My name is Melissa and I am very important

Holy crapbags, you guys!  Some wonderful, kind soul nominated me for (and thus awarded me) the Versatile Blogger Award and I couldn’t be more humbled (contrary to what you may have heard…by reading the title of this blog post).

But seriously, I am super excited and very honored!

I promptly went to The Versatile Blogger Award Blog to figure out what this is all about, and turns out it comes with rules.  RULES, I TELL YOU!  Here they are:

•  Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
•  Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
•  Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly. ( I would add, pick blogs or bloggers that are excellent!)
•  Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
•  Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

First things first: Thank you sooo much to Family Haikus!!!!!  For the record, she’d be one of the first bloggers that I would think of to nominate because I enjoy and look forward to her blog posts very much!

Nominate 15 blogs??  Eek, I’ll do my best, but I am new to this blogging shindig – and you know what – I have high standards (which, lets be honest, usually equates to a high volume of poop-related jokes).  I may not end up nominating that many, partly because most of the few blogs I read have already been either Freshly Pressed or awarded VBA, (or both) and I firmly believe in rooting for the underdogs (…also partly because I enjoy defying the rules).  Having said that, I am just going to give a list of the blogs I enjoy reading most, regardless of anything else, in no particular order.  Enjoy:

1. Raising My Rainbow – A wonderful, honest, open account of a loving mom and her gender nonconforming son C.J.

2. Paltry Meanderings of a Taller than Average Woman – Hilarious, blunt, and full of pictures to keep me more than entertained.

3. Dampsquid – Random.  A blog about nothing and everything all at once.

4. Ramblings and Rumblings – She does a regular post called Turd of the Week.  Sold.

5. Childhood Relived – Reliving the 80s, or what I remember about them.  And she introduced the word “bratass” into my vocabulary.

6. Nevercontrary – An awesome blend of quirky and inspirational.

7. The Bloggess – Because I have to.  This blog is my favorite BY FAR.  Just ask Brian, I worship this woman.  It’s only a matter of time until I begin bringing home taxidermied animals (consider this a warning, my dear Boyman).

Seven things about myself?  Oh dear, this could get interesting.

1. I have only one ovary.  Her name is Mae West.  You can just call her Mae.

2. I was sorted into Gryffindor.  You think I am joking, but I assure you, I am not.

3. Growing up in my household, love was communicated by administering thumps.  Thumps to the rump, to the back, to the thigh.  Brian wrongly interprets my love as hitting, and my cat responds to it by snapping at me and then running away.  I don’t understand this weird aversion to my love.

4. My parents grew up in Wisconsin and still retain some of their awesome midwestern accents.  Even though I was born and raised in California, every time I talk to my parents or extended family, or sometimes when I simply think fondly about them, I end up with an accent that lasts for days.  Indeed, I am typing this with an accent, doncha-know.

5. I am not a writer, exactly.  I am a therapist who would eventually like to write a book someday, and figured I might as well start with one of these blog thingies.  How’m I doing?

6. My favorite movie in the whole world is Moulin Rouge.  It has everything I love: singing, dancing, Bohemians, Ewan McGregor, and French midgets.

7. I was born in the wrong decade.  I shouldn’t even be here blogging to you now.  I should be in college in the late 60s,  being in awe with the space program, dancing to the music, burning my bra and protesting for women’s rights.  Booyah.  I mean…groovy.

So there you have it.  Thank you, thank you again for nominating me, thanks to my list of blogs/bloggers for keeping me entertained and off the streets, and thank you to the VBA blog for reblogging my post about my cancer-free anniversary.

Happy Blogging!