I got a shiny!

Being appreciated is a lovely feeling, so imagine my delight when I went to catch up with what the lovely Sharon at Waffling On About was up to, to find that she'd given me a very pretty blog award!

I first 'met' Sharon just before the last General Election [when the world was a better place]. Brought together by our mutual fears about what was to come, we found solace on the Scrabble board, and she remains one of my fiercest opponents ;) as well as one of my absolute favourite online people :)
I could've had the shittiest day ever and can guarantee I'd still be smiling [if not crying with laughter] by the end of a conversation with Sharon. And if she's not about for conversations, I just have to imagine her licking cheesecake off her dog*, and it has the same effect... ;)
Sharon has two blogs: one is the aforementioned Waffling On About [where she doesn't waffle at all but always has something interesting to say whether it's about gardening or taking her mum to strip shows or stories about her beautiful granddaughter].
Her other blog is very special indeed and I'd urge anyone if you can to read it right from the very beginning. Being Paul's Mum is quite simply one of the most inspiring blogs on the net today. Reading about the struggles and triumphs and fears and joys of bringing up her son who has learning difficulties has had me in tears more times than I can count. It's written in such a way that you feel you're sharing the experiences with her rather than just reading about them, and it's a privilege to share those experiences with her and her family.

*one of her favourite pastimes ;)


Now, on to the task of the day: On receiving this award I am charged with bestowing it upon five others who write blogs I love which have fewer than 100 followers, and asking the same of them. So here, in no particular order, are my five:

chickenruby. She's just moved to South Africa and we miss her!! However her move has made for some very entertaining blog posts. Also, we used to go to the same nightclub in our respective teens [mine later than hers, trolololol] which has to be worth a mention, does it not? And it's also worth mentioning that I never touched Bacardi until I met her ;)

Mentalpoliticalparent. Zoe has recently moved from blogger to wordpress where all the cool kids hang out, but we'll forgive her for that because of the awesomeness of her blog. Of all the blogs I read about mentalness, hers is one of if not the most open, she really does tell it warts-and-all without a hint of wanting sympathy or anything in return. I love her bravery, honesty and humour.

Confessions of a Serial Titflasher. Is to my blog list like pinot grigio is to my wine list - essential! From crying with laughter reading about the latest epic trip to the vet to being completely awestruck when she writes about her amazing family and jumping on my sofa punching the air going "YES YES YES!" when she puts the world to rights in a few sentences... the "rhino in ballet slippers" as I once referred to her has had me absolutely hooked since day one. Fasten seatbelts before reading.

Ponderings from me. A musical maffmatishun who allows us a secret glimpse into her amazing mind, what it feels like to know an entire concert hall is staring at her arse [she's a conductor as well as teacher, church organist and everything else!] and lessons on why cucumber doesn't belong in the cutlery drawer.

The Beat OCD Blog. Written by Ann. She writes about OCD in a way that resonates with me so much. Reading about how she deals with every single challenge she faces gives me hope that I won't always be like I am, and she must be giving that hope to her other readers too. [I promise I polished the award before sending it over ;)]


So there we go, those five awesome bloggers are my chosen ones. Naturally there are a dozen more I would've loved to include, but I have to stick to the rules or Sharon might stop telling me when it's cheesecake o'clock...

*nom nom nom*