It's way past time to share the love...

I was honoured to receive this award from three wonderful bloggers I love to visit

Susanne (Miniature Dreams)

Lara (Lara's Miniature World)

Margaret (My Petite Parterre)

- a sincere thanks to each of you.


I decided to wait a while to pass it on because it was bouncing around from blog to blog so fast at the time I thought I'd let the dust settle a little - but I didn't mean to let it settle quite so long that it took an archaeological dig to unearth it ;)

The rules of this award are:

1. Thank the person that gave it to you.

2.Copy the logo and place it in your blog.

3.Link to the person who you nominate.

4.Name 7 things about yourself that nobody knows.

5.Nominate 7 kreativ bloggers.

6.Post link to the 7 blogs that you nominate.

7.Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know that you nominate.

So, the 7 things that nobody knows about me, well there are probably plenty (and for many of them I'd like to keep it that way!! LOL - although it's probably surprising too how much we do reveal, sometimes inadvertently, from time to time) - anyway, here goes...

1 - I can be inclined to procrastinate as I consider a situation from every possible angle before taking action - oh you'd worked that out already and this is supposed to be 7 things you DON'T know - ok...

1a - I'm a research junkie (for example 'normal' people cite about 5-10 sources as references on 2000 word uni essays, I've been known to list 21!) That's one reason I enjoy university and family history so much.

2 - When I was approaching the end of my high school years I thought about doing a course in interior design but allowed myself to be talked out of it - now I get to have fun doing it in mini (and I get to spend HOURS and HOURS trawling decor blogs and websites like Designers Guild before actually doing anything - refer to 1 & 1a above).

3 - In 2002 I won a newspaper competition - due to my superb research skills ;) (refer to 1a above) - the prize was a 14 day European coach tour starting in London, plus Sydney-London return flights, for 2 people of course. Highlights were Brussels, a short Rhine River cruise from Boppard to St Goar, Heidelburg (where I bought a little Reutters set I saw in a shop window in the market place below the castle), Innsbruck, Salzburg, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Florence, Lucerne, and Paris. It was a wonderful experience.

4 - When I was a child I would sometimes go with my father to his to big workshop (he made all kinds of amazing stuff there including a set of swings, see-saw etc, for the local playground although it wasn't his 'profession') and he would sometimes let me open the tins of ingredients for gun powder (yes that's right - the explosive stuff!) and mix them up according to the recipe. Then we'd take it outside and put it in holes in the clay bank, run wicks from it, light it and RUN!! I also liked to put a little in a tin, Dad would throw the match in then - BANG! Of course I wasn't allowed to touch the matches - do you think my Dad would let me fool around with dangerous things???? LOL This activity had to be secret though - I wasn't allowed to tell my mother - I wonder why!!

5 - My mother died before I started high school, I still miss her every day. It is a great point of sadness in my life that I never got to relate to her as one grown woman to another, and that my sons were denied the opportunity to enjoy her as a grandmother. How she would have loved to knit for them.

6 - My mother was adopted. A couple of years ago I managed to track down her birth family (again, refer to no 2 above - LOL) and it was exciting to be invited to meet a whole lot of 'new' cousins. It was a wonderful experience to see where my mother had 'come from' - so many things that were so special about her - her creativity, her intelligence, her ability to write and communicate in a special way - were all embedded in these roots. And of course these are my roots too and even though I was a generation removed from this adoption I had always wondered about that family, and those ancestors, now I know about this important part of me and it is a wonderful feeling.

7 - This coming weekend my husband and I will celebrate our 40th wedding anniversary - now before you start doing the math I should tell you that I was a 'child bride' ;) I'm hoping to convince the dear man that a mini Dutch baby cabinet (just like the one that Frederica has ) which retails at around NZ$80 would be the perfect anniversary present - at $2 per year I reckon it's a bargain!!!

Of course there are way more than 7 bloggers I would like to pass this award to but 'rules are rules' - my nominated bloggers are

Catherine (Kilmouski & Me)

Ana (Arts and Miniatures)

Frederica (Frederica's Little World)

Chadina (Visionary in Miniature)

Latchkey and Jonquil (Latchkey and Jonquil)

Carmen (Minishabby)

Roelie (La Petite Sofie)

Krin (More Than Mini)

Oh heck, that's 8 - well, rules are made to be broken aren't they ;)




I have also been honoured by my friend Jody (Peach Blossom Hill) with the Premio Amigo Artesano award. It's probably against the rules to pass this on (not BACK! - there's a big difference, you understand) to the person who gave it to you but how could I make a list of blog friends and not include Jody?? - and I think it's already pretty obvious that my favourite thing to do with rules is bend them ;)

The other four blog friends I'd like to pass the award to are

Annie (Obsidian Hall) and Susanne (Miniature Dreams) both of whom have had this award before I know, but heck if you can have more than one friend why can't you have more than one friendship award - especially since they have champagne on ice waiting for me to fly into Denmark on my witches broom.

I'd also like to pass it to Ira (Merry Jingle Crafts) who is hopefully making "nadas" for me in her mini bakery this weekend - if you have missed the 'nada' joke here is the post from her blog that explains it. And besides Ira is a great 'real world' cook too and a girl like me who hates to cook but loves to eat needs all the foodie friends she can muster :)

And last but by no means least to Sans (The Dollhouse Diaries) who has been a loyal and generous blog friend since the beginning.

I couldn't end this LONG post without mentioning that I appreciate all the comments, advice, encouragement, and friendship that so many of you have shown to me over the past months, you are ALL great blog buddies worthy of the award :)