Stumbling Through Life With Grace

I did say I would be neglecting my blog for a while, and that is exactly what happened. Between the rugrats and their schedules, the house, my husband and my guest post for Kim, I’ve haven’t so much as read my favorites, let alone post. I am not waiting
to exhale a sigh of relief, as I finished and posted my guest post on Kim’s I Wasn’t Always Like This blog. After much self-imposed
stress and anxiety and fear of letting Kim down, it’s completed. Good or bad, poor taste or falling flat, I gave it my best effort
and all of my energies, and that’s all I could do. So if you would all be so kind as to go over to Kim’s and check out my efforts,
it would truly be appreciated. Nothing has brought out my fears of not measuring up like doing this guest post. Now I’ll be holding my breath that Kim will like it, or at the very least feel it was adequate.

During my preoccupation with my guest post, it has been brought to my attention that I, along with a few of my absolute favorite ladies, were nominated for a Women’s Blog Awards. One Woman’s World is hosting The 2006 Share The Love Blog Awards, and
that someone nominated me for Best Writing. I am honored and humbled that someone out there thinks I write well! Whoever it was who nominated me, thank you. That was so very thoughtful and kind.

Besides myself, Tracy at Just For Future Reference was nominated for Most Meetable In Real Life. I love Tracy; she is a beautiful, honest lady, down to earth and warm. I look forward to meeting Tracy, hopefully in the near future as well! Congratulations
girlfriend.

In the category of Best Design, is another one of my good friends, Jade, from Jaded Sunburns. Her presentation and blog designs are always fresh and up to date, impeccably designed by the very talented Tech Wench, who Jade commissions to do all of the
designs on Jaded Sunburns. Jade’s ideas are always creative, unique and eye catching. Congratulations Jade. And to Tech Wench
whose talents are extraordinary!

In the Most Inspirational category is a lady I have met in “real life,” a woman I call my friend, and who I have read since the day she started blogging. Rhonda, or her blog name Oh Girl, was nominated for Most Inspirational. A title I can vouch for, as before
she started blogging, she was reading mine and always leaving encouraging comments for me. Congratulations Oh Girl! I have to
mention, that Oh Girl is grieving for the loss of her father, who passed away yesterday. Stop by and extend your condolences to
this lovely and sweet lady. Sending you love and hugs girlfriend. I am so very very sorry for your loss!

A special thank you to One Woman’s World for all the work that goes into a Blog Awards. Be sure to stop by and check out all of the wonderful women who were nominated. I plan on doing the same, and believe I will come up with more than a few to add to
my blogroll.

OK, so I have lapsed into my uber lazy mode this week. (More so then
usual.) I’ve hardly posted this week, and haven’t bothered to stress it
either. I have completely enjoyed reading all my favorites’ posts, letting
you all entertain me. I’d apologize, but then it wouldn’t be very sincere,
as I really have enjoyed your posts, just reading and letting my brain
float from one to the next, throwing in my two cents when the spirit moved
me.

I like to think I’m saving up any creative juices I have to help out a blog
friend who has gone on vacation to the Islands of Hawaii. She came up with
a brilliant idea of having some of her regular readers take over for her
while she is away, each one assigned to a day of her vacation, to be her.
The assignment? To create that day of her vacation from an itinerary she
listed on her site. Doesn’t sound too bad, does it? Until you realize who
it is. Kim a.k.a. Kimmie Ann at I Wasn’t Always Like This is the
vacationing blogger.

Those who know Kim, know why I would stress this particular assignment. Kim
is one of the funniest, craziest, over-the-top writers out there! Why she
would want me to fill in, really is beyond me at this point.(I’m thinking I
was probably at the bottom of her list / I’m kidding, at least I hope so)
I don’t do funny very well as much as I would love to.
Over the previous year, when I have intentionally set
out “to be funny,” it falls flat. So on one hand, I’m insanely jealous of
Kim’s talent; on the other, I’m petrified of letting her down.

So I’ll ask for all of the readers here to help bail me out! Got any ideas
for Kimmie’s vacation day? I have the hubby putting in some time coming up
with ideas as well. Remember this woman loves to have fun, doesn’t care
what people think, gets into some of the craziest scenarios, and is
hilarious while she does it! It’s a big order to fill, and I’m feeling the
pressure.

