I Would Like To Thank The Academy....

So maybe it's not really an Academy Award. Unlike Kate Winslet, I'm pretty sure I'll only be making my acceptance speech in the bathroom with a shampoo bottle for the rest of my life. It's hard to be discovered when you're almost 40 and more Frumpy than Fabulous.

But I am pleased and honored to receive the Kreativ [sic] Blogger Award from Mary at The Adventures of Mommy Maestro. Thank you Mary!

The rules of the award state that I must list seven things I love, and then to pass the award on to seven bloggers I love to read.

In no particular order:
Seven Things Irishembi Loves (besides husband, children and assorted pets):

1) Grocery shopping by myself - No joke. I enjoy grocery shopping solo. I'm not sure if that's because that is the rare place that I do sometimes get to be by myself, or if I really just enjoy grocery shopping. Maybe a little of each. When the kids are with me, it's a trip guaranteed to produce a nervous breakdown, tears and snot, and at least one temper tantrum. And then sometimes the kids have a rough time too. But when by myself, I stroll through those aisles. I read packages and labels. I check out new products. Look over all the items in the $1 bins just in case I might need a miniature size can of foot powder some day.

2) The smell of my kids' hair, clean or dirty - I'm sure that will change once they enter puberty and dirty hair smells less like the syrup they got in it at breakfast time, and more like sweaty teenager.

3) Music - I love music of all eras and genres. I have completely random taste. There are certain artists or genres I might be more familiar with or prefer, but for me it's all about the way a particular song makes me feel. Could be the melody, a certain turn of phrase in the lyrics, or even just that a particular song reminds me of a certain time in my life. A song can bring back a memory to me in such a way that I can feel that memory with all of my senses. I love music from Classical, to the cheesiest of Pop, to Disco, to Rockabilly, Jazz and Heavy Metal. There is a finely tuned string somewhere inside my soul and certain songs make it resonate. Music, especially played in a public forum such as a concert hall or marching band, can bring tears to my eyes. Not to be confused with making me cry, it just plucks that inner string and the emotion and sheer feeling overflows from my eyes. I also love to sing. I'm told I should never do this, but my singing always sounds far better inside my head than out of it.

4) Kennywood - I've promised a full blog entry about this local Pittsburgh Amusement Park in my post about Pittsburgh. But the short version is that I love the sounds, the smells, the foods (three words: POTATO PATCH FRIES). I love the build-up of anticipation to the annual Kennywood trip. It still feels almost the same as it did 30 years ago when I couldn't wait to go.

5) Really Good Coffee - Nuff said.

6) My friends - I am blessed to have wonderful friends that would do anything for me at the drop of a hat. Unfortunately those hats are mostly in different time zones to the tune of several thousand miles away. Even my BFF that I grew up with right here in Pittsburgh had the nerve to move to England. Hmmm, maybe I should shower more often......

7) Books - I have a love affair and passion for books. It's cerebral, it's sensual. The smell of a new book, the cracking feeling when you open it for the first time, the feeling of the paper pages; both smooth and slightly scratchy at the same time. The moment the book opens up I can escape to a world that is "other." I have looked at a Kindle on Amazon, and while I like it in concept, I am reluctant to give up my real books. I cannot understand people that don't enjoy reading. Cannot relate at all. It is a love affair that has not wavered since I learned to read approximately 35 years ago.

Seven Blogs I am passing this award on to (again in no particular order, and I love ALL my blogs on my bloglist) :

1) Welcome to the Snug
2) The Chronicles of Blackheart Lola (since giving her an award seems to be the only way I can induce her to write)
3) Been There - Done That - By Jo (because I haven't heard all her stories yet and I never get tired of them)
4) Say it Ain't So (because I'm waiting for her to tell ANY story ;-) )
5) The Other Side of the Fence
6) Confessions of a Mommy Blogger
7) Life's a Journey...Not a Destination

I'm "It"

I've been "tagged" by my friend Angela at "Thatch" the Journey...Now in Progress. I "met" Angela online while we were pregnant with our soon to be two year old babies (again with the "babies" thing - I'm pretty sure it's going to annoy Meredith when she's 32 and I still insist on calling her the baby). She's a Texas gal, but I don't hold that against her. We have a good time ribbing each other. For example I almost peed (almost? who am I kidding? Bring on the Depends) myself laughing when she saw a photo of a snow blower and had no clue what it was. And upon seeing a photo of one of her very young relatives successfully hunting an armadillo I asked if you could eat them. She found that an equally hilarious question from a Yankee.

Anyway, on to the tag. I'm to go into my Pictures folder and find the fourth picture in my fourth file.This was taken on April 1st, 2005, which means Jamie had just had his first birthday 5 days earlier and Sabrina was still only three. This was Jamie's first experience on a swing and surprisingly he did not like it. This surprised me because things like climbing shelves and swinging from ceiling fans were all on his list of amusing activities at the time.

Moments after this photo was taken Sabrina would get a large splinter in her finger from the mulch on the ground in the other area of the playground. Removing that splinter proved to be one of the most challenging things I've ever done. She screamed as though I were planning on performing brain surgery without benefit of anesthetic.

Eventually she did allow me to remove it. And by "allow" I mean she only kicked me twice while Dave pinned her down and I pulled the splinter out.

I tag Hot Belly Mama, Laura at With Love From Pittsburgh, Eileen at Anger Management, and most especially my friend Kelly at A Goddess Rising because she loves photos.