Real Neat Blog Award

Posted on by Astrid

This Thursday, I was tagged for the Real Neat Blog Award by Emilia of My Inner MishMash. Thanks so much!

Here are the questions Emilia asked her nominees.

1. What’s your eye colour? Do you like it or would you change it if you could?
My eye color is a kind of weird blue-green-grey mix. I guess I like it, though I’ve never had enough vision to actually see it. I had a cataract on my left eye for many years before getting it removed in 2013. The eye surgeon told my husband that, even if it didn’t have any positive effect on my vision, it was good for my appearance that it was gone.

2. Have you had a good relationship with your parents?
Well, uhm, it’s complicated. As a child, I thought my life was pretty normal, but as I grew up, I realized my relationship with my parents really wasn’t as it should have been.

3. If you had to rename yourself, what would your name be?
Uhm, I guess it depends on who’s fronting. Like, each of us alters would like our own name.

4. Do you like to daydream? If so, does your dream world look in any specific way that you are able to describe?
We love to daydream. We don’t have an extensive inner world though, or it changes depending on our needs. Like, Milou created an inside beach and we often like to retreat there.

5. If you feel very hungry, what is your go-to meal?
Anything. I really can eat anything I normally like when very hungry. That being said, when I’m hungry, I do get more irritated than usual if the food delivery company has served me a meal I normally don’t like.

6. What is your favourite instrument or one that you would like to learn to play?
Guitar. I took a few guitar lessons when on a summer camp in Russia in 2000, but the instructor spoke only Russian and English and I spoke only Dutch and a tiny bit of English. It wasn’t a success.

7. What types of blogs/blog posts do you most enjoy reading?
Really anything authentic. In other words, I don’t care much for sponsored posts or the like, but anything that’s written from the heart, I’ll read.

8. Do you like to sing?
No.

9. What is the best way for you to recharge after an exhausting day, whether physically or mentally?
That would have to be retreat into my bed with calming music on and a scent I love in my essential oil diffuser.

10. If you were a founder of a charity, whom/what would it work for?
It would be an organization advocating for people with complex care needs or multiple disabilities.

Here are my nominees.


And anyone else reading this post.

My question sfor my nominees are.


  1. What song best describes your personality?

  2. Have you ever studied personality typology? If so, what is your type (MBTI, enneagram, etc.)?

  3. What is the farthest place from your home you’ve traveled to?

  4. What is/are your favorite color)s)?

  5. How would you describe your taste in books?

  6. Has the global health crisis (COVID-19) given you more or less trust in your country’s government?

  7. Do you have any pets?

  8. What is your favorite wildlife animal?

  9. Which of the four seasons best describes you?

  10. How long have you been blogging?

Thanks again Emilia for nominating me!

Mystery Blogger Award!

Posted on by Astrid

Thanks a bunch to Beckie of Beckie’s Mental Mess for nominating me for the Mystery Blogger Award.

Rules

  1. Put the award logo/image on your blog.
  2. List the rules.
  3. Thank whoever nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
  4. Mention the creator of the award and provide a link as well.
  5. Answer the 5 questions you were asked.
  6. Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
  7. You have to nominate 10-20 people.
  8. Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.
  9. Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question (specify).
  10. Share a link to your best post(s).

The Mystery Blogger Award was created by Okoto Enigma. I am unable to copy/paste the image.

Beckie’s Questions

1. If you were to have one wish come true, what would it be?
I’m going to be selfish here and wish for a bright future for myself and my husband.

2. What is the least favorite thing about yourself that you wish you could change?
My difficulty tolerating distress.

3. What was the last funniest thing to happen to you?
A funny thing? I don’t know.

4. What was your favorite subject in school?
English.

5. Weird/Strange Question… If you could have dinner with anybody (Dead or Alive) who would that be, and what would you like to ask them?
I never ask lots of questions during dinner, as it’s all about the food to me. I’d just have dinner with my husband.

Three Things About Me

  1. My first word was “aircraft industry” when I was ten-months-old.
  2. I went to grammar school, but forgot almost all my Latin and Greek.
  3. I used to be an auditory learner and hated reading Braille until I was about thirteen. Then I got a computer and I hated the screen reader’s synthetic speech so much that I developed a preference for learning through touch.

I’m not choosing a favorite post, as I can’t decide. What do you all think is my best post?

My Nominees

  1. Bipolar Barb
  2. Therapy Bits
  3. My Inner MishMash
  4. Bipolar-Ilari
  5. BlindWilderness
  6. Color Me Bipolar
  7. Day by Day
  8. I Am My Own Island
  9. Just Being Me
  10. Kristen Experiments

My Questions

  1. What is your favorite color?
  2. What is the biggest challenge you face right now?
  3. Do you have any pets?
  4. (Weird/Funny) Would you want to be the opposite gender for a while if you could?
  5. What was your major in college?

