God Bless America. And, I'm scrappy.

This headline made me stop in my tracks this morning.

Blogger jailed in Iran is dead

We take our liberties for granted far too often. In another country, would my post about Obama have been reason enough to jail me? Probably. And that's beyond sad. For most Americans, we can't even wrap our heads around a concept like that. As Americans, most of us suffer from an extreme expression of entitlement. Not only do we expect to have enough to eat every day, we pitch a fit if our favorite restaurant runs out of the daily special before we order. Because it's OUR RIGHT to eat salmon, damn it. When we want it! So there!

We don't stop to appreciate the wealth of affordable products available at a store like Super Target. But lord help the people around us if we have to wait.in.line. for more than five minutes to check out. And the old woman in front of you is WRITING A CHECK. How dare she?! Doesn't she know that your time is IMPORTANT?

I don't want to turn this into a blathering politicky post. And I have to be careful here, because I'm about two shakes away from a diatribe about the important role our troops have played in the Middle East defending simple human rights for those too weak to defend themselves.



So instead, let's talk scrap. Several of my blogosphere friends awarded me the Honest Scrap award.

The rules:
1) Choose a minimum of 7 blogs that you find brilliant in content or design.
2) Show the 7 winners names and links on your blog, and leave a comment informing them that they were prized with "Honest Scrap." Well, there's no prize, but they can keep the nifty icon.
3) List at least 10 honest things about yourself.

Being the non-conformist that I am, I'm skipping the first two rules. Partly because almost everyone I know with a blog has already been tapped. But mostly because I'm lazy. I will, however, follow rule #3.

1. I like watching Spongebob SquarePants. And iCarly.

2. Poor grammar drives me insane. However, I've learned as an adult that it's rude to correct people. Instead, I chew on the insides of my cheeks.

3. When I was very young (pre-K), I insisted on using the phrase "Amen't I?" instead of "Aren't I?" I calmly informed my mother that since it was the contraction for "Am I not," "Aren't" simply didn't make sense. She eventually talked me out of it. Perhaps that's the reason for Honest Thing #2.

4. I don't wash my face every night. Since I don't wear makeup (except on special occasions), I allow myself to be lazy about this.

5. I don't wear makeup (except on special occasions). [And don't try telling me this one doesn't count. Just because you've known this fact for all of five nanoseconds thanks to Honest Thing #4, it's still honest. So there.]

6. It takes me forever to write a blog entry.

7. I could watch HGTV for six hours in a row.

8. I despise doing laundry, but it makes me very happy when it's all done.

9. I snore.

10. I would have made a kick-ass female pirate back when pirates wore eye patches and had parrots on their shoulders.