TGIF!

This week I was gifted with the very lovely award above by both Callie over at Chimera Critiques and Julie Dao at Silver Lining. I have to share seven things and pass it on to fifteen others. Here goes:

1. This summer for me, change is the theme. We'll see how that works out.
2. I'm writing two online courses as well as working on the WIP.
3. I'm the only Leo I know that doesn't like the sun, the heat and the beach.
4. I love chocolate.
5. I love cooking and Food Network.
6. I spend endless hours watching HGTV.
7. I'm addicted to caffeine.

And now for the lucky fifteen recipients:

Summer over at ...and this time, concentrate!
Bossy Betty
Christine over at Christine's Journey
DL over at Cruising Altitude
Donna Hole
Aubrie at Flutey Words
Laurel over at Laurel's Leaves
Lois at Lotus Rising
Hannah over at Musings of a
Palindrome
Mia over at My Literary Jam and Toast
Patrick Tillett
Portia Sisco
Lola at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
Courtney over at Southern Princess
Talli Roland

And that's all folks. Check out these versitile bloggers and have a great weekend.

Celebrate Monday

Happy Monday, everybody. Today we celebrate the memory of all those who’ve made the ultimate sacrifice for all of us. I hope you’ve had a great weekend and are enjoying the day.

I’d also like to celebrate a very special award. Christine over at Christine’s Journey gifted me with this last week. We can never have too much support on any of our journeys, and if I’ve been that to anyone, I am deeply honored. So many of you have become much needed support on mine, so I’d like to pass this award along to some of you right now.

Tara over at Feel of Something New
Courtney over at Southern Princess
Nymeria over at Nym’s Corner
Lola over at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
Donna Hole
VR Barkowski

I can’t possibly mention all of you who’ve been there for me, so please know that I appreciate you all for all that you do. And again, please celebrate yourselves and this wonderful holiday.

TGIF! and an award

I don’t know about you, but I am ever so grateful that this week is over. It’s been a forever kind of week, the kind that’s hot and brutal, makes everyone beyond cranky, and seems like it will never end. I’m so thankful for the three day weekend it seems a little pathetic.

To start the weekend right, I want to share an award that were given to me a while ago. Tessa over at Tessa’s Blurb gave me the Beautiful Blogger Award. My thanks to her, and if you get a chance go over and sign up for her Blogfest of Death.

And I’d like to pass this on to some of the most beautiful bloggers I know. Seriously, go visit them and bask in the gloriousness.

Betty over at Bossy Betty
Lois over at Lotus Rising
Aubrie over at Flutey Words
Shelley at Stories in the Ordinary
Lola over at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
Theresa at Substitute Teacher’s Saga

That's all for me now. Have a great Friday and a great weekend. I hope you all enjoy your Memorial Day.

TGIF!

Just a reminder that you only have until 6 PM tonight to enter my 150 followers giveaway. Click on the link in my sidebar if you haven’t already signed up for your chance to win a gift card. I’ll announce the winners of my giveaway on Monday.

On the award front, Kelly over at Just Write gifted me with this very cool award sometime forever ago, and now I’d like to pass it on to people who lift me up with their comments.

Jen over at unedited
Theresa at Substitute Teacher’s Saga
Wendy at W.M. Morrell’s Musings From Down Under
Shannon over at Book Dreaming
Tara at Feel of Something New

All of these blogs are great and if you haven’t been over to check them out, you should go over and say hi. Enjoy the weekend and don’t forget to check out the Last Line Blogfest posts going up tomorrow.

Celebrate Monday

Here we are again at Monday and it’s time to celebrate ourselves. Tell us something good that happened to you. Something that made you happy. Something that you did that made you feel good.

It doesn’t have to be big news or anything earth shattering. Small is good, too.

I’ll start. Shelley over at Stories in the Ordinary gave me this Sweet Blog Award. I’m not normally a big fan of cute, but when I saw this, I fell in love with it. It’s just so cute. And Shelley gave it to me. That makes me happy. And it also makes me happy to pass this award on to some really deserving bloggers:

Anne at Piedmont Writer
Jen at unedited
Laurel at Laurel’s Leaves
Crystal at write because you must
and Lilah Pierce

And the contest for today is Steena and Stina's celebration of followers. Click here to check it out. The blogfest is KM's Man I Love College Blogfest. It's a blogfest and contest in one. So go on over and check it out.

Also, Kristi Cook is celebrating The Big 50 for followers. Go on over and celebrate with her.

