Liebster Award Fun!

Many thanks to Chrissy at Mom Loves Freebie for nominating me for the Liebster Award!

What fun!

The Rules:

1. Link back to the blogger who nominated you.
2. Share eleven interesting facts about yourself.
3. Answer the eleven questions provided by the blogger who nominated you.
4. Come up with eleven questions for your nominees.
5. Nominate eleven other bloggers!

My Eleven Interesting Facts:
(Ha! I use the term “interesting” rather loosely, but I think that is what I’m supposed to say here!)

1.  My family stays amused at my delight over little things that aren’t often typically noticed.

2.  I LOVE pine straw and leaves scattered across lawns far better than manicured landscapes.

3.  Yesterday was our 28th wedding anniversary.

4.  I love seniors.  They have so much wisdom to impart.  

5.  I’m quiet natured in groups, but I can talk the ears off of a Billy goat when I am comfortable in a one on one situation.

6.  I don’t exactly have a good singing voice, so I try to keep it as quiet as possible in church, but I love to sing, so that’s difficult!  “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord…” it says in Psalm 100.  I think that verse is written to folks like me – joyful “noise” rather than joyful music. :) 

7.  If you have read my post labeled 20 Random Things that You Might Not Know About Me, I mentioned that I don’t like using the word “I” so much, so this list is a little challenging for me.  Let’s see, does that count as one?  Just in case not, here’s a short one – I’m excessively cold natured.  I would freeze to death where some of you live!

8.  I have extremely fond memories of my early years growing up on Lake Conway in Orlando, Florida.  I spent many hours swinging on a homemade swing hanging from a giant tree that overlooked the lake, and had a neighborhood full of children to play with.  Here is a picture of some of those kids:

That’s me in the front on your right.  Those were the days!  Such an easier, more innocent time in our nation. 

9.  I have a vivid memory, that goes way back, even to some toddler times.  But yet, I’m a bit scattered.  I find it challenging to keep up with my shoes, rings, and keys, especially.  ;)

10.  Due to sentimentality, I keep almost everything.  The most treasured item that I have from my childhood, is “Mrs. Mouse,” a little Remco vinyl doll.  My little childhood friend Tracy, which is the one pictured above on the front left with short hair, gave me Mrs. Mouse, in her sweet, loving effort to keep me from crying for my mom when she was going out for the evening. 

Mrs. Mouse became my treasured companion.  I kept her with me, all the time, that is, when I could get away with it.  She traveled wherever I traveled, and as quirky as it may seem, ‘til this day you will find her packed in my luggage if we take a trip.  Here, I’ll show you…

Yes, I realize, she may look a little creepy to you.  But to me she’s beautiful!  Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, ya’ know! :)       

11.  And that leads me to this one – I love old pictures.  This generation is more creative with photography, but somehow, old photographs are far more charming to me.  Are they to you?

My Eleven Questions from Chrissy:

1. What do you like most about blogging?

Getting to visit with people that I normally wouldn’t get to meet.

2. If you could have any pet in the world what would you pick?

I’ll cheat a little here, because I can’t pick just one.  I would love to have a pet monkey – that is, as long as it was clean and had clean habits. :)  Life wouldn’t be worth living to me without my little doggie friends, and I love horses.  But I wouldn’t mind having a pet elephant, either!  I just love animals!  So much that I can’t wait to see what the animal kingdom will be like when we get to Heaven!  Maybe we can even have tigers for pets!  Wouldn’t that be awesome!

3. What are you really good at doing? Or a talent you have?

Uh oh, on this one!  I’m not good at anything! :)   I take that back…when I look at my kids I think I must be good at mothering, but it is probably more of a case that they are WONDERFUL kids!  Talent…humm…I probably could have been good at piano if I had had lessons growing up, and I love to decorate, if that accounts for anything. 

4. What were your favorite subjects at school?

School, goodness, that was a long time ago!  Language arts, because it was the easiest to me.  But now, history would absolutely be my favorite.  I just didn’t realize it then because memorizing facts and dates deterred me from discovering my passion for old times.
 
5. What was your life like before kids? Or if you don't have any, what do you think it would be like with kids?

You know, I always longed for the time that I would have children.  Motherhood was what God had planned for me.  Once I had my third child, I discovered a completeness that I had not yet known.  But to directly answer the question, childhood was in part, fun, adolescence was turbulent and scary, and then I married at 22 and became a mother at 24.   

6. Do you like to read? If so, what type of things?

I like to read.  Okay now, don’t shoot me, but I’ll add, sometimes.  I’m a little complicated on that subject.  I enjoy reading books that are beneficial spiritually.  As for fiction, I go through stages.  Sometimes all I want to do is read, yet at other times I cycle in not reading a lot of fiction, especially when my kids were little and life was plenty full of adventure! :)    

7. What do you consider to be a bad habit of yours?

Eating cookies for breakfast.  Today it was chocolate chip.

8. What is your favorite type of music?

Piano music!  I LOVE the piano!!  And nothing is better than Peanuts music by Vince Guaraldi, in my opinion!

9. If you could spend a day with any famous person, living or deceased, who would that be?

Well, no doubt about it, Jesus, but the wonderful thing is, we can spend every day with Him!  So, I’ll give a second answer.  Wow, that’s food for thought.  I’ve never explored that thought before…Okay, I’m thinking… and in the meantime, I’ll go to the next question…

10. Do you like to clean or hate it?

Love it!  I hate it!  Hee hee!  It’s kind of one of those love/hate things!

11. As a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? Did you make that dream come true?

That’s easy – a mom.  As a child, I was obsessive about dance too, and wish I had pursued it.  I would love to have a little dance studio by my house where I could teach girls classical ballet and Irish dance.

Now back to #9.  I think I’ll go way back in time and say the apostle Peter.  You gotta love Peter!  I’m pretty sure he was fun, funny, and a mess!  Just imagine the stories that he could tell us!  But I would also love to sit down with Corrie ten Boom or Elisabeth Elliot, gleaning wisdom from their experience with God. 
  Eleven Questions for My Nominees:

1.  Do you live where it is common to have winter snow and do you like snow?
2.  Do you decorate your Christmas tree with a theme, or do you decorate it with an eclectic collection of sentimental decorations?
3.  What are some fun things that you plan to do this Christmas Season?
4.  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why?
5.  What was a favorite childhood toy that you had?  How did you acquire it and do you still have it?  
6.  Do you like to watch old movies, and if you do, what are some that you especially like?
7.  If you could live in any time period, when would that be and why?
9.  Would you describe your decorating style as being  fun & cutesy, charming & rustic, elegant & ornate, or classic and sophisticated?
10.  Green acres is the place for me; how about you – if you had your druthers, would you prefer city or rural living?
11.  If you could open up a door and climb inside the world of a fiction book, what book would it be and why? 
 

My Nominees:

Life on a Back Road
Across My Kitchen Table
Little Birdie Blessings
The Enchanted Rose
A Sheltering Tree
An Artful Mom
The Writers Reverie
Afternoon Coffee and Evening Tea
Blessings and Sweet Tea
Ms. Redo
Sunny Skies and Sweet Tea

Thanks for taking the time to visit today!