Blogtrotter July Tour

There are more people blogging on WP than there are countries in the world to visit. Where do you choose to go first? Do you rely on pot luck, the ‘stumbled upon’ approach or a fool proof system that ensures you only see what interests you?

Armed only with a keen desire to find some great bloggers, I’ve set out to bring together some of my all-time favourites with new and inspiring content.

I’d like you all to meet Stuart Perkins. Unfortunately he was unable to be here but luckily I’ve spent some time over at his blog recently and can give you a bit of a rundown.

You’ve heard of the Dog Whisperer and here in Australia we have a Horse Whisperer too.

Stuart is the Bus Whisperer. He’s from Arlington and writes about the everyday moments and turns them into humorous stories (true). If you choose to drop by, some recent posts include Carol’s rendezvous with a black snake and George’s attempt at bringing a new girl into the fray.

Story Shucker is where you’ll find Stuart and I reckon he’s got a good thing going. Starting only last month, he has seen 257 people follow his blog already and over 4000 hits (if you’re a stats lover).

Now, Brian, the Jogging Dad, would probably rather jog the 4 miles Stuart travels than catch a bus. He’d be all sweaty by the time he got to work and would probably be crossing his legs as he’s not fond of relieving himself on the run. I suggest you don’t ask him what fartlek means and if he is not running away from his parenting duties he performs epic fails by his own admission.

Brian thinks when he runs whereas I’d rather just think about running and hope it has the same effect. He’s funny as and even has a t-shirt with joggingdad.com printed on it. He thinks it’s tasteful but you can make up your own mind. Keep your eyes peeled around Sydney Harbour in case you run into him. Jogging Dad’s been around the blog block for a while and I’ve been running with him in spirit for quite some time now. He’d probably die of shock if he knew I planned to do the City to Bay 12k run in September.

Only today, I found Kahn’s Wise Words. Sharon and Bud Kahn offer a daily quote, saying or inspirational thought. I’d love to have a desk to put one of the those desk calendars on. Being a relief (temp/substitute) teacher means I don’t have a desk to call my own. I can now have it on my laptop screen though, and may use it to inspire me for future posts if my muse goes missing.

When it’s peace I seek and a moment to pause, I drop in to see Laurie at Laurie’s Notes. Since the beginning of this year Laurie has enabled me to seek refuge at her blog and remember to breathe. She employs beautiful images and gentle words to offer comfort, affirmation and healing to her visitors. After reading one of her posts I always feel a sense of calm and that the inner hustle of my thoughts have quietened. It only takes a few moments as Laurie’s notes are always short but profound in their message.

I created the Blogtrotter logo to represent the journey that writers take as they venture around WordPress, knowing that there are no far corners, just endless opportunities and limitless creativity to be found. If you’d like to use the logo on your blog, feel free.

Love your work.

Kelly ♥

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A Whole Lotta Love on a Friday -Encore Performance

The crowd are chanting and stomping their feet in a demanding way. There’s no time to catch your breath. Get out there and pelt out a couple more tunes. You will go down in history as legends. Of that, I am sure.

This is the final set and Charles is first to take to the stage. He is a true legend in every sense of the word and can rock this joint all on his own. I’ll let him take the mic now; that is if all the Windemere characters will let him get a word in.

The rules are as follows;

1.The Nominee of the Wonderful Team member Readership Award shall display the logo on his/her blog.
2.The Nominee shall nominate 14 readers they appreciate over a period of 7 days, all at once or little by little.
3.The Nominee shall name his/her Wonderful Team Member Readership Award nominees on a post or on posts during 7 days.

Over a period of 7 days (1 week), the Nominee shall nominate a number of readers that he or she appreciates – this can be done at any rate during the week. It can be all on one day or a few on one day and a few on another day, as most convenient to the Nominee.

The Nominee shall name his or her Wonderful Team Member Readership Award nominees on a post or on posts during the 7 day (1 week) period.

(I’ll do my nominations at the end of this post).

I am sure the spotlight will love Kimberly as much as she used to love being in it. She’s all pumped waiting in the wings so without further adieu I’ll let her strut her stuff. She might perform a tanka or a haiku tonight. She makes music with her words and paints pictures with her poems.

Patty is ready to make magic with her poetrics and the image and light show to go with it will astound you.

Thanks so much for this award. I need some sunshine right now as we head into Winter. As I’ve already received this award please check out Words for JP if you need the award rules.

It will be a bittersweet ending as the night comes to a close. There’s two more fabulously awesome people doing a duet for the last tune of the night. Time to raise those lighters high into the air as John and Kira close out this cast of brilliant artists.

The words will flow and the clarity of the message in this song will speak for itself. All you need to do is listen to the words from within.

The Rules:

• Thank the Super Sweet Blogger that nominated you.
• Answer five Super Sweet questions. (see below)
• Include the Super Sweet Blogging award image in your blog post.
• Nominate a baker’s dozen (13) other bloggers.
• Notify your nominees on their blog.

