Well, I have been nominated for the Liebster Blog Award. Thank you very much, Shania of http://fightagaintocd.wordpress.com – I’m very flattered. I must confess, I had never actually heard of the Liebster Award, but having looked it up, it all seems jolly exciting.

There are some complex rules regarding nominations, so here goes nothing:

1. You thank the nominator. In my case, that’s the lovely Shania. Thank you, Shania, and if you missed it first time round, her blog address is http://fightagainstocd.wordpress.com.

2. I must display the award on your blog — by including it in your post and/or displaying it using a “widget” or a “gadget”. – hum. Being, as I am, something of a lipstick luddite, I have no idea what a “widget” or a “gadget” is – other than something you might find in Ariel’s treasure cave. Hopefully the award will be gleaming away at the top of this post.

3. I will now need to answer 11 questions about yourself, which will be provided to you by the person who nominated you. I’ll answer those in a minute, so now onto…

4. Provide 11 interesting facts about yourself.

5a. Trawl blogs. Nominate 5 – 11 that you feel deserve the award, who have less than 200 followers.

5b. Create a new list of questions for your nominees.

List these rules in your post (have done so). Once you have written and published it, you then have to:

Tag your nominees and let them know with a link to your post.

Back to number 4, and those facts about me:

Phun phact number 1: When it was my sixth birthday, my dad became president of the Catenians, a semi-mafioso society for gentlemen Catholics. We were celebrating his presidency with cakes and lemonade (for the nippers) in the gardens of a church nearby when someone near me ran very very very very quickly past. Curious, I went to explore what he had run away from. Turns out he’d knocked over a beehive. My hair was in two plaits around my head, and my parents – when they had determined that I wasn’t running around screaming because I was excited – picked out 11 stings from my hair. It was my birthday, can I just remind you.

2. I have crippling trypanophobia (fear of needles). This is possibly related to number 1. It’s all a rich tapestry.

3. I like to listen to Agatha Christie audiobooks before I go off to sleep. I know, I know. Rock and/or roll.

4. I always thought I was quite ok-ish at hula hooping, until it was my birthday and my friend beat my sorry ass at it.

5. I’m a sucker for adult education courses. In September, I’m doing ballet, illustration, and creative writing. Viva la Pottery!

6. I have two fish, Antigone and Magdala. Antigone is gold, Magdala is silver. They live in a pink tank from Wilko’s, surrounded by slimy castles and ghastly opaque green water.

7. My housemate at university was once briefly related to Phil Collins in the 1980s, through marriage. I was really jealous of this fact because it beat my celeb story – that my mum once ran in a three-legged race with Tommy Steele’s sister – out of the water.

8. I was out with same friend in a restaurant when I caught a cockroach. I thought they would at least give me a free drink, but they just came over with a dustpan and brush, and put it in the bin.

9. Strictly Come Dancing really is the highlight of my year. So is Great British Bake Off. And Apprentice. Actually, telly’s pretty good full stop.

10. When I left primary school, I was one of only two children chosen to be given a ‘gold award’. I still have it somewhere. It was for the ‘Development of Sporting Attitude’: I never never never won a race or scored a goal, but I always tried.

11. My top 3 flowers are (in ascending order): irises, tulips, peonies.

…I think that’s pretty exhaustive. Now you know me inside-out, here are my nominations:

1. handmadeandhome.com.au – a lovely calming blog. An oasis in the internet jungle!
2. euphoricstimuli.com – brilliantly creative lady, with lots of hidden depth
3. whichhattoday.com – thoughtful and insightful
4. dreamstobeanxietyfree.com – she’s already been nominated, so I hope this is allowed
5. stepsadventures.blogspot.com – a real gentle soul and lovely lady

And finally! Question time. First, my questions from Shania.

1. If you could do anything right now, without the fear and the “what-if’s”, what would it be?

Write my children’s book. Get it published.

2. What is your go-to song that helps calm you or inspire you?

Depends on my mood! Possibly something 80s. Girls Just Wanna Have Fun? Maybe.

3. If you were to give one piece of advice on how to help someone with OCD, what would it be? The advice would be to a parent, family member or close friend.

You won’t understand it. It doesn’t make sense. Just be there.

4. What is it at this moment in life that you are most grateful for?
Right now this second? My nomination! 😀

5. What makes you smile? (Do that more.)
The glug-glug-glug from the first pour of a bottle of wine. Waking up and realising it’s Saturday. People reading my blog.

6. What is the most important thing so far that you’ve learned about life?

It’s yours, you do what you bloody well like.

7. What message do you hope people get from reading your blog?

I just hope they enjoy it!

8. What’s your mantra in life? Explain why this mantra inspires you/ why it resonates with you.
DON’T MIX YOUR DRINKS. Kids – if you learn only one thing, it’s this. The grain and the grape… just don’t do it. Also, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it. Facebook could learn a thing or two from that.

9. What’s your top 3 favourite fruits?
Raspberry
Cherry
Mango

10. What’s your favourite TEDtalk? If you don’t have one, what’s one of your favourite blog posts that you’ve read?
Someone I know gave a TEDtalk about hearing voices in her head. It was absolutely brilliant.

11. If you were to give a word of encouragement, inspiration or love to a fellow OCD warrior, what would it be?

It’s just the bully of your mind.

Second: my questions. Here goes…

1. What were you like when you were 16?

2. Do you have any films that you prefer over the book?

3. If you woke up the opposite sex for 24 hours, what would you do? Aside from the obvious…

4. You have to eliminate one colour from the world. What would it be and why?

5. You have Picasso, Einstein and Anna Pavlova coming for dinner. What do you cook?

6. Are you left or right handed? Do you print or write joined-up?

7. What was the first job you wanted to be when you were little?

8. What period of time would you most like to live in?

9. What superpower would you have, and what would your hero name be?

10. You are queen of the world for a day. What 3 new laws would you implement?

11. Can you tell the Kardashians apart? I can’t.

Thank you for reading, and final thanks to Shania again.