It's award season here in the blogosphere, or so it seems, with all the warm fuzzies packed in cute little boxes being traded between bloggers here and there. Or maybe it's always award season and I'm just now noticing.

Either way, I'm the lucky recipient of another award, this one from my Canadian friend Michele at Finding Trinity. Check out her blog. She's super kind, slightly kooky and one of the nicest people I've met through blogging. Plus, she's got some mysterious secret I've yet to hear the whole story on, related to spending a day with Brad Pitt. Maybe she'll share with all of us!

The award from Michele is the Honest Scrap Award. It looks like this:

And it comes with these rules I must follow in order to be a worthy recipient:

1) Present this award to 7 others whose blogs I find brilliant in content
and/or design, or those who have encouraged me.
2) Tell those 7 people they've been awarded HONEST SCRAP and
inform them of these guidelines in receiving the award.
3) Share "10 Honest Things" about myself.

I'll start with the 10 Honest Things about myself. Please note that despite blabbing all over this blog about this and that, I'm not much into the self-revelation movement. Ask Jim ... he says that after nearly 30 years together, he still doesn't really know me. (Must be the protective shell of the Cancer.)

But here goes ... (honest to God, this is actually making it slightly difficult for me to breathe, I'm so not into sharing truths about myself!):

10 Honest Things About Myself

1. I drool when I sleep. When I was a pre-teen, I asked my mom what I'm supposed to do if I still drool once I get married. "You won't be drooling by the time you're that age," she told me, in a tone that made drooling as an adult sound like the silliest thing in the world. Welp, Mom, I still drool. But Jim loves me anyway.

2. Sometimes when I'm reading a book that has lost my attention but I feel obligated to finish, I scan-read through big chunks of it.

3. I never wanted sons. Fortunately, I had all daughters. I would have made a wimp out of a boy, with my overprotective inclinations. The girls fought back and they finally (now that they're adults, really) have come to accept that they need to make a lot of phone calls to me to assure me that they're okay. A male would be a wuss if he were to call his mother so much, and I didn't want to be responsible for that. (Funny thing is, I find little boys -- especially Bubby -- to be the most adorable kiddos!)

4. I do shots daily ... I can't get through the day without them. Okay, they're the kind you inject not slam and they're of copaxone for my MS not Jameson just for the hell of it.

5. I love the way Kevin Martin of Candlebox sings the eff word. I don't say the eff word and I sometimes even cringe when certain people say it or it's said in business situations. But Kevin pulls it off in a way that I can't even describe why I find it appealing. I'm not crazy. Jim understands ... and agrees.

6. I'm a sweepstaker. I once won a year's worth of pasta and sauce. Luckily it was in the form of coupons for the goods, not cases I had to store in the pantry.

7. I'm pretty sure I'm going to die in a car accident, which Jim and the girls don't take seriously enough so they have a little trouble (okay, sometimes a LOT of trouble) forgiving the way I grab door handles and slam imaginary brakes when anyone other than myself is driving.

8. I don't post a photo of myself on my blog because I honestly get tired of people telling me I don't look old enough to have adult daughters much less a grandchild. I worked hard parenting three daughters to adulthood (which can be hell at times, believe me!) and I earned the title of Grandma by raising smart, kind and beautiful kids who have smart, beautiful and kind kids of their own. I don't like that looking younger (thanks to alphahydroxy and Clairol!) takes away some of my grandma cred.

9. When I was laid off, I kept two of the books that I had in my office that were sent to me for review, not for stealing. But how could I resist keeping "Bunny Suicides" and "The Gilded Tongue: Overly Eloquent Words for Everyday Things"?

10. I journaled regularly from junior high up until about four years ago. I put all my journals in a big luggage-type box and attached a lock so no one could sneak into my thoughts (again). I lost the key soon after ... and don't really want to break the box to get at the journals. In a way, I think it's a sign that all those old thoughts (some not so nice) should stay locked away.

Shew ... I did it!!

Now for the other part of the rules -- passing along the Honest Scrap Award to seven others. Here are the blogs to which I bestow it. Please visit them all; they're all nice people who deserve a click or two.

The first couple of blogs are written by fellow grandmas, the type of grandma I feel like I should be: Grandma Lizzie's House, Grandma Ideas and Grandma Nina. They all seem so sweet and kind and what every kid thinks of when they hear the word grandma.

Then there's The Sharon Blog. Sharon's the kind of grandma I really aspire to be. She's kind and thoughtful and loves her grandkids and her kids and her husband and does all the things good grandmas do. But she also jumps out of airplanes and pole dances. That's the inner grandma I'm itching to release.

That's it for the grandmas.

Next up is Mrs. Blogalot. She's always honest, always hilarious. I love reading her stuff and you will, too. One of the coolest things about her is that she also has a site called Grandma's Underwear! How close to Grandma's Briefs can you get! I love her just for that.

Another spot I love to lurk and read is Pajamas and Coffee. How can you resist a tagline like "Where mediocrity kicks perfection's ass"?

Last but not least is a joint award that goes out to my real-world friends who convinced me to blog in the first place. They may not be into awards but they get this anyway (and they have to follow the rules, even if they don't post the award on their sites!). First is Jackadillo Princess, where the monthly letters to Kaylee make my heart sing. Then there's Won't You Be My Cubemate by a friend who continually surprises me because I never thought I would like so much someone who is so different from me (I love ya, Kate!). And there's Rambling Pam, who visits my site every single day and comments and enters the Friday Haiku Contest! Plus, her sweet-yet-snarky posts are always fun to read.

There ya have it. And yeah, I'm later than usual in posting this, but repaying an award takes a lot of time and effort!