Friday Fill Ins

1. The first rule of working in an office and getting along is to stay out of the poison found in gossip.

2. Crab cakes are better than clams.

3. When I think of carnivals I think of caramel apples, elephant ears and workers with no teeth.

4. Lilacs are my favorite spring flower.

5. Things on my desk include an Easy Grader slide rule, a Le Petit Prince pencil case holding my fountain pens and ink canisters, and an iHome for my iPod.

6. Seeing Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid makes me wanna ride on Paul Newman's bicycle.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to finishing A Game of Thrones, tomorrow my plans include cleaning as usual and Sunday, I want to see my friend Carol at church!

But, officer...

By the time we got to court today, the rain had lessened to a drizzle. As my son and I turned the corner of the building we saw about five or six people already huddled under the awning of the doorway. Which was apparently locked. Not to be opened until 8:15 sharp for 8:30 court time, come rain or come shine.

I clapped my hands and burst into laughter. "Talk about bureaucracy in action!" I said, and several people smiled with me.

I have a long pent up frustration with traffic court. It all comes from the time I was pulled over in a forest preserve for going 30 mph. 

"Excuse me, ma'am", the officer said. "Are you in a hurry?"

"If I was in a hurry," I replied, "would I be going 30?"

Oops. Sarcasm before thought. No amount of red lipstick helped sweeten those words. Off to court I went, involving a day off of school and more details than I can remember because that was in 1995.

Now it's 2009, and my beloved son received a ticket for going 40mph  in a 3o zone. $75.00 in tickets, $65.00 in court costs, and $50.00 in an on line class later, we found ourselves sitting across from each other at Dmitri's Greek Pancake House in Downers Grove.

I smiled at him, he laughed with me. We had the best breakfast ever. Fortunately, or not, I have taught him everything I know.

Savvy by Ingrid Law (And A Chance To Win)

The winner is: Sandy! Congratulations, my friend, and please email me your address.

I've spent at least three days or longer wondering what my savvy might be, and I'm still not certain.

Could it be teaching? Maybe.

Folding complicated origami figures? Quite possibly.

Having a heart for mercy and a great big smile? Yes, but that's not exactly a real savvy, in my opinion.

I don't know for sure what my savvy is, but I do know what I don't want it to be: the one Mibs Beaumont has.

She can read people's thoughts.

Ew. I no more want to know what people are thinking than I want xRay vision. Some things are just  better left undetected. I've spent my life trying not to be all caught up in what people are thinking, and if I know it, not letting it effect me.

Like the times that the boys teased me in gym because I couldn't hit a homerun, or even the ball when it came flying by me...like the times my teachers were scornful because I couldn't understand the Math problem no matter how hard they yelled...like the times a certain girl in my class is conjuring up yet another lie. There are some things, most things, that I just don't want to know.

Do you know what your savvy is? Do you have a special gift that changes your life, if not your world, in a unique way?

Leave me your idea, and you'll have a chance to win my hardcover edition of this lovely book.

Other stops along the tour can be found here: A Christian Worldview of Fiction, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Booking Mama, Cafe of Dreams,  Fireside Musings, Hyperbole, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews, Maw Books Blog, Never Jam Today, Olive Tree, Our Big Earth, The 160 Acrewoods, Through a Child’s Eyes

Ingrid Law (Day 2 of the Tour)

Here's a photograph of Ingrid Law, author of Savvy.

I wish I could meet her in real person, and this is why:

"Always on the hunt for her own savvy, Ingrid Law has dabbled in costume design, floral design, and fiber arts. She has sold shoes, worked in a bookstore, helped other people get jobs, and assembled boxes for frozen eggplant burgers. Today, she writes and imagines with her thirteen-year-old daughter in a lovely old mobile home called "Ploppy," which they like to believe is a cross between a spaceship and a shoe box. They enjoy writing on its walls and painting on its ceiling, and have filled their home to the brim with wonderful things like good books, fluffy pillows, a ukulele, and the aroma of baking muffins. Visit Ingrid at www.ingridlaw.com." (back flap)

When I read that description, I stewed about it for days. Because I so do not live in a named home with writing on the walls and the smell of baking muffins. Nope, my house has a number (1117) instead of a name, and the walls are a celery leaf green, and the only thing baking in my house lately are Lean Cuisines.

