As most of my readers know, I don’t always do well with accepting awards or tagging others to participate in a Meme. It’s that Canadian thing in me, I think, about not wanting to bother anyone if they don’t feel like doing this sort of thing. However, Shannon is always pushing me (in a totally good way) to do things I wouldn’t normally do. And this is another one of those instances. She awarded me the Honest Scrap Award. And honestly, I think it is pretty cool.
The Honest Scrap Award Rules say that I must: 
1. Brag about the award.
2. Include the name of the blogger who gave you the award and link back to that blogger.
3. Choose a selection of blogs that you find brilliant in honest content.
4. Show their names and links and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with this award.
5. List at least ten honest things about yourself.
So first, I should thank Shannon, not only for being Crafty, but for encouraging me to try and do new things. Shannon and I barely knew each other when I did their family portraits last year, but since that time we have become fabulous friends. And here she goes again giving me an award, which I am quite honored to receive.
I must share with you ten honest things about myself. Some of these things you may know and some may come as a surprise, it all depends on how long you have been stopping by my little beach.
1. I play a cello. Yes, a cello. Now, to be brutally honest, I am pretty rusty right now not having played in a few years, but if I broke her out and set her up, I could be back up to speed in no time at all. And no, I was not inspired by Tchaikovsky or Ofra Hornay but by Lori Singer as she played cello on Fame back in the day. I needed to play a stringed instrument to get into a certain Middle School, so I chose the cello. Not the small violin that I could easily carry, but the cello.
2. To continue with the whole Fame situation, I was a dancer. I danced Jazz back in the day, adding in tap but not ballet. My teacher told me I was too big (read tall and flat footed) to take ballet. I should have switched schools, but I didn’t instead I excelled in Jazz and dreamed of making it big and dancing on Fame. Then one day I got a boyfriend and dancing took backstage in my thoughts and I gave it up.
3. But, not completely. My girlfriend and I spent our High School years coordinating and performing Airbands. I have been a Pointer Sister, a , John Travolta (Yes, I was John), a Poindexter, a band member for Diana Ross and a back up singer for Patti Labelle (the only one we didn’t win first place). And in turn we performed at the Nepean Student Showcase, Gloucester Fair (with Alanis Morrisette, who would kill me if I ever released her demo single that her Mom made us all buy, yes I still have it), the Super Ex, on two local tv shows and on top of the Rideau Center. Phew. And I have that all documented with terrible VHS videos and photos. The ’80s weren’t really that kind. We also performed numerous times at school and at other schools, all in the name of dancing.
4. To keep it up, I was also a Cheerleader. Not that our team was all American like I would have preferred, but we were good. Some say the best. Cheerleaders today are so much more all American that I think I would prefer to be a Cheerleader now than back in the ’80s. I have high hopes for Apple.
5. I love to sing. Ack! I said it out loud!!! I have never officially performed on stage, like with a band, but I have enjoyed Karaoke many times and was forced by my boss to sing Christmas carols acapella in front of a crowd of 300 employees whom I had hardly met yet. And some how I did it without and booze being involved. I would love to get up and sing properly, I just lack the band (I mean I have a guitarist in the basement, but somehow singing Yes or Rush songs just doesn’t cut it for me). So if you ever pull up next to me in your car, no I am not talking on the speaker phone, I am singing my heart out and the kids are my back up singers.
6. I am afraid of the dark. Not in a I can’t go into a room if it is dark, but I don’t like it and will flip on lights whenever possible. It freaks me out. So when my kids say they are scared because their room is too dark, I fluff it off and tell them not to be ridiculous, meanwhile I am inside screaming to turn the light on. I am trying not to pass on my silly fears to my kids. That and when Hubby is around I am not as afraid.
7. I used to fix cars. I think I have mentioned this before in my blog. Somewhere in the last almost five years. Back in the day when cars were simple my Dad would show me how to fix things because you could. Not so much these days, but there are simple things I do remember how to do and could do if I wanted to (change the oil, change belts and tires). I spend years driving around with a toolbox in the trunk and an extra alternator because mine would break all the time. Nothing like changing it on the side of the road in the darkness of the Manitoba Prairies.
8. I have a BA from Ottawa University with a concentration in English. Now you are all laughing at me, I know, English? Who am I kidding? I didn’t say Grammar, I said English, I know my grammar is terrible, but I read lots of books and enjoyed literature so much that did it as a concentration.
9. I should have gone to Algonquin. This is one of those regrets that we aren’t supposed to have, but I do have. Oh well.
10. I was a bartender for eight years. I miss it. I loved making drinks and getting paid to stay in shape. I don’t miss getting home at 3am and I don’t miss serving people drinks who you knew were spending their last dollar getting drunk, but I did it. I bought a car and a house while I was a bartender, nothing wrong with tending bar, nothing at all.
And those are my ten honest things about me.
Now I have to choose a selection of bloggers to award this Honest Scrap Award to, and I have to say all of these ladies are truly honest in their writing and I love stopping by and sharing in their lives.
To Chrissy and her Random Thoughts and Musings on the Island
To Kami over at Kami’s Khlopchyk
And to Pam at Easily Amused
There are many more that I stop by, but I believe they have already been tagged with this award so I thought I would share the love to those I don’t think have been.
Thanks again Shannon, for giving me that push I sometimes need.
