Thanks!!

Cadi over at Maehegirl, generously awarded me this! I feel very privileged as I've only been doing this bloggy thing for a little while.

So the deal is to copy the award to my blog (tick), link to the award giver (tick), list six things about myself that you may not know and then pass the award onto six others whose blogs I think are deserving of an award (oh, the heady sense of power!), post links to them and give them a comment telling them I gave them an award.

Mmmmm, things that you may not know about me (I'm trying to be a little discriminating and not list anything you don't WANT to know about me ;)

1. I have three older sisters and two younger brothers and a younger half brother, two step-sisters and a step-brother. People open their eyes wide when I list them all and I feel obliged to qualify it with, "Yes, I grew up in a Catholic family". I don't have too much to do with my step-siblings as we didn't ever really live together and all my other siblings, except one brother, live in Australia.





2. I am very impatient. I don't think I am a natural Mum and I have to work hard at parenting and often feel guilty about it all. I love my children dearly but I'm very glad I have access to daycare and I feel very relieved when I find other people who feel the same way.





3. Don't keep chocolate biscuits and me in the same house - I have no self-control.





4. I could never spell neighbour as a kid. Or ingredients, and I have a recipe book that I started when I was about ten and the first six pages have it spelt wrong every time. Which makes me giggle and remember when my sister pointed it out to me.





5. I hate mushrooms. I used to do everything possible as a child to avoid eating them, including secreting them in my hand, going to the loo and flushing them. However, when I accepted a lunch invitation with a client when I was an Independent Midwife, and she served up a bowl of mushroom soup, I managed to swallow the whole lot. The power of politeness!





6. I used to be vegetarian. For quite a few years over my teens and my early twenties. It was never because I didn't like meat but more thoughts about how the animals are treated and killed and how unsustainable meat farming can be. However, my husband is a confirmed meat eater so it became a little harder when I met him and now that we have a chance to grow our own meat, I have no problem with it. I know my animals have a great life, they have a very quick and unexpected (for them) death and I know that my agricultural practices are sustainable.

Now, on to the blogs of others I admire for creativity:

This is a little strange because there are HEAPS of blogs I love, but I tend to be a little bit lurkerish and don't introduce myself or comment much on blogs I follow (maybe that's something I could work on). So for some blog owners this is going to come out of the blue. Plus I know that some of them have a few trillion followers so probably get awards like this all the time (meaning: I won't be offended if they ignore it!).

Cat, over on Just This Side of Chaos. She happens to be one of my sisters so I'm a little biased. But I love how she finds time to create simply scrumptious looking cupcakes. And she's not afraid to show a few disasters either. Yay for being human!

Jodi, at Ric-Rac. She was one of my first bloggy finds and does amazing things with softies and has a totally whacky sense of humour. Her latest Robot series is astounding. Check her out for a giggle and lots of inspiration.

tiny happy. Simply stunning in her simplicity. Manages to make the lovliest things from pre-loved doilies, tablecloths and scarves.

Our Wee Farm. Very talented photographer, creative renovater and hard working 'wee' farmer. I admire the courage it must have taken to uproot and switch countries.

And this one, Farm livin' is the life for me. I might be stretching the bounds of 'creative' here, but I reckon Lori fits under 'creative ways to live your life'. And I want other people to find this and read it - a real eye opener, go back to the first post to know more!

I'm going to leave it at that. There are too many to choose from. And I've already spent a week on this post, I keep writing a little and coming back to it! I thought about giving up and passing it off as silly chain mail stuff, not worth bothering with, but I'd be fibbing to myself. Really I found it time consuming because it made me think about the blogs I do follow and why I follow them, what I want to know, what I'm learning and where I'm just time wasting.

And just to finish the post off, here is a little taster for Cadi. I'm in the lucky position of doing a swap with her, quilt from me and knitted shawl from her - exciting! She sent me a little pack of fabrics that she wants used in the quilt so today I was digging through my stash putting together rainbows of colour!