December 30, 2011

TGIF: December's Best Edition

Welcome to....




Go HERE to read all about how this came to be.  Basically, it's about ending your week on a positive note!
To participate
1. Write a post about something good that happened this week (or if you don't blog, tell me by leaving a comment). It can be anything. Just keep it positive!
2. Grab the #TGIF button and include it somewhere in your post.
3. Come back here and link up.  Linky is open all weekend (even when I publish a new post).
4. Visit other linkers, leave comments and consider giving them a follow (it would be nice if you followed me, but no pressure).
5. Share posts on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc, if you are so inclined!
6. TGIF is open to guest posting!  In fact, I'd like to have someone else here every other week.  If you want, instead of just linking your post to mine, you can write the post instead of me.  Just let me know by Thursday of the week that you want to do it, and I will happily step aside and let you take the floor!  Be warned, if no one volunteers, I might put you on the spot and you will feel obligated to do it because you love me!
* * * * *

For your New Year's weekend reading pleasure I present to you the blog posts I have squirreled away all month long to be shared for Best of the Blogosphere with Sue at Cookie's Chronicles.

Even though Sue isn't actually doing it this month.  Something about the Holidays or some such thing.

Never mind.  It wouldn't be right to let these posts go to waste, so I am doing it anyway!


Wanna Hang Out? by Dee at Motherhood Truth - she threw a little party inspired by me!

You know what, I Am a Pretty Damn Good Mom by Jenn at Fox in the City - I was very proud of her for giving herself a big pat on the back after everything she's been through dealing with PPD.

Remembering the Magic by Tonya of Letters for Lucas, published at The SITS Girls - this simply touched me.  Read it and it will touch you too.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat. by Julie at mamamash - A perfect synopsis of life as a SAHM.

It's Official. I'm a Hooker. by The Sarcasm Goddess at For the Love of Writing - hilariously (and clumsily) showing off her Christmas spirit!

More Than Enough by Kristin of What She Said, published at Just.Be.Enough - because of the journey.

Momwich embraces Christmas....maybe. by Brandy at Momwich - she reminds us that we have a finite number of Christmases with our children AS children, and that is a really good thing to think about.

My Naughty Little Elf, Frank! by "someone" at Mommy2Cents - this is just really creative and funny, and kind of wrong and disturbing too.

The Ubiquitous Year in Review Post by XLMIC at Taking It On - just for the pictures and also for the last line.  Because that's pretty much what matters.

Until It’s Happened to Someone You Love, It’s Best to Keep Your Effing Mouth Shut by Laura at Catharsis - because she's absolutely right and wrote with such passion that I wanted to stand up and cheer when I was done reading!

Parker by Lori at The Lyons' Din - because after the frustrations we experienced right before Christmas, reading this put it into better perspective.  Warning: you might cry.  I did.

Lastly, I would like to share that a post I wrote back in June, before most of you started getting to know me, was featured as "Blogmas Worthy" by Fadra of all.things.fadra!
Blogmas Worthy
Click to see the other posts featured!

As this year winds down, I just want to say THANK YOU to all of you who read me, comment, tweet my posts and are so supportive of my blogging.  Besides you guys, there's my mom who is pretty much my cyber stalker.  There is my dad who has begun bragging about my blog to anyone who will listen.  My best friends, J.Ho and Jess who read everything I write, plus interact with me IRL so they know like EVERYTHING there is to know about me (and love me anyway).  My friend Carin is super supportive without actually being a reader, which seems odd, but if you knew her you'd understand.  And then there's Mark, who hasn't sat here and read a thing I've written, but he swears he will, who lets me devote all the time I want to this because he is the sort of husband who encourages his wife to do whatever will make her happy.

Thanks Graphic #106


Happy New Year!


December 28, 2011

Year in Pictures

January


February


March


April


May


June


July


August


September


October


November


December




December 26, 2011

2011: Year in Review

Of course the last Monday of the year our Listicle task is 10 Things 2011.

