I want to thank the academy...

I'm accepting an award from the thoughtful Thom Brown at To Gyre and Gambol, because of the nice things he said about me and because the first requirement - telling you 10 new things about me - might help pull together my thoughts, which have been very scattered lately. Here we go:

1. I've just received my first Social Security payment. It's nice to have some regular monthly income after being retired five months. I hope the same opportunity will be available for generations to come, and I worry that it won't.

2. This is our 19th year of season tickets for St. Paul Saints baseball. I can no longer sit through every kind of nasty weather, as I used to. We stayed for two innings of 50 degree wind and rain Thursday night, and nine innings Friday night. When the same weather turned up Saturday night, we stayed home. You might say we're finally smart enough to come in out of the rain.

3. I grew up in Hibbing, Minnesota, on the Mesabi iron range. In my teens I once went with some friends onto the grounds of an abandoned mining facility where we broke windows and then pushed an outhouse off a cliff into a flooded mine. It was my one act of juvenile delinquency; I quickly learned that a life of crime was not for me.

4. I was recently interviewed by a producer for Minnesota Public Radio about having beaten Bob Dylan in a talent contest (Hibbing Winter Frolic, 1959). They're doing a program for Bob's 70th birthday; I don't know whether I'll be included in it. It's a fun claim to fame, and I've already been featured in MPR and Minneapolis Star-Tribune stories a few years ago.

5. I love my iPad, but not because it makes me more productive. I use it for games (currently Scrabble, Snood, and Fish Pond) and a fun drawing-coloring program, and I look up things on the Internet (including blogs and comments) while watching television. It's an expensive toy, with the potential to be much more.

6. Speaking of games, I really do escape into games that require a little eye-hand coordination and reward me with sound effects and bright colors. If I didn't have my electronic devices, I suspect that I could easily get hooked on the machines at casinos.

7. Hubby said to me yesterday, "I just realized that I have never set foot in a Starbucks." I haven't, either. So who's out of step--us, or the people who pay those prices, sometimes several times a day?

8. Evidence that I am a procrastinator: In my wallet, I have unused cards entitling me to $10 at a local coffee shop (not Starbucks), a free loaf of bread, 15 percent off total purchase at Once Upon a Child, and free lunch at the college I retired from. I also have a $5 Target gift card and a $20 Visa gift card (sent by my HMO after I complained about an unwieldy aspect of their online prescription refill service). I hope they have not all expired!

9. For the last couple of months, I've been spending Tuesdays with my 95-year-old dad, who has just entered hospice care. Various factors limited our time together for several years, so I find our weekly visits a satisfying and healing process filled with little moments that I will remember fondly.

10. I keep thinking that I have become lazy and unfocused in retirement. I have unfinished projects everywhere, but I would rather read blogs, play games, or take a nap. Then I remember: I'm 68 years old and I'm caring for two toddlers 40 hours a week plus taking on new responsibilities for shopping and cooking, plus the long drives to see my dad. I like doing all these things, and I'll have the summer to do my projects. Right now, I deserve to relax, without feeling guilty.

I am also to pass along the award to others, and I'll do that another day. Meanwhile, stop over and visit Professor Brown; you'll be glad you did.

I Feel Pretty, Oh So Pretty

..."Representing the United States of America, gold medalist BLissed-Out Grandma." I mount the medal stand and bend down so the prince of Monaco can place the medal around my neck. I free my flowing blond locks--er, dangly earrings--from the ribbon and accept the understated green bouquet. I sing along to the Star-Spangled Banner (does nobody do that any more?), wipe a tear, then wave jubilantly to the cheering crowd.

* snap *

Okay, I'm back from my Olympic daydream to tell you about a different award, bestowed upon me by the lovely Allyson at Magnolias and Mimosas. I feel like a "glob" today, but let's focus on the "gorgeous" part instead. Thank you, thank you. I'm passing this award to Ms Sparrow, one of my very first followers, who often sees the beauty in things but sometimes needs to be reminded of her own!

Speaking of beauty, here is Mr. March from Maine. Specifically, he is Bernie Lontine, who promises "coverage for everything" through his insurance agency. The calendar is produced by the Greater York Region Chamber of Commerce and supports area nonprofits. It came to me through a giveaway by Eva at Wrestling with Retirement.

And speaking of Olympic daydreams, I am a little sad to see the winter games end. The figure skating--my major reason for setting up in front of the TV--was fabulous. The skiing and snowboarding and speedskating ranged from amusing to amazing. The Opening Ceremonies had that stunning k. d. lang rendition of "Hallelujah," and the Closing Ceremonies had--huh? William Shatner? Okay, they had some lame moments, but you gotta love that they opened by making fun of the torch malfunction during the Opening Ceremonies! With a mime pretend-pulling the missing part of the torch up out of the ground! The Canadians have a great sense of modesty and humor. And I want their national anthem. It's beautiful, peaceful, and fun to sing.

