Filed Under:Baking, Blog, family, Featured Post, memoir, Movies, Writing
The Versatile Blogger Award!
Posted By: Susan Rooke
Posted on: March 28, 2019 10:28 AM
Last week I was wrapping up the day’s Twitter biz when I came across my name in someone’s tweet. The context was surprising, but most gratifying. Ashley, the blogger who sent the tweet, had nominated me and fourteen others for The Versatile Blogger Award! (Read more about the award here.)
Thank you, Ashley at Lellalee, for the nomination! You can find Ashley’s fun post about the award here on her blog, including who nominated her and the rest of her nominees. I also recommend exploring her other great content and luminous photographs. You might want to subscribe, as I did. Lellalee is a gorgeous, professional site.
To say I was gobsmacked by Ashley’s nomination is an understatement. We bloggers often feel as if we’re performing onstage, and only the people in the first row of seats are visible to us because we’re blinded by the stage lights. For all we know, the rest of the theater could be empty. But this just goes to show that you can never tell who’s been paying attention and what fun surprises might result from it.
THE VERSATILE BLOGGER AWARD RULES:
1. Thank the person who nominated you and include a link to their blog. (Thank you again, Ashley and Lellalee! Woot!)
2. Tell your nominator and readers 7 things about you.
3. Choose up to 15 bloggers whom you admire for their content (writing and/or images) and creativity. Nominate them in turn.
4. Inform your nominees.
MY NOMINEES, IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER (each writes wonderful, unique content):
• Salina B. Baker
• Diana Conces
• Tonja Drecker
• Cynthia Hamilton
• Carie Juettner
• Amy Elizabeth Miller
• Mindy Reed
• Julia Schmeelk
Congratulations to everybody—to be nominated is to win! Now you can pass on the love to others (and post a cool badge like this one on your websites).
And readers, be sure to have a look at their sites. You’ll find all sorts of interesting work there!
7 THINGS ABOUT ME:
1. If you’ve been with me awhile, you know I enjoy cooking and cocktails, and devising new recipes for both. But . . . I can’t make chocolate meringue pie, which is Glen’s favorite pie. I’ve tried several recipes over our 35 years together, and always failed dismally. [Amy, if you’re reading this, the pigsticker between the eyes/ER visit failure still trumps these.] The chocolate pudding is too runny, the meringue is too wet, the pie crust is ruined because of both of the above . . . By now I’m thinking it must be a mental block, because how hard can it possibly be?? So readers, if you have a FOOLPROOF recipe for chocolate meringue pie, could you share it with me in the comments? I’d love to learn how to make it before our 40th anniversary. (I hope 5 years gives me enough time.) One caveat: The chocolate pudding has to be scratch-made, please.
2. In high school, I earned my varsity sports letter on the rifle team. Interestingly, there was an indoor shooting range in the basement of one of the school buildings.
3. I’ve never seen Titanic or Forrest Gump. And don’t intend to.
4. However, I love The Horse Whisperer. We saw it when it was first released in 1998; Katie was 10 years old. That film caused some serious family discussions about moving to Montana, and we came very close to doing it. After considering it for months, we finally decided against the idea. You’d think snow would have been at the top of our reasons to vote no, but it was because we wanted Katie to marry a Texan. And she did! (You’re welcome Katie. And Wesley.)
5. When I was a teenager first living on my own and going to college, I sold my plasma for grocery and gas money. Ground beef was only $0.33 per lb. and students’ cars weren’t allowed on campus, so a weekly visit to the plasma center went a surprisingly long way.
6. I have a loathing for clowns and mimes. The worst part of a Cirque du Soleil performance is seeing the clown make his way among the audience before the show, coming ever closer to me as he warms up the crowd. I swear he can smell fear. On a visit to New Orleans, a street mime pursued our group of six a block down a street in the French Quarter, haranguing me (and only me) for not stopping to ooh and ahh over his performance. Mimes had not been on my fear and loathing list until that moment.
