I was nominated? I mean, I was nominated!

Something happened that I never saw coming.

Not in a million years.

I was nominated for a couple of bloggy awards! Little ole me with my silly little L stories. In fact, one of my L stories was nominated for a "Most Inspiring Post" award.

I. Am. Floored.

Especially because I'm in the company of bloggers that I really admire, and two of them are girls who have leapt from "blogfriend" to "IRL friend" territory, Jess and Katie.

So, yeah. Shocked.

I am not one of those people who asks for votes, because I think that kinda defeats the whole purpose of one of these things. So I won't.

But do go check out Karen's blog, because I am confident that you'll love her as much as I do. Plus? She put in a lot of work to set up this nomination thing. Oh, and there are some amazing blogs highlighted, many of which I'd never have known about if it weren't for the nominations.

To whomever nominated me...namaste.

Who, me? Memetastic?

My earth-mama soul sister Abbie over at Greening Sam and Avery gave me a gorgeous award today! Not gonna lie, I love awards, no matter how silly they may be.


Them's the rules, as stated by Jill at Yeah.Good Times, the creator of this honorable award:

(Take the time to read them, because they will make you laugh. This post alone made me immediately follow her.)

1. You must proudly display the absolutely disgusting graphic that I have created for these purposes (put it in your post, you don't have to put it in your sidebar, I think that would seriously be asking too much). It's so bad that not only did I use COMIC SANS, but there's even a little jumping, celebrating kitten down there at the bottom. It's horrifying! But its presence in your award celebration is crucial to the memetastic process we're creating here. If you need a higher resolution version... I totally have one!!

2. You must list 5 things about yourself, and 4 of them must be bold-faced lies. Just make something up, we'll never know; one of them has to be true, though. Of course, nobody will ever know the difference, so we're just on the honor system here. I trust you. Except for the 4 that you lied about, you liars! But don't go crazy trying to think of stuff, you'll see by the example I've set below that we're not really interested in quality here.

3. You must pass this award on to 5 bloggers that you either like or don't like or don't really have much of an opinion about. I don't care who you pick, and nobody needs to know why. I mean, you can give a reason if you want, but I don't really care.

4. If you fail to follow any of the above rules, I will hunt you down and harass you incessantly until you either block me on Twitter or ban my IP address from visiting your blog. I don't know if you can actually do that last thing, but I will become so annoying to you that you will actually go out and hire an IT professional to train you on how to ban IP addresses just so that I'll leave you alone. I'm serious. I'm going to do these things.

As some people know, stalkers aren't really my thing. So I'll comply.

1. I have a sick fascination with smashing spiders. The less of them there are in this world, the better.

2. If given the opportunity, I'd jump at the chance to hang out with the cast of Jersey Shore for a weekend.

3. I love celebrity gossip but refuse to spend a dime on trashy gossip magazines.

4. I paint my toenails at least every other week.

5. During the winter, I only shave my legs, on average, once a month.

Yeah, I was totally supposed to be all funny and make four of these things totally obvious lies, like "I think recycling is a scam," and "my hoo-ha is tattooed" but for some reason, I love the four lies and a truth game.

So.

Which one do you think is true?

Passing this award on to my twisterwives. (Don't ask.)

1. Jess, at Dude and Sweeties, who not only is an amazing writer and friend, but also has rocked my world this week by giving me the idea to sneak vegetables into L's smoothies. I totally want to be her when I grow up even though I *might* be a little older than her. Also, check out her new project, The Poop Whisperer. With a title like that, how can you stay away?

2. Katie, at Loves of Life, who is the epitome of cute. She's cute, her baby is cute, and she has the cutest voice in the world, which I got to hear for 30 straight minutes this week during a phone chat. No, seriously...her voice is so stinkin' cute that my face hurt from smiling after talking to her.

3. Lucy, at Me, E, and Baby Makes Three, who I love even though she is supah sweet and crazy good at everything she does, including kicking my arse at Lexulous on Facebook. The fact that her husband calls me Sheena, Princess Warrior makes up for the arse-kicking.

