Liebster Award

Katherine Hajer of The Eyrea recently received The Liebster and very deservedly. I know Katherine personally and she is a hugely talented writer that never ceases to amaze me with her flash fictions and stories that I look forward to each week. It sure beats the dry stuff that we wrote together at work!!


The Liebster is an award that's meant to be passed on, and Katherine has nominated me. So now it's my turn.


There are rules to accepting the award:

1. You post 11 random facts about yourself.

2. You need to answer the 11 questions your presenter gave you.

3. You pass the award on to 11 other bloggers.
4. You compose 11 new questions for your recipients.

Eleven Random Facts About Me

1. I met my spouse when my vice-president decided I would be a good fit for a position he had open.So he was my boss and a tough one at that. i mean who makes someone "white-out" (yes, some of you will have Google that) the black dots on a financial report before it was photocopied??? But I did get a rating of superior competent on my first review! That was thirty-four years ago, so I guess my performance has stood the measure of time.
2. If I hadn't tripped into a career in banking technology I definitely would have been either a teacher or a reporter. I actually did several years of a teacher's degree but then got a summer job in a bank and never went back to full-time school. Since I am no longer working I would love to teach computer skills to women on a volunteer basis as I know older women who are intimidated about having a "young" person train them as they generally don't have the patience.
3. In 2013 I am looking forward to lots more travel. It is what I love to do. On the bucket list - Alaska cruise, driving out west in Canada, Paris and/or Rome, the list could go on and on. At the moment we are spending two months in Las Vegas (crazy) and then will be in Mexico for two weeks with two overnight stays in Los Angeles (perhaps a little longer if we can catch up with some friends). Then a couple more days in Las Vegas before we head to Sedona for two weeks. Then a slow, leisurely drive back to Toronto with a couple of days in Oklahoma hopefully to see  some friends there.
4. When I think back on last year I am astounded that we survived the total craziness of selling our home of twenty plus years and downsizing to a condo which we only lived in for a couple of weeks before heading south for the winter. In between we had some amazing trips (three European river cruises). On one of those cruises our house sold and was handled by a very good friend to whom we had given power of attorney.
5. I hate lasagna, olives, anchovies, and especially peanut butter!! Do NOT even eat peanut butter in the same room as me. 
6. If I could change anything about myself it would be my height! I am only 5 feet tall (and shrinking). I hate having to ask other people to reach for something.
7. I almost never have music playing. It just never dawns on me I do, however, always have the TV on even though I am not watching it. I cannot sing for the life of me and would never think to sing in the shower.
8. I lost a spelling bee in grade five on the word "career". To this day I think of that when I see or hear the word.
9. I love to cook but the first meal I made for my husband was Hamburger Helper. He also has never let me live it down that I made a no-cook cheesecake that was inedible.
10. One of the craziest things to happen on a trip was to be stranded overnight by a fallen tree on the Big Island of Hawaii. We were rescued (along with two other couples) by a fantastic forest ranger who arranged for us to spend the night at the Kailua Military Camp and then drove us back to our cars the next morning once the tree had been removed.
11. I am a fanatic about apostrophes. It drives me crazy when I see a misplaced apostrophe. 

Here goes:
The questions from Katherine

1. Chocolate or vanilla? 
2. Tea or coffee? Coffee. I only drank tea until I moved to Toronto and got into the habit of going for a coffee break with co-workers.
3. What colour is Thursday (and why)? Not that I'm not working all days are green!!
4. What's the first thing you remember? The smell of peat in Ireland.
5. If a stranger were to open your fridge door and look in right now, what would be the first thing they noticed? Since we are wintering in a rental condo in Las Vegas the answer is a little different than if I was at home. They would notice a very sparsely equipped fridge compared to at home. 
6. What made you decide to start writing a blog? I wanted somewhere to write about our travels.
7. If your home got featured in a house and home sort of magazine, how would you describe your decorating style? Urban cozy - we just downsized to a condo and replaced some of our furniture. I was extremely happy to buy a pub style dining room set. But we did keep some of our all time favourites like a steamer trunk that I have had since the early 70s.
8. What was the last book you read that you recommended to other people, and why? That is easy! I finished The Street Sweeper by Elliot Perlman a couple of weeks ago and am having a hard time finding another book that captures my interest. 
9. What's your idea of the perfect Sunday? Staying in pajamas and reading all day.
10. Socks or barefoot? Definitely barefoot!! I only put socks on if I absolutely have to.
11. What's next?  More Las Vegas, Mexico, Sedona and the drive back to Toronto.

I am passing the award on to:

1. Gill at That British Woman
2. London Lulu at Princeton Daily Photo
3. Fun60 at 60 and the Next 10
4. Pat at A View from the Edge
5. Jennifer at The Writing Cocoon
6. Freda at Day One
7. Anne Anne in Oxfordshire
8. Pat at Occasional Toronto
9. Infiknit at Divineknits with Infiknits
10. EG Girl at East Gwillimbury Camera Girl
11. Halcyon Travels

And here are your questions:

1. If you could get a degree in ANYTHING (without any silly ideas like prerequisites or making a living doing it), would you get a degree in? 
2. If you could only live in one season what would it be and why?
3. If you had unlimited funds and a free weekend where would you take your BFFs?
4. Naps or not?
5. Did you ever skip classes in high school?
6. Have you ever broken any bones?
7. What's the most embarrassing thing that you could write about here?
8. What are you deadly afraid of?
9. Do you have a middle name?
10. What's your passion?
11. Do you have a bucket list? If yes, share some of the items with us.