I was awarded the Kreativ blogger award this week. This makes me feel very good about myself (even if it was awarded to me by a relative).

According to the award rules:

• I must thank the blogger who nominated me and provide a link back to their blog.
• Share 10 interesting things about myself.
• And nominate 6 other bloggers to receive the award (informing them about their amazingness).

Thank you Judy, at Life...Minute By Minute for the nomination. I will try to do you proud.

Ten interesting things about me. Hmmm... 

1. I have a ton of gray hair and have decided to live with it.

2. My sarcasm often gets me in trouble- many of my readers already know that.

3. I call some bloggers I follow my friends when I talk about them – even though I have never met them. 

4. It drives me nuts when someone eats the cookie dough out of the bowl while I'm making cookies. (I've been known to throw a pretty good fit about it too.)

5. I care way too much about what other people think of me, even though I act like I don't.

6. Like Judy, the blogger who nominated me, I have not shaved my legs in several weeks. Only difference is, I don't plan on doing it anytime soon.

7. If my house caught on fire and I could only take one item – I am a little ashamed to admit – it would probably be my iPad. If I had asked myself this question 6 months ago I would have said my kids.

8. I get enough food caught in my ample bosom each week to feed a starving child for a year.

9. I still think the lyrics say, "Blinded by the light. Wrapped up like a douche in the middle of the night."

10. I think I could construct a mid-size dog out of all the dog hair I swept away from my baseboards this weekend.

And now for the nominees... (drumroll please)

Sarah at Frugal By Choice, Cheap By Necessity

Jenny at The Bloggess

It Was Dark, Stormy and I Lost My Serial Comma

Kelsey at This is not a fairytale.

Erin at Blogging is for Dorks

Rachel at Come What May

I blogged yesterday about the First Sentence Contest being held by A No. 2 Pencil Stat! . This is the entry I submitted today:

"It was not the first, or the last, house I had looked at that day — just the first with a double-bagged hand in the deli drawer of the refrigerator."

Here's another one from Goddess of the Corn - Wendy Swore

100 Word Contest — A Drabble

I am really looking forward to this contest. Make sure you read all the rules before you enter. 

I am determined to get a crapload of writing done this summer. To help me out I am entering a bunch of different writing contests to get my creative juices flowing. You can join too. Here's a great contest from A No. 2 Pencil Stat!

First Sentence Contest

If you enter, I want to see what you've got. Post a comment to this post with your first sentence so I can enjoy your creativity too. I promise to only steal the good ones.

Okay, so it's not the classics, but this reading challenge from Book Chick City is going to be a blast. I love smutty romance books during the summer, so this is perfect for me. 


If you love to read, even if you aren't a fan of romances, you should still join this challenge. I'm going to have the best book reviews ever!!!!


Here's a challenge going out to my friend Maxine — I know you want to do this in your heart of hearts. You don't have to tell anyone but me. I swear I won't tell a soul you are reading books that make you blush!!!!!

My blog is going through an identity crisis. It is not sure what it wants to look like. Why can't I have computery graphicy artsy knowledge and stuff (aka semi-nerdy)?

If I knew how I would create my own template, and it would be awesome. It would be so cool it would win awards and people would want to pay me to come see it on my blog. Then people would come and read my blog and become followers and add their little picture to my blog (by the way- my followers widget stopped working yesterday. Now where it says "People who actually read by blog" it is completely blank. What does that say about me to random visitors? That I am a loser!!!)

Okay, I think it may not be just my blog that is having an identity crisis here.

Maybe, I need therapy.

Hmmmm.

 I like to think I am unique, but today, after Googling myself (I don't recommend it unless you need to bring your mood down a few notches) I realized that not only do I share my name with a few others, but some of them even share my profession. The other one is a plumber, which is not that far removed from a journalist. (We both are knee deep in poo for half our careers.) The "real" Erin Harty (that's me) doesn't show up until page 2.  The most prevalent of the Erin Hartys is not only an accomplished veterinarian, but a published author and journalist. She has written a book on horses, has a blog, a domain name using my name and she is starting to annoy me. Okay, I confess, she looks great on paper and if she loves animals, she is probably okay, but now I feel the need to change my name, or at least add an initial or even a silent letter. Hmm, maybe an H — Ehrin Harty? No, okay, what about an O —Eorin? Whatever!

Anyway, in an effort to bump my name to page one I am going to repeat my name over and over in this blog post hoping Google recognizes that 36 Erin Hartys in a row are better than one.

Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty Erin Harty