Bloggers are Awesome – the Liebster Award

           

I’m honored and humbled to have been chosen by two amazing bloggers within a few days of one another to receive the Leibster Award.  On Friday, PPD World gave me this pretty orange Liebster Award and, as I was compiling my list of questions and answering hers, I was amazed to then receive this pretty pink one from Mindful Meerkats.

From what I understand, the word “liebster” is German for “darling” although when I looked it up, it said it means “favorite.”  Hard to believe another blogger would think of me as either a  darling or a favorite, but I’ll take what I can get, people.  Supporting other bloggers and receiving support from them is one of the top three most rewarding parts of blogging.  For me, anyway.

Liebster Award Rules

1. You must thank the person who gave you this award
2. You must display the Liebster heart on your blog
3. You should nominate 3 to 5 up-and-coming blogs (one award said 3 – 5 and one said 11, so I’m going with 11) with less than 200 subscribers
4. Each person must post 11 things about themselves
5. Answer the questions given to you by the blogger who nominated you
6. Create 11 questions for those you nominate to answer
7. Notify your nominees and provide a link back to your post.
8.  You’re not supposed to do “ping-backs” but in this case I did, as both PPD World and Mindful Meerkats would have received one from me when it was given to me by the other. Makes sense, right?

So, first, a huge thank you to PPD World and Mindful Meerkats.  Seriously, thank you.

Let’s get started, shall we?  Here are 11 random things that you might not know about me:

1. I was adopted.  I always knew I was adopted.  It happened when I was a baby.  I met my birth mother and my ½ bio sister more than a year ago now.  It was amazing and everything I’d hoped it would be.  Since then, I’ve met both of my biological aunts, and one biological cousin, plus some of their extended family.  It’s cool to finally look like people.
2. Being adopted doesn’t take away from the fact my family is my family, in case you’re wondering.
3. My husband’s daughter lived with us for four years, from the ages of 14 to 18.  I grew to love her like my own but there were days when I seriously considered separate housing for Robert and I until she was old enough to move out.
4. I was married before and suffered a miscarriage.  I still miss his family.  Thankfully, I communicate a bit with ex’s mom and can keep up on what’s in their lives.
5. I love picking zits.  Disgusting? Yes. Highly rewarding? Totally.
6. I don’t believe in letting babies “cry it out” until they’re at least 14 months.  It is what it is, people. We all have our stuff.
7. I become pain-in-the-ass anxious when I feel overwhelmed.  This usually happens when my to-do list grows monstrous in my head.  It’s never actually that bad.
8. I love painting and need to get back to it.
9. I’m working really hard to not care so much about what other people think of me.  I’m old enough to realize that I am me, and that I like me, and that it doesn’t matter whether other people get me.  It’s not always easy, and again, I’m working on it.
10. I’m fine with using a PC given to me by work, but will never, ever buy anything but Apple for my personal computer.  So far, anyway.
11. I’m seriously addicted to green chile and nachos.  And very, very disappointed in the quality of Mexican food available on the east coast.

Now it’s time to answer questions from my awesome award-giver-bloggie-dudes!

Here are the questions given to me by PPD World: 

1) What are three things you CAN NOT live without?
I’m assuming this does not include people, specifically Tucker, because to list him would open a can of worms because other than Tucker and Robert, there are a LOT of people I’d rather not live without.  So, three things besides Tucker (and hubs) are my iPhone, empathy, and laughter.  Not necessarily in that order.

2) When was the last time you cried?
Yesterday because my husband was being an asshat.  We made up.  It’s all good.

3)  Do you secretly have a favorite kid?
Totally!  His name is Tucker  (he’s my only if you started feeling sorry for the siblings you imagined me ignoring).

4)  Bath or shower?
Shower.  I can’t remember the last time I took a bath.  I’d rather spend my leisure time doing something else.  Baths are boring to me.  I wish I loved them because the idea of them sounds really nice.

5) If you saw somebody shoplifting, would you say something or pretend you didn’t see anything?
Depends on whether I thought I was in danger.  I’d probably take the chicken way out and tell the store personnel who are trained to deal with these situations.  Of course, it would depend on the situation.  If I saw a down-on-her-luck mom stealing baby food, I like to think that I’d buy it for her and not tell.

6) Do you have a favorite picture of yourself? Where and when was it taken?
Yes, this one, from when Tucker was three days old. I realize you can’t see my face. Perhaps there’s something to that.

7) Do you have any pets?
Chief!  The amazingly patient, sweet-natured, geriatric dog who I recently had an intervention for.  I adore him.

8) What song is stuck in your head?
Live and Die by The Avett Brothers.

9) Have you ever been arrested?
No but when I was 12, my friend Gillian and I made a prank phone call and a policeman came to my house to scare the crap out of me.  These days, I imagine voice mail and caller ID makes it a lot harder for kids to prank call.

10) Do you think you’re a good judge of a person’s character?
Usually.  I’ve been wrong before.  But normally, my gut reaction to somebody ends up being valid.

11) When was the last time you laughed ‘til your face hurt?
This weekend.  Robert and I were in hysterics over something Tucker was doing.  I guess it must happen often because I can’t even remember what it was now.  Or maybe it’s early Alzheimer’s.  Crap, I hope not.

