Taking Care of Business 2

Oh my goodness! I've been trying to catch up on some blog posts and rediscovered another neglected award.

Jenn from Jennifer Morrill's Attempt at a Blog bestowed this award upon me earlier this month. Her "attempt" at a blog is a very successful blog that contains a variety of reviews that span from children to adult and covers a multitude of genres. Check out her blog - I don't think you'll be disappointed.

Please don't take my lack of response personally, Jenn. I am truly grateful and appreciative. Thank you very much for passing the award this way. :)

Taking Care of Business

I have been extremely busy and have absorbed too many Google Reader subscriptions lately that I have neglected my regular commenting and even posting on my own blog! I've been barely able to keep up with posting my thoughts on the books I've read, let alone any other business. So, today I'm going to catch up a bit with a couple of things where I've dropped the ball.

First, Book Dragon from Book Dragon's Lair, presented me with this Lemonade Award on June 15th!

Book Dragon's header:

BOOK DRAGON'S LAIR

BECAUSE A BOOK IS A TREASURE WORTH PROTECTING

I think most of us book lovers can relate to that!

Book Dragon hosts 4 challenges and participates in many, so you may have already been introduced to her. If not, please stop by and say hello.

Thank you, Book Dragon! I'm sorry for the delay.

AND . . .

I was totally shocked to receive an e-mail that I have been nominated for BBAW. The category is Best Thriller/Mystery/Suspense/Crime Blog! Thank you so much to the {{{person}}} that nominated me. I'm very grateful and love the fact that someone likes to read my thoughts on the books I read. It's an honor to be nominated. Thank you!

Friendly Blogger Award

Bonnie from Redlady's Reading Room bestowed this award upon me and I am handing it right back to her. :) If you haven't been by her blog yet, this would be a great time - she is hosting a give-away. Thank again for the award, Bonnie!

Proximidade & Super Comments Award

Joanna from It's All About Me has passed on the Proximidade award to me. Thank you! Joanna is a self-professed Reading Challenge Addict, so it's no surprise that she is a participant in numerous challenges for the 2009 year. She also participates in memes. Her latest blog post is a meme about Diversity in Reading; you may want to stop by and give it a try yourself. Thanks again, Joanna.

Suey from It's All About Books gave this award to the last 10 commenters and I happened to be one of them. :) Thanks Suey!

Here's a bit from Suey's blog. It's a description of her "perfect day":

My perfect day would include a couple of hours reading (probably YA), a couple of hours doing computer connections, a couple of hours at the movies, a picnic lunch up the canyon with the family, a nap, a dinner at an Italian restaurant followed by seeing Josh Groban live in concert (from a front row seat!) Do you think I could do all that in a day?

Proximidade & Friends Award

I'm grateful to Carrie from Books and Movies (Subtitle: Talking books, movies, TV and all things entertainment) for thinking of me when she was passing this award on to others. I've been reading Carrie's blog for quite some time now and she posts on exactly what her subtitle states. The latest post is a book review of Leonardo's Swans (Essex) that she read for the Art History Challenge. Prior to that she posted a meme, Twitter info and an informal poll on whether or not you peek at the last page of a book prior to finishing it. Lots of interesting topics, don't you think? Stop by and see for yourself. :) Thanks again for the award, Carrie. I'm honored.

I hope that you will help me welcome Missy from Missy's Book Nook to the blogosphere! She is a new blogger as of March 18th and received this as her first award! I'm so pleased that she generously passed it along to me. Missy's debut post was a book review - imagine that! :) However, she does add some personal posts, video clips and animal cartoons to entertain. I hope you will stop by and say "Hi". Thank you, Missy! I'm happy to be friends.

Proximidade & Sisterhood Award

Sweet Kara from World According to Books has been up to kind acts again! She has given me the above award. Her blog is a great place to visit, especially if you are interested in romance and vampire books. She has scores of reviews to gather up more ideas for your TBR lists. Please take a moment and give her blog a browse.

It looks as if the person that designed the Sisterhood Award is into scrapbooking. Isn't it cute? My thanks go to Trish from Trish's Reading Nook and Bonnie from Redlady's Reading Room for giving me this award. It means a lot and I'm honored that you both thought of me.

