2-4-6-8 Who do we appreciate?

If you’ve visited Mix & Match Meme, you’ve discovered an eclectic mix of songs, poems, and illustrations that are delightfully varied. I like a lot of variety in my reading material, and I can always count on Meme to provide me something new. Sometimes it’s silly, sometimes serious, always unexpected – and I like that. Meme had a crisis of faith a few months back – blogging is so much work. Is it worth it? I’m glad that she decided that it was worth it. I believe that the creative drive we express is when we are closest to God/Goddess, the ultimate creator(s).

On August 26^th, Mix & Match Meme nominated Peace With My Life  for the Reader

Appreciation Award. Unfortunately, I was leaving town for business that day and was without my computer for a week and couldn’t respond immediately.  My how time has flown! But I haven’t forgotten Meme’s kindness, so today I wanted to respond and pass it on.

The qualifications for the Reader Appreciation award include telling 7 things about yourself and nominating 5 blogs. Hmmm. What do I want to disclose and what should remain private?

• I just got a new iPhone and love it. It’s much faster on every score than my old
  

  Our Goffin’s Cockatoo eats a banana. Originally wild-caught 30 or so years ago, he didn’t recognize bananas as food unless they were in the peel.

  Android phone. Thank goodness my carrier finally made it available; I’m hooked.

• I read Steve Job’s biography and was pleasantly surprised. I learned a number of things and love his products even more now that I understand why they were made the way they were (see above bullet).
• I write so much as a part of my job, that sometimes I don’t want to write anything when I come home. But legal writing is a real drag, and sometimes I can’t wait to come home and use an adjective or adverb now and then (blog to the rescue!).
• I not only have the usual cats and dogs, I also have (rescue) parrots in my house. They are just as loud and messy as I expected them to be, but they have surprised me with warmth, intelligence, and affection. And I just love watching them fly in the house.
• I was born and raised in West Texas – a rough, stark and unrelenting landscape. When I moved to Colorado 22 ½ years ago, I found
  

  West Texas is flat, desolate, and you’d be lucky to find a cactus this green. Really lucky.

  the landscape and the people more polished, varied, and flexible, just like the landscape. I don’t understand it, but I’ll take it. I’ve stopped saying that people are the same all over and started saying that we are the same deep down.

• I have a husband and four children, who don’t want to be discussed in the blog.
• The funny thing is, when I started blogging, I thought the only ones who would read it would be my family. I never thought strangers would read it. For the most part, except for my husband and mother, only non-family read it. I can’t call y’all strangers anymore; I refer to you fondly as “my blogging friends.”

Enough about me. Let’s talk about my nominations! I will nominate blogs, and hope that they eventually pass on the nomination in the spirit of sharing about ourselves, getting to know each other, and introducing each other to some pretty cool blogs. If it’s bad timing, do it when you can. If it’s too much work, we understand. If you’re confused by the whole “nomination” process for an award that never really gets awarded, get over it. I did! Here are the blogs that I’d like to nominate today.

• http://zenhabits.net/start/  -Zen Habits is a professional blogger, so maybe it doesn’t belong here. But the blog has lots of good advice and a minimalist perspective on things. For bloggers, you might want to check out his top posts, which includes “The Number 1 Habit of Highly Creative People” (http://zenhabits.net/creative-habit/) and Beating the Anxiety of Online Reading (http://zenhabits.net
  

  A little zen at the Denver Botanic Garden

  /online-reading/) which gives a graceful philosophy for dealing with your email inbox overwhelm. “Get Off Your Butt: 16 Ways to Get Motivated When You’re in a Slump” (http://zenhabits.net/get-off-your-butt-16-ways-to-get-motivated-when-youre-in-a-slump/) might also be good reading now and then.

•  Think and Ponder (http://thinkandponder.com/) – Renea lets loose with a PG-13-rated rant now and then. Frankly, part of having peace in my life is letting loose and venting some of those frustrations sometimes (off-line) so they don’t build up and I explode. Clearly, Think and Ponder serves this purpose for Renea, and she says it wonderfully.

•  The Lonely Dogs (http://thelonelydogs.wordpress.com/) – The ones living on the
  

  Nutty was very lonely before we adopted him.

  ranch don’t appear lonely at all. No doubt they were all lonely before their rescue. And the writer knows many lonely dogs looking for a new home. The photography is great, the storyline minimalist (feel good without a long read!) and the dogs are awesome.

• Serenity Spell (http://serenityspell.com/) – Serenity features wonderful photography in Florida (always a welcome view when it’s cold and snowing here), highlighting the wildlife there. She’s also an advocate for the environment, feral cat assistance, and many things that I’m also interested in. Visit for the photography, stay for the gracious respect and concern she has for the natural world.

•  Our Furever Family (http://ourfureverfamily.com/) – Furever Family is a real-life
  

  We didn’t know Garnet was pregnant when we adopted her, but she (and the puppy we kept) became great additions to our furever family. And our friends loved the puppies they took home later!

  dealing-with-dogs blog that has a nice twist. She publishes love stories from readers – the kind where a person finds the companion animal that supports and loves him/her ever-after. You can’t beat that with a stick. And she still loves her dogs, even when they ignore the dog-door and poop in the house or track in dirt. She copes; she doesn’t try to train them into compliant automatons (as far as I can tell). Real life love with animals – pretty good stuff.