Sunshine Blogger Award

Wow, a blog award… I’m pretty sure it’s been literally years since I last did one of these! I was nominated by the lovely Chomeuse with a Chou – if you don’t know her blog definitely go and read it. She’s an amazing writer!

The Sunshine Blogger award is given by bloggers to bloggers who inspire positivity and creativity in the blogging community. As always, there are rules.

1. Thank the blogger who nominated you in your blog post and link back to the blog.
Thank you, thank you, thank you! (Link up there ^)

2. Answer 11 questions that the Blogger asked you.
See below.

3. Nominate 11 new bloggers to receive the awards and write them 11 questions.
Also below.

4. List the rules and display the Sunshine blogger award logo in your post on your blog.
Done and done 🙂

1. Why did you start your blog?
   Short answer: to clear my mind of all my random thoughts (see tagline). Slightly longer answer: My first blog was an MSN space (later MSN Live Space) that came with my e-mail address. I started using it out of curiosity, having no real idea what it was. Later, I used it to blog during my time in Austria, as a way to keep friends in the loop about what was happening over there. I started this blog shortly after I moved back to Germany. I was bored, basically friendless and my boyfriend was busy writing his Diplom (German version a Master’s) thesis, so I started a new blog to keep myself occupied and get my thoughts out of my brain.
2. What are your favourite things to do (when you aren’t blogging, of course)?
   Read, obviously. If you’ve read even one post on this blog you’ll probably know that 😉 Other than that cross stitch, travel and eat.
3. If you could only visit one place, where would you go?
   Japan – assuming this means visit one place on holiday and not if you choose anywhere other than “home” you never get to go and see your family ever again 😉
4. Do you have a favourite post from your blog?
   Ooh, umm.. difficult one. I enjoyed writing this one: https://confuzzledom.wordpress.com/2014/08/25/the-best-or-worst-of-denglish/
5. What is your favourite book? (If it is far too difficult to choose, who is your favourite author?)
   Do you really think favourite author is any easier than favourite book? Both faaar too difficult! If forced to choose I would say Terry Pratchett (with massive apologies to Stephen King, Joanne Harris, Michael Bond and Agatha Christie!). Book is literally impossible.
6. What are your goals for your blog?
   I don’t have any really. Just to keep going with it for as long as it makes me happy.
7. Which three possessions would you grab in the event of fire?
   Nick (my stuffed mouse who I’ve had since I was born – you can see him at the end of this post, although these days he no longer lives in the bed due to a hole that I’m afraid might grow), my passport, and the only photo of my step-mum I own.
8. Do you live in the town or country where you were born?
   If you’ve read even one word of my blog you should know the answer to that 😉 No, no I don’t.
9. Do you have any unusual phobias?
   I don’t like ironing because I’m afraid of burning either myself or the clothes. SO pretty much I have a phobia of the iron (as opposed to iron the metal). Is that unusual enough?
10. Do you speak another language?
    German. Plus the tiniest bit of Spanish.
11. If you could chat to any person in history (real or literary) who would you choose?
    If we’re talking famous people, Beatrix Potter. Otherwise my Ukrainian great grandmother.

Here are my questions:

1. What is the best book you’ve read so far in 2018?
2. If you could have any animal as a pet what would it be? (In this imaginary scenario you have the perfect conditions to keep it happy and healthy and there is no danger of being eaten)
3. What food could you happily eat every day?
4. What is your favourite thing about the place you live?
5. Where were you born?
6. Are you eating or drinking anything right now?
7. What is one talent you wish you had?
8. Do you have a favourite board game?
9. What is your favourite thing about blogging?
10. What’s the weirdest thing you’ve ever eaten?
11. If you won a large sum of money, what’s the first thing you would do?

Now to nominate people. Feel free to not do it and please don’t hate me 😉

Kristen from See You in a Porridge

Shazza from Sunshine and Celandines

Audrey from Life as Louise

Dubliner in Deutschland

Elaine from I Used to Be Indecisive…

Beth from Ami in Schwabenland

Heather from Heather goes Deutsch

Jessica from Ever the Crafter

Steven from Sunshine. Whimsy. Tacos.

