Liebster Award: 22 random things!

My dear friend Mrs. Smith recently nominated me for the "Liebster Award," which isn't really as highfalutin' as it sounds. ;)  Basically it just means I get to tell you 11 interesting (or not so much!) facts about myself and then answer 11 questions that she gave me.  I really wanted to get this done before Christmas because some of the questions are about decorations, etc., so here goes.  I'm going to skip tagging anyone else for this because I'm just too busy to come up with questions or even think of who to tag right now!  But anyway, hope you may enjoy this somewhat random post. :)

First of all, 11 facts about me.  I don't feel like I'm a terribly interesting person, but here are just some random things that come to mind:

1. I am very nearsighted and have worn glasses since I was in 2nd grade.  I got contacts (yay!) the summer before my senior year of high school.  I love having the option to use either.  This is my silly attempt to take a pic of myself with my glasses on at 11:15 pm on Monday--when I should be sleeping. :)  I would really like to update to some newer glasses, but I have a hard time finding ones that I think look okay.  Plus I don't wear them all the time, so for now I'll stick with what I have.

2. I never liked coffee until about a year ago, when Jim and I started making our own lattes at home.  Then at the ladies' retreat this fall, I was drinking coffee at almost every meal so I would stay awake through the weekend. :) Guess what?  Now I totally love flavored coffee.  (With plenty of real cream and sweetener--preferably xylitol.)  Sadly, my coffeepot broke last week, so I've had to make do with tea this week! 

3. I am addicted to cable knit sweaters and boots for fall and winter.  I now own something like 9 or 10 different colors/styles of cable knit sweaters and cardis (probably about 3/4 of them were thrift store finds or gifts), and two nice pairs of boots from my hubby.  Plus a new pair of warm snow boots which just arrived last week . . . that man SPOILS me!  I also love Smartwool socks in the fall and winter.  Jim got me about 6 pairs last Christmas (I think) and I wear them all. the. time.  LOVE.

4. When I was little (maybe 9?) I walked off our back porch and fell about 4 feet to the ground.  I was blithely watching birdies in a nest in the tree next to the porch and forgot about the edge. :)  Blonde?  Why yes!  I bit through my bottom lip and still have a lump of scar tissue there to prove it!

5. I have large sections of various Patch the Pirate recordings memorized.  Now my kids are doing the same! :)

6. I gave birth to two of my babies in our bathtub.  Most awesome birth experiences ever.

7. I have never been further west in the US than Minneapolis.  SOMEDAY!!  I have, however, visited some cool parts of Canada, such as Ontario, Nova Scotia, PEI and Newfoundland.

8. I love British mystery shows and dramas, and movies based on books like Pride & Prejudice.  Thankfully I have a husband who actually enjoys watching many of them with me. :)

9. I am almost impossible to surprise with Christmas presents (esp. for my hubby).  Poor guy tries so hard, but I almost always accidentally find out what he got me because I see an email with a shipping notice or something.  It's terrible, but it seems to be my lot in life!  It's sad because I really enjoy being surprised. :(  

10. I love Celtic and Irish music, anything with pipes or tin whistles.  I actually have a dream of learning to play the tin whistle eventually.  I think they sound so beautiful.

11. It is now 11:43 pm and I can't think of one more thing to say that will actually make sense . . . so we'll leave it at that. :)

Now, here are the 11 questions that Mrs. Smith asked me.  I went through and typed up my answers to these a few days ago, so once I look the post over, I'm going to publish it! :)

1.  Do you live where it is common to have winter snow and do you like snow? 

Yes, it's common to have snow most of the winter around here.  In fact, we just got our first big snow of the season about a week ago!  About 9-10", although we didn't do an exact measure.  The kids were VERY excited and lots of sledding happened around here last week.  Then this weekend/today we got rain, so our sledding hill (aka driveway) is now mostly back to gravel again. :(  But we still have plenty of snow elsewhere, so a white Christmas for us!

2.  Do you decorate your Christmas tree with a theme, or do you decorate it with an eclectic collection of sentimental decorations? 