I mean, obviously.

My 2010 Year in Review was a no-brainer.  There were two very distict (distinctly different) events to point to last year.

The events of 2011 were a bit more gradual and not necessarily obvious, except to me.

1. I experienced a serious PITA first thing last January that really pissed me off and made me all emotional and stuff.  Specifically, this PITA was a problem with the squishy stuff (yes that's a technical medical term) in between 2 of my lower lumbar that was very painful and stayed that way for awhile.

2. I went through a lot of personal growth and learning last winter and spring.  I was a bit of a drama queen. I had a DUH moment.  I ruminated on romance (or the lack thereof).  Didn't blog at all for a few weeks.  Got more adventurous with my knitting.  Six months post-bypass came and I realized I was learning how to turn my "wounds into wisdom".

3.  I began a series of posts highlighting Random Acts of Kindness.

4. I turned 37 in April and starting shedding expectations, to be truly grateful for whatever gifts come my way.  Little or big or whatever.  To simply celebrate life.

5. I wrote a post about my boobs and then said a prayer.

6. June brought 3 milestones for my kids.  AJ graduated from Pre-K, Camryn bridged from Junior to Cadette Girl Scout and then she graduated from 5th grade.  I was a proud mom, while asking myself what is going on here??  July also brought Cami's 11th birthday and our 13th wedding anniversary.

7. Over the summer I dove head-first into blogging more.  I discovered memes, writing prompts and Twitter.  I made new friends and learned so much!

8.  The kids and I got to spend a week with family and friends in Lake Tahoe in August.  I didn't know how happy I would be to go back until I did.

9. The 1 year anniversary of Mark's bypass and the "night from hell" came and I proclaimed that it had been the worst night of my life, to date.  But also that I came "away from nearly realizing my biggest fear with a fuller heart and with so much gratitude, I can't even fully express it."

10. My family experienced the sudden loss of my uncle on October 22.  I made it through November NaBloPoMo complaining that I didn't win a prize only to turn around and win THREE prizes elsewhere (I am now thinking the Universe heard everyone's outrage at my prize-less NaBloPoMo).  Lastly, we've been dealing with a medical hiccup with Mark and then had Christmas!

(If you'd like my year in more of a nutshell, you should really read my guest post at finallyMom.)

I think 2011 was a pretty full year.  Ups and downs and twists and turns.  But isn't that how every year is?    It wasn't exceptional, nor did it suck, and that's totally fine with me.  Now I am looking forward to 2012 armed with all that I've learned this year!





December 21, 2011

Climb Aboard the Hall Family Roller Coaster!

I posted this on Facebook on Monday: Climb aboard the Hall Family Roller Coaster! Sit down & buckle up. Our ride begins with a broken chest wire, we will pause for just a sec to remove it, there will be several very fun loops and things during a perfectly normal weekend and then we will end by heading back to the station (hospital) for IV antibiotics. Enjoy the ride!

I am so witty online!

For those of you who don't know, my husband Mark had heart bypass surgery a little over a year ago and they use wire similar to piano strings to hold the chest plate together for healing.  Well, Mark broke one of them, possibly by sneezing hard, it got infected and he needed to have it removed.

And now....

My husband is in the hospital with a staph infection requiring IV antibiotics after he tried to get himself treated before it got to this point.

I am angry, frustrated, bummed and completely OFF.  I just wrote last week in a post about my priorities how when something is not OK with one of the four of us, everything feels off, and here we are.

I know I remind the world all the time of Mark's health conditions, but it seems to be necessary, even to the medical professionals who care for him.  He is a Type 1 Diabetic, has been since the age of 9, with a 6 year reprieve when he had a successful kidney/pancreas transplant.  He is 43 now and since losing his transplanted organs, has been back on insulin and dialysis for nearly 10 years.

These things make him extra susceptible to infection.  Last year when heart bypass was required it was discovered that he had pericarditis, a septic staph infection SURROUNDING HIS HEART.

