More Awards

Dear Mom,

I feel quite blessed as I have been honored again with blog awards.

I'd like to thank Jess at Praise, Prayers, and Observations for The Liebster Blog Award. I met Jess when I was doing the Letter Writing Challenge. We've become pen-pals and have so much in common, you'd think we're twins.

Here are the official rules for Liebster Blog Award:

1. If you are nominated for the award and accept it, then you have won!
2. Thank the person who nominated you by linking back to their blog.
3. Nominate 5 blogs with less than 200 followers.
4. Let the nominees know by leaving a comment on their blog.
5. Add the award image to your site (use an image widget to place at bottom/side of blog).

I'd like to thank Monique at Bends in the Road for The Versatile Blogger Award. I met Monique when I took the April Platform Challenge.  I admire Monique for her courage in moving forward even when dealing with health issues.

Here are the "official rules" for The Versatile Blogger Award:

1. Nominate 15 bloggers for the award.
2. In the same post, add the award; (use an image widget to place at bottom/side of blog).
3. Thank the blogger that nominated you, and give the link back to their blog.
4. Share 7 random things about yourself.
5. Include the rules in the post.
6. Inform every blogger that you nominated, of their nomination by leaving a comment on their blog
7. Inform bloggers to leave their blog information at http://versatilebloggeraward.wordpress.com/vba-winners/

Since I've been awarded before (you can read my first Versatile, second Versatile, third Versatile and the first Liebster awards) it's going to be a challenge to come up with something interesting, but I'll give it a shot.

In my first nomination I used the theme of music, the second I used body parts, the third I followed what the blogger who awarded me the award by what she talked about. So this time, I shall make the theme about food. Here's my seven random things...

1. I consider myself a good cook (thanks to lots of practice) and have two food blogs (Lynn, What's For Dinner? and Lynn, What's For Dessert? but I haven't been blogging on them since I participated in NaNoWriMo... yeah, back in November).
2. I love watermelon. I could eat it all day, every day.  There's a story about watermelon that my mom told me and it's the only one I can remember that she actually told me. All the other stories about her come by way of someone else... at least what I can remember anyway.
3. I'm pretty sure I'm an emotional eater. I eat when I'm happy... when I'm sad... when I'm tired... when I'm full of energy... when I'm bored.... The only time I don't eat is when I'm severely depressed and I'm incredibly grateful for that not being the case in a long time. So, yeah, I like to eat. But I love to cook for people even more.
4. I'm on the search for the perfect malt ball. I'm a malt ball connoisseur. I have my own little test on how to determine if it qualifies as "the perfect malt ball" and so far, I haven't come across one... yet.
5. I'm a fan of things that are chewy.
6. I would love to grow my own vegetables/fruit, but that would mean I'd be feeding the wild animals in my yard even more since they eat all my other plants.
7. I'm the pie maker in my family. Last fall I taught my niece how to make cherry pie, crust and all. I'd probably teach anyone how to cook/bake something if they asked.

Now, I'm changing things a tad as far as how many folks I'll be nominating, and I'm going to give  both the Liebster Award and The Versatile Blogger Award to the same folks... those being the last five peeps who decided to follow my blog. Some have been awarded one or both of the awards before, so play if you want, but it still would be interesting to hear 7 more interesting facts about all of you.

Sam at TheLateNightSnack
Claudia at CKSWarriorQueen
Pat at CritterAlley
Lauri at YourImaginationIsYourLimit
Misky at MiskCooks or MiskMask

Thank you again Jess and Monique - I appreciate your friendship.  Happy blogging, happy awards!

***
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An Award

Gotcha! It's a blogger award - The Versatile Blogger Award bestowed upon me by Marilyn from Things I Want to Tell My Mother. She writes letters to her (deceased) mother, just like I do. I was surprised to get the award since I've only recently met her/her blog and vice-a-versa. But I'm honored just the same.

