It is with great thanks to Lonnie, aka The Belmont Rooster that I accept my very first blogger award, the Inspiring Blogger Award!

I am humbled and although I am not sure how “inspiring” I am, I hope that at least some of my posts have helped one or two people out.  Sometimes knowing there is someone else experiencing the same things that we are can help us to find the strength to keep on keeping on! 🙂

Accepting this award comes with a few rules, and here they are (as copied from The Belmont Rooster’s Inspiring Blogger Award page!)

1. Thank the person who nominated you and add a link to their blog.
2. Display the award on your post
3 List the award rules so your nominees will know what to do.
4. State 7 things about yourself.
5. Nominate 3 other bloggers for the award. (Ok, I edited this one because many of the bloggers that I find especially inspiring have already been nominated or are “award-free” )  In reality, EVERY single blogger that I follow has inspired me in some way, which is why I’m following.  So, for some amazing blogs, click on any one of the blogs I’m following!!  
6. Contact your nominees to let them know you have nominated them. Provide a link to your post.
7. Proudly display the award logo (or buttons) to your blog, wither on your side bar, ABOUT page, or a special page for awards.

So, here goes:

#1 – The Belmont Rooster is an obvious choice for Inspiring Blogger.  His blog description is, “A Blog About Plants & Gardening… And Maybe More.”.  I can tell you that his is my “go-to” site whenever I want to know how to care for any of my garden or house plants, or am wondering what a particular type of plant might be.  I guarantee that if he doesn’t know what it is, he can find out!  And, there definitely is more than gardening info there.  A recent post featured a baby calf being born!  Amazing, and I loved being able to experience that through his wonderful photos!  My small gardens are but a drop compared to his ocean’s worth of photos and plant expertise, but I have learned much already from his extremely helpful and informative site!!

#2 – Here is the Image I chose to post.  There are others available as well.  

#3 – Rules are listed above! 😉

#4 – State 7 things about myself……..ok…..here goes! 😉

• I am the oldest child of 4 children.
• I love musicals, including Disney animated musicals.  I saw “Frozen” with my daughter Aurora last Tuesday and dearly loved it.  I already purchased the soundtrack on iTunes!
• I play piano.
• I absolutely CANNOT watch the movie, “What Dreams May Come” without crying.  I shared it with Aurora the other night to see if I could, but I just can’t.  I LOVE that movie!
• One of my all time favorite quotes is from Mother Teresa, “We can do no great things;  We can do small things with great love.”  I try to live my life that way.  I can’t fix the world’s problems, but if I can make a difference to just one person, my life hasn’t been wasted.
• When I’m told I can’t do something, I get stubborn and want to prove that I can.
• I have a knack for getting people to open up to me.  I think it’s because I like to listen to what people have to say and I absolutely love it when people ask me for advice.  (Maybe I was an advice columnist in a previous life. Ha ha ha!) 😉

5. – Nominate 3 other bloggers for the award:

• Igniting Hope Today – Very inspiring blog with great advice for being the best person you can be!  (And, lucky me, this is my sweetheart!)
• Photos and Writings by Wendy Premo Larson – Beautiful photography and inspiring words.  Simply done, but spectacular!
• Misty and Sugar: The Puppy Adventures – I think it’s impossible not to be inspired by a puppy mommy raising TWO puppies at once!  I struggle with my one little guy, so imagining twice the work is definitely an inspiration for ME to rise to the challenge of mothering just one little guy!

#6 – Contact your nominies.   As soon as I get this posted, links will be going out to them! 🙂

#7 – Proudly display the logo.  For now it’s on this post and after following the wonderful instructions on The Belmont Rooster’s Inspiring Blogger Award Post, I shall have a link on the side of my page (hopefully 😉 )