Sunshine Blogger Award Again

Posted on by Astrid

Yay, I was nominated for a blog award again. Jill from Food, Feelings, Freedom nominated me for a Sunshine Blogger Award. I had already been nominated for this award about eight months ago, but am so happy for another award nomination. The idea of this award is that Jill poses eleven questions, which I have to answer. Then, I get to nominate eleven more bloggers and ask them eleven questions. Here are Jill’s questions.

1. What do you do when you’re having a bad day?

It depends. When I’m having a bad day, I mostly feel like sleeping, but I try to do other things to cheer myself up too.

2. What is one thing you are most proud of?

My writing abilities.
3. Do you have any pets? Want any?

Yes, my husband and I have a cat named Barry. I’d someday love to have a dog too.
4. What are three values you consider most important?

Respect, kindness, honesty. I think I got this question sometime a few months ago too, but can’t remember where I answered it, so I cannot look up whether I said the same then.
5. What are some of your hobbies?

Writing, reading, using the Internet.
6. What is one thing you would tell your childhood self?

Follow your heart! In other words, don’t do what others expect you to do if it doesn’t align with your feelings.
7. What is your favourite quotation?

I like many quotes, both funny and inspirational. My favorite quote is by Madeleine L’Engle and is about the fact that, the richer a character, the fuller of contradiction it is.
8. Where do you see yourself (what do you hope for your future) in 5 years?
I hope I’ll be living in a supported housing placement, doing day activities I like (at my current place maybe).
9. What is your biggest fear?
I guess abandonment.
10. What aspect of your life are you currently working on? (Work? Personal? Health?)
Mental health and finding an appropriate living situation.
11. What is a risk you took that paid off?
I don’t really know right now.

I am late writing this post, as Jill nominated me last week. I am also having a nasty cold as I write this, so I’m not up for a big challenge. For this reason, I originally didn’t intend on nominating anyone specifically. I thought for a bit that I should do it anyway, as leaving the nomination open seems annoying to me. However, screw it. I’m nominating the first eleven WordPress bloggers to see this post. Here are my questions for you.

  1. What is your biggest achievement in life?
  2. If you were to choose a college major now, which would you choose?
  3. Are you more a cat person, a dog person or maybe you’re a rattlesnake person?
  4. What’s your favorite color?
  5. Have you ever been to a farm?
  6. Are you a city, small town or rural area person?
  7. What is your taste in music like?
  8. How old were you when you spoke your first word?
  9. Where do you see yourself five years from now?
  10. What is your favorite mythical character?
  11. How long have you been blogging?

Sunshine Blogger Award!

Posted on by Astrid

Yay, my first blogging award! DM over at Pointless Overthinking nominated me for the Sunshine Blogger Award. Thanks so much, DM.

The Rules


  • Thank to the person that nominated you.

  • Link the post back to them.

  • Display the picture on your post.
  • Answer their questions.

  • Nominate 10 bloggers.

  • Provide 11 questions for your nominees.


I have no idea what picture they’re referring to, so sorry for skipping that.

DM’s Questions

1. What is your biggest fear?
Abandonment.

2. What would you like to achieve with your writing?
My main purpose with this blog is to help myself along my healing journey. It would be great if I could also inspire others, but that’s not my top priority.

3. On a scale from 1 (hell would be better) to 10 (everything is more than perfect), how satisfied are you with your life right now and why do you think so?
6’ish. Overall, my life is pretty good, but my mental health could be a lot better.

4. What is the first thing you do every morning?
Open my eyes, LOL. After that, the first things I do are shut up my alarm clock, put my Fitbit on its shelf while I shower and go for a shower.

5. How do you like to spend your weekends?
I usually sleep in till noon, eat breakfast, hang out online and do pretty much nothing. On Saturdays, I do regularly visit my in-laws though. This is far from my ideal week-end, as I generally hate the lack of structure of week-ends.

6. What are you grateful for?
My husband, my in-laws, my cat, pretty good physical health, food and shelter.

7. What things do you have on your bucket list?
I would love to follow some more college classes. Or just plain classes for the fun of it without them being a work-up to a degree.

8. What’s the craziest dream you ever had?
I once, 20 years ago, dreamt that a classmate had gotten a chemical weapon out of Iraq that he was launching at me. This was definitely a scary dream, but it wasn’t all that crazy as said classmate pretended to have created a chemical weapon indeed.

9. What’s your core belief?
I am unique, I guess. This core belief is both a blessing and a curse, in that it helps me value myself but also makes me feel misunderstood.

10. What is your biggest desire?
Acceptance.

My Nominees

My Questions


  1. What is your passion?

  2. How long have you been blogging?

  3. What characteristic do you like most about yourself?

  4. What’s your favorite color?

  5. How would you describe your taste in music?

  6. What was your favorite picture book growing up?

  7. What is your favorite scent?

  8. Which country tops your travel bucket list?

  9. In what ways are you still childlike?

  10. Whhat’s a joke or one-liner you like?