As part of winning this award I'm to tell you seven things about myself that are not included in my blog. I've done this before, however, I'm taking Marilyn's lead and writing something similar that she did as I found her seven things to be very interesting since I didn't know much about her.

So here goes:

1) I grew up in Florissant, Missouri. I'm not sure if I'll have the facts correct, but back in the day this town was divided between the French and German. I asked one of my aunts why all the kids in the family went to Sacred Heart School (when she was telling me how they walked to school nearly every day) since St. Ferdinand School was closer. She said that St. Ferdinand was for French people and Sacred Heart was for German people. I was puzzled because they both were Catholic schools. I too went to Sacred Heart from 1st through 8th grade. I think by then the whole French and German thing didn't exist, however, when I was growing up there was a distinction between Catholic and "public" - if you didn't go to Catholic school, I didn't think you were Catholic. You were Public. DUR.

2) I stayed in the Florissant area until I married, then moved to Akron, Ohio and lived there for a year. We then moved to Corpus Christi, Texas and I was there for a year. When my marriage didn't work out, I came back to Missouri to live - not far from where I grew up. I'm now living in Manchester, Missouri (south of Florissant). Both Florissant and Manchester are suburbs of the big city, St. Louis. There are a lot of suburbs of St. Louis.

3) Like Marilyn, because of my blog, I have met a lot of wonderful people from all over the world. That is amazing.

4) I don't have as varied writing accomplishments as Marilyn, but I'll continue to work on the craft of writing. Most recently I've been accepted in two anthologies: Storm Country (and all proceeds go to the Joplin School District libraries due to the tornado that devastated Joplin - only $10 and you can still order them! My story is about my friend Geoffrey) and St. Louis Reflections (celebrating St. Louis Writers Guild's 100th Anniversary - my story is about Hendel's - a little market that used to be in Florissant - actually the original building is still there, but now it's a restaurant. You can purchase this book at StLBooks.com for $9.99. Okay didn't mean to turn this into a promo thingy.

5) I had to laugh at Marilyn's - "I have a short attention span..." Well, I too have a short attention span, but I always want to write in epistolary form. My goal for 2012 is to write a hand-written letter to someone once a week (or more). And did I mention that I put together three family newsletters (one for my mom's side of the family, one for my dad's side of the family and one for my husband's family). I do them quarterly but without information from the family, I've had to drop one to bi-annually and it's going to happen to another one soon!

6) I belong to the St. Louis Writers Guild and the Saturday Writers group, both of which are chapters of the Missouri Writers' Guild. (MWG is having their annual writing conference this April which I plan to attend.) I also belong to a wonderful critique group that one gal named the five of us: WWWP (Wild Women Wielding Pens).

7) Marilyn talked about her other "favorite" name. I have two other names that I'm called and I'm not so sure that either are my favorite! Ha. But my adult children - when they were younger - used to introduce me to their friends as Lynnard. They call me that now and then. My hubby calls me Lester. I have no idea where that came from, but it probably beats what I call him! He he he. Oh what do I call him? Willis. Really, that's his middle name. But Lester is not my middle name. Honest. It's Marie. And my nephew Josh named me LLL (Little Looney Lynn). Hmmm, wonder why that is? It might have something to do with the fact that I sang in the car for nearly eight hours when on a road trip. I made up words. I sang off key. Josh was in the back seat. Probably ruined him for life.

Okay, there it is. I'm now supposed to present this award to other great blogs. How can you do that? To me they're all great blogs, so I'll award four (like Marilyn did) and hopefully there's someone new out there reading this who will wonder who those WWWPs are... and since there are four besides me, here they are in alphabetical order by the name of their blog:

I Digress
Message in a Bloggle: The Art of Being Broken
Sioux's Page
Write from the Heart

Awarded Again

My friend Linda O’Connell, Write from the Heart and who I call The Chicken Soup Queen awarded me with the Versatile Blogger Award. I’ve received this award before and shared music related things—an idea I stole from Becky. I made up my own theme this time in order to participate again. It’s hard trying to rattle off seven things about yourself.