Lyndsay from Our Girl in Zurich (who is currently away on an adventure in South America, but will hopefully answer my questions on her return after Easter)

Sorry, that’s only ten. Everyone else I can think of us has been nominated already or doesn’t really read my blog. If you made it this far, I hope you enjoyed this little insight into me!

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The Guilty Reader Book Tag

Hello everyone! So, I wasn’t even tagged for this – I just randomly found it on the Internet. I thought it looked fun though, so I just decided to do it anyway. The original came from YouTube (or Booktube as the cool people apparently call YouTube channels that talk about books). I wanted to link it, but as soon as I opened YouTube it totally froze my Internet browser so you’ll just have to look it up for yourselves. The channel is called A Dash of Ash.

Anyway, the idea of this tag seems to be to answer questions about habits that some people I suppose would consider “bad”, hence the guilty thing.
Here goes:

Have you ever re-gifted a book you’ve been given?

Only if giving them away to charity shops counts? I don’t think I’ve ever literally wrapped a book up as a gift that was originally given to me as a gift and passed it on to someone else. I maaay have carefully read a book I was planning on giving to someone before actually wrapping it though 😉

Have you ever said you’ve read a book when you haven’t?

Nope. Even in school I was a little swot and genuinely read all our assigned books 😉 I even read all of Faserland for my German culture class at university and I hated that book! Luckily it’s relatively short.

Have you ever  borrowed a book and not returned it?

Umm, I accidentally kept a book I borrowed from the school I was at before I moved to live with my dad. I had already moved when I realised I still had it. I also still have a Linwood Barclay book on my shelf that technically belongs to my mother. Ahem.

Have you ever read a series out of order?

I do this all the time with crime/thriller series! With those kinds of books it’s usually the current case that’s important anyway so you can get away with it. Only occasionally are the gaps in the detective’s back story an issue. Oh, and going back to my childhood I definitely read The Babysitter’s Club out of order! I only actually owned a few and for the rest had to rely on whichever ones the local library happened to have, but it was okay because they always explain everything at the start of the book ;-). The same thing happened with the Chalet School books actually – the first one I read originally belonged to one of my aunts and it definitely wasn’t the first one. But again it wasn’t sooo important. On odd occasions a Chalet School book continued a story from the previous book, but mostly they were fairly self-contained. I still haven’t read all the books in the series because they’re mostly out of print and I’ve never managed to find the missing ones in second hand shops.

Have you ever spoiled a book for someone?

I don’t think so? I might have told Jan how a book ends, but it’s not really spoiling when he’s never going to read that book anyway! I would never do it for one he might actually be interested in.

Have you ever dog-eared a book?

I did when I was younger – a lot of my childhood books have folded over corners. Apparently bookmarks were not a thing in my world? I would never treat a book that badly now though! However, I do use random things to mark my page… receipts, envelopes, other books. You wouldn’t think I actually own about 30 bookmarks!

Have you ever told someone you don’t own a book when you do?

No. Not on purpose anyway. I suppose it’s possible that I haven’t remembered I own a book when somebody asked. Not that many people ask about books I own.

Interestingly the answers to this seem to be divided into people thinking you would deny owning a book because you’re ashamed of it and those who say they’ve denied having a book to get out of lending it to someone.

Have you ever told someone you haven’t read a book when you have?

No. If I’ve read a book I have no problem admitting to it – even if that book were 50 Shades of Grey (which I genuinely have not read by the way. And I have no interest in it either).

Have you ever skipped a chapter or a section of a book?

No. I may have skim read some of the books we were assigned in school, but I never skipped whole sections. Not in fiction books anyway – I probably skipped whole sections of text books back in the day.

Have you ever bad mouthed a book you actually liked?

No. Why would I do that? If I like a book I don’t care who knows that I liked it… even if nobody else on the planet seems to enjoy it. Conversely, I ave no problem telling people I don’t like popular books (I’m looking at you Wuthering Heights and The Catcher in the Rye!). What’s the point in pretending?

Since I wasn’t actually tagged for this I’m not sure whether it’s fair for me to tag other people, but if you feel like doing it please let me know so I can come and have a nose at your answers. Or if you’ve already done it post a link in the comments. Alternatively, you can just answer one or two questions in the comments if you prefer.