I so have not had five different interesting jobs. Nope, my job, basically, has been teaching elementary school for twenty four years except for the few summers that I sold Chanel at Marshall Fields.

It's felt rather like a safe life, a life I can stay on top of, until I read Ingrid's biography. Now it feels like a tight ass life, and I'm not only looking for my own savvy...

I'm looking for something to paint on my ceilings.

Other stops along the tour can be found here:
A Christian Worldview of Fiction, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Booking Mama, Cafe of Dreams,  Fireside Musings, Hyperbole, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews, Maw Books Blog, Never Jam Today, Olive Tree, Our Big Earth, The 160 Acrewoods, Through a Child’s Eyes

Savvy by Ingrid Law

"You never can tell when a bad thing might make a good thing happen," she said quietly, and at first I wasn't sure if she was talking to herself or to me."

 

Title: Savvy
Author: Ingrid Law
Published: 2008 by Dial Books for Young Readers
Number of pages: 342
Rating: 4.5 out of 5

One of the ways to know if a book for Young Adults is powerful is if it hits you, the adult reader, right in your solar plexus. And this one does.

Meet Mississippi, nicknamed Mibs, our heroine turning thirteen who anxiously awaits the discovery of her savvy. What's a savvy?

' "A savvy's not a sickness or a disease, Mibs", Grandpa told me. It's not magic or sorcery, either. Your savvy's in your blood. It's an inheritance, like your brown eyes or your grandma's long toes or her talent for dancing to polka music." Grandma Dollop had loved the oom-pah-pah sounds of polka music and had collected jars full before she died; Momma even had one or two of those jars left among the others on top of our kitchen cupboards in Kansaska-Nebransas. They were the ones Gypsy favored dancing to with all of her make-believe friends." ' (p. 121)

Now don't start thinking that a savvy is just an inheritance, like brown eyes or curly hair. Mississippi's brother, Fish, can start hurricanes with his savvy. Her Momma can make anything perfect because that's her savvy. Her Grandmother Dollop could catch her favorite songs from the radio and store them in glass jars like jam preserves.

As Mississippi awaits her thirteenth birthday along with her savvy, the family receives news that her father has been in a serious accident and is laying in the hospital unconscious. When Mib's mother and older brother immediately go to him, Mibs and her other two brothers unexpectedly follow them in a big pink Heartland Bible Supply bus which they have practically hijacked while its driver was delivering pink  Bibles. Which he was promptly ordered to take right straight back to where they came from.

So, we follow Mibs, her brothers Fish and Samson, her slowly-becoming-a- friend Bobbi with her brother Will,  the bus driver Lester, and a woman named Lill whom they've picked up because she had car trouble, all over tar-nation hoping that Mibs will get to her father in time. Hoping that her savvy will somehow deliver him, or herself, or those she's with, from the troubles they're in.

Other stops along the tour can be found here:
A Christian Worldview of Fiction, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Booking Mama, Cafe of Dreams,  Fireside Musings, Hyperbole, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews, Maw Books Blog, Never Jam Today, Olive Tree, Our Big Earth, The 160 Acrewoods, Through a Child’s Eyes

Sunday Salon

I'm so excited about the tour that Sally has organized for this Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday. We're reviewing Ingrid Law's bestselling YA novel Savvy, which just so happens to also qualify for Carl's Once Upon A Time III Challenge. It's a lovely work of fantasy, as well as a coming of age novel, and you can read all about it here starting tomorrow.

I'm more than a little sad that I let Dewey's Read-a-Thon slip by me this month. It's not like I've had a peaceful April what with my father's heart challenges accompanied by my son's graduation challenges, but still...that Read-a-Thon would have been a welcome respite. It's been great reading about everyone's experience (Chris and Trish, especially) and now I'm certain I won't let it slide by the next time it comes around in October.

Before April wraps up completely, I want to review Eat, Sleep and Sit sent to me by Kodansha publishing company. Hopefully that will also entice you to think about joining the Japanese Literature Challenge 3 coming this July.

