Blog bling!

My new bloggy friend Kristin just awarded me the lovely blog bling now prominently displayed in my sidebar. Awww, thanks Kristin! We met in the blogosphere but it turns out we live in the same town (albeit on different sides of the same town) and as I've been thoroughly enjoying her blog, Twitter and Facebook updates, I hope that someday we can hang out in person. But, she might already've caught on to the fact that I'm a nutty nut who isn't above wearing jammies to the bus stop and singing enthusiastically in public, so maybe she wants to keep the blogosphere between us as a safe distance. I hope not though, 'cause she seems very real and funny and down to earth.

Anyhow, it now is my turn to bestow the bloggy love upon others. The rules for this one are:

1. The winner puts the logo on her/his blog.
2. Link the person from whom you received your award.
3. Nominate 7 other blogs.
4. Put links of those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message on the blogs of those you’ve chosen.

So, in no particular order, here are the folks I'm passing the blog bling along to:

My old friend (um, that'd be old as in "we've been friends since the dark ages of high school" and not old as in "aged" by the way) Da Nator over at Delectatio Morosa. She has been blogging for years now -in fact she was the first of my actual, RL friends to blog - and has made me laugh, cry and think over the years with her writing. (She also used to wander the halls of our high school with me, harmonizing on everything from Duran Duran tunes to songs we'd written together, and for my 15th birthday literally gave me John Taylor - of Duran Duran fame and please remember this was the 80s - on a silver platter. I'm not kidding.) You should at the very least check out her blog in a few weeks for her annual Definitive Halloween Candy List post, which is absolutely a must-read!

Not that he lacks for readers, 'specially compared to my teensy, little blog, but M. Giant over at Velcrometer makes me howl with laughter on a regular basis. Plus, he and his wife (my fellow Beat Cat friend Trash) are parents through open, domestic adoption just like Hubby and I are. I'd pass the award along to Trash herself, but she isn't blogging....yet. (Hint hint!)

One of my newer bloggy friends is Hot Tub Lizzy, of The Journey to the Hot Tub. She's a fellow SITSta and just one of the many reasons I *heart* SITS so much. I adore her blog and she's got two of the cutest girls around, and has offered, along with many chuckles, some good, practical advice as I was going through the throes of "getting Kiddo ready for kindergarten" and being clueless about what I was doing. Oh, and did I mention she's running for President?

Another old (as in junior high, high school, and college too) friend I'd like to award is Lylah at Write. Edit. Repeat. Lylah is, like M. Giant, a professional writer, and her blog links to some of the other places her writing appears on Ye Olde Interwebz. She's a working mom/stepmom of five (count 'em - five!) kids ranging in age from baby to teen. Consequently, she has many good thoughts about the home life/work balance and how to juggle everything and still stay sane. Plus, she has always been a ray of sunshine since I first knew her back in middle school orchestra (I played flute, she played violin).

Continuing with the old friends, new friends theme, I'd like to pass this along to another SITsta and bloggy friend, Givinya De Elba. Her blog, Killing a Fly with a Ukulele is Probably the Wrong Thing to Do has been a real treat, and has shown me things like parental stress over kindergarten truly is universal (or at least planetary). Plus, she's from Down Under, so I always read what she's written in an Aussie accent (um, in my head).

While I'm reaching all the way to the other side of the world, Givinya's sister Crazy Sister also blogs and deserves some bling. Another mother of adorable kids and her parenting philosophy (also her blog's title) makes perfect sense to me: Graze If You Want To, But Don't Eat Dirt.

And last but not least, I'm bestowing this upon HappyHourSue over at Happy Meals & Happy Hour. Not that she needs more blog love thrown her way, but I'm telling you, since I first came upon her blog, it has become a must read for me. From her "words she made up" to her Guard Poodle and of course, the Bathtub Gangsta, she has me rolling on the floor with tears of laughter pouring down my face. Okay, that's not a pretty picture, but trust me, her blog is hilarity and wit personified. (Blogonified?)

So there you go, my contribution to spreading the bloggy love. Do with it what you will, y'all, but please know that you've brought me many moments (okay, hours if you add it up) of enjoyment with your posts over the years and have given me endless reasons to procrastinate on things like changing the kitty litter or risking my life to clean the kiddo's carny goldfish's tank or going to the gym... This one's for you!