Friday fun

It’s Friday again and I’ve apparently been MIA since last Friday. Sorry about that. Partly I’ve been busy, but if I’m honest mostly I just couldn’t be bothered to sort out the photos for the post I’ve been planning to write. I’m off work next week though, so hopefully I’ll find lots of time for my blog then.

In the meantime, here’s a tag thing that’s been going around Facebook. I didn’t do it there because that’s not my style, but my blog readers are fair game for such annoyance 😉

On Facebook it says “Can you fill this out without lying”, which is just silly. Why would I feel the need to lie?

1. What was the last thing you put in your mouth?
Tomato and Marscapone soup. Sadly not home-made, but it came from the fridge section so that’s at least healthier than a tin, right? (Actually, the technically correct answer is probably a spoon, but whatever.)

2. Where was profile picture taken?
My Gravatar picture (which is what you see when I respond to your comments) is from the Yorkshire Sculpture Park.

3. Worst pain you‘ve felt?
Probably when I had my wisdom teeth out.

4. Favourite place you‘ve travelled to?
New Zealand or Taiwan.

Sun Moon Lake, Taiwan

5. How late did you stay up last night?
10 pm. Not very rock and roll but I had work today.

6. If you could move somewhere else, where would it be?
I like it here and I don’t want to move again for a while, so pass.

7. Ever been kissed under fireworks?
Only every New Year since Jan and I got together 😉

8. Which of your Facebook friends blog readers live closest to you? (Yeah, I altered that one)
Probably Our Girl in Zurich. (She’s awesome – go say hi).

9. When was the last time you cried?
Not sure.

10. Who took your profile pic?
Jan.

11. Who was the last person you took a picture with?
You mean had my picture taken with? Also Jan. Before that my mam and my brother.

12. What’s your favourite season?
Late summer/ early autumn. I know that’s not a real season, but I like it when it’s not tooo hot but it’s also not dark/cold/rainy/miserable yet.

Basel in autumn

 

13. If you could have any career, what would it be?
I always wanted to be a writer but my writing just isn’t that good, so translating someone else’s words is the next best thing.

14. Can you go a day without TV?
I went without a TV for 5 years, so I would say so. Even now it’s rarely me that switches the TV on…

15. You have the remote. What are you watching?
Pointless or Come Dine With Me. The latter is more likely to actually be on since they show about six of them in a row.

16. Does pineapple belong on a pizza?
Absolutely not!

17. Was yesterday better than today?
Yesterday was Thursday, today is Friday. That alone gives today the edge. Other than that they were about the same though.

18.How do you feel about Dr Pepper?
I have no particular feelings about it, but I think the last time I drank it I was about 14!

19. What are you doing right now?
Seriously? I’m on question 19 or 20… what do you think I’m doing? Obviously answering the stupidest question ever!

20. Who do you think will play along?
Nobody – it’s really not that interesting.

Okay, that’s it – I need to get back to work. Happy weekend everyone.

25 Get to Know Me Questions

Today I want to something slightly different. I’ve done similar things before (like an A to Z of Me), but it’s been a while and I think I’ve acquired a few new readers since then (hi new readers!)

I spotted this particular set of questions on Ellie’s blog, This Country Girl’s Journal, and since she asked her readers to join in, I thought I would.

Does anyone recognise this person?

1. What is your middle name?: Ann. It’s my grandma’s name and was also the name of a great grandma I never met, but I’m not sure whether my parents named me after either of them or just picked it because it’s such a middle-namey kind of name (seriously, I can think of at least 8 people with the middle name Ann(e)!)

2. What was favourite subject at school?: English for all the reading and Food Tech because I’ve always liked food 😉

3. What is your favourite drink?: Tea! Soft drink probably Dandelion and Burdock. Alcoholic changes regularly.

4. What is your favourite song at the moment?:  My all time favourite song is Wind Beneath My Wings by Bette Midler, closely followed by Landslide by Fleetwood Mac and Desperado by The Eagles. Right now I rarely listen to music, but when I do it’s Sister Hazel more often than not, so I’ll say my current favourite is Change Your Mind by them.

5. What is your favourite food?: I hate this question! How can you expect me to pick just one?! Potatoes, garlic, sweet potato, cheese, pumkin, Yorkshire parkin, cottage pie, Sunday roast, Swiss chocolate… I’m hungry now!

