Of Cookies, Sunshine, and a Reality Check

Many thanks to Lisa of Laughing Orca Ranch for naming the I Heart You cookie and Deborah (the Lone Star Queen) of Howdy from Cowtown for naming the Cookie of Paradise! Your half dozen cookie rewards will be winging their way to you later today. I've added the cookies to my Lazy G Ranch website and revamped the website too!

My readers simply rock! You guys came out in full force with so many cookie names, it was hard for me to choose. I liked so many of your names ~ thanks so much for being the best friends any blogger could have. I wish I could send y'all some cookies to thank you, but the USPS (translation = expensive!) makes that rather formidable.

And along that "expensive" vein, a little soul-bearing is in order here.

As my readers, you probably already know that when you come to my blog, you'll be treated to fun photos, beautiful Kansas vistas, and upbeat, positive stories of my life here. Trust me, my intent is not to make you vomit every time you come to my bucket of sunshine!

Like everyone, I have my fair share of life's reality checks. A few of my biggest sunshine-robbers?

1. No job. I've been looking for a job since I moved here in July 2008. I lived off the profit of my Ohio house sale for almost a year, and then the small 401k that I cashed out last year. Two temporary stints at a local hospital have helped me bulk up my checking account so I could keep my car payment current, and family has helped me several times. (Thank you my lovely family and y'all know who you are!) The hospital wants to hire me full-time but they have not had any position become available for me. In the meantime, I often have sleepless nights wondering how I'll make my March payments... or is that just that nasty midlife menopause working its magic on me??! (This is why I peddle my dog biscuits and cookies!!)
   
2. My grandmother in Ohio is not doing well. I went back to Ohio the 2nd week of January to visit her... after a brief hospital stay and a few weeks in a nursing home, she went back to her home. A home health care worker is visiting her 3x a week, and a friend who lives a few blocks away checks in on her several times a week. She has macular degeneration, and the doctors felt she had onset Alzheimer's. We seriously doubt she has even a speck of Alzheimer's... her wit and her sassy tongue were back in full force the day we got her situated at her house!
3. We've had serious septic problems the last week. Hubby dug up the back yard and replaced a section of pipe. The problem seems to be fixed now, but just in case, we haven't backfilled that section of yard just yet! We'll still need to have the septic tank pumped. I mean, may as well, it's all dug up and easy to find now.

That's a few of the rainy spots in my life. And the only reason I decided to put it all out there? Because I know my fellow bloggers have problems too. Many times they air out their issues on their blogs. Often I can identify with them and I feel better, knowing I'm not the only one with issues.

Every day that I wake up, I try to think about the blessings in my life, the positive things. And there are many! Here are just a few:

1. My son (only child!) and his wife are pregnant! THIS is a big deal. They've had 2 known miscarriages, heartbreaking for us all, but this time she's made it to 20 weeks and the baby is doing great. They've been seeing a high-risk specialist, and it looks like I am finally, finally going to be a gramma! I.AM.SO.EXCITED. This is the biggest blessing in my life, even though they are in Ohio and I am in Kansas.
2. I'm healthy, albeit a tad overweight, but I'm healthy. Well, at least as far as I know. ;-)
3. Hubby is healthy, the rest of my family is healthy. What more could one ask for?
4. I love my dogs. Trixie and Tori are my salve. And Ringo too.
5. I love our kitties and our horses too. Animals add so much warmth and love to a human's world.
6. I have a home that provides warmth in the summer and coolness in the summer, with a very comfy bed. We have adequate clothing and vehicles to get us to work (when I'm working). We have enough food to eat and more than enough water. How could one NOT be thankful for these things, when so many people the world over don't even have the most basic need of adequate shelter?
7. The sun shines most days here in south central Kansas. Sure, we still have gray days, but in winter, you can still count on seeing the sun every few days.
8. Baking makes me happy. I love making dog biscuits for my pups and my customers' pups, and now I get to make my favorite cookies for all my friends and customers! Cooking for my husband makes me happy too... because he appreciates it!
   
9. On a lighter note, a well-mixed chocolate martini can make me very happy.
10. I love my life here on the Kansas plains! I know I've said it before, but I really do. :-)

Those 10 happy items come to you, my faithful blog readers, courtesy of Linda from Wander to the Wayside and her 101 Sweet Friends award to me last week. So now that I've named 10 things that make me happy, I need to pass this award forward to some of my readers. I'm just going to say that if you have 10 things (or more!) that make you happy in your life, then you need to grab this award and acknowledge all those happy things.