People?  Mark may have survived that, but this is not a man we take chances with!

So yeah, I and just about everyone we know are pretty frustrated that Mark's doctors dragged their feet on this.  That might be a bit of an understatement for me.  Because a staph infection could KILL MY HUSBAND!

I don't think this is just me being melodramatic.  Or maybe it is....buuuuuttt it happened to my uncle.  It happens all the time.  It could happen to Mark.

On the other hand, I do think PTSD from "the night from hell" is rearing its ugly head right now.  I am having to force myself to see this as a separate thing.  I am having to force myself to not think about death.

And it's really hard to do.

This infection was caught early, in spite of the initial bumbling efforts of the doctors.  This will be OK.  Mark will be OK.  EVERYTHING WILL BE OK.

This is just another hiccup, bump in the road, minor inconvenience...yada, yada.  I feel like people think I should just be used to this.  That these things happen with Mark and we just have to deal them.  Well yes, that's true, but "these things" are actually serious, and they suck.

I'm allowed to hate it, aren't I?

I'm allowed to hate taking my kids to see their dad at the hospital.  I'm allowed to hate all that Mark has to deal with.  I'm allowed to hate what I have to deal with, what our parents deal with, and our friends deal with.  That there are perfectly healthy people out there who have no flipping idea how good they've got it!  I hate it all.

When you've been traumatized the way I have it can be hard to be OK with the little hiccups.  They tend to all feel like big, scary things.

It's almost Christmas.  Mark had his first heart attack on Christmas Day of 2008.  Such lovely timing.

I'm sorry if this post is rambling and doesn't totally make sense to anyone else.  Just gotta get it off my chest.

We're hoping he will be able to come home today and we can get on with Christmas....

(This post was linked with Shell's Pour Your Heart Out at Things I Can't Say.)

* *

Update 12/27/11: Mark did come home that day, but it was difficult to "get on with Christmas".  He was really tired and bothered by the wound vac they sent him home connected to.  We were both very tense and on edge all the way up to Christmas Eve.  But Christmas Day was great!  We had fun, the kids loved their gifts, we saw extended family and had a fantastic dinner in spite of a power outage.  Yesterday, at the Wound Ostemy Clinic where Mark has his dressing changed, the nurse said his chest is healing so well and so quick he may not need the wound vac much longer.  This I believe is due to all the care and concern from both and near and far, and I am grateful.  Oh, the roller coaster!



#37

December 17, 2011

Adventures in Christmas Shopping

Today was the first day Mark and I were able to get out to shop for our kids.

A Saturday.  In December.

We're pretty spoiled when it comes to days/times to shop because Mark has days off work during the week, so that's usually when we choose to shop.

It's much less busy during the week.

Mark had dialysis this morning.  When he got home we formed a game plan and got ready to go.  Called the babysitter my dad to let him know our ETA.

Slowed the car down, tossed the kids out Left the kids in Grampa's capable hands and off we went.

I consciously decided (is that redundant?) to check in with Foursquare everywhere we went in order to have a record of the day:


As you can see, we were not having any luck at the first 3 stores.  The stores either didn't have what we wanted or we didn't like the price.  Coulda Maybe Almost bought something at Walmart, but we weren't standing in a long line for cookies!

We found the gift we wanted to be from us at the Sony Outlet Store - yay!

By this time we NEEDED food.  Because it was just the 2 of us, we headed for our favorite BBQ place. It was the messiest damn thing I have ever eaten but I did NOT get one single drip of sauce on me.

As we ate we talked about what we should do about the fact that we were coming up empty-handed.  I consulted the handy Amazon app on my phone and found that the things we wanted to get were available there and we still had time to order for pre-Christmas delivery.  I couldn't believe we were going to spend all this time out shopping only to go home and order everything online!

Checked in with Grampa and told him we wanted to try one more store.

We headed to Target, at the other end of town.

