Wednesday Ramblings

I have several items of interest to mention today, but there is no real common theme, hence the title of today's post --- ramblings.

First of all, There is a cute little literary quiz floating around on several blog sites (I am sorry, I did not write down all the sites that mentioned the quiz!) There are only 12 questions to answer and the results are fun to read. If you haven't taken the quiz yet, I urge you to take 5 minutes time and have a little fun here. I am rather proud of my label: Literate Good Citizen.

Secondly, I was incredibly honored - and humbled yesterday - as I received 2 blogging awards!! I do not remember the last time I won ANY award, much less two in one day. It's funny, I was driving to an errand yesterday morning and a red fox ran across my path. I thought, "Hmmm...I know it is bad luck if a black cat crosses your path; I wonder if it could be good luck if a red fox crosses your path." I think the answer is YES! Not only was I given these two awards, but we found out that my husband does indeed qualify for unemployment (l-o-n-g story, but we are thrilled to have the little bit of money from this venue, since we have had NO money for the past 6 weeks); he was called for a job interview AND he was offered a job (a 100% commission which is not ideal BUT it was a job). God is good (and perhaps, so is the fox).

Anyway, I digress --- back to the awards. The first award I received was the Great Buddy Award from Carey at The Tome Traveller's Weblog. Although I have not known Carey for a long time, it is amazing how much we have in common. While we share the love of books, we also share the love of travel and I very much look forward to getting to know Carey better through 2009. In the spirit that this award was given, I would like to pass it along to two other bloggers that I have also met and truly consider them to be a "blogging buddy." First I would like this along to Sheri at A Novel Menagerie. Sheri befriended me shortly after I began my blog and we have found kindred spirits in our love of labs. Thank you, Sheri, for reaching out to me.

Secondly, I would like to pass along the Great Buddy award to Kim at Page after Page. Kim and I have both had, well, shall I say...challenging years in 2008 and she has been so kind to reach out in comfort and compassion to me. Kim, you are truly a blogging buddy, and I hope we can continue to encourage one another in 2009.

If you would like to brighten someone's day, consider passing along this award to one or two of your Great Buddies. The rules are simple and the blessings are enormous!

Rules to participate:

1. Put the logo on your blog.

2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.

3. Award up to ten other blogs.

4. Add links to those blogs on yours.

5. Leave a message for your awardees on their blogs.

The second award I received was the Butterfly award from Lisa of Books and Cooks (just LOVE that blog name!!). Ok -- now I have to admit --- I had been reading several blogs who also received this award for the "coolest blog I know" and I was secretly a little jealous. BUT...being the competitive person that I am I thought "OK....this is something to shoot for next year" I NEVER in my wildest dreams thought that someone thought I had a "cool" blog. Lisa, you made my day - and all I can say is --- I hope to make the blog even "cooler" throughout 2009.

Now, here is the tricky part. How do I pass along this award?! I mean truthfully, I think every single blog I read is "cool". I have learned a little something from each and every one of you! So first and foremost if you are reading this post - no matter if you read it today or a month from today - consider yourself a recipient of this award. Just by venturing into the blogging community and "putting yourself out there" so to speak, deserves this award. However, since I do not have the time nor space to list all 55+ bloggers that I follow, I will limit my personal shout out of this award to the two blogs that I first visited and inspired me to try my hand at writing my own blog. I think everyone in the book blogosphere is familiar with Becky of Becky Book Reviews and J. Kaye of J. Kaye's Book blog. Both of these blogs are updated at least once a day and both of these ladies have an amazing amount of valuable information to share with us (in fact when I was first considering this adventure, I emailed them both to ask questions and they both responded within an hour with an amazing amount of useful information to help me get started). Becky and J. Kaye --- you are both INCREDIBLE!!

Again, I think this is an award that can continue to be passed around. So, if you would like to let someone know that they have a pretty cool blog, just do the following:
1. Put the logo on your blog
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you
3. Award up to 10 other blogs
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your awardees on their blogs.

Well, that is about all the ramblings I have for this Wednesday. It was the first day back at school and I my feet are killing me!

I wish you all the best-
Molly