I’m a Stylish Blogger, which I assume to mean I have a Stylish Blog, not that I am a Stylish Person Who Blogs.

Because if there’s one word that will never appear on my tombstone, it’s Stylish….unless you are a big fan of the haven’t-had-a-shower-because-the-kids-were-kicking-off, threw-clothes-on-to-do-the-schoolrun-and-never-got-round-to-changing-them, snot-on-my-shoulders and I’m-not-sure-what-that-mark-on-my-trousers-is look. Gok Wan would have a field day. Trinny and Susannah would have a field day. My mother would have a field day (although I am adhering to the family motto: wear-clean-knickers-what-if-you-get-hit-by-a-bus? so don’t panic too much Mum.) I am hoping that once I’m through the worst of the weaning with Dimples (we’re up to the Must Use My Own Spoon stage, which means that I am usually showered in yogurt at some point in every meal, so there really is little point in washing my clothes at the moment) that I can make an effort to look, if not Yummy, then at least clean.

And yet, someone, specifically Second Time Mum has seen fit to tag me in the Stylish Blog meme, which requires me to:
a) throw excessive flattery in her direction (should be able to come up with something);
b) share seven random facts about myself (the easiest bit: I am nothing if not random);
c) tag fifteen, yes 15, other bloggers and hope they will get them to do the same (fairly sure this is how I got tagged: STM had to scrape the bottom of the barrel for 15 bloggers she could afford to alienate that hadn’t yet been tagged).

So, a) Second Time Mummy, despite looking appallingly attractive in the New Mum photos in her header, has excellent giveaways and, although Stylish already, has been made even more so by the addition to her wardrobe of a pair of Manolos, for which she did not pay a single penny. I am deeply envious.

b) Random facts:
1) I have Hypermobility Syndrome, which means that I am surprisingly bendy: my physiotherapist assumed that I was either a former ballet dancer or yoga-nut when we first met. My pelvic floor got quite a work out during the ten minutes I spent trying to reign in my laughter.
2) I have met Princess Anne twice. I remember neither meeting.
3) Despite green-fingered heritage, I have killed every houseplant that we have ever owned, with only one exception. Something to work on this year I think…..you can’t be a DG with one houseplant.
4) I grind my teeth so much in my sleep that I have to wear a mouthguard. I bite through them every 3/4 months. It only started when I met my husband.
5) I can still remember phrases of the Qur’an that I was taught by an Egyptian taxi driver as a child. It was probably the fact that the door of his car was held on with string and you could see the road whizzing by underneath through a hole in the floor that made me focus so intently on getting my pronunciation right.
6) I loathe and despise all pre-packaged sandwiches due to an incident in school where we were given potato salad sandwiches in our packed lunches. It has made me suspicious of sandwiches whose construction I have not witnessed ever since.
7)I shall be moving to my own domain at some point. As soon as Violet Posy does what she does best and i figure out how to use wordpress.

c) I can’t imagine that there are fifteen people out there, that I know and can tag, that haven’t yet done this or want to do it. Nevertheless there are so many people I would love to know more about, some of whom are listed below, along with my indisputable logic for choosing them. Still more exist on my rather long blog roll. Take a read of a few you haven’t heard of. To those of you listed below, I can only ask that you see it as flattery and not drudgery:

• Muddling Along Mummy: because I secretly love her
• Laptops and Lullabies: for her heavenly blog design
• Make do Mum: in the hope that being called stlish will nix her jinx and enable her to get on with life.
• American Resident: apart from actually being stylish, she likes Northumberland.
• Note from Lapland: because I admire how she switches topics and tones and all that with barely a breath. That and the fact that she lives in a country that has snow and is dark for four months a year.
• Typecast: she’s still seeking sponsorship for Cybermummy 2011 and she found a wedding dress for £49. Both those things amaze me.
• Sleep is for the Weak: I genuinely admire her Award Winning writing and all that she stands for.
• Mediocre Mum: because I’d love to spend the evening drinking cocktails with her
• Where’s My Glow: because she did such sterling work garnering support for Lori.
• Babyrambles: because she’s realised that girls are not easier than boys. Maybe doing this will distract her 😉
• TiddlyOmPomPom: she introduced me to tweetdeck so I am a big fan of hers. And she has a daughter that eats the icing and never the cake.
• RedTed: I love her craftiness and her readiness to chat on twitter.
• HUN: because I imagine he has a lifetime of random interesting facts that he wants to share. He’s also a BMB award winner and an amusing man.
• Me, the Man and the Baby: a mad woman who is running the marathon this year, I bet she is bursting with randomness.
• Dotterel: teacher, chorister, philosopher, Octonaut construction engineer and dad of three. I just don’t know how he does it.

Good luck!