The 5 Super Sweet Questions:

1. Cookies or Cake? Mmmmm Cookies. Num, num, num, num.
2. Chocolate or Vanilla? Chocaholic
3. Favorite Sweet Treat? Fudge, that’s a hard choice.
4. When do you crave sweet things the most? Right before bed which is a no-go.
5. Sweet Nick Name? Telly.

And the nominees are:

Get Me Rewrite

 Kori Miller

 Sonya Monica

  J T Weaver

  Naomi Whitacre

 Sterling Arthur Leva

 Emma Newman

Victoriablt

 Discovering Dimes

 Starlarosa

 The Jogging Dad

  Urban Wallart

Reaching Utopia

Phew! That was phenomenal.

Ok guys. I think that’s the end. It was absolutely mind-blowing. I think I’m all rocked out. Please don’t invite me to another concert for a while. I’m afraid I’m getting too old for this.

Kelly ♥

A Whole Lotta Love on a Thursday (a.k.a. Saturday)

The tunes stopped. There was a longer than pregnant pause. The lead singer fainted and couldn’t go back on stage.

I wonder if the audience will get a refund?

Hang on. Wait a sec. They’re coming back on now. It seems the show will go on.

These old fogies aren’t what they used to be. Let’s face it-who is? Let’s see what they’ve got left in them.

Hey wait! There’s someone Epically Awesome up on stage with the wrinkly rockers. Oh wow, it’s Cranky! I know her. She is the epitome of awesome. She’ll give those guys a run for their money.

If you have no idea who I am referring to you have to go to the backstage party at Grandma Says. I wouldn’t care about meeting anyone else there but her. I am in awe of this lady. She has me in stitches, tears and leaves me to think; normally all within a single post. See if you can sneak in and get her autograph. Be warned though, whatever you do, don’t drop the F*&% bomb. She’ll probably drop-kick you out the door without any help from security.

I can’t believe it! She’s just thrown an award out into the crowd and I caught it.

The rules for this award are as follows:

1. Tell 10 Epic/Awesome tales about yourself.

2. Nominate 10 Epic/Awesome bloggers and let them know how Awesome they are.

I find it hard to toot my own horn and I don’t know if any of these rate as Epically Awesome; more so Epically Awesomely Average but we’ll give it a go:

1. I love change. I embrace it; thrive on it even. No change makes for a stale, cardboard cut-out version of me.
2. I am near on completing my first picture book (and yes it does have words).
3. I can drive, apply lip gloss and hand snacks to the back seat dwellers all at the same time.
4. Handling 12 hours of children’s television programs in the background of my personal soundtrack inside my head in one day is a walk in the park.
5. I never knew that WP would unleash the creative monster that has lived inside of me, relatively unnoticed, and make me a little more outwardly crazy than I was before.
6. I have taught primary school aged children for the past 19 years and have lived to tell the tales.
7. My sister is Epic in my book.
8. My boys are my walking proof that I am a mum. On rare occasions I’m an Epically Awesome one.
9. Family is my one and only true love. Without them I would not be whole. This includes you-my bloggerellies.
10. Shyla, my 12 y.o Golden Retriever is my mate. After breaking her leg at 3 y.o and facing amputation she has shown me an awesome amount of love.

My nominees are Epically Awesome as they have chosen to follow this little Love Trail.

 fromandforkids

Shawn

contrarymom

hasanbleibel

Jill London

jfitz524

CrystalBAstrology

gurglesandwoofs

Daniel Budiarto

knieling2012

I’d also like to thank Bubbly Mel for this lovely award that makes me feel a little princessy. I’m not frilly and pink by any stretch of the imagination but I love it all the same.

I reckon Mel is a Yummy Mummy already and should drop the’ trying to’ part. She’s gorgeous just the way she is. She’s had me squealing like a little school girl since we arrived for the show. I was already excited but she inspired me to be super excited.

Tomorrow sees the encore for this fine rock star-studded performance. I think they’ll retire after that. I don’t think they’ve got another world tour in ’em.

Kelly ♥

A Whole Lotta Love on a Wednesday

We’re at about halfway through this gig and these muso’s who’ve been jamming together for over 20 years are starting to show their age. Like them though, I’m in this for the long haul. My feet are sore, my throat’s hoarse form belting out the tunes and I don’t think the ringing in my ears will cease for at least two weeks.

I was nominated by Joey at Joeyfully Stated for the Liebster award. She says stuff I only think about in the deep, inner recesses of my brain. I love the fact that she puts it all out there and doesn’t hold back. She is really glad to be alive no matter what the Home Depot lady thinks: I am sure of that. No one could be that funny and not want to be living it up at Home Depot.

Thanks, Joey. I can only imagine what going to a live gig would be like with you by my side.

Sometimes you come across someone who just gets you. Lynette from Momisms-My Moments in Motherhood is one of those people for me. I think she’s read every post I’ve written and she comments regularly. She’s one reliable lady. It’s a wonder she doesn’t leave my blog sometimes scratching her head. She assures me she doesn’t even though sometimes I do. If we had time to chat I’m sure we’d have more in common than being surrounded by sons.