6. What is the last thing you bought?: Books. Always books.

7. Favourite book of all time?: Again, NOPE! You cannot expect me to pick just one book! But, since you said all time, I’ll only include ones I read more than 10 years ago that have stuck with me. A Bear Called Paddington by Michael Bond, Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett, So Much to Tell You by John Marsden, Each, Peach, Pear, Plum by Janet and Allen Ahlberg.

8. Favourite colour?: Red

9. Do you have any pets?: Sadly, no. I want a dog, but in Germany I thought it was unfair with us both working full time and in Switzerland you have to do a course and get a certificate before you’re allowed to own one! Then there’s the small matter of getting permission to keep one in the flat…

10. Favourite perfume?: I don’t know. It was Liberte by Cacherel, but it’s been discontinued.

11. Favourite holiday?: Well, New Zealand was pretty amazing, but so were Taiwan and Madeira. EDIT: I’ve just realised this was probably originally American since I changed all the “colors” to “colour”, so “holiday” probably means like public holiday. In which case pancake day, because who doesn’t like a day devoted to pancakes?

12. Are you married?: No.

13. Have you ever been out of the country, if so how many times?: Out of which country? I was born in England but clearly don’t live there now so umm… stupid question ;-).

14. Do you speak any other language?: German (but not Swiss German!). A tiny bit of Spanish. Individual words in a few other languages.

15. How many siblings do you have?: A sister and two half brothers. My brothers are not related to each other.

16. What is your favourite shop?: I… don’t think I have one? Maybe TK Maxx.

17. Favourite restaurant?: I don’t knooooow. I did like Bratar in Karlsruhe, but favourite? Hmm. We went to a lovely restaurant in Basel recently – Safranzunft.

18. When was the last time you cried?: I’m not sure, but I’m willing to bet a book was involved!

19. Favourite blog?: Oh, lots. Kezzie‘s, Holly‘s, Charlotte‘s…

20. Favourite movie film (sorry)?: A League of Their Own, Dogma, Clue, Edward Scissorhands. Sorry, I’m useless at picking just one of anything.

21. Favourite TV shows?: E.R. (still and always!), Buffy the Vampire Slayer (hmm, need to watch it again), The Big Bang Theory, Farscape, Blackadder.

22. PC or Mac?: PC

23. What phone do you have?: An ancient BlackBerry. It was a gift.

24. How tall are you?: 5ft 6 – I think.

25. Can you cook? Yes! I love cooking, but not when it’s just for myself.

Did you learn anything new about me?

If anyone else decides to give this a go, let me know – I’d love to come and have a read. You can see Ellie’s answers here.

The Liebster Award

Back in June, Gina from A 4star Life nominated me for the Liebster Award. Thank you Gina! I was in Ireland at the time, then busy with one thing and another, so I’m only getting round to posting the award now. As always with these things, there are rules:

• Post the award on your blog
• Thank the blogger presenting you with this award and provide a link back to their blog
• You then need to write 11 random facts about yourself
• One good turn deserves another, meaning, you then need to find 11 other bloggers with less than 200 followers who you think are deserving of the award so that you can then nominate them! In other words, keep the love going and help small, new blogs get out there and get noticed!
• Finally, the award presenter will ask 11 questions of you which you need to answer and then you, in turn, ask your nominees 11 questions, and so it goes.

So, first of all I need to give you all 11 facts about myself.  I apologise if I’ve told you any of these things before, but after 5 years of blogging it’s hard to remember what I haven’t said!