I needed to use the restroom but Mark was antsy so he said to meet him back in the toy section.  Pfft, whatever, Mr. No Pee!

He left me unattended near the dollar bins!  Silly man.

Actually, after finding a couple cool snap bracelets I restrained myself from further perusal and made a beeline for the toys.

And what to my wondering eyes should appear?  A miniature sleigh and eight tiny reindeer My husband with stuff in his cart!  Stuff we wanted even.  And, AND it was ON SALE for less than everywhere else we had been, including Amazon!

Target gave us a Christmas shopping miracle!

{Begin gospel interlude} Oh happy day!  Oh happy day! {End gospel interlude}

Still came home and placed an order for some things.  And there's still stocking stuffers to get and small packages to send.

But major progress was made and I am pleased.  And I didn't even want to kill anyone.

"In the old days, it was not called the Holiday Season; the Christians called it 'Christmas' and went to church; the Jews called it 'Hanukkah' and went to synagogue; the atheists went to parties and drank.  People passing each other on the street would say 'Merry Christmas!' or 'Happy Hanukkah!'  or (to the atheists) 'Look out for the wall!'"  ~ Dave Barry, "Christmas Shopping:  A Survivor's Guide"


December 16, 2011

TGIF: Award Edition

Welcome to....




Go HERE to read all about how this came to be.  Basically, it's about ending your week on a positive note!
To participate
1. Write a post about something good that happened this week (or if you don't blog, tell me by leaving a comment). It can be anything. Just keep it positive!
2. Grab the #TGIF button and include it somewhere in your post.
3. Come back here and link up.  Linky is open all weekend (even when I publish a new post).
4. Visit other linkers, leave comments and consider giving them a follow (it would be nice if you followed me, but no pressure).
5. Share posts on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc, if you are so inclined!
6. TGIF is open to guest posting!  In fact, I'd like to have someone else here every other week.  If you want, instead of just linking your post to mine, you can write the post instead of me.  Just let me know by Thursday of the week that you want to do it, and I will happily step aside and let you take the floor!  Be warned, if no one volunteers, I might put you on the spot and you will feel obligated to do it because you love me!

* * * * *

I received a bloggy award from Cynthia at Commonplace Crazy last week.  Thank you, Cynthia!



I am now obligated to tell you 7 random things about myself and then pass the award on to 15 more bloggers.

1. My favorite coffee creamer flavor is Coffee Mate's creme brulee.

2. I seem to always need to have something to do with my hands.  Before I learned to knit I would fiddle with my fingers or the remote pick my nose or any nearby object.  So glad to be able to pick up needles or a hook now and do something useful.  I'm thinking AJ might have the same little habit.

3. I absolutely adore the song "The Rose" by Bette Midler.







4. I take my glasses off when I go to the bathroom.  This is good and bad.  Good because it gives my poor little nose a break from holding up my thick, heavy glasses.  Bad because I rarely notice how dirty my bathroom is getting.

5. I am sending out two Christmas cards this year.  I'm not an overachiever.  Just happened to get a free set through blogging.  Technically, the second card is from my kids.  And it's an ornament.  I will be sharing them here next week.

6. Before I became a stay-at-home mom I was most productive in the mornings and rarely stayed up past 10:00.  Now, I am more productive in the afternoons and often have to force myself to go to bed by 11:00.  This also kind of depends on how you define "productive".  Because I guarantee you, I am 99% of the time doing something!

7. I very much dislike putting things away.  Laundry, dishes, groceries.  That's not to say I don't like organization.  I very much LIKE when everything is put away, I just don't like doing it.

Alright, now I will give you a list of 15 blogs I have grown, or am growing, attached to, which I believe deserve any award that might come their way.  There are any number of reasons why, but I won't bore you with them because you should just click through and see for yourself.

