A Bouquet of Blooming Blog Bling

I am the proud recipient of several prizes lately.

First of all, I won a little prize draw at Parent Product Reviews. This arrived in the mail for me yesterday - what a nice treat to open something that wasn't a bill! Erika has great reviews, and even greater giveaways going on over at Parent Product Reviews, so if you haven't checked her out, go do it - oh, and come right back here to read about my other prizes, okay?

On to the Blog Bling.

Janice at Twist and Skewer has very kindly awarded me this great blog award and I am very flattered to receive it.



According to the blurb, this award 'casts a spotlight on bloggers who are just beginning to draw lotsa attention — the equivalent of a song with a bullet on Billboard’s Top 100 chart. Lotsa good posts. Lotsa good buzz. These bloggers are going places in a hurry.'.

Thank you so much Janice! I started this blog in April, primarily as a brain dump, and as a vehicle to chronicle some improvements I wanted to make in various aspects of life. I have been so delighted to find that many other bloggers dump the same kind of brain junk as me, face similar parenting challenges and want to make the same improvements. The sense of community and support has been very inspiring. It tickles me pink to know that people actually enjoy reading what I have to say!

I am supposed to pass this award on to five other people, and I will - but I need to think about it for a while. There are many bloggers out there who've been at this a lot longer than me, and so I don't think they fit into the 'break out' category, as they have already broken out and are leading the posse at this point. I have come across several 'new to me' blogs, some of them new bloggers like myself and I will consider them for this award, soon.

Momchatter (I feel bad not using your name, but I don't know it!) has bestowed upon me, not one, but two lovely awards:





Thank you very, very much for these - I seriously am very flattered, and thank you for your kind words on your own blog.

Now I can pass these two awards on to some of my favourite bloggers without hesitation.

Velveteen Mind Most of my readers read Megan's blog I'm sure, so I don't need to explain why I'm giving her these awards. If you're not reading Velveteen Mind - you're missing a treat. Check her out, I guarantee you'll be back for more.

Playgroups are no place for children Jennifer has posted lately on a lot of issues that I have faced as a stay at home mum, and I feel her frustration, exhaustion and her exhilaration, often all at the same time.

Braveheart does the Maghreb Lady M's wonderful accounts of life in Morocco are hypnotic. Morocco isn't somewhere I thought I'd like to visit, but reading her stories makes me want to pack my bags and go there, now.

Not wrong, just different This is a British lady living in the States. She writes about some of the same adjustments I've had to make, and the oddities I've discovered here, and she does it with a great sense of humour, too.

Poot and Cubby Andi and I are living parallel lives and our daughters are eerily similar that I could literally cut and paste her posts as they apply to our lives.

Absolutely Bananas Jenny is one of the first bloggers I read regularly when I started and I still read every single post. She is absolutely bananas, and a whole lot of fun.

Up in the Night I don't remember how I came across this blog, but I love Shauna's accounts of the crazies of family life. Her blog is a nice mix of fun and serious stuff, of the lighthearted and not so lighthearted aspects of living in a modern family.

Flamenco Mom Flamenco Mom's is another blog I've read since I started, and she helped me with some of my novice blogger questions. Another inspiring mother and one that has her share of parenting challenges. She has also been great in encouraging me as we deal with the unknown on Baby J's hearing.

There you have it - my shiny new blog awards, my round up of awardees, and with that I have to split since I have a big birthday party coming up on Saturday, and guests arriving tomorrow and I am not in the least bit organized for it all. Ah, well - I laugh in the face of deadlines, and do my best work under pressure!

Me-me meh meh, doo doo de doo doo!

It's been a while, and I've done these memes before, but since I have some new readers, and have been asked so nicely, I'm going to do them again. I'll change the answers up a bit so as not to give anyone deja-vu.

Doodaddy has tagged me for this Ten Questions Meme.

1. What were you doing 10 years ago?

I was working in Marketing in a large bank and feeling surprised and not a little delighted that the guy I met on holidays a month ago was keeping in touch with me. This guy is now my husband.

2. What were you doing one year ago?

I was lumbering around, large and lovely, expecting Baby J to arrive any day. Countless bouts of contractions and two scares with premature labour had me believing he'd have been here by now. I was also feeling very sad for the Amish mothers in Lancaster, PA who were all over the news after a crazed gunman executed their children in their schoolroom. I thought of them a lot when I had Joseph, and talked with the nurses about them, and the scary world I'd brought my son into.

