i wOuld liKe to ThanK mY DELL

I would like to, first of all, thank my Dell.

I'm practicing my acceptance speech for the award I won from Mrs. Dunbar of Living Intentionally! To say that I am tickled pink to win my very first award is an understatement! Thank you, my sweet friend!!!

In honor of this award, I get to share some things about me. I had planned to include some cool pics, but this post will never get published if I do, so here goes.

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One of God's greatest, most undeserved blessings in my life is my husband. "Let him walk into a room and everyone in it seems to breathe a little sigh of relief." (line borrowed from "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society", it's about a man named Dawsey, but it fits my husband, too!)

I am reading "The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society" (still!) and it is, so far, one of the most delightful books I've ever read.

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One of my favorite people to be with is our 16 year old daughter.

My favorite time of day is right now (ok, 12 hours ago at this point). Early morning. First cup of hot coffee (cream and sugar) in my hand. House quiet.

For the first 30 years of my life, I could eat anything I wanted and not gain an ounce. I can easily camoflauge 10 extra pounds but I decided (again) it was time to join Weight Watchers and take it off. I started (again) walking/running on the dreadmill. At first I was really crabby about the whole thing, but now I feel great about living healthier. I will probably repeat this process for the rest of my days.

Our kids are fun. We laugh together a lot. And I mean a lot.

Sometimes being a parent is really, really, really hard. Growing pains sometimes hurt the parents most. We parent first and hope to be wonderful friends with our adult children someday.

My Dad had a heart scare in September. I want him to live forever (or at least until I die of old age and he can die of really old age). He remarried after my mom died, and I cherish the few times that he confides that he misses my mom. It's so helpful to miss together.

I like to shop. And shop. And then shop some more. Usually alone.

We had to put our dear dog down last year at the ripe old age of 17.

Our new dog is a LEMON.

If you asked my kids "what one thing does your mom always say?" they would answer "wash your hands!" (even before H1N1) . Our daughter just walked in and said "we would say that your favorite thing to say is 'no'". Interesting.

Jesus is everything to me, but I can be a horribly pathetic disciple.

I would like to get Lasik surgery but I'm a chicken.

My heart sometimes lives in Alaska while my body lives here.

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I never imagined I would make friends blogging.

Alright, Mrs. Dunbar says I must pass this award on to two other deserving bloggers, so I am passing it on to...

Carissa (The Brown Eyed Fox) who inspires me to be a better me through her uplifting words. You can tell Carissa is just plain fun to be around. Her blog is beautiful and so is her spirit. And if Carissa lived closer, I would pay her to come decorate my house (and we could go shopping and out to lunch afterwards). She doesn't blog much at all about decorating, but she is my favorite decorator in all of blogdom.

The other deserving blogger is Patty at Blessed Moon. Patty is a wordsmith and her creativity never ceases to amaze me! And her photographs...wow. Patty is real and loving and energetic. She is a treasured friend -- in the unconventional and blessed way that we bloggers become friends! If Patty would just move closer to me, I wouldn't have to work so hard at living healthy because she would be my friendly trainer.