ta daaaah!

What on earth is that obnoxious trumpeting noise?

Could it be fanfare over the fact that Nora (She of the 7 Plagues*) only woke up screaming twice last night (a vast improvement over the previous five nights)?

Could it be the celebration of Ethan’s acceptance into the gifted program I was so worried about– the program that almost makes up for the fact that next year he will be attending the armpit of all Junior Highs – the same Junior High I attended 25 years ago and the same Junior High that made us say when we bought our home “It’s a great house but we’ll definitely have to move before Ethan gets to 7th grade”?

Could it be voices praising God for the snowfall we received last night – the snow that cleared out the gunky air that had been pressing down on our valley and clogging up our lungs for the past 2 weeks? (I walked out to start up the van this morning and had to stop and stare at the incredibly beautiful mountains – white and glowing with highlights of pastel colors. Breathtaking. How is it even possible that I live in such a surreal place?)

Could it be the hoopla over the much anticipated release of the final Harry Potter book?

Nope, sorry, it’s just the sound of me tooting my own horn**. I’ve been nominated for a Share the Love blog award. There are roughly 8 gazillion other blogs nominated, most of which are far more interesting and popular than mine, so I’m trying not to let it all go to my head and order new business cards or anything. But I am flattered by the acknowledgement. I’ve even been nominated in two categories: Best Humor and Best Writing.

Of the two, I think I’m more excited about the Best Writing nod because, as you may have surmised, I tend to SHED BLOOD over each post, which, I confess, sometimes makes for labored prose and sticky keys. Often I write and re-write a paragraph until the words begin to swim in front of me and stick out their little pixilated tongues in mocking defiance. “Nya, nya, you only think you can write. Go make yourself useful and wash some dishes or something you pathetic human.” And I keep typing anyway because, Hey, words can’t swim and don’t have tongues. So there.

And then there are those nights when I wake up with the compulsion to double check my spelling on a previous post. Does asinine really only have one “s”? Shouldn't it have two? And did you know that headbutt has no hyphen, while butt-head does? Too bad they don’t have a blog award category for “Most full of totally useless trivia” because I would be all over that one.

Anyway, the voting has started at this place. You don’t need to own a blog to vote. Everyone is allowed one vote in each category. The top 5 blogs go on to a finalist round and the winners will be announced on February 14. May the best blogs rise to the surface of the vast pool.

*1. RSV, 2. Sore throat, 3. Ear infection, 4. Cutting first tooth, 5. Simultaneously cutting second tooth (seriously, they both started poking through this week. Poor thing), 6. Constant, acidic diarrhea, probably from the antibiotics for plague #3, 7. Diaper rash developed as side effect of Plague #6.

**feel free to snicker at the unintended fart joke here. Or just go visit The Smiling Infidel who puts my fart jokes to shame and deserves the “Best Humor” award far more than I do.