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Every now and then kind people pass on awards to me. They are designed to help new bloggers increase their reader numbers. I’ve been very bad at passing the awards along, for a couple of reason, one they take a little bit of work,  two I don’t like to highlight one blogger over another because I don’t like to play favourites and thirdly I don’t want the people I pass them along to feel obligated to play along.

However, two lovely bloggers awarded me the Liebster Award this week Tina and Lingering Visions. Tina was one of the first commenters on my blog so I owe her. While Lingering Visions lives in the Shenandoah Valley which reminds me of a John Denver song so that means I have to play along (don’t ever try to follow my logic in this blog – it will only give you a headache).

Here’s what I have to do:

• Answer the 11 questions asked of me, (well 22 actually ’cause I got TWO nominations)
• Post 11 random things about myself, (see above)
• Nominate 11 more up and coming bloggers – they are supposed to have with less than 200 followers but I don’t think I’ve followed that rule.
• Notify them and link them to my post.
• Create 11 new questions for these bloggers to answer.
• Tag backs are not allowed.

 

So first up Tina’s questions:
How did I choose the shoes I’m wearing?

Well this is unfortunate, it’s early here. I put on my Ugg boats. I chose them ’cause the bedroom was dark, the husband was still trying to sleep, they were the first thing I found, which was good because my feet were cold anyway.*

What is your favourite colour?

Purple, although judging by my wardrobe hot pink and emerald-green are also strong contenders.

What sunny destination do you like best?

Loved our holiday on Lord Howe Island, but also think anywhere in Queensland would be fine.

If you could rethink your career path what would you have chosen differently?

Oh the sliding door moments. I would have studied writing/communications at Uni and worked harder at getting writing jobs.

If you were to eat out tonight what kind of food would you choose?

I like Italian, but we have a great Japanese restaurant here that tends to be where we head to.

Would you rather swim or run?

I would rather sit on the beach with a cocktail cheering on the beach joggers as they go past. Why wasn’t that an option? Oh God, I don’t do exercise. OK let’s go with swim. These days I would only run in an emergency. Even then I’m not sure it would be wise to pick me as the “runner” to go get help if we are in a crisis situation. What with the dodgy knees and the extra weight I’m carrying it could make a bad situation worse.

Country music or rock n roll?

That’s tough. I do like a bit of rock n roll but I grew up in a country town. I know all the words to The Gambler and The Pub With No Beer. My husband hates country music so it rarely gets played in our house. I’m not that passionate about it that I’m willing to argue the point, but there have been some road trips when I’ve manged to sneak in a bit of Keith Urban or even the old school Willie Nelson and Johnny Cash. It’s at this point my husband begins driving erratically claiming it is the influence of the suicide music, “for god’s sake their wife left them ’cause they were miserable”.

Do you have kids?

Yes, two girls 15 and 12 with birthdays coming up.

How would your best friend describe you in one sentence?

I would ring my best friend and ask her but it’s 6.52am here (and 5.52am where she is) so I’m guessing her answer right now would be “you are a pain in the ****, do you know what time it is?” If I had to guess when she is awake it would probably be “loyal and funny”. Now I’ve typed that I’m worried I’ve got it wrong. What if she sticks with the pain in the butt answer? What if she doesn’t really think I’m funny at all, she just laughs politely at my jokes to not hurt my feelings. OK as soon as the sun comes up on the Gold Coast I’m going to ring her and find out.

I decide to text my second-best-friend, she has young kids, she’ll be up. She comes back with “great cook, organised, gym junkie, house proud, high performance driver and tells a good story”. Obviously, she’s not taking the task seriously at all. This is the problem with having friends from  high school, they remember the time you drove over their parents rockery, the fettucine you served that resembled Clag Glue and the occasions where they had to clear space in order to be able to sleep on your floor.

Where were you born?

I was born in a former gold-rush town with a population of just under 2,000. It’s the town on the ten-dollar note, Gulgong.  Which, when the ten-dollar note was redesigned, was taken OFF the ten-dollar note. So, having lost its claim to fame is now the town that used to be on the ten-dollar note. Nobody at treasury consulted with the good people of Gulgong before making that decision! Then at age two we moved to the “big smoke” of Mudgee. Twenty minutes up the road with a ginormous population of 7,000 people.