• I almost studied Russian at university, but ended up not getting in because my grades weren’t good enough. The uni that did let me in didn’t offer Russian, so I did International Relations instead.
• For years I wanted to be a teacher. I changed my mind after spending a year as a language assistant in Germany and hating almost every minute of it (except the days where I went to either my amazing year 7 class or the better behaved of my three year 6 classes)
• On my mum’s side of the family, I am the oldest of 18 grandchildren. There was one cousin who was older than me, but she died before I was born.
• On my dad’s side of the family, I only have one first cousin! She was born in December 2012 and she lives in Australia, so I’ve only ever seen photos of her. Most of my dad’s cousins (my cousins once removed) are actually closer to my age than his though.
• I am the only one of my siblings who has a name that doesn’t exist in Germany (even with a different pronunciation). I find this ironic seeings as I am also the only one who lives abroad.
• The first book that ever made me cry was Black Beauty.
• I hate ketchup! I can put up with it in burgers, but refuse to eat chips (fries) with it on
• My favourite crisps are the kind that are meant to appeal to kids, like Monster Munch and Wotsits. I also love Frazzles.
• I love my job, but the thought of spending the next 40-ish years of my life doing nothing but work (with the occasional holiday in between) makes me want to cry.
• When I was about 10, I begged my mum for months to let me become a vegetarian. When it got to Christmas, I changed my mind. Christmas without pigs in blankets isn’t a real Christmas!
• I used to be able to quote the film The Lion King word for word… thanks to my brother who was obsessed with it and watched it multiple times every day! I can still quote quite a lot of it.

And now to answer Gina’s questions…

1. What’s your guilty pleasure?
   Eating ice cream in the middle of winter while sitting in front of the radiator, wrapped in a blanket. I only do this when the boyfriend is away!
   Oh, and also if nobody’s watching I will sometimes open my empty packet of Flamin’ Hot Monster Munch (I only do it with the Flamin’ Hot ones) right out and lick off all the crumbs. Disgusting right? I can’t believe I actually just admitted that when I have real life friends who read my blog! (Hi guys!!)
   

2. 

   How could anyone resist that little face? (Photo: Wikipedia)

   Cats or dogs?
   Definitely dogs! If I didn’t live where I do, I would love a little white Westie or a Beagle or a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel. There are a few individual cats I like, but for the most part I think they’re evil and probably plotting to take over the world… only the lack of opposable thumbs has stopped them until now.

3. What time do you normally go to bed?
   I would like to go to bed at around 10 on week days seeing as I have to be up for work at 6, but I almost never manage it. Usually it’s somewhere between 10:30 pm and midnight, but if it’s quiz night can ends up being as late as 2 am…
4. What’s the most embarrassing thing you’ve ever done?
   Most embarrassing. Ooh, difficult! I’m always doing embarrassing things. Seriously, I can embarrass myself just by opening my mouth.
   Hmm, the one I can think of right now happened when I was 17. I was invited to my friend’s birthday party… at a pub. My other friend had brought along a bottle of vodka, so we spent most of the night buying coke then topping up with her booze, until she ran out. Then we started ordering triple vodka and cokes. I was supposed to take the last bus home, but completely forgot about it. Then, an hour after it had left, I went into the toilets, sat down on the floor in front of the sinks (I couldn’t make it any further) and threw up all over myself. I was literally metres from the cubicles! Then my friend had to call my dad to come and pick me up because I couldn’t remember my own phone number. My dad just laughed at me all the way home, but the friend whose birthday it was didn’t speak to me for about three months… he worked at the pub and when the owner found out my age he came close to getting fired. Oops!
5. What’s your favourite joke?
   Not my favourite, but the only one I can think of right now:
   What do you call a chav in a box?
   Init
   What do you call a chav in a filing cabinet?
   Sorted
   What do you call a chav in a locked filing cabinet?
   Safe!
6. What’s your middle name?
   Ann – along with about half the people I went to school with! It seems Ann was a popular middle name for my generation…
7. Do you prefer the city or the country?
   I don’t like big cities, but I wouldn’t want to live right out in the country either. I like Karlsruhe because it has the best of both worlds – it’s a city so there’s plenty going on, but it’s nor a huge city and the atmosphere is more like in a small town. Also, the countryside is close enough to visit.
8. If you could go anywhere right now, where would you go?
   The Ukraine…. or Slovenia. I reeeeally want to visit the Postojnska cave (click the name to see the awesomeness)
9. Who was the last person you spoke to on the phone?
   At work, a translator who is proofreading for me. Privately, Jan on Tuesday.
   