Thanks, Lynette. Your support means so much.

These guys really know how to rock even if they can’t flick their hair around like they used to. There’s that and also the fact they don’t have as much to flick anymore. They hype is building now to the final awesome tracks they’re renowned for. They’ve saved the best till last. It’s gonna be a legendary finish on Friday but bittersweet all the same.
Kelly ♥

A Whole Lotta Love on a Tuesday

There’s a constant hum in the air as the crowd awaits the return of the band on stage. Fans are still buzzing from the last set (or from something else?)

The crowd is cheering. They must be coming back on. I’m having trouble seeing-the joys of being a short arse. Can someone hoist me up on their shoulders?

Amber should have renamed this award after she received it. Amber’s Brilliant Content or Amber’s Butt Crack would have fitted perfectly. She believes I’m the queen of one-liners. I think I talk too much to be restricted to one line. She is the queen of funny and I know she won’t mind me killing this award in order to make it easier.

I’m supposed to list words starting with every letter of the alphabet that describe me or some such other business which is supposed to entertain you.

I’d prefer you go and see Amber’s underwear and let her entertain you. So I’m covering my butt with one word “ABUZZ’. It starts with A and ends in Z. There were no rules posted on Amber’s post anyway so technically it’s not cheating. She’s not one to follow rules. Bleedin’ Texans!

I will nominate though.

3 of my new followers who I’m yet to go visit:

A – Aimi

B – BGBowers

C – Contrary Mom

 

If the written word, rather than singing, is more your cup of tea then Melissa has the buzz on writing. She’s a writer and aspiring author like me. Melissa wants to step out of her accountant’s clothing and I, my teacher’s threads. If she’s anything like I imagine I’ll be when I’m a full-time writer she’ll spend her day in trackies with a pencil behind her ear.

Thank you Melissa for thinking that I inspire you on what really matters. You inspire me in return to go grab my manuscript and get to it.

The next set will be where some legends are on stage.

Kelly ♥

A Whole Lotta Love on a Monday

Bloggerellies you have rocked my socks off. Thank goodness you did too as I needed my toes to count and remember the awards I needed to do this week. I’m more flustered than if I was front and centre at a Led Zeppelin concert, armpit to armpit with some die hard fans. I wonder if they’d mind if I borrowed their zeppelin to fly my awards home in.

I hope you guys are up to rockin’ out with me for awhile until we get to the end of this gig. It’s gonna be a mammoth show over the next 5 days. I’m going to post two awards each day or until I pass out from the excitement of it all.

Firstly, I’d like to pay homage to the blogenius who decided that it was totally cool to post the receipt of an award that one has already received; just acknowledge the person who bestowed that award upon you. I would more than likely give you my gold ticket if I knew who you were as you’ve probably saved me several hours of post-i-tis and the audience from burnt fingers after waving their lighters in the air for too long.

The stage is set. Let’s rock this joint.

Chopping Potatoes is what Jennifer does best. She’s got it down to such a fine art form her spuds have been Freshly Pressed. I am in complete awe of her writing style (not due to fact of the FP) because she doesn’t put starch in her posts. They’re open, honest, funny and I can relate to them.  It is awesome to have received this award from you, Jennifer. Thank you.

As I have already received this award I won’t post the rules here. You can find them on Jennifer’s site if you wish to take this award home with you.

Pieter, a.k.a  Ah Dad…, did some rocking and rolling of his own recently. He sang, ‘You Give Love a Bad Name,’ with Bon Jovi and woo hoo’ed when he reached 100 followers (I wonder if Jon has that many?). Unfortunately he’s approaching the big 4-0h, like my good self, and didn’t do so well on his hearing test. Pieter makes me laugh frequently-just don’t ask him about the air-conditioner guy. Thanks, Pieter.

I’ve also received this one before so I won’t nominate-just go check Pieter out. I’ve prepared him for the hoards of adoring fans (ahem, one or two of you) who might head over there based on my perspective.

Well that was a pretty easy first set. I’m all warmed up now and raring to hear what’s coming up next. I hope there’s going to be some classics in the mix.

Love will be back in the spotlight after a drinks break.

Kelly ♥

I’d Love Some Help!

If anyone can lend a hand I’ll love you forever! I’m desperate so I’ll follow you (if I don’t already) or any other requests will be considered.
I know there’s plenty of peeps out there that are well versed at this game. Me-not so much. I’ve trawled the forums and google to no avail. What I’m keen to know is:

1. Where is the ‘posts I like’ tab I’ve read about. I can’t find it in the reader or dashboard. The closest I’ve seen is ‘my activity’. Am I looking for something that doesn’t exist. It’s on my smartphone but not my laptop. Is it my browser?

2. How do I re blog my own posts? I’ve got content from when I first started that’s only been seen by a handful of bloggers. I know I can copy, paste, blah, blah, blah. Is there an easier way?

