My award-winning blog

   Yep, you read that right, I'm now the proud producer of an award-winning blog. Yes, the award was given to me by a friend. Yes, my award-winning blog only has 9 official followers. Yes, I've only blogged one time this month because it's been a weird month involving travel and all the funks that come with that. But do I deserve this award? Do I? Nah, probably not, but it was so cool to receive it!

   I was nominated for (not really) and received this award from my friend Karine. She has a nice little blog that I follow and has the same problems as me as far as posting regularly (We'll get back into it, Karine!), and she's one of my actual blog followers!  She's a very interesting person, so go check out her blog!

   Now onto the award!!! This is my beauty:

To accept this award requires me to share 7 things about myself. I'm not nearly as interesting as Karine, so prepare to be bored:

1. I married very young. I was 19 and Brandon was 21. I am still as in love as I was when I starting dating him at age 15. We are one of the shining examples of "High School Sweethearts." (I know, I know, barf. I can't help it!)

2.  I'm lazy. When it comes to SO many things. I hate to clean (but I grudgingly keep my house at least passable), I'm too lazy to really fix my hair in the morning or put on makeup. I don't wear many of the clothes I own simply because they need ironed. Yeah, that's me. Fat and lazy. But I already snagged my man, right?

3. I was born in Missouri, raised in Ohio until the age of 12, then moved back to Missouri. It was quite a...culture shock. I had never heard so much bad grammar or seen so many four-wheelers in my life. But I've learned to love it and have also learned that not everyone speaks in double negatives and uses the "word" ain't.

4. I am an avid, voracious, ravenous, and insatiable reader (yeah, I just pulled up a thesaurus to find those synonyms, but they all fit me very well!). I read mostly novels. I love a big, thick novel. I don't read many mysteries and don't read romances, but most novels nowadays have a little of both of those things in them anyway. I went through a phase a couple of years ago where I read every historical novel I could get my hands on about Henry VIII. Then it was Jane Austen stuff. Not just her books, but books based on her books. I also listen to books while I work. I like to read (listen) fantasy novels for that. I find that their fantastical nature keeps me paying attention. If you ever need a suggestion for a book to read, ask me! Oh, and if you're a voracious reader too, I highly suggest Library Thing to keep track of all your reads.

5. I've never had a dishwasher in a house I've lived in until we bought our house 5 years ago. No, we had a dishwasher, and her name was Kate. (Oh, haha. Aren't I hilarious? I crack myself up.) Having a dishwasher is amazing and helps so much, because, well, refer to #2.

6. I love to digital scrapbook. We, who are in the know, call it digiscrap. I started a little over a year ago and have just dived into it. I always loved to look at paper scrapbooking but knew I didn't want to do it because it's expensive and very time-consuming. You also have to have multiple copies of your photos, lots of punchie-things and glue. Lots of glue. Anyway, I had a friend who did a digiscrap page for me and I said to myself, "I can do this!" And I did! And I get better every day. It's definitely a learning process, especially if you're teaching yourself! It's so much fun and the finished product is so satisfying...

7. Coming up with 7 things is very hard. This should illustrate just how boring I really am. No...I can do this. Let's seeeeee. Photography. I love it. I have two good friends who are photographers (Valerie and Shawntae...check their stuff out.) I would love to learn to photograph better and actually be able to USE all the functions that are on my camera. And one day I will get a DSLR and one of these lovely ladies are going to give me lessons on how to use it! To give you guys an idea of how important pictures are to me, my daughter is 2 years and 5 months old. I have over 10,000 pictures of her. I value pictures over my dishwasher. 'Nuff said.

Well, my steadfast followers, that is that. Go proclaim it to the world that you knew me when, because with this award, my little blog is going places. I may even get one new follower out of it.