is Neil’s happy place, that’s fine, let’s go. These days, it’s also a place. Somewhere that isn’t this weirdly shaped corner apartment, so let’s go, anywhere. I’ve been to the dentist and other places I’ve explained my fright reflex to bewildered people. I’ve been to get vaccinated, twice, happily. I’ve watched Isla skip into school bubble birthday parties, and she even had one.…

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Books Coffee Talk Reading

When Books Are Like Hugs

28th April 2021
books on brown wooden shelf

And so, I seem to have got some sort of depression for my recentish birthday. Let’s not talk about it, it’s boring. Books and updates on Isla’s strawberry plant from school have kept me going. A few days ago, I finished (reading) my 21st book of the year, so I thought I’d talk about some of them, with the help of this survey recently spotted at Rust Belt Girl. When you have so much to say, sometimes answering questions is…

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Coffee Talk Life Writing

The Light Is Still On

23rd February 2021

And so, how the hell are ya? As for me, I didn’t intend to go on a blogging break, but I s’pose that’s what happened. Thanks to everytwo who checked in. Towards the end of last year, like everyone, I was close to burnout levels. I wanted to write my year-in-review, but I already knew the comments: Thanks for sharing. I appreciate you. Go, Isla! And I s’pose after ten years, I want a writing space that’s useful to you,…

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Life Writing

I Haven’t Relaxed In Two Years

16th December 2020

Maybe longer. Stick with me. You sit down. Maybe in the morning before anyone else is up. You’ve heard some sort of magic happens in the morning. You haven’t found the magic Maybe there’s a journal because you’ve heard that journals are good for something, too. You put a pen to the lined paper. Because you need lines. But there’s no ink in the pen. You have a million pens in the house, but none of them work. You find…

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Coffee Talk Life Writing

If We Were Having Coffee and Déjà Vu

25th November 2020
Two mugs 'I love you' and 'I know'

And so, in August, I had a coffee-meets-laptop mishap. I wrote in real notebooks flipped upside down. Real notes in green ink. Frank the Laptop went into the shop, where my husband promised the laptop gods didn’t laugh at me. I had words to write, so Truman the Giant Eff-off Desktop was set up on my kitchen table. Since we’ve not so recently moved, there is no longer a wall between my kitchen and my living room, and since we’re…

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Coffee Talk Writing

Trying Something New For NaNoWriMo

1st November 2020
NaNo 2020 writer badge

Happy NaNoWriMo season, writers! And so, regular readers and friends of this blog might know that NaNoWriMo is an event around here. I’ve been participating since nearly the beginning, and the first year I tried I got to 23K. Or something. Every year since, I declare a project, and THIS IS IT. Because am I really a writer if I can’t get to 50K in 30 days? (P.S. Yes, the answer is yes.) But anyway. I’ve never done it before.…

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Coffee Talk Life

When We Had Coffee 12 Years Ago

30th October 2020

Before we had coffee twelve years ago, I used to kind of have a dating uniform. I wore the same thing on first dates and only changed up the necklace. Never the rings. But for you, I wore a color not my usual. My upstairs neighbor played Guitar Hero all night and I had zero sleep, so I thought red would make me look not tired. Because I wanted to remember everything, and I didn’t yet know that sleeping was…

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Disability Life Writing

Advice For My Younger Self: Hang On

30th September 2020
'You will be OK' in Scrabble tiles.

When I was 29, I made a list. Start a blog was on it.  Ten years and a bit later, I asked my readers (that would be you, hi) to Ask Me Anything. I answered some questions here, but some questions called for a new post. Like this one.  What advice would you give yourself 10 years ago? That question came from Rachael at Racheal’s Thoughts. And well, I’ve been thinking about it ever since. Ten years ago, I was…

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Disability Life

I Don’t Need To Get Over It: Disability and Toxic Positivity

21st September 2020

If you hang around online long enough, you might meet someone in the comments section who claims they’ve overcome Cerebral Palsy by doing yoga and thinking positively. Well, that someone is not me, that’s not how CP works, and the thought that we can suddenly be free of it is dangerous. I said all this to someone recently and then vowed never to read the comments section anywhere again. (Except here, hi.) That real comment got me thinking, as I…

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