For Me? An Award?

Why is there a little pic of Gloria Vanderbilt here along with an Honest Scrap sign, you may be wondering? Well, read on....

Recently, I was given an "award"--the Honest Scrap award--by the warm , witty and always readable Peg(or is it Margaret...or Peggy?) from Straight Up-No Chaser, and I am so flattered that she thought to include me in the list of recipients she thought worthy of this award. I feel just honored enough that this woman even reads my blog.

Back in September of last year, I was given this same award by both Claudia and Zuzana, and so already had to think of ten things to say about myself(that blog entry here).
At first, I was going to wimp out and just copy my list from then, but somehow came up with ten more sliglhtly interesting things about myself(I hope..)

Along with the rule of having to list 10 things about myself, I need to then pass the award along to 10 friends(I changed it to 3 bloggers-see below).

Well, let's get started with my list:

1. I never had a dog as a pet in my life until the year I was 41(grew up with cats and *thought* I was a "cat person"), when my daughter fell in love with a little fat black mixed breed puppy named Jewel. Of course, it somehow happened that she has almost become my dog.





2. I have at least 50 moles of assorted sizes all over my body, including a big ugly fat one at the nape of my neck which I always had to warn a new hairstylist about so they wouldn't scrape a metal comb over it--ouch!




Also--a "beauty mark" one under my left eye(that one, I like),




another one above my lip,




one under my left nostril ...which I hate and wish I could have it taken off like my mother did to hers years ago. She had one about the same size and in the very same place as mine--right under the left nostril.




Oh, and the one I hate most of all.....one on my chin, which, horror of horrors--has been sprouting a hair of late! Ack! I was warned once by an older woman (this was about ten years ago) that "you'll end up finding hairs in places you never thought possible once you are old like me." So, yes, I was warned, but I still don't like it.


3. I am at times guarded and feel uncomfortable telling some things about myself, but then on the other hand...I have a public blog...and write about my ordinary boring life...and my moles and chin hair.



4. Back in the 80's, I once worked a party(I used to work for a catering outfit) hosted by Gloria Vanderbilt at her Newport mansion(Marble House was it?), and, wearing the requisite black dress with white apron (so Upstairs Downstairs), had to make it through the swirling couples dancing in the ballroom with a heavy tray with food to serve to the society guests(one of whom was "uber It-girl" of the 80's--Cornelia Guest)--so worried that I would get bumped into by the oblivious rich folks and spill the contents of the tray. But, somehow I managed not to. It was one of the more interesting parties I catered--almost unreal because of the location and the type of people who were there..





5. Weirdly, I saw Gloria V. once again a year later as she strolled through the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum in Boston with her son. I think it was the one who eventually killed himself by throwing himself out the window of his NYC apartment. But, maybe it was Cooper ?(he might have had brown hair at one time?)





6. I was baptised in a Greek Orthodox church in Montreal.





7. It bothers me when I see someone walking their dog and talking on their phone at the same time. I can't say why, but it just does. I don't really like cell phones and rarely use mine, basically.





8. I have never seen the movie Titanic.





9. Or Lord Of The Rings





10. But... I have seen Pee Wee's Big Adventure about five times, at least.

So, now that that's done, I want to pass this award onto a few bloggers who I feel deserve it--three bloggers "who I feel embody the spirit of the Honest Scrap and whose blogs I find brilliant in design or content."

Firstly, there' are two Canadian bloggers(on both coasts of the continent)--
Kate at Pennello Lane
and....Jack at slightly off-center
and then there's my friend Claudia in Guatemala(giving the award right back on to you, Claus!).
Please check out their visually and mentally stimulating blogs if you get a chance.

thank you, sally mandy!

Having just survived a small "zombie apocalypse" ( a 12 hour sleep-over party with seven 13 and 14 year old girls in my house), I thought it about time I acknowledged this "Zombie Chicken" award that sallymandy so kindly thought to bestow upon me...days and days and days ago. Phew! that was some long sentence.
**********
"The blogger who receives this award believes in the Tao of the zombie chicken - excellence, grace and persistence in all situations, even in the midst of a zombie apocalypse. These amazing bloggers regularly produce content so remarkable that their readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read their inspiring words. As a recipient of this world-renowned award, you now have the task of passing it on to at least 5 other worthy bloggers. Do not risk the wrath of the zombie chickens by choosing unwisely or not choosing at all..."

When I started blogging(been doing this now for about three years--almost one year here at Blogger), I started out by just winging it and writing about just any old thing that was flitting through my mind , never even thinking I would have regular readers and eventually friends who would take the time to read what I had to say.. I knew nothing about awards and all the rules and protocol about receiving and passing them along, and I think I am still bad about the whole thing. For those of you who gave me awards and it seemed I didn't appreciate them by not mentioning it here at my blog, that hasn't been the case at all.

The first award I was given was one from Zuzana ( Life, Work And Pleasure blog ), and now I finally am taking this opportunity to pass one on to her.

This one's for you, Ms. Protege!
She truly does "produce content so remarkable that her readers would brave a raving pack of zombie chickens just to be able to read her inspiring words." If you haven't discovered her blog yet, I would encourage you to have a look and think it just might become the day brightening habit it has become for me.