So if you get some time, go check out Kim at I Wasn’t Always Like This,
peruse a little and come back and help me plan out, and be Kim for Day 9 of
her two week vacation. To date, there have been two pseudo-Kims who have
posted day one and day two of her vacation, and they have done a superb job
of it! To top all of this off, I follow Miss Jay from Kill the Goat, whose
outspoken, funny and impeccable writing are also hard to match, if not
impossible to. So by now, I think you can all see my dilemma, and while
you’re feeling that surge of pity for me, come up with a brain storm to
bail my ass out! Please....

Hope everyone has a fantastical weekend!

Love,

3T

Yes, another Meme. I honor tags, but admittedly am crossing my fingers for no more tags in the first half of 2006. But this one came from a very special lady. She is a recently added addition to my blogroll, and is on my list of bloggers that I would love to meet one day! Tracy at Just for Future Reference is an extraordinary woman and mother who I have come to relate well with on more then a couple of levels.

I have my fingers crossed that she will be making an appearance in the Phoenix area in the not too distant future!

Threes

~3 names I answer to:
Mom
Teri, 3T
“you bitch!” (during pinochle games when I’m winning)

~3 parts of your heritage:
French
German
Irish

~3 things that scare me:
My kids getting hurt
scorpions
bats (Those scary looking flying rodents!)

~3 of your everyday essentials
coffee
cell phone
purse

~3 things you are wearing right now:
sweats
slippers
hair band

~3 of your favorite songs:
All We Ever Find - Tim McGraw
Don’t Stop Believing - Journey
Wild Wild West - Escape Club

~3 things about the opposite sex that appeal to you:
The eyes
Humor
Intelligence

~3 things you want in a relationship (other than real love):
Laughter & fun
intimacy; connection
Trust

~3 of your favorite hobbies
Reading, reading, reading!
Journaling
Swimming

~3 Places you want to go
Hawaii
Caribbean
Day Spas (as many as is possible!)

~3 things you want to do before you die
naughty things with the hubby in the back of a stretch limo.
See a Broadway Play in New York
Get my upper lip plumped up (Cosmetic procedure..Not too much, just enough to make lipstick easier to put on.)

~3 ways that you are stereotypically a female/male
Moody, moody, moody
Get regular manicures and pedicures
Wear make-up always when going out for an evening.

~2 truths and 1 lie (in any order)
I am 5’10”
I’ve been married 4 times.
I love a good party!

~3 (ok 4) people you would like to take this survey:
Crap. I think I’ve worn out my welcome with tagging too many friends.
If you would like to do this one, consider yourself one of my four tags.

I have approximately four Memes I have been tagged for in the last two weeks. I say approximately four because I very well may have forgotten one. Although I plan on doing each and every one of them! Personally, if I were honest, which I try to be, I don’t mind doing Memes. I think they are fun, reminding me of the many dime store psycho babble books I have read off and on over the years. The first which started when I was in elementary school, when my parents purchased T.A.(transactional analysis) for Tots. We would come together for a family meeting, with dad reading from the book and each of us answering the questions, getting to know one another on a little deeper level then the day to day that is so much a part of family life.

T.A. for Tots dealt with the concepts of “warm fuzzies” and “cold pricklies.” Understanding when we needed attention as kids, and how kids would go about getting it. Even if the attention came in the form of negative attention, or getting into trouble. As we were so young, I don’t remember the details of these family discussions, but I do remember how good it felt to have both of our parents’ undivided attention, without the competition of the television, radios or telephones. They taught us how to think about our actions and why we did some of the things we did, without the fear of retribution for the feelings we shared. Done in a forum type of discussion, we were given the floor to share our feelings and thoughts with one another. I do remember feeling bewildered the first family meeting, not sure of what my parents were up to.

T.A. for Tots was followed by T.A. for Kids, which discussed the different aspects of personality and decision making based on a triangle. That each of us possessed a child, a parent, and an adult within us. The start of getting in touch with our inner child? Learning how to develop the adult within ourselves, and how to control the child within ourselves. Trippy huh? I do know those family meetings were a special family time while growing up. Thinking back on them makes me smile and my heart fill with a warmth for the two extremely young parents, who were willing to put the effort out to be two young caring and aware parents.

For some reason, Memes remind me of these books my parents shared with us at a young age. Possibly because of the encouragement to communicate and share with them things we normally would not share in day to day conversation. The first Meme I was tagged for, was the eight qualities of my perfect partner. I was tagged by a very special lady who is fairly new on my blogroll. Mary a.k.a. SpiderWalk--Weaving the Web One Thread At A Time is an upbeat mother of two, who writes openly about her life day to day. She also knows how to ride a skateboard and look graceful while doing it! Mary is interactive with her readers, (which I love) and possesses a warm down to earth attitude, that makes visiting her each day a joy. Go stop by SpiderWalk and say hello. You don’t even have to finish reading my Meme!

