Sally's World

I cannot believe that I have actually written 500 posts. Okay, okay, some some weren't mine, some were e-mails or quotes or videos that I couldn't resist sharing. But 500 times I have clicked on that publish button and something that says something about me is out there on the world wide web.

Looking back, what makes me smile is how different my blog is to what I expected.

Originally, I was going to do a weekly update, talking about life as a parent with special needs children, about how to live with the loss of a child...I thought I was going to be giving support and advice to other parents like me.

And to a certain degree I think I have, sharing information is the best way to deal with many aspects of special needs and disability. But I have received just as much information back.

But what I didn't expect was to get into it and write about everything and anything that's on my mind, and what is even more amazing is the love and support I have received from my fellow bloggers. I didn't expect to love reading about the lives of people from all over the world, I didn't expect to be able to relate quite so much.

I feel less alone, I have an outlet, I can share the little things that make me laugh (or cry), things that otherwise go unsaid. I can have a bad day, rant, scream, cry, swear, and all I get back is support.

My biggest thanks has to be to Trojan of Trojan's Corner, he is the one that believed in me and what I had to say enough to encourage me to blog in the first place.

Here's to the next 500 if you can stand me for that long!!!!

i seem to be continuously apologising for ignoring everyone. i can't say how much i miss spending a little time on all of your blogs each day, but there just doesn't seem to be a spare minute. i used to spend those nighttime hours when i couldn't sleep on the blog...now I'm out working and spending my time with people far less savory than all of you.

gosh, i thought i was busy before i am now looking back on my life a couple of months ago and feeling that it was quite leisurely!!!!

I am trying to get it to balance out, and I'll be back commenting and posting much more...

right off to work...i think the phrase 'you'll meet yourself coming backwards' was meant for me.

I am also concerned, as one phrase pops up alot! and that's 'no rest for the wicked'...okay, i don't think I'm wicked, but its starting to worry me lol!

have a great day all of you....

Thanks Jam, JAM's Own Reality you are an angel, I love this one!


Rules for this award are simple.

Pass it on to five bloggers who leave "Super" comments on your blog.

The rules are simple, but passing it on to only five bloggers is hard. Because I LOVE each and every comment I get.

Check these "Super" blog commenters out...


Randi Troxell @ Beauty Be Good
Dragon @ Mysterious Creature
J.J. in L.A. @ The World According To J...
RileyScott @ The world through my eyes...
Linda @ http://lindagoossen-grandmaspage.blogspot.com/

Thank you so much Becca for giving me this award, I am touched.


The rules...I have to list 7 things I love and then give the award to seven bloggers I love....so, seven thing I love....husband and kids of course, goes without saying....

I also love...

1) Driving on an open road
2) Rich chocolate cake
3) Swimming in a clear warm sea
4) Lillies
5) Long country walks in the spring
6) Walking on the sand
7) Dancing

Blogs I love and nominate are...

1) Trojans Corner http://trojansgallery.blogspot.com/
2) Just-a-mom at Jams own reality http://jamblogging.blogspot.com/
3) Missy at Is it just me http://is-it-just-me-missy.blogspot.com/
4) Isaiah’s mom at Inside Isaiah http://insideisaiah.blogspot.com/
5) Melinda at blogging it from the burgs http://thebrookshirefam.blogspot.com/
6) Crazy Texas mommy at http://crazytxmommy.blogspot.com/
7) Pam at Smelling the roses and dodging the thorns http://stradtt.blogspot.com/

I could easily nominate another 7...but I'm sticking to the rules (for a change)...

I just want to say a very quick thank you to Trojan for helping me revamp my blog last night, he is brilliant at this stuff, and I have to say he has the patience of a saint (well, sometimes!!!)

THANK YOU!

I love the make over...now if only he could do people too!!!!

Let me know what you think!

You can see Trojan's own blog and his brilliant pics at http://trojansgallery.blogspot.com/

For those of you who follow the blogs in any way, you’ll know exactly who Trojan is. For those of you who are brand new…

Trojan is a close friend of mine, and he is the one behind the whole blogging idea. We work well together because he has all the technical know how and I just have plenty to say! Trojan strongly believes in what I do with the t-shirts and the charity, and will be getting more and more involved in both those things as time goes on.

For as long as I’ve known Trojan, he has been into taking photos; he always has his camera with him and snaps away all the time. This is great for recording those memories for those of us who always forget our own cameras, or forget to use the bloody thing even if we do have it.

Of course, it’s also a bit of a pain in the arse because Trojan has a love of ‘natural shots.’ Which roughly translates into him catching people in embarrassing moments or while they are yawning or stuffing food in their mouths. And if you want to get up to anything slightly illegal/immoral, forget it if your with Trojan! It will recorded in glorious, immortal Technicolor!


I’m not going to pretend I always got it, often he’d be snapping away and I’d be all like “erm...Trojan, it’s a gate!” to which he’d just smile and continue with shots of wildlife/flowers/buildings/lampposts. But once I saw the photos and what he’d done with them, I got it. He has a great eye, and seems to be able to capture art through the camera lens. Something I admire because about 80% of the shots I take are of headless people, my own thumb or look like they are taken at midnight...in a snow storm…in gale force winds!