In no particular order...
1. Bees With Honey 2. Life Ever Since 3. For the Love of Writing 4. Yeah. Good Times. 5. The Good Life 6. Fox in the City 7. Things I Can't Say 8. Catharsis 9. Anything But, and Then Some 10. Motherhood Truth 11. free fringes & lovelinks 12. Mom Rocks Mealtime 13. Chicktuition 14. Ninja Bitch, CEO 15. the robot mommy
Now, there are more blogs I read, whether completely or sporadically.  Please don't take it personally if you're not on this particular list!  There are a few other posts by me where I highlight other blogs.

Sheesh, these awards are nice to receive, but they're kind of stressful to pass on!

In honor of my kids now being on their Holiday break from school....

Hahahahahahahaha!

Tell me a random fact about you!


December 14, 2011

My Priorities

I often get the impression that I have different priorities than others.

I am not a career woman.

I'm not a "tiger mom".

While I do have a crafty bone in my body, I'm no Martha.

I am a stay-at-home mom, and a good one I think, but not Susie Homemaker.

I am a woman of the 21st century who believes her fellow women, and her daughter, can do anything they want to...yet I've never known what I want to do (besides the mom thing).

I wish there weren't political parties, rather people who want to work together for the betterment of our country and the world.

I would love it if everyone could simply believe what they believe, feel it and practice it, and leave it at that.

I don't want to argue and don't understand why so many people do.

My priorities are the people I love and caring for them.  No two ways about it.

I think because I am married to someone with more than one health condition I just don't have the energy to spend getting all worked up about every little thing.  That's not to say I don't care about things outside of my own little world.  I absolutely do.  But the other things I care about still fall under the category of taking care of the people I love.

Such as education (my children), healthcare (Mark), housing (my family), the economy (everyone).  And I'm a bit of a bleeding heart.  I care very much about homelessness and hunger.  I just can't imagine how hopeless it would feel to not even have your basic needs met.

Our extended family matters a great deal to me.  My friends are a necessity in my life.

But still, at the end of the day, it ultimately comes back to my little family.  Nothing, no really, NOTHING, is more important to me.  If the four of us are OK, then it's all OK.  If we're alright, I can think about other things.  When we're not alright, everything feels off.  As much as I just want to stop and fix what's wrong right here, I know that life goes on and I have to push myself to go along with it.  And I know it's healthy to not dwell in your own little bubble all the time, so I don't.

My priorities lie with people.  With love, comfort, closeness, connections and relationships.





December 12, 2011

Stocking Stuffers, or Small Useful Things

I have decided to go off-topic for this week's Listicle.

Because...

I got another task assigned to me by a couple of Tweeps.  And time is of the essence.

I'm starting to think Twitter was invented just for bloggers.



I don't think I'm going to list anything you can't think of yourself, but I was asked, so here ya go!

1. The recipient's favorite toiletries
Things like deodorant, lip balm, toothbrush/paste, make-up, hand lotion, nail polish, razors.  This is something I picked up from Mark's family.  So easy, just go into the bathroom and jot down what their fave brands are.

2. Sugar-free chewing gum
It is useful because kids love gum, adults appreciate fresh breath and the sugar free kind is actually good for your teeth.

3.  Hair accessories
Girls can always use more of these.

4. Matchbox or Hot Wheels cars
What boy doesn't dig these?

5. Gift cards
A fiver to Starbucks.  A 10 spot to Subway.  iTunes, Amazon.....

6. A collapsable back scratcher
I got one for Mark last year!

7. Small artsy/craftsy things
Pencils, pens, markers, crayons, stickers, glue sticks, stamps, knitting needles or crochet hooks, buttons, beads

8. Candy
Yes, this is a given, but I like to choose the recipient's favorite, special kind.

9. Playing cards
Could be real ones for grown-ups, or the cute Go Fish ones for kids.

10. Collectibles
Something the recipient collects.  My daughter collects those little souvenier spoons.

Do you have any other ideas?





Did you see?  I have a little giveaway going of Petal's Table White Chocolate Bark! Click HERE to check it out and enter!