Party animal or party vegetable?

I so want to be the party animal, going hard and strong all night, alas I peak around 8.00pm and crash by 9.30pm. Not only am I a party vegetable, but I’m one that got left at the back of the crisper that is now wrinkled and decomposing.

Then from Lingering Vision:

Who was/is the most influential person in your life?

This is going to sound soppy, but my kids. Having them changed EVERYTHING.

What have they done to influence you?

They made me less selfish and more aware.

Who was/is the most inspiring person in your life?

I get inspired by lots of people, mums who are raising kids with special needs, successful business women who combine work/motherhood, my own mother who battles illness with a smile, great writers.

What have they done to inspire you?

In each case they have overcome the odds but done it with humour and grace.

If you could interview a celebrity living or dead who would you choose?

Maybe the Queen, but the Queen with a few wines under her belt so she would be willing to give me the goss. The history that woman has seen played out.

What is the one question you would ask her?

Rate the Prime Ministers under your reign on a scale of 1-10, go. Or perhaps which Prime Minister did you have a crush on? If she says Thatcher we’ve really got a story.

Do you have a place you go to be alone with your thoughts that gives you a feeling on inner peace?

Could I just direct your attention to my attempt at meditating. I have no “alone” place. I am surrounding by people ALL THE TIME. When my children were younger I used to escape to the toilet. Yes the toilet. They would still came and bang on the door but it was one of the only rooms in the house with a lock on it. I’m not sure I found inner peace but it did stop me throwing things around the house. If I was to have the time to escape, anywhere where I could see the ocean would be my “place”.

Which of your blood relatives are you closest too?

My mother.

Which blog post is your favorite so far?

Awww, that’s like making me choose between my children. I love them all. Well actually I don’t love them all (my blog posts I mean not my children, I love both my children very, very much and EQUALLY, nobody is the favorite). Maybe The One Where I Try To Exercise, oh no, oh I don’t know.

Is it also your most popular?

Nah, my most popular blog post is What’s A Perfect Life? Obviously there are a lot of people out there striving for perfection. Kind of ironic they come looking for it on a blog called “Shambolic Living”.

What is your next project?

There are so many on the go in my head that my great challenge is trying to focus on one long enough to make it happen. Some of my current ideas are, creating a regional artist studio, writing a manuscript, interviewing successful bloggers, a radio documentary and a video series (not a proper series, just a series of videos on my blog of basically me talking).

Now to the blog lovin’.

Nuffnang recently completed a survey of the Australian blogosphere, of the 500 + respondents 92% were female – not really a surprise but I to want to pay tribute to the brave blokes that venture into this female dominated landscape.

Some are from Australia and some from other parts of the world. Some would fit into “daddy blogger” some wouldn’t.

Sofacents Dad

365 Completed Tasks

The Illiterate Infant

Dad Down Under

Gerry’s Space

Rick Diffley Photography

Another Bag More Travel

The Iron and The Soul

The Tiger Father

Stay at Home Brad

The Results May Vary

Please, I know I’ve missed some of you, if you are a fella and you blog (whether it be about your children or not – I know there’s a few photography bloggers in particular that stop by occasionally) please leave a comment with a link to your blog.

My questions for you are:

1. Why blog?

2. What is the best part of the blogging experience?

3. How do you find the blogging community?

4. Bloke’s night out – where would you go?

5. Favourite place in the world?

6. Top three people you would like to invite over for dinner?

7. Last book you read?

8. If you could swap places with anyone in the world who would it be? Why?

9. What’s your fashion style?

10. You’ve won the lottery, what’s the first thing you would do?

11. Are you a cat person or a dog person?

Dear reader, if you have managed to make it to this point you need to shout yourself a drink. Congratulations for getting to the end of the world’s longest blog post.

* I started writing this blog post at 6.00am on Saturday morning, it is now 10.44pm on Wednesday night – so ignore time references it will just confuse you if you are trying to work out time difference between Australia and the rest of the world.