Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Giveaway Winner and Versatile Blogger Award

Thank you for taking the time to enter my CSN giveaway. The winner is...Michelle from lovinlivinvegan! I picked the number 24, which was Michelle. Just for fun, I picked another number to see who came in 2nd place (I'm lame and was a little bored.)...it happened to be another number that corresponded with Michelle. Clearly, she takes it. Send me your email address, and I'll pass it on to CSN.


So...I said I would post about the super fun awards I've received! I think I'll break it up into 2 posts so that you don't get sick of me talking about myself. My first award was from the very-fit Heather at Where's the Beach? I loved finding her blog because not only does she provide lots of yummy food pictures and recipes and seem super fun, we discovered we live in the same area!

So the rules for this award are:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.
2. Tell 7 things about yourself.
3. Pass the award on to 10 bloggers you've recently discovered and you think are fantastic!

Thank you, Heather, for my award!

1. My younger son is entering kindergarten. My 3 year old will also be at home this year. My 10 year old will be starting his second year of public school. We homeschooled him for K-2nd grade. There's a good chance he will be homeschooled again, but for now, we think this is the best thing for him and his needs. I blog more about homeschooling and our family life at Academy at Thousand Oaks.

2) I was an Elementary Ed. major in college. So was my husband. That's how we met. We fell in love over file folder games and science projects.

3) I also had an English Minor. I taught 9th grade English for 2 years before we started having babies. When I was little, I mostly wanted to be a teacher or a writer. So now I get to homeschool and blog, which works for me.

4) I had thyroid cancer almost 8 years ago. My oldest son was 2 1/2, and one of the most traumatic things about this for me (besides being told you have cancer) was having to wean him from breastfeeding. My surgeon was not secretive about the fact he thought I was nutso for crying about weaning a child he thought was too old to be nursing in the first place. He apologized later because his wife told him that there are, indeed, moms who choose to breastfeed longer than a year. So, yeah, I don't have a thyroid now, which isn't very fun. My dad and brother and many other family members have messed up thyroids, too.

5) I am sensitive, stubborn, and self-conscious. Even though I'm totally the person who answers, "What do you want to do?" with "I don't care; what do you want to do?" - I'm actually pretty controlling...

6) which is interesting for me because I'm a Christian. I don't desire to be in control, but my willful nature takes over a lot

7) I grew up in southwest MO, and it's where I long to live now. Either there or NYC. I realize these places are complete opposites. I'd like to either live at "home" where most of my friends are - or in my favorite city with tons to do.

I feel like I'm being really wordy and narcissistic.

Let's deflect with a cute picture of my kid.



He had recently discovered our milkshake maker in the cabinet. I guess we hadn't used it in his memory. (My cabinets are a wreck, and I'm in the process of organizing them.) They were excited to use it. We hadn't had "icecream" milkshakes in awhile (we've gotten so used to our frozen banana shakes). We've been stocking up on the Purely Decadent coconut milk ice cream lately - it's normally $4.99 at Whole Foods (and probably $5.99 at Kroger); it's been $2.99 at Kroger and $3.99 at WF!

And here's my fabulous hubby with our oldest son, when we were at the River.

Can't leave out my cutie pie 3 year old (left), with her cutie pie 3 year old cousin.

Now to pass on the award:

Vegan Fox (She hails from the Ozarks, my home; what's not to like about that?)

Scottish Vegan Homemaker (Well, she's a vegan homemaker like me but much cooler because she's Scottish.)

Busy Vegan Mama (Another stay-at-home mom - she's fairly new to blogging; stop by and say hi!)

Food Feud (I just like it.)

Living Food Junkie(great food AND other great ideas)

Okay, I'm actually going to stop at 5 (I could keep bragging about my fellow blogging buddies all day.) only because I've got to feed the shorties who are standing next to me, saying, "I'm hungry." Over and over again.



11 comments:

  1. Congrats Michelle on the win x2! That is awesome :)

    What a fun blog award! Your family is so precious! Loved seeing the pictures and reading the 7 things about you.

    Thank you for the award! It was such a lovely surprise, it made my day! You're such a sweetie!

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  2. This is a really nice post--thank you!

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  3. Thanks for sharing. It's always fun to learn about the blogger behind the blog! I am totally with you on the controlling thing ;-)

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  4. I just love all your blogs. You're a great writer, and your kids are pretty awesome and cute. :) i was reading through some "...you might also like..." posts and saw the other night you writing about having cancer. i never knew that! is everything totally in the clear now for good?

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  5. Congrats on the awards, always nice to know you are appreciated.

    Wonderful photos of your family :)

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  6. why thank you dear! i'm honored to receive an award. your kiddos are adorable! i'm glad mine aren't starting school for 3 more years, i don't think i'll be able to stand watching them head out the door on that first day!

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  7. Congrats to Michelle!

    I enjoyed reading your personal facts. The kids are adorable as usual. Your little one has lovely hair...and they are definitely cutie pies.

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  8. It's amazing you still have time to blog with all that going on.

    And $2.99/pint of Purely Decadent?! Just think what a profit all the other stores are making on the stuff. We should be profusely thanked for buying it!

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  9. "We fell in love over file folder games and science projects." <-- Reading that made me smile... so cute!

    Thanks for sharing! I love reading people's "things about me" lists... shows how we can relate to one another in many unexpected ways. I'm also pretty sensitive and self-conscious, but heck, who isn't? =)

    Your family pictures are precious! Sissy's hair is BEAUTIFUL. Actually, I shouldn't be singling her out 'cause I notice that the boys have really nice hair too! I for one am jealous of such smoothness and shininess.

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  10. Yay! I am so excited that I won the CSN giveaway. How fun to come back from vacation and find out that you have won something. Thank you so much! I can't wait to use it. I am sending you an email and it will be from mags317@yahoo.com.
    Congratulations on your award! You have such a pretty family!

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  11. Thank you all for your sweet comments. They are greatly appreciated, as always!!!

    SV, we'll show them - we'll stop buying their expensive icecream! Oh, wait...never mind.

    Kerry, yes, I am fine now. I have to get regular bloodwork, but that's about it. Since it has been 7 years, I they are pretty confident they got it all. Thank you for asking!

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