Riya Has Nominated Me For The Versatile Blogger Award

I just keep on finding nomination/award posts in my drafts folder! When I checked this one, it turns out Riya nominated me for THE VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD back in January!!! That is a long time ago, but as promised, I will always make sure I complete these nomination posts eventually!

Riya, the creator of WORLD OF MY THOUGHTS, has nominated me for THE VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD, as you can see from her post below:

https://worldofmythoughts2017.wordpress.com/2020/01/25/the-versatile-blogger-award-2/

Rules

1. Thank the person who nominated you – THANK YOU RIYA!
2. Link to the blog of the person who nominated you
3. Share 7 facts about yourself
4. Nominate 15 more bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award

Seven Facts About Moi

I have been a vegetarian since I was six years of age. But over the years I think I ate way too much dairy, and now I have an intolerance to it. So most of my meals are vegan.

I went to stage school for two terms when I was a teenager. I was not great at dancing or acting, but I loved singing lessons. I still love singing and if anyone says “karaoke”, I am very easily persuaded to take my turn on the microphone.

I once fell off the back of a sledge I was “driving” and clinging onto the handle bar for dear life (and also anxious that my two friends might end up crashing into a tree if I let go) the husky dogs dragged me along through the snow for several minutes until my arms felt like jelly and my tummy was frozen! The guy who owned the husky dogs and the sledges ran like crazy to catch the sledge as it veered off the track into the forest. I think I am still slightly traumatised to this day by event!

I aspire to be like Maria Von Trapp in the gorgeous musical, “The Sound Of Music“. I love singing and I love her spirit!

I have had the privilege of working along with older volunteers who were imprisoned in concentration camps when the Nazi party was in power. They have been an incredible inspiration to me.

In the past year I have published three novels and a poetry book. This was my first, “We Hide What We Hate About Ourselves“. It was published back in February.

I am one half of an epic romance that has been through huge challenges (so many challenges!) and at the moment is experiencing a very happy dreamy phase – he recently put a ring on it! But what a bumpy journey it has been! You can read some of our saga in the STORM IN A TEACUP SERIES which I recently re-published.

My Fifteen Nominees

haederpaul – Paul Haeder, Author

Sharese Hunt – Swirl and Spice

amsotemann – A.M. Sӧtemann

val.180 – Inside A Soul

Pam Brant – Volleyball and Sunsets

Greg Forrester – Bandit Fiction

Sakhi – Sakhi Speaks

Emily MacDonald – Lessons In Shimmy-ing

Eve DeBardeleben Roebuck – I Want More

Em – A Quintillion Words | Book Reviewer | Copywriter

Scott Abbott – THE GOALIE’S ANXIETY

Chloe Henderson – Coin-Operated Press

jdathwriting – Julia’s Bookshelves

Emma Tannerprincessemmablog

KathyRooted & Growing

Jack Has Been Spoiling Me

Jack and I have not really had a lot of discussions about money. We have both sacrificed paid work for many years in order to volunteer for charities. But additionally. we have both worked in paid roles. Before Jack became a full-time volunteer he made a lot of money in the entertainment industry. But he has let go of most of that, but still retained enough for him not to worry about money at all. (It makes you sick – doesn’t it!)

Jack has been able to earn a better rate of pay than myself, but he is still sensible on the whole with money. He does not think in terms of luxuries. He knows what money can do to help people, so he does not think in terms of five star luxury and spending crazy money on silly things. However, he has occasionally been spoiling me in one specific area.

Bear in mind he knows that this year I have been sending a lot of my wages to family. He bought me a couple of dresses in August – the one time I have seen my family this year. Well, in preparation for a weekend with my family at the end of this month, Jack wanted to buy me another dress. Only I could not decide which…so he bought me two dresses. You may be able to tell that I have a real thing for navy at the moment! It makes my engagement ring stand out.

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The good news is, the second dress was in the half price sale. Also I had a special code from Phase Eight allowing me another 20% off the order. So, I did feel a little better about the indulgence of two dresses. I wore the first dress you see on Tuesday when Jack and I did an official visit to a site to thank some of full-time volunteers for their extraordinary sacrifices this year. I loved wearing that dress. It was perfect.

Sometimes I feel bad for buying anything new. I have a good conscience that most of my wardrobe is from charity shops. But Jack pinches me and tells me after all the chances to earn we have given up and all the money we have given away, it is ok to have a couple of new dresses and enjoy them. I know that it is ok. I still can’t help but think of people who don’t have enough money to feed their families and therefore go to bed hungry.

This world has such disgusting extremes – the wealthy wasting money on lavish parties and absurd amounts on homes and cares and private aeroplanes. I feel guilty for having two new dresses. Jack tells me to let it go. I must. You would go crazy if yourself everything because of how the money could be used.

It is still not right that people are allowed to earn absurd amounts of money and spend absurd amounts of money on trivial luxuries. I find it almost criminal. But who would be that person who marks the line? Can you say to the wealthy, “look, you have a hundred times more money than the average person in a Western land. So we are going to take half of your wealth and use it to aid people who need farming tools and fishing equipment, and tools to dig a wells, and educational materials for their children, and equipment for hospitals”. Who can do that?

Can you believe I only started writing this post because I was so excited about my new dresses – but I felt guilty writing about them! I wish everyone had equal resources. I hate this world of absurd inbalances.