The Seven Envelopes, Please

Sherri at Old Tweener has recently given me an award!  And by "recently" I mean just yesterday in terms of the pace of lazy summer vacations, but actually a couple of weeks ago in real life.  Yikes!  In between getting the award and now passing it along, there have been many pressing issues that have kept me from awarding sooner.  S'mores.  Swimming in the lake.  Napping.  Yes, I've had quite the demanding schedule on vacation, but I'm now pleased to pass on the award!

Step 1: Thank the person who gave you the award.  Sherri, my favorite Old Tweener, is always funny in her descriptions of buying shorts and of her secret magazine drawer.  Plus, she's brave enough to wear a raccoon mascot suit and endure the tail-pulling of pre-teen boys.  Does anyone have an award for that?  If so--send it Sherri's way.

Step 2: Put off further steps until the following have been achieved: Finish reading book.  Get about 35% of the way through Saturday Times crossword puzzle.  Play multiple rounds of Bananagrams.

Step 3: List 7 things about yourself.  However, I'm making a little change here.  In tribute to one of my favorite classroom games, "Two Truths and a Lie," I'm going to add in an eighth list entry, and you have to figure out which one's the lie!

• I have been to a prison rodeo.  As in a rodeo.  Inside a maximum security prison.
• I was once carried off of Bourbon Street in New Orleans in an ambulance.  Contrary to the slanderous and ill-informed accusations of a random lady on the street yelling, "UNDERAGE DRINKING," it was walnut-allergy-related and not alcohol-related.  
• I know how to keep score in baseball with all of the little codes for a fly ball to left field and everything.
• I got to meet Duff from Ace of Cakes this summer at my husband's cousin's wedding.  I terribly wanted to have someone take a picture but tried to play it cool.
• I have been to 46 of the 50 states, my most recent new state coming just yesterday with a trip to Fargo, North Dakota for lunch.
• I once ditched work to drive through the night to a diamond mine in Arkansas where you can dig for your own diamonds.  
• I really enjoy words that you can type with only one hand.  Stewardesses!  Hoi polloi!  (Plus that one's also fun to say.)
• I once re-located my brother's dislocated arm while driving, though this heroic act is overshadowed in the retelling by the fact that it was kind of my fault that it got dislocated in the first place.

       So....can you tell which one is patently false?


Step 4: List 7 blogs to whom you'd like to pass the award.  Here are some particularly award-worthy blogs I've recently discovered or recently re-discovered.  They're definitely worth checking out!

• Undergoing a slow and entertaining Death by Children, Chris outlines correct Wet Willy techniques and handy DIY step-by-step guides that include Top 10 Rules for Replacing a Glass Window Pane Broken by Your Starving 11 Year Old Son who Thought He Was Locked Out in the Dark. 

• Vodkamom (and don't you want to check her out purely based on the name of the blog?) posts hilarious bits about her students and the crazy, bidet-related things they say.

• Finslippy selflessly starts fever-induced arguments with baristas so that she can provide stories for us, the readers, and tells tales of lying awake while camping, wishing for a murder-proof tent.

• Carolyn Online has conversations with her Blackberry and accidentally curses at strangers while running in the park.  Plus--she's generously shared her eight-year-old daughter's tips for handling "anger ishus" if you're feeling a little prone to uncontrolled rages.

• Melissa at Adventuroo, outdoor adventurer and self-proclaimed tech geek, shares writing tips and aspires to catch fireflies and to watch a full movie without surfing the Internet.

• Escape from the world of depressing real news and hop on over to The Zebra Rag.  Angie tackles all the news that's fit to....make up and exposes everything from zombie car crashes to the discovery of ancient Macs buried in ice.

• From one blogger who posts about fingers up noses to another--Stef at Oops...There Goes My Mind blogs about the nose-picking that goes along with her job interpreting sign language on VRS (video relay service) calls and about her children finding all sorts of enticing and very pushable emergency buttons. 

          Enjoy!