Sunday, February 8, 2009

The Shamefaced Awards

There is so much incredibly horrible junk out there in the blogging world, it gives us a bad name. There are blogs that are sloppy, boring, inane, profane and some that are borderline illiterate.

When you offer up your blog address, people roll their eyes or, if they are more polite, give a tight little smile and say “Oh, sure, I would love to read your blog” while they are thinking “I would rather have my kidney removed through my nose.”

However, there is some work out there that is simply wonderful. Beautifully written, funny, thought provoking and touching. The good ones usually find each other too, so you can end up spending hours sometimes going from blog to blog, discovering a new voice and a new perspective with each one. It is like browsing in a great big library without leaving your chair.

Most bloggers are very generous as well. Generous enough to share their lives and their thoughts and their talent, but also gracious enough to share their praise. This is my LONG overdue post to describe some of the awards I have been honored with over the past several…um...months. Yes, I said months. That is where the shamefaced part comes in. What I should be getting an award for is Ingrate of the Decade.


AWARD THE FIRST
(what can I say? I've been watching too much Blackadder)


“Marie-I have an award for your blog at my place. You may pick it up whenever you wish. Congratulations.
~ tricia”



Tricia wrote those words on October 30, 2008 in her blog, Papercages.
Somehow I don’t think she intended “whenever you wish” to mean MORE THAN THREE MONTHS. But better late than never. No, I think that is a ridiculous saying, because the road to Hell is paved with good intentions. However, it is the thought that counts. AAAAGGGHHHH! Somebody stop me!!

Tricia’s award came with rules. I hate rules. They make my head hurt. But I will try to be a good girl, since she was nice enough to give me the award.

I am asked to nominate 7 other bloggers for the award. Here are some blogs that I really enjoy. Some of them are funny. Some of them are funny and wise. Some are gentle and thoughtful. Some are all of these. I was going to split them into categories, but God forbid I put someone in a ‘funny’ category when they think they should be in a ‘thoughtful’ category!! That would be horrible. “Here’s an award, let me hurt your feelings”. Yikes!

Anyway, here they are IN NO SPECIAL ORDER:

lilaphase

A Nice Place in the Sun

On the Verge

The Mother’s Handbook

Somewhere in New Jersey (Great pictures, too!)

Dead Rooster

What Were You Thinking?


AWARD THE SECOND

“I am pleased to give this award to my dear friend Marie. Reading Marie's blog has convinced me that a sense of humour and an ability to laugh at one's self will help a person get through most of life's problems. Please accept this award, Marie!”




This award is from my dear friend Manju, who lives in Mumbai. She is smart and perceptive and writes a wonderful blog, Of Cabbages and Kings , which opens a fascinating window on everyday life in India. Best of all, Manju’s award came with no rules!!


AWARD THE THIRD


Nicole is a relatively new reader to my blog and a very sweet person. She writes a blog about her life raising twin boys in One, Two Princes Stand Before You .

Nicole was kind enough to give me not one, but TWO awards.

Unfortunately, they came with rules!! EEEEECK! A LOT of rules. Ouch, my head. But she was nice enough to think of me, so I will give it my best.

The first thing is I have to tell are 10 Honest Scrap things about myself. Considering I already told all of you my New Year’s Eve Ball story, you can guess that I usually am mortifyingly honest in this blog. But let me see if I can come up with 10 things that aren’t too boring. Or humiliating.





1) I was born in New York City but I grew up mostly in the Bronx. Yet I do not have a New York accent.
2) I smother my eggs in ketchup, which I wasn’t allowed to do at home because my mother said it was vulgar.
3) I would rather read than clean the house.
4) If I had the money, my house would be floor to ceiling books.
5) If I thought I could manage it, I would have 100 cats. Or maybe even more.
6) I am extremely gullible.
7) I am very impatient about a lot of things, but I never mind waiting on lines.
8) I hate the summer, everything about it, the weather, the clothes, the food, everything, and I always have, even as a kid. I long for autumn every year.
9) I have a hard time throwing things away. Hey, you might need it in ten years, you never know!
10) Because I read a lot, I know a lot of trivia. My husband used to say I knew more useless shit than anyone he had ever met. He would say that because I always beat him at Trivial Pursuit. Sore loser.




Ok, now with this award I have to list 5 addictions. Easy peasy:

1) My children
2) My friends
3) My pets
4) Reading
5) Museums

And now, I have to give these awards to five other blogs.

Here are my choices:

The Witty Ways of a Wayward Wife ( I already gave Jane a well-deserved award once before, but she is one of my dearest blogging friends and has the BEST blog; plus, one can never have too many awards; plus plus, I am dying to hear Jane’s 10 Honest Things.)

The Junk Drawer

Papercages

Redhead Ranting

Kitchen Retro


AWARD THE FOURTH

There was another award granted to me by a lovely, generous reader. But the horrible thing is, I can’t remember who it was! See, Ingrate of the Decade. I didn’t make a note of it or bookmark the page and even though I have spent days going through blogs I might have read to find it, I have not been able to.