4. Laura, at Between the Lines, who is remarkably sane after having a baby this month. She's making me look bad with her lack of hormonal tweets and blog posts, and she is ridiculously gorgeous, but I adore her anyway.

5. And Liz, who is taking a blogging hiatus, but I couldn't live without her on Twitter. I wish I had her wit and emotional strength. Oh. And her hair.

Hook up the four lies and a truth, twistas!

The next best thing to sleep: a rejuvenating award!

I have a confession...I have a Not Me! Monday post that I started on Monday and never got around to finishing, mostly thanks to sleep deprivation. The post was about, um, sleep deprivation.

Sleep deprivation has also gotten in the way of my blogging. It results in some serious blogger's block. Who knew?

So I was ecstatic, even more so than usual, when I got an award from one of my bloggie besties the other day. Thanks, Britt! In addition to the thrill of an award, I have something to post about! You know, besides sleep deprivation and how cute my kids are.

All I have to do is list seven things about me. I have an inkling that sleep deprivation will still get in the way, but hopefully I can come up with some new and exciting things that you didn't already know about me. Or at least new.

1. I have never been to a winery. Or a strip club. And I'm dying to go to both.

2. I hate preparing meals. I don't even like preparing lunch for L. Bathtime, bedtime, I'm game. Mealtime...ugh.

3. I love working with L on academically/language-based activities. He knows all of his upper case letters and the sounds they make, and almost all of his lower case letters. He is even starting to sound out words already. Now his fine motor skills, on the other hand...well, we've got our work cut out there.

4. I have a dream of completing a triathlon one day, even though, or perhaps because, I run pigeon-toed, I'm a very weak swimmer, and my biking skills aren't much stronger.

5. I am not sure whether or not I want another baby. And I love hearing my husband say that it is indeed a possibility.

6. I don't go anywhere without my cell phone. If I am outside the house without it, I get a little panicky. Okay, a lot panicky.

7. I used to teach piano lessons and participate in competitions. At one time, I was really good. Now, the piano in my house is used solely to display decorations and our giant-sized jug of GermX. One day, I'll get back to playing. I just hope it's not too late.

Now I need to pass this on.

1. One of my IRL friends, who I absolutely adore, Laura

2. A girl who I couldn't live without, Katie

3. My blog friend who I've narrowly missed meeting but haven't given up hope on, Sam

4. A kindred spirit, Brittany

5. My friend who always makes me laugh, Lauren

6. A fairly new blogfriend with whom I feel a huge connection: Jess

7. One of the sweetest bloggers I've ever met, who is waiting patiently to become a mommy, Lucy Marie

8. Another SLP whose posts make me laugh till I pee my pants, NDNSpeechMom

9. A girl so cute that if I didn't love her, I'd hate her, Abby

10. A blogger who amazes me with her creativity and makes me giggle with her tales of working as a lunch lady, Kisatrtle

I'm supposed to give it to five more of you, and I could easily give it to twenty more, but, well, I'm tired. Namaste!

I'm accepting this award, and...hey, look, something shiny!

I may have mentioned my ADD once or twice on here before. Or maybe a lot of times. Honest to goodness, I don't know how many times I've mentioned it because I..ahem...am terrible at remembering details. Go figure.

So when my bloggy BFF, Brittany, gave me an award almost a week ago, and I failed to repost it until now, I know it makes me look ungrateful. Considering her blogging skills are out of this world, it truly is an honor to be given an award from her. If you've never visited her blog, you need to...now. And sadly, I am sure there are other posts that I should have published, and forgotten to do so...awards and otherwise.

I am really going to consider ADD meds after I give birth.

If I remember to talk to the doctor about it.

Until then, you'll have to put up with forgetful ole me.

But the good news is that I always remember things eventually. Well, usually.

Sometimes.

And today is one of those times!

The rules about this award are that I have to list seven things about myself. Coming up with seven things that I haven't discussed on here already might be harder than remembering to repost the award. But I'll give it a try.

