Feeling a Little "Verklempt"

When I was a little girl, not once did I have the thought “I’d like to grow up and be a blogger”.  Nope, not once.  And yet, here I am, doing something that I have grown to love.  Writing this blog gives me a sense of purpose.  It’s still a little bit difficult to wrap my mind around this whole “virtual community” idea, but I love it and see it being part of my life for a very long time.

During the past few weeks that my blog has been active, I have had the opportunity to connect with some truly amazing writers.  They have shared some hilarious stories, entertaining experiences and plenty of insight.  And I’ve learned so much.  Probably the most valuable lesson I have learned is that we’re all in this together.  We share the human experience.  Writing about it is a release and having others read our musings (because they actually want to) is pretty cool.  So with all that being said, I’m feeling a little “verklempt” because one of the bloggers I admire so much (Vicky at The Pursuit of Normal http://thepursuitofnormal.blogspot.com) nominated me for a Liebster Award.)

This award is for those bloggers who are new (could be “brand” or “kinda”) and have less than 200 followers.  You post 11 random facts about yourself and answer 11 questions that have been posed by the person who nominated you (luckily my questions seem relatively easy).  Then, you pass the award onto another blogger who is new (again, “brand” or “kinda”) with less than 200 followers and you pose 11 different questions.  Sweet, huh?  So here goes with the 11 random facts:

1.  I never go to a salon to get my hair cut, colored or anything else.  When the mood strikes, I go into my bathroom, close the door, turn the music up loud, and commence with whatever it is I’ve decided to do with my hair.

2.  Most people think my house is ridiculously tidy (and it is) but my car is a PIT.  I figure the only people who ever see the inside of it are the 13 and 14 year old boys I drive here, there and everywhere and besides, they pretty much make the mess anyway.

3.  When I walk, I always look at my feet.  My husband and son have to constantly remind me to look up so that I won’t crash into something (which I do at least once a week).

4.  I couldn’t do a cart wheel to save my life.

5.  The night we brought my son home from the hospital, I couldn’t put him down so I had my mom come over at midnight to hold him so I could rest.  I ended up sitting on the floor with my head in her lap and my hand on his back, dozing while a Laverne & Shirley marathon was playing on Nick at Nite.

6.  Even though I know bats are truly important (as I had to help teach our first graders) I am scared to death of them and have nightmares about them on a semi-regular basis.

7.  I didn’t own a bicycle until I was in 5th grade.

8.  When my son was little, I wrote and illustrated a series of little books about growing up.  The books were little poems of how kittens grew up to be cats, puppies grew up to be dogs, you get the idea.  I called the series “Pen’s Pals” (get it?  My name is Penny).  Before I had a chance to seriously try getting them published, they were all destroyed in our house flood.  So.Not.Cool.

9.  Speaking of that, EVERYBODY calls me Pen.

10.  I live in the tiny town that I swore I would never return to the day I left for college.  In fact, I practically left skid marks on the street because I couldn’t wait to get out of here.  Why did I return?  Because I couldn’t think of a better place to raise a family.

11.  Finally, I have known my husband since he was a 13 year old 8th grader.  I know what you’re thinking…..Aww, that is SO sweet.  Sure it is, because he is now 43.  What you probably don’t know is that I was 17 and in a senior in high school at the time.  NO!!  We did not date then (that would be gross).  But he was my brother’s friend and we met up again in our 20′s and the rest is history.

So there you go.  11 amazingly random facts about me.  And now, for Vicky’s questions (there are 8 because, as she says, she is such a rebel).  She really is.  Part of why I love her!!

Here goes:

1. Why did you start your blog?  Hmm.  Mostly because I do love to write and I felt I had something useful to say.  Being green is important to me and I didn’t really have a lot of guidance when I made the conscious decision.  This helps me share information and learn information.  It’s like an open dialogue and a great outlet.  Plus, it beats cleaning all day.

2. Something really embarrassing that has happened to you?  Ha!!  My first car was a stick shift and I had gone into a local 7-11 convenience store to grab a few things.  My car was parked on a slight incline and, although I pulled the emergency break, I forgot to put the car in first gear.  When I came out, the car had backed all the way into the busy street.  And it was raining.  And as I was running, my paper bag got wet and the entire contents fell out into the parking lot.  And people were yelling at me.  And “saluting” me (if ya know what I mean).  Yep, it’s probably just as funny as the image you have right now!

3. Best advice you have given or received?  I once remarked that it would be nice if life came with an instruction manual.  My brother, who led me to my relationship with Christ, told me that it does and it’s called the Bible.  And now I read it every day.
4. Something embarrassing one of your kids has done? My stepson was in 8th grade and attending a girl’s basketball game with his friend.  They were sitting in the bleachers behind a group of girls, one of whom had her purse open.  My stepson’s friend thought it would be funny to steal the tampon out of her purse and my stepson tried to stop him.  In doing so, the tampon flew out onto the basketball court mid-game.  The referees had to stop the game and I got a not-so-pleasant call from the principal.
5. What are you hopes (secret dreams) for your blog? I hope that some day as moms are thinking about going green, they will be referred to my blog.  Not because I’m an authority or have all the answers, but because I’m a regular mom who used to do it all wrong, and now I’m on a journey to do better and be better.
6. Be honest, do you ever lay in bed on a Saturday morning wondering where in the world you could be if you hadn’t had kids? (Or is that just me?)  Hmm.  When my husband and I first got married, we didn’t necessarily plan to have kids.  He already had a boy and a girl and was pretty much “done”.  I have often wondered how boring and empty life would be if we hadn’t decided to have a child of our own because the older 2 are already grown and gone and I have so much “mommy” left in me.
7. One life changing event? My first born son died a long time ago and it changed me forever.  Very.long.story.
8. What is the first thing you’re going to do when you become an empty-nester?  Cry.  Hands down.

So, there you have it.  All kinds of information about me whether you wanted it or not!!  I want to say THANK YOU so much to Vicky for even considering me.  Like I said, I’m feeling a little “verklempt”.  Talk amongst yourselves!!

 

And now…for those I am nominating:

Breezy’s Mommy (http://breezysmommy.blogspot.com)

Go Cheap or Go Home (http://gocheapgohome.com)

WAH Families Live Green (http://www.wahfamilieslivegreen.com)

MOMenvyblog (http://MOMenvyblog.com)

Sunny Sleeves (http://sunnysleevez.blogspot.com)

Random Thoughts (http://www.thoughtsfromamindthatwanders.blogspot.com)

The Fabulous Life of a Coupon Addict

Hopefully, I am doing this correctly (still so new at this).  Here are my questions for these fellow bloggers:

1. When you were little, what did you see yourself doing when you grew up?

2. How do your posts originate? (you spend time brainstorming, thoughts come to you in the shower, etc.)

3. What is the funniest thing that has ever happened to you that still makes you laugh when you think of it?

4. A year from now, what do you hope people will take away from your blog?

5. Are you a late night blogger, early morning blogger, or whenever I can fit it in blogger?

6. Name one defining moment in your life that led to who you are today (deep huh?).

7. Does your family read your blog and, if so, what thoughts have they shared?

8. What is your favorite “guilty pleasure” (food, book, movie, something else)?

9. If money were not an obstacle, what is one cause you would give generously to and why?

10. What is your idea of a dream vacation?

11. Along those lines, if you could have the perfect “all about me” day with no spouse or significant other, no kids, no work, no chores, etc., what would you spend it doing?

Wow, this Liebster Award is work man.  But, lots of fun.  Hope you enjoyed reading and that you’ll check out the other blogs I mentioned here.  Have a terrific day!