Award Catch Up

I've been blessed to receive a few awards lately. I haven't done my part to pass on the love and I apologize for that. Lately, I've been unable to multi-task as well and I used to. I've been swamped with many things going on and it's messed with my zen. I would like to take a minute now to share the love, if you don't mind.

"This award may be passed to ONLY ONE! We all have that ONE blog that we look forward to every single day whether it's updated every day or not; that ONE blog that reaches to the depths of our soul; this is the ONE deserving of the "Tea Cup Blogger" Award. So -- because your blogging warms my soul like a hot cup of tea, you are deserving of this very special honor ... "

USS Retired passed this sweet award on to me. I have to laugh because we live only a mile or so apart and have yet to meet! We've chatted on the phone and computer and can't seem to find a spare five minutes to see each other in person. We'll have to soon, though, because I don't want to leave here having never met her. Thank you, Ma'am, for the honor!

This was hard for me because I would love to give this to quite a few bloggers I know. Alas, I have to pick one and I choose Andria over at Boy Crazy. I've shared a few awards with her over the past couple of years, but I like me some Boy Crazy. We've since become Face uh Book friends where we've challenged each other to word games and even chatted a few times. Oh, the power of technology. I adore visiting her blog because she has a son older than mine so I'm reading on what to expect. She has a daughter younger than mine so I can feel her pain on fixing hair and frilly clothes. She's also started another blog on her thrifty savings that I enjoy. I'm all about a coupon and saving a dollar and it's great knowing someone who gets that. Thanks, Andria for some great reading!

I am Boymom has tickled me to no end with this award. For those of you who are regular visitors to The Edge know that I've never even claimed to be in the running for this particular award. In fact, I just knew it would be the LAST one I could put on the mantle and polish every day. I guess the fact that I don't even have a fireplace (yet) doesn't even factor in. There are a few questions I have to answer in order to display this lovely picture and I'm all about participating!

Here goes:

Admit one thing you feel awful about involving being a mom. Get it off your shoulders. Once you've written it down, you are No Longer allowed to feel bad. It's over with, it's in the past. Remember, you're a good mom!

I'm not as consistent as I need to be. I'm anal about some things and let others slide. I need to be more on top of teaching my kids good housekeeping skills. While they get it and do it when I fuss and fuss and FUSS...I need to back my stuff up with consequences instead of just giving up. I let it stress me out too much and that's not what I want them to remember when they're older and deciding my nursing home.....how crazy their Mama was growing up.

Remind yourself you are a good mom, list seven things you love about your kids, you love doing with your kids, or that your kids love about you. These are the things to remind yourself everyday that you Rock!

1. They all have an incredible sense of humor.


2. Since we moved away from family, we've bonded together as a family and have done so many things together. Even the teenager goes willingly!


3. All three use their manners and so many people have complimented both them and The Man and myself on this.


4. My kids love when I PMS because there will be a cookie in the house or Dad will bake something yummy. Yay for Mama's PMS!


5. I love when we watch movies together, how all three of my kids pile up on top of each other on the couch. I have more fun watching them than I do the television. It's moments like those I freeze in my mind to come back and visit later.


6. My kids might not love it now, but they'll appreciate later how I have instilled in them how to dress for different occasions and not to wear nasty dirty flip flops to church.


7. I love my husband. My husband loves me. I can't think of anything better you can show your children than a loving relationship with your spouse. To me, that's the biggest security blanket there is for a child.

•Send this to five other Mom's of the year that deserve credit for being great moms and remind them that they are the best moms they can be!! Remember to send them a note to let them know you've selected them, and add a link to the person who nominated you.

1. Queen of This Kingdom


2. Monogram Queen


3. Home is Where the Navy Sends Us

4. Spilt Milk 'n Mood Swings

5. Pikes Pickles

(I can't fix my bullets here! Meh, you all know what I'm trying to do so I won't stress anymore over it!)

These are all women that I admire. They are Mothers who are doing the very best that they can to raise their children and they love their husbands! I am blessed to be able to share their lives in a small part through their blogs.

Thank you again for such amazing blog awards. I am constantly humbled by the generosity of blog writers every single day!

How About This!

Good Monday Morning, Internets!! I can say it's good even though my husband slept through his alarm this morning and when I rolled over and saw it was 6:47 a.m., I still didn't panic.

I casually asked him if he was supposed to be up. Then, he looked at the clock and jumped up like the boat was on fire. No lie, he was out the door taking Makenna to school by 7:10. Amazing how fast you can move when need be, huh?

My goodness. I am watching President Bush's news conference this morning. I adore him. I firmly believe that he's the type person you could sit down to a meal with and never be intimidated because he's easy to hang with. Anyway, I paused my blog composing to give him the respect of hearing one of his last (if not his last) conferences. ~sigh~ He was addressing the press and apparently he's winging it this morning without benefit of a prompter or whatever it is that he uses. While talking to them, he talked about working with the press during his terms and he made the comment that they had, during that time, "misunderestimated" him at times. My eyebrow shot up and I immediately opened another window to go to Webster online to see if this was, indeed, a word. It's not. The man kills me. I adore him, but he just doesn't need to wing it at times! Now we've got another dude coming in who does the filler sounds when speaking off the cuff. If there's one thing that kills me about a public speaker? It's the "uhhhhh's" and the "ummmm's" and the new dude fills his talks with fillers and it drives me freaking nuts. Yay. President Bush leaves us and we no longer get to have new words added to the dictionary and now we get uhhhhhh's and ummmmm's for four years.

