Liebster Blog Award II

Muriel from 40Blogspot - A French Yummy Mummy in London has kindly awarded me the Liebster Blog award. Funnily enough, I've won it before although the conditions have changed somewhat since then. They've now become quite long-winded as you have to do eleven of everything. This sounds like way too much effort so I'll tell you what I'm supposed to do, and then ignore it.

Here are the rules:

1. When you receive the award nomination, post 11 random facts about yourself and answer the 11 questions asked by the person who nominated you.
2. Pass the award onto 11 other blogs (while making sure you notify the blogger that they have been nominated!)
3. Write up 11 NEW questions directed towards YOUR nominees.
4. Of course, do not nominate the blog of the one who nominated your blog!
5. Paste the award picture onto your blog. (You can Google the image; there are plenty of them!)

I can't possibly think up eleven facts about myself, so here are three:
1. I am totally under-employed and if anyone can think of a way of rectifying this situation, I'm all ears.
2. I am very good at helping other people do what they have to do and totally hopeless at helping myself (see 1.).
3. I get ulcers when I eat chocolate (except the really expensive stuff, mostly) and yes, I'm looking at you, Cadbury's Fruit and Nut.

Time to answer Muriel's questions:

1. Why did you start blogging? 

- cos I'm a natural diarist with a very bad memory.

2. What is your favourite book and why? 

- I don't have a favourite book. I can't remember what happens long enough to compare it with others. I just keep impressions, so I know I loved '100 years of solitude' but I can't remember why. Sorry. I've always had a bad memory. I can used to be able to cram for an exam and then pouf! Gone.

3. Where would you like to live? 

- I'd like to live in a sunny place near the sea where there are no extreme conditions or phenomena (no earthquakes, hurricanes, drought, flooding), where I can get a decent cup of tea, good medical care, and good friends. Oh, I've just described where I live. That's lucky!

4. What are your new year's resolutions for 2013? 

- I don't do New Year's resolutions. Total waste of time as I lose interest easily. My most recent (successful) decision/resolution was to take up zumba to get fit and that was back in September. If I have to be resolute, I do it as and when.

5. What is writing for you? 

- Writing is being creative which is a much-needed outlet, considering my job, which isn't.

6. How do you find time to write your blog? 

- I do it when I want and when I have something to say (outside office hours, natch...). My kids are big now and demand only money, food and taxi-ing.

7. What is your biggest regret? 

- I don't really have regrets. I did what I did when I did it because that was the person I was at the time. It would handy to be able to do something though... like have an employable skill.

8. What are you most proud of? 

- I'm most proud of getting back to my true self after my divorce. I'd got rather lost. I'm also pretty proud of my kiddie books too (the ones wot I rote).

9. How do you stay motivated? 

- I'm one of nature's little optimists. I'm just wired like that, most of the time anyway. I always look for the best in everything. If you can find the best in something, you can stay motivated to do it (like my job, for example).

10. If you could be a character, who would you be? Why? 

- What sort of character? A cartoon character? I usually wanted to be any girl who had dashing adventures, be it in a 'Swallows and Amazons' type story, or 'You're a Brick, Angela' type schoolgirl story, or the St Trinians girls - the younger naughty ones, not the glamorous man-killers. Nowadays, I can't think of any character I'd like to be. Maybe Nero's sidekick in one of the Matrix movies - the one that wore the long leather coat and could fly about the place.

11. What makes you happy? 

- Being in the moment when it counts.

What comes next? Well, I'm supposed to write eleven questions and nominate eleven bloggers for the award. Tell you what, I'll go to Google and take a peek at the questions others have set and report back.

Right, that was unbelievably tedious. Same questions (not Muriel's however!) kept popping up, or different ones depending on the theme of the blog (books, food, crafts, porn - jk), so as I can't be fagged to think up a new batch, I'll just take the ones I used back in June 2010:
1. Are you fixed for life or still on the move?
2. If your computer crashed, would you care?
3. What do you do when faced with a pretentious twat?
4. Do you regret meeting your first love?
5. Is there a book in you?
6. Are you naturally messy or a housework maniac?
7. Do you still have your childhood friends?
8. Where do you prefer to go when you go out?
9. What is the worst thing that's ever happened to you?
10. Is there a black sheep in your family?

Yeah, okay ten, so sue me. As for nominating people, I'll go for you, you and you, and anyone else who'd like to join in. Voila.

Liebster Blog Award

Back in December, Trish at Mum's Gone To was kind enough to hand out a Liebster award which is given to bloggers with less than 200 followers. I seem to remember Wylye Girl at River Cottage Diaries nominated me for it too several months ago but I never got round to posting about it (as there was no gun against my head...).

