Post-Thanksgiving Thankfulness... Award Acceptance Post

I don't want anyone to think I'm not grateful!  I soooooo, so so so am!  It has taken me an embarrassingly long time to claim these sweet awards, to say thank you to those who awarded them, and to pass them on to those who deserve recognition in return.  I think I was just overwhelmed by the kindness and got too caught up in the annoying little things that reality uses to complicate my life to really enjoy the fact that my bloggy life is freaking awesome.  So, without further delay or slackage, I present to you my newest awards:

The Heartfelt Blogger Award from Kate at Kate's Life (who I swear is my twin), Arizona Mamma from Our Daze in the Desert (who is absolutely adorable and funny and fun), and Tamara at The (Un)Experienced Mom (who is 18 different kinds of rock star for all she does and has overcome)... Thank you, Gals!  I'm so flattered that my blog gives you a warm, fuzzy, gooey feeling inside!

Tamara also awarded me the Lemonade Stand Award!  Thanks, Lady!  This award is all about blogs with good attitudes, and apparently she skipped my whiny posts and saw through to the fact that I really am totally thankful to have the life I do.

And finally, Candice from Wolf's on Safari (who leads one of the coolest, most adventuresome lives I can imagine and raises a crazy adorable little boy at the same time) thought I deserved the Gorgeous Blogger Award.  How sweet is that?! 

So.  All of these awards come with instructions like, "Award this to 967 other blogs you enjoy reading, post it to your profile, do 17 back flips, crack 3 eggs over your head while whistling Free Bird and standing on a purple placemat, then write 12 intimate secrets about yourself for the world to read".  Well, I'm just not doing that.  I'm a rebel.  And an ingrate.  All of you ladies took the time to send me an award and here I am being a boob.

So, I'm making up new rules.  Well, I'm bending some and adding in new ones entirely.

First of all, if you're on my Blog Roll, you're getting the Gorgeous Blogger Award.  So come and get it my friends!  

Secondly, if you get the award, stick it on your blog for added bling (because who doesn't love flair?) and feel free to, as I'm doing, use as fodder for a post when you're totally stumped as to what to write about someday.

Pay it forward if you'd like, to whomever - as many or as few as you'd like.  

See?  Easy peasy.  Now, because some of these awards come with instructions to tell some stuff about myself, I'll do another one of those.  

Ten MORE Things About Melis

1.  I love the smell of Crayola crayons.  Can't put a finger on why, but I love it so much it's absurd.  Actually, I have extremely strong associations with smells of all kinds.  But the Crayola thing comes to mind first.

2. Going out doesn't really excite me... give me a movie, my sweats, my hubby and a bottle of wine and I am totally and completely content.  Even if we had millions of dollars and free babysitting for life, I'd still choose staying at home every single time.

3.  I can't sing.  I mean, I like to sing along to some songs, but I would rather strip for a theater full of people than sing.  That is not an exaggeration; in fact, it might be an understatement.  

4.  I had natural childbirth for all of my kids including the twins.  Not snobby or hoity-toity about it because whatever, it's your vagina and if you want it numb, dude, that's your call entirely!  But I actually kinda liked how it felt.  Well, not the forceps... no, didn't like how that felt.  But I relished the rest of it.  I'd like to have another kid in part just because I like giving birth.  That makes me really weird.

5.  A ton of things make me really weird, actually.  I would, for instance, rather my child use the "F" word when he drops a toy on his foot than improperly use pronouns or end a sentence with a preposition.  And  yes, before he can form complex sentences I am teaching him proper grammar.  I hate sloppy speech and I despise txt-speak beyond anything.  

6.  I think space and all things related to it are really really cool.

7.  There are quite a few meals and desserts that I adore cooking and really don't care much for eating.  

8.  The sense of accomplishment I get from things like watching Jack go to the bathroom on the big toilet or watching Justin's face when he takes a bite of his favorite meal or hearing someone tell me how clean my house looks is more satisfying than that which I got from turning in a paper or filing a big lawsuit. 

9.  I'm desperately trying to finish school for medical billing and claims but I can't find the time to devote to it.  Even though I find time to blog, what you don't see is that each post is written in 5 minute chunks here and there and there's no way I can complete my schoolwork in pieces like that.  I'm terrified that I won't get it done and we'll have paid for nothing.

10.  I was in Air Force ROTC for a while in college and it afforded me some of the coolest opportunities.  I flew a jet and several training aircraft and presented the Colors at the first Notre Dame football game I attended among other things.  It was absolutely incredible.  Also, if it weren't for ROTC and for starting off as an engineer, I'd probably never have gotten to be with Justin and my life wouldn't be as perfect as it is.  Fleas and all.

Soooooooooooo..... there ya go.  Haphazard, yes, but I've accepted all of my bloggie awards and returned the favor in the laziest possible way.  And you learned some stuff at the same time.  Cool.  My work here is done.