7. If it’s not already obvious, I personally care nothing about chocolate meringue pie. If I did, I would have figured out how to make it a long time ago. (Sorry, Glen.) And I know such selfishness makes me a miserable excuse for a human being. But I just pulled these out of the oven, and that has to count for something. He’s going to love them.
Wish I had a pie recipe for you, but pies aren’t my forte. Cakes, on the other hand… Thanks for the nomination!
I have a feeling this pie thing will keep giving me trouble. Thank you anyway, though. And it’s my pleasure, Tonja, you deserve it! I love my nominees! <3
I love bread baby. No worries on this end congrats on your nomination.
Thank you, darling! (I see cinnamon toast in your future. ;-))
My dear Susan, you gobsmack me every time I read your words! With enjoyment, laughter, commiserations, larnin’, about all the words I can think of! Thank you for all these good times with you! And humongous congratulations on your well-deserved nomination! And books, poems, pics, etc, etc, etc. There, I think I about covered everything. Let me know what I left out! Infinite xx 🙂
Claire, you are such a darling (and a fantastic haiku maven)! Thank you, and I can’t think of a single thing you left out! 🙂 xoxo
Thank you so much for your kind words about my blog Susan! These are some really interesting facts about yourself – I’ve never had the opportunity to go to a shooting range! In the UK they don’t seem to have them – but I’d love to hold a rifle! (I kind of want to try archery … perhaps a little more ‘English’ and Robin Hoody’? And I have many a Merginue disaster story too! Wonderful post – thank you for sharing xxx
Ashley
https://lellalee.com
Ashley, it’s good to see you here! Yes, archery sounds appealing (and much less noisy!) to me, too. Tried it in summer camp decades ago, but I’d like to give it a shot (ha!) now that I’m older.
You have meringue disaster stories–I’m so glad I’m not the only one! Honestly, how can people make it seem so easy? I keep hoping that all the secrets will be revealed to me someday. And Glen hopes the same thing!
xoxo!
You are awesome sauce as usual, Susan. It was great to get to know more about you, and I loved it all. My husband always has to have chocolate pie for holidays. The kids have joined him in this. I just buy it at the frozen section of the store, so I have no advice for you. While my family is eating chocolate pie, I chow down on key lime pie. Anyway, ❤️
I love key lime pie. Maybe I can learn to make chocolate meringue pie by first promising myself a key lime pie! You’re awesome sauce too, Amy! I hope you have time after your move to nominate your Versatile Bloggers and to write 7 things about yourself. I’d love to read that post! <3 <3
you deserve an award for everything you do.Your goal is always perfection and you work til you acheive it. I am sure with effort the perfect pie can be made.
Congratulations on your blog award!!!
Thank you, Susan!! And for your vote of confidence on the pie, too. I hope you’re right. I just need to persevere and overcome this silly mental block! 🙂
Wesley doesn’t strongly identify with his Texanhood, but we still never would have met if we had moved. I’m glad we stayed put!
Also, congratulations on the nomination! I can’t think of a blogger who deserves the honor more. 😉
I know he doesn’t, but it’s still scary to think–if we had moved to Montana, you wouldn’t have married this particular hilarious and quirky Texan, and what a loss that would have been for the family! (And Wesley wouldn’t have married his, either!)
And thank you mucho, darling!
Thanks so much for the shout-out, Susan! I’ll try to pay it forward soon. 🙂
You’re so welcome, Carie, and no worries! I know you’re very busy!
Congrats on the award! And thanks for the nomination 🙂
I steer away from pies…not sure why. But the bread looks wonderful!!!
Thanks, Tonja, and you’re so welcome! I had fun making the nominations.
The bread is definitely wonderful! We always have homemade bread in the house because it’s something easy I can bring to the table without stressing over it. The chocolate meringue pie, well . . . I really need to try making it again. But all the failures have made me skittish!
I come two years late to your blog table but feel the need to inform you that I too, have a loathing for clowns. What is it about them that makes them so creepy?
For me it’s the face paint far more than the ridiculous outfits. I hate those hugely exaggerated, false expressions painted on. There’s no clue to the human being inside. Or if there even is one!