As Carol Says, "I'm Not Worthy!"

Carol and Tracey of My Outlander Purgatory have been kind enough to award me the Stylish Blogger Award. Needless to day, I was shocked and amazed, especially since I feel design-wise and aesthetically I blunder more than I succeed! The ironic thing is that I seriously considered changing my template and blog design over the weekend but just didn't end up having time to do so (read: the semester ended Friday, grades are due Thursday, and I'm still trying really hard not to curl up in a ball, rock in the corner, and cry over how much I still need to do...)

In addition to thanking the fabulous lassies of MOP (their blog is dedicated the totally engrossing world of the Outlander books and is ALWAYS good for a laugh!), I'm supposed to share some things about myself. Sadly, my life is quite ordinary and boring, but I'll try to be entertaining. Not surprisingly, most of these will be book related ;)

1. As a tiny, wee thing (about 5 or 6), my brother (about 3 or 4) and I didn't have any pets but wanted one desperately. We'd had pretty bad luck with goldfish, so my parents refused to get more. Our solution? Pet earthworms! I was devastated when I came home and discovered that Brother Dearest had failed to put the worms in the shade that morning while I was at school. They were all dead (read: shriveled and crusty), and I cried.

2. When we lived in Minnesota (the first time), we lived in the parsonage across from the church my dad pastored. We loved it because there was a huge open field right next door that my brother and I played in all the time. One summer I was biking home from swimming lessons. When I pulled into the driveway, there was a baby gopher that was obviously injured. Being the kind, compassionate soul I am, I wrapped it up in my swimming towel, carted it inside, and tried to revive it. My mom screamed a lot when she discovered my new friend (she was afraid I would get rabies).

3. Some of my favorite stories as a child were the ones my dad made up. He would tell us wonderful tales of the adventures of Joshuette, Joandrew, and Elizabert. It took me a long time to figure out that these characters were actually my brother, sister, and me and were intended to teach us right from wrong. Strangely, Youngest Brother never got in on this...

4.When I was in fourth grade, I decided that I wanted to read every fiction book in my elementary school library. We moved while I was in the Ls (I have this crazy plan to thank for reading A Wrinkle in Time), and I was most sad about leaving my project uncompleted.

5. The only time my parents ever got called for a parent-teacher conference was when I was in fifth grade. The reason? I was reading in class and completely ignoring what I was supposed to be doing. I couldn't take a book to school for about a month as a result.

6. In junior high, a good friend and I were obsessed with Newsies; so obsessed, in fact, that during math class we would write letters back and forth to each other as Jack and David. She was Jack; I was David. Basically, I was a big nerd!

7. I was the understudy for Yente and cast as mama in my high school's production of Fiddler on the Roof. I'm pretty short, so I was rather surprised to be cast as a mama instead of a daughter (the entire chorus was broken up into families). Upon expressing this surprise to a male friend who was also in the chorus, he responded with: "oh, no. You're DEFINITELY a mama." Needless to say, I took offense.

8. My college roommate and I once constructed a papier mache marracca at 2 a.m. True story; true event in the lives of education majors.

9. I firmly believe going IN by the door marked in and OUT by the door marked out. Yes, this results in mockery.

10. I have so many books that when I first moved in with my roommate, she didn't go to the library for months. She just borrowed from me!

Okay, so not terribly interesting, but that's me!

Here are some blogs I would like to pass this award on to:
A Striped Armchair--Eva has been so kind and helpful, and I've found so many unexpected gems thanks to her blog!
Angieville--As I've mentioned before, Angie's recommendations are flawless. Plus, she introduced me to Juliet Marillier and the Sevenwaters books. This means I am eternally in her debt!
words, words, words--Bethany is hosting the Victorian Literature challenge, and I have thoroughly enjoyed reading her thoughts on all sorts of books.
Your Move, Dickens--Darlyn writes awesome reviews on books, and has an awesome blog with an awesome title (yes, I'm partial!)
Simple Little Bookworm--Amy's blog is my most recently discovered treasure, and I love it! She writes about a wide variety of books and is highly entertaining while she does it.