A Photo Meme & A Grand Award

Recently I was tagged for a Photo Meme by both Tisha of CrAzY Working Mom and Ralph at Idaho Photo. Luckily the meme requires that I go back into some old photo files and that's a good thing as I haven't been able to take my camera out for any new pictures in way too long. I'll spare you the litany of excuses as to why that is!

Anyhow, like any meme does, this one comes along with a short list of rules so here they be and then I'll dig up that 6th Folder/6th Picture for ya ...

***Rules***

1. Go to your Picture Folder on your computer or wherever you store your pictures.
2. Go to the 6th Folder and then pick the 6th Picture.
3. Post it on your blog and tell the story that goes with the picture.
4. Tag 5 other glorious peoples to do the same thing and leave a comment on their blog tellin’ them ’bout it.

Turns out that the 6th folder in my pictures file is one dated 07212008 which is the date that Jamie flew back to Tampa last summer after her visit. Wouldn't it just figure that picture #6 is of clouds as that was the summer that I was taking cloud pictures by the score it seemed. These beauties were visible overhead at T.F. Green Airport where Jamie was catching her flight and it was just shortly after her flight took off that the heavens opened up and rain came down in torrents. Kind of matched my mood at the time, truth be told.

Now let's see ... Who to tag? Who to tag? Hmmm ... well, in celebration of her blog being back up and running in our Readers I tag Amazing Gracie at Echoes of Grace; because she just had a birthday I shall tag Carrie of Asara's Mental Meanderings; because he has a birthday coming up I'll tag Morgen of It's a Blog Eat Blog World; because I'm sure she's got something interesting up her sleeve I'll tag Jamie of Duward Discussion; and because she has to suffer through that which is the state of the State of California lately, I will tag Carol of A Letter to Me ...

Following the tag for the Photo Meme, I inadvertently managed to step into an award/tag of sorts when Ivana decided that she was going to pass along the award that she had gotten onto the first five people to leave a comment on her post. Well, as it turned out I was the first person to leave a comment and it seemed rude not to accept the award and the rules that came along with it (good grief, people, do you think it would be possible to develop an award that doesn't require rules that go along with it?!?).

Anyhow, the Life is Grand Award says you must list five reasons why you think life is grand and then pass it along to five other bloggers. Yeah, yeah, yeah ... well, I'm bending the rules a bit this time and NOT passing it along to five other bloggers (unless you really want it in which case feel free to grab it & go!). After all, I'm sure I've already got five other bloggers grumbling about the tag I hit them with above but if they've any complaints they can register them with the Queen of Memes and see if there are any vacancies in the dungeon at Bloggingham!

Anyhow, enough of that ... on to the five reasons that I think life is grand - and it's a good thing I'm writing this now rather than two days ago as I probably couldn't have thought of one reason life was grand - never mind five!

1. I have managed to get the flu that has been making the rounds so I can cross it off the list of things to worry about in the future!
2. I live close to Backus Hospital now so when I need to go to the Emergency Room to be lectured by crabby Triage nurses about stupid reasons people call for ambulances instead of getting treated for whatever reason I came in, I can almost walk to get there!
3. In this day and age where people are losing their jobs left, right, and center I have job security as, unfortunately, there will always be sick and injured people who require an ambulance for one reason or another. It's sad but it's true.
4. I now live in an apartment that has no stairs as opposed to the last place which had two sets of stairs that were more like glorified ladders (I am still amazed that in the nine years time I lived there I never fell down either of them once!).
5. Spring will soon be here and I'll be able to take walks around my new neighborhood and hopefully strengthen up my back muscles so that episodes like the one I just went through will be fewer and farther between.

And there you have it - five reasons why, this week, life is grand. Were you to ask me to list five reasons next week, they'd probably be different but that's one of the great things about life - it's always changing and evolving and that's what really makes life grand!

Everyone have themselves a grand Wednesday no matter what it finds you doing! I shall hopefully be able to last my entire 16-hour shift at work this time around as I think that the worst has passed and I'm getting my strength back (though I still feel a little weird around the edges for lack of a better way to put it!).

I've Been Awarded and Tagged!