So I have created my own 'award', to be given to people we may offend or hurt, even when it is unintentional:

PLEASE FORGIVE
MY SORRY BUTT!

21 comments:

Unknown said...

Thanks so much for the award. I really appreciate it!

Marie said...

You are very welcome! :)

Anonymous said...

Thank you so much for the award Marie--- and sorry about the rules thing, but I had only been blogging two months and was even more clueless than I am now. I love, love, love the last award. ;) tricia

Marie said...

Tricia, I should have the last award tattooed on my forehead. lol

Holy cow, woman, it took me over three months to acknowledge your award and YOU are apologizing?!?! Pull yourself together and tell me where I can go with my whining about rules!

Thank you for being my dear blogging friend and for sharing your talents and your story with us. :)

Jane Turley said...

Good morning Marie!

Oh an award! Goody goody gum drops! I love awards! Many thanks my dear friend for those kind words too. Hmm.. and 10 honest things about me? That could be difficult! (I have 25 random things about me coming later in the week will they count?) I know it's hard to believe but 99% of the stuff on my blog is true but I'm sure no one believes me!

I'll will check out your recommendations over the next few days or so... as you are right there are a mountain of unreadable blogs and then they're are just some great ones too! Yours is great - poignant but funny. A winning combination for me.
Don't forget to pick up this award too - I guess you didn't see it when you were feeling a bit down but it's one I made myself! And what's more I've conferred on ALL women of my acquaintenance - you'll see why!(And there's no rules -hurrah!)

http://janeturleydiaryofamadhousewife.blogspot.com/2009/01/ladies-friendship-award.html

Jane Turley said...

Ps - I am a HUGE Blackadder fan!

The Mother said...

I humbly accept.

After spending the weekend incapacitated by YET ANOTHER stomach flue oh so lovingly donated by one of my progeny (who said kids don't give their parents anything?) it was great to wake up to this on a cold, rainy Monday.

Marie said...

Oh, Mother, I am glad it was a boost!

Yep, been there, done that. There is nothing like cleaning up puke, washing the kid, changing the sheets, climbing back into bed...and then having to rush back to the bathroom to puke yourself.

Motherhood. The gift that keeps on taking. lol

Anonymous said...

It's about time you gave me an award... sheesh!

Haha! Just joking around -- thank you very much for my award, Marie! I am honored to display it in my trophy case.

Wargeekz (Pyrot1cs Blog) said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Vic said...

Thank you so much for my award!!
I've been enjoying your blog recently too. The introduction to your "awards ceremony" :) was especially meaningful to me. (And well-written, I might add)
I'm going to go add my award now, and check out the other winners today.
Thanks again!

(Sorry about the deletion above. My computer was signed on as someone else, weirdly. Fixed now. :)

Marie said...

Jane: Yikes, I missed your comments! And apparently, your award. :( Maybe yours was the fourth one?! Oh my poor, swiss cheese brain.

I know you are a Blackadder fan, I saw the Appreciation Association and I joined too. I have a cunning plan...lol

Rooster: It is about time isn't it? Are you still single? Not that it was a bribe or anything. ;)

Vic: Thanks for the compliments! You are so sweet.

lilaphase said...

Wow - thank you so much for the acknowledgment. I'm honored. Great to find your blog.

manju said...

Why shamefaced, Marie? You should be proud. And not only for the fact that you got awards, but for the friendships you have forged!

Congratulations!

Marie said...

Oh Manju, I am proud of the awards, and thankful for my wonderful bogging friends!!!!

But I am shamefaced for waiting so long for doing a post to acknowledge these generous gifts.

Lidian said...

Oh, thank you so much!

BTW, I was also born in NYC but don't (usually) have a NY accent (I can acquire one at will, though!). Lots of family and friends in the Bronx too.

Anonymous said...

Your intro says it all. And well written too!
I also agree with your choice of quality blogs. Many of which are part of the cabal at HumorBloggers.com

Marie said...

Thanks Dan! It is so good to see you! :)

aniceplaceinthesun.blogspot.com said...

O.K. I believe I owe you a "Please Forgive My Sorry Butt" Award. Actually, you're not the only one.

I wish I could steal your title, but I cannot stand plagiarists-because they're weasels- but then again, what room do I have to talk?

It's 5:30 in the morning in New Orleans and I'm writing an awards post much like this one, only yours is better. Therefore, I may go to bed and hide my head under the covers.

In any event, I stopped to tell you that I have an award for you. (Besides the "Please forgive my sorry butt award.")

I truly am sorry I missed this post, and I've read your blog several times since...oh damn, now I'm beginning to sound ridiculous.

You know a "martini and a book" do sound good about now, therefore you might find my "Shamefaced Awards" a little later in the day.

You're the best~

Annie

A Nice Place In The Sun

aniceplaceinthesun.blogspot.com said...

Oh and congratulations to you Marie. And thank you, thank you, thank you... Alright redundant again...Bye~

Annie

LauraHinNJ said...

(keeping with your *being really late* theme...

;-)

Thanks for the mention!