Beautiful Blogger Award::September 7

GlowWorm, from over at Marvelous Pigs in Satin, gave me an award yesterday. (I am so excited! I haven't gotten an award in years, and can I tell you how much I love those things?!)

On her blog she wrote, "I’d like to pass the Beautiful Blogger Award to Melody because her blog is beautiful (she takes great pictures) and she puts so much of her loving heart into each post." Awww! Thanks GlowWorm! You've made my year!! (I also love to read her blog! I love the cool things that she creates, from her felt Nativity to altering her own clothes. And... her family is adorable. :)

And this is the Award itself:
I'm not sure how many people I'm supposed to give this award to, but I'm going assume 7, so here goes:

Carlie from The Evans Express

Katie-bo-batie from Dear Goodness

Maren from Stay at Home Mom Sisters

Stephanie from Ordinary Life Magic

Amanda from SouleMama

Heather from beauty that moves

Jodi from Che and Fidel

**As a side note, I have other bloggy friends that I love to read their blogs but 1) either they haven't been blogging lately or 2) they don't like awards. Just so you know, I think about you anyway :)

So, to accept this award, I am supposed to tell 7 things about myself, so here goes:

1) I love gardening. You already know that, but I'll tell you a story that I don't think you've heard before. We'll call it "The Reason Why I Garden" or alternately "How My Husband Tricked Me Into Gardening". Okay, maybe it wasn't a trick, but it was definitely a magical happening.

So, Steve grew up with a garden, I mean it *is* what Mormons do: grow vegetables, bottle vegetables, cook meals using bottled vegetables. I, on the other hand, did not. I grew up with my mom having lots and lots and lots of house plants. When I grew up and married, she, being sweet to me, gave me a lot of her plants under one condition: Don't kill'em. How hard could it be? A-hem. Well, the whole lot died, and thus started my career as a serial plant killer.

Enter Steve. Setting: Monday evening on a 120 acre farm in South Central Kentucky. He thought it would be a great idea to plant a garden. So, being the supportive wife I am, or at least once was, I gathered the children, the rake, the hoe, the shovel, some spades, and set out for the wilderness (AKA: the garden plot). Steve brought the seeds. Steve was happy, the children were happy, I was there.... Steve planted, the children planted, and all turned to me. It was my turn: I declined. After all, how could I plant a seed I knew I would ultimately kill? Steve wouldn't take no for an answer. I protested, but to no avail. So, kicking and screaming (at least in my mind), I dropped the pea in the hole Steve had dug, and he smiled and covered it up. Sure, he could be happy; he had no idea what I was capable of.

The next week, he made us go and see the garden plot. The children laughed and hooted. Success! Their pea seed had grown into a little plant! I admired everyone's plant, and then we went to see mine. It had grown too! Wahoo!! A Gardener was born that day. (Thanks, Steve :)

2) I still struggle with my place in my birth family. I was born to be the baby in the family with a 10 year gap between my sister and me, who is the closest in age to me. My two brothers were 12 & 14, or close to) when I was born. Everyone moved out by the time I was 8. Then I was "the only", or at least it felt that way.

Siblings would come to visit, but mostly visited with my mom. My brother in law would play games with me instead of hanging out with my sister and mom; I loved that!

After my parents divorce, my dad remarried and had the sister I'd asked for for my Christmas present when I was 4.... he was a bit late since I was 13 and my mom and I had moved before she was born.

When I look into the birth order thing, I'm unsure whether I'm the baby or the only. (Sorry, Charla - In my head, I'm still "the baby", but I love you! ;) I have similarities and differences to both.

You know the place in the family that has me the most confused though? The middle kids. Those are the ones I'm raising right now. Those people are totally different from the babies, the onlys, and the oldests.

Which brings me to another thought: Do oldests, babies, and onlys ever hook up with middles? If you are one who has, PLEASE comment and tell me - it's something I've wondered a lot about & I'd love to know! ...

3) ...because I have only dated/been interested in the oldest of the family. They might be #2, second only to a sister, but then, see, they are still the oldest BOY in the family.

It is an interesting conundrum.

4) I'm not a girly girl. Nor have I raised my daughters to be girly girls. I much prefer the kick butt herione. In my book of life, there is no need for a manicure: how would I pull weeds, shovel manure, open bales of hay with long nails? And let's face it, they wouldn't last long anyway.

So the only nails I paint are on my toes. Because I don't *do* anything with those digits.

Tino, my son-in-law, saw the preview for Brave and told Amber, "I think that was your mom as a little girl." Very flattering!

I've felt sorry for Steve that I'm not more of a girly girl, but then brought it to his attention that it was his own darn fault that he liked me. After all, throughout his lifetime, the girls he liked in movies were Princess Lei and Jessica from The Man from Snowy River. He prefers Katharine Hepburn to her sister Audrey. I guess he brought it all on himself.

5) I prefer TV episodes to movies. They are shorter, for one, but mostly the characters become friends I enjoy hanging out with... in a stalker kind of way. And when I am feeling down or life has thrown me a curve ball, I don't want to watch anything new; I prefer my old friends best.

6) This is the longest post I've written in years!

7) I really appreciate that you stuck with me this long! You are awesome!! You should *seriously* be given a prize. Tell you what, if you've read this, leave a comment & tell me. Then email me privately (merriemelody39atgmaildotcom) w/ your address and I'll send you a 4x6 print/postcard.

Thanks again, GlowWorm, this has been fun! :)