Wednesday, December 22, 2010

Holiday Mishmash and an Award

Good morning. I have to report, Christmas shopping went exceedingly well. There was no traffic, I was in and out of the stores well within the half hour each I had allotted myself. I spent less than I anticipated, and got everything on my list. I was on time for the holiday festivities at Monster Baby's school, and the day went relatively well. I even bought a Christmas tree. I know, that's big for me. Three feet tall and fake, it sits on the dining room table with MB's hand-made-from-school ornaments. It's beautiful.

I must say, the research is going well. Really well, as a matter of fact. I found the plot line for the last of my 'men' for the Regency series. Well, the inkling of a plotline -- spy, natch. I have a sailor, a horseman, and a politician. Now I have a spy. Who I might even put in America. Right before the war. Intrigue, gotta love it.

I received an award last week, both from Donna and Rula. Thank you ladies. It means a lot. If you don't know either of these Fair Dinkum women, stroll through their blogs, you won't be disappointed.



Now, Fair Dinkum was an award created by L'Aussie, Denise, who lives down under. She posed the question on her blog, "What does Fair Dinkum mean to you" and was met with all kinds of answers. I've personally always thought that phrase, geared specifically more to men, than women. But as always, mine is a subjective opinion. (Kind of like in French, le and la, masculine and feminine.)

Anyhoo -- the term fair dinkum is a compliment. A high one. Which got me thinking about the highest compliment I've ever received.

When my friend Mary Rose needed to enclose her porch, we had to hang sheetrock. We needed a man. I could do most of the work but we needed some brawn. She called her friend John, who drove over 300 miles to help. He was a big, bad, bear of a man, who barely spoke to me as we worked. "Hold this, nail that, get out of the way," kind of thing. We worked all day, John and I, hanging sheetrock, finally finishing with the ceiling. (Which the board gave way and hit me on top of the head while I was standing on the ladder. I saw stars.)

After John left, Mary Rose told me that John had been very impressed with my effort. "She works like a man," he said. And I thought that was pretty cool. (If you knew John, you would think this high praise indeed.)

So my Fair Dinkum Award is passed on to the men who I think are Fair Dinkum enough to hang sheetrock with...

DL Hammonds @ Cruising Altitude.
Roland Yeomans @ Writing in the Crosshairs
Matthew Rush @ The QQQE
Terry Towery @ A Writer of Wrongs
Stephen Tremp @ Breakthrough Blogs
R. Mac Wheeler
Ted Cross
Alex Cavanaugh
Butch Edgerton>
Elliot Grace
Al Russell


Happy Wednesday everyone, I hope you have a Fair Dinkum day!

20 comments:

Author R. Mac Wheeler said...

maybe hefting sheet rock would stretch out this shoulder of mine. ;O)

Unknown said...

What an awesome idea, spotlighting the He-bloggers! I'm so impressed you only spent a half hour in each store. I'm taking you Christmas shopping with me next year! Hope you have a fantastic holiday week!

Anne Gallagher said...

Mac -- See what happens when you spend all day on the computer.

Nicole -- I had a strategy for shopping. First thing Monday morning, in and out. If the lines were too long, I left the store.

Patti said...

In and out of each store within a half hour, that's awesome. Have a very Merry Christmas.

Rula Sinara said...

I love your sheetrock story and that you passed on the award to a deserving group of men :). Just proves that you deserved the award yourself!

Congrats to all the guys!

DL Hammons said...

Awwwww....I'm humbled that you selected me to receive this award, and honored to be included with such great company! That really, REALLY, means a lot!! Thank you. :)

And next year your doing my shopping for me!

Talli Roland said...

Congrats on the award, Anne! And have a fantastic Christmas. xx

notesfromnadir said...

How lucky you were to not have to deal w/ lots of Christmas traffic!
Your tree sounds like it's just the right size & it has custom made ornaments.
Congrats on the award -- well deserved.
Merry Christmas! :)

Roland D. Yeomans said...

Thanks, Anne. My past experience with sheet rock is falling through it when I was putting in insulation in my attic. My bedroom below looked like the London Blitz with all the sheet rock particles! As I lay stunned on the floor covered with sheet rock dust, my dog, Lucky, padded up, sat down, and cocked a quizzical eye as if to say, "This game doesn't look fun at all. I'll pass, thank you very much!"

Thank you for the award. It means a lot coming from you, Anne. Like DL said, I'm truly honored to be included in such company.

I'm happy for you that Christmas shopping went so smoothly. Around here, it is Cajun tradition to clog the streets, stores, and behave like Scrooge before the ghostly visitations!

Have a magical, healing Christmas, Roland

Lydia Kang said...

Congrats on the award and the new recipients!
Have a great holiday, Anne!

A. B. Keuser said...

Congrats on the award, and possibly figuring out that plotline. Your pre-war spy sounds very intersting!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Thank you Anne!
And my shopping experience never goes like that...

The Happy Whisk said...

Congrats on the award and Happy Holidays.

Jennifer Shirk said...

"She works like a man"? LOL!
Congrats on the award!
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to you!

Anne Gallagher said...

Patti -- I have it timed. If I leave my house at exactly 9:00, everyone is already at work and the old ladies are waiting until it warms up.

Rula -- A very deserving group of men to put up with this woman.

DL -- You're very welcome. Give me a list and I'm ready.

Talli -- Thank you. Merry Holidays to you!

Lisa -- The tree is perfect. I need to get film for the camera. Thanks. Merry Christmas right back at ya!

Roland -- Well deserved company, indeed. I tried not to be Scrooge-like as I shopped. I had a list and a plan and it worked. I was lucky I think.

Lydia -- and Happy Holidays to you!!!

Amy -- This is poor Robert who's had no plotline since I created him. Until now. Yeah, he's gonna be a great spy. I'll keep you posted.

Alex -- It's a very rare thing.

Happy -- Thank you very much. Happy Holidays to you!

Jennifer -- I thought you would appreciate that. Thanks. Very Merry Holidays to you and yours.

MB Dabney said...

Thanks for the comment today, Anne.
And Happy Holidays to you, too.

M

The Words Crafter said...

I can think of a few guys from whom that would, indeed, be high praise :) Congrats on the award and the recipients.

School parties are fun, but they're also stressful. I'm glad ours is over and tomorrow is the last day for a whole week. Heaven!

Ha-you got a tree! We're probably not putting one up, which depresses me. I like the lights....

I hope the rest of your week is stress free and congrats on getting all your shopping done!

February Grace said...

Merry Christmas to you and Baby!

hugs
~bru

Tracy said...

Yes, but what exactly does it mean? I'm going to have to go ask my Aussie friends to translate, lol.

Merry Christmas, Anne!

Anonymous said...

Thanks! for the award. As always, I'm deeply honored. I'll make room on my living room mantle for it today.