Now that that’s taken care of, come on folks. Share with us and celebrate yourselves.

TGIF, Contests, and an Award

Happy Friday. It’s been a long stretch with posting both days last weekend with blogfest entries. It’s good to be looking at the weekend. Before we get there though, here’s the last post for this week.

We all know what a slacker I am about awards, so here we are again. It’s time for me to pass on another award that was given to me forever ago by the lovely Christine D and more recently by Tara at Feel of Something New. I don’t think I have to do anything here except pass it on to some of my favorite blogging buddies:

Elizabeth Mueller
Justine Dell
Lola at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
Talli Roland
Niki at Wool ’n Nuts
and Lilah Pierce

There's contests, too. Rebecca over at Sonshine Thoughts is giving away the cutest owls to celebrate her followers. And Julie Dao over at Silver Lining is celebrating 200 followers. Go over and check them both out.

And that's it for this week. I'm off to Chicago after school today for a wedding this weekend. Have a great Friday folks, and enjoy your own weekend.

My Blog is Carbon Neutral

Before we get to the post part of this post, let me tell you about Sarah Wylie's fab contest she's having over at Sarah with a Chance to celebrate her soon to be published status. Go on over and check it out.

And now on with the post. Summer at …and this time, concentrate recently posted about Green for her A-Z blogging challenge and Michele at Southern City Mysteries had a great post about what Green means for blogs. Bottom line is that blogging creates carbon dioxide.

Check out Michele’s post for the lovely picture explaining just how much. But there is something we can do about that. Plant a tree. Simple really. Click here to find out more about the program “My blog is carbon neutral” and grab a button like the one in my sidebar. If you don’t feel like clicking through, here’s the deal from their website on how you can participate in this great program:

Just write a short blog post about our programme “My blog is carbon neutral” and include one of the buttons below on your site (ideally in the sidebar). Send the link to your blog to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de and we plant a tree for you, neutralising the carbon dioxide emissions of your blog. The trees will be planted in the spring of 2010 by the Arbor Day Foundation.

Just a few easy steps to make it green:
Write a blog post about the initiative + insert your favourite button
E-mail the link to your post to CO2-neutral@kaufda.de
We plant a tree for your blog in Plumas’!

And that’s it. Like I said, it’s simple really. And a really small thing to do to make this place a little greener. We can all handle a little more green, right?

TGIF!

One of the reasons I love Anne, aka Piedmont Writer, is because she is so incredibly generous and gives the best awards. This time it’s the lovely Awesome Sauce Award that really looks good enough to eat or drink.

It’s my pleasure and privilege to pass this great award on to some really awesome folks. So here they are:

Charity Bradford at My Writing Journey
Amber at musings of amber murphy
Mia at My Literary Toast and Jam
Bossy Betty
Donna Hole

And over on the contest front, Lola at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword is hosting a contest you should check out.

And Shannon is giving away six books to celebrate her signing with her dream agent. Go over and take a look at the fab prizes.

That’s it for this Friday’s post because it’s going to be a busy weekend. Yes, there will be blogfest entries on Saturday and Sunday this week. Saturday, 4/10 sees my entry for Anne Riley’s Murder Scene Blogfest. And Sunday, 4/11 sees my entry for the Bar Scene Blogfest that Tara over at Secret Story is hosting. Lots of good stuff to read this weekend, so make sure you check it out.

Celebrate Monday

Ok, so how many of you looked at the post topic today and thought to yourselves (or out loud) is she high? I mean, why would you celebrate Monday? Well, no, I’m not. But I was thinking that lately a lot of us have been dragged down and slogging through the muck and the mire of real life or the writing/revising process or anything else that makes us forget the good things that happen or that we do.

So I thought that maybe we should take time out to recognize and/or remember the good things. And since I don’t have a theme day yet for my blog, I thought Mondays might be a good time to do that. So here on Mondays we are going to celebrate ourselves and the good things/people that make us happy. It doesn't have to be big. Sometimes little things are the best.

I’ll start. See that lovely award up there that I got from Karen? I’m thrilled that I have found this lovely community that is so supportive and sharing. A community that has been generous beyond belief in welcoming me to it. Being part of this group of creative people makes me happy and moves me. And I know that the award has been around for a while and that a lot of people have received it, but it makes me happy to pass this award on to anyone who would like it.

Another thing that makes me happy is contests. Susan is running one to celebrate her 100 followers. Go here and check it out.

And speaking of contests celebrating followers, Wagging Tales is having a book giveaway celebrating that, too. Make sure you check it out.

