An Award and a Crackerjack Prize!

A kind blogger buddy gave me an award this week.

Thank you Jerralea from Jerralea's Journey!

I love the 'sisterhood' idea, because there really is a unique friendship that evolves on Blogwarts where women share their lives and hearts.  It's a wonderful place full of estrogen and chocolate.   I try to visit at least twice a week.

The homework that comes with this award is the 7/7 assignment:  share 7 things about yourself, and then pass the award on to 7 blogging sisters.   I figure there's a lot of information about yours truly all over this blog, so, instead, I'm going to post 7 pictures - snippets of life here in the Ballpark.  There might be a quiz involved.  Update:  Quiz is now closed. 

1.  What are these?
     a.  the names of my cats
     b.  the names of my children
     c.  the names of the hurricanes that ripped through central Florida in 2004.  We had to get a new roof, which now has a leak, but I'm not bitter.  OK, maybe I am. 
     d.  the names of the sandwiches at Hurricane Grill

2.  What is this?
     a.  my favorite sandwich
     b.  a sandwich my husband loves, but I hate 
     c.  Meryl Streep's favorite sandwich
     d.  the ex-clown's favorite sandwich

 3.  What are these?
     a.  fancy paint stirrers
     b.  crooked rulers
     c.  mummy fingers I uncovered on an archaeological dig in Malaysia
     d.  Halloween sugar cookies

5.  Who is this?
    a.  the ex-clown
    b.  Miss Curly-Cute with a shrimp on her nose
    c.  my high-school graduation picture
    d.  four-year old Drew Barry's mug shot

6.  What is this?
    a.  a flower lasso and some colorless Rubik's cubes
    b.  a Home Depot project that went awry
    c.  I have no idea
    d.  a 9 (the flowers) 11 (the twin towers) tribute created by our daughter's high school students.  I welled up when I first saw it. 

7.  What is this?
    a.  a quilt I made, but it had too many arms 
    b.  a potholder
    c.  last year's swimsuit
    d.  a never worn Coldwater Creek cotton jacket I'm giving away (the tag says size 16, but it runs small; I'd say it's a 14.)

There ya' go!  Put your answers in the comments box, and the first one to get all the right answers wins the jacket - if you want it.  If you don't want it, I'll send you some Ballpark brownies.  If you don't want the jacket, or the brownies, you can still put your answers in the comments box, and discover how smart you are when I share the answers in the next post.

As to passing on the award to 7 bloggers, that's like asking a mom to pick her favorite kid.   I enjoy so many blogs, I'm going to offer the award to any reader who wants it.  I've seen a few bloggers do that recently, and I'm stealing the idea.  I can't pick just 7, and you can't make me.

Thank you, Jerralea, for thinking of me and giving me the opportunity to unload that jacket.

Who will win??!?!?!  The suspense is worse than waiting for the last season of Lost.

QUESTIONS for Miss Curly-Cute

A week ago, I gave my ex-clown brother 26 A-Z questions to answer. (CLICK HERE if you missed it.)  For a different perspective on similar questions, I spent some time with our three year-old friend, Miss Curly-Cute. 

What a difference fifty years and a tutu make.

Here are Miss Curly-Cute's responses.

1.  What is your favorite ART form?  (music, painting, coloring, etc)  singing and dancing.

2.  If a BEAR walked into your house, what would you do?  I would run out.

3.  Who is your favorite princess CARTOON? Cinderella because her dress is blue, and I like blue.

4.  What is your favorite DRINK?  Water.  And Coke, but I can’t drink it, because Mama tells me that.

5. Do you know anybody with three EARS?  No.  It would be silly.

Miss Curly-Cute and our daughter

6.  What do you FEAR?  I’m afraid of bears.  And stinging things.  And hurting things.

7.  What does GOD look like?  He looks like a baby.

8.  What kind of HOUSE do you live in?  Florida.

9.  When was a time you got INJURED?  I jumped over the spring on my pony and hurt my butt.  I was saying “heee-haw.”

10.  Do you have a JOB at your house, like cleaning your room? I don’t like to clean my room, because I don’t like to do long things.

11.  Do you know what a KANGAROO is?  No.  Does it have three ears? 

Halfway through the interview, we took a break to go look at the garden.  

12.  Would you like a LIZARD pie?  No.  Is it made out of lizards?  NO.

13.  What do you most love about MAMA?  I like that her hair is blonde.  My hair is blonde too.  It’s kind of yellow.  What does blonde mean?

14.  Would you like to take a NAP?  No.  But you can take a nap over there.

15.  What begins with ‘O’?  I do, because my name has a O in it.

16.  Favorite thing about PAPA?  He protects me from bad things, like scary animals.

17.  Do you know any QUEENS?  The ant’s mama.

18.  Do you know something that’s RED?  

(Thinking....) Watermelon is red, right?

19.  Why is SLEEPING BEAUTY sleeping?  A witch camed and maked her asleep.  How did she wake up?  A prince camed and kissed her.  I have a tummy ache.   

20.  Why do you think you have a TUMMY ACHE?  I ate too much, or I’m hungry.

21.  What is a UNICORN?  A horse with a stick on its head.  I have a unicorn bike, when you come to my house, you can see it.

22.  What is your favorite VEGETABLE?  Banana.

Editor's note:  During this interview, Miss Curly-Cute asked why? often.  WHY is her most prolific word.

