I Will Sign Autographs for Cash

I have won an award!  Calm down, mom, it’s not the Good Housekeeping Award for Good Housekeeping.  But it is a lovely award that proves that nepotism is alive and well.  My friend Deb over at her lovely blog, Confessions of an Ugly Mom (and let me tell you, she is SO not ugly), won one of those awards that bloggers pass around (because she earned it, she’s an awesome writer, this woman should be writing a novel) and she probably didn’t know who to send it on to, so she sent it on to me, her friend across the corn field (Hey Deb!  I see you over there!)  If you’ve never gone to Deb’s blog, stop reading now and click on that link up there.  She’s an amazing writer, and has a good heart to boot.  She’s walking in the Susan G. Komen 3 Day Walk for the Cure soon.  That’s 60 miles in 3 days to honor the memory of her friend Yvonne.  See?  Amazing.

Here is my award.  I am looking into getting it put on a plaque.  I’ll let you know if that works out.


Okay, so now I’m supposed to share seven things with my readers that they may not already know about me.  This is going to be tough.  You know I just hate to talk about myself.  (There really should be a sarcasm font, and if there was, I’d just about wear that font out).   Are you ready for some heart-wrenching discoveries about me?  Here we go!

1.  If I could travel in time, I would go back to my 4th grade spelling bee and put  the “c” in excite and then go to my 7th grade spelling bee and reverse my “a” and “o” in the word cinnamon.  I would also go back to my wedding reception and squeeze a short yet competitive spelling bee in between the Dollar Dance and the Chicken Dance. I just love spelling bees.   It really burns me that my bratty brother Dave WON his 4th grade spelling bee.  I have never gotten over that.  When I turn 50, which is not for a VERY long time, I do not want a trip or a big party (okay, I’d like a trip), I’d mostly like to have a spelling bee that everyone lets me win.

2.  I have a Dental and Dog phobia (though generally I am not bothered by dentists and dogs at the same time).  If I could choose to go to either the dentist or gynecologist, it would be  gynecologist, hands down, although I am better now about going to the dentist than I was 15 years ago.  We didn’t go to the dentist when I was growing up (my parents believed in fixing what was broken—not preventive medicine), so when my mouth fell apart at age 24, and I had to get, like, 16 fillings, a root canal, my wisdom teeth removed and a giant slap across my face for being irresponsible (I’m kidding- the dentist only threatened to slap me), I began to cry and hyperventilate in the dentist chair every visit.  When I met Dave, I switched to his dentist, and I love him so much.  In the beginning, he let me cry, and talked me down off the window ledge, and then he lied to me about everything he was going to do.  He hid the drills and told me he was just rinsing my mouth out with a special tool, and he told me I’d be done so fast, and even though he said it 12 times, I believed him each time, and it helped.  He’s a kind,caring dentist, one in a million.   But I’d still rather go to the gynecologist.   Also, a big scary dog barked at me in a field when I was a kid and scared me to death.  I still don’t like big dogs, and I’m not so fond of little ones either. 

3.  My favorite movie ever is When Harry Met Sally.  I practically have it memorized, and when I stumble across it on t.v.,  I am thrilled like it’s Christmas Day.

4.  Okay, you may have heard this one before, because I trot it out whenever I’m asked to share something interesting about myself, as it may be the only really interesting thing I’ve ever done:  I did my student teaching in Brussels, Belgium, in an International School meant for the children of NATO  and European Community officials and any other foreigners living in Brussels.  It was awesome.  Besides the astounding training I got from one of the best teachers ever (she was from Canada, and her husband was in NATO somehow), I got to travel every weekend, hopping on trains with my Eurail pass and seeking out hostels on the fly.  I was there with two other friends, and we went to Amsterdam, London, Paris, Venice, Pisa, Florence, Salzburg, Cologne, and many other places (come on over!  I will pull out my photo album and painfully lead you through it!)  We had so much fun, though I was homesick the whole time. 

5. I was, at one time, a pretty good flutist.  I spent 1-3 hours a day practicing in high school, and made district and regional bands, but missed state band by one chair my senior year.  I also played piccolo and oboe, and took a little piano as an adult, though I am really bad at piano.  I miss playing a lot.

6.  I forget names.  I mean, I am really, really, really bad at names.   I think part of that is not really paying attention when I’m introduced to someone, or I’m half-listening and half-thinking about what I’m going to say next, and then I realize that I missed the person’s name and the last part of what he said, or I see someone from years ago, someone with whom I’ve spent many delightful hours yet I just can’t drag the name from my brain file, or it’s someone I see every day, yet I freeze and panic and hope the name will come to me by the time the person walks across the room.  And I am a bad faker when I don’t remember a name.  Dave always tells me to fake it, to just pull a, “Hey, you!  How are YOU doing?!”  But I can’t do it.

7.  If I could change careers at this point in my life, I think I’d like to become a Sign Language Interpreter.  I wonder if it’s easier to fake names in sign language?

A "Versatile Blogger" brings everything to the table - a little of this and a little of that."    Now, here are the rules for the Versatile Blogger Award:

• Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award (done).
• Share 7 things about yourself (done)
• Pass the award on to (up to) 15 other bloggers whom you have recently discovered and think are fabulous (see below)
• Contact the bloggers you chose and let them know about the award (tomorrow I will, I promise).

I hereby pass this award on to
Jen at 4ever Love-  Jen recently started her blog, and she’s off to a great start!  Her last post showing pictures of her son’s busy little activities in the doctor’s waiting room were hilarious!

Maria at Mangia, Figlie-  Maria’s food blog is not just about the recipes, it is more often about the history of the food, and her history with the food.    She’s a good writer and friend!

Stephanie at Conversations from the Cul-de-Sac-Stephanie’s blog is a hodgepodge of decorating, shopping, bargain seeking, and most recently, evidence of her struggle over her Sephora addiction.  Her blog is lots of fun!

Tiffanee at One Crazy Cookie-Tiffanee posts recipes on her  food blog several times a week, which I find amazing since I struggle to do any more cooking  than required by state law.  Almost all of her recipes appeal to me too---the right number of ingredients, yummy sounding, and a recipe my family would love.  Her most recent post is Parmesan Biscuit Wedges and sounds delicious!

Okay, people, I would nominate more, but I’m tired of all the hyperlinks.  I am too lazy to keep going on this.  If there were a #8, I’d add “Too lazy to hyperlink all the time.”