Anyway, how about you? What makes you happy? What would you like to celebrate?

Monday, Monday

Happy Monday. At least it’s the start of a short week. I hope it is for you, too. I know we could all use a little time off. Lately life has seemed just a lot more brutal and tiring.

I don’t usually talk about my real life online, but Friday I got my pink slip. My district, with the greatest regret, pink slipped about 230 of their 400 teachers. 48 teachers in the high school where I teach were pink slipped out of 106. And that doesn’t take into consideration the 50 or so teachers they are trying to push out into retirement with negative incentives.

So if I’ve seemed a little short or abrupt or not there at any point in my replies or anything, my apologies. Even though I’m in the top five to be recalled and no one seems worried about my job except me, and even though I’ve known for a while this was coming, I have been surprisingly cranky, and I’m not sure if that’s bled over into my online presence or not.

Either way, I’ll get my job back, or I’ll go back to school. I’ve wanted my Ph.D forever. Or I’ll write the novel this summer instead of curriculum. As my daughter would say, it’ll be fine.

But enough of the Monday gloom and doom. It’s award time. B. Miller and Shelley have given me the Prolific Blogger Award, so thank you very much to them. And Jen over at unedited has gifted me with the Supportive Commenter Award.

It’s my honor at this point to pass this award on to people that gift me with their heartfelt comments regularly. There are so many others that could be on this list, but a lot of them have already received this award. So here is my list. I appreciate you all more than you can know.

Christine at Christine’s Journey
Aubrie at Flutey Words
Lola at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword
Laurel at Laurel’s Leaves
Talli Roland
Tara at Feel of Something New

And speaking of Jen, she’s running a great contest to celebrate her birthday and her 300 followers. Click here and go over and join her.

And speaking of contests, Summer over at And This Time Concentrate is running a contest, too. She's celebrating finishing her MS. So go over and check it out.

Also running a very cool contest is Heim Binas Fiction. Go check it out and enjoy your Monday.

TGIF!

It's time once again for me to share one of the awards that have been so graciously been given to me. The beautiful Sunshine Award was given to me weeks ago by the lovely Anne over at Piedmont Writer and the wonderful Tara over at Feel of Something New. Because I am such a slacker and suck at passing these things on in a timely matter, and because I don't think there's anything you have to do to earn this award, I'd like to pass it on to anyone who would like it and doesn't have it.

Also a couple of weeks ago Laurel over at Laurel’s Leaves tagged me for this like/love/hate meme. I finally got around to doing my list.

I like long walks in nice weather.
I like sweaters and skirts.
I like dinner time with my family.
I like a lot of the people on my staff and all kinds of kids.
I like snark.
I like people who get me and knowing people like me.
I like quiet.
I like parents who don’t automatically blame the teacher for mentioning their kid’s bad behavior or failing grades.

I hate disrespect in all its myriad forms.
I hate parents that enable their children’s bad behavior.
I hate misogyny.
I hate the racist behavior rearing its ugly head once again at my school.
I hate running late.
I hate drivers who flip you off after they cut you off.

I love parents who assign appropriate consequences to their kids’ bad behavior.
I love flying.
I love all kinds of music except country (and I’ve never figured out why I don’t like that).
I love riding in trains, on buses, and driving in cars.
I love learning all kinds of things.
I love libraries, schools, and museums.
I love diners and coffee shops.
I love the craft and process of writing.

And now I get to pass this meme along to others:

Donna Hole
Shelley at Stories in the Ordinary
Portia Sisco
Crystal at write because you must
Mary at Play off the Page
Tricia at Talespinning
VR Barkowski

And now that that's taken care of, happy weekend to everyone.

Two Contests and an Award

And because everybody likes to get stuff, the contests come first.

Beth Revis is having a wicked cool contest to celebrate her book deal, and she’s giving away two prize packages, one for a writer, and one for a reader. Contest ends April 3rd, so go enter.

And Shannon, over at Ramblings of a Wannabe Scribe is also hosting a contest to celebrate hitting 400 followers. Go here to get in on the festivities.

And now for the award. Laurel over at Laurel’s Leaves has passed on the Prolific Blogger Award to me. What is a Prolific Blogger you ask? I’m glad you asked.

"A Prolific Blogger is one who is intellectually productive...keeping up an active blog that is filled with enjoyable content."

And what are the rules for this award? I’m glad you asked.

