blog awards

I am really amazed that I got an award from Tina and also Barbara, thank you peeps!

I am amazed because I am the crappiest blogger right now and the baddest, fattest arsed bandster on the planet (any one want to challenge me on that? I dare ya!!)

But thank you.

So I am not quite sure wot I have to do, but I will give it a go.

Apparently, I have to place my award proudly on my page (will do that in a mo)
and then do the following.

• Thank the person who nominated you for this award
• Copy the award and post it in your blog
• Link to the blog of the person who nominated you
• Tell seven interesting things about yourself
• Nominate seven bloggers
• Post links to the blogs of your nominees

So here goes:

Tina and Barbara, THANKYOU! I must admit I have not had a read through Barbara's blog until today when I noticed she has obviously been reading mine (i did mention that I am really slack right?) so tonight I am gunna catch up on who Barbara is and give her a good reading! From the few pages I read earlier, she seems to be really determined and also very upfront about her lap band and I love all the pictures. It makes it all real. So, thank you Barbara truly! And Tina, wow, you are a good person for me to know. You give me really good advice that I don't want to take, but know I should ;-) and you comment on my blog when I write about my appalling lack of drive and commitment to my lapband and I know you want me to experience the same success as you. You are a great blogger and enjoy reading your exploits about bike riding... and btw.. if you take the saddle off it might make it lot more fun!! HAHA

So thanks to both of you. It made my day.

7 things about me? Wow.

1.) I had a past life (which i actually don't believe in!?!) or what I prefer to call an inherited memory. I remember from an early age (about 3) that I had a picnic in a field with my Mum, Dad, Aunt, Uncle and Brother and another person. My 'Mum' was not the same as my Mum today, but everyone else was the same. We pulled up in an old motor car at the side of a road on a summer day, and walked across the little back and into a field of corn. In the shade of the oak trees we spread out a picnic blanket on the corn. It was balanced on the ears of corn and my brother and I jumped on it to flatten it down. We sat, ate our picnic, and I was wearing an apron thing over a dress, petticoats and boots and I would hazard a guess that it was about 1910 or thereabouts. I had dark brown long hair (as opposed to the blonde of reality) and we were very happy. After the lunch we walked through the field and up to a large manor house in the distance. It had a red brick wall around it with a 5 bar gate. At the gate there was a working man with horses and a cart and oxen loaded with a yoke. There was a huge fountain at the front with water pouring from little urns into a big pool. The man waved us through and we ran up the path of the house. It had a pea shingle path and was crunchy under foot which I liked. We went into the big house through a small conservatory and I remember running down the big hall/corridor in the house with the sun blaring through the big windows casting little wedges of light as it came through the door and the dust motes in the air in the sunlight. We were making a big noise and laughing and I was about 8. I don't know whose house it was, but we knew them, and were acquainted with them.

When I was 16 in my English Language Examination, I had to write an entry for a magazine about a place called Waddeston Manor in Buckinghamshire. As I read about it, I knew that this was the place that I had the memory of. As it was before the internet, I couldn't google it, but finally did so in about 2001 when I thought about it again and was surprised to see it was the exact same place that I have the memory of. I grew up in Sussex about 100 miles from this place. I have absolutely no idea how I know intimate details about this place.

2.) I am a trained cobbler. Not your mister minute variety, but a proper snobber - nails in mouth glue covered fingers and high on fumes. I have not practiced my art for some years, but if you needed a pair of shoes fixing and gave me the materials, then you would be impressed. I started a job at a shoe repair shop called R. Rhodes & Son for 8 hours a week when I was 13. I got paid a fortune of £1.50 per hour which gave me £12.00 to waste on sweets, magazines and junk every week. At first I worked in the shop taking in shoes and bags to mend, selling the shoe polish and shoes and plimsolls and keeping it tidy and stuff. When it was quiet, I used to go out the back and sit on the steps to the workshop while Old Mr Rhodes (who was older than God) ripped of soles, soaked boots in the water tub, and then realized he was doing the wrong job on the wrong pair of shoes and the younger Mr. Rhodes would sigh in despair at his poor old Dad, then we would all had a good laugh about it and talk about the world and how to put it right. The smell of the glue, the leather and the new shoes is still a delight to me. Then, gradually over the 4 years I worked there he would ask me to do little bits and bobs. It started with pricing the shoe repairs, which meant I had to learn the types of leather, heels and soles and all the different things so that I could price it right. Then he would ask me to trim the threads of the stitching repairs, then it would be skiving a bit of leather for a patch, then actually sticking the patch on, or repairing a dog chewed shoe with it, then a little bit of light hammering, then ripping the old soles off, then trimming the rubber heels with a knife and then when I had been preparing for about 2 years, I finally got to finish a pair on the machine. I wasn't aware that I was being trained, or anything, and if the little bell tinkled in the shop, I had to drop what I was doing and race up the steps, through the bead curtain and serve the customer, then go straight back to the job I was doing in the workshop. I loved being there, and was so upset when I had to leave because I started college. The money was rubbish, but the chat was rich, and I would have happily paid to work there. My brother took my job when I left, also aged 13 and he now has his own cobblers shop. Funny what happens huh!