And thank you to all my readers who come here to visit. I enjoy your blogs just as much, even if I don't get there as often as I might like. I appreciate your comments so very much and I will always leave comments for you... as Linda mentioned, it's this back and forth that makes this blogging adventure so much fun!

Our next post will return to our regularly scheduled dose of sunshine... and vomit.

Gracious Thanks

To Cindy Beck of Write Up My Alley, thank you so much for my lovely "In Good Taste" cookbook by Nancy J Miles, which is also available on Amazon for those readers who may be interested in having their own copy.

I was the winner of her October 17th contest and received my delightful cookbook earlier this week. I've already used it to make chili -- since I had to use what I had in the pantry, I hodgepodge'd two recipes together. It actually turned out pretty danged good, which reminds me that I need to write down my "new" recipe before I forget!!

Cindy's blog is delightfully humorous, well, most of the time; sometimes she strikes a serious pose. Take a hike over to her blog - trust me, you'll enjoy this writer's musings. She is wonderfully blessed at putting her feelings into words. On a side note, she's been having a giveaway every week lately so you'll want to comment to enter!

Another big thanks to Misha at From My Front Porch in the Mountains for my sweet lil Honest Scrap award. I'm so very remiss in thanking Misha for this award... she tossed it my way this past summer.

"This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant. This award is about bloggers who post from their heart, who oftentimes put their heart on display as they write from the depths of their soul."

I'm glad I waited to thank her, because NOW is the perfect time for you to visit her blog and see the new foal that has blessed their lives. They've waited forever to meet this new addition to their family, and now that she's here, they are just gaga over her. Go on, and head over to her blog and see her last few posts -- what a beautiful and precious lil gal!!! You're going to love Misha's blog - she makes you feel like sittin' a spell on her front porch for a good gab and a cup of joe.

Hope y'all are having a great week, and we're almost at the weekend, yippee! May your weekend weather forecast be bright and cheery. If your weather looks ominous, well then, you'd better get your fireplace stoked and bake up some goodies with hot chocolate while you work a puzzle or play a game! :)

The Queen of WHAT??!

It's time for me to get caught up on everything I should have done on my blog this summer, but haven't!!

So first and foremost, some awards that my fellow bloggers have awarded me... obviously not well deserved, as I did not thank them appropriately when they graciously gave me these awards.

The first award that I have been remiss in recognizing... Linda from "Crone and Bear It" gave me the Queen of Awesome award back in July. JULY?! Can you believe it was that long ago? Hey, at least I kept it on my list of "to-do".


Hey, look at that! A tiara, for lil ole me to wear out here in the stix. The cows will be dumbfounded, as much as the horses I am sure - they've never seen a tiara before. It will look "awesome" with my slippers. Ha!

Of course, there are RULES for this award. *gag* Y'all know me, I don't follow the ole blog rules too well. First, I'm supposed to list 7 awesome things about me - suffice it to say I'm skipping this step. Second, I'm supposed to award this to 7, ok, 5 fellow awesome bloggers that I love.... I don't usually do this either because I'm lazy so busy... but I'm actually going to put forth a little bit of effort this time. Hey, knowing me, it's going to take me the next hour just to list FIVE bloggers. Yeh, I'm slow like that...

The RULES say that I'm supposed to tag the bloggers I award, and they are supposed to link back to me. Welllllll, since I'm so bad at accepting awards and following through on my acceptance speeches, I hardly expect my nominees to follow the rules! Accept your award with a smile, post it on your blog if you want to, and just enjoy its beauty! You are all so deserving of this award. :)

From My Front Porch in the Mountains - I adore Misha's blog. Is it possible for one country gal to be jealous of another?! She has beautiful horses, adorable cats, and sweet, sweet dogs. She makes me want to get even more dogs and cats. Check out Misha's blog and keep an eye out for Miss D - she's about to foal any day now!

Flat Creek Farm - Yes, I know, another "farmie" blog. I can't help it, I just love reading about the adventures of other like-minded rural folk! And Tammy's blog will definitely make you yearn for the country life.

For the Love of Chester - ah yes, a fellow chocolate Lab lover and owner! This is one of Ringo's fav blogs, and I'm forever fighting him for the computer... hence why he's outside right now, so I could get my fair share of time and get caught up on my blog today.

