Information & Interviews.

Hello Everyone, In the next few weeks I am going to be interviewing some family members and friends. I want to know how they felt when they first met me, how they felt when they found out about my disability. I have a feeling that interviewing people that you know will be harder the interviewing a stranger! How YOU can create the best environment to conduct an interview: - Create A Professional Setting. Regardless of your relationship with the person you are interviewing, you still need to create a setting which is professional that will work for you and the person you are interviewing. Conducting an interview while you sit in the lounge chairs out on the Deck drinking beers is most definitely not the best way of doing it. Instead, invite you're family (friends) to you're office or arrange a lunch date for the interview. - Leave Out Personal Details. Your readers don't want to hear to much about you're relationship with your family members. Instead, they're interested in what your family (friends) have to say about the topic. - Pretend You Don't Know Each Other Unfortunately, family members will often leave out important details when you've discussed the topic before (in every day conversation). When you start your interview, explain to your family (friends) that they must pretend that you've never talked before. Details such as past experiences, education, and history are valuable to the interview. Make sure you get as much background information as possible! - Ask Permission: Some family members might not like the idea of seeing their names (and life story) in print. You have to respect that, regardless of how excited you are to do the interview. Before you do any research at all, tell you're family (friends) that you'd like to interview him/her and what the interview will be used for. - Ask What You Don't Know. Since you're interviewing a family member (friend), you're going to need a hook-something with each to capture you're readers attention. This can often be achieved by asking you're family (friends) about a story you've never heard or using an interesting quote you get during the interview. Make sure you think about the structure and content of interview as you plan your questions. - Time Frame. You don't want the person you're interviewing to feel like they are being rushed or that you have held them captive! Keep your interview length no more than 1-2hours. It's tiring for you and for the person being interview. REMEMBER: this is supposed to be fun!!! - Make Sure You Take Good Notes. Make sure you record both you and the person you intend to interview name(s), the date, the place you interviewed them. - Asking Questions. Ask questions that will encourage more then a 'yes' or 'no' answers. Try to elicit facts, feelings, stories, descriptions. - Showing interest. Take an active part in the dialogue without dominating it. Learn to be a creative listener. - Don't Push. Don't push for answers. You're family member (friend) may have a reason they wish not to share a curtain subject. Move on to something else! - Prepared Questions. Use your questions as guidelines. But don't be afraid to let your family member (friend) go off on a tangent. They may have many things to share that you never even thought to ask. - Family Approval. Put your family members (friends) at ease by telling them they will have a chance to see and approve what was spoken about and recorded at the interview before you show it to others. - Thank You. What ever you do, do not forget to I thank each person for their time. I hope that these steps help you to conduct the most useful interview and it helps you and the person you're interviewing get the most out of the information shared!. Ok well guys I'm off to write down my questions ready for my husband when he gets home from work. I will be posting the interview on Monday. Amanda <3.

re vamp :]

Hello Everyone,

They say change is as good as a holiday right? So I thought it was about time I taught myself how to "edit" my blog. It wasn't really that hard haha, and it was a lot of fun!


What do you all think of the new look?. What don't you like about it?
honest opinions appreciated guys.


I love it!!! It's fresh, inviting, happy and it just shows off my personality well, i think ;)
Amanda <3

I'm back!!!!

Hello Everyone.

Wow I can't believe how long it's been since I last blogged. I do apologize!!.

Alot has happened in the last few months since my fingers last touched this keyboard (oh how I have missed you). First off I am feeling much better after the "problems" I had back at the end of Nov. Yay!. We this was our first christmas with out Nan.... it was hard but we survived.

On boxing day Hailee, Steve and I moved out of my parents place and into our own rental. It's the most gorgeous house (only 3 years old) so everything is very new and modern, the most important thing.. well there are 2. 1) The place is wheelchair accessable! & 2) It only takes Hailee and I 5 minutes to walk over to road to mum's work and to the supermarket.. score right?!. The first week felt quite strange because it just didnt feel like "our home" but now it feels like we've always lived here.

Time seems like it has sped up, it honestly doesnt feel like it's been 4 months since Nan has gone. Honestly it's quite hard to step foot in Lorraine (My Auntie)and her home. As to date we have only been there 3 times. The first was to clean out her waredrope. Wow, doing something like that is so surreal!!. I never thought I would do anything like that in my life.. especially for that woman.

It's strange it doesn't feel like she has gone, I was talking to Steve the other day about it, how I imagined I would cry non stop for months but honestly I have hardly cried at all. I think it's because we have not picked up her ashes and scattered them yet (If i got a say I wouldn't want to scatter them.. I want them here with me). But I am just a grandchild, I am not her child.

Ok let's move on.

It's my birthday in a few days. I'm looking forward to finally turning 25! (yep I'm a spring chicken) all my life I wanted to be 25, people seem to respect those around them at that age, it's like your not a child but you not a oldies(hehe). I'm also not looking forward to it because I never imagined being 25 without my grandmother. It's funny how you see a person that you love more then life it's self living forever. Unfortunatly it's not true :( Another thing I've come to realize, grief is a very funny thing and is different for everyone.

Ok well that's it in a nutshell & it's time for me to catch up on everyone elses blogs. Bye!

Oh, one last note. Hailee is growing up to be a real little miss, I don't mean she has an attatude(which does come out somedays.. oh god help me when we come to the teen years lol). But I mean she has grown up so much in the last few months, she's talking better, she's taller and just really seems to know who she is and what she wants chringes.

Amanda <3

I'm out but not myself

Hello Everyone,

I'm out of hospital (I have been for almost a week). Though I am out I'm not myself :(

I felt fine in there.

I came home took my pills/ felt worse than ever.

I went to my GP to change them.

That was 2 days ago.

These new ones haven't kicked in yet.

I just want to be back to 100%.

I hate feeling like this!.

I guess my body is trying to tell me it's time to slow down.

To slow down after the horrid month I had last month.

Ok time to lay down and get some rest...blog again soon.
<3