Empty Nest Mummy

I was thrilled yesterday to receive a nomination for the Versatile Blogger Award, especially as I have only been blogging for a month. This award gives the recipient the chance to tell 7 things about themselves, and gives the readers a look at the person behind the blog.

I was nominated by Louise at Cooking With Kids, a working mum of 4 smallies. As her kids don’t like food made into smiley faces, she tries to get them engaged with making and eating good, proper food, such as Moroccan spiced vegetables with halloumi. While you’re checking out Louise’s site, make sure you take a look at the recipe for Easy Lime & Ginger Cheesecake: it looks divine and is on my list of ‘recipes to try’.

So, I guess now time to reveal 7 things you need to know about me, and then onto my nominations for Versatile Blogger Award.

1 – Italy

I am a huge fan of Italy and all things Italian. Well, not all things Italian. I really only tolerate, at best, English football because Big Boy is obsessed with it; I have to draw the line at Serie A and all that. Also, limoncello. Not a fan of that. Largely due to A Curious Incident of Over-Indulgence When Young & A Bit Silly. Just thinking about it now even makes a little bit of sick come up my neck, and it’s slightly lemon-flavoured sick. Oh, and while we’re talking about Italian things that I’m not a fan of, there’s also these rancid little squishy balls of cake stuff that are soaked in limoncello – baba al limoncello. There’s also a rum version. And there’s also a Circle of Hell especially dedicated to these utterly minging cakey balls of sugary, boozy filth.

But, I do love Italian and Italian things – wine, pasta, pizza, that special Italian kind of passion for life. Decades ago, when I was young, carefree and wrinkle-free, I read Italian at University, and had my ill-fated incident with the limoncello. Now, years later, and a lot of wrinkles, crows feet and furrows later, we have bought a little house in the Italian mountains where we spend several holidays a year. Northern Husband is now learning Italian and I am trying, in a slightly half-arsed fashion, it has to be said, to teach Big Boy and Littlest Angel Italian too. In fact, improving my Italian and getting the kids going with it properly is one of my Goals for 2018.

2 – Wine

And that brings me neatly to wine. Aaah, wine, how much I love thee! My first job after Uni was selling advertising for a wine magazine. That was enough to ingnite a life-long (I can’t imagine I’ll ever give it up) passion for wine. At work, we used to go to wine tastings and properly assess, taste and savour it, but now I just swirl, sniff and then get it down my gullet. So, one of the things you need to know about me is that 2 of my best friends are The Wine Society and Naked Wines. I hope we’ll live happily together forever!

3 – Box Sets

As one who has never really had hobbies, my evenings are normally spent drinking aforementioned wine and watching Box Sets. I say watching box sets. That makes it sound really civilised. I actually devour box sets. Northern Husband and I sit up binge-watching Box Sets, then feel miserable, mopey and bereft when we have finished them. Don’t know what to do with ourselves. ….until we start the next one and get hooked again.

4. SAHM

I’m a Stay At Home Mum, or a SAHM as I believe it is called for speed. I have to say that this wasn’t really planned, just happened due to a combination of criminally high childcare costs and a drop in my salary if I wasn’t prepared to work evenings and weekends. Which I wasn’t! So I ended up transferring the enthusiasm and stubbornness previously reserved for work to family life. As a throwback to work-life, I still regularly call meetings (with the children) and even did Monthly Appraisals of Big Boy when he was a baby. And I’m currently working on setting up targets like I used to at work, but this time for number of books read and reviewed by the kids. Lucky kids, eh?

5 – The Blog

The Empty Nest Mummy blog is a new thing for me, and is quite important – well, quite important to me, probably nobody else! With both of my infants at school now, and no hobbies to speak of (unless you count drinking wine, but getting into that during school-hours seems like a slippery slope to me), the blog is to fill my time. And to alleviate the abject boredom of that long long school day. So far, I’m really enjoying it. Not sure how successful I have been in my first month, but some people follow me, some people comment on my thoughts and, most importantly for me right now, I don’t have time to think how lonely I am without the kids!

6. On Being Gifted

So, this isn’t to say that I am gifted. Oh no. Nothing nearly so conceited. Rather that I have a tendency to approach new things thinking I am going to be really good at them. In fact, gifted at them. Today’s example is face-painting. I have been looking up ‘5 minute face painting’ videos online and am going to be learning to facepaint with some other school mums tomorrow, ready for our school disco. Aged 44, having never attempted to paint anyone’s face in my whole life, but armed with a whole box of paints, brushes, sponges and stencils, I truly believe I am going to be amazing. I truly believe that, with a brush in one hand and a sponge in the other, a great innate gift will be revealed. If I don’t get gasps of admiration and comparisons with the greatest artists of all time, I’ll be disappointed. I am expecting to produce facial works of art; the reality might end up more like facial roadkill. Let’s see!

7 – Running

I’m so rubbish at this that I can barely bring myself to call what I do running. And I am hiding it at the bottom of the list, knowing that most people won’t get down this far. So, I go running 3 times a week. Or rather, I drag my sorry arse 5k around the Common, huffing and puffing as I go, 3 times a week. I’m not fast, or good, but I am getting better. Or maybe just not worse. I have gone passed despising running now, schedule it into my diary a few weeks in advance and even miss it if I don’t go. My goal is to really love it and maybe even overtake someone one day.

My nominations for Versatile Blogger Award are:

Too Many Redheads

Navigating Baby

Whinge Whinge Wine

Little Bake Blog

Postman Spotting

Daddy Poppins

Mamma Prada

My Crazy Brood

Gardening Foodie

Blissful Domestication

Twinzer Dad

Mumzilla

The Yorkshire Dad

Blog of Dad

Nominees can keep the Versatile Blogger Award going by writing a post to the nominee (that’s me, of course) and linking up to my blog. Then give seven facts about yourself to help readers to get to know you better. Then nominate 15 bloggers whose blog you enjoy. And thus the blog love continues …..

(Since writing this blog, I have been nominated for The Versatile Blogger Award a second time, this time by the lovely Steven Yule of Yule Times. So, if you are desperate to read about my alter-ego and my imaginary chickens, click here)