3.) I have a basic education level, will die young and live a pretty mundane menial life according to the Office of National Statistics. The hard facts: I finished school at 16, took 9 GCSE's. I was married & pregnant in my teens. Sounds pretty grim. You get the idea - I should be barefoot and pregnant living in a caravan or council house with a filthy carpet and the place should be filled with that horrible sweet/sour smell from old chip fat and fag ends, have greasy hair with 1 inch bleach blonde root growth, have several teenage spotty children with at least 2 having an ASBO, time in juvenile detention or possibly in care, smoke, drink and go down the local pub daily with my benefit money. Hilarious! Although I went to college and university I have no other qualifications that I left school with - 9 GCSE's. On paper and in statistics I am qualified for nothing. In reality I have been running my own business for 14 years and own a large detached house, have no credit cards and a live with my husband who I have been with for 15 years on April 14th, we have 1 child (without an ASBO at the moment in time, or spots!) born well into wedlock. LOL
At college I did 14 A levels over the course of 4 years and I have completed 2 years of 3 degrees. Time and unforeseen occurrence befall us all, as the good book says, and this was the case. I have no need for a degree now, and no intention of getting one as I cant be bothered, but I learned a lot through the 2 years of each one that I did complete. The first one I dropped out of as we moved house. The second I left as I broke my knee cap and had too much time off. The third one I left because DS needed home schooling. It was then that I decided I was only getting a degree for the sake of having one, but also that it would be of no real use to me seeing as I fully intend to be a housewife, full time, as soon as I humanly possibly can.
My 14 A level courses came about because I joined a course, finished a year of it, and then changed course. If I had taken these courses these days, I would now have 14 AS level qualifications. That's how they work them now. You do one year and you get half an A level, and then you top it up to a full one in the second year. As it is, I did them between the age of 17 & 23 when you had to complete the full 2 years to get recognition for any of the work you did. That's my luck all over. So in reality I am a fully functioning adult, but statistically I am a drop kick waste of space. Cool.

4.) I want to be Asian. I really REALLY want to have been born Indian. I don't know why, but I wish I could become one. I like the way they dress, I like their culture and their sense of family and community and I enjoy being with my friends Rhuta and Gagan immensely and forget that I am white. Its always very disappointing leaving them and coming back to the English me.

5.) I love the programme Home and Away. I have watched it from the very first episode which aired here in the UK on a Saturday with Sally moving into the house with the Fletcher family. I know all about it, read up in advance and the day I sit down to watch it is the highlight of my week. I record the omnibus edition on Sky+ every Saturday morning while I am at work, and then I tease myself with it all week knowing its there for me to watch, like a chocolate mud pie in the fridge, and then when I cant stand it any more, I sit and watch the whole 2 hours in one hit with a bottle of wine and various treats.

6.) I am an excellent cook. I have no idea why, or how this happened, but I realized over the past year or so that I could totally wipe the floor with people in Master Chef. I never sing my praises, but this is one time I will. I can be given 3 ingredients and told to rustle something up, and I will. It will be tasty, nutritious, and I will know what went into it, the calories and all kinds of other stuff about it without having to think very hard at all. I can eat a meal at a restaurant and come home and reproduce it exactly. Today I had nothing in the fridge apart from 1 courgette (the other two were totally gone home with mould), some chicken, potato and cheese. I managed to create a Chicken and Potato gratin. I will post the pics on the next page but I freaking astound myself! I love cooking, love making lots of it and feeding the 5000 and just wish I could have had a massive family to cook for. I have to make do with 2 lodgers though, who polish it all off with aplomb.