I also want to finish A Game of Thrones which has got to be the best fantasy book I've read since The Lord of The Rings, about thirty years ago.

So, that's a brief update on what's been happening in my reading world. May you lay down your books, and shut off your computer, tonight in time to get a good sleep for the beginning of the work week!

Welcome!

Spring is a time for rebirth: new buds, new birds, new blog looks.

I wanted to simplify things with a neater, cleaner look.

I hope you like it, my friends.

Two Fabulous Lines From "A Game of Thrones"

 There hasn't exactly been a plethora of book reviews this week as I've been waiting for today; this is the day they'll perform the angiogram on my father at the heart hospital.

I've abandoned several books, temporarily, because they've required too much concentration. I wanted to get lost in an epic tale, a book from another world, and I've found it: A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin.

It's won about a bajillion awards, which I'll look up for you later when I properly review it. Right now, I'm only on page 191 of 807. But, they're going quite quickly because this is a fantastic tale of adventure.

The copy you see is the one I bought on eBay for $1.99 because the library had such a huge waiting list on it that a copy still hasn't arrived as I type this post. I'm willing to part with my own copy, a very good one I might add, when I write my review. For now, let me leave you with my favorite lines so far:

"Can a man still be brave if he's afraid?" he heard his own voice saying, small and far away. (p. 163)

And his father's voice replied to him, "That is the only time a man can be brave."

There should be several more reviews coming in a few days, my friends.

My Dad's in Room 8620

It's so strange to see my father in the hospital. I never see him as frail, which is still not the right word, but he is, somehow, weakened.

His hair is curly, like mine, and beautifully cut. It's white, white, white and it looks so nice against all the white crisp linen. His face is strong, as always, and brave, and he's cracking jokes because that's how we both manage to stay on top of our stress. It drives my mother crazy.

When she called to let us know he was admitted last night, I got out of bed, dressed, and drove over to the hospital right away. "Did you bring any pizza?" he asked, as we'd all been out for sausage, green pepper and onion on a cracker thin crust only hours before.

"No," I said, "But I'll go get some more if you want."

I hold his hand, attached to all kinds of wires; I say prayers over his bare shoulder barely covered by those ridiculously thin, ugly jammies the hospital insists upon. I can't imagine that this is my father, the cowboy hero of my life, struggling with chest pains and a possible open heart yet again.

Friday Fill Ins

1. Join me in celebrating the arrival of Spring!

2. Put a little faith and hope in your day!

3. Happiness is sometimes a matter of choice, not circumstance.

4. Why my son has had such a difficult time in High School has left me worried and confused.

5. I'm waiting for the news that he will graduate on time!

6. A new lipstick, a new book, a new fragrance are all hard to resist. (Along with a thin crust pizza for Friday night.)

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to dining on a salad, pizza and bottle of Ruffino Classico at Traverso's, tomorrow my plans include being outside after cleaning the house and Sunday, I want to see my niece's role in her High School play!

Blessings on your weekend,

Booking Through Thursday

Yesterday, April 15th, was Tax Day here in the U.S., which means lots of lucky people will get refunds of over-paid taxes.

Whether you’re one of them or not, what would you spend an unexpected windfall on? Say … $50? How about $500?

(And, this is a reading meme, so by rights the answer should be book-related, but hey, feel free to go wild and splurge on anything you like.)

If I had a windfall of extra money, would I buy books? At this point, no.

I think I'd rather spend the money on bookshelves, because really, the storage is getting to be a problem.

When we redid the family room, my husband had the contractor add two built in bookshelves on either side of the fireplace. They're filled.

The bookcase in our bedroom is filled.

The tables in the living room are filled.

The armoire which was originally intended to hold linens and serving pieces for the dining room is filled.

My bohemian friend from seventh grade suggested the tried and true boards-held-up-with-cement-blocks, but I'm not there aesthetically any more.

So, if the government really did cease its spending...if I really did get back some of the money I earned and unwillingly gave away...it would have to go for order in my book world. And, that piece of mind would be priceless.

Not a Book Review, Just A Story About What Happened Today On My Way To Work

Ever since a main thoroughfare in our town has been under construction, I've found it incredibly easy to get to work. My driving time has been cut in half because no one uses Washington Avenue any more. Which gives me the time to stop at Starbucks for a tall coffee of the day with cream. Yum.