I know most of my buds in the U.S. have their pretty heads resting snugly on a pillow right now but I’m super keen to get to the bottom of all this and I’m sure there are other parts of the world that are awake right now.

Help wanted for love (but the pay is crap).

Kelly ♥

Eyes of Love

Eyes without desire

Hungry for fuel to fill the soul

Embers of a fire

Once burned with passion

Just alive inside.

Looking without seeing

Wishing for a clear view

Blinds drawn across

Unveil the sight

For all to witness.

Visions of a future

Daring all who cross

Bear the burden

See what I feel

Come and love with me.

In writing this poem I wasn’t thinking in a specific direction. I had no deep message to convey. Allowing the words to create the journey for my thoughts was the purpose. I would sincerely appreciate if you don’t click the like button and go today. What would give me great satisfaction is knowing what you liked about it, if the words resonated with you or how you interpreted my expression.

Kelly ♥

© 2013 Kelly Hibbert, all rights reserved.

Images from: here and here.

An Inspiring Family That Shines With Love

Oh my lordy me! I have awards coming out of my ears. I’m going to be completely honest here and tell you how much I love these awards but how much time they take up. I go in to dust them off and I come out 4 hours later. The shelf is to breaking point and I’m going to have to add another one if any more arrive. For this round I’m going to focus on expressing my gratitude to my fellow bloggers who thought enough of me to give me more cleaning. I don’t normally do a blurb about the giver but today that’s my goal. I also want to recognise the ‘family’ award the most so I’m going to give a shout out to the new members of my family. I sure you have better things to do with your time than reading X amounts of facts about me so I’ll condense those too.

Monday’s Mum is just Making It Through Monday. She’s also expecting baby No. 2 and is an aspiring author like my good self. Her birthday is the same day as my eldest and she writes about a load of topics.

The rules for The Very Inspiring Blogger Award:

1. Thank and link back to the blogger who has nominated you,
2. Post the award logo to your blog.
3. Nominate and link to 15 other very inspiring bloggers.
4. Notify them; and tell 7 things about yourself.

This one’s from Kira (who I’ll talk about more in a moment) and also Patty at Petite Magique. Patty’s bagged a swag of awards lately and is on a roll. I’m so glad Patty found me. She’s a teacher like me and she loves reading, writing and poetry. I think she’s pretty awesome as I’m sure you’ll agree.

The Sunshine Blog award is an award given to bloggers by other bloggers. It is given to bloggers who are positive and creatively inspire others in the blogosphere.

The rules for this award are:

• Include the award’s logo in a post or on your Blog.
• Answer 10 questions about yourself
• Nominate 10 Bloggers
• Link your nominees to the post and comment on their Blogs, letting them know they have been nominated.
• Link the person who nominated you.

Kira, my gal pal and leader of the Three Mus’K’teers does more than hold herself together at Wrestling Life. She’s the glue that allows the three of us to keep fighting on! She composes poetry and shares her daily, brave fight with addiction.

Award Description: “This is an award for everyone who is part of the “WordPress Family” I started this award on the basis that the WordPress family has taken me in, and showed me love and a caring side only WordPress can show. The way people take a second to be nice, to answer a question and not make things a competition amazes me here. I know I have been given many awards, but I wanted to leave my own legacy on here by creating my own award, as many have done before. This represents “Family” we never meet, but are there for us as family. It is my honor to start this award.” from Shaun @ http://prayingforoneday.wordpress.com/

Rules: 1. Display the award logo on your blog.
2. Link back to the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate 10 others you see as having an impact on your WordPress experience and family
4. Let your 10 Family members know you have awarded them
5. That is it. Just please pick 10 people that have taken you as a friend, and spread the love.

So I’m going to do 10 quick things about me. I haven’t posted a pic of me yet so I’ll give you some descriptive stuff to work into an image.

• I am a towering 5’4” and shrinking by the day.
• I’m a brunette (with greys for highlights).
• My hair is naturally curly but I torment it to be straight every day.
• My eyes are hazel but were chocolate brown at birth.
• I wear a size 7 1/2 shoe.
• I have one wonky tooth. Kids always ask me if it’s going to fall out.
• Bits of me have descended and reassembled in place they never existed before but I’m the same weight I was in high school-always have been.
• My repertoire of facial expressions has resulted in lines on every part of my face.
• I have two ears (really!) that are pierced- three on one side, two on the other.
• I have a tattoo of the Egyptian Isis on my shoulder blade so when I tell kids I can see what they’re doing when my back is turned I really am watching them.

The following nominees are bloggers who have recently decided to follow me. Acceptance of the award is your choice. I just wanted to thank you for becoming part of my family. I hope to see you more often than the cousin or the uncle who lives far away because, let’s face it, you’re right around the corner.

