7 Things: About Me!

I’ve received two wonderful awards this past month!

The first award from Sandra at quirkybooks.net is the Beautiful Blogger Award. Please take a moment and visit her site and say hello.

And Patti Clark at A Woman’s Guide nominated me for The Very Inspiring Blog Award because my blog inspires her. Thank you so much for these awards. They are received with open arms and a huge smile.

In accepting the awards I am required to display the logo, tell you something about me, and nominate others as well.Beautiful Blogger Award

As a way to get out of my comfort zone this week, I am going to cheat and tell you 7 things TOTAL about me. Not 7 for the first award and 7 for the second. I just changed the rules!

  1. I am child number five in a family of eleven children. I am the most loved and most talented( if my siblings are reading this we shall pretend I am kidding though you all know I am not.)
  2. I attended catholic school from kindergarten through twelfth grade. I am NOT a practicing catholic any longer. Everything changed when I asked Father Giles (who had left the priesthood by the time this conversation took place) why did the NO Eating Meat on Friday restriction changed (to “SURE, you can eat meat now… the church was just kidding all those centuries.”)  He explained to me that the ‘rule’ “Do not eat meat on Fridays” was created by the church as a way to boost business for the fishermen. (I kid you not!) All those days of giving up meat, eating tomato soup with egg, and other icky items… Man created those laws then RECREATED them. That was my cue to look deeper into my patriarchal religion and happily skip away.
  3. I love liver and onions with mashed potatoes and gravy. I adore half-moon cookies and headlight donuts from Wegmans.
  4. I am a library whore. I know, ugh, such foul language and yet, when you go into the library you’ll see me hanging around, checking in, checking out, touching this, holding that … and I’m known for miles around. Please don’t hate me.
  5. I despise mowing the lawn yet have issues with paying someone else to do it for me. To reward me when I do the deed, I toss $10 into my basket for something ‘fun’. Any suggestions on how I should spend it? Perhaps I can come for a visit and you can show me around your town?
  6. In the early years of my marriage, when we first moved to Colorado – I was a waitress in a Mexican restaurant. My co-workers were all young mothers like me… eager to get out of the house, away from the kids and into an environment where we could speak in complete sentences. We continue to meet, connect and grow – thirty years later.
  7. My grandson’s middle name is Seven. (Another family story!)
  8. I like to make up new rules (hence, my list of 7 has become 8…)

Now … according to the rules of the award, I am now asked to nominate seven other bloggers and ask them to tell me 7 things about them, list 7 bloggers who inspired them and to link back to me so I can see who they awarded.

Pretty easy, peasy, huh? Yeah, except there are dozens and dozens of bloggers who inspire me! Many have already received these awards and many more. Do you mind if I change the rules yet one more time?

I invite you:

  1. To share 7 things about yourself either in my Comments below or on your own page (and include a link to Inside Out Café).
  2. List other bloggers in my Comments section below who have inspired you and tell me why
  3. Do #1 and #2
  4. Create your own rules and invite me to play along!

If you choose to accept this mission, then please feel free to add the Beautiful Blogger and/or Very Inspiring Blogger Award icon on your page.

Candle Lighter Award Reaches Critical Mass

Candle lighter award imageA heartfelt thanks is sent to Jackie at A Heart Whispers for nominating me for the Candle Lighter’s Award. It was originally created by Kate Kresse as a tribute to writers who offer hope and light in the course of their writing. This award is received with warmth and appreciation and I will gladly pass it on!

I am meeting so many amazing people who are blazing new territory and writing about their experiences. Our stories are coming alive as we put a little bit more of ourselves out there. It’s scary and yet with each bold action, post or poem by one, we all gain momentum.

Long ago, I read about The Hundredth Monkey. It is a phenomenon about monkeys who learned to wash their potatoes before eating them. It happened slowly but once the number reached 100 the added energy burst through some magical wall and the entire population followed suit. Most important of all was across the seas on other islands and mainlands this was also happening. The underlying belief is when a certain critical number achieves awareness, this new awareness may be communicated from mind to mind.

The critical mass is working in our favor too. Slowly we are writing from the heart. We are showcasing our talents. We are expressing our desires. We are surrendering to sadness. We are becoming more alive.

I believe we are united in ways I can’t even conceive. Does this make any sense to you?

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