Who, me? I'm a Versatile Blogger?!

Maria at Life, Loss, and Other Things Worth Mentioning has given me The Versatile Blogger Award! What a surprise and honor! It amazes me that something I started as a hobby to keep my out of town family and friends involved in my life has actually touched the lives of strangers. I am horrendously late at responding to Maria's award and hate to appear ungrateful, so better late than never.

The rules of the award are as follows:
1.Link back to the person/s that gave you the award.
2.Award other bloggers the award-up to 15 recently discovered bloggers.
3.Contact the bloggers that you have awarded to let them know that they have won.
4.Tell 7 things about yourself ( I suppose they should be lesser known facts to the blogworld!)

Seven things about myself:

1. Next week I'm taking my first overnight business trip since before SchmoopyBoy was born and I'm kind of terrified. Excited by the potential for some extra sleep that night, but largely terrified.

2. My son is in the middle of potty training. Consequently, there are dinosaur, Toy Story, and Mickey Mouse underpants ALL OVER my house. Mostly because we keep them in the downstairs bathroom, and it seems like every time he goes in the room he takes at least one pair (if not many) and uses them as fashion accessories (think hats and bracelets mostly) which are later discarded in random places.

3. My son "tried to kill me" before he was born through severe dehydration during the first half of my pregnancy followed by pre-eclampsia at the end. Therefore, I don't feel too guilty indulging in embarrassing details like #2 above. He deserves a little payback, I like to think.

4. We just started trying to grow vegetables in our yard. We have several pots growing tomatoes, onions, broccoli, and a few herbs. So far we haven't killed anything, and in fact our tomato plant has 2 little tomato buds growing!

5. I have a secret (well, not so secret now) pipe dream of turning some of the more successful stories I've made up for SchmoopyBoy into published children's books.

6. I considered writing something about my losses for National Infertility Awareness Week, but couldn't bring myself to do it. I felt hypocritical and insensitive posting while pregnant. I mean, for crying out loud, I recently posted pictures of my pregnant belly, the last thing a woman struggling with infertility needs is to be drawn in by a post for NIAW just to see pregnant belly pictures a couple posts down.

7. I am absolutely awful when it comes to discovering and following new bloggers. I have maybe 10 blogs that I follow reasonably regularly, but I hardly ever comment and hardly ever branch out to discover new blogs that I am probably very interested in reading.

Given what I just wrote in #7 above, I do have a couple of blogs to pass this award to - some of my more recent (but not super recent) discoveries that I like a lot.

TouchstoneZ - I discovered Zioe at TouchstoneZ during the March of Kindness. She's a wonderfully articulate writer about gentle parenting issues - green living, gentle discipline, etc. I also love that she includes her angel baby in her Letters to Littles. I admire her openness and candid talk about her struggles with PPD, a topic with which I am well enough acquainted that sometimes her words are difficult to read because they hit so close to home.

Mama Jorje - I discovered Mama Jorje through the Carnival of Natural Parenting, which I sadly have not participated in for months and months. She was struggling to find balance as a slightly crunchy mama who worked out of the house full time - I could relate all too well! I always find interesting reads on her Sunday Surf posts, and have really been enjoying her Monday Minimalist series. I am married to a big-time hoarder, and have mild hoarding tendencies myself (although I confess it's mostly laziness on my part), so the idea of minimizing can be quite inspiring.

Thanks again to Maria, my apologies for responding so late. Happy reading everyone!