Inspiring? Huh...

I have been nominated for an Inspiring Blog award.  Huh.  Cool!

So, herein are the rules...


1. Display logo in your blog to show you've been nominated!

2. Link back to your nominator.  Beverly, of The Beveled Edge. (Go here. Read. Enjoy much, please.)

3. Share 7 things about yourself.

This is always a tough one.
Lesseeee...

• I am a amateur radio (ham) operator.  Not as active as I used to be, but I still jawbone from time to time.
• I dislike the color pink.  I really never got into the girly pink stuff.  I joked once that I would love to raise money for breast cancer prevention with the tag line "Stamp Out Pink".  
• I want to raise camels, but really am concerned that they are BIG.  Somehow, a llama just doesn't have the imposing stature...
• I have several bags of llama fiber, but I still haven't made yarn from it, yet.  (Well past the proverbial Three Bags Full!)
• I have petted both a cheetah, and held a tiger, for real.  The cheetah, full grown, was relaxing with its keeper at Winston Wildlife Safari. I pet it, it licked me. Wet 60 grit sandpaper, ugh...  The tiger was about 10 weeks old or so, at a different wildlife place, I was having a ball.  Then they said they had to have it back, other people wanted to hold/take pictures of it.  The staff person there saw that I was twitterpated, and asked if I wanted to hold another animal.  I said sure, she handed me the cutest little whitish thing.  What is? I asked.  An Albino SKUNK!  It had a tiny bit of a musky smell, but was a lovely little baby, fell asleep in my arms, I carried it with me all over the park, (most of the people were freaking out when they found out what it was...)  The only problem was, it didn't want to to let go when I had to give it back, and clawed in, like a cat.  I had some pulled threads on my shirt, after that. No stink bombs, however...
• I am a sci-fi movie buff... But I like the more 'science/adventure' type movies, i.e. Star Trek. My Husband leans more to 'science/horror' i.e. Terminator.  We do have a unique time picking movies, on occasion.  
• I found out that when you go through the Canadian Border, and they ask about declaring plants, a package of Delphinium seeds from Butchart Gardens is really not what they mean.  The Mountie was very nice when he explained that it was actual PLANTS they were referring to.  But, at least they knew I wasn't hiding anything!  

4. Nominate 15 other bloggers for the award.

In no particular order...
Desert Canyon Living
Chicken Blog
Homestead... From Scratch
messymimi's meanderings
The Art of being Conflicted
Moondance Ranch 
Now You See Me
Whiles of Willow
Chubby Chatterbox
Going Gently
Laughing Orca Ranch
Everyday Ramblings from an Everyday Girl
Random Ramblings of a 40 year old.
The Popwell Homestead.
Isobelle Golightly the Beautiful Goat.

I read quite a few, these are some that I read and comment on more often... But probably still not as much as I should. Ahem. 

5. Notify your nominees.

Uh, Hi, if your blog is up above in living color, you have been picked.  If you wish to play, feel free.  If you do not... Snif... Well, I guess... sob... It will be... WAAAAAAAH!

Seriously, if you'd like to continue or not, feel free.  I didn't do this right when I recieved it, but thought it was very nice to be picked.  Thanks!

Awarded...

Randy at Chicken Boys gave me these!  I don't know if I am receiver of one, or both, but I like them, so I will put them both up and figure out the rest later...

So, ten things you didn't know about me, and 5 things I hate. 

Didn't know about me:

1.  I had all 4 wisdom teeth taken out at the same time, over Christmas, so I wouldn't miss school.  I don't remember Christmas, much, either... (Whatever the doc gave me was really strong!)

2.  My family is under the impression that I am "in love" with Tom Petty. No.  I love his music, but he reminds me waaaaaaaaay too much of my one cousin, with whom I had a less than stellar relationship, so while I think he is a fabulous musician, love?

Eeew...

3.  My hair is long, and I 'shed' quite a lot, so nothing that I have spun to date is free of my hair.  I also have to 'groom' my knitting, especially light colored baby items, as this reddish 'border stitching' in random spots sort of detracts from things. (Although, as my hair is turning more grey, it's getting less noticed in the light work, and more in the darker stuff!)

