Award - How fun!

Tea at Homemaker's Heart gave me an award last week, and I'm just now getting around to doing something about it.  Thanks Tea!

Here are the rules:

 

•Be polite, say thank you to the blogger that gave this to you & give 'em a linkback.

 

•Pass it on to about fifteen other beautiful bloggers that you've recently discovered.

 

•Link 'em.

 

•Notify 'em.

 

•Say seven things about yourself

Okay, here's the deal.  There are way more than 15 of you out there that I'd love to link to, but I'm short on time all around, so I'm just going to list a few absolute favorites, and if you want to jump in and play along, even if your name isn't listed, go for it!  If you're interested in having an award, take it and share it - just leave me a comment saying that you jumped on this one.

My favorites right now include:

• Tea (I know, you gave it to me, but I've been loving reading your thoughts.)
• Allie Dearest
• Susan at A Rewoven Life
• Renee
• Faye
• Hope
• Dana
• And so many more!
   

And... 7 Things About Me:

1. I'm allergic to oranges, but occasionally eat them anyway.  Mostly at Christmas.  Because what's Christmas without mandarin oranges.
2. My all-time best and worst trips are actually the same trip.  There are things about that particular trip that made it one of the best and also one of the worst times of my life.
3. The move this weekend will be the fourth one for me in 3.5 years.  This from someone who hates change, and had never moved at all for the first 23 years of my life.
4. One of the bloggers I listed above is a long time "in real life" friend.  And one is someone who I've now had the privilege of meeting "in real life."  It was crazy how quickly that second conversation went to the deeper more personal stuff, just because we sort of felt like we knew each other and had been reading each other's blogs for years.
5. I think the most perfect job in the world would be something that involved travel, writing, long, deep conversations over tea, and praying for people.  If you figure out what that job is before I do, let me know.
6. Though it doesn't seem like I would, I actually use my history degree every day in my current job.  I specifically studied groups like the Mennonites, and now, working for a Mennonite company, that knowledge has been invaluable in understanding the clients and some of the other staff that I interact with daily, in terms of understanding the five hundred years of history that have shaped their particular cultural traits.  Plus, really, not that much has changed in 500 years for some of them.
7. On a related note, my proudest accomplishment yesterday was managing to bit my tongue on a sarcastic retort when a particular Mennonite man whom I interact with regularly as part of my job informed me that he "didn't know what it was, but he just doesn't really like change."  I managed to stop myself from bursting out laughing and telling him that I knew what it was - it was that he was a Mennonite!

Quick Question

Has the pretty floral header image on my blog disappeared on your computers?  It's disappeared on mine and been replaced with an obnoxious message, and I'm wondering if that's just mine, or all computers?

And, if you see the obnoxious message, is anyone out there savvy enough to fix the problem and get my header image back???

Honest Scrap Award

Susan at Weaving a Life presented me with the Honest Scrap blog award today! I think that might be the first time I've ever gotten a blog award!

These are the rules apparently:

1. Tell 10 honest things about myself

2. Pick 10 honest bloggers to pass it on to

3. Tell who gave you the award in the first place

Well, I've got number three covered about with the link to Susan.

Ten Honest Things About Myself...

1. If you had asked anyone who knew me, even two years ago, if my preference for health treatments would be the most natural products available, they'd have laughed at you. It still makes me laugh to think about it almost every day as I'm swallowing one of the myriad (I think it's close to 15 pills - a variety of about six supplements) of pills that I take at any given meal.
2. I love my nose piercing, even two years on. I got it to commemorate the 2nd anniversary of my healing from depression, and that's still what it reminds me of every time I look in the mirror.
3. I'm not so keen on my latest piercing - a navel one I got about 4-5 months ago. I love the way it looks, but it's taking forever to heal, and is kind of getting annoying. If it's still like this at the one year mark, I'll probably get rid of it. (I actually think about taking it out probably at least twice a week.)
4. Mental illness doesn't scare me in other people, but is a terrifying thing in me. Every time things are a bit out of whack with me, I start freaking out, wondering if depression is returning.
5. I'm very slowly learning that God's gift of healing is a constant thing - that I don't need to freak out about the depression.
6. I'm also learning that that healing is not an excuse to not take proper care of myself. Thus the recent changes in diet and exercise habits, the attempt to sleep, and the myriad of supplements that I'm using to try and bring a restoration of the physical health that stress has totally trashed over the last two years.
7. I've made two "mission" trips in my life - both to countries that start with M. (Mexico and Malta). Both trips had a very shaping impact on my life. If you ask me if I'll ever make another "mission" trip, I'll probably tell you that it's unlikely. I do still love the idea of traveling and praying with friends though, and am dreaming of several trips like that still to come. (I've also learned to ask LOTS of questions about the trip before making it.)
8. I place an immensely high value on hugs. I really appreciate the friends who can get past the sort of distant, non-touchy north american thing, and express affection with a hug. I've also quite literally gotten on a plane and flown across the country just to collect a hug from a dear friend. (It was totally worth it.)
   
9. I pick almost all music based on the lyrics. Words are my thing, and if the lyrics don't move me in some way - if they don't make me laugh or cry, or deeply touch my heart, then I'm probably not all that interested in the song.
10. Email is one of my favorite forms of communication. But I've recently been feeling the limitations of it a bit as well.
    

Ten Honest Bloggers (really just some of my favorites - since most of the blogs I read are very honest - that's why I love them! In no particular order, and keeping in mind that a lot of my favorite honest bloggers are not exactly known for blogging on any kind of regular basis, but there's great stuff in their archives if you're willing to look!)...

1. LP/CA (a private blog, but one of my favorites)
2. Ian at Shallowfrozenwater
3. Dana at Ofwoolandwater
4. Alliedearest at The Grey Albatross
5. Hootenannie
6. Claudia Mair Burney at The Ragamuffin Diva
7. Hope
8. Renee
9. Faye
10. Lisa at Let's Put the Kettle On