Here's a little bit about these two great sister-bloggers:

Trish reads a variety of genres and writes reviews that hold a lot of heart. She takes time to sift through her thoughts and posts what has touched her the most. On occasion, Trish posts about her immediate family (husband and cat) and some other random tidbits. Once, she even posted a video of herself sharing 7 random personal things. Check it out! You'll love her, just like the rest of us. :)

Bonnie's blog is blooming with book tours, guest posts, give-aways, book previews and reviews, and a host of other fun stuff. Also, she acquires many ARCs, so you can get an early peek at many books that will be published soon. I'm sure that you'll find something on her blog to entertain you, so please click on over and give her blog a gander. You won't be disappointed - I never am!

Thanks again, Ladies!

Premio Dardos Award & Your Blog is Fabulous! Award

Bonnie from Redlady's Reading Room has bestowed upon me yet another award! Isn't she kind? :) It's the Premio Dardos Award. Thank you, my friend.

AND . . .

Sally906 from Books and Musings from Downunder (her main blog) has given me the Your Blog is Fabulous! Award and this one comes with a meme. If you are interested, you can share 5 things you are addicted to. Thank you so much, Sally906! I appreciate your thoughtfulness. :)

Premio Dardos Award

Jackie from Farm Lane Books Blog was so kind in passing the Premio Dardos Award along to me. Thank you, Jackie! Believe it or not, Jackie has only been blogging for approximately 4 months and already has a blog full of book reviews!

Here's what Jackie is all about:

I love books! I love them so much that I gave up my 'proper' job, and now sell books online, giving me the opportunity to live with several thousand books!

I read anything that has been recommended to me, has won a prize, or just sounds interesting. I particularly like completing lists of books, and am currently trying to read all the winners of the Booker, Pulitzer and Orange Prizes.

I live in Surrey, England, with my husband and two young sons.

I hope you'll visit Jackie. With lots of reviews, I'm sure you'll find a common interest.

Thanks again, Jackie. I'm honored. :)

Premio Dardos Award

J. Kaye from J. Kaye's Book Blog is out spreading the love again! :) This time it's in the form of an award called the Premio Dardos Award. This award is given to acknowledge a blogger that shows effort to communicate cultural, ethical, literary, and personal values in the form of creative and original writing. What an honor it is to receive this award.

J. Kaye is a prolific blogger. Her whole family contributes to her blog - making it a very warm and homey place to visit. They read a variety of genres, so I'm sure you will find J. Kaye's Book Blog a wonderful place to visit, let alone a great resource for books.

A big hug of thanks to you . . . {{{J. Kaye}}} !

The Lemonade Award & Butterfly Award

The Lemonade Award was given to me in the middle of December by Kara from World According to Books. The Lemonade Award is given to those people showing great attitude and gratitude. And I, certainly, am grateful to Kara for passing this on to me. Unfortunately, I totally forgot to post about it until a few days ago. When I was trying to get this post together - blogger wouldn't let me upload any images, so here I am . . . trying again.

You can stop by Kara's blog anytime; she'd love to have you visit. Here's what she says in her header:

Welcome to my world where you can dare to dream, fall in love, experience the unexpected, share in the lives of others, and, of course, meet some of the hunkiest men!!!

Thank you, Kara!

Bonnie from Redlady's Reading Room and Mary from Bookfan awarded me with the Butterfly Award. It is "for the coolest blog I ever know". These are two very special ladies. They both post more than just reviews, so if you don't want to miss out - head on over to their blogs asap.

Thank you, Bonnie. Thank you, Mary. I appreciate the both of you very much!

Bookworm Award

The Bookworm Award was graciously passed on to me by Bonnie from Redlady's Reading Room.  Bonnie has been blogging for only 5 months and she's got herself a fun blog!  You'll have to check it out - she has book reviews, give-aways (and not just books), author book tours, and she participates in weekly blog events.  Whew!  Not only that, she's a really nice, generous person.  Thank you, Bonnie, for giving me this award.  I appreciate your kindness.  :)

Straight from Bonnie's header:

*Step into my reading room and join me in a wonderful discussion about Books, Parenting, Motherhood, Family, Friendships, Health and more! You will find a variety of reviews here as well. Thanks for joining us!*

Brillante Weblog & Enjoy Blogging Award

Twiga92 from Journey to the End of the TBR Pile passed this award on to me!  Thanks tons, Twiga!  She's our fearless host of the Medical Mystery Madness Challenge that began in June but goes through October, so there's still time to participate.  Chick Lit was another challenge of Twiga's, but that one has already reached its deadline.  Maybe you can catch it next year.

