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About Me

Hi, I'm Amanda, a 30-something queer, disabled woman. I'm married to Thea, and mum to O. I've been blogging in some form or another since 2006, and over time my focus has changed many times. But these days you'll mostly find me talking about health and disability, LGBTQ+ issues, and the books that have had an impact on me.

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aspiraldance

Queer, Disabled, Christian Pagan 🏳️‍🌈 ✝️
Writer, Blogger and Podcaster 👩‍💻🎙
Wife to @theashortman 👭

Enough said! ID: a screenshot of a tweet from Ama

Enough said! ID: a screenshot of a tweet from Amanda's twitter that reads as follows... Stories I want to write: My current WIP; A tale about humans with super powers whose memories have been wiped; A romance set in a lighthouse; Something with a disabled MC with a fluctuating illness. Why I'm not writing: I'm a disabled person with a fluctuating illness. #SpoonieLife #SpoonieProblems #ChronicIllness #InvisibleIllness #ButYouDontLookSick #ChronicPain #ChronicFatigueSyndrome #MECFS #Fibromyalgia #ChronicMigraines #Endometriosis #HypermobilitySyndrome #EhlersDanlosSyndrome #ZebraStrong #DisabledLife #DisabledWriter #SpoonieWriter #WritersOfInstagram #WritingCommunity

Don't forget to tune into Virgin Radio Pride tonig

Don't forget to tune into Virgin Radio Pride tonight. Emma's show started at 7pm and I forgot to remind everyone to tune in. So here's me slightly late reminder... Thea and I spoke to Emma earlier this week about our journey to be included in this week's show.

I wasn't paying enough attention to Sprite, so he

I wasn't paying enough attention to Sprite, so he bit my eyebrow (ouch) and then flew onto my phone 😂 So I gave him some millet to chew on instead of me 😉 Seriously, this bird has a thing about biting when he's not getting what he wants. We're really trying to break him of the habit. I mean we love him dearly, but that beak is sharp!! He generally bites fingers, but has bitten both mine and Thea's eyebrows now and the end of O's nose 😔 Everything I see online about birds biting is about them being scared or you not paying attention to their cues, but this is so not the case with Sprite. He does it purely to try and get what he wants (usually millet). We've tried blowing on him, making a squawking sound, shaking him off... and he always flies straight back. This is not the sign of a scared bird! We're having to treat him like a toddler pushing their boundaries - he doesn't get what he wants when he bites, he only gets it when he has sat nicely for a while. Trust us to get a budgie with attitude 😂 ID: photo 1 shows Amanda, a white woman with long, dark hair, sitting on a sofa with Sprite, a green and yellow budgie, sitting on her head. Sprite is leaning forward to peck at Amanda's forehead. Photo 2 shows Amanda smiling at the camera behind a super blurry image of Sprite's tail hanging over the screen as he sits on top of her phone. Photo 3 shows Sprite sitting on Amanda's shoulder with a spray of millet. #birdsofinstagram #budgiesofinstagram #budgielove #budgielover

Tune in to Virgin Radio Pride this Sunday at 7pm f

Tune in to Virgin Radio Pride this Sunday at 7pm for Weekend Outing with Emma Goswell. @theashortman and I were interviewed by Emma earlier this week, and she'll be sharing the interview just after 8pm on Sunday ☺ We talked about our coming out stories, which I know you've probably heard more than enough of already 😂 But it was wonderful to chat with Emma and I was listening to last week's show this morning and it was packed full of interviews and great music. It's so worth a listen - don't miss out (and if you do miss it, look out for the replay later in the week 😉). Link to listen to the station live is in my bio. ID: Thea, a white, Non Binary Transfeminine with short, red hair and glasses, is sitting on a sofa and cuddling Amands, a white woman with long, auburn hair. Thea is wearing some grey dungarees with a dinosaur print on, and Amanda is wearing a black with rainbow coloured letter design t-shirt.

Look what just arrived - my Proud Mythical Beast t

Look what just arrived - my Proud Mythical Beast t-shirt. It feels like half my wardrobe has now come from @mythical 😂 but when I saw this t-shirt I just knew I had to have it! ID: photo 1 shows Amanda, a white woman with long, dark hair is wearing a black t-shirt covered in rainbow letters that read "proud mythical beast". She is standing in the kitchen, in front of a wooden door, pointing at the t-shirt both both hands and smiling. Photo 2 is a close up image of Amanda and her t-shirt.

