A Lovely Gift

One of the blogs I read is Caregiving Daughter. This blog is written by a woman with her own growing family. When her mother became less able to care for herself and developed signs of dementia, this daughter generously moved her mom into her home.

She writes about the struggles but those stories are well balanced with everyday joys and successes involving the whole family. It is a demonstration of love and selflessness told with gentleness, simplicity and humility.

This lovely woman has given me an award!

She says:

This award is to recognize blogs that are about making the best out of difficult situations. When life gives these bloggers lemons, they just add a little sugar, stir it up, and make some great lemonade. Has life got you down? Then stop by these sites for some thirst-quenching lemonade for the soul.

And mine is one of them!! Here is my award:




To be honest, I am a little embarrassed because my motto actually is when life give you lemons, ask for a refund. In my head my illustration would look a little more like this:




But I gratefully accept her kind words and sweet award.

I want to check out the other blogs she cites, so here they are as well. Some I have visited, and they are great. For the others, they must be worth a peek. I believe I am in VERY good company.

Got Quads?

Forever Family

Everyone's Family

Beating ED

My Autism Insights

Mommadosey

Moments of My Life

Forever Family

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!

A Prize Winning Blog

Mine!!!!

I won a prize from my dear friend Jane in England who writes a great blog, http://www.janeturleydiaryofamadhousewife.blogspot.com/. I want to say it is hilarious, which it is, but it is also serious sometimes, and thought provoking. But mostly it is hilarious. And, clearly, Jane is extremely discriminating. ha ha ha

When I first read her post, granting this award to five blogs she thought were deserving, mine was listed first. I saw nothing but that big “Number One” next to my name and I was off like a rocket ship, gushing and blubbering and groveling in gratitude. A few hours later, when my vision had cleared, I noticed the disclaimer “…in no particular order…” ahead of her list.

Oh. Never mind.

I was pretty embarrassed and Jane had had a good giggle at my over-the-top reaction, but all’s well that ends well. ?!?! Whatever, I couldn't think of a way to end the paragraph.

Naturally, because this is my life, nothing is ever easy. There were rules associated with the award. Rules that took me five days to figure out.

So to start with, I will list the rules. Here they are:

1. Select 5 blogs that I believe deserve this award for their creativity, design, and interesting material or for contributing to the blogging community.
2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog .
3. Each recipient must then show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.
4. The award-winner and the one who has given the prize has to show the origin of the award which is http://arteypico.blogspot.com/

Ok, they might seem simple to you, but I felt as though I went blind every time I read them. Hey, I never claimed to be a brain surgeon.

Then I had to pick five blogs. The hardest part. One, because there is really a lot of good stuff out there. Two, because I have not had the time to keep up with all the good stuff.

So here, IN NO PARTICULAR ORDER (so no one will embarrass themselves like I did; not that any of them would be likely to), are five blogs I think deserve recognition because of their unique talents:

a)http://crotchety-old-man-yells-at-cars.blogspot.com/

Joe writes this eclectic blog, along with several others, that is remarkable for its humor, insight and crankiness. I love crankiness; it is my favorite emotional state because I think it uses up a lot of calories. Joe and I have a great deal in common, including a [probably unhealthy] love of toast. I was dismayed to see several things that I actually quite like on his list of things that piss him off, but we will save that discussion for another day.

b) www.accordingtok.blogspot.com/

This is Kate’s Life. And a rich one it is. Kate is a remarkable girl (sorry Kate, but when you’re younger than at least one of my children, you have to be a girl). She is very funny, extremely perceptive and sensitive and, best of all, also occasionally cranky. Are you sensing a theme here? Kate is also a physician, in her psychiatric residency. She already is a remarkable and empathetic practitioner. She is going to be one of the best.

c) www.walkingoffthebigapple.com/

For anyone who loves New York, this blog is a gift. I can’t walk these walks anymore, but I get to experience them vicariously through Teri’s site. She does the most incredible amount of research and her observations are spot on. I am always so grateful for the photos and the essays she posts. Talk about a Valentine to the City!!

d) www.allabouthabits.com/

When I first started my blog, the idea was to chronicle my loss of millions of pounds over the ensuing months. Well we know how that ended up. But Jessica, who was one of my first readers and commenters, has kept up her commitment. She is a sweet girl, generous with her praise, encouragement and friendship. She will always be special to me.

e) www.sothethingisblog.blogspot.com/

When you read Barb’s blog, you want to call her and have her come over IMMEDIATELY for a cup of coffee and commiseration. Everything that happens to Barb has happened to me at least once. Except for the being from Texas part. I am from the Bronx. But see, they both have ‘x’s in them!!! Her girls are precious and remind me of how much fun I had with mine until they grew up and became soul-sucking parasites (forget I said that, Barb, you are clearly a much better mother than I am, so no fears there). Barb is funny, smart and touching all at the same time. You will wish she lived next door.

So there you have it. Check out these great blogs and spread the word!!

…as I continue to gush “I can’t deny the fact that you like me!! Right now, you like me!!!”