Versatile

Guess what? Last week I was awarded The Versatile Blogger Award by Rebecca of nook. How exciting is that? It made my day when I found out. Thank you so much Rebecca, that was so darn sweet of you to do! It's so awesome to be recognized by your blogging peers!

For those of you who don't know what The Versatile Blogger Award is (and don't worry if you don't, I had to Google it myself to get a better understanding!), it's a great way to not only learn about new blogs that you've never heard about, but it also helps a blogger to share a little about themselves and their favourite stops on the blogosphere.

So the rules to this award ? You thank the person who nominated you and share the link to their blog. Tell 7 things about yourself so that your readers can learn more about you. Then pass this award along to 15 newly discovered blogs that you enjoy reading. But just so you know, since I've always either forgotten or been the down right stopper of chain letters and things like this, the nominees have NO obligation to pass this along if they don't want to. For some blogs, it's not their style. For others, they may have the intention to do it and then life gets in the way and before you know it a month has gone by and you've completely forgotten all about it. Hey, I know how it can be. But I'm going to be the black sheep here and only nominate seven blogging peeps. Cause that's how I roll. Ok, really, I'm just feeling really tired and lazy.

Ok, so with that out of the way, let's get on with this, shall we?

7 Things About Me

1. I LOVE coffee. I seem to always have a cup of coffee nearby. I'm actually drinking a mug of the black gold right now, as I type. When I used to work at a coffee shop I used to "test out" the espresso shots, I swear, every 10 minutes! It was not a good sight to see when I got off work (re: I would be jumping off the walls!).

2. I love to travel. Yes, I love seeing new places and all that comes with traveling, but what I love the most? The getting there part. The actual travel part. Weirdness, I know. I'm one of those people that thoroughly enjoys being stuck in a car or plane for hours on end. During university when I had to travel via Greyhound to see my parents, I sometimes looked forward to the 13 hour bus ride...granted that the bus wasn't insanely busy. I also don't mind having to wait in airports or on ferries. And now that I'm a knitter, I don't mind any of these one bit! It just means more knitting time! Although I will admit that sometimes all these points don't ring true when I'm traveling with the Munchkin. That's a whooooole other story!

3. When I go grocery shopping or any kind of shopping for the house, I use a lot of coupons. But I am NOT an extreme couponer. While it's not impossible to be one in Canada, it is a little on the trickier side. AND people need to understand that the shoppers on these shows had been prepping and gearing up for these big shops for show purposes. So their weekly shopping trips aren't that extreme. I don't purchase crap. As in I don't buy a hundred bottles of pop or water, or a thousand packages of ramen noodles. I also don't do a million transactions. I'm too impatient for that.

4. I do have a nice stockpile of toilet paper, mouthwash, and laundry detergent to last my family for at least 6 months though!

5. Even before I started to stockpile the basics, both Brett and I highly practice the use of FIFO. We blame it on the fact that Brett used to work as a cook in his younger years, and I like to blame my FIFO fascination on Starbucks. So if you ever come over to my place, don't be surprised to see "death dates" and just dates in general on grocery items throughout the kitchen.

6. Like Rebecca, I'm a thrower (an English-style knitter). I too want to be a picker and had made it one of my 101 goals to teach myself how to knit continental. I'm still trying to figure out what works for me. I can do the knit stitch but my purling is practically non-existent. I'm far, far from being even remotely efficient with continental, but after reading Ysolda Teague's blog posts here and here I realized that it doesn't matter which way you knit, as long as you are comfortable. I've seen some throwers who are pretty darn fast knitters and some pickers that are extremely slow. Still, if you know of any good videos and/or tutorials on how to knit continental, please let me know!

7. I'm still trying to find the right balance (or any balance for that matter!) in which I can get both my knitting and my sewing projects done in the limited time that I have. It really doesn't help that I want to make it all! I would love to be able to turn my crafting into an actual paying job and totally understand that it can be slow at first. But who knows, maybe it's all just a dream for me? Maybe it'll take me a few years, when the Munchkin is in school full-time, to get "the business" going? For now, it's definitely extremely slow going. It totally irks me that people automatically assume upon hearing that I'm a stay at home mom that I have a ton of free time and that I must spend my day doing nothing but knitting and sewing. HA! I wish! Maybe if I had hired help and a nanny! I don't even have a dishwasher! I spend my days doing laundry, dishes, prepping food, and playing the game du jour with the Munchkin. I do squeeze in some knitting throughout the day, but we're talking maybe a row or two. The majority of my knitting happens after 9pm, after the kidlet has gone to bed, the mess from dinner has been cleared and cleaned, and Brett and I have a chance to sit and talk about our day. Sometimes I don't go to bed until 2-3am! As for the sewing...well, that happens maybe on the weekends. If I'm lucky.

Ok. Still with me? Good. That was longer than I thought it would be! I'd like to take this moment now to pass on the award love to the following blogs:

• Stephanie of Grey
• Mae over at Eat, Run, Knit
• Mary of One Sheep Thrill
• Michelle of mprsdrose
• Ursa of Dyer in the Rough (she's also the woman behind the podcast The Pagan Knitter!)
• Jane of Jane Richmond
• Kat of Petticoats & Peplums
• Cory Ellen of indie.knits
• Jodie of Ric-Rac

Yay for sharing the blogging love! ♥