Moonlit Lovers--Jose M. DaSilveira

My Perfect Partner
Sex : Male

1. HONESTY Example: If I ask, “do these jeans make my ass look fat?” And he is able to tell me “No, it’s the fat that makes your ass look fat.” I’ve got me an honest guy! One who may be sleeping on the couch, but an honest guy none the less! (he’s never said that to me, although he is honest when I ask for his opinions.)

2. COMPASSIONATE and KIND HEARTED. (Example: Will pray with me for friends and loved ones. Wants to make a difference by reaching out to others.)

3. AMBITIOUS (To make up for my lack there of.)

4. DOWN TO EARTH (Lacks pretentiousness)

5. LESBIAN (He must possess a few lesbian tendencies. Yes that means what you think.)

6. COMMUNICATIVE & OPEN Wants to tell me about his day and how he feels.

7. EVEN TEMPERED

8. AFFECTIONATE

9. CONFIDENT (Yes, I’m going for 10)

10. INTELLIGENT

My answers were based on what I found in my husband. I could go to twenty with ease. But I’ll spare you all. I’m not going to tag anyone, since I have seen this on a lot of your blogs already. If you want to do this meme, be sure to let me know, so I can check out your answers.

Love,

3T

There has been an influx of Memes around the corner of Blogland I frequent. So much so, that yesterday I managed to get tagged not once, but twice. The first tag came from the beautiful Bitchatude, who just for me, did the Motherload of all Memery, one that could easily be classified as too much information! (In fact she did say as much) I found her answers to be entertaining, and hardly would call it too much information. That is until I started cutting and pasting the many questions for me to complete! Judas Priest girlfriend! The only thing missing is whether I fold or wad my toilet paper! As I completely adore this lady, I’m more then willing to comply.

I was tagged yet a second time, for a Meme, by Present Storm. This Meme is photo taking your routine after bath/shower. While I have no problem with sharing my morning routine, which could also be labeled as too much information;-) I have the definite problem of not being able to use my digital camera in conjunction with my pc. So this Meme may very well show up down the road, say when I have taken the digital card in and have my camera shop hold my hand to put said pictures on a CD. This may be a while, as I have yet to take it in to retrieve the photos I took of a wedding I participated in on New Years Day.

Two memes I want to make mention of, is first the one created by Brad at Blogg’d. For those of you familiar with Brad, you know he declared Memes as something all bloggers should avoid putting on their sites. With his very own creation of a Meme, Brad has unwittingly endorsed the legitimacy of The Meme in Blogland from here on out!

I am sure you have heard the expression MILF. Brad has taken this to a new level for Blogland. Creating the first ever RILF list, giving his style of commentary to each reader on this list. (See his post Readers I’d like to...) I was honored to see he had included me on his list, since Brad has been a favorite for many months. Having had buttons designed with ”Shagg’d by Brad” on them, for all of the ladies to display on our sites, I can’t help but think, what a thoughtful guy! Thank you Brad. While I would love to return the favor by carrying this Meme onto my site, a RILF list of the many male bloggers I adore, isn’t something this happily married mother can do. I will say my wonderful husband got a chuckle out of the post though Brad.

Which brings us to the next Meme I ran across on the lovely Tech Wenches site. Another happily married, gorgeous lady who made it onto Brads RILF list. Wench put a twist to the original Meme of Brads.(See Thursday Thirteen#3) After the ladies who were chatting in the shoutbox of Blog Explosion took a quiz on “How gay are you?” she decided to compile a list of female bloggers she would shag if she were in fact 100% gay. (The creativity in blogland boggles the mind, or at the very least entertains, and has me giggling) Thank you Wench! As I stated you would place in my top three choices. As a “retired bad girl” if I were to compile a list along this line, mine would be extremely long, revealing just how much I would enjoy spreading the love.

There you have it, Brad and Tech Wench innovators in the world of Memes! Will wonders never cease?!

A special thank-you to Bitchatude for posting a few times yesterday, just to entertain me during the not one but TWO football games that had my husbands rapt attention throughout the day. And a thank-you to all bloggers who posted and kept me entertained!

And now I give you The Motherload of all Memes (a.k.a. WAY TMI!)

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