Twiga enjoys reading Christian novels (as well as other genres) and lives in Michigan . . . GO BLUE!!!  She'd love for you to visit her blog as she travels to the bottom of her TBR pile.  Do you think she'll ever make it?  Sorry, for the lack of confidence in you, Twiga, but I don't think you will.  Your journey is going to continue on and on and on!  That's not such a bad thing, is it?  :)        

Dar from Peeking Between the Pages has presented me with this new award.  It's a privilege for me to comment on her blog and I enjoy her visits here as well.  So, this goes right back at her!  She definitely adds some love to the blogosphere and contributes to my enjoyment of blogging.  Thanks, Dar!  

Lifted from Dar's first post:

"Hi there, I am addicted to books!  I love to read!  I pretty much like all books except I'm not much for romance novels though.  I love fiction for the most part and historical novels.  I'll pretty much try reading anything once.  I read every chance I get even if it's for a few minutes when I sit down in between other things.  I'm running out of room to keep all my books yet keep buying more."

Can you relate?  I sure can!  Dar's door is always open, so you are welcome to stop by Peeking Between the Pages at any time - day or night.  She loves company.  And . . . you can walk right in, you don't even have to knock!  

Super Commenters Award

It's always such a pleasure to be recognized for what we do, so I thank Dar from Peeking Between the Pages for presenting me with this Super Commenters Award.  She, by far, is much more deserving than I.  Please stop by and give her blog a peek.  It'll be worth it! 

ADDENDUM:

Trish from Trish's Reading Nook has generously passed on this award to me as well.  Thank you!  Trish has been a faithful commenter here on "Thoughts of Joy . . ." and I appreciate her immensely.  She's hosting her first reading challenge (The Classics Challenge 2008) this year, you might want to check that out, too!

E for Excellent & Brillante Weblog Award

Two awards . . . Woo Hoo!  

My thanks go to Kim from Page After Page and Teddy Rose from

So Many Precious Books, So Little Time for showering me with these awards.  I am very thankful for their generosity and appreciative of their friendship; however, I think the awards belong to them.  Please stop by their blogs and you'll see what I mean.  Thanks again for thinking of me, ladies.  

Blog Award

Look what I received from J. Kaye (J. Kaye's Book Blog)! She made up a new rating system for her book reviews and cleverly came up with an award to match! Check out her blog and see what neat stuff she has going on. She has frequent give-aways, too! Thank you, J. Kaye. And, by the way, you qualify for your own award. :)

You Make My Day Award

Both Rhinoa (Rhinoa's Ramblings) and Amy (The Sleepy Reader) have graced me with the You Make My Day Award! I am very pleased that I "make someone's day". That's really nice to know! I gently throw this award back at them.

The blogosphere is such a fun place to be. I appreciate the variety of blogs I visit and am thankful to all of them for contributing to my day!

*I just discovered that Susan (Bloggin' 'bout Books) honored me as well! I'm grateful for her kind words and her blog makes my day, too!

Mwah! Award

On January 9, 2008, I was kissed by Teddy Rose from
So Many Precious Book, So Little Time.

Here's what the Mwah! represents:

"It's a big kiss, of the chaste platonic kind, from me to you with the underlying 'thanks' message implied. I really do appreciate your support and your friendship and yes, your comments. ... Mwah!"

I thank you, Teddy Rose, for your kindness in sharing your kisses with me and of course, for the wonderful blog you have developed. It is much appreciated and enjoyed. :)

Thank you Historia of BiblioHistoria for nominating me (quite some time ago and forgot to blog about it) for this fun award. This is why she nominated me,

" ... because if it wasn't for her Non Fiction challenge, I would have never gotten addicted to challenges in the first place."

I am happy to be of service (aka enabler).

I hope all you Non-Fiction Five Challenge participants are enjoying your choices.

Apparently, Gentle Reader of Shelf Life thinks so too. Thank you!

BLOGGERS ROCK!

Thank you!

I am going to graciously accept this Thinking Blogger Award from Lynne at Lynne's Little Corner of the World; however, I do not feel comfortable in passing this kind gesture on to only five bloggers.

I celebrate everybody's unique contribrution to the blogging community. Everybody has their own purpose behind their blog and I appreciate that. I rejoice in our differences and really love reading the varying writing styles and topics.

My thanks go to all of you that share your experiences and make ME think!

P.S. I just realized that if you're not nominated, then you can't copy the Thinking Blogger Award. So...if you have not received it yet and you are anywhere on my blog, consider yourself nominated! :)