December 10, 2011

Love, Light & Joy

Once upon a time I had this friend, Emily.

She was young and beautiful.  A wife, a mom, daughter, sister, friend.  Emily had her whole life ahead of her.

But she also had breast cancer.

Of course she fought it.  When she and her doctors thought it was gone, a fresh scan revealed that it was in fact not.  The cancer had metastasized.

She kept fighting.  But then one day it became very clear that the cancer was winning.  Emily was only 29.

It was springtime and her birthday was June 6, so she decided to try to hold on at least to turn 30.

And she did.  We had a wonderful 30th birthday party for her.  Sweet memories.

Emily left this world full of Love, Light and Joy on July 15, 2007.

She touched so many hearts in the short time she had here.  She touched me deeply.  Emily was kind and warm and strong.  I will never forget her.  A few mutual friends have gotten tattoos in her memory, and I intend to as well.

In the time I've been blogging I have only mentioned her a couple times.  I haven't always felt like it was my place or if I even have a right to, as I am not family.  I didn't include any pictures here for that reason.  But, the experience of knowing Emily and the privilege of calling her my friend was a meaningful thing in my life.  I'm very grateful to have been given a clear reason to write about her today.

That reason is this video from the American Cancer Society.  I feel really good about sharing it because cancer sucks.  Plain and simple.

Please watch the video.  And please feel free to share below how cancer has touched your life.






This post is sponsored by American Cancer Society.
Gladly and sincerely written by me.



December 9, 2011

TGIF: Life Lessons Edition

Welcome to....




Go HERE to read all about how this came to be.  Basically, it's about ending your week on a positive note!
To participate
1. Write a post about something good that happened this week (or if you don't blog, tell me by leaving a comment). It can be anything. Just keep it positive!
2. Grab the #TGIF button and include it somewhere in your post.
3. Come back here and link up.  Linky is open all weekend (even when I publish a new post).
4. Visit other linkers, leave comments and consider giving them a follow (it would be nice if you followed me, but no pressure).
5. Share posts on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc, if you are so inclined!
6. TGIF is open to guest posting!  In fact, I'd like to have someone else here every other week.  If you want, instead of just linking your post to mine, you can write the post instead of me.  Just let me know by Thursday of the week that you want to do it, and I will happily step aside and let you take the floor!  Be warned, if no one volunteers, I might put you on the spot and you will feel obligated to do it because you love me!

* * * * *

This week I'm getting a little tricky.  My good bloggy friend, Rach at Life Ever Since also hosts a Friday meme and I thought it would be fun to combine our posts one week.  And since I like having guests here, I invited Rach to share her Life Lessons for this week as a guest post, instead of on her own blog.  She will still have her linky open, so no worries!

Rach is a new mom to a cute 10 month old girl we all call Donut.  She lives in Texas with her "Do it Himself" hubby.  She enjoys being crafty and she even knits and crochets like me!





Yay, I’m so honored to be over at Jen’s today to host both TGIF and Life’s Lessons (I feel like I’m double hosting SNL by being both the featured actor and the musical guest).  Anyhoo, thanks, Jen for having me here today!


1.  I admit I was having a hard time being positive this week.  We’d had several bad nights of little sleep and I was exhausted before the day even began.


2.  And when I’m tired, my mind wanders and my mood sinks.  So Monday didn’t start off on a happy note.


3.  As the week progressed, the sleep got better, but my mood didn’t.  I was feeling a bit lonely and off this week.  I blame the rainy and cold weather at the start of the week, which meant that Donut and I were pretty much home bound for a few days.


4.  And then I started thinking about how it’s been a year since I’ve been a SAHM and I’m still struggling to find friends to really connect with.


5.  When I start thinking those thoughts, I get pretty down.  I try to be a good friend and make time for others.  To check up on them, text or email (because I stink at actually talking on the phone and can’t hear half the time over the babbling of a baby and the barking of a dog).


