Bloggy Versatility

Versatile, huh? I don't know about that, but I'll take it.

I was just awarded with the Versatile Blogger, a peer award, though the one who awarded it to me is hardly my peer. And I mean that in the best sense--she is my mother. Yes, yes, moms do tend to award for unnecessary things ("best pancake mixer" and "fastest Lego picker-upper" or "quietest at the library"), but I appreciate her nomination of my blog to join in this love-fest. I think she means it, because otherwise I don't think she would have put my name up there with the highly intelligent bloggers she listed herself. Thanks, Mom! It's my first blog award! Don't worry, I won't let it go to my head.

For those of you who do not know, my mom, Meg Moseley, is an actual novelist. Meaning she has sold a book! When Sparrows Fall will hit the presses in May 2011, and I hope you look it up. Several months ago she allowed me to read one of the many drafts, and I was begging her for further installments as I flew through the chapters she gave me. It is a great story and I enjoyed all of it--I really couldn't wait to find out how it ended!

Since I don't participate in these very often, er, more like never, I'm excited about the idea. Here is how this blog fest works.

1. Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
2. Share seven things about yourself.
3. Pass on the award to up to fifteen deserving bloggers.
4. Contact the bloggers you chose for the award.

Alrighty, rule #1, check. Now, #2.

1. When I have a spare hour (which I do more because I am a procrastinator, not because I get work done so that I can play), I am more likely to sit down with a sudoku puzzle than an actual book. But I have to wait until Sunday for a new puzzle in the newspaper because the lame county paper that is delivered free only comes on Sundays.

2. My favorite sound is my 15 month old jabbering about whatever goes through her little head. I don't know what it is about, but it is very serious, and sounds a lot like, "Ieeeeez ein, nnnn ha einnnah, hey ahy aye-aye, nud da da!" What can I say? She's so smart.

3. If you asked me where I want to go to eat and I had full freedom to name any place at all, without deferring to anyone else (which is rarely), I would almost inevitably say, "Five Guys Burgers & Fries" for one of their "little cheeseburgers." Their "little" burgers are normal sized burgers. Their "hamburgers" are two hamburger patties. And they don't charge anything extra for any topping you could ask for on your burger. Their fries are worth every penny, too, especially because they not only fill a Styrofoam cup heaping with fries, they fill it up, dump it into your paper bag, and then refill the cup and put it in the bag upside down. That's even when you order a small fry. It seems so generous, even though potatoes are like the cheapest thing in the world to give away. That's part of why I love them so.

4. I have a cowlick in my hairline on my forehead, which I got from my mom (thanks, Mom), and apparently I passed on to my daughter (you can thank me later, Liz). This makes anything a hairstylist would think of doing with my hair kind of a disaster. At least that's what I get for going to places that charge less than $15 for a hair cut.

5. There is a horrible stingy, rationing side to me. Yes, that's helpful when you're trying to save money or be creatively frugal with leftovers. But it comes out as meanness. "No, you can't eat that bacon as a snack! What if I were going to make BLTs for lunch tomorrow?!" That's well and good, but I usually say something like that when there is neither L nor T in the house.

6. By the time I was 16, our household and/or yard had hosted 1 horse, 1 dog, 12 pigs for 4-H, 10 rabbits (well, first there were 2; you know how that goes), 2 cockatiels, 2 parakeets (OK, the 'keets were my brother's), and 7 cats. This may have had something to do with us homeschooling. If I remember right, we called it 'animal husbandry' if all we did that day was pick up our pigs for fair.

7. It's after 3 PM and I am drinking coffee right now, even though last time I did this I didn't sleep well until after 2:40 AM. But that also had something to do with toddler canines breaking through toddler gums. Hence, more coffee.

8. I can't stand that when you type "gums" it says it is spelled incorrectly. Even the computer should know that the pink flesh that your teeth live in is called your gum, and you really should be able to pluralize it. OK, this one was a freebie.


Now rule #3. I will pass this on to a few blog friends. The last thing I want to do is to pressure these folks into any kind of "chain blogging" trap, but I'm giving The Versatile Blogger to these particular blogs because I follow them, and I think they're cool.

1 - Magen @ evangeline - This is one of the sweetest, most peaceful and honest blogs on the web. And Magen makes beautiful hand-crafted clothes, hair clips, and accessories. I "ooh and ahh" at the items in her store.

2 - Rachel Anne @ Home Sanctuary - I don't know how I stumbled upon this blog, but I have followed her for at least a couple of years. And I join the gals for her Friday "Company Girl Coffee" when Fridays and my blogging coincide.

3 - Pop @ Go, Pop, Go! - His blog is truly versatile, because he covers being a dad (Pop), working out, making food (though sometimes more often he talks about food than about working out. hmm....), and flipping off the things he can definitely do without, which is balanced on another day by things he is thankful for.

4 - Bethie @ Bethie at home - I love Beth, and she loves Jesus and her family and her friends, and she tells great stories, and her chili recipe is the best. You will have to go through the archives to November 2009 for her crock pot chili recipe, but I promise it is totally worth it.

5 - Alicia @ Alicia's Homemaking - This girl amazes me. Really, you have to look at her blog, because if she didn't have photos to prove it, I wouldn't believe that she really has a baby, a husband, a neat apartment, an exercise routine, homework that she finishes, a budget she keeps, homemade food she prepares, a blog she maintains, and friends that she actually relates to regularly. I'm thinking she might have a twin she's not telling us about, who does her slave labor.

6 - Keith & Patricia @ Wednesday Wisdom - This is a collection of parenting wisdom, and it is written by the parents of friends. Their words can be taken seriously because they have 6 kids, and all of them are normal, healthy, productive members of society, for the glory of God.

7 - Joyce @ Keeping up with the Moys - We started following each other's blogs after "meeting" via Company Girl Coffee. We were both pregnant with our little Chinese babies, due within a month of each other. If we didn't live on opposite sides of the country (almost), we would surely be in play group together. If she had time.

8 - Elisa @ The Not So Pharaoh Farrows - Elisa is adorable; I met her when she was a wee camper and I was a young staff/counselor at camp. Now she and her husband have just been married for a year, and they are an adorable couple, who have brave and caring hearts. Her blog is beautiful and cute.

So, have at it, guys. You're all versatile, and award-worthy in my eyes. **golf clap - because Liz is asleep on the other side of this wall**

Now, on to rule #4.