It's award season!!

I've been delighted to receive 2 new awards in the last 24 hours. I'm most appreciative, as they are both women who have their own excellent blogs that inspire and motivate, and are entirely deserving of these awards they received before passing them on to moi.

The first is: the Beautiful Blogger award and was given to me by Helen at Doing a 180. If you haven't visited her blog, check it out as she perseveres on her mission to be lean, fit and healthy by the time she turns 50. She provides great inspiration and amusement.

The second is: and was given to me by the love Patsy from the U.K.. Patsy muses about her journey to lose 100 pounds (as her blog title notes), as well as about her adorable baby and husband, and extended family. She's remarkably upbeat and positive and I always feel better after reading her daily posts.

The Beautiful Blogger award rules are to list 7 things about yourself that no one knows and then pass it on to 7 others; and the Happy 101 asks that you list 10 things you love and pass it on to 10 others! Yikes - I've already seen these awards on many of the blogs I read, so coming up with fresh new recipients might be a challenge. I'm taking my lead from Patsy who modified the combined rules by listing 10 things she loves and passing it on to 10 folks. I know I can do the love part...here goes!
1.My husband Tom - he endures a lot with me, but I can say with certainty that goes both ways!
2.My 3 wonderful kids - Jean 25, Stephen 23 (tomorrow is his b'day! Happy B'day Steve) and Mark 21. I am incredibly blessed with these fine offspring who are good human beings with big, warm and kind hearts.
3.My IPOD - it's an 8gb Nano and has 2500 or so of my favorite songs. I love to plug in and move to the music, esp. when I'm cooking dinner! Makes chores less chorey.
4.Knitting - esp. knitting socks - my current favorite project. I'm going to post some pics of some of the socks I've done one of these days, just for self promotion.
5.Felting - This is taking a hand knit product made from 100% wool and washing and shrinking the hell out of it to make a tight fabric that makes great purses, bags, stockings (the Christmas kind), and other nifty objects.
6.AA - everyone who reads my blog knows I love AA, and sobriety, btw. 18+ years back, I would have put drinking on this list. I'd have been wrong - and probably 3 sheets to the wind.
7.My in-laws - I married into a fantastic family with whom I fit very well. Being an orphan by age 23 and an only child to boot, marrying a man with a huge family was a stroke of genius. Too bad I didn't think of it - I think the guy upstairs extended a bit of grace my way there.
8.Being a nurse. Good fit for me.
9.My friends. Too numerous to count. Where I wasn't bestowed with much original family, it's been made up in this realm.
10.Reading. I must add that blogging has cut down a bit on my book reading - reading blogs and archives takes time!
Now - For recipients - again I will bootleg Patsy's idea of offering these awards to all the blogs I read and follow. In particular, I send them both to: Beth at Merry Perennial; Helen at Doing a 180; Chris at A Deliberate Life; TJ at TJ's Test Kitchen; Debby at Debby Weighs In;Larkspur at Am I Really That Fat; and probably at least 10 others who've already received one or both of these, and 20 others who haven't. (Sorry for the format change on Larkspur - I'm still new at hyperlinking, and doing so many at once makes me HYPER!

I can't say often enough how grateful I am for this blogging community. I'm a support group kind of gal, and this format with all the earnest and wonderful people completely fills the bill. I also love writing (forgot to mention that in my list), and blogging gives me the arena in which to practice.

Tomorrow is the second reporting for the Perfect 10. I'm feeling a lot better about it this week than last...we'll see!?!