Two New Awards!

I recently received recognition from two of my fellow bloggers who I consider my online friends. I know some bloggers have award-free zones, which I guess means they don't display awards or just find it very time consuming, but I'm more than appreciative of the pat on the back, and will proudly display them somewhere on my blog. I guess the 'rules' do seem kind of silly, but it's all just a way for us to get to know each other, don't you think?

From Bernie at Old? Who Me? comes the Blog of Substance award. The only rule is that you pass it on to ten other bloggers. That's actually the hardest thing to do, as I can't think of many blogs that I've read over the last year that weren't blogs of substance, simply because they all are people like myself who are putting themselves, their thoughts, feelings and opinions, out there for all to see.

From Cheri at Cheri's Chatter comes the Versatile Blogger award. Cheri and I are new to each other, but I know her well enough to know that, besides being a fellow grandmother who dotes on her grandkids, she is a ray of sunshine. Seriously, you can almost hear her southern charm and positive attitude radiating from every sentence. The rule for this award (though I doubt they take it away from you if you don't follow the rules) is to give seven things about myself that you probably don't know about me. I've actually done this once before, so I hope I can think of a few more things. Oh, and pass it on to seven fellow bloggers who I consider 'versatile', which I guess means they write on a wide variety of topics.

I'm actually going to send BOTH of these awards on to the same people. Everyone I read deserves them, but if I have to name ten they would be: Annie at Quiet Commotion, Julie at Midlife Jobhunter, Lorna at Bathtime Blogger, Dinah at My Aimless Infatuation, Tim at Catnip, Suz at City Gal Moves to Oz, Michelle Rene at Must Be a Full Moon, Kobico at Mindless Meanderings of a Middle-Aged Maniac, Bernadette (Bernie) at On My Own, and Yaya at Whispering Pines. Forgive me for not linking to their blogs...I'm just lazy that way, and you can find them on my blog list. I also didn't check to see if they already have these awards, but that's ok as this is really about my personal recognition of them.

Ok, here goes:

1. I'm a time-waster of the highest order. I can find more things to do to waste time, and waste more time doing those things, than anyone I know. And when all is said and done, I've got nothing to show for the expenditure of that much time.

2. I have the lowest self-esteem of almost anyone I know. I don't know where it comes from, but I feel, and have felt for my entire life, that I am pretty much worthless except as a mother and grandmother. I'm one of those people who says to herself "can't you do anything right?", or "how fucking stupid can you be?", even if I just knock over a cup of coffee or forget to pay a bill. I realize that sending these negative messages to myself is a really bad habit, and I work on trying to change the way I talk to myself every day. Thanks for your urge to tell me I'm wonderful, but a person feels what a person feels no matter how irrational.

3. I'm addicted to crime shows, currently the Law and Orders, CSI, Bones, The Closer, and the new The Glades.

4. I've been watching General Hospital since I was pregnant with my daughter - 36 years. Even when I worked, I took a portable radio that had tv audio so that I could listen on those little earbuds. Almost every week I wonder why the hell I still watch it - but, I still watch it.

5. I've lived in Chicago Ill, Ft. Worth TX, Dallas TX, Denton TX, Alexandria VA, Dayton OH, Greeley, CO, Arvada CO, Loveland CO, Monroe GA, Eatonton GA, and now Rock Spring GA. Over a 62 year period.

6. In my lifetime I've owned 17 dogs (Brownie, Sleepy, Snookey, Chop Chop, Shaz, Grumpy, Gordon, Lulu, Nady, Toby, Chessie, Nady, Gracie, Charity, Molly, Eva Jean, Oliver) , 11 cats (Black Button, Kesch, Sugar Plum, Honey Bun, Blitzen, Clarisa/Clarence, Meg, Hazel, Hobo, Kitty, Tweety), 6 birds (Tweety, Micah, Spraddle, 3 cockatiels whose names escape me except for 'Bird'), 3 hamsters (Hercules, Squeeky, Pinky), multiple fish, 1 salamander, 3 rabbits (Dandy, Thumper, and another whose name escapes me), and 3 horses (Moon, Poco, and Lady). I have a collage frame in the hallway with all their photos.

7. I cuss like a sailer, especially when I'm mad, and when I'm mad I have a HUGE temper. No one suspects it of me as I'm soft spoken and shy, but when I blow it's big and LOUD. I'm also quick to apologize. Well, truth be told, I don't have to be mad to cuss. It's just an aspect of my verbal repertoire, as unflattering as it might be. I restrain myself in public or with certain people, and certainly around children, and it's very rare here on my blog as I don't like to offend people, but with family and friends it comes out.

