Wow. I am overcome. Heather from Welch Happenings has handed down the “Kreative Blogger Award” to yours truly. I’m super excited because this is a very cool award. I mean, the fact that Kreative is spelled with a “K” sets it apart, you know? You might be asking yourself, “There’s no cash prize involved here, Mindy. Why are you so excited?” Well, I’ll tell you why. When I started this blog I neverimagined I would have readersother than my family, whoare allrequired to read as I conduct individual post comprehension tests every week.Receiving this award, as well as the Over the Top Award last week, has added a new element to my writing. I appreciate knowing that I have an audience who enjoys reading my posts and it’s a very satisfying feeling to have an outlet enabling me toput my thoughts and feelings to words. It’s also very satisfying to know that the craziness that is my daily life brings a few chuckles out of people now and then.

The rules of this blog award…Kreative with a “K”…dictate that I am to share 7 or so facts about myself (as if I haven’t already aired most of my dirty laundry and various idiosyncracies, now you get to learn some more. Lucky you!) So here goes…

1) I have a twin brother, Chris.It actually was pretty nice having atwin to grow up with, a built-in playmate,someoneto get into trouble with.Unfortunately for me, my brother decided to focusmore on the “somebody to get into trouble with” part of our relationship than anything else. I made the perfect ‘fall guy’, scapegoat, the Barney to his Fred. My husband now plays that role. Thank God.

2) I have a fear of dams and oil rigs. I have spent many a summer avoiding that part of the lake where the little hole is located waiting to suck me under the water and through the grates of the dam to my most certain death. Just driving past a dam sends shivers down my phobic-minded spine. I also hate oil derricks. Have I ever been near an actual oil derrick? No. Does that matter? No. Are they super-creepy with their ability to dig deep into the earth like a big freakin’ teeter-totter? Hell-to-the-yeah.

3) I have an addiction to hair products. Now, I know it is very common for women to covet their hair, to strive to find the Holy Grail of hair products, that mousse which will elevate their hairstyle from soccer mom to Victoria’s Secret model. But this summer I took it a step further. I made my own flax seed hair gel.You guys, I actually cooked flax seeds over low heat, strained it through a sieveinto asmall bottle, added honey and applied it to my hair. Worst hair days of my life.Still searching for that frickin’ holy grail. And I’ll be procuring it consumer-style, thank you very much.

4) I love, love, love having my feet rubbed. I have spent many a night enduring some off-the-wall television program on SyFywhile Jer massages my feet. But what’s slightly ironic about our little ritual is thatI reallyhate feet. I didn’t realize this until one night Jeremy thought he’d get all Men’s Lib on me and demand that I return the favor. He stuck his gigantic foot into my face and that was the end. Getting that up close and personal to his nakedpeds sealed the deal and I’ve never been able to look at them the same again. I’ve even started to despite my own feet. His blatant ignorance of footcare has ruined me.

5) I’m horrible at doing laundry. I am aces at starting a load of laundry but suck horribly at the follow through. I have been known to re-wash a single load of laundry at least three times because I have forgotten about them. On a typical day my daughter could be wearing my son’s underpants, my son could be wearing my daughter’s underpants, Jer could be wearing dirty underpants and I could be wearing no underpants. It’s like laundry roulette up in here. You never know what you’re going to get.

6) I’m not very proud ofthis one. And this was definitely not one of my best moments but it happened and I feel compelled to divulge it. I once fell asleep on the toiletina bar bathroom. Many, many moons ago when I was but a young girl with naught a care in the world (i.e. no kids at home to get up early with in the a.m.) I went out for drinks and dancing with my girlfriends. We were dancing, drinking, dancing, drinking, drinking some more, having a whopping good time. I excused myself to hit the head, walked past some girls crying over the sink (silently lambasting their childish behavior), sat down to take care of a little business and promptly…fell fast asleep. I woke up approximately 45 minutes later, flushed and headed back to the table. Again, not my best moment. But.

7) I can’t hula hoop…and it’s ruining my life. One fateful day my daughter talked me into buying a hula hoop from the sporting goods store. I’ve recently been reading about the fairly new hula hoop exercise craze so I thought it would be a great idea to bring one of those little babies home. My daughter literally walked through the parking lot to the car hooping the entire way so I was thinking, “No big deal. She’s 6. I have rhythm. Obviously I’ll be able to do it.” Have you ever seen Elaine dance on Seinfeld? That’s me, wrapped in a hula hoop. I can’t do it. I seriously can’t. It has consumed me, this need I have to conquer that damned hoop. One day, I hope, I will be able toname it as a skillset.

So, there they are, 7 things youprobably never needed to know about me. Thanks again, Heather!

Love to all and a Happy Friday, Mindy