Dawn of Thoughts

Year ‘Round Thanksgiving Projext

Marriage, Motherhood and Madness

The Truth You Always Knew

Texana’s Kitchen

Soul Love

Sevencity’s Blog

Banphrionsa

Cristian Mihai

One Cold Californian

Elizabeth Frattaroli

Words of Love

Rebecca J Fuhrman

Beau Preston

Strong Blogs

Words of His Heart

Mes Ayah-Life Through the Mic

Jennifer’s Journal

John Coyote

Universal Cosmic Consciousness

Kick Start-Thoughts Unspoken

Finally to anyone who would like any of these awards and you have missed out on one for your display cabinet please feel free to take any or all. It’ll save me from sneezing every time the dust floats off of them.

Thank you for the nominations and hugs to all my long lost relatives.

Kelly

♥

My Dream Lover

Sweet dreams, my love.

Dreams can be fun. They can also be heart-pounding scary. Others are hallucinations of sorts. Dreams where you are falling are supposed to be bad. Some are a wake up call and others should be given no heed at all. The worst is when you’re in the middle of a really good one………..BEEP! BEEP! BEEP! Time to wake up.

I have had a dream. It wasn’t as awe-inspiring as Martin Luther King’s (whose speech I love and I wasn’t even born when he delivered it). On Saturday night I dreamt that Steve, my husband of 7 years, was gone. Not gone as in ‘not here anymore’ but gone as in ‘had left me’. Now I’m not a big dream analyst and I haven’t even Googled it to see what it might have meant (dreams are sometimes really not about what they’re about at all). To me it was clear that my subconscious was sending me a message through a megaphone.

This, combined with reaching a milestone got my brain ticking in overdrive.

It ticked right back to the beginning of this adventure. Not my journey through life. I love to talk but not that much. But here’s just a little history to unveil the mystery of me:

• I am an almost-40 wife and mother of two boys. I am a teacher, sister and aunty.
• I am a recovering perfectionist, perpetual clean freak and don’t like hats but wear many virtual ones.
• My home is in South Australia and I love where I live.
• I’m an ideas person until I pick the crap out of them and realise it won’t/can’t work long-term.
• I suffer from the S.A.D.S (seasonal affective disorder/syndrome). Winter gives me the shits. I am a heat seeker that must have a vitamin D deficiency.
• I LOVE to laugh and do nowhere near enough of it.
• I stay away from bad news on TV. I’m a fairweather friend of news reports who finds it difficult to process all the bad things in the world that I can’t fix.

I am also a lover of words. English, specialising in children’s literature, was my major at University. I.T was my minor. I crave to write like a druggie craves the next fix.

I am a visual person too. My first love was Art, particularly Design. I wanted to ‘be a Graphic Designer’. Teaching was my second choice (yeah, I know-‘those who can’t do, teach’).

So I packed my bindle and off I set. I know it’s not a big deal but I am autodidactic by nature. Someone who seeks out new things to teach themselves. Free Little Words began on January 1st this year after I’d thought about starting one for nearly 12 months. It has been awesome, to say the least. I have learnt bucket loads and it won’t stop here (this isn’t a goodbye speech).

I am coming full-circle back to the dream nightmare now. Change is called for by me (these next two paragraphs are a bit whingey if you’d like to skip them). This blogging stuff takes a lot of time. We all know that. Anything worth doing can’t be completed in a jiffy. For me, I know I need to streamline the way I do things to ensure it takes as little time as possible while still doing a fantastic job. I don’t start something and not finish it to the best of my ability.

I don’t want to lose my husband (he assures me he’s not going anywhere) and I don’t want to take time away from my kids (after their bed time is the usual time reserved for all things bloggable). The other day I spent six hours looking for the right image for a post. I know, six hours. Ridiculous! Did I find it? No, because it didn’t exist. So I made it myself because it had to be right (I did say I was a recovering perfectionist). When I started my blog I did all my images myself. That was the time consuming part. Here’s the perfect example. I used to let the image do the talking as I wasn’t sure what to say. I pumped out 54 words on that post. Like when meeting a new friend, I was shy and hung back. Now I find it hard to keep under 400 words. All of my images have come from the internet now for quite some time but I have lost that sense of uniqueness. And all of that is just to complete my post. One must not forget the importance of the Reader, commenting, replying to comments, finding the next awesome blogger you wanna hang out with and please don’t let a negative word escape my lips about the time taken to complete awards.

So I’m going to go back to where I started, where the enjoyment was. The only difference this time is I’ll be drawing them not photographing. I love taking a line for a walk as you never know where it will take you. I’m going to take baby steps and do one a week.

I’ve got other plans I want to implement but I’ve word bashed everyone enough for now so I’ll leave it there.

 P.S Heartfelt thanks to Teacher 2 Mum who should understand why and Making It Through Monday who made my Monday Tuesday.

Dream a little dream of love.

Images from: here and here.

Love in Da Club

I’m feelin’ the love in the club tonight.

The night club days might be over but this club I’ve joined doesn’t involve a hangover in the morning. For the bloggers who know the ‘me’ I have revealed here on WP the love for my boys will be back soon. Just for a short while it’s going to be all about me and you. If you’ve stopped in here for the first time I’d like if you’d check out a couple of older posts to see what normally goes on around these parts.