House of Spots - I will always be a dalmatian lover, since my very own first dog was a dal, and my best friend dog too. Even if you're not a dal lover, you just have to check out Kim's blog for her amazing photography. She takes the most beautiful and stunning photos of her dals!

Adventures of the Painted Creek Farm - Another dog loving girl, like me, with aussies! Do check out Paint Girl's blog when you have a minute, you won't regret it. She has a menagerie of horses, dogs and cats, like we do... but she has goats too. And she has a new mustang love, Chance, who is the cutest thang!

I absolutely love all the above blogs - new friends met through the world of blogging. Such wonderful women, all of them! And Croney, thanks so much for thinking of me when you gave me this award over 2 months ago... and I'm really, really glad we got to meet last week, in person! That was so much fun, and I highly recommend to all my blogger friends: Meet your fellow bloggers whenever you have the opportunity!

Tomorrow, I will thank Misha for her generosity in awarding me the Honest Scrap award.... back in July. What can I say? I'm just oh-so-S.L.O.W.....

Spreading the Bloggy Love

Lately I've been the recipient of several wonderful blog awards... with a new job and all my storm whining and subsequent clean-up (and we had yet another severe, house-rockin' storm last night - I am so sleep deprived right now it isn't even funny), I haven't properly thanked the givers of these awards. Matter of fact, I just discovered these awards were gifted to me in late June/early July. I am such a bad, bad bloggy friend.


First up, we have the Kreativ Blogger award from Shortmama at Family of Shorts. I think this is the 2nd time I've received this award, although the button looks a little different. In any event, I thank sweet Amanda for bestowing this award upon my blog. I don't feel like I've been very creative (or kreativ) lately - maybe if I had a few alcoholic beverages my creativity level would shoot through the roof. Hmmm, worth a try, don't ya think?

One of the rules for this award is to list 7 things that my readers may not know about me...

1. First and foremost, I'm not very good with these list thingamajiggers.

2. My dogs might tell you that I take them outside whilst in my jammies. They. Are. Liars. Then again, no one sees me out here in the country, so who's gonna prove it?!

3. The horses like me better than my hubster. Yes, I use bribery. It's simple. Treats = Love.

4. The cats like me better too. Hey, same equation works with them.

5. Yeppers, the dogs like me better too. Matter of fact, they just admitted they were lying about the whole jammie incident. They just remembered which side their bread is buttered.

6. Hubby likes me best too. Pshaw, of course I feed him too!!!

7. In my 20s, 2 of my girlfriends and I choreographed a dance and then surprised a local band by jumping on the stage to dance with them. If I remember right, the song was "Addicted to Love" by Robert Palmer. We did this several weeks in a row, the crowd loved it, and a friend took photos. This was a big deal for a shy girl like me. If I ever dig out my photo box in the bottom of our closet, I will post one of the photos. Ha! You know that's a lie.... that box will never find its way out of the closet....

The second rule is to forward this award to 7 more bloggers ... but you know me, I just offer it up to everyone who reads my blog. I'm lazy generous like that.

I was also gifted with the "Love My Friends" award from Smart Mouth Broad at Words of Wisdom From a Smart Mouth Broad. Isn't it purty??

The Love My Friends award is given to those bloggers who aspire, inspire, and share the most beautiful of human attributes; art, wisdom and friendship. Deliver this to eight friends who must deliver it to eight more.

What?! SMB knows how much I aspire to be like her, so why would she tag me with something I have to deliver to other people? Once again, in the spirit of my overwhelming generosity, I bequeath this lovely award to all my wonderful readers.

I am sure y'all are tired of my generosity laziness; I promise you, in the near future I will gift some of my newer readers with a wonderful award. I will go the extra mile. I PROMISE.

I have a few more bloggy friends to thank for some sweet awards. Keep your eyes peeled for a post later this week to thank those friends in the manner they so richly deserve.

Until then, I leave you with these photos of our stormy Kansas skies last night.

The first three photos are looking towards the northwest.
The last photo is eastwards.

Uber Amazing Blog Award and Some Award Reorganization

I've met some fantastic new bloggers the last few weeks. This is something I love about the blog world; I have met some of the most awesome people since the beginning of this year!

In that vein, I've received the Uber Amazing Blog award from someone I just met a few weeks ago, Alicia of Boyle Antique & Vintage Jewelry. Alicia is addicted to old things - clothing, jewelry, anything to do with fashion. But her blog is more than just fashion - she talks about nature and travelling, with glorious photos of her animals, landscapes, and magnificent places that all of us dream of going to! Do check her out when you have a minute.


