My friend and fellow writer, Delia Moran, nominated me for an award!
It took all of my technological know-how just to peel that badge off their website, so don't expect to click on it and get transported over to the actual blog. However, if you click here (really, right here, on the green word "here") you'll be flung through cyberspace to the VBA page.
Now that you know what the green words do, go up and click on Delia's name to check out her blog as well because she has dragonflies in her border and Magnum in her bed. Plus-bonus!-she's smart and funny, and well, versatile.
To fulfill my duties as a Versatile Blogger I am required to share seven things about me. If you are a regular reader of the Diaries you already know a lot about me, perhaps more than you ever wanted, but you can't unring that bell, or unread those posts, as it were. So, some of this will be redundant for you regulars but I hope to amaze and ensnare you new folks! Here goes, in order of importance:
1. I'm a recovering addict. No, I'm not obsessed with re-upholstery. Rather, when I was a young person I did a lot of drugs until one day, almost 25 years ago, my family made me choose between them and my stash. I picked them, and all the good things in my life are a result of that decision.
2. I have five children but, secretly, I wouldn't have minded more. Seven, perhaps. If I was younger when I started. Or threw in a set of twins. Or wasn't afraid the stress would kill the Captain. He's a hard worker, but them's a lot of mouths to feed and send to college.
3. I am the only one of my siblings with blue eyes and blonde hair. Originally. The eyes are still blue but the hair needs regular maintenance to keep it the perfect flaxen shade of "Not Grey."
4. Four out of the five boys have blue eyes and a variation of the blonde hair. The Captain has brown hair and eyes. Is this fact about me? Why, yes, because it shows the power and tenacity of my genes. Recessive, my ass.
5. I've always wanted to be a singer. A howler, really, along the lines of Pink or Hayley Williams from Paramore. But my natural vocal stylings lend themselves more to 1940's crooning or, on a good day, Patsy Cline.
6. I took Latin in high school because I wanted to be a lawyer. Although I lost interest in that idea by the time I finished college (there was a slight delay in graduating due to issues explained in answer #1) I feel I've kept my verbal sparring skills in top-notch form through regular jousting with petulant pre-teens.
7. I didn't start reading romance novels until I was in my 40's, mostly because I didn't have time for recreational page-turning due to issues explained in answer #2. By the time I finished WELCOME TO TEMPTATION by Jennifer Crusie I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. You know, besides raise boys, because I don't think there's a mandatory retirement age for that job.
So that's a little about me. How about you? Care to share?
In accordance with the VBA rules, it's my honor to present my nominations for the Versatile Blogger Award:
Julie Hanavan Olsen: Daily inspiration, subversive cross-stitch, and adventures with her family.
Kari Lynn Dell: Cowboy romance and true-life tales of rodeo and ranching in Montana.
Sarah Gallagher: Adventures with Sweet Girl, Little Man, and autism. She gets a double VBA, because she also reviews books with some outstanding women, including her sister:
Carrie Trimble: Vicarious reading (because I still don't have time) through book reviews, and baseball love. Plus, it's called The Family Addiction, so I felt a kinship.
Lora Mathews: Reader; writer; teacher; mother to the world's most photogenic baby.
Anne Stuart, Jennifer Crusie, and Lani Diane Rich: Three talented authors share how they're reinventing their fabulousness. Go for the authors, stay for the commenters.
This is a short list of the people I visit in blog world. Click on all the green words and have a look around. Then tell us who you follow. I'm always interested in meeting new people! (Fact #8)
Now that you know what the green words do, go up and click on Delia's name to check out her blog as well because she has dragonflies in her border and Magnum in her bed. Plus-bonus!-she's smart and funny, and well, versatile.
To fulfill my duties as a Versatile Blogger I am required to share seven things about me. If you are a regular reader of the Diaries you already know a lot about me, perhaps more than you ever wanted, but you can't unring that bell, or unread those posts, as it were. So, some of this will be redundant for you regulars but I hope to amaze and ensnare you new folks! Here goes, in order of importance:
1. I'm a recovering addict. No, I'm not obsessed with re-upholstery. Rather, when I was a young person I did a lot of drugs until one day, almost 25 years ago, my family made me choose between them and my stash. I picked them, and all the good things in my life are a result of that decision.
2. I have five children but, secretly, I wouldn't have minded more. Seven, perhaps. If I was younger when I started. Or threw in a set of twins. Or wasn't afraid the stress would kill the Captain. He's a hard worker, but them's a lot of mouths to feed and send to college.
3. I am the only one of my siblings with blue eyes and blonde hair. Originally. The eyes are still blue but the hair needs regular maintenance to keep it the perfect flaxen shade of "Not Grey."
4. Four out of the five boys have blue eyes and a variation of the blonde hair. The Captain has brown hair and eyes. Is this fact about me? Why, yes, because it shows the power and tenacity of my genes. Recessive, my ass.
5. I've always wanted to be a singer. A howler, really, along the lines of Pink or Hayley Williams from Paramore. But my natural vocal stylings lend themselves more to 1940's crooning or, on a good day, Patsy Cline.
6. I took Latin in high school because I wanted to be a lawyer. Although I lost interest in that idea by the time I finished college (there was a slight delay in graduating due to issues explained in answer #1) I feel I've kept my verbal sparring skills in top-notch form through regular jousting with petulant pre-teens.
