Good Friday everyone! Thank goodness it’s Friday!
I wanted to tell you today about two very sweet bloggers. One is Tissie from Tissie’s Pieces (she has stunning photographs of her family on there,) and the other is Kae from Access Chaos (she blogs about life with her adorable son.)
Anyway, these two ladies nominated me for a Liebster Award. Those of you who don’t blog probably don’t know what a Liebster is because up until recently, neither did I. Basically it is an award from small bloggers to other small bloggers, a way to encourage each other. It was so sweet of them to nominate me, so if you have a moment, head over to their blogs and show them some love!
Anyway, the rules of a Liebster are as follows:
1. Thank the blogger that nominated you with their link.
2. Post 11 random facts about yourself.
3. Answer the 11 questions set for you.
4. Choose blogs you love with less than 200 followers and link their pages to your post.
5. Create 11 questions for them.
6. Notify your nominees.
Hmm. Eleven random facts about myself. Let’s see.
1. I hate it when it’s even moderately warm in my bedroom. I like it cold. Cold enough that I can use a comforter in 100 degree weather. I was recently told that this is actually good for fighting off germs, so maybe I can thank every cold we didn’t get this winter on our cold home. (Not sure what to say about the ones we did get though.)
2. I am horrible (beyond beyond horrible) at keeping my girls’ finger nails trimmed. None of them scratch themselves, so it’s not really dangerous, but it’s really not attractive. Particularly after they have been playing in the mud. Or eating mac and cheese. Every day I tell myself to remember to cut them, and well… let’s just say they could all (including baby Mae!) rock some French manicures at this point.
3. I once hugged Scott Baio.
4. Whenever I am asked to come up with a random list of facts, I always include #3.
5. All three of my girls have at least one of their names (first or middle) that has a deep, personal significance to me.
6. I have a congenital defect whereas I was missing a few permanent teeth.
7. Apparently having teeth is considered a cosmetic concern, and therefore getting teeth is quite a costly undertaking.
8. I’m scared of ferris wheels. Not as scared of them as I am of mice. But still. Navy Pier makes me cringe.
9. I broke my hand doing a backflip, broke both my elbows running, popped the bursa in my knee playing softball, and seemingly permanently damaged my neck writing graduate school papers. None of my injuries happen in ways they traditionally should.
10. I am addicted to All My Children. I have watched it since I was five years old.
11. I love blogging. It’s a weird thing, posting your thoughts for anyone to read. But it frees me and it liberates me. It teaches me that it is okay to be wholly who I am and that I don’t have to be afraid of sharing that with the world.
And now I’m going to answer a mix of the eleven questions they asked.
1. What do you say when your (or someone else’s) kid asks you why the sky is blue? I do my best to answer something that is as close to correct as I can guess. If it’s a question that I really don’t know the answer to, I will either say we should look it up in a book or that we should ask daddy.
2. How do you like your eggs? I hate eggs. Like really really hate them. I don’t mind a hard boiled egg on a salad if it is cooked just right, but it is so hard for me to get it to that perfect degree of rightness that I don’t ordinarily bother.
3. What was your very first job? I worked the cash register at Walgreens when I was 16. I remember being so scared at first. I thought I would never be able to relax again because the pressure of handling that money was the most pressure of any job ever. Little did I know…
4. What is your earliest memory? I remember feeding the deer at the deer park in Minocqua. It’s one of the reasons I was so excited to bring my girls there this last fall.
5. What is your favorite time of year? Okay, this is hard to answer. I would say Fourth of July, Christmas, Valentines Day, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. Which you know is like half of the year! I like decorating, so any time that gives me a chance to decorate for a holiday is fine by me! I also like April because it reminds me of those days waiting to give birth to the two older girls. I wonder if December will start to hold the same significance for me now that Mae is here.
6. Did you have a big wedding ceremony or elope? We had a pretty big wedding. Our wedding party was huge — 18 people plus us. All the girls wore emerald green and the men wore black tuxes with green vests and ties. The pictures are stunning.
7. What is your favorite quote? It was always, “Be the change you wish to see,” by Ghandi. But actually lately it has been “Every situation needs a hero.” And I am very a bit embarrassed to say that it is from Dr Phil. Yea, I really like that show. It just inspires me and reminds me that when no one is stepping up, there is no one better than ourselves to do the job.
8. How would you explain your basic life philosophy? This is a good one! Show up. Do good. Right the wrongs that you can. Help people overcome the ones you can’t. Live with passion and intensity and compassion and empathy. Help those without a voice find a voice and be the voice for the rest. Try to be authentic in a world that hates individuality. And above all show love. Always show love.
9. City or country? Ha! How do I answer this one? I am a suburban-raised, country-living, city-loving girl. If it were just me, I would live in the city without a single hesitation. For multiple reasons, I want my children raised in the suburbs.
10. If you could try any job for a day what would it be? I’m going to be boring here and say that I wouldn’t do anything but what I am doing. I guess I’m lucky to say that in terms of careers, I had my dream career before the girls were born. I found what I am passionate about intellectually, and that is teaching writing. That being said, I can spend the rest of my life teaching writing, and so now I spend the few years I have with little kids at home with those little kids. Breathing them in. Eating them up. Savoring this time that will go by much, much too quickly. I can spend the rest of my life teaching others how to write. Right now, I want to spend my time learning what my children have to teach me.
11. What is the best decision you ever made? Saying yes all those years ago to that lovable guy sitting a few feet away from me.
And so that’s it! That’s me in a nutshell.
I would like to nominate Jessica at Sloppy Copy Mommy for the Liebster I can pass on. I just recently found her blog, and I am so glad I did. Every time I am on there, I find something that speaks to me. She is a beautiful writer, and an all around nice person. And for my questions to Jessica, I will just use the same eleven that were given to me.
Have a great weekend!
And if you just simply cannot get enough of me, here are some other places I have been on the web this week.
I loved that you hugged Scott Baio haha… thats just as unusual as my random celebrity encounter… Red Foxx from Sanford and Sons. I met him in an elevator when I was six. We hugged. I don’t remember it at all. And your life philosophy is lovely. Thanks for playing along 🙂