200th Post and Award!

In honor of the 200th post, I am finally changing the theme around.  I had intended to do it a while back, but only now got around to it.  I hope everyone likes the art and finds the format easy-to-read and a little less dark.

In other news, I have been sent an award.  Yay!  (And the DH said, “What’s that?”  It’s an award.  “Well, what is that?”  An award, I said again, rolling my eyes.  No, not a Pulitzer, not even a big “best of”.  I’m still tickled that I got one.  It will be in the widget bar soon.)

So, to fulfill the conditions of the above award:

1.  Say “Thanks!” to the presenter of the award and provide a link to their blog.

Mrs. O (also known as opey124 on comments) at A Fine Mess!! sent me this award.  Go check out her beautiful dragonflies lately, and a fascinating copper scorpion her husband made.

2.  Share ten honest things about myself.

Um… isn’t this what I’ve been writing about for 199 posts?  Ok, ok, let’s see…

1. I hate running.  I know some runners; I admire them a lot.  But the word alone makes my knees ache.
2. My favorite color is blue.
3. I took bellydancing classes for more than a year.  (Had to quit because the New Agey junk had gotten worse and worse.)
4. I loved Dubai.  As a gardener, don’t ask me why I found the desert lovely, but I did.  I wouldn’t pay to go there for a vacation, but since the Navy took me there…
5. When I’m tired of writing about politics or digging weeds, I de-stress on Webkinz.  My husband asked, “Why?!?”  Because the rooms stay clean and decorated, my animals are always thrilled to see me, the gardening involves a couple of mouseclicks and no sweating, and the Pizza Palace game is kinda addictive.  And I can mail fresh e-vegetables to my kids’ accounts.
6. One of my favorite churches in the world is La St. Chapelle, in Paris, near Notre Dame.  (photo by Jean-Christophe Benoist , from Wikipedia)  The windows continue all the way around the church.  It’s incredible.
7.  I am a hopeless book addict.  I leave the library with a stroller full of books, and the toddler being cajoled into walking to the car without getting hit by a car in the parking lot.  Book stores can be hazardous to my budget.
8. I harbor serious doubts that there are ten interesting things about me…
9. I really enjoy most of the wildlife in my backyard.  The other day, I watched a lizard take up position on the rocks around the fountain.  The frog that is now living in the fountain was sitting on one of the concrete “frog ladders” I made to help small animals get out of the fountain after falling in.  A dragonfly was sunning on one of the rocks in the path.  An osprey was looking for lunch over the lake.  Two ducklings were rooting around under the bird feeder for tender grass.  It was beautiful.  (Crocus-munching rabbits, chair-chewing muskrats, and those stupid starlings, however, are likely to have the dog let out the back door as soon as they’re spotted.)
10. If you met me, you’d probably figure out why I blog; I get to edit it.  My mouth sometimes outruns my brain.

3.  Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.

Ok, but I don’t really follow that many bloggers… :

• First off, there’s my friend and Naval Academy classmate Jen, who inspired me to get started on blogging.  Her blog is all about knitting, lace making, and other needle crafts: The Sarah Winchester of the Fiber Arts.
• There’s Lindy over at Lindy’s Blog: Where Mom is Always Right, who I enjoy very much.  She once called me a very intelligent person… but we’ll overlook that lapse of judgment. 
• And Jen at Conversion Diary, who has a much, much more well-read blog than I could ever hope to have, but who takes the time to comment on others’ blogs and make weekly room for us little bloggers every Friday.  She also wrote an article on how to increase blog traffic.

4.  Inform those bloggers that they’ve been awarded the “Honest Scrap” award.

Getting on that!

Thanks to my regular readers (and any new ones); here’s to another 200 posts!