I've just found out that this month's Good Mythica

I've just found out that this month's Good Mythical Crew Podcast is available to everyone, including Initiates (the free level of The @mythical Society) until the end of June. It's a great episode, with 3 LGBTQ+ members of the crew. I'll pop the link in my bio. Go give it a watch!

This is months' worth of very slow, very carefully

This is months' worth of very slow, very carefully managed work. Every good day I had, I would be planting seeds in the greenhouse or potting up in the garden. Always sitting down. Always with help. Always in short stints and with long breaks afterwards. I am currently laying flat on my back with my legs raised and the fan on me to try and reduce the effects the heat and exertion have had on my blood pressure and heart rate. This is the only way I can manage this. But manage it I have, and that is a huge achievement. This time last year I couldn't even get out of bed unaided. And this time 6 months ago I was still too scared to go out into my garden because my symptoms were still so severe. But here I am, with pots upon pots upon pots full of plants, most of which I planted from seed (and I still have seedlings left to plant 😂). The rest I ordered online or we already had from our previous garden. I even now have a raised bed right outside my bedroom window after my dad came up with the ingenious use for our old guinea pig cage on its stand and Thea thought of the perfect place for it ☺ I don't think I'll plant quite so many seeds next year 😂 but some of the things we have planted are perennials and will come back again and be more established next year anyway. One day I'll have the garden of my dreams which is purely maintenance! For now, though, I'm just relishing in the fact I planted all of this. Little old me, who can barely do anything these days. I may not be able to cook or do housework or work, but I can plant us a garden if I take it one tiny step at a time (and take advantage of all the help I can get 😉). ID: a series of photos showing a wide variety of pots and raised beds with lots of fruit trees, herbs, and a wide variety of flowers. The final photo is of Amanda, laying on her bed with her hair all over the pillow. She looks pretty tired! #SpoonieLife #ButYouDontLookSick #InvisibleIllness #ChronicIllness #ChronicMigraines #EhlersDanlosSyndrome #HypermobilitySyndrome #MECFS #Fibromyalgia #GardenersOfInstagram #HowDoesYourGardenGrow #ContainerGardening #RaisedBeds

So I finally felt ready to write about how Thea's

So I finally felt ready to write about how Thea's transition led to me questioning my own sexuality and where I'm currently at. It has taken me all afternoon to write this, because finding the words to express the journey I've been on in just one blog post was hard! I've been looking back and realising things about teenage Amanda, and that's a lot to take in. But I hope I've made sense of the vast nature of it all in this post. Link is in my bio, as always. ID: An image that is split in half vertically, with the left hand side being a beige colour with black text reading, "I thought I was straight, until my partner came out". The right hand side is a rainbow of colours going from red to purple down the image in horizontal stripes. #LGBTQ #LGBTQPride #LGBTQPrideMonth #Panromantic #PanromanticAsexual #Asexual

Soooo I got introduced to the Voila Al Artist app

Soooo I got introduced to the Voila Al Artist app last night and it's a little bit addictive 😂 Every week on Twitter I see friends (mostly in the writing community) taking part in Thirsty Thursday. Basically they share a selfie of themselves and everybody is so lovely about it. I've watched it for weeks but never felt I could join in. But after my therapy session this week with the lovely @hypnotherapyloungeleeds I realised I needed to get over myself and just do it. I'm never going to learn to see past my perceived flaws and view myself as beautiful and worthy unless I do these kinds of things. So I did it. I shared the original photo all these paintings, cartoons, and caricatures are based off. I used a warm filter to bring out the red tones in my hair. And I felt scared as I hit the publish button. But you know what? Everybody was so bloody lovely. Even people I've never spoken to before. And I got two compliments about my eyebrows, less than a week after finally finding the courage to try and shape them - I call that a win 😂 And then I found out about this app. And feeling good about that photo I decided to use it. I really, really love what the app has done. Seriously. Seeing myself in different styles, is amazing. They look so different to me, and yet they're still recognisable. It made me realise that the shape of my face, that nose and that chin that I always felt were out of proportion, really aren't that bad. I actually feel pretty in these. And I know they are artistic interpretations, but they were made from my original photo. So they used what was already there. I just couldn't see it. I quite like myself in the 15th and 18th century styles. Someone called me Venus 🥰 and you know what, I do feel quite Venus like. But I'm not posing naked in a clam shell, not yet at least 😉 As for the cartoon me? Well, I feel a bit like a Disney Princess! If you haven't already played around with this app I really recommend it. ID: a series of images in a variety of artistic styles based off an original photo of Amanda, a white woman with long, auburn hair and dark brown eyes. Her hair is pulled over one shoulder and she is smiling at the camera.

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