I beat Bob Dylan in a talent contest...and other little-known facts

Two young women whose blogs I really like have each selected me for the Beautiful Blogger award! I have exchanged many comments with Mad Woman Behind the Blog over at Diary of a Mad Woman; she shares anecdotes about work, home, and her adorable daughter, along with Friday photos of hot guys. And I have been drawn into Emma's story at Divorced Before 30, which opens with a bang: "How I Left My Husband On My Lunch Break."

Besides posting the award and linking back to those who bestowed it, I'm asked to post seven interesting things about me, and then pass it along. These are somewhat long-winded responses, because they are things I've been intending to write about for a while.

Seven things about BLissed-Out Grandma

1. I beat Bob Dylan in a talent contest. I was a couple of years behind him at Hibbing High School. He and his band entered the Hibbing Winter Frolic talent show in January 1959. So did my friend Sharon Nelson, who sang "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes," and yours truly, who provided piano accompaniment and a brief solo. Sharon and I split the $25 first prize.

2. I gave my autograph to actor Bill Murray and baseball player Darryl Strawberry. As superfans of the St. Paul Saints minor league team, Peter and I have been at a number of gatherings with Bill. We also got to know Darryl, one of the nicest guys you could meet. They both seem to appreciate the fact that we never hounded them for attention or autographs. One day in 2008 we gave each of them a copy of the book we co-wrote, signed by each of us and the book's subject, Wayne Terwilliger, whom they both admire. Speaking of which...

3. I have a book on Amazon. It's called Terwilliger Bunts One, and it talks about his six-decade baseball career. It's Wayne's book; Peter and I spent about five years helping him write it.

4. I've learned that it can be useful to have people underestimate you. Peter and I were a couple of nobodies when we decided to save the Minnesota State Fair carousel from being broken up and sold at auction. We made a few calls, and before we knew it we were setting up a nonprofit organization, working with city leaders, and negotiating to buy a carousel with $1.3 million of borrowed money. We made headlines every day for a month as we put the deal together (and more headlines later as we raised money and moved the carousel into new digs). At several points high-profile business leaders and politicians tried to intimidate us into stepping aside so they could acquire the carousel for their own purposes. They underestimated both our resolve and our ability to strategize. We bought the carousel, restored it, installed it in an indoor park downtown and later moved it into its own new pavilion at Como Park. We operate it with one employee and 100 volunteers. We've gotten media coverage all over the world, and I won a Silver Anvil, the highest individual-project award from the Public Relations Society of America. We're still just regular folks. But we are proud of what we've been able to accomplish.

5. I kissed my husband on national TV. I mentioned this in my last post; here's the story. On the day we bought the carousel at auction in New York, CNN was among the media to interview us. The reporter played up the personal aspect (as in, this couple just bought this million-dollar carousel, are they crazy or what?), and at one point we gave each other a little celebratory kiss. They used it as part of the story, which of course drove our then-12-year-old daughter crazy. (ABC evening news did two stories on our work; one of Peter's claims to fame is that both Peter Jennings and Sam Donaldson said his name on the air.)

6. In real life, I don't talk about myself much. Just the other day at work, for example, a colleague asked conversationally, "Who's the most famous person you've met?" I mentioned Dylan. Then other people prattled on about people they had once seen across a crowded room, or on the street, or whatever. I didn't push my way back into the conversation to mention that I met for two hours with Gloria Steinem or spent a weekend at the 20-year reunion of the 1987 World Series champion Minnesota Twins. But here, in my own blog, it's fun to share these things.

7. Objects in the mirror are older than they appear. In March, I will turn 67. I am often told I look younger. I think it's partly because I got my mom's good-skin gene and partly because I still try to think young.

Now to pass this award:

* Amber at Airing My Dirty Laundry, One Sock at a Time, who is consistently hilarious and word-perfect
* Pearl at Pearl, Why You Little..., a fellow Minnesotan who cracks me up daily
* JenJen at Jen's Voices, who entertains with her writing AND is an awesome, friendly commenter
* Miss Buckle, who has a fabulous eye for color and form and a sunny outlook on life
* Sassy at The Sassy Curmudgeon, whose comments about fashion and life are witty and occasionally curmudgeonly
* Wow, That Was Awkward at It Was Dark, Stormy and I Lost My Serial Comma, whose blog title cracks me up while his stories about his sons melt my heart
* UberGrumpy, who seems more droll than grumpy and is always amusing in a British sort of way

The seven of you may post the award and follow some, none, or all of the other "rules." I'd love to read your responses, so I kinda hope you'll accept the challenge.