BEAUTY: IS IT JUST IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER?

Having been doing this blogging thing for a while now, I have noticed a few things. In the beginning, bloggers love getting blogging awards (at least most do), but as time passes, that seems to change and the attitude becomes, "Oh no, not another award." In other words, it becomes passe. Misery suggested yesterday, when she was accepting two awards, and then passing them along, that she once thought them to be the equivalent of email spam. In other words, it was something that Blogger created to keep people blogging.

Whenever I get an award, it reminds me to check my award list. Yeah, I have one of those. I don't like to bombard people with awards. I tend to forget about my awards until I get awarded again. So, I have added this newest award to my list (yeah, Misery, that means I will get to your award, but it won't be today). However, your comments on awards got me to thinking. And this is my theory:


I don't think the creators of Blogger came up with these awards to keep people blogging. I think that the people who blog discovered a joy in blogging that they didn't expect. They never in a million years thought they would enjoy reading the blogs of perfect strangers. Or that those strangers would start to feel like friends. So, one day, one of those people who knows how to do techy things, like create buttons decided to do just that, and made a blog award. That person also spent some time thinking about The Rules, and then stipulated that you had to Pay It Forward. Why? That blogger wanted the award to touch a whole lot of people. And it worked. And so, chances are reasonable that right now someone is thinking about creating a blogging award. That person wants it to be different than what is already floating around. They might need some aid in creating a button. It might take a week, a month, or a year (or maybe it remains an idea forever) but there is an idea in progress for a new award right now.

Me? I totally get it. It is the same reason that I do HERE'S TO YOU THURSDAY. It is my way of paying it forward every week. It really isn't an award, but it is my way of recognizing you. It is my way of letting you know that I see you. I hear you. I feel you. I get you. I understand where you are or maybe where you want to go. You are not just typing your thoughts into a black hole of nothingness.

So, in that spirit, I will not award people who have said that they are tired of being awarded or don't like awards. That is me hearing you. I might award someone who has already received this award because I am not going to jump from blog to blog to check out your awards sections to see if you already have this one. It is time consuming. You can pay it forward or not. That is the awesome thing about free will.


I received this award from Mitzi over at ~Southern Style~ a while ago. I would use the word genteel to describe her blog, but that would be for the third time. Three strikes and you are out. So, consider that word stricken from the record. I will say this: I have lived in the north and the south and they are not the same. The difference is not just in the temperature in the wintertime. Although, that is one really nice thing about living in the south. People really do say "Yes, sir" and "Yes, ma'am" in the south. They teach their kids to talk that way, too. Once you hear that long enough, when you go back up north and some kid answers your questions with, "Whatever, I don't care, Yeah," or a blank look, you start appreciating manners. Does everyone in the south have manners? No, they do not. However, that is one of the things that Mitzi talks about on her blog. It's a people blog, a blog about life and living, and it just happens to take place in the south. Oh, I am supposed to thank Mitzi for this award. Thank you Mitzi!

Here are the rules:
1. Thank the person who gave you this award. -- Check►
2. Share up to 10 things about yourself. Short & sweet (Impossible for me ~ you get what you get!)
3. Pass the award to 10 bloggers who you have recently discovered and think are fantastic!
4. Contact the bloggers you've picked and let them know about the award. (I am hoping you discover this for yourselves by actually reading my blog. If not, I will contact you. *sigh*)



1. My day starts with a granola bar and pain medication for my migraine. Well, sometimes it starts with the pain medication followed immediately with the granola bar. It is not good to take that stuff on an empty stomach.

2. For those of who missed it, I have become hooked on HGTV's show INCOME PROPERTY. I also like DESIGNED TO SELL, but I am not as obsessed about watching that one. I know what time IP comes on every day and stop what I am doing to watch it.

3) I spent my summers at camp as a kid. Right now that very same camp is running. I know because I found their site on web. People that I know are now the camp directors. Before my migraines got so bad with the move, I thought I might spend one week there this summer. Totally not possible. But I think about it a lot. I can picture the entire place (as it used to be) in my head. I know that they have made lots of changes.

4) I am in the middle of my summer run of watching Grey's Anatomy on DVD. I am almost done with Season 2. That last episode of this season is just devastating. Actually, this whole season hurts me all the way through. I watch it because it gets better and I need that reminder. Everyone goes through painful times, but it gets better. When you are in the middle of it, you can't see it. It is only when you have come out on the other side that it makes any sense at all.

