The Sunshine Award

Hey everyone! Today, I'm doing something a little different with my blog. Tsara has found my lil 'ol blog entertaining enough to nominate me for the Sunshine Award! Woohoo! I have *A* reader! LOL! This is a pretty neat little deal because we get to learn about all of the bloggers who participate and follow along with this little game. There are stipulations to follow, however:

For the Sunshine Award, the blogger must:

1. Acknowledge the nominating blogger (Thanks Tsara @Autism Answers with Tsara Shelton!!) 
2. Share 11 random facts about yourself. 
3. Answer 11 questions the nominating blogger has created for you. 
4. List 11 bloggers. They should be bloggers you believe deserve some recognition and a little blogging love! 
5. Post 11 questions for the bloggers you nominate to answer & let all the bloggers know they've been nominated. You cannot nominate the blogger who nominated you. 

So, now I guess I'll get to it!

11 Random Facts About Myself (NO LAUGHING!)

1. I love to cook--especially for a crowd. 
2. I am a music fanatic. I love everything from classic country to 80s hair bands...I've been told I have an extremely eclectic collection of music. Classic rock and Texas/Red Dirt Country are my faves! 
   
3. I have a weird obsession with eyebrows. I CANNOT STAND for any hair in my eyebrows to be out of place!! 
4. I'm a Scorpio, and I think that description fits me well. 
5. I have one lonely tattoo...a puzzle piece on my left wrist for JB. But there is a cool story about that tattoo, because my hubby has a matching one, and so do our 2 friends Dana and Brandon (Aunt Dana and 'Hunkle' Brandon to my kiddos). They also all fit together to symbolize that we're all in this together to support JB. 
6. I drive a very un-cool silver minivan that Butch refers to as the "cannon ball', I refer to it as the "grocery-getter", and my mother refers to it as the "vomitmobile". Now you can imagine on your own what that's like. One day, I WILL have a Suburban!! (If I keep repeating that to myself, maybe it will come true!)
   
7. Since having the gastric sleeve surgery, I truly do miss beer more than I miss any food! (Is that bad, lol?)
8. I only use Aquafresh toothpaste.
9. I am the only person I know who has dislocated her jaw a bajillion times.
   
10. I LOVE Duck Dynasty!!! Mostly because there is finally a reality show where people act my kind of normal! 
11. My favorite Disney movie is The Little Mermaid. 

Deserving Bloggers
Well, now, this is a little awkward for me. I don't actually know 11 bloggers, or read 11 blogs!! I will, however, list some blogs that I like and follow.

1. Betsy at Trials and Blessings--She is totally awesome! There is always an inspirational, pick-me-up message in her blog. And they're short and sweet! She is such an inspirational lady, and I always feel better after reading what she has to say. 
2. Autism Daddy has a lot of great info in his blog. Its also humorous and down-to-Earth. 
3. Mac at Homestyle Mama (with a Side of Autism) has an awesome blog!! She is so very easy to follow and always has great info. 
4. The Homestead Survival has lots of great info on everything from gardening and canning to raising your own animals for meat! Awesome information on lots of need-to-know subjects for our lifestyle.  
5. Message with a Bottle OK, so this dude is just hands-down freakin' hilarious! LOL! I mean his little tag line for his blog is "PARENTING. ONE WISEASS NOTE AT A TIME." What's not to like? 
6. I'm not supposed to mention, or 'nominate', the blog that nominated me, but I don't know that many, so I'm gonna be a rule-breaker, baby! Tsara at Autism Answers has such an awesome outlook on life! She turns everything into an uplifting, teachable moment. 

Well, I know its not eleven, but that's really all the blogs that I read on a regular basis. I told ya, I'm a rule-breaker.