Trish and her family are great travellers. If you're something of an armchair traveller, like me, do pop on over because she does all the hard work organising, paying, packing and travelling, and all you have to do is sit in your comfy chair in front of the computer and read her entertaining and well-written reports on travelling joys and strife. Like me, she has an ado son, and I particularly enjoy her stories of life with an ado because they ring so true.

Wylye Girl hasn't posted in a while, I think she's been moonlighting at Huffington Post, but when she does, it's always interesting, sometimes good for a laugh (like her nominations for Rugby World Cup Donald Trump Bad Hair Award) and well written.

To get back to Liebster, I'll copy the bit from Trish's blog about a translation : "Google translate tells me Liebster means dear, sweet, endearing, lovely". Not an obvious description of my blog I'd have thought, but my followers and readers definitely are! These are the stipulations upon receipt:

1. Thank the giver and link back to the blogger who gave it to you.
2. Reveal your 5 blogger picks and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.
3. Copy and paste the award on your blog.
4. Hope that the people you have sent the award to will forward it to their favourite bloggers


So here are my five blogger picks:
1. Pointman's. Pointman started blogging because he "hated the effect the environmental movement was having on the developing world. A thinly veiled political movement, which is perceived as simply a fashionable lifestyle choice in the developed world, is causing death and misery amongst the eighty percent of humanity not fortunate enough to live well above the poverty line." Well worth a read, and can link you to Tallbloke who was recently raided by 6 policemen because of a comment was left by the Climategate leaker (FOIA) on Tallbloke’s blog giving the location of the latest Climategate archive of emails for download. I suppose you get two for the price of one here, but I don't know what sort of a following Tallboy has, so can't nominate him separately.

2. Adventures of a Middle-Aged Matron. Anna Tims, as Mammasaurus is a free-lance journalist and a part-time staff feature writer on The Guardian, and blogs about family life as the wife of a vicar and mother of two children. You can read about, for example, Victoria, "the well-spoken homeless woman who once lived on the vicarage doorstep" where "no passing male was denied a slot in her sleeping bag" and other stories.

3. Mills and Boon Wannabe. This is a hugely entertaining blog written by Oliver Tims and his sister. They decided they should "try to write a romance novel according to the guidelines published by Mills & Boon". They do it blind, too, not discussing plot or characters as they go along which makes it quite a challenge for them. Imagine writing about simmering desire with your sibling! 

4. Curry Queen. She started a blog to "fool herself that someone, anyone is listening to her. Given that her offspring describe anything she says as "like, white noise, innit?" She is "pathetically grateful for a more attentive audience". Recent hilarious quote from her husband, known as the Shah, "To you I'm just a human piñata, aren't I?" Definitely deserving of a wider attentive audience!

5. Older Single Mum. Older Single Mum says of herself "I am in my forties, with two gorgeous and hilarious boys aged 6 and 2. We live on the South coast of England, happily, without their once famous International Sportsman of a father, who I asked to leave, for reasons which will become apparent". She has recently started a series of guest blogs by other single mums (including me!) in an attempt to change the perception of the single mum as a teenage scrounger living on welfare. She's had some amazing women writing their stories and if they don't make blinkered Daily Mail-type readers think again, then there's absolutely no hope! :)

There we are, I hope you take a look at my suggested blogs, all different, all interesting and extremely well written.

Life is Good Award (is it?)

Olga, at Artful Nuance very kindly awarded me the Life is Good Award last week.

Olga's blog is full of photos which give evidence of her love of photography. In and around Toronto, where she lives, or on holiday, she loves snapping everyday life, close-ups and unusual angles and writing about her art exhibitions and thoughts on life.

I was quite surprised to receive this award because I'm not feeling that life is particularly good at the moment. The start to 2011 has been a tough one and, while life for many is much worse than for me, I still feel somewhat besieged by pressures. My life is what I have to deal with every day, and it's me that has to cope with what's thrown at us, being a single mother an' all.

Anyway, enough of the pity party, I'm supposed to reveal some fascinating facts about myself. This is a laugh because I'm not feeling fascinating AT ALL at the moment, so here are some really non-fascinating facts.