1. I agonize over buying people gifts, even though I absolutely love to do so. I love theme gifts, and I always want to make them perfect. I was pleased with L's teachers' end-of-the-year gifts this year. My supervisor at work gave me the suggestion, and they turned out super cute. I gave them cheapo Target beach bags with a really cute beach towel, sunscreen, a plastic cup that I personalized with their initial, and lemonade (and a Starbucks gift card for his lead teacher). Considering I had to buy five of them, I needed something cheap but fun. They were a hit, and whenever that happens, it makes the agonizing worth it.

2. I love the way that L smells when I pick him up from school. I can't describe it, but it's delicious. Just when I thought he couldn't smell any better after school, his teachers started applying sunscreen before they go out to recess. And let me tell you, that smell is drool-worthy.

3. I love, love, love to nap. However, I have to have brainless tv to listen to while I fall asleep or my mind wanders. My personal favorite is The Daily 10, a celebrity news show on E! At night, however, I fall asleep within seconds of my head hitting the pillow. I don't know many people who not only love, but need sleep like I do. This makes being mommy of a newborn extra difficult for me.

4. I am one of "those people" who yells at someone who is about to step on a spider, scoops up the eight-legged friend, and safely releases him outside. My friends at work tease me mercilessly about it. Apparently, the other day, one of the classes was painting with (real live) worms but the teacher made sure to seek me out to tell me the paint was non-toxic and they would release the worms safely afterwards. And yes, if they didn't, it would have bothered me.

5. Those little wooden spoons that come with ice cream give me the heebie-jeebies. So do tongue depressors. I forbid doctors to even have one in their hand when they examine my throat. I don't particularly like wooden sticks that ice cream treats are on, but I'll tolerate it to get to ice cream.

6. You know how they say that you never forget to ride a bike? I did. I rode my bike all.the.time. as a kid. When I tried to ride one in my early twenties, I straight-up couldn't do it. I am talking falling off...literally, I had forgotten how. Since then, B and I have gotten mountain bikes and I have made a bit of progress on my bike-riding skills. However, I admit that it's minimal at best.

7. My favorite job I ever had (besides my current job) was working at Bath and Body Works. I love sales, even retail. When I held that job, I rocked out every contest and was always frustrated that I made no commission. If I did, I'd probably still be working there on the weekends. I still say that as soon as my kids are old enough to not want to hang out with me in the summer, I'll try to get a job there again.

I am passing the Versatile Blogger Award onto:

1. Jillian at It All Began with a Man in a Black Jeep
2. Anna at Companion to the Wind
3. Jess at All American Jess
4, Katie at Cleared for Takeoff
5. Lucy Marie at Lucy's Life
6. Paige at Mommy & Charli
7. Janet at Stuff I Think About
8. Karen at A Peek at Karen's World
9. Lauren at The Wee One
10. Samantha at The Ruby Turtle Hippie Times

Namaste!

Bloggy Beauty

Momlissa, one of my favorite bloggers, and as far as I'm concerned, a superhero (hello, mom to Irish triplets) graced me with this award this week. Thanks, Momlissa! You rock!

(Also, I am somewhat sure that someone else gave me an award this week and, well, preggo brain strikes again. So if it was you and wouldn't mind reminding me, I'd be very grateful!)

The rules are that I have to tell seven things about me, and then pass it on to seven beee-you-tee-full bloggers.

1. I don't use my left thumb...at all....while typing. I never realized it until B pointed it out the other day. The funny thing is that I type very fast but when I try to use my left thumb, it slows me down immensely. Weird.

2. This pregnancy has been more difficult emotionally. It's not because of the bleed, or being banned from the gym, or knowing this time just how uncomfortable I am going to get. It's because there are four women to whom I am very close that are trying to get pregnant. Two of them are actually using infertility treatments at the moment. I have felt a separation from some of them, and I don't blame them. It just makes me sad.