I was excited to join the ‘200 club’ this week thanks to those individuals recognising that I have/had written something worthy of reading. It left me posing more questions than having answers though. Soon after reaching this milestone I began thinking about the next one. How many followers would I like before I was happy? Then I read this post called The More at Linda G Hill’s blog. Reading this and other ‘direction arrows’ had me driving to an unknown destination and got me thinking….

Today I felt as if I was following the ‘signs’ but I didn’t know where I headed. I did a lot of thinking today, not much reading and no writing until now. I had to get a handle on all the new stuff that was going on in my head. Then Kira at Wrestling Life reminded me of another reason why I’m here. In her post about a type of Welsh poetry, I commented, ‘Words that don’t come out through my fingers end up coming out of my mouth. They’re the ones that get me in more trouble. That’s one of the reasons why I write.’

And finally there was this post from The Evolving Dad where he talked about not trying so hard and that some of the best posts are the best just because. The flow from the fingers and don’t involve as much thought and planning. I know someone who does this amazingly well. Her name is Kimberly and she was one of my first followers. Her poetry paints pictures, neither of which I can do. Words for JP is where she resides if you’d like to join her there.

And finally for tonight is a plea to all the you Fantasy readers out there. Charles over at Legends of Windemere has his first book on Amazon. You could go and have a look at his site first or go straight here to buy the book for Kindle or in paperback.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another post that is off-topic but is something I need to do before I can choose where it is I am going from here.

Once again I would like to send a big thankyou to each and every blogger who works tirelessly to ensure that their content is king (I’d send flowers but unlike a ‘thank you’ they would end up in the bin).

I’ll be playing catch up tomorrow on my reader and comments. I haven’t forgotten you!

Blogging love to all.

Kelly

Images from: here, here and here.

40-Love

I love a good game.

Anyone for a hit of tennis?

Pat at New Bloggy Cat has been kind enough to hit the ball my way. I could wax lyrical about Pat’s ability but I won’t. Pat’s blog title was enough of a draw card for me. The game has only just begun so if you’d like to go and choose a seat I’m sure Pat would be thankful for bums on seats and an appreciative audience.

I certainly don’t feel like a pro in this game but at least I no longer look like a rubgy player with a racquet in my hand.

The requirements for this award are as follows:

• Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
• Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
• Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
• Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

7 things about me and fluoro yellow balls:

1. It amuses me that the word ‘Love’ in tennis means you have no points.
2. The definition of ‘crap at tennis’ in Wiki would have my picture next to it.
3. Watching tennis is enjoyable and often has me in a trance (kind of like a pendulum swinging).
4. I have been known to lose sleep just to be able to watch the end of the Wimbledon/U.S./Australian open final.
5. I have been to a real live tennis match.
6. Almost 6 is better at tennis than I am.
7. I have the reflexes of a rhinoceros.

The third and final set is upon us.

Wrestling Life

Middle School Writing MT

Rosanne L. Kurstedt’s Kaleidoscope

Molly B and Me

Child Life Mommy

The Dissocial Mom

Mom Times 4

JJ Begonia

Professions For Peace

Making It Through Monday

The Ranting Chef

Green Embers

Gift From the Heart Share and Care

Eeiilleeeenn

E-Motherhood

A huge round of applause for Pat at New Bloggy Cat. Thanks for the game, Pat.

There you have it ladies and gentlemen. Game, set and match!

Image from: here.

I’m A Versatile Underwear Lover

Mine are clean. How about yours, love?

I would like to thank Amber at “Normal” is the New Boring for sharing this honour and her sexy undergarment post. If you haven’t popped over to Amber’s and met her family it’d be worth a visit. Settle in for a bit and if you check out her most recent post you might even get a flash of underwear. It might pay to take a clean pair with you.

The requirements for this award are as follows:

• Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.

• Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
• Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
• Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

  

7 things about me and my undergarments you did not (and may not have) cared to know:

1. My underwear is neatly folded and in stacked piled OCD style.
2. They are categorised into everyday wear, those ‘other 5 days’ and, finally, invisible undies (for when I don’t want people to know I’m wearing any).
3. The type that Amber wears on Tuesday are in my bottom drawer and have barely seen the light of day in….I don’t know how long.
4. My G-string wearing days are over. I never bought a T-String (these were ‘in’ after I’d had two children) unless you count the ones in the kitchen attached to the tea bags.
5. My very comfy undies are in fact Bonds. They cost $8 pair on special. Pity Pat doesn’t come with them.
6. My grundies are my pj’s even in the heart of winter.
7. Commando? Isn’t that the trainer on the Biggest Loser Australia?

So here’s my list of superhero bloggers that may or may not wear their underwear as outerwear:

The Things I See Up Here
Mrs Smith
All About Manners
Bucket List Publications
On The Fence
Words for JP
Females United Blog
Mister G Kids
Inspiration Energy
Have fun With It
A Penny For Your Thoughts
40inmy40th
Lady in the House
What I Meant to Say
Encourage One Another Daily

I bet they’re swinging theirs in the air as they read this! As always there’s no need to follow on the tradition of, ‘I’ve shown you mine, now show me yours.’ Award to the next fifteen if the shoe bloomers fit.