3. What are five snacks you enjoy?

Chocolate (is there anyone who doesn't enjoy this?)
Ice cream
Edamame (a very newly discovered snack for me and I'm thrilled that it's healthy!)
Chips and Salsa
More chocolate!

4. What are 5 songs you know the lyrics to?

Unless you count nursery rhymes, there are aren't many songs to which I know all the lyrics (well, at a pinch I could belt out all of Don Maclean's 'American Pie', but there has to be beer involved.)
I could also make a fair stab at the title of this blog post, a la The Muppet Show

5. Five things you'd do if you were a millionaire?

Pay off debt.
Share it with family.
Donate to charity.
Buy a new closet full of clothes (if I could borrow Stacey and Clinton from 'What not to Wear', all the better, again there might have to be beer involved to save me from hurt feelings - they're very blunt aren't they?)
Move house.

6. Five bad habits.

Blogging when I should be doing housework, or starting the dinner!
Letting clean laundry pile up so I have to iron it all (see first bad habit).
Getting to after 12pm and thinking about lunch, only to realise I have not yet eaten breakfast.
Dropping four letter words when I shouldn't!
Shouting at bad drivers (this involves some of those four letter words that I shouldn't be using).

7. Five things you like to do.

Walk around this beautiful lake.

Read with my children.
Read without my children (and preferably books without pictures.)
Welcome visitors to our home.
Make people happy.

8. Five things you would never wear.

Leggings - oh wait, too late - I wore them in the 80s, and bought them again in May when in Ireland - not sure what I was thinking, either time!
I'll probably never wear a bikini again.
A Celtic shirt at Ibrox (only a select few readers will get this!)
Fur.
'Mom' Jeans.

9. Five favourite toys

My computer.
My ipod.
My new camera.
Miss E's lego and Miss E's puzzles.

10. Five things you hate to do.

Go to the GYN when I'm not pregnant. I'm overdue an annual, and hate the thought of going!
I hate doing the tax return. Each year I get better organized with the information and keep good records, but it is a hateful job.
I hate watching my husband's choice in TV shows - Cops?, World's Most Shocking Police Chases?, Dirty Jobs? Anything starring Clint Eastwood years ago?
I hate cleaning up after mealtimes these days since more food seems to land on the floor, than in little tummies than seems reasonable to me.
I hate running late for appointments, or playdates, yet we do, every.single.time!

Phew - that was harder than I thought. Now if you're still awake, I'd like to remedy that by presenting yet another list of oh not so fascinating facts about me. Momchatter tagged me for a 'Five interesting factoids about me' meme. She also awarded me some very nice blog awards which I'll post separately.

So Momchatter - here are your 5 facts about me, I hope you're not sorry you asked ha ha!

1. I was born in Zimbabwe (it was known as Rhodesia when I was born). - I've mentioned about being born in Africa, not sure if I've ever revealed exactly where. My parents lived in Zambia, and crossed the border into Zimbabwe where I was delivered by a doctor in his private clinic. Apparently this clinic wasn't far from here:


2. My Mum and Dad brought be back to Zambia when I was a day old. That was when I crossed my first international border. I lived there with them until I was almost 2 years old. I would love to travel back to Zambia and Zimbabwe some day - but not while Mugabe remains president of Zimbabwe.

3. At University I had no clear idea of what I wanted as a career. I took my career teacher at school's advice and chose subjects that interested me. This is why I graduated with a Major in Economic and Social History, and a Minor in Psychology. A bit of an odd mixture, but a perfect combination as I later found out, for a career in marketing.

4. I had long labours with both my children and pushed for 3 hours with Miss E, and 2.5 hours with Baby J. My OB has no idea why it takes me so long, just lucky I guess! Baby J was born facing upwards and this combined with the length of time I was pushing left him with huge bruising on his wee head that took 2 weeks to disappear. His pediatrician suspected that it wasn't bruising, and it was instead permanent birthmarking - so you can imagine how upset I was at that - and how relieved I am that he was wrong.

5. When I moved here to Central Florida five years ago, I was itching to move to South Florida where my cousin lives, so that I would be closer to someone in my family. D had worked there before so I thought it would be an option - it wasn't. I've spent the last 5 years getting comfortable here, and now he wants to move to South Florida and I don't!

