Playing Catch-Up

Saturday Snippets

So I won’t win any awards for painting the entire downstairs of my house in a week, because I didn’t, but I did win some blog awards in the past, oh, five months or so. Every time I win one I tell the awarder that I will accept it eventually, which only seems fair since they had the goodness to think this blog was worth recognition, but the time, evidently, was not right until now. One caveat, however: because the requirements for accepting most of these awards stipulate that I tell you seven secrets about myself, I am just going to tell one set of seven for the whole lot. I mean really. I don’t want to run out of blog-fodder in one post, now do I?

I really hope I haven’t told you any of these before. What happens if I run out of Jenn stories??

Seven Random Things About Me

1. My brother and I are the first two grandchildren on both sides of our family. Then, when I was 8 years old, two different aunt/uncle sets, one on my mother’s side and one on my father’s, had daughters a few days apart. Both of these women are fantastic people. One of them was just visiting my Paul and me. More about that this week, probably.

2. I enjoyed my first ever pedicure three years ago. (I really need another one right now, but I also need money to get it.)

3. I went to India for five weeks in 1993. (I feel like everybody knows this, but I also have a feeling that’s not actually true.) I would love to go back someday.

4. Although there are places I’d be interested in visiting or revisiting, if I ever had a bucket list, I’ve already done everything on it.

5. The first youth group I ever led was in London, England. It was pretty small, just like the one I lead now. That one met in the home of one of the kids, and we would always watch The Simpsons together afterwards. I’m not sure if that’s “kosher” for Christian youth groups, but it was rather a bonding experience.

6. When I was a little kid in Honduras, I had successive pet rabbits, respectively named Blackie, Greyie (Try saying that out loud. It isn’t easy.), and Snowy. Guess what colours they were?

7. When I was in elementary school I thought I wanted to be a zookeeper when I grew up.

The Awards

I read a lot of blogs, so probably I could nominate 15 for each of these, but you’d all stop reading after the first eight anyway, so I’m only doing seven a piece, okay? Sevens, all around.

Courtesty of Contemplating Love (Click this badge to visit her blog. Same concept applies to the badges/blogs which follow.)

This one came at me back in February . . . they don’t expire, do they? My nominees for this award of versatility are the following:

Raising Five Kids with Disabilities and Remaining Sane – You’ve gotta be versatile in every way for that, I think. I don’t know this woman, but I have a friend from high school with a similar situation and I have so much respect . . .

Anyone 4 Curry & Other Things – I’m always for curry . . . and other things . . . and this woman’s blog is warm and about food, clothes and travel mostly, all of which delight me.

Jill London – I feel like if we knew each other in real life, we would totally hang out.

Life and Photos by Andy – Interesting life, great photos.

hittingthesweetspot by Bob Skelley – This dude is one of those who manages to strike the balance between funny and serious, and to talk about things that matter, and sometimes things that maybe don’t, so much, but are just recognisable human experience.

Seasonsgirl – This woman’s blog is sweet and homey and even though my Paul and I don’t have  a farm, I think we have similar aspirations to what this blogger and her husband are doing in their corner of the world.

The Nomadic Soliloquist – I have some affinities for nomadic soliloquising, although I haven’t had to do much of that lately.

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Then, this month, I got nominated for the same award again–but with a different graphic:

Courtesy of Lights of Clarity

So here are some more versatile bloggers:

Wibble – We were gonna co-blog elsewhere together, and I flaked out on the project, but this guy has interesting things to think and say at this blog, too. He might think awards like these are pure nonsense, but . . . he still needs to be awarded something, so there.

Writings of a Mrs – Not gonna lie–sometimes I feel a little envious of this woman’s following when I’ve been blogging so much longer, but her following is surely deserved. She’s consistent and encouraging. Plus, her name is Jennifer . . .

The Blurred Line – Victoria and I have recently decided that we were probably separated at birth and then one of us was plunked in the US (via Honduras and a few other places) and the other in South Africa. Because that’s how these things happen. There’s a novel in there somewhere . . .

Rarasaur – She’s basically a blogging celebrity already, but is she versatile? Oh yes she is!

The Seeker’s Dungeon – I am not much of a poet, and I don’t regularly imbibe poetry, either, but this guy’s verse blows my mind.

Live2EatEat2Live – The Mouse is a sweet writer who blogs about what my Paul describes as “food, my favourite!”

The World’s Top Ten of Anything and Everything! – I don’t know where he gets this stuff, but sometimes it’s a little awe-inspiring, almost . . .

In the middle of these two (yet one) awards, the lovely Victoria nominated me for two other awards, as follows:

Courtesy of the Blurred Line

There are a lot of you who make great The Readership team members, but a couple of you are extraordinary. For example Victoria herself, but I always feel weird about nominating back the same award, so here are some other people:

How the Cookie Crumbles – Her blog is supposedly about old age, so should I be worried that I can identify with so much of it?

Ben’s Bitter Blog – Ben once contributed to what was probably the longest (and maybe eventually the most inane) comment thread on this blog ever. I was kind of bitter when I realised his blog wasn’t about beer, but it is actually really funny, so I let him off the hook. I hope he won’t be too bitter about this award, since it doesn’t involve money.

Alzheimer’s Trail – My grandfather suffered from Alzheimer’s for many years before passing (therefore my grandmother suffered from his Alzheimer’s too). Sheila Marie writes poignantly about caring for her mother who has this same disease . . . and she (Sheila) still has time to read other people’s blogs and comment on them. Respect.

Rajiv Writes – I suspect our points of view, which have some overlap, but which, so far, are not from the same place, intrigue each other. Rajiv is great about asking questions and engaging feedback on his own writing.

Pish’s Blog of Loveliness – Lovely is the right word. Probably, considering I’m trying to nominate only people I haven’t nominated for other awards before, Pish deserves to be at the top of this list. Her blog is a sweet read to begin with, and then her comments and interactions on this blog are also heartfelt and heartwarming and I feel like I have a sister I’ve never met before.

Catholic Lite – Okay–I haven’t seen her around too much lately, because she’s got a lot going on. This young woman is a brave person, trying to find her way in Christ, in spite of opposition from those who want her to find Him only in their way. She shares her heart, in blog and comment, and I’m happy to have “met” her.

don of all trades – Dude is hilarious, whether writing on his own blog or someone else’s.

Also courtesy of the Blurred Line

I don’t know, but I think this award might make me the happiest of all, partly because I’ve never seen it before, and partly because I like the idea that I’ve made at least one person’s blog-reading experience that much more memorable/enjoyable. There are so many blogs I could nominate for any one of these awards, really, but here are seven of the ones who just plain delight me (although the reasons for the delight would be as diverse as the blogs).

In Vegetables We Trust – What? YUM.

Things I Want to Tell My Mother – Similar to Alzheimer’s Trail, but remarkable in its own way.

helenvalentina – More poems. More amazing.

The River Walk – I had a small epiphany reading this blog.

The Forester Artist and The Backdoor Artist – Okay, so that’s two, but they’re husband and wife, which makes me happy. Plus, their respective stories about how they met are great.

A Mélange of Contradictory Tendencies – Two bloggers, one blog. Good stuff.

Lights of Clarity – She could just as easily have won the award before this, but this one’s good, too.

Thanks and congratulations, one and all!