Love my cottontails!

Kelly

Image from: here and here.

22 Things Happy People Do Differently

Love being happy 🙂

I Love a Good Fight

The gloves of love were hung up recently.

An unexpected hiatus from the ring has ended! The gloves were off. Now they’re in full swing and packin’ a punch.

I have a game plan today. I’m facing a strong opponent and will probably do a little bit of dancing before any blows are landed but I’m gonna give it my best shot. Hopefully I’ll make it through each round.

Three days of no training can reek havoc with one’s routine. Lucky my sparring partner is back from his suspension in a hospital bed.

So the plan of attack looks something like this:

1. Catch up on my reader. 3 days worth-shouldn’t take long.

2. Approve and reply to comments. These people came to watch and saw a KO. Disappointing to say the least.

3. Check out some amazing bloggers who have stuck their head in for a quick look or to follow my journey to the title fight.

4. Nominate bloggers in an award post so they can hold the trophy aloft.

5. Complete 4 posts which will bring me up-to-date in my post-a-day promise to myself. I’ll back-date them later to fill in the gaps (I’ll sneak between my opponent’s legs if necessary).

So while the kids get to spend some quality time with their dad, I’ll be here fighting the good fight. Reconnecting, working on my game plan and giving blogging a good flogging. Better put, ‘Eye of the Tiger’ on ear-splittingly loud.

I’m not gonna tap out today. Can someone please have the smelling salts ready?

Disclaimer: I actually detest boxing and know very little about the sport.

I’m a lover not a fighter!

Image from: here.

Loyal Love

Love is loyal.

Loyalty should be rewarded and that is why I would like to thank Kim at words4jp’s blog (again) for including Free Little Words in her list of blogs/boggers that ‘show a strength of resolve’. Some days it does not feel as if I’m deserving of this title but strength is something I find daily in other blogs, like Kim’s, which inturn strengthens my resolve.

Continuing the Dragon’s Loyalty Award traditions I must now:

• Display the Award Certificate on your website.
• Announce your win with a post and link to whoever presented you with the award.
• Present 15 awards to deserving bloggers.
• Drop them a comment to tip them off after you have linked them in the post.
• Post 7 interesting things about yourself.

7 interesting things about me might be stretching the truth a little but here goes:

1.  I am afraid of heights but have skydived.

2.  I am an aunty on my side but not my husband’s side yet.

3.  Purple is my favourite colour but I can’t wear red.

4.  I was born with chocolate brown eyes but they changed to hazel.

5.  I live in the suburbs but it feels like a little slice of country (quiet, rural outlook, sheep at the back fence).

6.  I have had a koala walk right past me while sitting outside at night but didn’t have my camera handy.

7.  My mum named her children with the same starting letter. My sister continued the tradition with her kids but I broke it with mine.

Now the part that I love the most-nominating 15 other blogs. I’ve chosen to nominate 15 blogs that have shown loyalty to my blog. When I take a gander at my stats I am constantly amazed that only three months in and I have nearly 200 followers! It astounds me that people value what I tap onto the screen each day. So here’s to many of my ‘loyals’-some visit me every day-thank you for helping keep me strong.

Laurie’s Notes
Teacher to Mum
GAME4LEARNING
Biljanazovkic
M & A’s World
Mama Bear Musings
Inside My Glitching Mind
Parenting and Stuff
Magical Mayhem
Miss Marzipan
South Forty Rocks
valeriudgbarbu
Ray Ferrer-Emotion on Canvas
Humanity777
Cruising Through My Life

Of course, do what you wish with your award. Some of you have stated you are no longer passing on awards. That’s cool but I think it is still important to acknowledge your blogging efforts.

Love to you and your loyal followers,

Kelly.

a heart

Inspired by Love.

As I trek around WordPress I am inspired by many but none more so than Kim. To think that one of my posts inspired her to tap away at the keys humbles me no end. Kim turns words into poetry, something I am desperately hopeless at.

Love is my inspiration.

Words4jp's Blog

 conceived

ALIVE

developed

born

grows

feels

learns

needs

loves

hopes

hurts

hopes

heals

hopes

loves

hurts

heals…

DIES

♥

but

it

still lives

in the hearts

that are still

living.

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A Versatile Kinda Love

I just love the word versatile.

I would like to thank Kimberly at Words for JP for my 6th award this month. If you haven’t popped over to Kim’s please wander in and be prepared to stay a while. This lady renders me incapable of speaking with her poetry. I don’t comment often because I wouldn’t know what to say other than ‘wow’ and that would get redundant after a short while. If there was a ‘like’ button that was in caps I would click it every time.

