An Award!

First, I would like to thank the lovely and kind Maria McKenzie from Reading, Writing, Romance for the Versatile Blogger Award!

Maria's blog alternates between delicious and delicious... lol, the eating kind and the "I shall marinate in this writerly advice" kind.  I am, as Handsome Hubs can attest, a terrible cook.  (Fortunately, he is not!)  So people who achieve culinary success earn my awe from the start.  Every now and then HH and I watch Hell's Kitchen and I cringe at the way the less successful chefs on that show get berated, because they are still leagues and miles above me.  (Though I will point out that HH still, after 12 years of marriage, pretends that he likes my culinary experiments... experiments being stuff like... um... chicken.  That I may or may not sear directly to the pan.  Nope.  I totally never did that.  Although I think HH just appreciates the times when he doesn't have to cook, regardless of the wooden chicken that appears.  Stuck.  To the pan.)

Wow, I got totally off track there, lol.  I also wanted to say about Maria that although her writing genre (romance) is completely different from mine (YA... I think... if I ever finish a novel, maybe we'll find out), I find that the advice that she posts and the discussions that she begins are helpful and interesting.  She has recently posted about such diverse topics as poetry (LOVE), villainry (SUPER LOVE), and snippets of writing advice (NEED and LOVE).  So whether are a writer, or just hungry, or maybe even a hungry writer... go stop by.  You'll be glad you did!

Ok, so now for the award "rules" (it's been a long time since I did one of these!), I am supposed to list 7 things about me.  Hmm.  This is the part I always find difficult.  Without going back into past award posts that are buried deep in the vaults of Le Dange, I will probably end up repeating things I've said before, because I'm not sure there are multitudes of 7 things that are all that interesting here. :)  Here goes:

1. I have owned 7 cars in the past 16 years.  5 or 6 of them have been totaled (I lost count). 
2. I once had a pet shark.  His name was Jaws.  He grew about a foot long. 
3. I once had a pet hamster who got some sort of flesh-eating/rotting disease.  Yuuuuuuuck.
4. I kissed a boy in a graveyard once.
5. When Tootsie Roll was a baby, we lived in our basement for a year and a half while the entire rest of our house was being demolished and rebuilt (we turned a cape into a colonial).  It was a horrendous experience, the entire house was flooded twice, our contractor was an alcoholic and the company fired him mid-job... you name it, it went wrong.  When it was FINALLY done, it was gorgeous.  And then we moved. :)
6. This past summer, someone stole my credit card number and ordered really weird things like National Geographic Earth videos, workout videos, and beautiful Oneida silverware.  It was a big hassle that ended with a police stakeout in front of my house.  Kind of bizarre and a real pain in the neck credit-wise, but strangely entertaining.
7. I so seriously wish that I could write a book about the crazy things that are entirely the norm in an elementary school teacher's day (crazy things the kids say, crazier things the parents say).  I love my job, and it is definitely both rewarding and entertaining.  Too bad I'd get fired! ;)

Now my last order of business is to send this award on its merry way to 12 other bloggers I've recently discovered and find fantastic, so the award goes to:

1. Michele Emrath at Southern City Mysteries
2. Donea Lee at Queen of Procrastination
3. Carol Riggs at Artzicarol Ramblings
4. Rebecca T. at Sonshine Thoughts (ok, not "recently discovered"... but definitely fantastic!)
5. Quinn at Seeing, Dreaming, Writing
6. Brad Jaeger

Oops, the curly blonde one has awoken from her thankfully-zithromax-inspired nap (after we were awake together from 1 to 6am this morning - I was then relieved by HH to nap myself - thanks to a recurring ear infection and asthmaorallergiesnooneisquitesure cough).  So my list will have to end here.  Oh, eighth thing about me - I don't always follow the rules (hence the blog title)!  That makes me unruly! :)

UPDATED... Ok, it's a few hours later and my girly whirlies are in bed.  So I am going to add on the final 6 award recipients, because, even though I don't mind breaking the rules, there are so many great and deserving blogs out there!  So here goes...

7. Debbie at Thoughts in Writing, who is a new blogger and whose posts so far have been lovely and touching.  She also just finished her first book!
8. Marieke at Marieke's Musings (currently giving away a preorder of Beth Revis' Across the Universe!)
9. Erica and Christy
10. Vic (aspiring_x) at Hairnets and Hopes (also not a new find but definitely a versatile lady!)
11. Talei Loto at Musings of an Aspiring Scribe
12. Writing in a Nutshell

Ok!  My work here is done, lol.  Maybe I should go, I don't know... write something?!?