1. I take against things in a totally unreasonable and irrational way. Such as Macs. I had a boyfriend who was like some sort of Mac sect guru he was so devoted to the cause. Put me right off. Luckily, my TWDB is a former Microsoft consultant so I feel we are at one technically.
2. I'm heartily sick of being frugal. I seem to have been frugal forever including when married because my ex-h used all the joint account to go to meetings and conferences which, for some reason, came out of our family money. He must have been the only one to pay for his presence!
3. I'm very worried about my kids' future. I don't think they have one in France (anywhere else, anyone?). Youth employment is so low you have to look under stones and in all the unusual places to find it. Could I afford to send them to university in the UK where they'll have a better experience than the 'losers' zone that represents so much French higher education that isn't grand école or professional training (medicine, law - French law? haha!)? No.
4. I have learned that if you don't look after N°1 no one else will. Furthermore, one should not expect anyone else to look after you because they are busy looking after themselves. In this day and age, it's as much as we can do to take care of ourselves. It's good to have a prop, but ultimately when the chips are down, it's every man for himself. Unless you get something horrendous like Alzheimer's when some poor sod (the short straw drawn by your partner) is roped into the purgatory of looking after you, from being speech-less to un-toilet-trained and violent.
5. I often wonder why the medical profession persist in their perverse quest to keep us all alive when there is little investment in the care infrastructure. STOP IT, you doctors! Let us DIE dignified and not too late, please!
Bonus fact: have as little to do with the French legal system as possible, especially the appeal court. You'll be much happier (and richer) for following this advice, believe me.

So, if you're not ready to top yourselves after all that, and you've got this far, congratulations, you must be feeling as chipper as me!

I'm not going to pass it on to anyone in particular. If you feel that your life is good at the moment, do share with us down-in-the-dumps types and cheer us up. We need it!

Versatile Blogger Award

Piglet from Piglet in France has very kindly presented me with the Versatile Blogger Award. Piglet revealed in her 8 interesting snippets about herself that she was the UK Junior ice-dance champion when she was 16 (2 years running). You never know what you'll find out with these awards! What her readers do know though is that her blog is a great read and well-deserving of her award.

So now I have to reveal 8 things about myself. Interesting things, preferably, I suppose. I'm not sure if I've mentioned some of these things before, so do forgive me if I repeat myself.

1. I used to do a lot of music in my youth - singing and playing the viola. I've played/sung in such illustrious places as the Royal Albert Hall, and The Maltings, Snape.

2. I was in the school choir chosen to sing on one of the BBC Schools music radio programmes.

3. I was in an 'incident' in Dallas, TX when I went into a MacDonalds quite late in the evening and the place was being set up for a gang fight. Me, oblivious to any atmosphere just stood in line, got my chips (for my 2-yr old son waiting in the car) and went out wondering why the police had turned up. They had told my (now ex-) husband to keep the engine running and high tail it as soon as I was finished...

4. When I was 15 I was in the west end production of The Who's musical 'Tommy' at the Queen's Theatre. At that age, I was only allowed to stay for 7 weeks. After that I never gave a second thought to the idea of acting. Doing the same thing night after night was very boring.

5. I rather dislike receiving mail (snail). There have been difficult periods in my life when I would get stressful stuff in the post and it's marred me for life!

6. One of the big joys for me of publishing my little Slim the Ogre book was that I can now be consider a 'something' - I'm a writer. Before I just had my job, no career and no 'something' to my name.

7. Part of why I could never say "I'm a 'something'" was because I did what turned out to be a useless degree (practically) - Arabic and Islamic Studies. Now it's very useful, but in the mid-80s it led nowhere except translation and I hate translating.

8. I absolutely love total peace and quiet. I'm surrounded by humming machines all day at work and noisy boys/television at home, so when I get the chance I just savour the silence.

So there you go, now I've got to nominate someone else. No obligation, natch. After a quick run down my blog list, I'd like to nominate Amber in Travelling Amber. Amber is expecting her first child in December and has been writing about what it's like to be pregnant in France. She's also got the Neighbours from Hell to deal with plus the added complication of having island in-laws who speak creole.

Amber's blog is a good read and deals with many day to day life in France topics with intelligence and insight.

Belle Blog

Today I was awarded this Beautiful Blogger Award by Sharon at MyFrenchCountryHome. Thank you very much, Sharon, I'm pleased you like my blog.

Apparently I have to reveal 7 things about myself. I will not be adding photos like Sharon did so beautifully though.

1. I studied Arabic & Islamic Studies at university (Exeter). Why? Because I liked Persian rugs and it meant a year in Cairo (yes, I know they speak Persian in Iran, but it's a closed country so I decided Arabic would have to do).

2. I couldn't live without my Sky Digibox and the English tele it delivers to my sitting room. Not that I watch tons of tele, but just having French tv is a nightmare.