The requirements for this award are as follows:

• Thank the person who gave you this award. That’s common courtesy.
• Include a link to their blog. That’s also common courtesy — if you can figure out how to do it.
• Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
• Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award — you might include a link to this site.
• Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

7 things about me you may not already know:

1. Faced with an entire block of chocolate to myself I’d still only eat a few squares.
2. I am surrounded by three very strong males: Bull (Taurus), Lion (Leo) and a Ram (Aries). My star sign is Sagittarius-The Archer.
3. I am the least funny of all my friends but they are true friends as they still laugh at my jokes.
4. My family and I live in the southern suburbs of South Australia.
5. I plan never to post photos of my children on my blog (which I’ll go into in a later post).
6. I love creating of any sort: art, craft, music, dance and writing but am no good at some.
7. The spotlight and I are not comrades.

This may be a little controversial but I do not intend on following the guidelines to the letter. This is the part where you’d normally see the list of 15 blogs I would highly recommend you go and take a gander at. ‘Er, where’s the list, you say? Please read on.

I’d like to extend a warm invitation to all bloggers who visit this page to add a blog of their choice in the comments box. Whether it’s your first time round these parts or you’re part of the furniture, please feel free to suggest away. It could be your own or one that you would highly recommend to me. Add multiple blogs if you wish. This is open-ended time wise and not limited to the normal 15. All I ask is that you put in the link instead of just the blog name so I can link straight to it.

I assure this is not a case of lazy blogger syndrome. I would love nothing more than to further my reading in as many corners of WP as possible. Once I have visited a blog I can create my list and do a pingback to each site. So I will be doing what the award asks-just in reverse order this time.

Gee, I really am versatile!

Lots of love

Kelly

Just a Minute for Love

Love in a minute.

Is that all you’ve got? Is that all it takes?

It’s all that I have so that’ll have to do for now.

How many times a day do you say, ‘just a minute,’ or, ‘in a minute,’ to someone you love? I don’t think I’d want to know the answer to that question myself. My kids would probably be able to tell you though. And for them being asked to wait a minute is probably comparable to an adult being asked to wait an hour. When I asked my nearly three (year old) to wait for just a minute today he cut his own hair again and it’s his birthday tomorrow. Sigh. What else can I do? We’re off to the barbers in the morning to see if Tony can make it any less noticeable. I don’t think it’s going to make much difference though so all photos will be profile shots of his left side.

For a fair portion of today I have thought to myself I’ll do my blog in a minute. It hasn’t happened until now-6 hours later. Now I only have a minute (or two) before I am blogging tomorrow.

On a completely different tangent did anyone else out there make the correlation between there being sixty seconds in a minute and that one’s resting heartbeat is supposed to equal 60 also?

Anyhoo. I’m going to finish tonight with a challenge I’ve set for myself. Many people talk about what they might do if they knew their time was coming to end (their time was up). Normally this would mean making plans, fulfilling dreams and telling the people closest to them how much they love them. I’m going to do that right now but in only 60 seconds, starting now…………

My boys,

I love you with all of my heart

With every beat of your heart

please remember that.

I love the smell of your hair

the touch of your skin

and your smiling eyes.

You amaze me,

fill me with delight and wonder

and you are proof that I achieved greatness.

If you only had a minute what words would you choose for those in your heart?

I love you every second, with every beat.

Image from: here.

Lovebug Hug to Dog, Frog and Hog

Hugs from the Lovebug are going out today to Dog, Frog and Hog.

I received a warm and carefilled hug from Words for JP a.k.a Kim and her bunch including Pee.

I’m inturn hugging Dog, Frog, Hog, Rat, Cat and Co. via Tania Ingram. If you think I must be drunk on love, head over to Tania’s blog. She might even greet you with a wag. Enjoy your first award, Tania. There will be many more to come (CBCA Award would be the best)!

The HUG Award© was initiated by Connie Wayne at A Hope for Today at http://ahopefortoday.com, which promotes hope, love, peace, equality, and unity for all people.

The HUG Award© is for people with an expectant desire for the world, for which they:  Hope for Love; Hope for Freedom; Hope for Peace; Hope for Equality; Hope for Unity; Hope for Joy and Happiness; Hope for Compassion and Mercy; Hope for Faith; Hope for Wholeness and Wellness; Hope for Prosperity; Hope for Ecological Preservation; Hope for Oneness

The HUG Award© recognizes and honors those who help keep hope alive in our current world, which is plagued by war, natural disasters, and economic recession.  They nurture hope, in any of the above areas,  by the work they do, or in their personal lives with things such as blogging, public speaking, charity work, etc.

The HUG Award© is for people who, without giving up or compromising their own religious, spiritual, or political beliefs, are able to nurture hope and respect the dignity of all people.

The HUG Award© is for those who, without bias or prejudice, use their resources and gifts to make the world a better place for everyone.

The HUG Award©is for people who have a hope or an expectant desire that the work or talents they use in things such as blogging, public speaking, charity work, etc., will make a positive impact on the world.

These people do not have to actively use the word “hope” in their work or creative talents.  They only need be conscious of their desire to make the world a better place for everyone.

These people use their available resources–a smile, a hug, a helping hand, a listening ear, a voice, time, money, possessions, education, personality, talent, websites and blogs—to make a positive impact on the world and make the world a better place to live.