Liebster Blog Award

The very sweet Alice over at Pins and Needles with other cat things blog gave me a new to me award. Thanks Alice! 

Here are all the details about the Liebster Blog award:

Liebster is a German word, meaning favorite, dearest or beloved, and the Liebster is awarded by bloggers to other, newer bloggers who have fewer than 200 followers, to spread the word and help the new(er)bies gain wider recognition.  The award comes with four conditions that each recipient must satisfy when accepting:

1.  Choose five up-and-coming blogs (with fewer than 200 followers) to award the Liebster to.
2.  Show your thanks to the blogger who gave you the award by linking back to them.
3.  Post the award on your blog.  List the bloggers you are giving the award to with links to their sites.  Leave comments on their blogs so they know about the award.
4.  Share five random facts about yourself that people don't know about you.

My 5 blogs with fewer than 200 followers - this was harder than I thought it would be.
Corgi Cottage -  Laurie has beautiful stitching and sweet Corgis. What more could you want?
Karoline's Korner - I love Karoline's blog for the stitching...and well because of where she lives. I dream of going for a visit!
Wooley Thoughts - Melody is a dear friend and I love seeing all her WIPs. I'm lucky and get to see most in person since we don't live too far from each other and are both members of our local EGA.
Tot Hill Farms Stitches - Chris is a fantastic stitcher, plus she makes great pictures of trips she takes.
Knit Kimber Knit - Thought I'd throw in a little yarnie-goodness only blogging. Kim knits and spins. I just love all the colors. Plus she's a collector of sock yarn, love me some sock yarn! I'm not sure how many followers Kim officially has, so she's kind of a wild card.

5 Random Facts about myself: (these are always hard!)
1. I was on a competitive swim team as a teen, before my parents moved me to "the country".
2. I love rabbits/bunnies/hares and really want to own one but never have.
3. I live in Florida but I'm not that fond of the ocean, I'd rather be in the mountains.
4. I collect cookbooks.
5. Sadly I like all the "Housewives" shows. Everyone has their vice.

I keep meaning to share something fun with everyone. Now is as good a time as any since we need some pretty pictures.

Anyone want to take a guess what this is?

Maybe this will help....

The last time I went to my hairdresser she had this for me in her car. The perks of having a hairdresser that also deals in antiques. She figures its from the 70's.  She found it at am estate sale and immediately thought of me so she picked it up for me. I had some cleaning to do, but it turned out nicely. I love it. I put it in my office, which still needs some work to turn it into the office/craft cabana.

I'll leave you with some final pictures and wish everyone a great week!

A Blog Award

Not sure I deserve an award for my blog lately since it's been so sporadic, but my friend Ria over at "Short Attention Span Theater" thought I did last month. How she manages to blog most every day while raising an amazing daughter, working and being married is beyond me. She makes me tired just thinking about it. I met Ria online because we both knit and like NASCAR, which obviously makes her a very wonderful person so go check out her blog. I have to say though we've never met IRL, I just know she's all kinds of awesome, and not just because I'm fairly certain she laughs at my snarky remarks when we're on a chat during a NASCAR race.

The rules of the award are as follows: (oh and let me point out for the non-USA bloggers who I'll be naming you have to read this in your best Scarlett O'Hara or Rhett Butler voice. Carry on.)

Pam says: “In my best southern accent, I would like to say that I have been thinking about a new award and what I would like it to say. People are like Forrest Gump said ” Life is like a box of chocolates and you never know what you’re gonna get.

You can see this box of chocolates is filled with different and unique candies and just like the chocolates we are all different and unique people. We are the same in that we all have common ingredients that make us more a like than not. Except for the frosting, which represents our personalities, we are indeed very similar on the inside.”

And of course there are rules: 1. That you must pass this award to others.

2. Link back to me when you have passed them forward.

3. Write a nice post about this award.

4. You must read this award with a southern accent. I call it southern day where we all have to speak with a southern accent. I know that will be hard for some of you, but for the rest of us, we will be fine. So now, ya’ll just enjoy this little ol’ award and have fun with it.

5. And of course let your folks know that they have a nice award waiting for them.

So who get's the box of chocolate next?

Jill at Stash Collector (maybe she'll post now too!)

Heather at It's Geek to Me (a.k.a. "The Magic that is Heather")

Jackie at Jackie's Stitches (because I just taught her to stitch on linen and she's amazing!)

Grant at Mostly Harmless (because how else would I see lovely pics of England and keep up with the Reading soccer...I mean football scores? oh and I shouldn't forget the lovely pottery.)

Karoline at Karoline's Corner (because she has amazing stitching and the every lovely Rosie, oh and more lovely shots of the UK.)

Siobhan at Notes from Blue Hen Hollow (of the prolific and beautiful samplers and who I hope one day to visit in Ireland when I go to see where my Sullivan family ties came from.)

Melody at Wooley Thoughts (whom I stitch and knit with IRL and who's rugs I think are magnificent)

I hope everyone enjoys their box of chocolates as much as I enjoy seeing a little bit of their world in their blogs. (BTW, I changed the picture of the box of chocolates because...well I don't know why. This picture of the chocolates is from this company in the UK. Sometimes I just drool over what they have on their website. I'm thinking it would be worth the trip.)

I got an award and now you might too!

Last Friday TMTIHeather gave me an award that I need to pass along. Since when you read this I'll be in Tallahassee probably looking around a yarn store or in a grocery store buying what we need for tailgating I thought I'd pass along the award. I hope those who receive understand that I love their blog for different reasons.