3. Ever since L was born, I have hoped that he'd be an actor and take me as his date to the Academy Awards one day. What? Matt Damon did it...why can't Lo? Now that he's so into music, I secretly hope that he'll write a movie soundtrack and I'll get to go to the Oscars. I know the odds are a trillion to one, but hey...you never know!

4. Dr. Phil is one of my guilty pleasures. I think he's great and I almost always agree with what he says. Something I'm even guiltier to admit is that often, I feel sympathetic to the out-of-control teenage girls on his show, especially the ones feuding with their mothers. About 15 years ago, I could have been in their place on that stage.

5. I loved "We are the World" back in the day, and I love it even more now. And the new version for Haiti that premiered on the Olympic opening ceremonies is incredible. Call me a bleeding heart, a cheeseball...I know. But I. Love. That. Song. Here's the video:



6. I am certain that I have the fastest growing eyebrows in the world. My hairdresser waxes them when I get my hair done, and encourages me not to touch them between appointments, but there is no way. I have a unibrow in a week. Even so, I still don't tweeze them as often as I should, especially considering my workplace has fluorescent lights and you can see every hair.

7. I am very grateful to those of you who recommended Firefox for my computer virus issue. The good news is that it seems to be working. The bad news is that I can't comment on certain blogs from home anymore. Luckily, I can still access Blogger from work, so I always check it before and after my work day, and sometimes at lunch or on my plan time if I have a few extra minutes. So if my comments have been less frequent, now you know that you are one of the unlucky blogs who Firefox doesn't seem to like.

And, drumroll please.....I am passing this onto:

1. Companion to the Wind - her whole outlook on life is beautiful

2. Craw Digger - her perseverance is beautiful

3. A Peek at Karen's World - her writing is beautiful

4. Diagnosis Urine - her honesty is beautiful

5. The Ruby Turtle Hippie Times - her hopefulness is beautiful

6. Living in the Moment - her selflessness is beautiful

7. SamDotCom - her bravery is beautiful

8. Stuff I Think About - her positivity is beautiful

9. Loves of Life - her baby bump is beautiful!

10. Little Woman - her humor is beautiful

Yes, I know, it said seven, not ten, but I could have given this out to ALL my beautiful bloggy buddies. Namaste!

If you're happy and you know it....

As if my girl Brittany, over at Living in the Moment, doesn't make me smile enough, she gave me the Happy 101 award today. You know you've made a connection with someone when you find yourself chatting about her at dinner with friends, like I did last night. Brittany and I are constantly finding bizarre similarities between the two of us and I consider her a kindred spirit. Thanks, Britt!

This award, meant to be gifted to bloggers who make you smile, has two requirements.

1. List 10 things that make you happy

2. List 10 bloggers who brighten your day.



10 Things That Make Me Happy:


1. My new laptop!!! I got it last night!! My old one died after many illnesses and I'll never again buy another Dell. I really wanted a fancy-dancy camera to start learning how to take photos, but since our money tree in the backyard hasn't bloomed yet this year, I had to choose a camera or a laptop, and the laptop won out. I'd been blogging, facebooking, and e-mailing from B's desktop in our basement, which is so cold that I had to wear my winter coat while shivering and typing. But that doesn't matter anymore, because I am the proud owner of a new laptop!


2. My new discovery of Chobani Greek Yogurt. I've become even more vegetarian as of late, and it's hard to find good sources of protein. My spinning instructor suggested Chobani, and it is awesome. It has 15 grams of protein and no high-fructose corn syrup. Logan doesn't like yogurt, and even he will eat this stuff. I have to use all possible self-control not to lick the container when I've spooned out as much as humanely possible.


3. Hearing my little man sing Christmas carols. Granted, "Jingle Bells" is limited to "Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle bells all the way...hey!" And Rudolph goes something like, "Wudoff a wed-nose waindee-uh, had a shiny nose..." but that makes it all the more adorable.