Whew! That all took more time than I thought it would, but it was relatively painless. Thanks again for these awards, and I hope to continue to be deserving of them. And if I didn't give you an award but you'd like one or both of them to decorate your place, go ahead and take it and say it's from me - I'm sure you deserve them!

Happy 101

Glenn at Differences with the Same Likenesses has passed along this Happy 101 Sweet Friends award to me! It says "Add kind words; Mix in sweet thoughts; Enjoy good times". The rules are that I have to tell you about ten things that make me happy, and pass it along to an unspecified number of fellow bloggers (though Glenn did nine). I've been going over these two things in my head, and it's not as easy as it sounds, but here goes:

1) I think it could go without saying that my grandsons make me happy, but I'll say it anyway... Garrett and Conner make me happy beyond anything I could have ever dreamed.

2) My daughter, Melody, has been making me happy since the day she was born.

3) My dogs make me happy; in fact, dogs in general make me happy. And cats. And cows and goats.

4) Margueritas, and rum and coke, make me happy.

5) 'Up' and 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' make me happy.

6) Yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Peach cobbler. Real key lime pie. Kit Kat bars. Vanilla ice cream with fudge ripple. (Ok, that's five things, but it can be lumped under desserts.)

7) Dancercising to 'Whatcha Think About That ' by the Pussycat Dolls, and 'Crazy ' by Gnarls Barkley, makes me happy.

8) Watching Conner sleep makes me happy.

9) The dozens of finches at the feeders hanging on my living room window make me happy.

10) Blogging makes me happy for so many reasons.

Ok. This is the really hard part. Not finding other bloggers to give it to, but going back and forth to copy their link! So, in no particular order, I pass this award on to:

Julie at Midlife Job Hunter

Lorna at Bathtime Blogger

Susan at City Gal Moves to Oz Land

Dana at Life is Good

Michele Renee at Must Be A Full Moon

Donna at Mystical Journeys

Wendy at Wisdom of the Moon

Jeanie at Living Consciously

Ethel Mae Potter at The Adventures of Fred and Ethel (even though she already has one)

Dan at d2

Please accept these awards as thanks for the reading enjoyment you have each given me, and for continuing to visit me and contribute your own comments to my posts. It's that back and forth that makes this adventure so much fun.

Honest Scrap Award

I'm honored to have received an award called the Honest Scrap Award. It's for "those bloggers who write from the heart", and I received it from Missy at Missy's Book Nook. Thank you so much Missy! I had seen this on someone else's blog and wondered where you had to go to get one, not realizing that it was an award! The rules are to pass it along to seven bloggers who write from the heart, and then to list 10 honest things about yourself.

I'm passing this award on to seven bloggers who I feel truly write from the heart: Lila at Being Lila, Bernie at Old?Who Me?, Lakeviewer at SixtyFive, Now What?, Ron at Destination: Where the F Is Ron?, Glenn Differences With the Same Likenesses, Michele Renee at Must Be A Full Moon, and Lorna at Bathtime Blogger. If you're one of those bloggers who doesn't like to display their awards for whatever reason, that's fine, but I want you to know that I chose you and visit you because I admire the honesty and heart you display in your blog. If you've never visited them, please do so. (You'll have to get to them from my blog list, because they're not going thru here. Sorry.)

Here are seven honest things about me that I stole from my FB notes:

1) I'm a magazine-aholic. I buy them, read the first few articles that grab my attention, then put it aside to read later... which never comes, because I've brought home another one or two. Stacks and more stacks, all around the house. Always looking for that one article that will have the solution to making my home, my marriage, my cooking, my life, better.

2) I'm obsessed with helping my neighbors take care of their pets, because they obviously can't or won't! It drives me to tears and rages. It's not uncommon for me to bring the neglect to their attention, nicely of course, and offering to help keep their pets watered and warm/cool. It's such a simple thing - if you have a pet that is penned or chained up in the yard, YOU MUST SUPPLY THEM WITH WATER AND THE CREATURE COMFORTS (a warm bed in winter and shade in summer). How obvious can that be? How difficult can that be? It takes maybe five minutes a day. Give me a break!

3) I'm a television addict. I could watch all day, which I don't, but I just always have it on.

4) I wear dentures, and my daughter is under strict instructions to super glue them in if I'm ever incapacitated.

5) I have two half sisters and three half brothers (all maternal), who I didn't find until I was 30, and have only seen them a handful of times in 30 years. I don't know if I have any siblings by my biological father, who I haven't found.

