Liebster Award

I've been nominated for the Liebster Award by Charity. I'm going to cheat a bit and pull the explanation from her blog...

The Liebster Award exists only on the internet, and is given to bloggers by other bloggers. It pays tribute to new blogs, or blogs with a follower count of less than 1,000–including Twitter. The word “liebster” is German in origin and has several definitions, including but not limited to: dearest, sweetest, kindest, pleasant, endearing, lovely, cute, nicest, valued and welcome.

The rules:

1. Link back to the blog that nominated you. (See above.)
2. Answer questions that your nominator has set for you.
3. Share 11 random facts about yourself.
4. Nominate 5-11 blogs that have less than 1,000 followers to receive this award. (Remember, this includes Twitter.)
5. Create 11 questions for your nominees to answer.
6. Contact your nominees and let them know you have nominated them.

The questions:

1. What's your favorite season of the year?
• Probably the fall. After the final gasp of heat, sometime in November, when it finally gets cool.
2. Would you rather know when and where you will die or keep it a secret?
• If I knew when and where, I'd be a basket case just waiting for it to happen. So, I'd rather not know.
3. What's your biggest pet peeve?
• At the moment, I'd say people who block traffic. Like at the grocery store. They somehow get in front of me and slow down, so I can't get around them. No "sorry". No acknowledgement that I'm even there, trying to get past them. 
4. What do you think is your greatest strength?
• This is a really, really bad time to ask me this. I'll have to revisit this when I don't feel so...I don't know...
5. Your greatest weakness?
• See #4.
6. When you get in the reading mood, do you look for books by genre or author?
• Depends. Sometimes I just want to read a Terry Pratchett book. Sometimes I just need a trashy romance.
7. Do you still own a camera? Or do you rely solely on your smart phone?
• I still have a digital camera that I use for my Etsy shop. I probably should upgrade it, however.
8. What is your greatest possession?
• Funny. At the moment I'm packing, and most of my possessions I'm looking at and going, "Do I really need to keep this?" Maybe my knitting needles. The tools that keep me making things.
9. Chocolate or Vanilla?
• Chocolate
10. What's your favorite childhood memory?
• Favorite? Well, let me go with the one that just popped into my head. When I was in the 6th grade, I learned to play tetherball. I was awful when I started. So, I practiced. Played myself. And eventually got so good that the better players were happy to see me in line to challenge them. "Oh good, a challenge," they'd say. And sometimes I'd even beat them.
11. What drives you to keep pushing forward when exhaustion or insecurities strike?
• I don't know. At the moment I'm plagued by insecurities and it's exhausting me. I'm barely hanging on...

11 Random Facts:

1. Those questions hit a few nerves. I went and took some Rescue Calm. I should feel better in a moment...
2. Yeah, I've got nothing. It's been one of those summers. I'm not one to whine all over the blog, and all I want to do at the moment is whine. There's got to be something...
3. If any authors would like to promote their books on Unicorn Bell, my week is coming up (August 18-22). I have four days open. Just hit me up (unicornbellsubmissions [at] gmail [dot] com and put "book tour" in the subject or if your email is enabled on your comments, we can go from there).
4. That's also the week I'm moving, so make sure to get in touch with me early so I can get everything set up before I go offline for the move.
5. The move is part of the reason why I'm prone to whining. So, enough about that...
6. I'm actually fond of the number 11. The digits of my birthday add up to 11. (7 + 3 + 1).
7. I set my alarm clock so the digits of the time I wake also add up to 11 (for example 6:32 AM).
8. Yes, I know it's crazy. But why must we set alarm clocks for 6:00 or 6:30?
9. The pillow props from my contest have all arrived at their destinations. It only took me a week to knit them, and about a day to three days for them to arrive. I hope the winners are all enjoying them.
10. At the moment I'm busily making lacy fingerless gloves. I hope to have them in the shop this fall.
11. I really should go and make dinner now. It's been about a day since I ate last.

Then, finally, I am to create 11 questions for my nominees to answer. But I'm not doing nominees today. Maybe next week. (This post is way too long already.)

So, thanks Charity. And to everyone else, what questions should I ask my nominees next week? Would you like to be nominated?