*Back to regular programming*

So how do you like the new Edge? Pretty cool, huh? Becca did a fabulous job and I just can't thank her enough. If you look to the left and go down a few, you'll see a button that will take you straight to her blog. Go give her a visit and if you need a blog re-vamp, contact her and see what can be done! I've encouraged her to make a business of this because she has a knack and I can't think of a soul that's been disappointed by anything she's done. When she first said she would help me out, we did many emails back and forth. The header came first. I had no clue what I wanted to do. All I knew is I wanted something related to South Carolina in it. After she played around, she sent me what she made. Makenna took a look and said, "Where's the pineapple? You always have a pineapple, Mama!" She was right! So I emailed Becca back with the pineapple idea. Then, I realized daisies are my favorite flower. Another email was sent and I tell you what, that girl has skills. She was able to make whatever came to mind! Becca is also a fellow military wife supporting her husband as he serves our great country. We wives are force to reckon with, aren't we? Be sure to tell her I sent you when you pay her a visit! Thank you again, Becca, for doing such an amazing job!

I have a few ideas for blog posts rolling around in my head. All I have to do now is settle down and get them on here for you. I have yet to do The Project post. That's going to be a good one. Simple is the key word here. Successful is a good word to use, too.

Also, for those of you who pray out there? Could you please say a prayer for my Dad? He's having some health issues right now with a pinched nerve in his neck. It's making his nervous system act all funky. I'm really worried about my parents because the past year has just been so hard on them health-wise. Today, my Dad is going to the doctor and I pray this guy will be proactive and get some results to help get this problem straightened out. Thank you all in advance for caring enough about Miss Hope's Daddy to say a prayer!

You go on and have a good one now. Mondays are very important, you know. They can just about determine what kind of week you're going to have. I don't know about you, but I prefer a good week over a bad one!

Who Me?

Missy, that Clemson Tiger Gal, was kind enough to give me an award! I am always honored and it tickles me to no end when someone gives me something like this. If you've given me one and I didn't follow the rules and pass it on? I surely apologize. Just know that life happened to me because it sure did a lot of that last year.

I am to send this on to 7 blogs of my choice. Missy chose to do three. I think I'm going to do a happy medium and choose 5. Does that make us difficult? Nah...it just keeps things interesting. Now, you got to link back to who ever gave you the award and keep passing on the love!

1. I'd love to share with Andrea over at My Chihuahua Bites! I've known her for a few years (and never met face to face!) and she has found her groove on her blog. It's adorable and I love to see what she's going to share. It's always a treat to see what new crafty idea she's doing or just to hear her thoughts. Go on over and see what she's got going on! I guarantee she's found some super bargain and she's always cool enough to share her finds with everyone. Yes, I am guilty of taking her advice and finding one (or two or three...) of her bargains. Just ask Paige...I had her on a mission to help me find something and I almost had to call Andrea to get more details but we were successful!

2. Do some Aiming High with Denise while you're at it. I love to go visit her because we're a lot alike. We're both Moms trying to keep it all straight and we try to find the humor in life and in raising kids. She has some great insight I think you'll enjoy.

3. Boy Crazy makes me laugh out loud. Andria has her hands full with baby girl Elizabeth. I love to go visit her blog and see what her kids have been into. Andria also convinced me check out Word Twist on Faceb*ok. I'm not sure if I've forgiven her yet for that. She has the two older boys where I have two older girls. Her baby is a girl and mine is boy. Yet, the similarities are crazy! If you need a good laugh? This is the place to go.

4. I just gotta share the love with Stef over at Pikes Pickles. What a partner in crime she's been! We discovered we were Navy Wives (YaY!). We discovered we were moms of teenagers (double Yay?). We discovered our husbands are on the verge of retirement (WaaHooo!). We discovered we are Facebo*k junkies and have poked each other at least a 1000 times since that discovery. She's West Coast. I'm East Coast. We have promised to meet in person one day because we have adopted each other's kids in a crazy military Internet blogging kind of way. Her blog is full of great stuff. This is one busy woman and I just don't know how she does it at times. I'm sure you'll enjoy visiting her!

5. My last piece of love goes to Miss Krys. If you haven't discovered her blog yet then you're missing out. She covers everything in my book. Crafty ideas, politics, her deep personal thoughts, her love of family, and her all around goodness. She and I have known each other a couple of years now (has it been that long?). I know if all goes according to plan, we'll definitely meet her one day so she can squeeze my son and claim him. As my Grandma would say, "She's good people."

Man, I didn't know how hard that could be! I flipped and flopped on who to choose and just wanted to pass it everyone. Then I realized I read over 100 blogs a day. Can you imagine how long that post would be?

I appreciate anyone who thinks I am deserving. I heart the blog world.