7.) I won a competition to design a birthday card for the Queen when I was 10. So that would have been 1986 or 1987. It was her 60th Birthday - not sure if it was her real birthday, or the official birthday, but I won it nonetheless. It was a picture of a calculator with 60 on it. really boring and the competition was run by Wimpy restaurants. I got a letter from her and a cup commemorating it.

Ok, so that was really hard and took ages to write, and now onto my blog nominations:
This is very hard, because I like looking at a lot of blogs.


I feel I want to give special mention to some bloggers close to my heart, and rather than simply just nominate them back, just give them a great shout out as they just know that they would be instant nominees...Its pretty obvious I think that these 3 would be my first 3 choices anyway, so lets funk it up a bit....
So Tina - http://tinasweight-lossjourney.blogspot.com/ you are good for my soul and you have also had bumps along the way. But unlike me, you seem to get on with it, and I wish I had your strength. I am chuffed that you read my blog and help me with a good kick in the ass now and then. I know we will be firm friends when we get together in June! We got a lot in common hun, and I am really kind of please you are going to reopen the Home Ed thing again too. And also to Cara aka The Dash - http://carasquest.blogspot.com. I know you wont mind an especial mention - another wonderful blogger who takes the time to leave comments (i am a real slacker on that) and uplifting thoughts to let you know that writing the blog is worth it because someone is reading. Knowing that someone is reading makes typing until your fingers bleed so much more worthwhile. Your journey is also inspiring and your heartaches in family life are raw and full of emotion. And Caroline, you sweet things http://lonicera53.blogspot.com/ another of my homies (as I affectionately refer to you 3) i love your blog and think its full of very interesting stuff, not just about bands, but about travel and exoticness that I long for. I appreciate your comments on my blog and how you think my posts are funny! Sometimes when I read them a year later I laugh myself too!
Thanks to all three of you, truly.

So to be a little more random and unpredictable - here are the blogs I am gonna nominate for a BB award.

1.) H @ http://wlsgastricbanding.blogspot.com/

2.) Stardustic @ http://stardusticsjourney.blogspot.com/

3.) Dizrant @ http://dizrant.blogspot.com/

4.) Shaggs @ http://daggs2shaggs.blogspot.com/

5.) Erica @ http://mylapbandblog.blogspot.com/

6.) Robyn @ http://robyn-improvinglife.blogspot.com/

7.)Dee @ http://5incisions1bandandabdy.blogspot.com/

You are all GAWJUS LAYDEEZ and I love reading your blogs. Dee is the only blogger I have met in real life and gave me some serious help one time on a damn grim choke when I didn't know how to deal with it. I thought I was gunna die. We met and had the same shifty treatment from Dr. Dovey in London. Dee and I shared a starbucks or two, and some excellent convo's before she went back to Oz. Haven't heard from her in ages, but she surfaces now and again and has also had some problems, but faced them on the nose/chin whatever unlike me who is just a sniveling wretch. Erica is a little ahead of me in the game, but we've kind of been on the journey together. She is now preggers with a band baby and that's just so cool. Shes done really well, and was a source of real encouragement to me in the early days too. Robyn is simply rockin. I enjoy her posts. Shes nearly at her 1 year bandiversary and lost 50lbs. Wowza! Star, Diz and Shaggs have been around my blog for a few years too, and I like their blogs immensely. Diz makes me die laughing at her stress busting rants. An excellent release valve, although less releases in the last year or so... Keep em coming hun! Star is really inspirational too and I like her openness and good sing song nature. Shaggs is another mayhem magnet and love her blurts and funny turns of phrase. And H, a fellow UK bandit and a relatively recent gem of a find. Absolutely lovely hunny, funny, witty, empathetic and I am absolutely over the moon glad to have made contact with her.

This took like 4 HOURS to write. OMG. You guys better just know how special you all are ok. And that goes for all the rest of my followers too. You all deserve an award just for following this poxy blog!!! HAHAHA