11 Questions for the Bloggers I Nominate to Answer

1. What are you thinking about at this exact moment?
2. What are 10 random songs you love?
3. If you could meet one person, living or not, who has inspired you, who would that be and why?
4. What kind of museums do you like to visit?
5. What place would you most like to visit and why?
6. Chocolate or vanilla??
7. What charitable causes do you support--not necessarily monetarily, could just be with your actions or beliefs--and why do you think that cause is worthy?
8. What is your favorite animal?
9. What do you love most about each of your kids (if you don't have your own kids, pick one you know)?
10. What totally freaks you out?
11. What is one of your guilty pleasures?

"And now, the rest of the story"--my answers to the questions Tsara posted.

1. What do you enjoy most about writing? Writing is truly a therapy for me. I have found that if I'm stressed, sitting down to write about it helps to calm my nerves. That's how my blog was 'born', after all. 
2. Who are some of your biggest influences? I would have to say that some of the influences in my life are other autism parents. Its phenomenal to see parents come together for the good of their children. Autism parents band together--after all, no one knows you better than someone who walks in your shoes every day. BUT--I do have to say that my parents are the biggest influences in my life. I had awesome parents growing up. I had the parents that you could go to when you needed to talk about anything under the sun. I had the parents who didn't let what everyone else is doing interfere with their parenting. I had the parents who knew everything I did before I got home from a night out with my friends ;). My parents both had jobs working their tails off to provide for us, and yet Wade (lil bro) and I still made it to every band practice, sports practice, games, boy/girl scouts, 4-H, FFA, etc. event that we ever had. AND my mom managed to keep a super-clean house and home-made dinners on the table. I don't know about some of you other parents, but I'm still trying to figure all of this out. I sure as hell will never be SuperMom, but if I can be at least half as good as my parents were, that's something! 
3. Are you a shower or bath person? Well, I'm mostly a shower person, but never underestimate the rejuvenating super-power of a hot bubble bath with a good book and a glass of wine within reach! 
4. When someone asks,"What do you do?", what is your answer? "I'm a mom!" 
5. What is one fear you've gotten over in your life? I think the biggest fear I have (mostly) overcome would have to be my fear of failure as a mother. It does still sneak up on me every now and then, but for the most part, I have stomped on it and swept it to the side. I was so afraid of failing at being JB's mom. So afraid of having to fight this autism battle. So afraid of making the wrong decisions when it came to anything for JB, from ARD/IEP meetings to therapy decisions--they had me frozen and scared. All I really wanted to do was curl up in a ball and cry. BUT then, I stood up and had a Twisted Sister moment, 
and realized that all I could do was do my best. And so far, my best has been pretty darn good, if I do say so myself. Fear stomped out.
6. What is your favorite movie genre? I really like all kinds of movies. Sometimes I'm in the mood for an action, kill-'em-all type movie, and other times I want to snuggle on the couch with a box of Kleenex for a chic-flick. With a pillow though, because the Butcher is totally out on the chic-flicks. But I must say, my favorite de-stressor movies would have to be stoner comedies. You know, the ones where you feel like you've lost IQ points after watching them. Yeah, dude, those rock! 25 Best Stoner Comedies of All Time
7. How do you usually react to stress? I think most people that know me would say I panic about stuff. But I will say I kick stress in the teeth (mostly because it sounds cool, because I totally panic.)
8. Do you laugh often? I LOVE TO LAUGH and I do it as often as possible! 
9. When people describe you, what word do you think is most often used? What word would you use? Well, I would hope that most people would think 'happy'. I try to be positive and laugh as much as possible. Now, a word I would use...well, that's harder. I would say 'honest'. I want people to trust me. I want people to see an honest, down-to-earth, and happy person when they look at me. 
10. What's a favorite comfort food? Chicken fried backstrap (venison) with cream gravy, mashed potatoes, green peas, and home-made biscuits.
11. Do you prefer to read fact or fiction? While I do read a ton of factual books (autism=lots of reading), I would much rather read a good novel.

Thanks for reading all these random things about me!! I hope you are inspired to play along in the comment section! If you post questions for me, I will try to answer them. Go on and play along with your friends, its a great way to get to know your buddies!