Why, Thank You! I Accept! Will You?

What a happy surprise to be reading along on Jessi's blog, Crocuses in March, and find she had nominated ME, along with others, for this distinguished honor that comes with a most beautiful blog button. I feel like I should change into an evening gown and buy some "fabulous-dahling" diamond earrings . The thought is blissful enough. Thanks, Jessi.

The idea is sort of an old-fashioned tag where I actually name the people whom I think deserve the award and actually, maybe quite possibly, update their blog more often than they change the battery in their smoke detector. I'm supposed to say 7 random facts about myself that I haven't disclosed yet. Could that be possible since this is literally my 1,295th blog post?

Ready? In random sequence, maybe these things will be "new" items about yours truly, things I want you to knowing before you make out your last will and testament. Ya never know when you might find such kindred spirit here that you decide to bequeath your collection of kitchen gadget duplicates to me.

1. I don't think I'm allergic to poison ivy. Everyone else in my family is, and there's plenty of it on our back fence near the woods. I know I've touched it, walked in it, and perhaps used it as filler in a vase with floral wonders from hither and yon. After all, nothing says "Welcome, Guests" quite like displaying foliage that all Boy Scouts are trained to recognize and run from.

2. Given the choice, I'd rather hang out with a group of men than women in casual social settings. I enjoy their brand of humor, their job tales, their subject matter that might include cars, home improvement projects, and other typically "guy stuff." Somehow their "small talk" does not bore me; I tire quickly of women's small talk, even my own!

3. When I like something a lot, I can sell it. In fact, I've been offered sales jobs on the spot in small boutiques simply because I offered my opinions and talked customers into $40 worth of goods in about five minutes as I stood behind them in line! I have "sold" jewelry, makeup, shoes, furniture, clothes, books, flowers, and eyeglasses by offering my opinions when asked (or sometimes by simply nudging them over hurdles of indecision). But that's only if I am absolutely sure I believe in the product, or think it's right for that customer from our brief interaction.

4. Once in a while I daydream about doing all the things in one year that I've wanted to do for twenty. Go snorkeling, take up the violin, work in the Vladimir "Baby House" in Russia for a year, lose half my body weight, go to culinary school abroad, paint wildlife, vacation two months on every continent except Antarctica (zero months, zero hours), take voice lessons, remodel the house, stage homes for sale, work for a florist, buy a new Audi A8, and teach one more child to read.

5. I despise women's T-shirts with writing, decals, or which otherwise advertise "been there, done that." I'm not quite as sensitive about guys' T-shirts, but unless you're painting or gardening, ladies, your printed T-shirt just look tacky to me. I so want to raise awareness on this topic. Maybe I'll organize the first 5K/1-mile walk/run ever that does not even OFFER a T-shirt at the event.

6. Three things I could live on: Life cereal, bananas, and gummy worms.

7. I believe that demons are real, and I wonder if the church has lost sight of the fact that there are principalities and powers at work that are wreaking havoc on believers. It's so much easier to remain naive and aloof or even skeptical. Not that I go looking for them or have a fascination with them. I do not. But I believe the church needs to wake up. We can't afford to sleep while others suffer with this often-taboo (or just plain unacknowledged) reality.

Now, may I present this award to five bloggers who deserve it:

Laurie @ Tulip in the Thicket
Joyce @ From this Side of the Pond
Lea @ CiCi's Corner
Sarah @ Homeward Bound (my lovely girl)
Kelly @ Wildlife and Home