Uber (synonym to Super) Amazing Blog Award is a blog award given to sites who:
- Inspire you
- Make you smile and laugh, or maybe give amazing information
- Are a great read
- Have an amazing design
- Any other reasons you can think of that make them Uber amazing!

Now one thing y'all know about me is that I really don't list blogs that I am forwarding this award to - I wanted to make an exception today, but I'm so pressed for time today it isn't even funny! So once again, I will continue my lame streak and tell you that every single one of my followers has an Uber Amazing Blog, and so do all the blogs that I follow!

I'm trying to get my blog more organized so that it's easier for my readers to navigate. I want the home page to be as uncluttered as possible. So I'm going to keep all my awards here on this post. There will be a link to this post so it will be readily accessible if anyone ever wants to view it.

Also, I will be updating my blog roll this week. I think I want to segment it by blog types, and I'm even thinking that I may update it once a month in order to feature different blogs. There are so many blogs out there that are just wonderful to read and I want them all to have their day in the sun.

Here are the blog awards I have been the happy recipient of thus far; please take a minute to check out these bloggers. They are all fantastic blogs in their own right!

Thank you Neil, for our Gold Hydrant award!! Y'all just HAVE to check out Neil's blog, Life With Dogs. It is hands down, THE funniest dog blog on the net!

A big thanks to Linda at Crone and Bear It!

Thanks to Jan at Expressive Papers
and Megs at My Edition of Gab

Thanks to Martha at Menagerie!

Thanks to Dawn at Rylee for Life
for my Lemonade Award!

New Blog Awards, Blog Changes, and A Cold Front Blowing Through!

I've received two new awards this month and haven't got around to mentioning them... from Megs at My Edition of Gab, the One Lovely Blog award. Her award is for my photo blog, but I really don't post awards on that blog, so I'll keep it here with the other awards. Megs has recently started a new job and will be moving from Lincoln to Omaha, Nebraska. Big changes for her! But you just have to read this post on her blog about her new job - does this sound like the dream job all of us want or what? I'm officially jealous!! Thanks for the award, Megs!! :)

Linda from Crone and Bear It has given my blog the "I Love This Blog" award. Linda is retired and as such, has nothing better to do loves blogging and puts out some hugely entertaining posts. For a laugh-out-loud read about midlife memory, check out this post here. You'll love her brand of witty and snarky humor.

I especially liked the 4th criteria for this award: Continue your passion in writing because your hard work will always be appreciated.

Now, I wouldn't say I have a passion for writing; my original purpose for my blog was to keep family & friends in-the-know since I had just moved to Kansas. Then my blog took on a life of its own - I was amazed that people I didn't know were interested in reading about my boring days on the Kansas plains. So I feel I owe it to you, my readers, to put an exciting spin on my everyday existence. Heck, I'm beginning to believe my exciting life myself.

As usual, I digress. As you all know, I'm supposed to pass these awards on to my favorite readers but I'm going to take the easy way out high road and hand these awards to every single one of my readers. Yep, go ahead, copy and paste, YOU, YOU and YOU.... great blogs all of 'em! It's getting harder for me to get around to all of your blogs and read them, but know that I enjoy the time I do have to read your blogs - I wish there were more hours in the day!!

I mentioned in yesterday's post that there are blog changes a-coming; not only a new design but overall simplification. You may have noticed my music is already gone - Change Number One. Now I know my mom and some other readers enjoyed listening to my music, but I've received complaints that my blog was loading very slowly or not at all due to the music. Read my previous post and you'll find out that you can STILL listen to my music, just at another website. I've already heard from several people that removing the music has improved my blog download time significantly!

Now, about that cold front....
a high of 91 is forecast for tomorrow and I can't wait. I've been melting this week in 100 degree and higher temps. The horses and dogs and cats are all tired of it. We're all looking forward to tomorrow's balmy temps. That's sarcasm at its best for those who don't know me.

Of Dogs and Biscuits and Gold Hydrant Awards

Last chance today to enter my
Summertime Giveaway...
deadline is tonight,
June 12th, at midnight!

Today we made these mouthwatering dog biscuits (recipe below) in honor of the Gold Hydrant Award bestowed on this blog by Life With Dogs blog owner Neil Brogan. See the shiny new award in my sidebar.

Keep reading for your chance to have some

fresh, homemade dog biscuits sent to you next week!