*ahem*, *AHEM*, you can stop snoring now, and wipe that dribble off your chin - it's over now, all finished!

Thanks to Doodaddy and Momchatter for the tags. I'm not going to pass on the meme, because the one time that I did tag others for a meme (when my standard MO was not to tag), nobody did it! [Sticking my bottom lip out as far as it will go in true Miss E style]!

Thank You for thinking I'm Nice!

Although I don't feel 'nice' many days, especially when errant drivers, stubborn children, or any combination of irritating miscellany conspires to drive me nuts, Jennifer (Playgroups are no place for children), Jessica (A Bushel and a Peck), have presented me with the Nice Matters award. Andi (Poot and Cubby) also awarded me the 'Nice Matters' award via email.


And, if you can stand it - I am also the very proud recipient of the Big Fat Wet Kiss Award generously bestowed by Jenny (Absolutely Bananas). This is all the more cool for the fact that Jenny made this herself, crafty photoshop hexpert that she is!



Thank you ladies - these awards will look 'nice' hanging on my new blog!

I'm pretty sure that most of the bloggers to whom I would pass these awards, already have them, but I'm going to share some more anyway.

I would like to pass the 'Nice Matters' blog award to the following bloggers who have been great in their posts, emails, and in their comments:

The Good Woman (My Wee Scottish Blog)

Kimberly (Temporary?Insanity)

Wake Up and Smell the Coffee

Deborah (The Humble Housewife)

More 'Fascinating' Facts

I've been tagged by Lady Macleod to complete this seven facts meme. I know I've been doing a lot of meme's lately, but since my computer has been hijacked most days by our visitors who are apparently addicted to Bebo, this meme is just what I need to get a wee blog post out and make sure nobody forgets about me!

So here goes with 7 facts about moi!

1. Potty training truly makes me feel like a complete failure as a mother. And I am terrified because it's my daughter I'm training first, and everyone says boys are harder to train. What? Harder than this? We're knocking on almost a year of stopping and starting with the potty training. She'll be 3 in October, at this rate I'll be potty training both kids at the same time! I know people recommend waiting 'til they're ready, but seriously - she should be ready about now!

2. My family read my blog, but never comment on it. So, maybe they are just maintaining distance, or they're just humouring me with the 'that's nice dear' attitude, or, they're bored to the point of having nothing to say! My in-laws don't know this blog exists. That's the way I'd like it to stay.

3. I'm struggling with this list because my mind is full of other stuff I wish I could blog about but can't because even though my in-laws don't know this blog exists, I'm too chicken to take the chance that they may stumble across it at some point. A real possibility exists that they may stumble across it considering that one of them is staying here for 5 weeks! Of course admitting that I have 'stuff' to blog about that involves in-laws, if they do come across the blog and read this, well I'll just be in trouble anyway ha ha!

4. 'Celebrities' I have seen include Joan Rivers outside Madame Toussaud's on 42nd Street in NYC, 'Sinbad' from Brookside at Glasgow Airport (only UK and Ireland readers will know who this is, sorry!) and John Bruton (former Irish Taoisach/Prime Minister) while waiting to board our US flight at Dublin Airport last month.

5. I love listening to Ladysmith Black Mambazo and have recently started searching for songs of theirs on the internet since I forgot to dig out the cd I had when I was back at home in Ireland. I've seen them in concert and they are a fun group to hear and see. Their version of 'Nkosi sikelel iafrika', the South African National Anthem is a delight to hear. Their harmonies, and the tone of their voices give me goose pimples. I also think I remember my Dad saying that the students at his school in Zambia(which despite many of my friends' assumptions to the contrary, is not part of South Africa) sang this - not sure, but I'm sure he'll correct me if I'm wrong.

6. I am eligible to apply for US citizenship soon but don't know exactly when. I should find out to see if I can get it through before November 2008 so that I can VOTE! You know, my wee vote could make all the difference, especially in Florida!

7. I cannot stand 'Westerns' as in Clint Eastwood, John Wayne type movies. This deep rooted hatred of this genre was cemented yesterday when Hubby and his future Brother-in-Law sat and watched 'The Good, the Bad and the Ugly' for what felt like hours! We got a reprieve while we all ate dinner, only for it to be switched back on again so they could watch the remainder. The mere sound of that 'doodle doodle dooooo, do-do-do' music is enough to give me the chills! BLEUGH!