7. I didn't start reading romance novels until I was in my 40's, mostly because I didn't have time for recreational page-turning due to issues explained in answer #2. By the time I finished WELCOME TO TEMPTATION by Jennifer Crusie I knew what I wanted to do with the rest of my life. You know, besides raise boys, because I don't think there's a mandatory retirement age for that job.
So that's a little about me. How about you? Care to share?
In accordance with the VBA rules, it's my honor to present my nominations for the Versatile Blogger Award:
Julie Hanavan Olsen: Daily inspiration, subversive cross-stitch, and adventures with her family.
Kari Lynn Dell: Cowboy romance and true-life tales of rodeo and ranching in Montana.
Sarah Gallagher: Adventures with Sweet Girl, Little Man, and autism. She gets a double VBA, because she also reviews books with some outstanding women, including her sister:
Carrie Trimble: Vicarious reading (because I still don't have time) through book reviews, and baseball love. Plus, it's called The Family Addiction, so I felt a kinship.
Lora Mathews: Reader; writer; teacher; mother to the world's most photogenic baby.
Anne Stuart, Jennifer Crusie, and Lani Diane Rich: Three talented authors share how they're reinventing their fabulousness. Go for the authors, stay for the commenters.
This is a short list of the people I visit in blog world. Click on all the green words and have a look around. Then tell us who you follow. I'm always interested in meeting new people! (Fact #8)
Hah! If this comment actually works I'll be first! I've never been first here before.
ReplyDeleteWhat didn't I know from that list? Singing, Latin, Lawyer and powerful genes.
I also love to sing. But I'm not a howler, nor do I want to be! I love Christmas Carols and the Beatles. I'm old and odd, what can I say?
I find you to be neither old nor odd. And I went through a serious Beatles phase when I was younger.
DeleteLook! Look up there! It posted. I'm back! I'm back! Someone turned the blacklist off! Now I can be really obnoxious again...
ReplyDeleteOkay,there was a slight delay between answering comment #1 and comment #2, due to snow and high winds and ice and having to get people where they needed to go despite all those issues. Phew! But hey! Look! You're number one!
DeleteLOL! Kate isn't blacklisted and Megan had the same techinical trials with the badge thingy that I had.
ReplyDeleteBTW Megan, I gave you an honorable mention since Delia had already given you the nomination. Same with Kate.
I nominated Julie, too. I love to see what she's up to everyday.
I didn't know about the Latin or the need to be a lawyer, either. Seems like you might have mentioned the singing before, though I'm not sure.
Still you are a fascinating, funny versatile person and I love reading about your life and your boys.
Eagerly anticipating when you have time to write and I'll also get to read your book.
Honorable mentions? I didn't know I could do that! Thank you for the nod. I consider my blog roll all my honorable mentions because I think it's a fairly eclectic mix, and if I had more time I'd read everyone regularly!
DeleteI'm going to see my sister for a few days, and I'll be lugging along the laptop for some writing. Yay!
Kate, you cracked me up.
ReplyDeleteMegan, I didn't know about the lawyer thing either...and hey, how come you didn't serenade me when we were roomies?
Lots of great blogs up there! I follow the Fab three regularly, and Julie, Lora, and Carrie sporadically, when I have time.
I don't know why I didn't sing for you. If you ask the Captain, he'd tell you it's fairly easy to get me to stand up and croon. Especially if my children are around to embarrass.
DeleteOh, time. There's never enough of it.
Magnum and I both thank you for the shout-out. :) That's funny about the Patsy Cline. I'm still trying to picture that. Um...I don't think I can think of anything else about me. Oh wait, I've got one! My hair was naturally blonde until I turned nineteen, then it went brown. Which, now that I think about it, was when I started dying it. Huh.
ReplyDeleteI loved Patsy Cline when I was in college. I was cleaning out my CD's the other day and found one of hers-now I'm stuck in a "I go out walkin', after midnight..." loop.
DeleteThe children just clued into the fact that I color my hair. It's been the same color for over ten years, so we all just think this is the natural shade!
I guess I never stopped to think about all the blondes among your brood. So I'll count that as something I didn't "know". I had forgotten the lawyer thing. I always think of film as your first career choice. That's a great group of bloggers you have nominated. I concur!
ReplyDeleteYes, I wanted to be a rogue attorney who rights the injustices in the world through documentary filmmaking. But it seemed too hard to reconcile those two worlds, outside of the realm of television anyway, so I got knocked up instead. It was my fall-back. Actually, I suppose it was the falling back that got me knocked up...Anywho, writing seems to be the closest I'll get to combining my talents.
DeleteAnd thank you for introducing me to the world of blogging!
Megan - wanted to share this with you - here is an easy way to possibly win several books
ReplyDeletehttp://sn116w.snt116.mail.live.com/default.aspx?rru=inbox#n=2077615490&rru=inbox&fid=1&fav=1&mid=5c9f3940-721a-11e2-8eed-002264c2496c&fv=1
Thank you for the link!
DeleteCan I also win the time to read them?
So obviously I am WAY behind on my blog reading. And everything else in my life. Worse, this isn't even the most embarrassing thing I've completely overlooked this month. You can add 'parent-teacher conferences' and 'Valentine's Day school party' to the list. And yes, I do now have my entire office trained to check with me at 3:15 pm to see if by chance it's my day to pick up the kid.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the mention, though. It's nice to know one of us is thinking of me.
You're quite welcome for the mention. I don't know what's happened to all my blog-reading time, either, and I share your propensity for missed appointments. Most days I'm just happy if I have five boys in their beds at the end of the day.
ReplyDelete