I’m calling this theme: Body Parts

1) I went to an image consultant to learn about my colors and what kind of clothing is right for me after a complete melt down trying to find something to wear in my closet. Fashion Queen I am not. Still no Fashion Queen at least I know what colors to avoid and what styles to steer clear. The consultant asked me a question phrased in a certain way as if it were vital for my image and it was something like, “Did you ever have any plastic surgery?”
I wasn’t sure how to take it—if she was thinking I had or thinking I should.
“No.”
“Really? Nothing? No implants?”
“No, really. Nothing fake on this ole body.” Now I was guessing she wondered if my girls were real. If I wasn’t so shy, I probably would’ve pulled her aside, whipped off my shirt, and unhooked my bra. When those girls drooped, she would’ve rest assured those things were the real deal.
No botox, no liposuction, no drugs. All natch-er-el.
Okay, the only thing “false” on me is my hair color and a few capped teeth. The color of my hair is as close to what would be my natural hair color, if the gray hadn’t butted in. How rude. I’m not ready to be gray.

2) Never was a fan of my nose. When I was little, I’d take my mother’s hand mirror and stand in front of her full length mirror which hung on the closet door and view my profile, wishing for my nose to be different. I did this regularly. Maybe I hoped God would realize the importance and miraculously smooth out that bump. Guess it’s not important. No miracle. Still have bump.

3) When I was little, I stood at the bathroom door watching my mother put on lipstick. I told her I didn’t like my lips because they were too red. And I didn’t like my eyebrows because they were black and didn’t match my hair. She told me to be grateful because as I got older, I would love those features. She was right.

4) As I grew older, a unibrow formed over my eyes. When I discovered tweezers, I plucked away until I had two separate skinny lines for eyebrows. I also discovered a mole hid underneath all that hair. As a teen, seeing that mole bummed me out a bit, but it was better than a bush sitting above my eyes.

5) I don’t know about you, but when you’re complimented on certain parts of your body, you tend to believe it. People have said I have nice legs. I don’t really understand it. Legs are legs. But if anyone asks, “What are you most happy about with your body?” I’ll say my legs.

6) Someone at some time must have told me I had big upper arms. That’s the other thing, I believe untruths as well, only I don’t really consider it an untruth because after all, I do have big upper arms. It takes a lot for me to wear anything sleeveless. When I do, I’m so uncomfortable I feel like everyone is staring at my big upper arms. Writing this makes it seem ridiculous. Probably because it is.

7) My right tooth that sits next to my two front teeth was turned almost sideways… for nearly 50 years. My husband who’s into straight pearly whites would suggest now and then for me to have that tooth fixed. Why? Who cares? It’s been this way all my life. It’s part of me. (I have, sort of, come to terms with most of my imperfections.) I had a dentist appointment. Seems that crooked little tooth had a cavity but was also a problem child because of its crookedness. The dentist suggested for just another x amount of bucks, he could cap it, make it look nice and straight, saving not only money in the long run, but avoid any future issues with the tooth. Inside I was whining. But it’s me. My crooked little tooth. I felt like I was giving up my first born. Even though I knew the answer, I called my husband to see if he’d be okay with spending the money. Of course there was no hesitation. I could hear the excitement in his voice. He’d been wanting this. I had my crooked little tooth fixed only to avoid future issues because the dentist is one of my least favorite places to visit.

I’m going to pass this award on to the last 7 followers to my blog—and if they want to participate, all well and good. And if not, all well and good. You can use a theme like I did, or you can give 7 facts about yourself and pass it on to 7 others.

Nelliciouss
The Old Geezer
Liberal Sprinkles
Arkansas Patti
September Mom
Tony Benson
Ellie

LOVE ALL YOUR BODY PARTS—THEY MAKE YOU, YOU!