Once again - feel free to say I tagged you if you're running low on blogging steam and you want to do this meme!

Rockin'! Who Me?

Miss Megan, at Velveteen Mind thinks I'm 'Rockin' and has honoured me with a 'Rockin' Blogger' Award - my first blogging award, ever! Thanks Megan, I'll polish it daily and display it proudly in my sidebar (stop it from looking so bare, too, while I figure out what else is supposed to go in there!).


Not sure I'm worthy of the Rockin' Blogger title, unless you count the frequency with which you might find me rockin' in the corner, back and forth, thumb in mouth, waiting for the madness to stop?!

I now have the pleasure of passing this on to other Rockin' Bloggers. Since this blog award was originally titled 'Rockin' Girl Blogger' award, I'll keep in line with the theme and without further ado, I nominate the following 'Girl Bloggers'!:

The Good Woman at My Wee Scottish Blog. I came across this blog and was so struck by the places she'd been. Like me, she was born in Africa, and like me she had a marketing career for a financial services company, and like me she has made Glasgow, Scotland, a temporary home! When I first found her blog I almost cried at her descriptions of places in Africa, places I have been and heard my parents talk about, but was too young to remember - her posts really make me want to go back. She has a beautiful writing style, and her posts about the weather in Scotland are funny, and oh so true!

Next, The Humble Housewife. Deborah's blog is such a treat, but I warn you don't check it out if you're hungry because it will be torture. Deborah delights her readers with wonderful recipes and pictures of her delicious food, and shows us that Irish cooking is about so much more than Corned Beef and Cabbage! Deborah also tolerated multiple questions from me when I was getting this blog up and running in April. Thank you!

Flamenco Mom at Gluten-Free/Casein-Free Mama, and her 'almost foodie' blog. I say 'almost foodie', because hers isn't just a food blog, but one including tales from her family, and their adventures. Flamenco Mom also answered my barrage of blog questions in April- Thank You, too!

My last Rockin' Blogger Award goes to Moodswingingmommy at Am I Going Mad or am I just a Mommy. The title of her blog makes me think she could be joining me in the corner, rockin'! This blog is a great mix of fun stuff, and the more serious posts. I enjoy it and hope that Moodswingingmommy is feeling better these days, after a bout of sickness that seems to be running rampant in cyberspace, and is posting up a storm, soon.

So ladies, it's your turn now to pass on the love! Better hurry though, because this thing is spreading like wildfire!

Two for the price of one.

Memes that is!

I have been tagged by Jenny at Absolutely Bananas, and The Good Woman at My Wee Scottish Blog, (a great blog I discovered recently, you should check it out) to complete two decidedly different memes.

I am grateful for these, as I hurriedly gather our things together, sort holiday(vacation) laundry, go through various 'to do' lists, what better break from the madness that is getting ready for a long trip, than a cup of coffee and a bit o' blogging. Memes are the perfect way to do this without having to scratch around for anything resembling earth shattering (or even mildly interesting), topics!

Jenny wants to know what I'll be like when I'm old.

When I'm an old woman I will be:

1. Grateful that I made it to old womanhood!
2. Fat, if I keep eating these Milky Ways (Mars Bars) that make their way mysteriously into the shopping trolley, and later my fridge!
3. Possibly still potty training my daughter?
   
4. Still in love with my husband.
5. Happy to have had a life well lived, and filled with many wonderful people and memories.
   

Sorry it took me so long to get around to this one, as I said in a comment recently, isn't it annoying when life gets in the way of blogging?

The Good Woman is asking me to reveal eight facts about myself, and never one to turn down a chance to talk about myself, here you go:

1. I am terrified of the flights we have to undertake in the week ahead, not terrified of flying (well, not really), just terrified of my toddler and the mayhem that will inevitably surround us as we lurch through check-ins, security and boarding with two small children, their stroller and their nappy bags, trailing our luggage and sanity behind us! (Just remembered I need to add this Rescue Remedy to my shopping list. Not as effective as a stiff drink, but alas as much as a nursing mother can get away with!)
   
   
   
2. I became an Auntie for the first time at the end of January, and I get to meet my new nephew for the first time next week. I can't wait to get my hands on him and hug him and kiss his gorgeous chubby cheeks, right on his equally gorgeous dimples, which are a bit like an 'x marks the spot' for kisses, really!
   