I am honored and humbled and beyond flattered by the recent award that was given to me by Maddy of Whitterer on Autism
and, even though it's a bit like bragging, I just had to share what she posted on her blog because it was just so darned sweet and I am just so thrilled (honest!). The award is the I Love Your Blog award as seen to the left and Maddy awarded it to myself and six other people. What she wrote was this:

"... Also to lovely “Linda” at “Are we there yet.” Sometimes it’s hard to put your finger on quite why you warm to a particular blog. Linda’s life and mine have little in common. She works full time and her children are older. She’s in a different State and experiences weather and seasons. It could be that Linda’s is one of the first blogs that I felt comfortable commenting upon. I know that whenever I turn up there I will enjoy what I read, what she has written even though her posts run the gamut. Linda is my soft spot to fall."

Wow. I am somebody's soft spot to fall ... I don't think I have ever been that before but I am honored to be so. Maddy is right in that we don't have a lot in common - she lives in California, is a native of England, and is mom to, as she puts it, "3 minors and a major, two girls, two boys, two with blue eyes, two with brown eyes, two with autism, two without." She cooks fantastic meals that are creative and healthy, draws some fantastic cartoons, and writes not just one blog but two (her other blog is Alien in a Foreign Field) with a fantastic wry sense of humor.

I, on the other hand, can't cook for beans anymore it seems, can barely draw a straight line, have trouble keeping up with this blog never mind another one, and obviously live on the other side of the country. I have no concept of what it's like to try to even raise one child with developmental difficulties so we don't have that in common either but Maddy fast became one of my favorite reads because even though she faces some very daunting challenges with her two young men, she has maintained a fantastic sense of humor and purpose of life. She lets you take a peek into her life and the trails, tribulations, and tee-hee's of autism and it helps me to understand perhaps just a little better that even though life can throw some real twists and turns at you that you can either stress over them or you can take them in stride and own them rather than let them own you.

In short, I admire Maddy tremendously. Thank you so much, my friend, for the award and recognition - I truly don't deserve it but I'm keeping it anyway!

Now, for the 'Tagged' part of this post ... first off, I was tagged by Daynger from the blog Dayngrous Discourse for what should be a simple meme but knowing me, I'll make it more complicated than it has to be! I'm not sure if I can think of that many but this is the ...

Ten Things You Probably Didn't Know About Linda Meme

1. I have three memory cards for my digital camera but I've yet to ever fill up just one!
2. I absolutely positively cannot sleep in a room with an open closet door!
3. Vanilla is probably my all-time favorite scent.
   
4. My middle name is Jean and I truly hate it. Put it with Linda and throw in a Southern twang and I may as well have been from Alabama rather than Connecticut!
5. Even though I can't sing for love or money, I was in church choir for many, many years!
6. My handwriting is so bad, I could be a doctor!
   
7. My favorite color is purple; second favorite is green.
8. I once worked at Sears Automotive installing tires and batteries for a living.
9. I have never broken any bones.
   
10. I once drove from California to Connecticut in a U-Haul type truck with just myself and my then 6-year old son.
    

Along with that tag, Joan, my favorite Erstwhile Librarian, tagged me for the Power of Four Meme - I would have preferred the Power of Three Meme but what's a blogger to do??

Four places I go over and over
Work, work, and work!
The local Stop & Shop
Outside of the grounds of the Norwich State Hospital to take pictures
Walgreen's

Four people who email me regularly
VistaPrint ... enough already!
Princess Patti of Late Bloomer Boomer
Morgen of It's a Blog Eat Blog World
Some guy trying to tell me I've inherited a marvelous fortune if I'd just send him all of my personal information!

Four of my favorite places to eat
Jack in the Box (but there are none on the East Coast!)
Cancun Mexican Restaurant (but it's not on the East Coast either!)
King Wah Chinese (it's not the best but it's cheap!)
Sunset Pizza (the best pizza place in Norwich!)

Four places I'd rather be
Visiting my best friend on the West Coast
On a cruise ship somewhere just kicked back and relaxing (I've never actually been on a cruise)
Visiting historic battlefields in Virginia
At lottery headquarters cashing in a winning ticket!

Four TV shows I could watch over and over
Cold Case
The Closer
The Big Bang Theory
House

Four people I'm tagging
Rob
Erik
Star
Connie

If I didn't tag you and you want to play along, feel free to do so and just let me know as I'd love to see your answers! Thanks again to Maddy and even to Dayngr and Joan for thinking I'd make a good 'taggee'!