Take a picture of that title, or at least the first two words... They may never been seen again on this site.
But today, I received a delightful surprise. LisaAnn Chicos, an aspiring YA writer and blogger over at Kicked, Cornered, Bitten and Chased, honored me with my very first blogging badge.
And Look!!! It's a strawberry pie.
JP will be thrilled. I'm inspired to make a dessert.
Thank you, Lisa! If you haven't checked out her blog, get on it. She's your every inner animal lover, rescuer, and adventurer. Also, her email is steadily filling with pesky manuscript requests from literary agents for her new YA novel. I'm humbled. And I'm spinning in my chair. And practicing my princess wave.
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Lisa requests that her winners share seven random facts about themselves. Here you go:
1. I spent my entire childhood dreaming of Olympic figure skating glory. The nearest ice rink was 150 miles away, so I took roller skating lessons for four years. I finally quit when I got to high school and discovered this wasn't "cool." That same year, fell down some stairs and sprained my ankle really badly. It's just as well. I'm the same age as Tanya Harding. And I like my knees right where they are.
2. I could only read a few words in kindergarten, even though Mom read to us all the time. I had all my children's books memorized. At age five, I used to lay in bed and worry. "What if I can't memorize all the books in the world?"
3. My favorite song is the training song from "Rocky." The soundtrack never leaves my car. (JP says I have Little Person Determination.)
4. I've studied three languages, Spanish, German, and Vietnamese. I stunk - three times. I speak English.
5. My grandma watched every sport on television. Every sport. But her favorite was baseball, and her team was the San Francisco Giants. She saw Willie Mays play. My grandpa worked swing shift. And he never missed an episode of General Hospital. I think this explains much about me.
6. I was an unofficial foster mom to a dear 17-year-old girl for a year. Her parents were drug addicts and left her abandoned in an unfurnished apartment, the mom saying she was gunna leave the dad and move in any day. She never did. I packed her up and brought her home. I loved that year.
7. The winter before I moved from away from hometown, they opened an ice rink, a little outdoor spot in Lithia Park. And one shop started selling ice skates. I was 27 years old, and their third customer!
More than you ever wanted to know about Girl Parker.... wanna race skating backwards? =)