Blog Challenge Day 1

So Day 1 of my 30 day challenge...it's time for me to introduce myself and offer a recent (ish) picture and tell you 15 interesting facts! Oh gosh! I hope I can manage this! Here goes....

I'm not great at introducing myself the first things that always come to mind are the negatives and this is meant to be fun... so I'm 37 and so not where I thought I'd be at this age (but I still believe God has a plan)! I currently live with my parents in Lancaster, and having done lots of Lancaster googling, need to specify in England. I think there is another move in my future but as yet have no details to offer ;-) 

 I have to keep me company a gorgeous doggy who was a gift from God, through a friend, when I was very down and needed a boost! The best gift I ever had! She is a Border Collie and is called Dulcie she has her own blog if you've not seen it yet! She is nearly constantly by my side and I would take her everywhere with me if I was allowed (who's idea was it that dogs aren't allowed in shops?) 

ok so this pic is more like 3 years old but I love me in it and my doggy deserves her picture here too!

I have an older brother, Richard and younger (adopted) sister, Sandy, which gives me 2 nephews, Christian and Sean and 3 nieces, Hannah, Rebekah and Caitlyn! I also have 2 Goddaughters, Steffi and Sarah (who is being christened this month so if I disappear for a few days it 'cos I'm having too much fun holding her) 

1. I love music and play the flute reasonably well, (no that does not mean I'm a grade 8 and just being modest hehe) the guitar a little and recorders and tambourine (sounds corny but there is an art to it, honest!) I listen to music all the time and have very varied tastes in music (though not particularly fussed about rap).

2. I love being creative. When I was growing up I had a very talented much older brother who could draw pretty much anything (though he may dispute that) and so I felt I couldn't do it and therefore wasn't arty. I now know different and I love creating things. I'm not sure I have the artists eye but I make jewellery, cards, I can crochet, cross stitch and make lace, and basket weave. I have tried my hand at glass painting at a couple of other crafts but there are still loads more I want to try and am currently being enticed by the idea of taking old furniture and frames and giving them a new lease of life. I don't have anywhere to do that now but I'm sure I will :-)

3. I love animals (in case you hadn't got that from me owning a dog). We have had animals in the house since I was a child. Dogs and cats mostly but with the odd hamster and rabbit thrown in and between my parents and I we have 2 dogs, 1 cat and a rabbit! When I was little we lived down the road from a lady who truly had a menagerie and had everything from gerbils to dogs to snakes and a marmoset (little monkey) who slept with her! I used to love visiting her house!

4. You might hope that having nephews and nieces and Goddaughters that I like children and you'll be pleased to know I do! I love them and have babysat since I was in my teens, I trained to be a nursery nurse and have been a Rainbow, Brownie and Guide Guider. I can't wait till I can have a family of my own and hope I might have the opportunity to give a child in desperate need a loving, happy home by fostering or adoption.

5. I have had Chicken pox more than once in fact we're pretty sure it was 7 times (although I have to admit that Colemans, our family name, are prone to exaggeration!) but no less than 5 times of varying degrees. So don't you dare listen to the drs and nurses who tell you you can only get it once! But I've never had shingles.

6. I have lived in several different places in England. Lancaster is the most North and Cornwall the most South and I was born in Hampshire but of all the places I have lived I consider Cornwall to be my home. I love it there and have missed it so over the last nearly 7 years!

7. I went Blind with cataracts when I was 4 years old. It is hereditary and my father bears that genetic responsibility :-( I had 5 operations on my eyes (2 right 3 left) sorry to anyone who is squeamish at the thought. When I was 7 years old I started wearing contact lenses and the first time my mum tried to put them in for me I fainted!! Soon I was putting them in for myself and now would not be seen dead without them (nope no Coleman exaggeration this time I really mean it!) Now I just need to write a will so everyone else knows that hehe

8. I'n accident prone although I have never broken a bone in my body ( at least not officially! I may have broken a toe when mum ran over it with a trolley though!) I caught my fingers in a baby walker so obviously I was born with this gene! I have sprained ankles, wrists, elbows and who knows what else? I twice went to casualty for an x-ray in masses of pain and swollen limbs only to be told to my disappointment that it wasn't broken! I did tear my tendon in my ankle through ballet dancing and sadly it didn't heal well so I couldn't continue my glittering ballet career (which would have ended as I am big boned and now 5ft 7ins which is too tall) best time of my school life though as I had to be home tutored while my leg rested.

9. Despite not having any real sewing training I once made my own bridesmaids dress, fully lined and I made it by hand! and by that I mean no access to a sewing machine and so one day saw me sitting in a pub where my friend was on a daytime shift with her sewing up one seam as I sewed down the other :-)Tthe dress just about lasted the day but I'm still very proud of it and one day intend to renew it by taking a sewing machine to the seams!

10. I'm allergic to eggs. Healthcare professionals would probably say intolerant as they make me sick but whatever I can't eat them, only the egg white in meringues hehe. Who could refuse a meringue? I am allergic to antibiotics though!

11. I have only been abroad once but when I did I went to Uganda and Tanzania! Nothing like throwing yourself in the deep end! But we got to cross Lake Victoria which I think is some achievement and I survived the toilets and the heat! I have friends working with Mission Aviation Fellowship out in Uganda and it's nice to think I've been there and can imagine them there!

12. I have 8 blogs! 9 if you include the one I co-own with the above mentioned Maria (our weekly photo project) and 11 if you include the ones that I had before I realised you could have more than one under one account and so copied across to this account but I still haven't closed the old ones down! 3 are private (nope not telling!) 1 for my business Rainbow Cottage, 1 for my dog and other family animals, 1 for the bizarre things that always seem to happen to me, 1 for my craftyness and next home planning and 1 for everything else! You should be able to access most of them from here by clicking on the buttons over there ----->

13. My favourite flowers are without a doubt Lilies! I just love the way you can smell them all over the house!  I didn't know this however until a friend bought me some for my 26th birthday and they lasted for ages too :-)

14. I have a Pink TV! hehe I do like pink, though it's not officially my favourite colour, I also have a pink and white Hello Kitty phone and a pink MP3 player. I just love to surround myself with pink. I'm a real girly girl and think pink is a happy pretty colour!

15. Wow! I've made it to 15 which I'm only writing cos right now I can't think of my 15th interesting fact! ummmm............can you hear my brain whirring? ok here it is! I didn't learn to drive until I was 25! and I passed my test about 2 years later. Despite 2 accidents in my first year (the third major, I wrote my car off) I love driving! For months I would often look at my lovely lady hands on the bug manly steering wheel and think " woohoo! look at me itty bitty girl driving big nasty machine!!" I love the freedom it gives me to go anywhere I want no matter what the time and not be dependant on public transport! I love the fact that when I go on holiday I can take too much with me (which always includes something creative for the quiet moments) because I don't have to carry it all! I'm really going to miss my car when I go to Cornwall and have to lug a suitcase on and off of the train and for getting to visit friends. Having said that i used to love travelling by train so it will be fun to do that this time :-) But I still love my car! Who's called Ruby by the way!

Wow well that's done! It feels epic! I hope you have the patience to read to the end! I think the following posts will be a lot shorter! No promises though as I do tend to write lots! I just can't help it :-) Did you learn anything you didn't know?