I have been tagged - 7 Things you Didn't Know About Me

I have been tagged by the lovely Wendy over at 1stUniqueGifts to play 7 Things you don't know about me, so here goes.

1)  ok the first one is a big one as someone once said not a lot of people know this (well not in my crafty alternate universe anyway) I have rheumatoid arthritis.  It began after the birth of my first baby 14 years ago and over the last few years has become quite bad.  In '06 I had a total knee replacement and it was around this time that I began to think about where my life was actually going.  At the time I was working part time in a job I really did not enjoy at all and the thought of having to juggle days of chronic pain and an awful job was too much to contemplate. After starting to make cards and sell them to friends and colleagues one of the ladies at work suggested I go to art college part time and it turns out that was what I had been missing all those years.  Due to a horrible art teacher at school I was prevented from doing art and this led to me basically giving up on school all together I put my creative side to the back of my mind and just got on with life.  However, stepping into that art college and being accepted was like finally coming home, that is what I should have been doing at 16.  So my point is although arthritis is a pretty horrendous thing to happen to anyone let alone when you are 25 without 'Arthur' I would be stuck behind a desk bored out of my mind and probably a champion solitaire player by now, lol!

2)  When we got married we didn't have a honeymoon as such as we bought a house at the same time.  In 2001 when the kids were 6 & 3 we decided to go to Disneyland Paris and as a treat and 'honeymoon' we booked into the Disneyland Hotel in the park.  It was amazing, however, what made our holiday was when we were queing up one morning a lady approached us and asked whether the kids were with us.  Thinking that they were trying to dismantle the turnstyles I reluctantly said yes and she asked whether they would like to come through and open the park with Mickey.  Would they??!  So we went to the front of the queue and met Mickey, they opened the park and then we boarded Mickey's train and were taken up to Cinderellas castle.  So for all those who say 'yes, but Disneyland Paris is not as good as Florida' I say yes but you didn't get to open the park and a ride of Mickeys train!

3)  One of my favourite places in the world is Glasgow.  As a huge Art Nouveau fan and in particular Margaret & Frances MacDonald fan I love going to visit the museums and galleries.  Also, I think the city has a vibe to it that I can't describe I think it is similar to Liverpool, thats maybe my Liverpool Irish ancestry coming through!

4)  In 2003 we went down the Hammersmith to see Peter Kay on his 'Mum wants a Bungalow Tour'.  We had a few hours to kill before the show and were mooching around a shopping centre down the road from the Apollo.  We decided to have a coffee and I grabbed a table while Nick went off to get the drinks he got half way to the counter when I saw him jumping up and down and pointing.  Thinking he had forgotten what I wanted and what a hopeless waiter he would make I started shouting cappaccino!  When I eventually cottoned on to what he was doing I saw Peter Kay sat at a table and was gob smacked, Peter was a lot more observant than me and was waiting for me to react!  When he saw how shocked I was he started laughing, Nick chatted to him for a while and got his autograph, alas we had no camera with us and this was back in the day when not every phone had a camera on it.  So all I have is nice memories, the tickets and his autograph, good day!

5)  My most embarrassing moment must be when I was 17 I hadn't been going out with Nick long and he was waiting outside a shop for me whilst I ran in.  On coming out it was raining cats and dogs so I put my hood up and run to the car.  I jumped in and was moaning about the rain and about to put my seat belt on when I realised that I was in the wrong car!  To make matters worse the guys girlfriend/wife was waiting to get in and gave me a strange look as I jumped back out again muttering sorry.  Nick was in hysterics and couldn't drive away as I insisted, I was mortified.

6)  I have been with my hubby for 22 years now and married for 17 this year, I could make jokes here about being out of prison by now but I won't.  What I will say is that it has gone in the blink of an eye and he is still my best mate, don't get me wrong he annoys hell out of me, like I do with him but I don't know what I would do without him.  ok thats enough soppyess from me!

7)  I am a huge film fan I love all kinds from soppy chick flicks to arty French ones with subtitles.  I love horror and being frightened to death, however, I refuse to go on any ghost train rides as I hate them and am a big wuss!  Favourite films that I watch time again are all Christmas films the cheesier the better, The Shining (you cannot beat Jack Nicholson!), Titanic, Jerry Maguire, Juno and in fact the list would probably go on a very long time!  I am also a huge book reader and have passed this love onto the kids.  Again my reading is eclectic too I read anything from Dickens to Joanna Trollope.

So if you haven't fallen asleep yet that is 7 things you didn't know about me and I am now looking forward to passing this on and finding out about others,

 http://mariezvezda.blogspot.com/
 http://birdcagecreative.blogspot.com/
 http://loulousluxuries.blogspot.com/
http://beverleylovestosew.blogspot.com/
http://shpangle.blogspot.com/
http://pukkapinnies.blogspot.com/

Please don't feel obliged to take part  in this or pass this on it is only for fun and hopefully give us all a little more insight to the person behind the craftyness!