3. I'm quite fanatical about food and eating. Eating is a joy, a sensual experience, and meals should be tasty and fresh.

4. If there's a talent I wish I had it's being able to paint. I'd love to be able to render beauty to canvas. I wish I could draw too.

5. I'm a messy irk. Well, I'm not, I love a tidy house, but I just can't abide tidying. I love someone else tidying for me though :)

6. Since my divorce, I've become more spartan in the way I live. I cannot abide clutter and having stuff. The less you have the freer you are. I prefer to eat better.

7. These are absolutely the best and happiest years of my life (stuff school, I couldn't wait to leave).

Now I'm supposed to tell you about blogs I read, but I did that recently here and as I'm a bit slow about discovering new blogs, I haven't anything new to add. Never mind, eh?

Rewarding Awarding

Last week, at least I think it was last week, you know how time flies so fast it's hard keeping up sometimes, anyway, I do believe it was last week that fly in the web at French Leave very kindly awarded me the Sunshine Award for spreading a little of it around with my blog. Fly is very much involved with her small community and writes about the ins and outs of living in a French village in the PO, dissecting the crap and shady dealings that make up part of everyday life in France. Life in the raw, as it were, the rose-tinted glasses having been thrown out years ago. You want to know what really goes on behind the shutters? Read fly's blog.

Today, I was very kindly given an award by Dash at French Sampler, the Vraiment Française Blog Award for my blogging on living in France. Dash's blog is full of beautiful photos and gorgeous descriptions of places, gardens and her favourite things. In fact, beauty is at the heart of most of Dash's posts.

It's so nice to be appreciated, so thank you, ladies, for my awards, and please know that it's a pleasure to read yours too.

As for introductions to my favourite blogs, as I should do so with the Sunshine award - 12, theoretically, in total (yikes!) - here is a (small) selection of ones I read and enjoy.

Hausfrau for her 'happily unreconstructed housewife' life in Wiltshire.

Gigi, who writes sporadically at French Windows. Maybe this award will encourage her to write more often...

Newly discovered, thanks to Keith at A Taste of Garlic, is Mya at Missing You already who makes me laugh.

Dirk, at Berry Deep France who is another old hand at living in small town France.

I don't have a very extensive blog roll in fact, so I'll leave it at that for the moment. I can hardly nominate The Times Online, or the Telegraph Online. I often read Go Fug Yourself, for a good laugh, but it isn't a site to nominate either.

On a different subject, my mother has managed to park my dotty dad in a care home for a week so is dashing out for a visit tomorrow which will include gin, wine, good food, friends, town, personal shopper, eating out, eating in, chilling out, having a carefree time, enjoying evenings with the boys, wine, gin and hopefully some sun.

So if I'm not here, you'll know where I am...

"Thinking" Blogger Award

I often feel I have great difficulties engaging my brain. You know we are only supposed to use a fractional amount of its capacity? Well, I'm under the impression that mine takes the piss by obscuring access to vital functions such as memory so rendering utilisation extremely tricky. What isn't hidden away under lock and key (lost) is frazzled by circular arguments with my pre-ado 10-yr old son.

Imagine, then, dear reader(s), my stunned surprise at being nominated by a very superior blogger Roads of Stone for the Thinking Blogger Award. Roads' blog is one where you go to meander down country lanes, agonise empathetically over miles of a marathon course, or feel your hair blow as he describes whizzing downhill on the London to Brighton cycle race. Marvellous stuff! Anyway, thanks Roads!

The award brings with it a “spread the joy” request to share, by tagging five other blogs - those which make me think.
So here they are:
Dream and Daemons written by ColinB whose blog is packed full of serious information and opinions on various subjects from the use of sulphites in wine to the usefulness of university courses.
Minter Dial who is a mathematician and therefore an alien... He's an American who lives in Paris and his blog provides analysis of American business, Wimbledon, footie, film revues and so on. An eclectic read and always excellently written.
Suspect Paki; a Londoner and a Muslim whose insight and honesty on his issues packs a definite punch.
Colin Randall's blog France Salut! which is a bit of a cheat because he is a real journalist and is paid to write thoughtful stuff. However, he is not paid to write Salut! so I feel justified in nominating him.
Blue Vicar in which Anne relates her life and experiences and offers ideas and suggestions to inspire others to write.
Congratulations to all five of the above, and if you choose to participate, here’s the fine print:
If, and only if, I tagged your blog, write a post with links to 5 blogs that make you think.
Link here so that people can find the origin of your award.
On On !