6) I have something called "seizure disorder without convulsions". Certain lights and patterns set it off - the floor jumps up, I get big, vision is hyper and distorted, I get sick at my stomach, and I get random electrical shocks throughout my body. I've been on medication for about ten years and it's helped 90%, but there are still those moments when something sets it off, like the kids turning the lights or a flashlight on and off. I also have to have balanced lights in a room, and the blinds turned a certain direction.

7) I wear my socks inside out. It's called something like tactile hypersensitivity. Seriously. It's been studied and documented. For example, I can't stand the loops and seams inside socks, or the socks slipping around, to the point of being near tears and ripping them off. Just imagine thousands of ants inside your socks.

8) My daughter and I have instances of E.S.P. or psychic connection all the time, and have had for years. Like I can be at my house thinking how good ice cream sounds, and the phone will ring and it'll be her asking if I want to go get ice cream! Another example, one day I was thinking that pizza sounded good and I'd like to get some for dinner the next night. Then Melody called within minutes of the thought and asked if I would go with her and the boys to Chuckee Cheese for pizza for lunch the next day!

9) I'm the world's worst procrastinator. And I mean that seriously. Like procrastinating for months or years, not days or weeks. Why do today what can wait til next year? I have emails in my in box that I replied "get back to you soon...", and they're almost a year old.

10) I love family photos. I have something like fifteen big albums, all in chronological order, one of my youth, one of my first marriage, and the rest beginning in 1973. Several times a year I sit down and pull them all out, then laugh and cry my way through from beginnning to end. How in the world can a person keep their memories alive without photos?

That's it for today. If you're unable to retrieve the award from my blog (I'm still unsure about all that stuff), let me know and I'll email it to you. And, again, thanks Missy!

My First Award!

I hopped over to see Julianne at http://midlifejobhunter.blogspot.com/ yesterday for my daily visit, and was surprised to find that she was giving me an award! It took me a minute to realize that she was talking about me, but when I did I let out a huge 'woohoo'! Here's what the award is about :

The Super Comment Award/You Don't Say Award is given to bloggers who leave comments worth discussing on other blogger’s posts. It may also be because those comments are great in quantity, great in substance, or just great in general. An award that recognizes great commenters is a brilliant idea. And that's the idea behind this You Don't Say Award. Getting awards is always an honor but an award that recognizes those bloggers who consistently comment is a high honor indeed. The You Don't Say Award "... is for beautiful people who practice blogging etiquette by visiting or visiting back, and leaving comments. Their observations are apt and helpful and it's a pleasure to have them comment on your posts..."

I had never read a blog until six months ago, when I found out that my husband's niece, Wendy at http://wisdomofthemoon.blogspot.com/, had one, and I started reading it. In the blink of an eye I had jumped in with both feet and started my own blog, not even bothering to read anything but the most basic instructions. (See my first blog ...)

Pretty soon I was reading blogs that had all these intriguing names over on the side, so I started visiting them, and then had to go thru their lists, and so on and so on. But you know how it all starts, don't you! Before I knew it, I was totally hooked on reading all those intriguing titles ... and also realizing that maybe I was in over my head, that maybe I shouldn't have jumped in with both feet without looking before I leapt! The talent, the ideas, the opinions, the examples of our commonalities and our differences -it's awesome and overwhelming at the same time, and I wasn't sure if I measured up against it all, if I had enough stories, knowledge, or writing skills to interest anyone but myself.

AsI plugged along with my own postings, I began to log in with that thrill of anticipation to see if someone had left a comment, and was hyper-excited if I found one! Niece Wendy was one of the first, and in addition to commenting on my post, she gave me hints and suggestions - like "leave a thoughtful comment". So that's what I always try to do - leave a comment as if I'm talking face to face with that person. And, in turn, I began to anticipate someone else's thoughtful comment, and a lovely cycle began.

I'd like to pass this Super Comment/You Don't Say award, to my niece, Wendy at Wisdom of the Moon, for giving me so many thoughtful comments. (And maybe she'll be soooo appreciative she will explain the link/backlink thingie in a less complicated way than the directions given on blogger.) I'd actually like to give it to everyone on my current blog list, so feel free to copy and paste it to your blog if you want to!

I don't have that many readers/commenters right now, but the ones I do have are so appreciated, and I'm looking forward to many years of meeting more and more of you, and you can be sure that I will return the favor.

And look how cute that panda is and how he brightens my space!