When you first get one of these awards, it's real exciting because you feel someone finally noticed. And then comes the pressure. It's akin to receiving one of those chain letter emails that suggests if you don't forward it on to at least 29 people you do not love the Lord. I hate those. At first I sent them and then I decided the Lord knows me and he won't mind if I don't play along. He did make me a non-conformist, after all.

But Honest Scrap? This one is fun. Here are the rules: First, choose a minimum of seven blogs that you find brilliant in content or design. Secondly, show the seven 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. Lastly, list at least ten honest things about yourself.

I don't know if I have discovered a minimum of seven brilliant blogs yet but I'll nominate the blogs I like and hopefully if they've already been awarded and/or think these awards are stupid, they'll just ignore them. I do think they are useful for drawing blog readers to your blog if that's your intent.

Brilliant Blogs

1. Lucchese to Louis Vuitton. Honest woman that Meg. And she always plays a song on there that makes me go back in the day and get all misty-eyed. Her latest series on divorce has killed me. And she's also a West Texas girl which is all I have to say about that.

2. Hill Country House. Don't know her at all but whenever I check out her blog she always has something on there design-related that interests me. Special note: she is based in the Hill Country (duh!) so she's kind of local and the places she writes about are do-able.

3. Laura U Blog. She's way to busy to respond to this award, but Laura U of Laura U Collection always has something interesting to say on her blog and something interesting to buy in her store.

4. Design-Block. I'm always looking for a new post from Miss Design-Block and we really do need to have lunch because I have a lot of questions I want to pick out of her brain that are design-related. We go way back ... and yes, she's another West Texas girl.

OK, that's all I can muster. I have other blogs I follow when I can, but these are my top four that I think even need mentioning. Some of the others, like Cote de Texas are just too world famous, so I'm not even going to bother. And Lavenderchick nominated me for this award so she's already gotten it.

OK now for the hard part. 10 Honest Things about Me. Yikes.

1. I am fiercely conservative and crazy-liberal, all at the same time.

2. My zone of personal space is extremely wide and deep.

3. Which brings me to the fact that I cannot allow anyone breathing my air. Space issues.

4. I have a thing for chihuahuas. Don't ask me why.

5. I don't like interruptions. I like to get in a groove and go with it. Now you know why I'm so frustrated.

6. In high school I had a spiky mullet. I was trying to be all rock n roll, hard core. It was the 80s, what can I say?

7. The test you take in high school that tells you what you should be when you grow up suggested that I should be a plumber. At the time I thought that was the most ridiculous thing I'd ever heard, but now that I am a decorative painter and realize I like to work alone, in my painted groove, of course, I completely understand. It only took me 25 years to get to this place...

8. I was artistically frustrated for most of my life. And that's why I am a fierce proponent of arts education for ALL children and why the public school system makes me insane.

9. I wish I could eat sushi every day.

10. I take note of the artwork in construction jobsite port-a-potties. In fact, I am going to start chronicling this for all the world to see because it's fascinating. So don't steal my idea.