The rules for this one are as follows:
1. Every winner of the Prolific Blogger Award has to pass on this award to at least seven other deserving prolific bloggers. Spread some love!
2. Each Prolific Blogger must link to the blog from which he/she has received the award. (see above).
3. Every Prolific Blogger must link back to this post, which explains the origins and motivation for the award.
4. Every Prolific Blogger must visit this post and add his/her name in the Mr. Linky, so that we can get to know the other winners.

So thank you Laurel for this lovely award. And now I get to pass it on to seven of the most prolific bloggers I know.

Amy at She Writes writes with such fierce honesty her work takes my breath away. She never ceases to amaze me with her words.

Yvonne at The Organic Writer amazes me with her prose and her poetry. She creates incredible pictures in my mind with so few words. I am in awe of her talent and her mad skillz.

Lola at Sharp Pen/Dull Sword has the most lovely pictures with her posts. They make me smile and her words make me smile. It’s a joy to read her posts.

Patrick Tillett is the most incredible storyteller. Enough said.

Talli Roland always makes me think when I read her posts. Or crave cupcakes. Both of these things are very, very good.

Karen at Coming Down From the Mountain asks interesting questions that really beg answers. This, too, is very, very good.

Erin at Musings of a Writer Chick Living in Paradise encourages great discussions over at her blog. She also has some of the best blog post titles around.

Whoops!

Happy Saturday. Mea culpa. My bad. My apologies.

In my sleep-deprived, brain-dead state yesterday, I forgot in my previous post to pass on my lovely Quillfeather Award to other deserving souls. I’ve had it for a while and been hoarding it. I know others have been gifted with it, but I don’t remember who all has received one.

So I’d like to take this opportunity to offer this lovely award to anyone who’d like it. Please feel free to take the Quillfeather. Just remember to let us know how you like your eggs.

And while you’re here, I’d like to share a little something with you that I found. Click here and watch this video I found on Behler Blog. I adore the poem and the animation.

TGIF!

Elana is running a Fantabulous Followers Giveaway and you need to go check it out. It really is fantabulous. She’s giving away seven books, but you only have until March 14 at 10 PM to enter. So hurry.

And since it’s Friday and we’re at the end of another brutal week, I thought I’d make myself feel better by putting up another one of the awards I’ve been hording. This one is really special not only because Wendy made it herself and I was one of the original recipients, but also because it was the first award two people gave me, which made me very happy. Roxy also bestowed the Quillfeather honor on me. So thank you both. Now what I’m supposed to do is tell you how I like my eggs. Here goes.

Scrambled with cheese. Scrambled with cut up hot dogs and cheese tossed in. Over medium with cheese melted on top. In a sausage omelet. In a sausage and cheese omelet. In a breakfast sandwich with ham and cheese. Are we sensing a theme here? In a country omelet with sausage and cheese and hashed browns stuffed inside and sausage gravy ladled over the top. With pancakes. Baked Italian style over tomato sauce and topped with fresh grated parmesan cheese. Eggs Benedict.

Can you tell I love eggs? And breakfast? Maybe I’ll swing through Mickey D’s on my way to work and get an Egg McMuffin.

Happy Friday and enjoy whatever you may be having for breakfast.

Monday, Monday

Happy Monday. I hope you all had a wonderful weekend.

It’s time for me to admit something. I am a slacker. I have a bunch of awards that I’ve graciously been given and I’ve just been collecting them and waiting for the right time to post. To those who’ve given me these, mea culpa, my bad, and I’m sorry. So here we go with the first of these.

Weeks ago, the lovely Anne over at Piedmont Writer gave me the Honest Scrap Award. I now have to tell you ten things that make me happy. Here goes.

1. My husband. Twenty-six years and he’s still the most important person in my life. Smart, charming, funny, and cute, I couldn’t have found a more perfect guy for me.
2. My kids. All four of them, who make me happy just by being who they are.
3. My writing. I am so grateful and humbled when the words come, when they say what I want them to say.
4. Reading. I love where words can take me. I love to read great writing that touches me, transforms me, transports me.
5. Sleeping. Enough said.
6. Diners. I love diners and coffee shops. I love the food, the atmosphere, the people.
7. Cooking. I love to cook. Clean up not so much. I love creating things my grandmother showed me how to make. I love making things my mother-in-law showed me how to make. And I love stepping outside my usual to try things from the Food Network which I watch way too much. I love Alton Brown, Giada, and Iron Chef.
8. Libraries. I love the books, I love the quiet, I love the wealth of knowledge and thought held inside its walls. I feel smarter just walking into a library.
9. Blogging. I love the blog universe, the people I’ve met her who have welcomed me so warmly and graciously and the words I’ve read and written here. This is truly a special place.
10. Naps. Now I’ve mentioned sleeping, but naps are different. I love to wake up early on a day I don’t have to and enjoy the luxury of taking a nap later on when I’m tired just because I can. Naps seriously rock.