Tuesday is garbage day in this particular part of town, and I was caught behind the garbage truck driven by Idiot #1, and a Lexus driven by Idiot #2. The garbage truck stopped at every single house down the road pulling just far enough away from the kerb so as to be blocking our lane. Almost completely.

I patiently followed the Lexus who followed the garbage truck sipping on my coffee and trying to stay cool. "Surely," I thought to myself, "the Lexus will find an opportunity to slip past the truck so we can get where we're going before I have to stop at a McDonald's for lunch."

Alas, no.

The truck stopped. The Lexus stopped. I stopped. The eight thousand cars that were now lined up behind me stopped. And so, it seemed, the pattern would continue indefinitely. Finally, I tapped on my horn.

I ate horn blowers. I think they're rude, and obnoxious, and self centered. But, we had been there the better part of fifteen minutes. So, I tapped again, a bit more strongly.

The Lexus finally pulled around the garbage truck, and as it did I noticed something drop to the ground. "Damn!" I thought, "the garbage man is throwing stuff at us now!"

Nope. It was the side mirror on the Lexus. Shorn clean off, and laying beside the garbage truck, while the Lexus pulls over.

What was I to do? Should I leap out and try to reattach the side mirror? Should I shout apologies on my way past? Should I stick with the Lexus owner, who surely felt as cross at me as the garbage truck? It was a huge dilemma.

But, I was already late for work by now, and so, I drove on. Feeling guilty all day, even now as I write this post.

Sorry, Lexus driver. Sorry, mirror. Sorry, stupid garbage truck in every one's way.

Happy Easter, Everyone!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who according to His great mercy has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead."

1 Peter 1: 3

Friday Fill Ins

Last week, Anonymous left this comment: "*sighs* The last two of these have sucked royally...I love this thing, but now I'm having to go back in the archives and find ones that aren't totally ridiculous and moronic...". This week, I'm dedicating #1 to Anonymous :-)

And...here we go! (Copied from the Friday-Fill in site.)

1. Anonymous, I respect the expression of anyone's opinion, but I respect it all the more when someone has the courage to address an issue with full disclosure as to one's identity.

2. Good Friday is a day when it rains all afternoon. Watch, it always happens.

3. Let me embrace thee, sour adversity, because I shall yet overcome thee.

4. Birdsong and blossoms are what I look forward to most about Spring.

5. Who needs therapy when one can dab on French perfume!

6. Dark chocolate rabbits from Fannie May MUST go into the Easter Basket!

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading everyone else's Fill ins, tomorrow my plans include preparing Easter lunch and Sunday, I want to celebrate the Resurrection with my family after greeting at our early service!

 

Blessings on your weekend,

Word Filled Wednesday

"Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they? Matthew 6:26

It's Tuesday...Where Are You? Plus, A Present From Things Mean A Lot

This Tuesday, I find myself with Kaoru Nonomura at Eiheiji, "one of the most rigorous Zen monsateries in Japan and head temple of the Soto sect of Buddhism."

As I read Mr. Nonomura's writing, I'm discovering how we tend to live our lives: carelessly eating, carelessly sleeping, carelessly sitting. His book, Eat Sleep Sit , is an absolutely fascinating look at what it means to live a life of discipline as a Buddhist monk. It's a life of intention, to be sure, and you can expect a review near the end of this week.

Also, a special envelope arrived in the mail today, all the way from Portugal and Nymeth's loving hands. She has sent me two bookmarks, and the sweetest note, as I am one of the winners from her Dewey Mini-Challenge. Thank you, dear Nymeth, because some things do mean a lot especially when they're handmade presents!

Blessings,

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button: The Short Story

As I write this week's Sunday Salon, I am reviewing Spring Break and the books I have read during my time off. There are precious few: In The Woods by Tana French, Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert, half of Eat Sleep Sit by Kaoru Nonomura, and all of The Curious Case of Benjamin Button by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The last one was easy because it's only a short story, originally published in 1922 in Tales of the Jazz Age by Charles Scribner's Sons.