6.  So what do I do?  I open my computer.  And a bunch of you pop out on my screen.


7.  You DM me or email me.  You tweet with me and you leave me sweet comments on my blog.


8.  You let me know I matter.


9.  I know people who don’t blog who think this is weird.  They wonder how we can even have connections online.  And I admit I thought it was weird too.  Until I started blogging and tweeting.  And it’s been many months and some of you have been there through thick and thin.


10.  So even though things may not be exactly how I envisioned my life as a SAHM, things are still pretty good.  Thanks to you.


Thanks again, Jen, for having me here today and for forgiving me about last week’s mix-up!!  You’re a good pal.

* * * * *

Aww, Rach!  I will have you know I didn't make good mom friends til Cami was 3.  I don't want that to discourage you.  Rather, to let you know that I don't think it's easy for anyone, but that it should happen in time.

And as far as online connections go....man do I seriously wanna meet IRL some of the people I've been getting to know online!

Hmmm....what sort of funny shall I share this week.....?  This is appropriate!



So tell us, me and the voices Rach, what made you happy this week?

And then be sure to check out Life Ever Since 
and follow Rach on Twitter!


December 2, 2011

TGIF: Good Bloggy Week Edition

Welcome to....




Go HERE to read all about how this came to be.  Basically, it's about ending your week on a positive note!
To participate
1. Write a post about something good that happened this week (or if you don't blog, tell me by leaving a comment). It can be anything. Just keep it positive!
2. Grab the #TGIF button and include it somewhere in your post.
3. Come back here and link up.  Linky is open all weekend (even when I publish a new post).
4. Visit other linkers, leave comments and consider giving them a follow (it would be nice if you followed me, but no pressure).
5. Share posts on Twitter, Facebook, StumbleUpon, etc, if you are so inclined!
6. TGIF is open to guest posting!  In fact, I'd like to have someone else here every other week.  If you want, instead of just linking your post to mine, you can write the post instead of me.  Just let me know by Thursday of the week that you want to do it, and I will happily step aside and let you take the floor!  Be warned, if no one volunteers, I might put you on the spot and you will feel obligated to do it because you love me!

* * * * *

I am feeling pretty Terrific and Great about my Bloggy self this week!

First, it felt so good to boast about my bestie Jessica and her handmade origami flower Etsy shop, MyBelovedAdoria.  And I feel really good about hosting her very first giveaway for super cute Holiday ornaments (through next Tuesday).  It just feels fabulous to support my friend in this way.  I love hearing you all ooh and aah over her stuff!

I have been participating in a very friendly weekly link up called Lovelinks for a few weeks now.  It's pretty much exactly what its title says: giving some links some love!  Erica at freefringes  (why does she call her blog that?) runs it and it's a pretty genius little thing.  Every Tuesday bloggers choose their favorite post from the last week, link it at Lovelinkin.com, the bloggers who linked read each other's posts and then on Thursday we all vote for the 3 we liked the best.  On Thursday night, Erica announces the winners.  Yes, winners.  Because there is obviously the popular vote, but there's also an editor's choice and the newly instituted lurker's favorite.

Guess who's a winner this week?  That's right, ME!  Our lurker gave me a nod for my Bloggy Wisdom post.  I also have the satisfaction of knowing it gave Erica some warm fuzzies, although she'll probably deny it.

lovelinks


In case you hadn't heard, I survived NaBloPoMo 2011.  But not without a little good-natured bitterness.

Also, I had another post go up over at Band Back Together yesterday and I received some pretty nice, caring and supportive comments on it.  The Band is great!

This just in: more WINNING! As I was putting this post together, Amy the Coffee Lovin Mom just told me I won her "coffee whore" mug giveaway!  Finally, my love of coffee is validated.

Did I not say I've had a good bloggy week?  Sigh.

Now for your Friday funny...



Tell me, what Terrific, Great or Important-ness happened in your world this week?



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