Ok. That’s it for me. I’m supposed to pass this on. But it’s been around for a while now, and I don’t know who has won this award or who wants to win it. So if there is anyone out there who wants it, please take it and enjoy. As for the rest of my awards, well, to paraphrase Alton Brown, that’s another post.

Award!

TGIF! It seems like forever since I’ve put up a post that wasn’t a response to a challenge. I’ll probably talk about the intensity of the Nine Muses Challenge at some point in the near future, and I have some other things I made sticky notes in my head to talk about, but for now it’s award time.

This award was given to me by the lovely and much more interesting than me Nicole over at One Significant Moment at a Time. And that means that I have to tell you seven interesting things about myself.

1. I was going to be an archaeologist. Really. I have a BA and an MA in Anthropology and Geography. After getting married and starting to have kids, I realized I wouldn’t be digging for months on end far from home. So I went back to school for my M.Ed so that I could teach. In the years that it took to get my degree and for the kids to get old enough for school, I used to tell people I was the most educated unemployed person they knew.

2. I have been married for twenty-six years and have four children, one of whom was born at home on the family room couch after the hospital sent me home. The paramedics who helped deliver her didn’t have a thermal blanket with them, so they wrapped the baby up in tin foil for the ride back to the hospital to protect her from the January cold. Needless to say, my doctor was not amused.

3. When I was seventeen, I had enough credits to graduate from high school, so I basically skipped my senior year and spent my time learning to fly a single-engine, fixed-wing, four-seat Cessna.

4. I’m a great cook. I love Food Network and Iron Chef and Good Eats and Diners, Drive-Ins, and Dives. I’ve tried a lot of their recipes and I secretly want to take Guy’s book and my car and road-trip across America visiting each one Guy’s places.

5. I have a friend that is really the other half of my brain. We might live 2000 miles and three time zones apart, but we can still finish each other’s sentences.

6. I love Edgar Allen Poe but I think Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird might be my favorite novel of all time. Followed by Fahrenheit 451, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Blind Assassin, The Road, and Call of the Wild.

7. I think chocolate is a food group.

Now I get to pass this award on to some other deserving souls. So I’m giving it to:

Amy over at She Writes
Anne over at Piedmont Writer
Wendy aka quillfeather

Award!

PW over at Piedmont Writer gave me this award so a big thank you to her. Now I have to try and come up with one word answers. Here goes:

Your cell phone: rarely
Your hair: dyed
Your mother: dead
Your father: dead
Your favorite food: comfort
Your dream last night: none
Your favorite drink: tea
Your dream goal: writer
What room you are in: computer
Your hobby: writing
Your fear: success/failure
Where you see yourself in six years: older
Where you were last night: home
Something you aren't: vivacious
Muffins: yes
Wish list item: home office
Where did you grow up: Chicago
Last thing you did: make dinner
What are you wearing: sweats
Your tv: which one?
Your pets: none
Friends: real 12, online lots
Your life: exhausting
Your mood: down
Missing someone: not really
Vehicle: Pontiac
Something you aren't wearing: hat
Your favorite store: Pottery Barn
Your favorite color: black
When was the last time you laughed: hysterically?
Last time you cried: can’t remember
Your best friend: Jaime
One place you go over and over: my head
Facebooking: sometimes
Favorite place to eat: diners

And there you have it. My list. I have to pass this on so it goes to:

Eva at Writing Between the Lines because she likes shiny things. :)

My first blog award

Roni over at Fiction Groupie gave me this Happy 101 Award so here’s a big shout out and my thanks to her. I’m supposed to make my happy list, so here it is.

10 Things that make me happy:

1. My hubby and kids
2. My friends
3. My students
4. Reading
5. Writing
6. Learning
7. Teaching
8. Chocolate
9. Carbs
10. Flying

And I’m supposed to pass it on, so I'm passing this along to these blogs that make me happy...

Eva at Writing Behind the Lines
Piedmont Writer
Carol at Carol’s Prints
Lotus Rising
Amy at She Writes

Reading all of these lovely people makes me very happy indeed. So thanks again to Roni, and go check out my happy places. :)