So, here are "the rules":

For those of you who have been awarded, please post the following rules on your Blog:

1. The winner can put the logo on their Blog.
2. Link the person you received your award from.
3. Nominate at least 7 other Blogs.
4. Put the links to those Blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the Blogs of those you’ve nominated.

1. For the lovely knitting, and the times she has even more lovely hand dyed yarn, How Raven Lit the World.

2. Because you can always count on Kim to find the best sock yarn and show you pictures of it... Knit Kimber Knit

3. She doesn't post often enough, but when she does I love the eye candy Yarntender

4. Dan's blog always gives me something to think about. I don't "participate" but I always read it.

5. Because she has great stitching eye candy! Willow Tree Stitcher

6. More great stitching eye candy for you stitchers out there can be found at Sally's blog

7. I think I've told you about Heidi's stitching site, but she also has another site about her life, Celebrate The Seasons. Pure eye and soul candy. Take your time browsing her site.

Whew, that's 7. I don't have time to notify folks right now. But I will. However if you see your blog name, consider yourself notified. Play along if you want, but don't feel obligated. I will still love each of your blogs!

Random notes

1. Thanks for all the nice comments about the tree.

2. Heather, the Swedish Star ornament is not from you. I acquired that one year at our church's Fall Bazaar. I believe that was made by the very dear Mrs. Howard, who has since passed away. (She was a fascinating woman who had been a journalist back when a woman journalist was rare indeed. She always used the Italian pronunciation of my name which is much more lyrical then how most everyone else says is. I miss her very much.)

3. I'm so glad at least 1 other person is going to start decorating. (Mindi I want to see pictures of your decorations too.)

4. I'm not sure why people see my pictures and think I do good finishing work. I do passable finishing work. The cube actually has some problems, like the bottom is kind of rounded. I've apparently overstuffed it. I don't care, there's no way on this side of heaven that I'm taking it apart and changing it in any way. It's done, I figure after some time the batting will settle and the bottom will become less rounded.

5. My family has great stories and they need to be written down. Apparently my mom, her sister and some cousin's gathered at my aunt's house when mom & dad were in WV. Also apparently they got to talking about growing up in a little "town" (and I use that word very loosely) in the same state. Understand, my mother was born in a coal camp and lived in the same house until her father died in WW2. They then moved less then 10 miles to Allen Junction. You won't find it on a map, at least I doubt you will. It's small, but things happened there. Things like people playing pianos and singing songs while houses burned. (Oh yeah, there was alcohol involved with this.) They also have stories about visiting their grandmother's sisters back in VA. These are the stories that need to be written down and I think I should do it. They would make you laugh and cry and then laugh some more. (Don't even get me started about the wake where they laid the dead man on the top of the bar and he raised up during the festivities.)

6. When you want to find something, it will remain hidden. (This is just a given. Probably part of Murphy's Law.)

7. Apparently I make someone smile. (BTW, this is my first blog award. How cool is that?)

Or at least I make Heather smile (which is good since she always makes me smile!) So now I have to give this to 10 other bloggers who make me smile. I have to admit, this was kind of hard. There are a lot of blogs out there that make me smile for any number of reasons, but here goes. In no particular order (as they say on DWTS)...

* Knit Kimber Knit - mainly because she has a dog named Snoopy and she puts up such great Mike Rowe pictures.

* Yarntender - she just rocks and she taught me to knit!

* Knitting for Amazons! - anyone who admits to having a WIP named "The Dead Bride" is ok with me.

* Contemplaing my needle and thread - what finishes, what great stitching!

* What's Up with Wyora? - Mindi's logic is always worth a smile or 2.

* Karoline's Corner - well lately because she's having a little alien of her own and that's just way cool.

* Not A Beginning Knitter Anymore - Ok, she doesn't post often (cough, cough) but when she does watch out.

* How Raven Lit the World - pretty yarn always brings a smile!

* Notes from Carol's Stitching Nest - another occasional poster, but she always has such beautiful finishes that are inspiring.

* Blog A Go-Go - I adored her 1st book and wait anxiously for her 2nd (which should be coming soon!). Until that happens I smile to see "in which" way things will develop on her blog.

That's 10, I didn't duplicate any of Heather's entries, so you should check out her list as well. There's a few on there I get a smile or 2 from on any given day.

8. Have I mentioned that I am a huge Jane Austen fan? I actually kicked around the idea of getting my Master's in English Lit because of the Jane. (I like to think a very horrid spell of mono. derailed my quest, and it probably didn't help, but in all actuality I wanted to make a paycheck so I could pay off my student loans and used the mono. as a handy excuse.) But I digress...Jane Austen is wonderful because when you read her books you either see yourself, or friends and relatives, or all three at the same time. That's why this quiz was interesting to me. If it is to you, then see what it says about you. As for me, it seems that I'm the most like the following character...

Take the Quiz here!

Interesting huh?

9. I found another sign that Christmas is upon us. Publix (that's my favorite grocery store for those in other countries or parts of the U.S.) finally has Egg Nog ice cream in stock, their brand. The yummy goodness came home with me tonight. It's ok, I have it on excellent authority that there is only so much Egg Nog available each year, so you have to drink (and in this case eat) what you can before it becomes extinct again. (This also goes for mincemeat and home made rum balls. The latter can get you in more trouble though so you do have to be a bit careful with them.)

That's it. My random-ness is tired and craves some sleep.