It’s a colorful week–yesterday I painted the web pink, and today I get to forward some green! (Sorry, guys–not money…) Better than money (right? right?)–today I am honored to bestow the Versatile Blogger Award on 15 fellow bloggers!

First, my humble thanks to Lynette at Wordtabulous, who honored me with the award last night (just when I was “coming down” from my flamingo-flurry). This, too, is a pay-it-forward award, with the following rules:

1. Thank your nominator with a link to her blog.
2. Bestow the award on 15 bloggers (sharing links to their sites, and letting them know).
3. List seven things about yourself.

With no further ado (at YOUR end, Dear Reader; I assure you there has been much ado at MY end in narrowing down my lo-o-o-ong list of favorites), I am now pleased to share with you the next generation of Versatile Blogger Awardees:

• HamakkoMommy With her family cast of characters (His Royal Highness, Me First, and Me Too), she shares adventures of parenting in Japan. And did I mention, Adventures of Parenting…
• Greg at Real Men Wash Tights (“Life of a Dance Dad”) whose description of juggling twin babies in a parking lot had me howling with laughter.
• The ladies at Gem State Writers (yep, that’s my home state of IDAHO), providing a steady stream of writing tips and guest authors.
• The hilarious cultural observations of He Shat, She Shat, serving up the “poop” like no one else.
• Angie at Doodlemum, who journals the Adventures of Parenting in her humorous sketchbook.
• The “Dilbert of Bloggers” at Evil Boss, whose trials any cubicler will find painfully funny.
• NotaCrazyCatLady, whose kitty-cartoons make me giggle (and Suzy-cat purr).
• Emmie, the fabulous redhead at Emmie Mears, who authored my favorite micro-post of all time (“omit needless words.”) and whose writing is as vibrant as her hair color.
• CheapAss fiction, “a one-person cheerleading squad for web fiction authors everywhere,” and always on the look-out for budget-reading-material. YAY from this broke-ass Reader.
• The itinerant duo at Cosy Travels of the Viking and his Kitten, traveling together and sharing their tales.
• OneFunnyMummy, whose parenting challenges include the “va-jay-jay” word.
• Mooselicker, whose sometimes cynical (and always observant) writing makes me grin, and whose blog handle I’m dying to have explained someday.
• Tanya at Domestic Dyke, family-blogger with a twist.
• Sparklebumpsthebookwhore, whose blog recently got her fired (which tells you it’s worth reading), and whose posts are as lively as they come.
• Elise at On Living in a Box, chronicling the adventures (and living arrangements) of a full-time writer.

To all of you: THANKS FOR THE READING! Consider yourselves, officially, Versatile Bloggers! (As if you needed a little green stamp from me to know that about yourselves…)

And to complete the required elements of my award acceptance, here are 7 random facts about myself…

1. In the last five days, I’ve written articles on OC-192 bandwidth service, yeast infections, bankruptcy, Pilates (“No, Honey–Mommy isn’t writing about PIRATES”), credit repair, African music, home security systems, and Traveling with Toddlers (yay, a subject I didn’t have to RESEARCH!). Freelance writing is… educational.
2. I have a Master’s degree in Creative Writing, which doesn’t hang on a wall anywhere. The drawing titled “Mommy, you rock!” DOES hang on my wall.
3. I studied marine biology at University of Hawai’i Hilo, living the whole time in the same rainforest town as my current husband… Married a guy from my classes (hey, the wetsuit was irresistible), ended up back in Idaho with him–where 16 years later I finally crossed paths with my REAL husband. In rehab. In Idaho. God has a sense of humor.
4. I sing in the shower. When my husband and I owned a Hawai’ian restaurant, we used to sing duets in the kitchen. (I didn’t mind an audience when I couldn’t SEE them.)
5. My seven-year-old thinks that every book should have CHICKENS in it.
6. Apparently I am a “pantser.” (I know, I pledged not to blog about NaNoWriMo till it’s over, but this doesn’t count, does it?) I understand from other bloggers that there are two types of NaNoWriMo-ers: plotters (who have all their details worked out before the 12:01 November 1 start-time), and “pantsers” (who fly by the seat of their pants). My NaNoWriMo file is currently empty except for a four-word title (if such it can be called): “Hell if I Know.”
7. A SMILE is my facial “default setting.”

With that, I leave you to blog away! My thanks to ALL of you whose writing enlightens and enlivens my days. :)