10. Would you rather have feet sized ears or ear sized feet?
    Feet sized ears. I could hang loads of earrings from them and turn them into a fashion statement… ear-sized feet would make walking too difficult!
11. Would you rather be attacked by a dozen duck sized horses or one horse sized duck?
    I think a horse-sized duck. Maybe I could tame it then give people rides on its back. For a small fee, of course 😉

Next, I have to nominate some people for the award… or actually, it’s more of a challenge than a nomination coming up with all those facts. Sorry guys! I hereby nominate:

– Kay from Have You Seen My Glass Slipper? (I recently started reading her blog, and she is awesome! I wish I’d had her attitude at 18…)
– Tina from KulturSchock
– From Casinos to Castles
– Fay at Fly on the Wall
– The Diary of Sugar and Spice
– Katrin from The Land of Candy Canes
– Linda of Expat Eye on Latvia
…. and I know that’s only seven, but that’s all I can think of right now without giving this award to the same people who got the Versatile Blogger Award from me not long ago…
You are all free to turn it down, of course 😉

And here are my questions for my nominees:

1. If you could change your first name to anything at all, what would you pick?
2. Where were you born?
3. What is your favourite quote?
4. Tea, coffee or hot chocolate?
5. If you could own any animal, what would it be?
6. Why did you start blogging?
7. Who is your favourite author?
8. What is your favourite flavour of crisps (chips for the Americans)?
9. Apart from blogs, which website do you spend most time on?
10. Do you have a talent? If so, what?
11. What was the last song you listened to?

Questions upon questions

Yes, it’s one of those posts again…

• Why do so many people here feel the need to run across the road in front of trams? I’m sure you’re in a big hurry, but trust me, getting hit by a tram isn’t going to get you to your destination any quicker…
• Speaking of trams: why does the display thingy insist on telling me my tram is coming “sofort” (immediately) when it is nowhere in sight and will clearly not be turning up anything like ‘sofort’
• Why does my kitchen still smell weird even though I’ve taken the rubbish out?
• Why do I have almost not of my wages left already when the month has only just started?
• Why has the translation book I ordered for 30 euros which Amazon claimed should be here by 30th October not arrived yet? (Question for my UK readers, if I actually have any – surely you can’t all have gone off to France and Korea?: Is Royal Mail on strike? That might explain it…)
• Why is my wash basket so full?
• Why are crisps so addictive?
• Why is my flat so cold?
• Why are so many people I know pregnant? (Every time someone gives birth another person makes the “expecting” announcement. It’s madness!)
• Why is it not the weekend yet?

All that you never wanted to know

I went to Maifest yesterday at my old student residence. That’s the Fest where the ex residents are invited to come back to meet the new residents and bore entertain them with tales of how things were back in the day. It was my first Maifest as a former resident, but seeing as I only moved out 2 months ago I didn’t have any back in the day stories to tell. Not that I would tell them if I did, but y’know. Mostly I spent the day telling people that I do not, in fact, still live there. I’m now wondering whether anybody actually noticed I was gone. I had planned to come home fairly early, but instead ended up sitting up all night drinking beer, finally making it home at 8am. I then went to bed, but only for a few hours. Seriously need curtains for the bedroom – the whole bright sun shining in on me thing makes daytime napping difficult. And now it’s 3:45pm. I’m still in my pyjamas and I’ve just eaten a whole 200g packet of chocolate raisins. You may decide for yourself what that says about me.

Anyway, I spotted this meme over at Home Office Mum’s blog and in the absence of other inspiration decided to steal it for today’s post.
So, what I have to do is answer the following questions. Oh, and I also have to replace one question and add one question. Fair enough.

1. What are your current obsessions?
Taking photographs. I took one of a purple tree on my way home this morning. Why? Because I could. Chocolate raisins. Adding books to my huge list of things I want to read some day. Facebook. And my blog of course, but that kind of goes without saying.

2. Which item from your wardrobe do you wear most often?
Black trousers. I wear them for work. Work is all I do. therefore I wear my black trousers all the flipping time. I seriously need to get a life.

3.Tell me your current most played song.
A Long December by Counting Crows. I am listening to it on repeat even as I type. no idea why I’m so into it at the moment. I just love it. I’m also listening to All For You by Sister Hazel a lot. “Words can’t say and I can’t do enough to prove it’s all for you“. Was this song written about me?

4. Last thing you bought?
Food actually, but I’m guessing that isn’t what you want to know. Other than that I believe it was 4 champagne glasses from Nanu Nana. They were 95 cents each. How could I possibly resist?

