Awards and such

Over the last couple of months that my life has revolved around the chaos that it has been, I have been very lax in thanking the lovelies that have bestowed upon me glorious awards. So, without further adieu I would like to thank Preppy Player http://preppyplayer.blogspot.com and my friend DD http://knockuout.wordpress.com for the new little decorations on the side of my blog.

But, these things don't come for free. Nope. I have to dig deep into my soul and bare it for all of you. So, first I will tackle Preppys:

The Rules: 1. List 10 things that make you happy. (and grateful)

2. Top 10 bloggers that brighten your day. (like the sun coming thru the clouds)

10 Things That Make Me Happy:

1. S1.

2. S2.

3. S3. (okay...so taking a spot for each kid....that's a cheating a little bit, but they each make me happy with all their individual idiosyncrasies, ideas, thoughts, mannerisms, and on and on....besides it is my list so I can use up as many spots as I want for whatever-deal with it).

4. My animals. Well, pretty much all animals. They fascinate me and at the same time, they make me into "the weird lady down the street that talks to the animals". I have been known to talk to other families dogs when they are pooping in my yard. Usually is is something along the lines of 'GO SHIT IN YOUR OWN YARD...YOUR PEOPLE ARE INCONSIDERATE AND STUPID'.

5. Funny television. Right now I am hooked on Psych. It is one of those shows that if you don't really pay attention to the dialog and delivery, you miss a lot. Funny funny show.

6. Smart people. I love to be surrounded by smart people. People that don't have a clue, well, just walk on by, because you give me a sore neck from all the head shaking I have to do.

7. My DVR. Next to the discovery of knowledge that you can make cocoa beans into chocolate, the DVR is the best invention ever. Commercials turn my brain to mush.

8. Making people smile. I take it as a personal challenge when I am somewhere and the clerk/receptionist/whatever is a grumpy nasty person. I engage them in a conversation and am nauseatingly sweet and refuse to walk away till they at least crack the teeniest of smiles. It is a gottcha moment for me. Kinda like a notch on the bedpost.

9. Food. Oh dear god I love food.

10. Being on the beach. There really aren't too many things that are better than having my ass on the beach, reading a good book, watching my "adult" children play in the water, check out girls, tell awful disgusting jokes and just be with me. I know that before long they will have wives and kids and lives. I have to cherish the moments now.

10 1/2. Big D. He is like the saying my mom used to say "when he is good, he is very very good...when he is bad, he is horrid" (this was actually part of a rhyme about a girl with a curl in the middle of her forehead). This May we will have been married 29 years, so, lots of ups and downs are inevitable, but most of the time, he is my rock.

10 Bloggers That Make Me Smile: (I will preface this list by saying there are WAY more than 10, but I am only allowed to name 10 and some of them are private, so...here they are:

1.Eden http://edenriley.blogspot.com

2. Patty http://preppyplayer.blogspot.com

3. Jerry http://monologuewriter.blogspot.com

4. Tina http://littlepieceoftexas2.blogspot.com

5. Lorrie http://ournameisblog.blogspot.com

6. Thystle http://www.missthystle.com

7. Deathstar http://awomanmyage.wordpress.com

8. Cranky http://crankylitprof.wordpress.com

9. Kat http://www.mamakatslosinit.com

10. Ina http://ina-offret.blogspot.com

Be sure, these are not even close to all of the ones I peruse and laugh with, provoke thoughts, have great ideas, photos, locations, etc., but these are the ones that popped into my empty morning head.

Now, on to DD's. Hers involves me revealing 7 things about myself. While most people don't like memes....I love to talk about myself (in fact I think that meme should be called memememememememe, cuz they are all about me).

1. I am a fanatic about animals. When I see someone that I don't think is a good dog/cat owner, in my head, I secretly plot a way to get the animal a better home.

2. I have a huge issue with a busy mind. Even when I don't want to be thinking about something, it never shuts down. It flings from one thing to the next and in the length of time it takes to fill a glass of water, I will typically have had at least 10 thoughts/ideas/memories/CONVERSATIONS (yes, I have conversations in my OWN head with how people (mostly BigD) is going to respond to any comment I make. It can be exhausting. I have been told by friends that I most likely have A.D.D. though, I am able to completely focus when I am reading a good book. All the noise in my head goes away.

3.If it contains chocolate, I will most likely eat it.

4.I have recently been friend-ed on Fbook by a few high school acquaintances and am completely shocked that each one has told me that they remember me as very nice and kind to everyone. My memories of high school lean more toward the fact that I was terrified almost every day (not a safety issue...it was a private girls school, with a graduating class of 83 girls...and really, when we are all stuck wearing uniforms, how scary could it have been???).....I was the most insecure, quiet, daydreamer ever.

5.Though I love animals, I never owned a cat until I was 42. I bought into all the "they are sneaky" "they are loners", "they make the house smell".....then S1 rescued a starving kitty from a tree, brought him home and I realized all those people that were telling me that stuff are full of shit. Ours is sweet, loving, 'talks' to us on an hourly basis, DOES NOT jump on counters, cuddles with the dogs, and HATES to have a used litter box. Consequently, I clean it every morning and every night, and when people come over, unless he comes out to say hi, they have no idea a kitty owns this house.

6. I was engaged TWICE before I met BigD. (see, I told you I was insecure. I figured if I didn't say yes when asked, they would disappear and I would be a haggard old spinster). One of them had the life long goal of being promoted to the dayshift at the plant so he could hang with his buddies at the pool hall at night. Wonder why I let this one go. The other one. Wow, that should actually be a post in itself. In a nutshell, we met, he was 13 years old than me, I thought he was so cosmopolitan. He had been married 3 times before (that should have been a teeny hint to me, but, nah, I thought it was all the wives fault) Turns out, the whole time we were engaged, he was engaged to someone else. We had an argument one Sunday morning, he didn't call later and I was starting to think that maybe we should wait to get married. Fast forward 6 weeks. I get a letter in the mail from HIS WIFE, with a copy of their wedding announcement, including a photo, that was published in the paper. Yes people, he was engaged to both of us at the same time. Let's just say, I really dodged a bullet on that one. (Years after, I found out he had lied to me over and over and over again when we were together.....one of his wives was actually in the J.ohn B.elushi drug circle when he died, this guy who had told me he really wanted to have kids with me----had had a vas.ectomy and had 2 daughters already.....and those are just two of the highlights of his lies. The only thing he ever told me that was true was that I was too good for him. I shoulda listened sooner!

7.I am really scared to die. Not the actual dying part. The part where I won't be here. I don't want to miss out on things. I don't want my boys to have the kind of pain I had when my own mom died. I am insecure about the afterlife. Is there really a place I go when I am done here? I would like to have proof. I am not big on "really, just believe me" scenarios. Also, the whole "I'll be watching over you" thing......kinda creepy.

Now I need to get 7 of you to give up the goods. I am not going to pick you, because I don't want you pissed at me (yeah, those damn insecurities again) but if you would be so kind, we would all like to know more about you. Really. Seriously. After I just bared my soul, it is the least you could do.