24.  What is your favorite X-box game? Raymon Oringins.

25.  What would be YUCKY to eat?  It would be yucky to eat cups, or a couch, or a chair.

26.  What is your favorite animal at the ZOO?  Giraffes.  And zebras.  I can feed giraffes, but not pet them.  Zebras necks are too low. 

This post was brought to you by the letter Q and a curious and untarnished three year-old mind.

Refreshing, isn't it?

Holiday Blessings

I was blessed in two beautiful ways today.  Two glorious, Christmasy ways.

Miss Curly-cute and her parents came over today for a cookie bake.   Miss Curly-cute's mama wanted to experience our sugar cookie-baking tradition, and her hubby was off, so he came too.   It was messy and flour-y and sweet and jolly-ful. 

You just can't beat an apron-wrapped, three-year old decorating with sprinkles and red-hots.  

Dear, Lord.  I keep chuckling. 

Mama helped a bit with these. 

The other blessing today - I entered a "win a turkey" contest through THAT COUPON LADY earlier this week.   And I won!

I had entered on behalf of the Humes family, our church friends who are featured in this 3-minute clip:  DAVID HUMES.

We delivered the turkey this evening.  David and Joanna and their three girls were very grateful for the turkey (a small ham and some other groceries were also included.)

On her own, the coupon lady contacted a friend in the medical field, who in turn donated over 400 dollars worth of medical supplies to David.  We had a wonderful, somewhat teary-eyed visit.

The coupon lady's sweet son, the coupon lady, David and Joanna

I can't imagine a better way to spend the eve of Christmas Eve.   It was so rewarding and fun to simply give.

The giving continues until December 31.  The "12 for 12" Project will put a little extra cash into the Humes' coffers.  If you'd like to contribute, this post will tell you how: "12 for 12".  Thanks to all who have contributed so far!!

I'm going to go have a cookie now.

The Tall & The Small

I saw the coolest thing today.

I was face to face with a giraffe.

She was munching some sweet potato stars that were hanging on a branch three feet from me.

It was breakfast time at the zoo.

She sauntered out with her family a little after ten this morning.   She had a new baby, which the zoo was naming today.

My daughter and I went to celebrate the event with Miss Curly-cute and her mama.   Here's Miss Curly-cute awaiting the event.

The name of the baby giraffe was determined by which branch the mama giraffe chose to eat from first.  Three branches were decorated with treats and a name.  The branch closest to us was chosen, thus the baby giraffe's name is Zainabu.

If we had chosen names for our children based on my food choices after giving birth, they might have been named Hershey.  Or Meatball.

Papa giraffe loped around proudly, keeping an eye on his brood.

He was massive, with precise puzzle-piece markings.  We felt like peanuts in comparison.

Giraffes are fascinating to me.  Their coats are so vivid and beautiful.  Their square bodies and column heads are supported on these spindly legs.  With knees that fold backwards.  

And their tongues are black. 

They posed for us a lot today.  So gracious of them.

Miss Curly-cute posed too.

All God's creatures like to be noticed.

At one point, the sun streamed through the trees while mama was nuzzling her youngin'. 

Rainbow light pointing out new life.

It reminded me of starlight pointing out new life two thousand years ago.

Animals were involved then, too.  Sheep and probably a camel or two.   A donkey.   Maybe some chickens.  

I'm grateful the world is full of strange and interesting creatures.  

Some are stranger than others.

CREATORS & CREATIONS

A cutie-patootie visitor comes to our house once in a while to play with our daughter.  They're 28 years apart.

This child has a birthday this week, so today, when she came to visit, our daughter gave her some colorful markers and a leather, spiral-bound notebook.   Because this child loves to draw.

Here is a masterpiece from those little fingers.

According to the artist, there is a tiger in the center.  The vertical line right down the middle of the page is a rope that he can climb.  The brown "writing" on the top and bottom says, Happy Birthday, Papa!

Of course.  Now that we know, we see it. 

Still in my robe, I sat down to observe this sweet child at work.

Such concentration.  Check out the left, big toe curled off the carpet.  Very Van Gogh-ian.  Or maybe Da Vinci-an.  I wonder what they were drawing at age three.

At times, this child was quick-draw-McGraw.

A tornado of a fist.

Other times, she was deliberate....

...careful to add details like "sprinkles."

She had a vision.

For forty minutes, she worked, standing at our coffee table in her gymnastic Unitard, trying out every marker.

The orange marker was a particular favorite.

Very timely for Halloween, I say.   I see some pumpkins in there.

It was delightful to observe a young, untarnished mind exploring colors and circles and tigers in complete confidence and freedom.

It reminded me of the time our 8-year old nephew visited many summers ago.  We were playing with clay, and David was having a blast forming giraffes and spiders and dinosaurs.  He asked his mom why God made so many animals.

His mom replied, "Because God loves to create.  He loves to makes all kinds of creatures, great and small."

David thought about this, and after a moment, remarked, "He must have had a lot of fun making me."

HA!  I know he did, buddy. 

Youngsters are the best.  Unguarded and genuine.  It's beautiful to see, and to be reminded of, because the grown-up world is so often self-protective and cynical.

Our little visitor left a beautiful piece of artwork for my daughter.  It's now hanging on the refrigerator.  

She didn't explain this one, so I guess it's open to interpretation.

Maybe another tiger.  Or an unfurled ball of yarn.  Or a '57 Edsel.

What I really see is God's goodness.  The gift of tiny fingers and potential and possibility.