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Angie from over at Home Grown presented me with the Honest Scrap Award. I don’t normally like to do these sorts of things, but I really like Angie’s blog and think a lot of her. If you’ve never visited Home Grown, I suggest you do so. It’s chalk full of information, humor, and great “how to” articles.

OK, so here are the instructions that came with it:

• “The Honest Scrap” award is not one to hold all to your self but it must be shared!
• First, the recipient has to tell 10 true things about themselves in their blog that no one else knows.
• Second, the recipient has to pass along this prestigious award to 10 more bloggers.
• Third, Those 10 bloggers all have to be notified they have been given with this award.
• Those 10 bloggers that receive this award should link back to the blog that awarded them “The Honest Scrap’ award.

Well, I honestly can’t think of 10 things about myself that NO ONE else knows, but I can think of 10 things that many of you (other than my family) may not know about me. So I’m going to share those.

1. I was in the U.S. Air Force from 1978 - 1982. I completed Tech School in Pensacola, Florida after boot camp in San Antonio, Texas and was stationed in San Vito, Italy for 1 1/2 years, and then finished up at NSA at Fort Meade, Maryland. I had one of those “My job was so secret even I didn’t know what I did” jobs, so I can’t talk much about it. But I loved being in the Air Force and I’ve never regretted it. It was a defining experience in my life and taught me many life lessons that I carry with me today.

2. I am a Master Gardener. Seriously. I took the course and passed with flying colors many years ago in another county. I’ve not been certified in the county where I currently reside. I don’t share that often because of my embarrassment of never being able to remember the name of a flower. Plus, everyone else’s gardens look better than mine.

3. I was born in Savannah, Georgia. Although my father was in the military while I was growing up, due to his “unaccompanied” tours to Viet Nam and his tours at Fort Stewart, I rarely lived outside of Georgia. We did live in Germany twice. When I was between the ages of about 3 - 6 years old, I spoke fluent German. I don’t share that very often because now my German is limited to knowing how to ask where the bathroom and Bahnhof are and singing the “Eins, zwei, g’suffa” song. Oh, and I can order a beer. Which is required before singing the “Eins, zwei, g’suffa” song.

4. When I was a child I had a pet mouse named PoPo. I loved that little mouse and used to beg my mother to let me take him to church with me. He was a little gray thing and very sweet. Everyone loved him. I cried for days when he died.

5. My little sister passed away in 1994 at the age of 31 from Cystic Fibrosis, and I’ve never really recovered from it. I list this as number 5 only because it’s something I still have a difficult time discussing. She was full of piss and vinegar, had a will of steel and a wonderful sense of humor. She continues to be an inspiration to me today. I still dream about her and wake up crying.

6. I don’t care for any orange vegetable that is cooked. I love raw carrots, but do not like them cooked. I also don’t care for cooked sweet potatoes, pumpkin, etc. If it’s orange and cooked, I won’t usually eat it and if I do, I hold my nose.

7. I’m a sap and cry at those touching cat food commercials. I also cry at those touching dog food commercials. I cry during every movie/show I watch if an animal does something cute or gets hurts. I don’t watch a lot of “Chick Flicks” because I cry during those too. But not as much as I cry over those touching cat food commercials.

8. And just to prove what a sap I am, my family went fishing when I was about 10 and I got so excited when I hooked a fish that I yanked him out of the water so hard that the force slammed him to his death on the boat ramp. I cried for days about it and, in an attempt to console me, my family held funeral services for the little fish - complete with prayers and everything. We buried him in the backyard, where PoPo would one day end up.

9. I once wore a pair of mismatched shoes to work with a dress. One shoe was black with a high heel, and the other was black with no heal at all. It took me four hours to figure out why I was walking funny. And no one ever said a word. Jerks.

10. As much as I appreciate Angie thinking of and “tagging” me for this, I really don’t like these “Tell people some things they don’t know about you” deals. I’m a pretty boring person and I think most people have figured that out without needing even more proof!

Hello? *tap* *tap* *tap* Are you still awake? OK, good. Because I want to tell you the bloggers I’m going present the Honest Scrap Award to. And I have to tell you, just picking 10 was difficult for me. I follow so many blogs and they are all so good. Anyway, here are the 10:

NatureNut4
Making it Our Home While Here
Me and My Chickens
Me and My Girls
Physical Possum
Rhymes With Vanilla
Sparrow Haven
The Delaware Curmudgeon
Fancyin’ the Farmlife
My Little Bit of Heaven

OK, and here is what I’d like to ask you to do - please visit each of these blogs and take a look around. Find a post you’d like to comment on in each and let them know Penny from Basic Living sent you. Add a link back to my blog if you can. You’re going to be doing yourself a favor by reading some good stuff, and you’re going to do each of these bloggers a favor because bloggers LOVE comments. Love, love, love comments! We just love to know that we’re not typing into cyberspace. Nothing makes a blogger happier than to log in and find comments on a post. So, please, comment!

Bee Free,

Penny