Tree of Happiness (With a Side of Silly)

I got an award! I got an award!

(Fun Bit of Useless Piscesgrrl-Trivia for you: Whenever I say something like "I got an award!", I say it in the cadence Eddie Murphy used when he chanted his famous 'ice cream' bit during his stand-up show, Delirious. If you saw it, you can hear my "I got an a-war-d, you didn't ge-et one" going on. Look - I don't mean it, but there it is.)

(Fun Bit of Useless Piscesgrrl-Trivia part II: We got my mom to let us watch Eddie Murphy's Delirious at my 15th birthday slumber party by saying, "It's not that bad - just a few swear words.") (Sorry Mom.)

ANYhow, Heart Rockin Mama gave me this cool award yesterday - thanks Heart Rockin Mama! It's the 'Tree of Happiness' award and I'm to list 6 things that make me happy.

Only six? :)

Would you like the serious version or the silly version?

I don't know why I always have to be a smart-*ss. It just comes naturally to me. It really does. Growing up, during the entire ride to Grandma's house my mom would implore, "Now Honey, you don't have to 'act' - you can just be yourself and have fun!"

As soon as we'd get in the door, I'd be acting loopy and show-offish. Maybe that WAS being myself.

Things haven't changed much since then. I recently attended a workshop given by a friend who's the resident "JOY" lady. She writes about joy, speaks about joy, and has the word JOY tattooed on her wrist. She's down-right joyful, people!

During her workshop she asked us to write down 3 things we like about ourselves. "Ok, I thought - easy enough." I diligently began:

1. my life
2. my writing
3. my boobs

When I leaned to my left to giggle in my friend's ear and show her my answers (and like a good partner in crime she replied, "OMG - I thought of the same kind of thing!" LOVE my fellow smart-*sses, I do), the JOY lady asked if she'd need to separate us two. Jokingly, of course. "No no, I'll be good," I promised.

But then she asked us to push ourselves a bit, and expand our list of things we like about ourselves from 3 to 30. Thirty! Whoa.

1. my life
2. my writing
3. my left boob
4. my right boob

At that point I somehow decided to lean over to the right and share my oh-so-hilarious answers with the woman sitting next to me. She happened to be the wife of a well-known local political activist - an activist with whom I'd participated in all sorts of sobering and serious activities like Amnesty International letter-writing campaigns and Iraq war protests and workshops on how to prepare for getting arrested at said protests. I didn't know his wife and this is how I chose to introduce myself.

I couldn't really tell if she was amused or not.

But because Heart Rockin Mama is a good soul, and an unschooler, and inspires me and many others with the writing on her blog, I'll behave myself.

6 things that make me happy:

1. My life.

Sure, we have our ups and downs, and nothing's ever perfect per se, but I have to admit that I have a very blessed life. I really do. I get to be home with my kids, thanks to my hard-working husband. I get to unschool with them and be witness to and partake in their inspiration and learning and fun and aha moments. I have a cozy home and wide-open yard and family nearby and good food to eat. I'm blessed with amazing friends, a close family, and a strong marriage. And while I might occasionally chew someone's ear, b*tching about this or that (here's looking at you, Sis) or whine that it's a bit lonely in the cornfields or wonder what I'm going to do with myself when I grow up and my kids leave me (Waahhhh), all in all - it's a d*mn fine life.

2. See above

3. See #1

4. See #1

5. See #1

6. My *ss is looking pretty tight after all this working out I've been doing.

Look, I'm jus' sayin'.

______________________

And now I will go forth and bestow this mighty fine award on other good folks! So many to choose from... Here's a sampling of some of the coolest blogging mamas on the web:

1. Kim at Relaxed Homeskool for recognizing me at last year's conference and saying hello, being a kool homeskooling mama, and creating a wonderful talk radio program for homeskoolers.

2. Debra at From Skilled Hands because she posts My Town Mondays, gives away lovely, lovely art, and when she found out I, too, was going to UWWG asked if I'd join her panel presentation. Can't wait to meet up!

3. Lynn at a life worth living because she has steadily and with intention embarked upon an unschooling journey. And because being from the United Kingdom, she says things like "mum" and "whilst" and "more the clobber" and "I toppled down." Love that.

4. K. at Duff ABC's because she blogs about things like her grandma's fudge pecan pie. OMG - get over there and make that!

5. peacegoddess over yonder at Patchouli and the Porch because she just started blogging again too. Yay!

6. and finally, Kelly at she's in transition because that way I can say I linked to her twice in one week while she only linked to me (doing cheerleader moves of all things) once. It's good to have one up on Kelly at all times.

Go forth and be happy! And thanks again Heart Rockin Mama!