 And here are the questions from Mindful Meerkats

1. What got you first interested in blogging?
I wrote a bunch of stuff intended for a memoir about the journey with Tucker and his lack of words, got frustrated and figured I’d just blog it.

2. If you could take a vacation anywhere, where would you go?
One of the islands off the coast of Africa.  All of them, preferably.  I mean, seriously, just LOOK at these places.  Swoon.  I also want to see the northern lights from Alaska, in the middle of the winter

3. What is your favorite genre of music?
I can’t answer this because there are songs in every genre that I’m highly addicted to.  Well, except maybe polka.

4. What is your favorite hobby?
Finding Ninee!

5. Are you a morning person or night owl?
Night owl, no question.  I don’t even speak intelligibly each morning until after at least one cup of coffee.

6. What is your favorite part of your day?
Bedtime rituals with Tucker.  And no, not because I get to spend time writing after he’s finally asleep.  I love the quiet relaxation of having him melt into my lap while I sing made-up songs to him.  He’s the snuggliest before bed.

7. Have you ever gone scuba diving?
Yes, quite a bit actually.  I’m certified and everything.  I think it’s one of the most peaceful activities a person can experience.

8. Are you a cat person or a dog person?
Dog, definitely.  I’m highly allergic to cats – to the point where if I’m even in the same room with one for long, I begin wheezing, coughing and have to breathe outside air.  I hate it.

9. How do you feel about flightless birds?
Hm. Really?  Penguins are supercool.  And adorable.  The others?  Er…I do love me some chicken fajitas.

10. What is your favorite thing to cook?
Fajitas because they’re easy and always good.  Eveything tastes good with onions, sour cream and salsa, right?  I also really enjoy – when I have the time – making crab-stuffed mushrooms.

11. Did you think these questions were a little weird?
The flightless bird one was totally weird.

Finally, it’s my turn to ask 11 questions of the 11 blogs that I am passing the award on to.  Here goes…

1. What is your secret dream?
2. What does your significant other not know about you that a friend does?
3. If you could have one wish that didn’t earn you money and didn’t magically fix something, what would it be?
4. How would you describe your personal style?
5. What three words do you think your closest friends would use to describe you?
6. If your house were on fire, and your family and pets safe, what three items would you attempt to save?
7. Do you believe in plastic surgery?
8. What’s number one on your bucket list?
9. If you had one hour of secret free time, how would you use it?
10. Beer, wine, mixed drinks, water or soda?
11. Are you afraid of the dentist?

Regarding choosing the blogs to pass The Liebster Award along to, I have to say that this part was the most difficult for me.  I regularly stalk about 60 blogs and love them.  I’ve met new e-friends with writing skills that blow me away.  I love some for their wit and snark.  Others, for their ability to write about triumphs and worries and life in a way that’s awe-inspiring.  The fact is, I love them all.

In order to help myself choose, I decided that first, I wouldn’t award one to Joy of I Can Say Mama, because it might be creepy if I’m the person to give her both of her first awards.  I also went though those I regularly visit and eliminated the big players – those who have thousands of followers and have probably never heard of Finding Ninee unless they remember me from their comments or something.

Finally, I went and snooped on my favorite pages to see whether they’d already won a Liebster Award.  I eliminated those that have, even though it was hard to do.  I like to play fair and spread the love when I can, people.

In the end, for some reason, I have a list that has more special needs blogs than snarky mommy blogs.  I think it’s because my favorite snarky mom blogs have already received this award, and I think it says something about the audiences that special needs blogs get.  It made me wonder whether only special needs moms read special needs blogs.

Which brings me to this.  The single most important thing I’ve learned from reading other people’s blogs is that special needs parenting and the parenting of typical children has so much more in common than it does differences.  Sure, there are more acronyms special needs moms are required to become fluent in, like DD, PPD-NOS, ASD and IEP, but the fundamental aspects of parenting – wanting what’s best for our kids, advocating for them, teaching them, worrying about them, hoping they grow up happy and fulfilled and wanting the best life possible for them – is all the same.  So rather than worrying about a fair split, I’ve instead focused on blogs who 1. I have not given an award to yet and 2. don’t already sport a Liebster on their page.

Therefore, I pass The Liebster Award to (in alphabetical order):

1. A Boy Named Silus
2. From Autism With Love
3. Happiness Cubed
4. Oh Boy Mom
5. Out One Ear
6. Meet the Cottons
7. Mindful Meerkats*
8. Mommy, for Real
9. PPD World*
10. The Tao of Poop
11. Undiagnosed, but we are okay with that

* For those of you who are not PPD World or Mindful Meerkats, choose either the pink or the orange one.  Up to you.  I’m making an exception to my earlier rule of not giving one to anybody who already has one because both PPD World and Mindful Meerkats were on my original list, so you guys get the one you didn’t give me.  So now you have two.  Exceptions have to happen, here, right?

Go check them out.  They’re amazing.  I promise.  And thank you again to PPD World and Mindful Meerkats.  You guys rock.