I'm a Winner!

I normally have to tell myself the above as some kind of positive reinforcement, but this week I have been awarded not just one, but TWO, Versatile Blogging Awards!!!

Not exactly up there with winning an Oscar, but still, its some kind of recognition that out there in Blogland someone else thinks I'm pretty cool - and totally versatile too :)

I'm not 100% sure what the criteria for winning a Versatile Blogging Award is but I've checked out 'versatile' in the dictionary and the official definition is -

1. capable of doing many things competently, and

2. changeable, inconstant

As far as 1) goes I'm somehow managing to raise 4 kids on my own, work 30 hours a week, scrape by with the housework, write a novel, keep up with my blogging, rehearse and perform in a choir and have some form of social life.....whether I am doing any of those things competently is another story!

As far as 2) goes, under the definition for inconstant is a picture of me.  I've always been a will-o-the-wisp, blowing wherever the wind takes me.  I make crazy, rash, spontaneous decisions and I am liable to completely change my mind in a nano second!  This makes me interesting but incredibly difficult to live with :)

So taking the above criteria into consideration, I think I deserve to place my two Versatile Blogging Awards on my virtual mantelpiece to be virtually dusted by my virtual housekeeper :)

Now the rules of the Versatile Blogging Award are -

•  Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
•  Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
•  Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
•  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
•  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself

In line with the rules, in my epic, long winded and later-to-be-regretted acceptance speech, I'd like to thank the lovely Lillie from Lillie McFerrin Writes and the scintillating Sarah from People Don't Eat Enough Fudge.  Thank you darlings!

The rules do say to nominate 15 others but I like to do things in 7's so here are the lucky 7 -

• The brilliant B from B Being Cool
• The wonderful Wendy from Wendy's World
• The radical Rebecca from Musings of a Mother
• The clever Kristy from House of Prowse
• The gorgeous Gil from Ink, Paper, Pen
• The splendiferous Sif from At the Bottom of the Garden
• The naughty but very nice Naomi from Naomi Hart (who thinks the same way about trifle as I do and Im sure will find this award completely without point hahahaha)

Now for the 7 Things About Me.....

I spend quite a lot of time congratulating myself on the fact I have blue eyes - if they had been any other colour I would have been disappointed.  I secretly suspect that blue eyed people are much better at finding things than anyone else :)

Like 11% of the population, I am left handed. I can write in cursive with both hands but don't ask me to use a can opener - its impossible!  Those things are not designed for left handed people!

As a girl I hated my name and wished I had another one (Sybilla was my favourite for a long time) but now I quite like it.  Apart from those awkward and cringeworthy moments when people from my parent's generation decide to burst into song with the epic rock ballad 'Eloise' which was a big hit the year before I was born. In those moments, I wish my name was Sybilla :)

When I was 12, I had a spiky punk haircut which I dyed red and a long rats tail which I dyed purple....I would ride my bike through our small country town with my rats tail flying out behind me and thought I was soooo different.  It turns out I'm not that different at all :)

I spend a great deal of my time reading war books and watching war documentaries.  My great uncle was killed in WWI in circumstances which are mostly unknown and I have spent the last 5 years or so researching his battalion to find out what happened to him and where he is.  I'm also writing a novel about WWI and have written a bunch of short stories and poems about the war....obsessed much?

When I was on holiday in England in 2000 I had a strange experience there that changed my mind about reincarnation.

If I could live anywhere in the world, I would choose Prague - not just because my brother lives there but because its the most beautiful bohemian city filled with books and music and art and I will be in love with Prague forever!

Thanks for my award Lillie and Sarah!