Here is the title page of the edition I found on Friday at our local library:

Title: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button

Author: F. Scott Fitgerald

Publisher: Collins/Design, 2008

Number of pages: 60

Rating: 2 out of 5

Here is Mr. Roger Button (nicknamed Cuff, at Yale) racing through the streets of Baltimore "to determine whether the darkness of the night had borne in new life upon its bosom." (p. 5)

"Wrapped in a voluminous white blanket, and partly crammed into one of the cribs, there sat an old man apparently about seventy years of age. His sparse hair was almost white, and from his chin dripped a long smoke-colored beard, which waved absurdly back and forth, fanned by the breeze coming in at the window." (p. 10)

"But a frantic inspection of the boys' department revealed no suits to fit the new-born Button. He blamed the store, of course-in such cases it is the thing to blame the store." (p. 14)

"But Mr. Button persisted in his unwavering purpose. Benjamin was a baby, and a baby he should remain.

One day he brought home a rattle and, giving it to Benjamin, insisted in no uncertain terms that he should 'play with it', whereupon the old man took it with a weary expression and could be heard jingling it obediently at intervals throughout the day." (p. 20)

"One September day in 1910-a few years after Roger Button & Co., Wholesale Hardware, had been handed over to young Roscoe Button (Benjamin's son)-a man, apparently about twenty years old, entered himself as a freshman at Harvard University in Cambridge. He did not make the mistake of announcing that he would never see fifty again, nor did he mention the fact that his son had been graduated from the same institution ten years before." (p. 46)

"There were no troublesome memories in his childish sleep; no token came to him of his brave days at college, of the glittering years when he flustered the hearts of many girls. There were only the white, safe walls of his cribe and Nana and a man who came to see him sometimes, and a great big orange ball that Nana pointed at just before his twilight bed hour and called "sun."

Then it was all dark, and his white crib and the dim faces that moved above him, and the warm sweet aroma of the milk, faded out altogether from his mind." (p. 59)

The End

The story was incredibly short; it's amazing that a film lasting approximatley three hours could be made from such a story. Of course, the film added all kinds of details: Benjamin living in the nursing home, adopted by another family, falling in love with the beautiful girl whom he stayed with all of his life. None of these things happened in the short story.

The most redeeming quality of the story to me was how it seemed to scoff at our expectations, especially as parents. Benjamin arrived in the world a complete surprise, backwards as it were, and lived his life from an old man to a baby which completely defied what his father, or any other adult, would have him do.

For that, this book made me smile, and try not to take life so seriously.

Listen to it read aloud here.

Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert

Title: Madame Bovary

Author: Gustave Flaubert

Published: 1857

Number of pages: 348

Rating: 5 out of 5

I first read Madame Bovary when I was seventeen years old. What I was doing reading it then I have no idea, except it was on my mother's shelf, and it seemed somehow forbidden.

Madame Bovary is the story of a woman, who is quite beautiful, completely unable to control her passion. I remembered her as having an affair, forgetting that she had several affairs; nothing was able to satiate her desires for fulfillment, for glamour, for lovely possessions, for excitement.

The most tragic part about Madame Bovary, to me, is that she does not recognize the good she has in her life. A doting husband, albeit clumsy and somewhat ignorant, means nothing to her. A beautiful daughter, when she longed for a son, also means nothing to her. A home which she is generally able to furnish in any way she likes, is never sufficiently decorated. Being a doctor's wife is not enough glory. Even her affairs do not bring her the fulfillment she desperately craves.

Flaubert's writing, translated from French, is tremendous. He uses exquisite phrases, minute details, an insight into his characters which is formidable. They are as alive today as they must have been 152 years ago; their emotional struggles and relationships seem as poignant to me now as they must have felt to those who suffered them then.

It is a magnificent book.

Madame Bovary

Title: Madame Bovary

Author: Gustave Flaubert

Published: 1857

Number of pages: 348

Rating: 5 out of 5

I first read Madame Bovary when I was seventeen years old. What I was doing reading it then I have no idea, except it was on my mother's shelf, and it seemed somehow forbidden.

Madame Bovary is the story of a woman, who is quite beautiful, completely unable to control her passion. I remembered her as having an affair, forgetting that she had several affairs; nothing was able to satiate her desires for fulfillment, for glamour, for lovely possessions, for excitement.