4. The fact that the littlest steps of progress are huge for my students. Just last week, one of my little girls was very angry during a therapy session and yelled, "I'm mad! I want to go back to class and sit on the green carpet!" Just last year, she would have said (on her best day), "Susie mad. Go class." (Susie is not her real name.) It's nice to be able to see past a child screaming in my face and realize that she is using perfect sentence structure! Hooray!!


5. The lessons that Logan teaches me. I was dropping him off at preschool, and we were running late as always. I was a bit frustrated, hurrying to get him inside. I turned around to see him dancing with his hands in the air, looking up with glee and awe at the first snow of our city falling down around him. It makes me happy when he reminds me to slow down and enjoy the beauty of what I miss when I'm in a rush.


6. Sushi, wine, and interesting conversations like I had last night with some IRL friends and fellow bloggers, Anrazel and Toni. We were out celebrating Laura's birthday and it was so nice to enjoy some delicious sushi, wine, and deep conversations about blogging, reincarnation, human connections, and life in general.


7. This is a bit embarrassing to admit, but it makes me really happy when my US Weekly arrives in the mail every week. It's brainless and trashy and I always get excited when I see the hot story on the cover. So sue me.


8. My Post-it page markers. Last year, our school gave us a cute little Post-it holder with different sizes and colors of Post-its and I swear they are helping me stay employed. My lack of organization makes things difficult at my job, but I use these as a color-coding system on my files of students I am testing. Red means that I still need to finish the testing and yellow means they are finished. It makes me happy to know that everything is right in front of me and I'm not forgetting anything.


9. Christmas lights. I find myself driving really, really s-l-o-w-l-y through my subdivision and taking the scenic route this time of year. I love any Christmas light displays, even the not-so-hot ones, because any effort is better than no effort. The twinkling lights give me warm fuzzies every single time I see them.


10. Sharpie pens. Best invention ever. I used to swear by Ultra Fine tip Sharpies until the Sharpie pens came out. To be honest, I love all things Sharpie, but these are genius.


And the ten bloggers who brighten my day (this was darn near impossible, considering every blogger I read brightens my day...really!):


The three girls I mentioned in this post: Laura, Anna, and Toni;


My IRL spinning buddy who makes me smile every Saturday during class which is no small feat in The World's Most Intense Spin Class: Jillian

The girl who always tags me in fun stuff, writes posts from which I always learn new things or perspectives, and always leaves me fun comments: Karen

Someone who is looking for positivity and inspires me with her THREE littles, two of which are twins and almost exactly L's age: Momlissa

The girl who always makes me giggle with both her posts and comments: Whitney


Quite possibly the cutest blogger with the cutest little man with the cutest name who is so stinkin' cute I'd hate her if I didn't love her: Abby


A blogger who writes creative posts AND posts gorgeous photos for me to drool over, and understands the little boy craziness: Katherine

A woman who always makes me wonder just how she does it all: Michelle

It's almost Friday, folks! That brightens my day, too. Hope you find things that make you extra happy this weekend. Namaste!

An award just when I needed the love!

So for the first time, I lost a follower today. That smarts more than I thought it would. Fortunately (or unfortunately?) I am not sure who it was. Thanks to all of you for sticking by me, though! And thanks to Brittany at Molly Lou Gifts for giving me an award today. Obviously, I needed some bloggy love, and it's extra special coming from her! I love her to pieces, and everything from her site too!

What a cute name, right? Anyhoo...I am supposed to list ten interesting things about me. I feel like I have spilled my guts so many times on this blog that I don't have anything interesting left to say about me, but I'll try to think of a few more things you don't know about me...

1. My hair is baby fine and I am a bit obsessed with wanting it to be thicker. I know, I know, everyone with thick hair tells me that my stick straight hair is so much easier to tame, but what I wouldn't do for a big pretty ponytail!! I covet thick hair so badly that I will complement perfect strangers on their pretty curls or stroke acquaintances' luscious locks.

