It took ... a long time, but I'm finally done....reading your comments...WHEW! Note to self: Don't ever...ever...do THAT again! At least not when I'm gone for a week. And then come home to stripping wallpaper. And sports with my kids. And a trip to my dad's. And our furnace going out and having to be replaced with workers in my house hammering and drilling and dropping things and making scary attic noises (and making MORE OF A MESS FOR ME TO CLEAN BEFORE THE MEETING AT OUR HOUSE TONIGHT!!!!). Time for happy thoughts and cleansing breaths............

Some of you have made this VERY difficult for me. Reading your thoughts, I laughed much, and occasionally "thought" much. I love having a blog because I'm thankful to have these memories, thoughts, captured...Some things were VERY familiar to go back and revisit, others, I don't even remember writing.

So........on to the Awards, that's what you're here for, anyway ;).

[A] Reader Referral - Malissa

Although many of her readers are apparent blogger neophytes (5 of her 15 referrals were listed only as "anonymous"), knowing Malissa, I believe they were all different people (one "anon" admitted visiting twice, so I only counted her first time...). The closest to her was Marnie with five referrals (apparently, posting naked pictures was a waste of nudity)(MJ, that's my attempt at routing readers back to ya;) ).

For her efforts, she wins the Mikwright Family Style book and some sidebar lovin' once I figure that out. For now, I'm just trying to get a freakin' awards post up.

[B] Committed Commentor.

Ah.....for this one, not so easy. There were several of you in contention for this. And I was impressed, EVERY comment at least gave the illusion of the post having been read. Since I've only got one Barnes & Noble gift card, I'm adding some runner-up prizes--Mary Englebreit mini books and whatever else I might come up with :). There's a garden-related one for Pamela and a friend one for LCO.

Runner ups: Pamela @ The Dust Will Wait. With 64 comments, you'd think she'd have had it in the bag. Of course, this category was based on content AND quantity, and I had a hard time not "giving" it to her. Pamela has the gift of brevity AND levity. In just a few words, she can brighten my day, she has depth and warmth and humor and wisdom which makes her blog a near daily stop for me (umm, except the past week or two...). Here are a few of my favorites.

Our society is such that we are not encouraged just to give of ourselves... we think we have to give money or goods. Maybe some people just need to have a human touch. Do I have healing in my hands? In my smile? In my ears? Maybe I don't have to say anything at all.

Fitting into his mother's Genes......... he should be very fashionable (re: a post @ Thomas...)

I was apple pie, too. Mine was the one with the lard in the crust. (re: one of those blog quizzes @ what dessert you are)

Traffic jams ... bad. Fruit jams .... good. This post was just plum sweet ! (wit galore)

Beary N'ice. Several times recently I've thought about quitting my blog. Especially when I realize mine is all about nothing. Your have said alot -- which has been thought provoking. (Funny pun; quit your blog? PERISH THAT THOUGHT! and blowing air up my skirt, all in one comment!)

Runner up #2, A NEWBIE! LeftCoastOnlooker, one of the referrals sent by Malissa. LCO does not have a blog but she (?) needs one! By my count, she commented about 60 times. Just reading the comments, I felt like I was blogging. A few of them to get an idea of why she's a runner up:

(from a post about me shopping & learning a new word) lol learning -- now I have 2 reasons to shop. I learned that shopping is biblical. you see, Adam & Eve had a really bad day (ate the fruit, sinned, fell, lost their home, eternal curse, etc), & God gave them new clothes. So, when I have a bad day, I tell my dh I need to go get a new outfit :) Now, I can use the "learning" line, too. Or, research :) But could someone tell me what the heck "DH" is? Darling Husband? Designated Hitter? Dirty Hands??? I see it all the time but I don't really know the translation.

Ooooooo! speaking of education, LCO taught me a new word: facund...that's how she described me/my writing, I guess. It means eloquent (teacher's pet ;) ).

I'm thinking of the transparency of glass, or even a flimsy piece of overhead transparency film. I should be see-through, I should be just the flimsy piece of film, so that Christ can be seen instead of me. Am I still trying to cover it all up, so no one can see how little of Christ really shines through?I think of all of the expectations people heap upon me & wonder if I can be allowed to be transparent --can I do what I do to honor & glorify God, or can I only do what the people want, in order to not offend all of the church people? I haven't found the balance, yet. Serve God or serve the people, seems to be the choice before me. What if your PW got all transparent on you? Would you weird-out, would you gossip, would you judge? Or, would you tell her you have struggled in the same areas & you'll support her and pray for her? I hope you'd do the later, but so far, I've only gotten the former. (It took me a while to figure out what PW meant, and then it hit me..."preacher's wife").

LCO was funny and deep, and didn't agree with everything I had to say. I think she found me a paradox at times (aren't we all??). That stemming from a "multiple personality" comment she made about me....lol.

And for the WINNER of the B&N giftcard....again: Malissa's Merry-go-round. How could I NOT award this to her with 112 comments???! AND they were pertinant. And she's was one of my first readers. And she's sweet. And my original Blogger template was kindred to hers.

Malissa is self-effacing (look how pathetic I am! commenting on a blogging chicks carnival notice.I so must not have a life;) Today I thought at the store--good it's Thursday--maybe I will still be able to comment on the rest of Robin's posts.It's probably a little freaky how committed I am to this project huh?:0)

Funny-- (lol;) Some football players aren't too bad looking either;) My mom (the pastor's wife) says she only watches to see them bending over when they hike the ball (MOM!)

Enterprising-- (I did not see this--but I DID buy a Capt Jack Sparrow new in the box at Goodwill for 3.99 and sell it for $27.00 on Ebay;) long live the pirates;) )

Fashionable;)--(Hey I got toe rings this summer too;) very fun.)

She's a lot more than all that, but I've been working at this post off and on all day, and if I don't get it done, I'll never get to write again or read your stuff again and I really wanna respond to a lot of the comments, and honestly, I'm approaching DTs (I do NOT wanna forget all the stuff I had planned on writing about, and I'm afraid I've already lost much before I had time to download it to my Pensieve:/).

[C] Y'all stunk at guessing where I was. Once I TOLD you, you STILL could barely get it. First stop..............THE BEACH!!!!!!!!!! Then, yeah, M-I-C-K-E-Y M-O-U-S-E....DisneyWORLD.

BTW, the clues were the post titles! The first one was "Where in the WORLD is Carmen Sandiego" with the word "world" in all caps; the second clue was "hop til you drop" and that was a nod to us Park Hopping; we hit three parks/day for two days (Magic Kingdom/Epcot/Animal Kingdom and MGM).

Guess what? I don't MEAN for this to be a "cliffhanger" post, but I cannot spend another minute here. And I don't want to rush writing about the grand prize winner. I told ya it'd be Tuesday possibly before results were posted (and that was before the stuff w/our heater), this is as far as I can get today....hope I still have some readers when all is said and done...not so sure about that :/.