A Long Week...and An Award!

Sorry I've been so silent since Tuesday. This week turned out to be packed full and pretty exhausting. Besides the busy start to the week with Mardi Gras, Ken and I had somewhere to go every single evening - I'm used to lying low in the evenings. I also started and finished our taxes in record time by working on them all day Monday and Tuesday (I was motivated to get our refund back fast). And after a whole week of snow days last week, Jamie was home sick - badly crashed - all this week. Poor kid was flat on his back all week (still is). He and Craig both had stomach cramps for about 24 hours, so it was probably a virus that triggered this crash.

So, I've been pretty wiped out the second part of this week. I haven't gotten any work done, and I haven't had even 5 minutes with enough energy to read blogs (sorry!). Jamie and I have been watching old Lost reruns on DVD every day!

And, finally, I have been remiss in recognizing a blog award, The Sugar Doll Award, that Dominique at 4 Walls and a View gave me earlier this week! I'm not sure of the exact meaning of the Sugar Doll Award, but it sounds nice, and I appreciate it! I'm supposed to tell you 10 things about myself, then nominate some other deserving bloggers. It's too bad Dominique already received this award herself because I've really been enjoying her new very well-written CFS blog this past month!

So, I've been thinking of what 10 things to tell you. This is a bit of a challenge because, after 4 years of writing this blog, I've already told you an awful lot! I've been pretty open here, so you already know all kinds of facts about me - how I love reading, camping and the outdoors, and travel, that I'm from Rochester and used to live in New Orleans, etc. So, I've had to dig deep (and in some cases way back!) to try to come up with some things you might not know about me:

1. When I was 13, I decided I wanted to be called Sue (it sounded more mature, I thought), but most of my family still calls me Suzie to this day! I use Suzan for my writing, just because Sue Jackson seemed way too generic, but no one who knows me actually calls me Suzan...which is why I used Sue for this blog.
2. I have a sister who is 6 years younger than I am.
3. I went to England and France with my high school French Club when I was 16. I've been to England several times since then but haven't gotten back to France yet. I'm dying to take my kids to Europe.
4. I took dancing lessons from age 5 to 16, then a few classes in college - tap, ballet, and jazz. I still have the purple spandex one-shouldered jumpsuit I wore to dance to "Fame" when I was a teenager (don't ask me why I've saved it all these years!)
5. I drive a 1992 VW Cabriolet convertible - red with a black roof - affectionately known in our house as "the little red car." I expect it to last forever and put my fingers in my ears whenever Ken suggests otherwise.
6. Ken and I met at work, at the DuPont plant in Louisiana where we both worked. He was assigned to be my mentor when I started there!
7. I love to play games of all kinds. My best friend, Michelle, and I used to play marathon board games - Monopoly games that lasted for days, 30 games of Clue in a row, etc. My kids love games, too (I wouldn't have it any other way!), and my mom and I love to play Scrabble together.
8. I kind of like the vivid dreams that come with CFS. I enjoy dreaming and remembering my dreams, especially dreams of flying (but I don't like chase dreams or pee dreams).
9. I have a degree in chemical engineering from Clarkson University, a small engineering school in remote northern NY, near the Canadian border. My years as an engineer seem like a different lifetime.
10. I love to cook tasty, healthy meals for my family. I really hate when I'm too sick to cook. Cooking Light is my favorite source of recipes.

And I better get cooking now or we'll be eating dinner at midnight tonight!

Thanks for the award, Dominique! I nominate:

• Jo Blogs
• Living the CFS Life
• What's After 29?

What's After 29? isn't a CFS blog, but it's written by Lori, who many of you know for her blog, Living Chronically, about her daughter's struggles with CFS and celiac disease. This blog is just for fun, and Lori has a wonderful sense of humor! I hope you enjoy visiting all three of these excellent blogs.

(By the way, I know from my book blog that awards can sometimes be a bit of a burden if you're not feeling well - having to pass it along and include links, etc. in a blog post - so if you would prefer to just accept it graciously and not pass it along, I understand completely! No problem.)

OK, I am SO ready for the weekend...

(P.S. Moments after I clicked on the Publish button, I found out I was also nominated for the Sugar Doll Award from Robyn at "How Are you?" and Other Dumb Questions. Check out Robyn's awesome blog, written from the perspective of a young woman with CFS. Thanks, Robyn!)