2. Ever since Katie at Loves of Life had her scarf swap, I've been LOVING scarves. After I received my scarf from Erin, my mom brought me and B scarves back from her trip to Paris. The funny thing is that I liked B's better than mine, and B is so not a scarf-wearing kind of guy, so I somehow accidentally happened to inherit his too. I'm nice like that, taking it off of his hands. If I would have known that wearing a scarf all day is like having a miniature blanket to snuggle, I'd have hopped on that scarf train years ago!


3. I am notorious for starting projects and not finishing them. I am talking about getting to the very end of something and poof....just walking away. If it is something that I have to complete, like work projects or oh, I don't know, a Bam-Bam costume....when I am scrambling to finish it, I am absolutely miserable.

4. I am petrified of roller coasters. My mom took me on the Screamin' Eagle at Six Flags when I was about six and I've never been the same. She really ruined all carnival rides for me. I can't ride those spinny swings or even little tiny roller coasters, much to B's dismay.

5. I went through cognitive-behavioral therapy for my anxiety (that at that point, was turning into depression) and I believe it definitely changed, and possibly saved my life. I think it's the best thing out there for mental health issues, hands-down.

6. Before I worked at the elementary school, I used to work at a middle school. I loved my big kids, and had a blast coaching the dance team. When I moved to the elementary, it was quite the culture shock. It was rainbows and butterflies and huggy love and I couldn't quite call my students "friends" like all the other teachers and make it sound natural. That was four years ago, and now, I cannot imagine leaving my saccharin sweet workplace. "Is that a good choice, friends?" rolls off my tongue quite naturally now.

7. When someone calls me a "hippie Earth momma" like one of my coworkers did today, I consider it a very flattering term. I am always a bit surprised that my hippie side shows at work, though, especially considering I think I reign it in. If it was up to me, I'd be wearing bell bottoms and peace sign headbands across my forehead.

8. I am fascinated by The Girls Next Door. I am pretty sure they have lower-than-average IQ's and are just using Hef to get famous, but they still are so interesting to me, and I hope I'm wrong about them. I am constantly asking myself if the twins have sex with each other and Hef? If so, that is just wrong on so many levels...and sexual encounters with an 83 year old man might disgust me more than the familial lovin'. Sorry. That's probably not the image you were hoping for in this post. I think I better move on.

9. B and I have finally decided on our future babies' names and I couldn't be more thrilled with them. I will share them when I am 20 weeks pregnant. Hopefully that will be sooner rather than later. We shall see.

10. My stupid effing laptop died for the third time and I will never ever ever again buy a Dell laptop. I am now stuck blogging in my frigid basement and although I am very glad that B has a desktop computer that I am able to use, I still want my baby laptop back.

I am tagging:

Karen at A Peek at Karen's World
Abby at Babbling Abby
Toni at Craw Digger
Jillian at It All Began with a Man in a Black Jeep
Little Woman at Little Woman, Little Home
Katie at Loves of Life
Brittany at Notes from the Grove
Erin at The Queen of Clearance
Brittany at Living in the Moment
Laura at Wringing Out My Sponge

I'll link you girls up later but it's cold down here in my basement and L is spending the night at his Paw-Paw's tonight. (B's dad actually texted me at work today to ask if he could have L for the evening! SCORE!) So I don't want to spend any more time this evening freezing my tail off when I could be snuggling with B. Peace out!

Stay away, Kanye....I'm accepting awards!

The beautiful and hilarious Lil' Woman gave me my first award of the day.....

And then Em, whose blog is private but who is perhaps the most fascinating blogger ever, gave me the Honest Scrap Award.

Thanks, girls!

I'm going to combine the two awards because I am lazy like that and tagging and awarding seventeen people is a bit too much for me to even consider. The rules on the two awards are basically the same, so I'll stick with the Kreativ Blogger Award rules, which are...

1.) Thank the person who gave this to you!

2.) Copy the logo and place it in your blog!

3.) Link the person who nominated you!

4.) Name 7 things about yourself that no one would really know.

.5.) Nominate 7 Kreativ Bloggers.

6.) Post links to the 7 blogs you nominate.

7.) Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them!