Trixie, Tori and Ringo were SO excited when I told them about the award. And when I told them that I would make fresh dog biscuits for the occasion, well, they just about drooled all over each other! They were not as thrilled when I told them we should send some biscuits to Nigel, Sola and Truffles to thank them for the special award. I reminded them of the goodness in sharing.... um, they weren't buying it and said dogs aren't good at sharing. Well, I suppose that's true...

For those who haven't made our dogs' acquaintance, here are pics of the lot of 'em...

Ringo and Tori, waiting for the frisbee toss

Tori (again) and Trixie at Getaway Cabins, southern Ohio,
several years ago

Some history on my dog-biscuit-making capabilities...

Years ago, when my dalmatian was in his last year and had difficulty digesting his food, I would make fresh dog biscuits AND dog food all the time. It was the only thing he could eat without throwing up. What we will do for the love of a dog...

I miss this boy!

He loved sitting in a chair at the front door.

And I digress, as usual. For those who enjoy pampering their pooches, I'm providing the recipe for the dog biscuits as pictured above. (Recipe taken from Three Dog Bakery Cookbook)

Party Hearty Mix-It-Up Mix
Makes about 84 2-1/2" size biscuits (that's how many it made for me, at least)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Mix together 1/2 cup vegetable oil, 1/2 cup honey, 1 tsp vanilla, 1 egg and 4 tsp skim milk in a bowl. In a separate bowl, blend together 2-1/2 cups whole-wheat flour, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp ground ginger.

Combine dry ingredients with wet mixture and stir thoroughly. Dough will be moist and sticky.

Knead dough on a lightly floured surface, roll out to 1/4 inch thickness and cut shapes. Note: Do not add too much flour to dough - by the time you roll out a 3rd or 4th time, the dough can get unmanageable if too much flour mixes in. Use only enough flour to keep it from sticking to countertop.

Place on greased cookie sheets and bake for 12-15 minutes. Cool on rack and store in airtight container. Note: My oven runs pretty warm and I use the airbake cookie sheets, which usually bake items slower -- yet my time was still closer to 12 mins.

Overall, a very simple and delicious dog biscuit treat! The girls and Ringo wholeheartedly endorsed my revisit to the world of homemade dog biscuits, and they are paws-itively convinced that I should make more dog biscuits in the weeks to come. They twisted my paw, er, hand...I finally gave in... I said ok! We shall continue to bake healthy dog treats and offer them up as prizes and send them out to family and friends, so that their dogs can also enjoy healthy and nutritious dog biscuits!

Alrighty then. My next batch of fresh homemade dog biscuits will be even more deelish; I have many recipes. I'll be sending a box to the crew at Life With Dogs, with many thanks. I will also be sending out boxes to the first two readers who comment on this post... so if you have dogs, you owe it to them to be "quick on the paw" and post a comment here!

Note: These dog biscuits are made with human-grade ingredients, so you could eat them yourself, if you wanted to.... but really, they are for the dogs. So it might be helpful if you own a few dogs, or at least know someone with dogs, before you try to be one of the first two commenters to scam your freebies. :-)

A Lovely Blog... (wha? my blog?!)... and a Giveaway Coming Soon!

I'm just a tad behind on thanking Jan at Expressive Papers for bestowing the "One Lovely Blog" award upon my blog. There are truly so many beautiful, humorous and just downright exceptional blogs out there in bloggyland, well, I'm just honored that she thought I had a lovely blog. Jan's blog is not only lovely, but she's a talented artist in her own right. Head on over to her blog and check out her links to Etsy and Artfire-- she handcrafts gorgeous and unique paper note cards.


Of course, I'm supposed to pass this award to other bloggers who are deserving... but I think I'm going to take a different approach this time. Every single blog I follow is a lovely blog, and that's no joke - else why in the world would I follow you? You know who you are... if you don't have this award yet, I want you to grab it from my post here and smack it on your blog. You are deserving, and YOU have a lovely blog! I love all of you for different reasons: many for the humor (I NEED your humor, everyday!), some for the photos, some for the unique lives they lead or the different countries they live in, some for their recipes... and the list goes on and on.

In keeping with this award theme, I'm going to be having a giveaway in the next few weeks. This giveaway will honor my 100th post which is coming up soon; there will be a primary prize to be drawn from the entrants. There will also be a secondary prize for whoever is in the #1 top commenter position (widget in my sidebar) on the day the giveaway closes. Watch for more details soon! (Um, I haven't figured out the prizes or the details. Yet. I want it to be really good for all of y'all!)

