I've been awarded

Okay, so I have received an award. Here it is:

One of my favorite people gave it to me...Kelley from Daily Sips. I have no idea if I did that link correctly. Forgive me if I didn't...haha ;)

Anyway, this award comes with a task. So, even though I should be cleaning or preparing for my class tomorrow....I am going to work on this "Versatile Blogger" award task and tell you 10 things you may or may not know about ME...

1. That last post- Charly's 4 month update- was my 200th post! I realized that as I was typing yesterday but forgot to mention it. I was excited when I first noticed it and thought I'd make a fun little note about it on the blog...but I have Mommy brain.

2. When I was younger (like pre-high school age), I used to say I was "never going to have a baby." I wanted to be a Mom, sure, but I didn't really want to experience child birth. So, I decided that I would grow my baby in a jar. You know, kind of like an incubator jar? I was probably about 10 when I came up with this birthing process and I had it all detailed out. I shared it with my Girl Scout troop and they all thought it was a good idea. Well, we all see that didn't quite pan out. ;) I have survived pregnancy and child birth and who knows? Maybe I will go through it again if God so choses to bless us with another sweet babe!

3. My favorite book series of all time is the Mandie series by Lois Gladys Leppard. My parents gave me a boxful of the first few books of the series when I was in elementary school and I quickly formed an attachment to the books. (I've always loved reading and writing...I wrote my first book when I was in kindergarten!). The series is composed of 40 books geared towards young girls...but I continued reading those for as long as Lois produced them- through my freshman year of college! Ms. Leppard then began a graduated series for "adults," starring the Mandie character. However, Ms. Leppard sadly passed away in October 2008. I wish I could continue writing the series for her.... because I feel like Mandie's life is just hanging in the balance. What will she study in college? Who will she marry? Where will she live? How many more mysteries will she solve??? I'm sure I could spin some acceptable answers through my own words...

4. I don't like messes. I get stressed when my house is in disorder. Currently, my stress level rises whenever I walk by or think of our office, garage and/or basement. Those three rooms are disaster zones and it is eating at me! Usually, when I start to get stressed about these rooms, I take a deep breath and remind myself that they are only rooms. They will be organized once we can build a second bookshelf and the weather warms up. Until then, I should just continue to enjoy my special time with Charly.

5. When I used to work, I would sometimes go into a bathroom stall and make funny faces. This probably sounds like odd behavior....but it was a stress reliever for me! Haha! And I didn't want to share those funny faces with other people...at the time at least.

6. I really want to eat some Coldstone ice cream right now. But it's too cold out and we are on a budget now.

7. My favorite outside game from when I was little is Cops and Robbers. It was soooo much fun to play that game at night with my siblings and neighborhood friends. My friends and I dubbed our team the "Shadow Girls" because we hid in the shadows. More than once I would hold in my laughter as my brother or neighbor boy would walk right by me and not even notice! Muahahahaha!

8. I am a dare devil at heart. I like to do crazy things when given the opportunity. For example, swimming at the top of Victoria Falls in Africa...the devil's pool. (Check out my blog specific to this experience "The devil's Pool.") Definitely one of my favorite experiences of ALL TIME. I also used to climb on top of our shed, jump hay bails, climb up steep rock ledges, and ride my bike with no hands and feet. I've done other crazy things and I'm open to more. Though I'm not so sure if I'd do sky diving or not...

9. I love snow. Even when we are at this point in the season where everyone is grumbling and tired of the cold slushy mess...I love it. I especially love watching the snow fall. It's one of my favorite gifts God has given us.

10. I used to hate chocolate. I think this was a learned behavior from my Dad. He hates chocolate and would always say "chocolate is bad," etc. (He's not a health nut, he drinks Mountain Dew, eats pretzels, pizza, tacos and Twizzlers...and he simply prefers YELLOW cake...). I went so far as to tell my Sunday School teacher I was allergic to chocolate when we had chocolate for snack time. Haha! Now I love chocolate. Ben had a lot to do with that change of mind. He got me hooked on deserts during our dating years and now I can hardly go a day without chocolate. Well, minus when I was pregnant with Charlotte. I regressed to my childhood and couldn't stand chocolate. Now isn't that interesting?

Okay...now I have to tag other bloggers...but I don't know many and I think the majority I know have already been tagged.....so bear with me...

Nick! You get to tell us 10 things!