I think all my readers would agree that I am open to a fault at times, so it's hard for me to come up with things you might not know about me. However, I'll do my best.

1. I LOVE giving and receiving gifts. If someone gives me anything, it absolutely makes my day. I also love giving gifts, but I often stress about picking out the perfect thing.

2. I would love to get a tiny little itty bitty nose ring. B hates them, though, so I'll respect him and not get one. But man, would I love to do it.

3. I am actually trying to gain a couple of pounds right now for the first time since I was a teenager. I accidentally lost a few too many pounds this summer and it is apparently affecting my cycles, so now I am not watching what I eat. After training myself to count every calorie after giving birth, this is more difficult than you think.

4. I'm stealing this one from Em, who has the same issue....I am extremely sensory defensive when it comes to clothing. Dress pants give me the heebie jeebies, as do most other dressy clothes. So my work wardrobe is basically khakis and cotton tops every single day.

5. When I was in college, a circumstance involving unrequited love made me cry every time I listened to Jewel. Still, to this day, "I'm Sensitive" and "Near You Always" bring me back to how emotional those years were and get me a little teary.

6. I am addicted to chewing gum. My favorite is Sweet Cinnamon Stride, but it's SO difficult to find. I have recently found that besides Orbit and Big Red, which I don't like, cinnamon gum in general is hard to come by, which has been a common annoyance for me. I chew gum far more often than the average bear, and I do worry about what the sugar substitute in sugarless gum is doing to me.

7. I am a sucker for boys with longish hair...bonus points if it's curly. We are letting L's hair grow, partially because haircuts are so traumatic, and partially because I love the shaggy surfer do. I am secretly hoping that the little bit of wave that is in his hair increases as it gets longer.

I am hereby passing on this award to:

Brittany at Living in the Moment

Elizabeth at Six Golden Coins

Brittany at Notes from the Grove

Katherine at Family of Boys

Molly Lou at Molly Lou Gifts

Abby at Babbling Abby

Katie at Loves of Life

Karen at A Peek at Karen's World

...yes, I realize that's eight...but I figured that was a good compromise between the two awards!

Enjoy what's left of your weekend...namaste!

Must...keep...eyes...open...to....blog......

Holy cow.

I just survived my first day back to work.

There were no students yet, but there were meetings...one long freezing cold one, one extremely intense one, and one in which I had to watch someone obviously step on another person's toes, and all I could do was sit back and squirm.

There was classroom decorating. I must have done something right, because the one job-related dream I have had for eight years finally came true...I got a teacher aide. And oh my goodness, did I hit the jackpot. She. Is. Incredible. I gave her a list of things to do, and when I returned from one of my meetings, she had completed everything on it and was setting up decorations and was setting up my pictures of my family and dusting them off.

There was "Meet the Teacher Night." And even after an 11-hour day, seeing my new students, meeting their parents, and beginning to work on my therapy schedule got me absolutely stoked for this year.

As one of my favorite coworkers said today, "Isn't it great to be back?" (Hi, Jen!)


And it is. Have I ever said I love my job? Because I do.

My only concern is how in the world I will keep up with the blogworld with a full-time schedule. Luckily, Logan insists on watching Harry Potter (don't judge!) every single night before bed, so I'll have to steal some of that time. Goodness knows I can't live without my blog-girls. Especially when I have awesome friends like Molly Lou who give me awesome awards like this one....

Thanks, Molly Lou! If you haven't checked out her blog, go NOW. You will love all of her stuff! And thank God her award doesn't ask too much of me because I am too exhausted to do that right now. All I have to do is pass it on to five blogs that deserve the Official Seal of Awesomeness. And they are....

Living in the Moment

Little Woman Little Home

Wringing Out My Sponge

Six Golden Coins

Akilah Sakai Out Loud

A Peek at Karen's World

Notes from the Grove

Barefoot Blogger

Yes. I know that was more than five. But I suck at decision-making. I could have done ten more. But I am too tired to type your names. I'm off to bed to recharge for more meetings tomorrow. Namaste!