   
3. I recently went back to Walmart to pay for a $5 hand towel that the cashier forgot to scan (I bought two towels amidst all my groceries, she must have thought there was only one). Lots of people think I'm daft for doing it, but it just bugged me that I knew I had something I didn't pay for.
   
   
4. I am always one step behind in this blogging gig. I only started a few weeks ago, and each time I feel like I've learned something to keep up with everyone else, for example mybloglog, readers, sitemeter, technorati - (still not sure on technorati!) then everyone else moves on and I'm back feeling like the dunce of the class again. For example, how people can read my blog 'under the radar' or in 'lurk' mode bugs me! Not because I can't see them reading it (that is nice though), but because I don't know how to do it on someone else's blog, and before you call me a stalker, my only motivation for wanting to know is so that I don't look like the eager beaver checking back several times a day to blogs to follow up on any comments that might be interesting to read lol! So any of you seasoned bloggers who want to take pity on me and direct me to Blogging 101, or give me your own personal tutorial, I'm all ears!
   
   
5. I love musicals. Doris Day? Rogers and Hammerstein? Gene Kelly? Bring them on. My husband detests any movie in which 'people just burst into song, out of the blue, and for no reason', and sadly I don't get to watch many of them these days. I love stage musicals too, Les Miserables, and Miss Saigon being my favourites.
   
   
6. I used to play the Irish Harp, and the Oboe. The Oboe was a short lived experiment. I wasn't good at it straight away, and so I gave up. Plus, that reed was too darned tickly on my lips! The Harp playing fizzled out when I left school, but I credit my time playing it with my ability to pick out tunes on the piano.
   
   
7. I am a procrastinator extraordinaire. I wish I wasn't because it costs money at times, like when we recently had to pay over $200 for our son's passport because we needed to pay extra for expediting fees and two way overnight postage so that we'd have it in time for our trip! My excuse for being a procrastinator is that I do my best work under pressure, and it drives my husband nuts.
   
   
8. My coffee is now cold because I didn't think I'd take this long to do this ha ha! Just another example of how I can't concisely state facts, but have to ramble over many sentences instead!
   

As the tradition of memes goes I am supposed to tag others for this, but I'm going to follow my recent trend of saying 'feel free to do it if you want' because to the sound of 'mommy I did pee pee on the carpet' it's time for me to wrap up this post, pronto!

Chinese Freeze Tag

Shauna from Pass the Chocolate tagged me for a game of "Chinese Freeze Tag." Here's how to play:

I'll write 10 (maybe not very) interesting facts about me and/or habits of mine.
I'm supposed to tag 10 people, but since I've seen this on a few blogs that I read - I'm running out of options (and don't say read more blogs - I read too many as it is!)

Here are my ten fascinating facts, and no yawning permitted:

1. I fell out of an upstairs window when I was five years old and got away with just a broken arm (and gave my pregnant mother a near heart attack!)
   
   
2. I learned to drive a manual (stick shift) car, and that is the only type I drove in Ireland. Now that I'm so used to driving an automatic, I find it hard to adjust to manual when I visit Ireland. We're going home soon for a visit, so here's hoping I don't burn anyone's clutch out!
   
   
3. I called someone yesterday whom I met through a mommy message board! She is a very nice person, and I felt totally comfortable calling her and I'm very glad that I did :) She's a great listener (I didn't really give her much choice!), and if she forgives me for chatting while her pizza was going cold, maybe we'll do it again some day and talk about more superficial stuff.
   
   
4. I hate mushrooms. I think it's just the texture, because they don't really have a 'taste'. I can't even force myself to eat them if they're in a meal I eat at someone's house - I have to embarrass myself and push them to the side of my plate.
   
   
5. I like mashed banana on toast, with a slice of cheese melted over the top. Sounds gross - but try it.
   
   
6. I cannot touch my toes without bending my knees - and I think this has something to do with my legs being 3.5 ft long (heel to hip - a fact I had to determine as part of a statistics exercise once lol!)
   
   
7. I am to be Matron of Honor at my sister's wedding in Ireland next year - at 36 I may be the oldest bridesmaid in history!
   
   
8. I have a congenital malformation of my brain, discovered in December 2006 after a cat scan following a bad fall I had. Apparently my brain at the base of my skull extends further than it's meant to. I've never had any ill effects from this and I like to think of it as me being so brainy that my head can't hold it all in :). Knowing this now however does kind of freak me out a little and messes with the hypochondriac in me.
   
