So after my rant post yesterday about spammers and scammers here on our little block a’ bloggers, I came back to some sunshine on my shoulders this mornin’.

I got a little bloggy award nomination thingy today.

{{Squeeeakk!}}

Be still my bloggy heart right?

I still don’t have much of a grasp on how this all works or what this all means, but I DO know that an award nomination thingy must mean that real live blogger folks must be reading a little bit of what I’ve written here… and that real live blogger folks must even LIKE my little words a little bit. Nervoushumbledexcitedscaredencouraged, all at the same time.

Serious heart warms here, friends.

My new blog pal Janna over at Complexity Through Joy blessed my heart with a Liebster award today. She’s got a great little blog over yonder, you should go check it out. Really.  🙂

I’ll do my best to answer her questions, and then come up with some witty new ones to lay on a few more new friends here on The WordPress.

What fun, thanks for the love!

What is your comfort food? I’m gonna pass on this question. Answering it will send me face first into a carton of ice cream.

Is there someone in the media who really makes you laugh?  Who is it? Wow, this one REALLY makes me think hard! All the really good laughs in my life happen right here under the big top on this crazy little farm. Tim Hawkins though…is he considered media? He slays me every time. When we can get a good connection and get on the YouTube, his clips will send every single person in this family into fits of hyperventilation. Blimey Cow gets our giggles in gear too. Oh, and one of my bff’s Facebook posts really should be made into one of those daily calendars. Think Maxine. But a lot younger.  FB is media right?

What is your favorite time in history?

1) The span of time covered from Creation to the early church will always and forever be the most fascinating era of time to me. When I started actually reading the Bible (in 2002), doing my homework, and realizing this stuff REALLY HAPPENED, I was hooked, wowed and amazed. We’ve got an amazing history y’all.

2) Pre-statehood Alaska. Talk about some ruggedness, folks. This place is tough, and they did it by hand. And by dogsled. And on snowshoes. Makes me proud and humbled to even trod the same earth they did. Lovelove learning/reading/studying the history of the Last Frontier.

Why? Oh, whoops. I always did tend to jump ahead on tests…

What’s your favorite season? When I was a Midwesterner, Autumn. Hands down. I pretty much adore every last little thing about it, the leaves, the smells, the cozy…I relive it in my mind every October. Here though? In this crazy land where the season memo got lost in the mail? Autumn is like a drive through visit at the espresso hut. Some days a little slower than others, but it’s always fast in the grand scheme of things, it’s just a stop along the way, and it’ll leave ya hyper. Hyper as in frantically-getting-ready-for-winter hyper because it’s breathing down your back and will show up on your doorstep in seconds. You might think I’m joking. I’m not. Seventeen of em have made me a little suspicious and bitter when it comes to Autumns round here. So, the short answer (not that I gave you the short answer…{{all that espresso talk}}…would be summer. Glorious, beautiful, low-70’s, sun always shines and bedtime’s NEVER before midnight, SUMMER. Ahhh….only 126 more days…

Pie or cake? There I go thinking about ice cream again…

What was the last book you read? I’m wrapped up now in The Hour I First Believed by Wally Lamb (bedtime reading), and working my way slowly through the Gospel of Matthew in the morns. I tend to get a little ADD about books, starting one then leaving it like a scorned lover when it doesn’t hold my attention for more than two minutes. Hey, sometimes that’s all the time I have to devote to a book. It has to be THAT good.

To where do you most want to travel? Before I lived here, here. Nowadays we keep an ever growing list for The Rankin Family Ultimate Field Trip that we fantasize of taking someday in our used RV. This trip encompasses all of the upper east coast to soak up our country’s origins, Italy to see some high falutin culture and edumacational art, Hawaii (we’re not really particular as to which island, they’re just jealous that Mama went there a long time ago so now we all need to go together), Niagra Falls (again, pre-kid, we’ve been there for a weekend trip but could it ever get old?), and Kentucky. (I’ve got a kid with a serious passion for Daniel Boone and she HAS to see his final resting spot). And yes, I’ve already considered the complications we may encounter in getting our camper from Alaska to these places. Those are mere minor details. We’re still saving our pennies. So far we’ve got $52.36.

When do you most feel in your element? Oh boy. Not the kind of question to ask a gal who’s hopped up on coffee and a good night’s rest but really, I guess there’s not much to this. I feel “myself” the most when I’m in the groove of writing. I feel the most “known” when I’m in the presence of Christ during worship or prayer. I feel the most “beautiful” when I’m with my husband and he says a sweet little somethin. I feel the most “me” when you put all those things together…start me to writing about Jesus while my husband’s in the same room, add in a little sprinkle about my babies and our critters and the barn and BAM, I guess right there is me “in my element”. 

When do you most feel out of it? This one’s easy. Imagine a pool. There’s the upper surface of the water, say a foot or two, right? Then there’s the deep water. I am very UNcomfortable with top layer friendships. I try, and I have some, but I’ve never done them well. I operate best in the deep water part. My husband says I’m an all-in friend. I don’t do the kiddie pool well. Not in a weird, clingy-friend way but as in a “hi, what’s your name, this is me, this is everything about me, tell me everything about you, lets have a coffee together” and now we’re bosom buddies for the rest of our lives. I might be stuck in the world of a five year old in this area and sometimes wish I could just give people a little note. Ask them to check yes or no by the Are You My Friend?  I don’t have what it takes to maintain friendships that are not real and genuine and quite honestly, they make me feel really, really clumsy and unable to make eye contact.  And when I meet someone who is content to just hang out there in the shallow parts, I feel out of it. And inadequate. And insecure. And pretty awkward. And I hate that. That’s when I default to *see above question* to be IN my element. Cuz I’m a lot better at that.

Here may be the place to note that going for any length of time (more than an hour) without my Carmex will make me feel out of it in a way that nothing else will.  In a my day is shot kinda way. Out.of.my.element.

Lame huh?

I know  you didn’t really need to know that though did you?

That espresso’s realllly kickin in, must be.

Off to do the rest of the assignment. It’s been fun. In one of those Facebook survey kind of ways. I’ve only done one of those. If you’ve made your way through this post, you understand why. 🙂

Happy Thursday and God Bless,

Cassy

The rules:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and link to their blog. 2. You must answer the 10 questions given to you by the nominee before you. 3. You must nominate 10 of your favorite blogs with fewer than 200 followers and notify them of their nomination. 4. You must come up with 10 questions for your nominees to answer.