My blog wouldn't be what it is today without all of you, my readers. Even though I started my blog in March 2008, I didn't get serious about it until January 2009, and wow, I just can't believe all the wonderful people I have met through blogging. Who woulda thunk it!! I hope the future holds good things for my blog, as I think through how to segment it better, jazz up the graphics and make the content more appealing to everyone.

So, hang on tight as this crazy Oz Girl decides on the next path for her "lovely" blog!

ANOTHER Award?! For ME?!

Oh my, I'm blushing... Martha from Menagerie has bestowed upon me the Kreativ Blogger award. I'm soooo flattered but I admit I don't have an acceptance speech prepared, well, because I didn't realize I had even been nominated! How exciting.... two awards within weeks of each other. I'm just so special, aren't I? giggle. giggle. snort. snort.

So without further ado, here are 7 things I love that most people don't know about, before I can finalize acceptance of my very special award....

1. I love low-fat Pringles. At 2:30 a.m. With milk.

2. I'm fastidious, absolutely OCD, about my kitchen sink not being spotty. To hell with the rest of the house and all the dog hair floating around.

3. I persist in using an old fashioned screwdriver instead of a drill. I'm weird old-fashioned that way and my husband thinks I'm nuts.

4. The dogs, the cats and the horses love me best. Wouldn't have anything to do with the treats I give them, do ya think?

5. I wish I had a 400mm telephoto lens for my Nikon D60. I really, really do. Gotta put it out there, ya know, just in case someone wants to gift me with one.

6. I've discovered recently that I love my sweat pants. I even bought a "good" pair of sweat pants, so if I need to run into town and I don't want to change into my jeans, I have a pair without paint or stains. Yup. My good sweats. Is that an oxymoron???

7. I wish I had a 400mm telephoto lens for my Nikon D60. Oops, did I say that already?!

Ok, now you know the REAL me. Aren't you just so glad that you know me better?

One more thing... I'm supposed to pass this award to 7 more bloggers that are exceptionally kreativ. Now I know that some of you aren't into these awards, or perhaps you already have this award, so if I've declared that you are a Kreativ Blogger, just smile and accept your award graciously; since you're so modest, I wouldn't expect you to post this award on your blog!

Write Up My Alley... by Cindy Beck
Goats in the Garden
One Crafty Mama
Life with Dogs
Bluff Area Daily
Janie & Steve's Utah Trails
The Journeys of Cactus Jack Splash

These are all great blogs, and there are even more that deserve this award, trust me! So even if these recipients prefer not to post their award on their blog, I'm advising my readers to gander over to these blogs and check them out. You just never know, one of these could be the next-great-blog that you want to follow!

Oh, and thanks for the congrats in advance. giggle. giggle. snort.

The Fire, Ice and Power-less Award?! For ME?

So, I've just been informed from Dawn at Rylee for Life that I've earned the "When life hands you lemons..." award by virtue of our out-of-control pasture fire, our break-the-trees ice storm, and now our ongoing lack of electric power due to said ice storm.

Well, golly gee whiz, I guess maybe I have earned this award, whaddya think? :-) Thank you, Dawn!

I mean, I haven't slit my wrists yet. In fact, aside from some whining to my ever patient mother last night, I've pretty much plastered a smile on my cold face and extra clothing on my shivering body to keep warm at night. Everyday, I cross my lil blue fingers and hope and hope and hope that TODAY is the DAY, the electric is going to zap back on!!! So far, my positive energy hasn't ignited the wires over our house...

So, here's the thing about the lemonade award. I want to pass it on to some of my bloggy friends, who have done the same... you know, made lemonade out of their lemons. Or maybe they're just optimistic all the time. For whatever reason (and YOU will know why you were nominated, even if everyone else is unsure), here are my nominees for the Lemonade Award:

Midlife, Menopause, Mistakes and Random Stuff
Midlife Slices
Finding Sirius
Words of Wisdom From a Smart Mouth Broad
Write Up My Alley
A Day in the Life of Binks
Binks, you know it's for that danged technology ignorant and computer abusing boss of yours .... I sympathize with ya on that one, since my former boss is/was a mirror image of yours!

So, here are the rules for this award:

1) Put the logo on your blog or post

2) Nominate blogs that show great attitude or gratitude

3) Link to your nominees within your post

4) Let the nominees know that they have received this award by commenting on their blog

5) Share the love and link to the person from who you received your award