4. I won 2nd place in a karate match in college.  I would have won first, but the gal I fought against made such goofy faces, I lost because I was laughing rather than fighting. (She won, but quite frankly, she fought against other gals only.  I was in a nearly all male class, and believe me, if I had hit her, I think I would have probably broken something on her.  She was all fluff and no power...  But she won, rightly, fair and square.  Even if it did look like she really needed to use the bathroom.)

5.  I have a book in my head...  Mostly.  I have characters sketches written out, and a plot outline, but haven't really been able to write out a good start, so I am sort of stuck.  (One of those things that I guess I should just write until something clicks?)

6.  I am afraid of the dark when I am inside a building, but it's not a big deal when I am outside, even in the woods.  (I have been told this is because of something a babysitter did to me when I was little, but it still seems dumb.)  I have become a little better about the inside bit, but I do tend to always carry a pocket flashlight with me. Just sayin'...

Randy.  10 items?  You realize you are making my brain hurt...

7.  I have double ankles.  Not double jointed, per se, just two bones where the ankle bone is...  This has lead gym teachers to assume I had an accident and broke the bone.  Until 1988, I had never broken a bone, it was just a screwy protrusion on my foot.  (Which I had to have Dad show one of the gym teachers, as HE has the same thing. She then said we'd both been in the same accident... Dork.)

8.  I have petted a cheetah, I have held and petted a baby tiger, I have carried around both a regular and albino skunk, but I have never ridden a camel.  (And no, suprisingly, the baby skunks didn't stink.  Odd  smelling, sort of a musky odor, but not the 'skunk' smell.  The only problem was, they have claws, and they didn't want to let go of me, and unhooking them, so they wouldn't spray, was a trick...)

9.  I had to learn to knit twice.  I learned from my Grandma, who cast on for me, then held my hands to make the motion of knitting until I 'got it'.  This worked great, and I would go like thunder, until time to bind off.  I had no clue how to stop, and just continued until I ran out of yarn.  Then I couldn't start anything new, because I didn't know how to start!  I took a class later, and found out she'd done a good job otherwise, the teacher complimented me on my technique. 

Hmm.  I have dial tone...  Think.  One more thing... Oh.  Well...

10.  I scared the crap out of Husband once, when we were sailing.  I was sitting near the back, and he was watching around, calm sea, and clear sky.  Out of no where, we start hearing "hoooooooooooooooooonk", which means a boat is getting ready to cross your path, and you are too close.  And we didn't see anything, and it sounded RIGHT BY US. "Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo... oooo... oooo... ooooooo..."  Each time we turned and looked around, the honking would stop for a minute, then start up again. 

Apropos of nothing, I can push a horn button with my butt.

Husband made me sit on the OTHER side of the boat at all times after this incident.

TEN!

Ok.  5 things I hate.  Lessee...

1. People treating other people as if they are stupid, for any reason. 

2. Salespeople calling me the "Little Woman" (or "the Old Lady", yes, it has happened), or ignoring me when I am with my husband. (Most especially when I am the one buying said item.)

3. Skunk spray getting into the house vents at 2 in the morning.  Just a marvelous thing to wake up to. UGH...

4. Banana flavored anything.  I have yet to find anything with natural or fake banana flavor I like, except Mom's banana bread, and I think that's only because she puts enough other 'stuff' in there I don't really taste the banana.

5. Dealing with angry people.  I go one of two ways, I either get angry myself, which doesn't help, or I shut down and go all "I'msorryI'msorryI'msorry", whether or not it was my fault, just to get the person cooled down.  (This doesn't work so hot, either, on occasion.)

FIVE!

Ok, I will pass this on to some people, feel free to take, or not, as you wish...

Ms. Diva @ Knit One Max Too
Bearfriend @ Friend of the Bear
Ryan @ Mossy Cottage Knits
John @ Going Gently
Naomi @ Knits In Church
Louise @ Living Retired in Western New York State
Sharon @ Life with Jack and Jill
AJ-Oaks@ A Little Farm with a Big Heart
The Merry@ Sheesh
Leslie@ Something Brilliant is Brewing

I should just give the award to the lot of my blogfriends, but it's supposed to be to ten.  Thank you all, and now, back to your regularly scheduled... stuff.