Award from A Broad - 5 August 2007

In the past week I have:

• Cleaned a house. Properly. Furniture has been moved. Dado rails sparkle. The oven even looks rather impressive - on the inside.
• Delivered a full, large car load of clothes, toys and books to Salvation Army.
• Delivered another full, large car load of junk to the recycling centre.
• Cut back my garden and thanked the good Lord that some neighbours had hired a skip that day which they were struggling to fill. Good neighbour that I am, I was able to help.
• Collected boxes from our removal company which is in a Clydebank industrial estate - a drive which took around 45 minutes each way.
• Got Bambi's glasses fixed (again).
• Gone to the Richard Long exhibition in Edinburgh. (Stunning in its simplicity and beauty. Why couldn't I have thought of creating giant mud murals first!?)
• Gone back to Edinburgh for the first day of the festival. Bambi particularly enjoyed the street performers and the Warhol exhibition.
• Written a piece about the Warhol exhibition for Topblogmag (out on Monday).

And slept. And eaten. And swum 5 kms. And stuff.

But the blogging is definitely suffering in the build up to the move. I have been visiting many of my favourites but can't seem to actually structure anything to post here. I'm sorry.

In direct contrast to my 'frequent to irregular' posting habits, is this weeks awardee, Sparx, writer of Notes from Inside my Head who has recently gone from being a 'once a week' blogger to one of the 'almost every day' variety. I thought she should know how grateful I am for her Spud-inspired missives as I plough through two years' worth of cleaning and sorting.

Sparx writes predominantly about her son, Charlie, also affectionately known as 'the Spud'. In fact, motherhood is all she writes about. I have not seen her digress into politics, social development or environmental issues - except insofar as they effect the Spud. This is a focused woman. She does work, but as this has never been given more attention than an executive diary entry, I can only assume that her job allows her to spend time in an office somewhere thinking of her boy.

I am a mom and, having got through two and a half years of nappies, occasional sleep deprivation, illnesses, crawling, toddler travel, weaning and so on, I am astounded at how much I enjoy reliving it. But then it is retold in quite the most consistently entertaining manner by Sparx. Thank you so much for keeping me in laughter.

I just can't wait for toilet training...

Award from A Broad - 29 July 2007

Well hello! I've been fighting a losing battle with my broadband. Yesterday it won - hence the late award. Today, I return - unscathed but determined. I will prevail!
Enough dramatics.

The logo has been chosen - offically through the vote, but also by Lady M, who last week successfully guessed the outcome and posted it on her blog. Had the chosen logo differed from her choice I would have asked her to change it (which may, or more likely, may not have worked). But as she got it right, we'll chalk it up to female intuition.

So the logo is:Although I may mess around with fonts and layout in weeks to come. It's all this time I have....

But on to this week's award. Yesterday, among other things, was also my mother's birthday. Happy Birthday Granny!

Which meant that I specifically wanted to find a blog that she would enjoy. The criteria were - funny, warm, posts not too long (my mum is a busy working granny) and clever. And I thought she might enjoy one of my favourites - Drunk Mummy. Please understand that this is no reflection of my mother's drinking habits - her initials are PMW, with the 'M' being for 'Moderation'. Although there was that incident when she discovered vodka and Red Bull at a function in Jo'burg....

But we digress. Drunk Mummy writes a fantastic blog with lots of warmth, humour and advice. The advice portion is strictly about wine. But, fortunately, in the world of Drunk Mummy, there is a bottle for all occasions - house cleaning, camping, swimming in Welsh waters all warrant a glass.

Her style is laid back and light. It's a bit like having a chat with a really good mate. I always leave with a smile on my face. And if you don't, well, you could always drown your sorrows in her recommended tipple.

Mom, you might not be able to actually get your hands on any of the wine suggestions (my mum lives in Cape Town) but I'm sure you can find some suitable substitutes (I repeat, she's in Cape Town).

PS What with the dodgy broadband, this post has taken me four and a half hours to put together. Let it never be said that I am not a dedicated blogger!

Award from A Broad - 22 July '07

Hurrah! We have logos. Yes, that's plural! Which, given that my budget for this project is, um, well, nothing, isn't half bad.

Trawling the options of free logos has been enlightening. I was really only interested in things that had some connection to the title 'Award from A Broad', which limited me to planes and buxom wenches. Sadly, the buxom wench department was either nearing x-ratedness (is that a word?) or frankly quite ugly.

So the short list is as follows:

Option One: Aeroplane tick
You get it right - a big tick from abroad...

Option Two: Buxom trophy

I find it vaguely disturbing that she appears to be kneeling. And that she appears to be fully clothed except for her chest area. But other than that...

Option Three: Heart globe

Because I luv ya!

Option Four: Daisy

Because that's what we broads do - we give each other flowers.

Option Five: Calendar girl

Because it had to be done.

So now you choose - the poll will be on the side bar.

And on to this weeks award.

I think that many of the readers of this blog are already familiar with this week's recipient but I feel her popularity is no excuse to omit her from my list of Uber-blogs.

Lady MacLeod is a Scottish/American globe traveller currently living in Morocco. She writes about her everyday experiences in Morocco, gives tantalising insights into her love life and potted history lessons. Her interest in current affairs is clear with many thought provoking posts tackling the meaty issues that many of us (or maybe its just me) shy away from while blogging.

She researches her topics but is always humble enough consider other points of view. I have been known to disagree with other bloggers and have become quite annoyed with how many delete comments that aren't in agreement with the post. Not so, with Lady M. Opinions are welcomed and the discussion made more stimulating for it.

Lady MacLeod, may this award be proof that I knew you before you were published.

Award from A Broad

We have a winner! For the award, yes, but also for the title. I am proud and honoured that it was my suggestion that swung it. Although, it is possible that this may have been slanted a bit by excessive voting from, well...me.

But moving on swiftly... The next step is to develop an icon. I have a few doodles, but no matter how firmly I glue them to my monitor, I can't get them to stick to my blog. Alas, they also present me as being a little more buxom than a look in the mirror reveals to be the truth. Any suggestions? How does one 'invent' a button?

And now for the main event. The blogs I follow are pretty diverse. I tend to favour blogs written in interesting places or blogs that are particularly funny (and here a surprising number of Mom blogs feature), but there is also a sub-category of blogs that fulfil some purpose in my life - blogs that provide me with recipes (none of which I've actually tried) and those written by people so on the edge that, even in my darkest days, I emerge feeling certain of my sanity. These are known as Blogs with Jobs.

Todays recipient of the newly named Award from A Broad is one such blog. Mr Angry writes a blog called I am Livid. It is a rant blog. Each working day Mr Angry has a really good gripe about something - modern art, cobblers, the odd irreverent whinge about terrorists. I love getting up in the morning, going online and finding that someone has already had a good rant - makes me feel more inclined to be sweet for the rest of the day.

Be warned the language is floral. But as my dear Mum always says, 'rude is fine, as long as its funny.'

I doubt Mr Angry reads my blog and I'm too scared to tell him about this award lest I somehow incur his wrath. But, even when I don't agree with him, he makes me laugh and that's worth some sort of prize isn't it?

Besides if he doesn't know about the award he can't complain that it still doesn't have a button attached to it...