5. What are you listening to?
A Long December by Counting Crows. Still.

6. Wine or chocolate?

What do you mean or? Surely it has to be wine and chocolate!

7. Favourite holiday spots?
Somewhere that isn’t here. Anywhere. Please, just take me away.
Seriously? I adored Rome. Really want to go back. Also Austria. I miss looking at snow capped mountains. Just don’t ask me to climb the bloody things.

8. Reading right now?
On the tram: A Dragon Lance book. In German. At home: Nothing actually. How is that possible?

9. Four words to describe yourself.
Pretty much permanently confused. (Hence the title of the blog)

10. Guilty pleasure?
Naturals crisps in Balsamic Vinegar flavour. If I carry on like this I’ll be the size of a house by June.

11. Who or what makes you laugh until you’re weak?
Katyboo‘s blog. Clue. Possibly the funniest film ever. Also Belgian Waffle. So two out of my three things are blogs. I’m sure that’s significant in some way.

12. Favourite spring thing to do?
Eat icecream. Spend time outdoors before it becomes too hot for me to cope.

13. Planning to travel to next?
England. In July. For a friend’s wedding.

14. Best thing you ate or drank lately?
Baked potato with lashings of cheddar cheese. I rarely get to eat any cheddar cheese here so when I do it’s as if Christmas, Easter and my birthday have all come and once.

15. When did you last get tipsy?
Last night. First time in months.

16. Favourite ever film?
Usually I say A League of Their Own, but really it’s a toss up between that and Edward Scissorhands.

17. Care to share some wisdom?
I have no wisdom of my own to impart so instead I give you a quote from the Dragonlance Chronicles, Volume 2. “If we deny love that is given to us, if we refuse to give love because we fear the pain of loss, then our lives will be emptier, our loss greater“. Or, in other words, take a chance people. At least if it all goes wrong you’ll still have the memories.

18. Song you can’t get out of your head?
Before I chased it away with Counting crows I had that Umberella (ella ella) song in my head. It was playing in a shop the other day and it’s been haunting me ever since. I don’t even like the bloody song!

19. One thing you’d really like to do this year
Ugh. Why must you asked such difficult questions?
If you’d asked me three months ago I’d have said get a flat, but I’ve done that now and I can’t think of anything else.

20. What or who makes you irrationally rage and totally not proud of yourself at the same time?
Old people on trams. I hate the way they expect you to give up your seat for them, even if they’re only going one stop. And if you fail to stand up they just glare at you until you do. It drives me mad! And then I feel guilty because they are old people after all.

If you could have chosen your own name what would you be called?
When I was younger I always wanted my name to be Abigail. I’ve no idea why, or where I even got the name from, but I always thought it sounded so much more interesting than Beverley.

OK, now it’s over to you. I’m not actually going to name specific bloggers,  so anyone who wishes may consider themselves tagged.

That time of week again…

It seems it’s Wednesday again. I’m not sure how mind – wasn’t it only just last Wednesday? Like right before I blinked my eyes? Hmm, well it seems the world is continuing to spin on its axis even if my brain can’t keep up and it is, indeed, Wednesday again. And that can only mean one thing… Question time!
Here we go.

1. Would I die if I boiled washing up liquid?
Yes, definitely. A horrible, painful death brought on by the poisonous fumes of evaporated washing up liquid. Either that or you’d be murdered by the next person to use the kettle. It’s just not worth it.

2. What is the name of my future boyfriend?
Ezekial Alexander Timothy Simmons. Whatever you do don’t call him Eats, or he may not be your future boyfriend after all…

3. Things to write about when bored.
– Purple monkeys
– Chocolate cake
– Spaghetti monsters
– The inhabitants of an imaginary island
– A haunted suitcase

4. How to get rid of a nervous headache.
Aww, the poor thing’s so nervous it had to hide inside your head. Try reading aloud to it from “The Little Book of Confidence”.

5. What to do if you miss the tram.
I suggest you panic. It’s what any sensible person would do. Alternatively you could learn to fly. Or just wait for the next one.

6. What to do when you’re bored of paper.
Go retro and start using a slate instead. They’re about due for a comeback anyway.