To show off some of his brilliant photos Trojan has a blog. It’s called Trojans Corner, and not only are the photos of the places he’s travelled brilliant, it’s a great way to find out more about him and those places. Its fun and informative, he talks about many of the things that interest him, and he has many interests and strong views and is certainly worth getting to know.


So take a look at his blog on http://trojansgallery.blogspot.com/

Take care

Sal xxx

Hi Everyone,

Just a very quick blog to say "HAPPY NEW YEAR" wishing all of you a happy, healthy, prosperous and exciting new year.

We are very excited about where 2009 will take us with regards to the blogs, the charity and even our salsa!!!

All the very best to you all...now go and nurse those hangovers!

Sal and Trojan xxx

Well, Trojan and I have a busy day ahead of us tomorrow. We’re doing our second radio blog, another video blog as well as a separate short video blog. Of course, luckily on my part this involves nothing harder than a lot of chatting, drinking of tea and eating any sweets that Trojan may have lying around! But don’t worry, Trojan knows how much I appreciate, not only his hard work, but his belief in me and what I do…it means very much to me.

We’ve decided not to talk too much about the subjects of these blogs beforehand.

It is not as you may think because we haven’t a clue what they are going to be about…not at all, its because we want you to have to log on to find out, the suspense is good right?…okay, so that’s only half true, we aren’t totally sure of all of it. Yet! But that is because we find it turns out better if it’s not too strategically planned.

The salsa blog we did last week has had a phenomenal response, and is responsible for at least a dozen of our friends and family members going off in search of a good salsa class.

Excellent, it will be well worth it I promise. People have told us that it was obvious from the video blog that we are thoroughly enjoying our lessons. We are! We both look forward to them every week, and its great to be able to tell how much we improve each week. So please let us know how you get on.

And keep e-mailing us, we love getting your comments.

And to my friend…she knows who she is! No, Trojan is my dance partner, find your own!

So please log on tomorrow night/Monday morning and take a look at what we’ve been up to.

Sal and Trojan xxx

As promised/threatened, Trojan and I got together again yesterday and recorded our second video blog. After the first one we thought we had it totally under control, we were going to be so much more organised. It was planned, we had our topic, we even had set questions. So it should have gone smoothly...you'd think!

Okay so rehearsing...bad idea! Because I already knew the question Trojan was about to ask me, he barely got the "So how does..." out, before I'd finished asking the question for him, told him what a good question it was (even though he''d actually never got to ask it) and answered the bloody thing while he sat there looking stunned.

So Trojan thought he could reign me in and threw in a couple of unplanned questions, "What about you Sally?" he asked when he was supposed to say "How do you find time for you Sally?" Ha, no such luck "What about me?" I said with a grin, and I think if Trojan could have slapped me and gotten away with it, he would have done.

The first take was over 25 minutes long though, we needed to cut it down considerably. So the next take we tried to fit in all the same stuff in a third of the time, which only meant you would have had to record it and play it at half speed to even understand us...and who knew it was possible to talk at six hundred words a minute?

So in the end, we took our picture off the screen, binned the questions, hit record and had a chat about how disability effects things like accessibility and education and how we I find time for myself and my marriage, and it was fine.

I think it has to be off the cuff to be natural, its the little mistakes that make us watchable we think, of course, you may disagree!

We feel that it will be a natural progression to become more polished (but not too much) with time. The opening sequence, as well as bringing a tear to my eye made a big difference, and I think helps you to get to know us more. Of course, I can't take credit for that or any of this, Trojans the brains behind it all, I just waffle on about me and my kids, he does all the technical stuff and even came up with the idea. So Blame him, not me!!!

Seriously though, it's been wonderful already, we've been able to reach out to lots of people and judging from your comments, given hope to lots of families too. Imagine what we can achieve in time!

So keep watching, keep sending e-mails and comments and we look forward to seeing you again soon.

Take care


Trojan and Sally xxx



http://www.youtube.com/sallyannestephenson

Hi there. Well, i'm still laughing after completing my first ever video blog with Trojan. Okay, so it turns out I say 'Ermm' alot, and 'Ummm' and to the surprise of anyone who knows me, I often seem to get lost for words. But I think we get the message across. If nothing else you all know more about me after watching it (mainly my inability to speak properly).

We'll be back next month with a new video blog, we'll let you know what's been going on in the meantime and hopefully I will have answered lots of questions and been able to help a few of you.

I'll be writing a weekly update on any news and events and generaly what's been going on, I'm always in the middle of a battle with something to do with one of the kids. Secondary School transfers with full inclussion is the latest in a long line of fights to get my boys what they need and are entitled too.

So look out for the weekly blog and we'll 'see' you again next month in a new video blog, in the mean time I'll be working on speaking without saying 'ermm' three hundred times a minute.

I hope some of you will be logging on to the web-sites, taking a look at Aaron's books and maybe buying a t-shirt or two for someone you know.

Take a look on http://www.youtube.com/sallyannestephenson