The most tragic part about Madame Bovary, to me, is that she does not recognize the good she has in her life. A doting husband, albeit clumsy and somewhat ignorant, means nothing to her. A beautiful daughter, when she longed for a son, also means nothing to her. A home which she is generally able to furnish in any way she likes, is never sufficiently decorated. Being a doctor's wife is not enough glory. Even her affairs do not bring her the fulfillment she desperately craves.

Flaubert's writing, translated from French, is tremendous. He uses exquisite phrases, minute details, an insight into his characters which is formidable. They are as alive today as they must have been 152 years ago; their emotional struggles and relationships seem as poignant to me now as they must have felt to those who suffered them then.

It is a magnificent book.

Friday Fill Ins

1. Angel or not, I will entertain them unawares. (Hebrews 13:2)

2. You can't have me any way you want me.

3. As my mother used to say, you're full of water, an element she says I resemble because it's unobtrusive but incredibly strong.

4. Did you say working out? I never work out! Walk the path by the river, maybe, but nothing strenuous...after I'm done working out or doing something strenuous.

5. Even in the most crowded of rooms I imagine myself reading in peace.

6. The day America gives up what she was founded on is a day fraught with peril.

7. And as for the weekend, tonight I'm looking forward to reading several books I have waiting for review, tomorrow my plans include hopefully a bicycle ride and Sunday, I want to not cry because it's the last day of Spring break!

Blessings on your weekend,

Reading The Bible

This is the little notebook published by Cavallini & Co. from San Fransisco. I bought it in 2007 from a little stationary store in Oak Brook, Illinois, because I wanted to keep track of my daily Bible reading.

There's a schedule of readings for every day which I've copied down inside its pages. After I've completed the reading, I make a little tic by the margin because I like order. Almost compulsively.

Here's the page for April, fuzzy as it may be:

Here's the notebook on top of my Bible on my nightstand. The translation I'm currently reading is NIV (New International Version), but I have to say I like the NKJV (New King James Version) the best. It's not as tricky as the original King James, but not as 'slang' sounding as the Living. The Paraphrased Living Bible is the first translation I ever read, in the summer of 1973. For a smooth read, and easy understanding, there's nothing better.

I've added this photograph to my sidebar, where I want to put the verse which has particularly struck me during the week's readings. I hope that you might read them, by putting your mouse over the link.

How about it, do you ever read the Bible? Do you think its boring, difficult to understand, or meaningless to your life? Or, like me, do you find strength from it?

An Award-O-Rama

I'm so behind passing on awards, it's a good thing my teaching contract has given us a Spring break or I'd never catch up on the things I've been meaning to do!

Bestowed on me the most recently, by the Chic Geek, is The Proximidade Award:

"This blog invests and believes in the Proximity - nearness in space, time and relationships. These blogs are exceedingly charming. These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in prizes or self-aggrandizement! Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who must choose eight more and include this clever-written text into the body of their award."

The eight fellow bloggers I'd like to pass this on to are:

1. Lesley
2. Bookfool
3. CJ
4. Gina
5. Princess Haiku
6. Sandy
7. Chris
8. Lorraine

Sandy gave me the I 'heart' Your Blog, which I am passing on to:

1. Sam
2. Qugrainne
3. Bookgirl
4. Booklogged
5. California Teacher Guy
6. Kailana
7. Carl V.
8. Mother Pie
9. Terri B.
10. Tamara


CJ, at My Year of Reading Seriously, gave me the Sisterhood Award. We are to nominate up to ten bloggers, whom we consider our sisters in the blogging community, and so I nominate:

1. Lesley at Lesley's Book Nook
2. Bookfool at Bookfoolery and Babble
3. Tanabata at In The Spring It Is The Dawn
4. JoAnn at Lakeside Musings
5. Sara at Make Music From Your Heart To The Lord
6. Beverly at Lacoochee Kid
7. Robin at A Fondness For Reading
8. Madeleine at Madeleine's Book and Photo Blog
9. Trish at Trish's Reading Nook
10. The Chic Geek at The Chic Geek

Blessings on each one of you, and thank you for enriching my life through blogging,