7. Is 25 still young enough to be naive?
I certainly hope not, cos if it is I’m screwed.
No, wait, not true. I’m not naive. At least I don’t think I am… am I?
I have to go and listen to the Kooks now – Naive is now playing inside my head and it sounds sooo much better when they do it!

Question time again

It’s Wednesday. Last Wednesday I did question time. I think I shall do question time again this Wednesday. I have nothing else to blog about (other than the fact that I’m exhausted, missed my tram again, don’t want to study… or go to work tomorrow, etc. etc. if you’re really desperate to read about all that stuff just go through my archives. I’ve written many complainy blogs over the past couple of weeks).
So here are the Google searches that have led people to me blog since this time last week and my silly comments on them. Enjoy.

How to prepare Bratensosse
Bratensosse, for those that don’t know, is the German version of gravy. It’s crap. Every time I’ve had it’s been far too runny, and it tastes weird. I really wouldn’t bother learning to prepare it if I were you. Go and find an English shop and buy some Bisto instead. Trust me, you’ll thank me for it one day. That’s assuming you’re in Germany. If not why would you even have Bratensosse? It’s not normal behaviour…

Plastic Paddington Bear cup
Oooh, do you have one? Does it have a label with “please look after this bear” written on it? Would you like to buy me one for Christmas?

Flowers beginning with B
Bluebell
Buttercup
Bee orchid
Black rose
Butter blossom
Bloomberry
Belldrop
… ok, I may have made the last three up.

Where do cakes take a nap?
In the b(r)e(a)d basket of course.
I’m so clever. Ha.

What to do if I fall asleep on the way home?
Dream I would suggest. I don’t see what else you can do. Unless you’re a sleepwalker. How cool would that be… managing to press the bell and get off the bus at the right stop without even waking up. I bet people in fairy tales can do it…

Wouldn’t mind having lack of sleep
This one’s come up in my statistics twice this week. Twice! On separate days! Are you people insane?
If you want to be tired that badly you’re welcome to take some of my lack of sleep… I’d be happy to exchange it for an extra two hours of rest.

Right, that’s your lot. I couldn’t find any more interesting ones, and the boyfriend will be here soon anyway, which means I need to figure out what we’re having for tea.

Question Time: The Return

I haven’t done one of these for ages. And it’s not like I even have any particularly interesting questions to answer (if it’s interesting questions you’re looking for you need to go here for fascinating facts about shrews and beetroot related pregnancies). I feel my blog is in need of some light hearted entertainment though – and a post that isn’t going to be made private the day after tomorrow – so question time it is…

What is a good skill to learn?
– How to fold the best paper aeroplanes in the world, ever
– The art of keeping spaghetti on the fork
– The best way to keep pot belly pigs
– How to travel round the world without emptying your bank account (if you want to know the answer to this one you need to read Hails‘ blog)
– The art of finding amazing bargains in clothes shops (this is totally a skill, and a very useful one too I might add)

Shall we get up and have a shower?
No, don’t do it! I wouldn’t if I didn’t have to. Sleep is much better! Although if you’ve been lying in bed for the past three days then yes, definitely do get up before your ponginess takes on a life of its own and makes its way over here to offend my nostrils.

Why won’t my boyfriend give me a key?
1. He thinks you’re a nosy cow and doesn’t want you snooping around his place when he’s not there
2. He thinks you’ll lose it
3. He has a terrrible secret that he’s afraid you might discover
4. Giving you a key = making a commitment. He’s a man. Enough said I think.

Tired, lack of sleep
Ooh, is it a game? Can I join in? How about:
Cold, lack of heat
Thirsty, lack of liquid refreshment
Naked, lack of clothes
Hey, this is quite fun…

How do Germans eat strawberries?
Through their noses of course. How do you eat yours?

Were the English army tired or sleepy?
Yes, so tired and sleepy that they sat down to rest for a hundred years. Unfortunately before they could wake up King Jimmy of Scotland decided one throne wasn’t enough for him so he came down and had himself crowned King of England as well. That’s why these days we only have a British army.

Clean things to do when you’re bored
I don’t actually have a good answer to this one, but I just had to share. Who googles this stuff?
Umm, how about taking a shower. That‘s pretty clean… unless you take your significant other in with you of course.