5) I finished my first YA book (aside from Harry Potter) as an adult. Actually, I finished my first YA book that I read as someone who is thinking about writing YA after I finish my current novel. All I know right now is that I need to read more. It was a very good book, but one book does not a good evaluator make. Or writer, which is more important.

6) In the past, I was a "phase" person. I probably still am, but I am just not well enough to pick something up long enough to drop it. When I was a kid, I would do it with foods. I would eat only one thing all of the time until I was sick of it. To this day, I can't eat a plain cheese sandwich. I almost did the same thing with omelettes. It's a good thing that I discovered as an adult that things other than cheese can go in an omelette or they would be history. Counted cross stitch is gone. I pick it up sometimes but it doesn't last long. I had a love affair with country line dancing and two stepping, etc. It ended. The same sort of thing happened with karaoke. I think that there might be a little of the romance left in my heart for that one if I could find a place where my ex didn't frequent the joint.

7) My parents are leaving this summer for a two week long vacation. I have some worries about eating while they are gone. When I lived on my own (and was sick), the Schwan man made regular deliveries to my house every two weeks. [For those of you not in the know, Schwan sells frozen food and they deliver directly to your door.] If not for Schwan, it is fairly safe to say that I might have died. Everything Schwan sells is easy to fix and I didn't have to leave the house to buy it. Schwan: Saving The Lives of Migraine Sufferers Everywhere. Except here. We don't get Schwan here. They are leaving me with my step-dad's truck (which I have never driven) and no Schwan man. Do I sound worried? I'll be right back. I have a little blue pill I need to take before I can finish this blog.

8) Okay, I am back. The blue pill takes some time to work, so I am still a bit anxious. I guess that can be Number 8. I take little blue pills daily. Usually just two at bedtime. If I take one during the day, then it is only one at bedtime. That can make sleeping difficult and throw off my sleep schedule. That happened yesterday. I couldn't sleep last night. That explains why I was up until all hours of the night. It also explains why I woke up at 2:10 pm today. What are the chances that I will be ready to fall asleep at my regularly scheduled bedtime of 11 pm tonight? Yeah. That's what I think, too. Migraines suck. Dang, I should have saved that for #9.

9) After I broke things off with MFL and moved back to Ohio and in with my parents, that is when I went through the country line dancing phase. Very briefly, I dated this guy who was also into line dancing. He was really nice and a great dancer. At that time, being a great dancer was important criteria on my dating list. However, he took me out to dinner and his son came with us. It was at this dinner that I had clarity that this relationship was not going to work. I was 27 years old at the time. My date was 40 years old at the time. His son was fourteen years old at the time. The father was thirteen years older and the son was thirteen years younger than I. When it occurred to me, I wanted to just sit in the booth and giggle like a crazy woman. I didn't do that. Ironically, the guy broke things off with me right after that. An old flame came back into his life. That didn't work out. However, he did end up meeting a nice woman (his own age) at the bar where we line danced and they ended up getting married. I usually see them when I go back home. Life is strange. I wonder what the son is up to these days???? He would now be 29. That is totally legal.

10) I have an idea for tomorrow. I think that the bloghop works sometimes, but most of the time ~ not so much. I think that the best way to meet people who you will enjoy reading are by getting suggestions from people you are already reading. So, I have an idea. Tomorrow, I will share that idea. So, come back tomorrow and see what you think and decide if you want to participate. I hope that you do because I think it will be fun. Of course, that is my unbiased opinion.


Now, I am supposed to pay this award forward to people who I think will appreciate getting an award:

1) Leiah at A Southern Belle Trying Not To Rust

2) Kristin at Bringing Pretty Back

3) Kimberly Franklin at Confessions: The Secret Life of a Writer

4) Misery at LEFTOVERS from ILLUMINATION

5) Liza at Middle Passages

6) Chris at A Deliberate Life

7) Sharon at Musings of a Mercurial Woman

8) Kim at Saving My Life

9) Ro Magnolia at Soft Winds and Roses

10) Java at Never Growing Old

If I didn't award you, it is because you have indicated in some way that you really don't like awards OR I ran out of slots. *sigh* Here is the deal, if I am following you, well you are award worthy. I don't follow people who aren't award worthy. And that is the truth. All of you deserve an award because you are all beautiful bloggers in your own unique way.

all images found at www.weheartit.com (except the award)