The Candle Lighter Award

(Image via Believe Anyway)

Phylor’s Blog has given me the Candle Lighter Award! I also have the honour of being the first person to receive the award from Phylor.

If you don’t know the history of this award, it was created by Kate Kresse at Believe Anyway. As she explains:

I call my award The Candle Lighter Award. It is for blogs and bloggers that light a candle in the darkness with their blog. What does it mean? Whenever I see a post or blog that I think brings light to the world, I will put a copy of this post and give them The Candle Lighter Award.

I think this is a wonderful way of showing our appreciation of what we do for each other in the blogging world. Whether it’s a blog that we read regularly or it’s a post that has caught our attention for a few moments, we seek out and connect with others who bring light and warmth to our little corner of the internet.

And to Phylor, thank you. I’m glad I’m able to bring some light to you through my blog as you do the same to so many of us.

I’ve Been Given The Versatile Blogger Award

(Image via weheartit.com)

I am very thankful  in that I received The Versatile Blogger Award three times in 2011. I received it from Imagine the Spirit, Phylor’s Blog and Picnic with Ants. Imagine the Spirit actually gave me the award earlier in the year. I was still recovering from my sprained wrist and ankle at the time and not blogging as much. I said I would do the post about receiving the award but life and illness got in the way for much of the year. My apologies to Imagine the Spirit for taking so long. At the end of the year, both Phylor’s Blog and Picnic with Ants also gave me the award.

So, part of the fun of receiving the award, is to list 7 things about me that you may not know and to spread the award love to 5 other bloggers.

7 Things About Me

1. I grew up on the prairies and I know the jokes about it being flat with nothing to see. But, there is nothing like driving west to a big, sinking ball of fire and thinking I could drive forever or maybe onto the sun itself.
2. I love tea and specifically Chai tea by Stash. It used to be English Breakfast and Earl Grey which I still enjoy but Stash’s Chai is my love.
3. I also enjoy Peppermint tea and started drinking it because it helps calm my tummy.
4. I don’t watch TV like I used to B.T.I. (before the internet) but I will watch The Big Bang Theory and Criminal Minds.
5. I’m not a fan of reality shows. To me, the news is a reality show. I can probably count on my hand the shows that I have watched. I think so many of the shows purposely try to be trashy and find people who will sell their souls for a chance to appear on TV. So many of these “reality stars” come off as self-absorbed people with low self-esteem. I don’t get the appeal but I don’t watch them either.
6. That being said…Storage Wars is my guilty pleasure. I know that, production-wise, it has to be staged so that there are always “finds” on each episode. But, I like seeing what is found in the units. Project Runway is also a show I will occasionally watch. Some of the clothes the designers create are beautiful and the people who do this are passionate about designing clothes.
7. I don’t have many celebrity crushes. That’s probably because George Clooney has been the one for years and years.

Here is my list of 5 blogs that you may or may not know. These are relatively new blogs that have found me or I have found them somewhere along this journey with chronic illness.  And, to the 5 bloggers, please don’t feel that you are obligated to pass along the award. Just know that your blog is enjoyed and I’m happy to let others know about you.

The Fantastic Five

Journey From Disabled To Abled

Living Dizzy

Taking Life for a Spin

Nip Pain in the Bud

Chronic Rants

A Link To Phylor’s Blog To See What We Wrote

(created at http://cooltext.com/)

Hi everyone and welcome to my blog.

I wanted to let you know about something I participated in recently. I had read a post at Phylor’s Blog that was a letter to her mind and body and she then challenged her readers to do the same. And we did.

We are all dealing with a variety of chronic illnesses and if you would like to gain a bit of understanding about what we are thinking and feeling, I encourage you to read the post And the winners are: thanks to those who wrote a letter to their bodies and minds .

The following is from her post and I hope you will go and read the different letters that we wrote.

I challenged my readers to write their own letter; to start a dialogue with their minds and bodies; to open the lines of communication. I am very pleased with the results of my suggestion. Folks with a variety of health issues wrote powerful, moving, emotional, evocative, personal letters. Links shared with me via the comments section or by email.

I’d like to take a minute or two more of your time to highlight these letters/writers (with links). I think when we share, we learn. We learn about ourselves and we learn about/from others. The dynamic of encouragement, empathy, and understanding is the hallmark of the various health issue online communities to which I belong and participate. The willingness of folks to be open and honest is inspiring. I feel privileged to have “met” some amazing and incredible women as I journey through the cyberverse. And these are a few of their stories.