Awards Week! Gotta Love it!

Make your own Community Widget at the blog frog!
All the Cool Blogs have one . . . or two . . . or three!

The Dutchess @ Dethroned ~ Royalty in Exile has so generously bestowed upon me the 'Best Blog award and the prestigious 'Honest Scrap' award. This week has literally been a week of awards for me. Julia Roberts, move over! It's my turn in the spotlight!

I'd like to thank the academy . . . my producers Juan Valdez -- my favorite Columbian Coffee Dude, and GlaxoSmithKline -- makers of Wellbutrin. Life sooooo totally RAWKS when you're not wading through the sewage of life, way down in the dumps.

Now, I proudly profess my competency as Queen O' da Heap! This life is still filled with daily debris most people do not have to experience, but Wellbutrin has changed my perspective to one of, 'Oh well . . . suck it up! That's just life, so deal with it!' And . . . I do.

I'd like to thank my readers, without whom I'd be blogging without purpose . . . just lost thoughts in cyberspace. Especially those who understand my sarcastic sense of humor . . . my coping mechanism.

I'd like to thank my kids for giving me more than enough to blog about; for encouraging my great escape to My Fortress of Solitude where I can actually think in the absence of petty arguments, juvenile extortion, and 'Mom . . . where's my _______ ?'

My name is Angela, here . . . not "Mom, Mommy, Mother, Mama, Honey, Sweetheart, Babe, or whatever one calls one who must constantly referee four boys who each think they are always right, or be the finder of all things lost and so easily found by me. NOPE! Not here!


1. “The Honest Scrap” award is not one to hold all to your self but it must be shared!

2. First, the recipient has to tell 10 true things about themselves in their blog that no one else knows.

3. Second, the recipient has to pass along this prestigious award to 10 more bloggers.

4. Third, those 10 bloggers all have to be notified they have been given with this award.

5. Those 10 bloggers that receive this award should link back to the blog that awarded them “The Honest Scrap’ award.

Here is my list of ten true things no one knows about me:

1. I have never done drugs (well, illegal ones anyway)
2. I don't drink alcohol because I'd rather drink something that does not taste like carbonated urine.
   
3. Yes, I have tasted urine when my firstborn son decided to pee in my face when changing his diaper.
4. I love to learn! I have 192 college credits and counting. I could never agree on just one or two majors. There are just too many fascinating things in this world. I have majored in psychology, nursing, business, and marketing.
   
5. Humor, especially sarcasm, is my coping mechanism. Yes, most of you know this already, but I've never unveiled the circumstances behind it. Now, you will understand why I use humor to deal with life. It's a great distractor! You should try it some time. ;o)

• I'm a domestic violence survivor (not current husband)
• 16 year old with ADD
  
• 14 year old diagnosed at 13 months of age with Cystinosis and (had) Fanconi's Syndrome (kidney disease) who had a kidney transplant almost three years ago.
• 7 year old twins: one who is Autistic, and the other with Auditory Processing Disorder (hearing deficit and developmental, social/emotional delays)
• My God Son died shortly after his first birthday just before my first son was born.
  
• My Grandfather died two months before the twins were born.
• My mother-in-law died in a car wreck when the twins were eight months old.
• My Grandmother and Uncle (her son) died within months of each other when the twins were two.
  
• I lost my 19 year old step-son to suicide shortly after Koby's kidney transplant, almost three years ago. I have yet to blog about this, but will do so once I have had more time to heal.
  
• My Dad, Step-dad, and Husband were all diagnosed with cancer.
• That's a lot of bad things happening during the course of our 8 year marriage.
  
• Being a military family, we never have familial support nearby. Most of my family is over 1,200 miles away. We're relocating by the end of the year even further away.

6. I am currently writing a book, which I hope to have published this time next summer. It is an inspirational journey meant to bring hope to anyone whose child has been diagnosed with a lifelong disorder.

7. Some television commercials really bug the heck out of me! Like this one:


This commercial usually airs twice in a row, like we didn't get enough the first time around. Do marketers really think consumers are this stupid?

I'm not knocking the product at all. I mean, anything with 50 mg of caffeine/serving will surely curb the appetite.

The thing I'm criticizing, here, is why in the Hell do they get an actress who has NEVER been fat in their life, put her in pants that are obviously 10 sizes too big for her, have her ask a stupid question, and then think that this will sell the product to the educated consumer? REALLY? Com' on, Dexatrim! At least have some before and after shots that are NOT doctored up.

I thoroughly understand the K.I.S.S. principle of marketing, but some advertising agencies really take it to the extreme. For those of you not familiar with the acronym, K.I.S.S. can be interpretted two ways:

1. 'Keep It Short and Sweet' or
2. 'Keep It Simple, Stupid'

. . . and people will remember.

"Did somebody say, McDonald's?"
"Have you had your break today?"

Now, these are perfect examples of the K.I.S.S. principle. Who doesn't recall these campaigns?

The following commercial, though, will be permanently engraved in our minds, in the minds of our children, and the minds of our children's children.

WARNING: The following commercial may not be suitable for the average consumer. The repetitive nature of this commercial may leave you with a phrase stuck in your head for days, yet a flagrant disregard for anything and everything associated with this product, whether it works or not. Have fun with that! ;o)



8. I am allergic to avocados.
9. I thrive on details (like you didn't know that by now).
10. The whole time I've been typing this, I've had to stop several times to:

• referee three fights between the twins
• chase down one of my dogs who decided to dart out the door and explore the neighborhood when the Fed Ex man arrived
• make breakfast
• make lunch
• clean the kitchen (twice)
• wash, dry, fold and put away 3 loads of laundry
• answer three calls with a pre-recorded message that states, 'please hold . . . we have an important message for you.' Then gripe out the telemarketers who assume I will give out my credit card information to any Joe Blow who calls me (this was the fun part).

'No, thank you, but I do not want to subscribe to your newspaper'

'Before you say no, ma'am, we are offering a 35% discount to preferred customers like you . . . '

'How can I be a preferred customer when I've never subscribed, and my whole family is illiterate?'

• Fish a shoe out of the toilet
• Chase down my autistic son who put the shoe in the toilet, and decided to wander off around the neighborhood instead of facing the wrath of mom
• Be annoyingly polite when my husband called to see how my day was going
• Clean up two full boxes of Cocoa Pebbles that were so thoughtfully dispersed across the kitchen floor I had already cleaned (twice). Thanks, Alex . . . Love ya!
• 'Stop jumping on the bed!'
• 'Put the dog down!'
• Eat your food!
• Leave your brother alone!
• Don't dump out all those Legos!
  
• Repeat, repeat, repeat (I swear I'm investing in a voice recorder)
• 'I'M NOT TALKIN' JUST TO HEAR MY HEAD RATTLE!!!!!! My grandmother's legacy is now a common expression in our home. Thanks, Memas!
  
• This is what I get for trying to write during the day, before all those under 37 go to bed.
  

Now, here's the kicker!

Instead of going insane, I have decided to take my second dose of Wellbutrin, drink some more coffee, bang my head against the wall a few times, and simply laugh it all off!

How's that for Honest Scrap?

Here are the rules:

1) Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.
2) Pass the award to 10 other blogs that you’ve discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.







And, now . . . The Nominees:




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Thoughts and Musings of Anne Marie