The Versatile Blogger Award

I have a lot of blogger friends—well I hope they all consider me a friend like I consider them as friends. Some I’ve known before blogland and know in person. Others I’ve met through blogging.

Dianna of Write in the Midwest I met through St. Louis Writers Guild. She’s as sweet as they come. She awarded me with—we had our pick: The Versatile Blogger or the Stylish Blogger. I think I’m more versatile as I’m definitely not stylish. Just ask my girls.

I’ve been putting off this award, not really knowing what seven things I should share. I’ve done a few of these before, but then I saw Becky’s list of seven and I decided to copy her idea of having a “theme” and that is music.

So here are 7 things about me that are related to music in some way:

1) Ever since I was little I wanted to play the piano and the drums.

2) After my mom died, either the day I found out or the day of the funeral, I went into the spare bedroom where there was a small organ that my Uncle Harold and Aunt Mary gave to my little sister and me, and I played “Onward Christian Soldier” over and over and over. I can’t believe no one told me STOP ALREADY! If I hear that song, I’m immediately taken back to that moment.

3) I had a slumber party at my house with my friends, Laurie, Lisa, Mary and Susan. I think we were in 7th grade. My sister Sue and brother-in-law Frank were living in our house while their house was being built. The five of us girls practiced and sang Downtown. We stood in front of the dresser mirror in my bedroom, from shortest to tallest. I was in the front. (I’m still in the front.) Our arms would sway from front to back on cue with the word downtown. We performed for Sue and Frank and we all thought we were something. Okay, I thought I was something, but I'm pretty sure they all did too.

4) I always wanted to sing in school, but the nun who taught music clearly saw there wasn't any talent. I’m pretty sure she told me to just mouth the words. That's all I remember doing.

5) Again, after my mom passed, we had the opportunity to get a piano from my brother’s wife at the time. My dad said no. I was crushed and resented him for the longest time after that, but I began to see how unrealistic it was—we were moving into my stepmother’s house. I was clueless as to what it takes to move pianos.

6) I really have no rhythm, can’t hear notes and it’s just not in me music wise. The only way I would dance is if I was liquored up. Since I don’t drink any longer—clean and sober for around 20 years thank you very much, it takes a lot of courage for me to get up and shake my booty. I have such anxiety and feel so self-conscious that I could throw up. I’ll slow dance with my husband. Once he tricked me and said, “Come on, it’s a slow song.” I got up to dance. I can never remember songs. This one turned from slow to fast and there I was… I seriously wanted to clobber him.

7) When I got together with my current husband, a baby grand sat in his house. For years I wouldn’t even touch it. Here it was all mine to play and I ignored it as if it were diseased. One day I got brave and decided to take lessons. Much to my surprise and with practice, I understood what the notes were on the sheet music and how they related to the keys on the piano.

8) Yeah, this is eight, but I have to say that my stepson tried to teach me how to play the drums. I had no idea how hard that could be… and so I tried the two things that I thought I always wanted to play, but really, I think I’ll stick with writing.

9) Oh my gosh, enough already, someone stop me. It’s like I’m playing Onward Christian Soldier. I just have one more music thing to share. After I divorced husband number two, there was a country and western song that played in my head. I could hear the words and melody and thought it was the weirdest thing. I had a recorder and sang into it (remember, I can't sing--the nun), then wrote down the words. I had no idea what notes were, so nothing there. I made the mistake of letting my kids hear it. Every now and then they’ll remember and belt out the tune especially when I’m sad. They crack up laughing. It does get me to laugh too, but my song isn’t all that funny. My singing, yes. Oh. Wait. Maybe that’s what they’re teasing me about.

If you got through this, I'm suppose to award others. I think all my blogger friends have been awarded, but if you haven't, you're awarded, okay? Let's hear your music truths if you can't think of seven random truths.

Thanks Dianna for being so patient with me to accept my award. I appreciate it. And thanks Becky for the idea!