Tagged! and Bling!

Lucy from LuLu's Petals tagged me for the 5 random things meme a while back.

These are the rules :

1. Link to the person that tagged you and post the rules on your blog.

2. A. Share 5 random and/or weird facts about yourself on your blog; or

B. Share the 5 top places on your “want to see or want to see again” list; or

C. Share 5 things you never pictured being in your future when you were 25 years old.

3. Tag a minimum of 5, maximum of 10 random people at the end of your post and include links to their blogs.

4. Let each person know that they have been tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.The tagees have a choice of which they want to do.

I'll go for A - five random facts:

1. I'm banned for life from wearing contact lenses. My eyes are too dry and the lenses end up stuck to my eyes. Not good.

2. Our house is home to the amazing travelling betta fish - he was blue, then went off on vacation and came back with a suntan (red), then went back to being blue again once the "tan" faded, and now he's off on vacation again. He will reappear as soon as I get around to visiting the pet store ;-).

3. Our home, like most in Israel, is built of concrete blocks. Because of this and because it doesn't get any afternoon sun, it's actually colder INSIDE than it is outside. It's a gorgeous day out but I'm sitting here with the heat on because it's freezing inside!

4. I have an incredible weakness for chocolate frosting straight from the can. Thankfully it isn't available in Israel right now.

5. I can still speak "Ibe" language - a crazy imaginary language my bunkmates and I all spoke one summer at sleepaway camp. Our counselor's name was Eve, which was too easily recognized in Ibe, so instead since she didn't shave we called her Hairy (in Ibe) all summer long so that we could talk about her behind her back right to her face. She deciphered Ibe language by the end of the summer and was able to understand everything we'd been saying about her. 11-year old girls can be very cruel. I hope we didn't hurt her feelings too badly.

I'm going to leave this tag open for anyone who'd like to do it. If you do leave a note in comments so that I can swing by for a visit.

And now for the bling:

I've got a whole heap of bright shiny goodness to pass out. (Yes, I really should do this before it all piles up in an embarrassing heap, shouldn't I...)




First is the True Blue award from Maddy - if you haven't discovered her wonderful writing and insights into parenting both typical and autistic children you are really missing out. And she said I was witty too. Love that woman. Love her.

I'm going to award this one to the amazing and incredible Susan - WhyMommy. If anyone epitomizes inspiration it is Susan. Help cheer her on as she beats inflammatory breast cancer.


Both Janet and Susan surprised me with the You Make My Day award. These are two amazing women.

Janet takes the most beautiful photographs and writes about all sorts of things, from Lord of the Rings to delicious recipes for Japanese food (and I will hopefully get to meet her next summer!).

Susan is working her tail off to give publishing life to Trevor and the rest of the ShapeShifter gang over at West of Mars. Go read their antics and you'll agree that this woman deserves a big fat book contract! And, she's very generously sending me a book just because the title is the same as my birthday!

This one goes to Melissa Garrett, who always makes my day with a funny story or an inspiring post from the trenches of a WAH writer/mother, and to Grace over at Sandier Pastures. One of my most faithful readers, where would I be without Grace's generous spirit and her fascinating insights into a country that is near and yet still so far away from me.

I'm also passing it to Josie Two-Shoes (no link) because her latest news has put a big huge smile on my face, and to all of you readers out there. Just knowing that you are there, actually reading what I write, makes my day. Love you guys.


Next up is the M'Wah award from Grace.

I'm going to plant my own big sloppy one on Jen, Just Jen, Maddy and Kelley (who gets an extra one since its her 18th anniversary today - it is still today in Australia, isn't it?), for helping me and cheering me on as I figure out what it means to be the mother of a very special child.



And last but very definitely not least, this one from Suprina, who I didn't even realize was still reading and who said one of the very nicest things anyone has ever said to me.

This one I am going to pass back to Susan, for all the hard work she is doing to promote her fellow writers, and to Phyllis, who is the coolest rabbi mama I know. She's got all sorts of great things going on on her blog - and I'm going to meet her soon too, because she's coming to Israel for a visit!