And, sallymandy, if you are reading this--please forgive me for taking so gosh darn long to getting around to thanking you and acknowledging that you chose me for this award.

I still have to acknowledge and post about a few other awards some other kind bloggers decided to give me recently. I'm workin' on it...!

For now, I am finally enjoying some "me" time after the 12 hour whirlwind of teen girl squeals and chatter and food serving has ended.
The party is over, for another year at least(and maybe by next year, R will be over wanting to have a birthday party anyway...),
the seven cans worth of Silly String that was all over the back yard has been picked up,
and I even get the computer on a Saturday all to myself since now the kid even has her own laptop(a combination birthday and graduation from middle school gift we gave her).

Thank God For Little Boys...

....running wildly in the mud.
and thank God for Mozart, Nina Simone, The Daily Show,
and husbands who come to mammogram appointments with you. (and thank you, too, for nice bloggy friends who give awards...)

I had a half bad day/half good day.
Today, I felt like embracing and rolling with the lousy tired mood I was in from the time I woke up. The weather was depressing(dark, wet, drizzly and cold), the headache would not go away(I think it had something to do with my sinuses since it was always throbbing right over my left eyebrow) and I felt rushed and kept doing stupid things all day--up until suppertime when I almost served a quiche that wasn't quite done. Mr. F took over and baked it some more and supper, although at 8:00, was saved and served after all.
But, really, it wasn't such a bad day. Work was rather nice. The little dramas from Monday were a thing of the past--like they never happened. It was slow business-wise which isn't good but I was moving like a slug anyway, so at least I could keep up.
We usually have the radio set to the local NPR station all day in the back workroom, but today all of us (all three of us!)couldn't take any more gloom and doom(a guest was talking about both the global financial meltdown and the direness of the global warming situation)so co-worker G popped in a CD and it was a relief to be listening to The Marriage of Figaro(which always makes me think immediately of a certain Bugs Bunny cartoon, sad to say) and Nina Simone. After that, my mood and even physical self(headache went away for a bit and I felt energetic and calm at the same time) improved 100%. The few customers that I dealt with were for the most part, all a certain kind of older lady-- dressed in their sensible coats and shoes and very sweet to talk to. No pressure.
I kind of had to rush around after I left work--first to home to let the dog out, then back to the school in time to pick the daughter up after her volunteering. It was going to be tight since as soon as I brought R home, I would have to get back in the car to make it in time for the mammogram appointment. So I was stressing a little as I got to the school, feeling depressed about the drizzle and grey landscape, my head pounding a little(and at the back of my mind the mammogram was probably making me a little more anxious than usual)but as I turned into the entrance I noticed about five or six little boys(maybe around six years old) in the grass, running and stomping in that little boy way--so happy just to be outside with their coats flapping open, even if they were getting wet and getting muddy. I just had to smile and and say to myself, "take it easy, like those kids..and their mothers over there who are letting them do that".
The mammogram was er, "squeezy" but all in all not so bad. Apparently, my breasts are extra dense(which doesn't mean big, by all means), so I got to have two extra pictures taken on top of the usual four, too. Lucky me. But, it's done. I'll try not to think of the report I'll get in a few days time(the worst part for me). A little glass of wine on the couch with the husband and laughing out loud watching The Daily Show made everything all right in the end.
Which brings me to another very good thing-- another award from a much admired blogger-- the don'tworryitsonlyamovie lady thought of me(!) when she had the job of passing on the "When Life Gives You Lemons" award.
I don't know that I always know how to make lemonade out of lemons but I think I am pretty good at trying to see the good side(or at least the comical) of things, even when things are not going my way. I know my life is not the most exciting, but then it's not a bad life at all either and I try to make this a place where I write about the little things that to me, at least, are really the big things in life.

There are some rules to go along with the award and they are:
*Post the logo on your blog.
*Nominate blogs that show great attitude or gratitude.
*Link to the nominees within your blog post.
*Notify the recipients of the award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link back to the person from whom you received your award.

So here are my nominees....please take a look around their excellent blogs if you haven't already.

A World To Experience (the first person I knew who had a blog here at Blogger!)

Life, Work And Pleasure

Content In A Cottage

Thank You

Put this in the "Who me?" category.
This is a little strange and embarrassing and I am never quite sure about the proper etiquette concerning these blog awards. It seems I have won some kind of Blog of The Day Award. I don't know much about this, other than a comment from Bill Austin yesterday and from looking at the site, it seems someone has to nominate you for this daily recognition. So, I should acknowledge and thank whomever did this. It's a big mystery.... but very sweet of whoever did that.

And for something completely unrelated, here's a video I was happy to find and share here, featuring two of the greatest men to come out of the Commonwealth Of Massachusetts!
It's from a 1993 Conan O'Brien Show when Jonathan Richman was a guest, singing "Vampire Girl".
Both Conan and Jonathan look so young in this. As well as Andy Richter and Ed McMahon--they are in this, too, if you watch it until the end. (Heck, I looked a lot younger in 1993, too---pre-motherhood and all that.)
**I can't wait until Conan is back on TV in his new time slot....maybe he'll have Jonathan Richman on again.

sorry--
*video had to be removed on May 19, 2009, becasue it was taken off You Tube.*