I think themed trees are lovely, but ours is definitely eclectic. :)  Ornaments from both Jim's and my childhoods, and ornaments that the kids have been given or made, plus others that we've collected for ourselves over the years.  Lots of variety!!  We actually have WAY too many ornaments for one tree, so a lot of them get left in the box from year to year.

3.  What are some fun things that you plan to do this Christmas Season? 

Let's see . . . watch our favorite Christmas movies, bake cookies, make Chex mix, read some Christmas books, play in the snow, decorate, snuggle on the couch, do the Jesse tree for Bible time . . . pretty much our usual traditions!

4.  If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be and why? 

Honestly, I'm pretty happy right here in northern New England. :)  However . . . there are tons of places I'd love to visit, and maybe even live.  Like the English or Irish countryside, or New Zealand or Australia . . . but if I could pick anywhere else in the USA, I would be really interested in Alaska or Idaho!

5.  What was a favorite childhood toy that you had?  How did you acquire it and do you still have it?  

My most precious stuffed animal as a child was my "Bunny."  He was pink and old and by the time I got married I had loved him and squished him flat, and he'd been washed so many times that he was pretty much threadbare.  He had a sidekick named . . . wait for it . . . "Bear." :)  I slept with both of them for my entire life until I got married.  I think Bunny was a present from my parents, which my dad picked out, if I remember the story right.  Bear was formerly my sister's, but somehow I talked her into giving him to me!  (Lovely older sister that I am . . . !!!)  I still have both of them, but they are in a tote in our storage area now.

6.  Do you like to watch old movies, and if you do, what are some that you especially like?

I adore old movies!!!  A few favorites: "Roman Holiday," "An Affair to Remember," "Charade," "The Shop Around the Corner," "Sabrina," (are you noticing an Audrey Hepburn theme?! ;)), "The Sound of Music," "Mary Poppins" (I consider those "old" since they were made before my time!), "National Velvet," and many more that I can't think of right now.  

7.  If you could live in any time period, when would that be and why? 

Hmmm, that is a hard one.  It's a toss-up between the Revolutionary era and the mid-late 1800s (I'm thinking Little House on the Prairie here), but I also find the early-mid 1900s (WW1 and WW2 era) fascinating and inspiring.  When I watch movies or shows set in those years, I think I would have liked to live back then in a time when people seemed to be overall more wholesome and also courageous.

9.  Would you describe your decorating style as being  fun and cutesy, charming and rustic, elegant and ornate, or classic and sophisticated? 

Definitely rustic, although I'm not sure how charming it is!! :)  I like the cabin look, but I also think classic is a nice style.  

10.  Green acres is the place for me; how about you – if you had your druthers, would you prefer city or rural living? 

Rural, without a doubt.  I think cities are very interesting to visit, but I would be pretty much terrified to live in one!!  Living in the country feels a lot more peaceful to me.

11.  If you could open up a door and climb inside the world of a fiction book, what book would it be and why?  

Okay, this is a pretty much impossible question to answer!!  TONS of books come to mind, so it's really hard to pick just one.  So I'm going to cheat and give a few answers:

• Any of the Little House books, because I find Laura's descriptions of pioneer life fascinating, even though I'm sure it was a very hard life in many ways!
• The Blue Castle, by L.M. Montgomery, because it's probably my absolute favorite book of hers--I dream of living on an island in a remote lake like Barney & Valancy.  But I would happily jump into any of the Anne books, too . . . or nearly any LMM book. :)
• The Gresham Chronicles by Lawana Blackwell . . . "Mayberry" living in rural England in the 1800s.  I think this would be an absolutely beautiful place to live, and I love the interesting characters!
• The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis, because they are beautiful and wonderful stories, and they make me long for Heaven in a way no other book, aside from the Bible, does.

  Okay, that's all folks!  Thanks for sticking with this long and random post; I hope it was fun to read.  It was definitely fun to write. :)  And thanks to Mrs. Smith for the Liebster Award and the great questions!!