   
9. I am escaping from the kids , am spending some quality time with friends on an evening out this week (can you tell I'm excited??)
   
   
10. I drop the 'f bomb' entirely too often - I'm trying to do better!
    
    
    

So, there you have it - kept you riveted didn't I? I feel bad not passing on the tags - but seriously I'm not sure if I even have 10 people who read this - so I won't embarrass myself by trying to come up with 10 names ha ha! Feel free to do it if you like - good for days when you're running out of blogging material :)

Three Things Meme

Megan at Velveteen Mind has tagged me to complete this meme (which, despite her wonderful explanation of how it should be pronounced, will still sound like 'meh meh' in my head when I see this word).

Sitting down and doing this took longer than I thought but it was fun.

Three Things That Scare Me:

1. Harry Potter –(stop laughing) the later books – yet I will be buying the new one come July!
2. Myself or someone in my close family contracting a fatal illness.
3. Pedophiles.
   

Three People Who Make Me Laugh

1. My kids (I know, that’s two people) E because of her ever expanding use of multi-syllabic words that never cease to amaze me, and J with those gurgly baby laughs that crack me up every time I hear them, even though I had to work SO hard to make them happen!
2. Billy Connolly
3. My husband
   

Three Things I Love

1. My family
2. Chocolate
3. An ice cold beer

Three Things I Hate

1. Bigotry
2. Drivers that don’t use their turn signals
3. Buttons – I really HATE them, and I’m not alone koumpounophobia. While I wouldn't go so far as to say it is a 'fear' for me, I certainly do hate them and will go out of my way not to wear anything that has buttons on it. The fact that kids clothes designers seem so keen to use buttons for decorative purpose rather than function irritates me to no end. Yes, I know, I am a freak!
   

Three Things I Don't Understand

1. Bigotry!
2. Drivers that don’t use their turn signals – really people, how hard is it to flick that lever and give me even a nanosecond of warning that you’re going to cut in front of me?
3. Why my daughter insists on stripping herself bare naked, as she has done twice already this morning.
   

Three Things On My Desk

1. Empty coffee cup (a sign that my housework break is over!)
2. Bills awaiting payment (better do that next!)
3. Car keys
   

Three Things I'm Doing Right Now

1. Answering this meme
2. Telling E to get dressed
3. Trying to remember if I have stamps to post these bills?
   

Three Things I Want To Do Before I Die

1. Grow old
2. Be a GREAT mother
3. Be a grandmother
   

Three Things I Can Do

1. Sing
2. Play piano (albeit by ear – too lazy to read the music)
3. Draw/Sketch
   

Three Things I Can't Do

1. Dance – sadly I’m not blessed with the ability to move arms, legs and body in anything resembling a coordinated fashion, and to the beat of music? Forget it.
2. Stay organized for more than a few days at a time
3. Watch anything whatsoever to do with vampires.
   

Three Things I Think You Should Listen To

1. Your conscience
2. Celine Dion’s ‘Miracle’ CD – I don’t normally like Celine Dion – but this CD captures the wondrous miracle of being a mother for me.
3. This
   

Three Things You Should Never Listen To

1. Extremists
2. Anyone who tries to drag you down – you know the negative,’ suck the happiness out of you’ people
3. Sanjaya on American Idol (thankfully we don't have to after last night - AT LAST!)
   
   

Three Things I'd Like To Learn

1. To have the patience to read music and play the piano better
2. To stop worrying about what other people think of me or what I do
3. To dance lol!
   
   

Three Favorite Foods

1. Good Chinese food – there isn’t any in this town
2. Spaghetti and Meatballs – all the better now that I’ve learned to make my own
3. Chocolate – I’ll even sink to eating the Toll House chips if I have no other chocolate around!
   

Three Shows I Watched As A Kid

1. Blue Peter (a UK show)
2. The A Team
3. Wonder Woman
   

Three Things I Regret

1. A brief fling with someone when I was 24 – not a good person and not a good fling.
2. Not visiting a friend when I knew she was going to die, because I was too chicken to handle it – what a coward I am.
3. Not knowing my paternal grandparents.

I think I am supposed to 'tag' three more people for this but since everyone I 'know' in blogland has done this, or something similar recently I won't. Feel free to do it if you like though :)