Unexpected Surprises

I know - I've been such a bad blogger lately.

Just so much do at the moment and there seems so little time!

I promise I'll try harder.

The two things I want to share with you today are well overdue for blog posts, the first having happened on 29th March !!!! Yes you read that right (hangs head in shame)

About Me who writes the lovely and very interesting blog "We Are Here" nominated me for an award.

I felt truly honoured to have been nominated for this award and do apologise to About Me for taking so long to acknowledge it. I love getting these awards and see it as a huge compliment so many thanks to About Me.

Now the rules are:

• To pass this on to ten blogs and tell them about it.
• Write 10 facts about myself.

It's very hard to choose 10 blogs as I follow so many different blogs and I love reading them all. 

So often too, fellow bloggers already have the award or indeed some prefer not to participate in blog awards, so, I'm afraid I'm going to do a bit of a cop out.

I'm going to nominate Angie from  Hounds and Home as a thank you for the second overdue item I'm going to blog about, and then I'd like to throw this open to everyone who reads this because you are all so deserving, so please feel free to be nominated if you would like this award.

Now I'm itching to tell you about my other surprise so I'll leave the10 facts about myself to the end of this post.

The other week the lovely Angie who I mentioned above sent me a lovely gift.

A gorgeous 1950's American glass measuring jug. It is just so lovely. Angie had found the jug at her local car boot sale and thought of me. so she bought it and sent it to me - I'm simply overwhelmed by her thoughtfulness. Not only is it lovely to look at (I'm afraid my photo doesn't do it full justice)  but it is such a practical item, I've been able to throw out my ever annoying set of plastic cup measures and now use this for American recipes. To cap it all Angie also sent me a lovely summery fat quarter, which shall be used for a future project. Thank you so much Angie, I really appreciate your kindness. If you haven't seen Angie's blog do have a pop over, she makes some beautiful things.

Do you really want to know 10 facts about me? Well ok just in case you answered yes here we go:

1. It took me 7 goes to pass my driving test - I'd have given up but we had already moved 30 miles away from where I worked so had to persevere!
2. On a similar note I attempted my CBT (Compulsory Motorcycle Training) a couple of years ago but after 2 very stressful hours (and much falling off said motorcycle)   I decided to give up and resign myself to riding pillion on my husband's motorbike.
3. Between the ages of  9 and 11 I lived in the village of Butteryhaugh in Kielder Forest. We moved there when my dad was made redundant from the shipyards in Sunderland and the experience left me with a lifelong love of the countryside. We moved back to Sunderland when I was 11, but I always wanted to return to living in the countryside, which I finally did at the age of 42.
4. The reason my parent's moved back to Sunderland was because I passed my 11+ exam and would have had to attend  a boarding school - my family didn't want me to go away to school so they returned to the town to live.
5. I love cats, I have been owned by cats for the last 30 years, my current owners being a brother and sister going by the names of Mortimer and Esme.
6. I have recently taken up belly dancing - it's great fun (though I wouldn't want to be seen doing it in public!)
7. I'm very untidy and I drive my husband round the bend because of my inability to tidy up after myself.
8. I swim like a drowning duck! this is  my brother's description, but it is very apt, while I can swim (just) it is without any real skill and so I dare not go out of my depth. 
9. My favourite perfume is Opium by Yves St Laurent, closely followed by the good old hippy standby Patchouli Oil.
10. My favourite film is Casablanca with Humphrey Boggart - I love him in this film and have seen it loads of times.