Blessed to have bloggy friends... new awards for AB

I am so blessed to have great bloggy friends who think highly enough of Acting Balanced to share their hard earned awards with me...

This week, I received the:

from Kat's Confessions

Now on to the rules!

1 - Post who gave you this award.
2 - Name 10 things you like.
3 - Give this award to 10 other people and notify them with a comment.

10 things I like... 

1. Getting a good night's sleep... 

not happening lately, but hey, it gives me more time to blog ;)

2. Reading a good book!  

I am blessed to have a huge reading list for review right now - you can get in on some of it by entering my two book giveaways!

The Ice Cream Theory by Steff Deschesne (insightful and funny non-fiction)

Dead Politicians Society by Robin Spano (great mystery read)

3. Getting a good night's sleep... 

did I mention that one yet?  

4. Wonderful blog friends who share awards :)

5. Butter Pecan ice cream

6. My one bad for me passion... Crunchie Bars from Canada... 

Especially since I am allergic to chocolate... but as a once in a while indulgence, I just live with the consequences... chocolate covered sponge toffee... yum!

7. Volunteering at my daughter's school

8. Hanging out at the pool with my kids

9. Getting together with my mommy friends for adult conversations

10. The fact that I only have about 6 weeks until I meet Ach Baby in person!

I received this one from Inspired Moments

• Thank and link back to the person who gave you the award.
• Share 7 things about yourself
• Pass the award along to 15 other bloggers who you recently discovered and think are fabulous.
• Contact the bloggers you chose and let them know about the award.

Seven things about me

1. I recently started getting my hair cut... I had gone several years without, and was tired of having cave girl hair, so I chopped it all off... the only problem is that I remember why I grew it out... it grows SO fast!  Luckily I found a great place to get it cut inexpensively... watch for my review, coming soon :)

2. I am actively seeking sponsors and giveaways for this blog... I have several events coming up and would love to feature Esty artists and fellow bloggers work if you want to do giveaways!

3. I am awake at 3 am again... thanks Ach baby for the heartburn/reflux... 

you'd better have a head full of hair when I meet you :)

4. I am worried about how Liam will handle me being in hospital for 2 days with his new brother...

 it's been a long time since I was away from him that long.

5. My postal worker must be either thanking goodness that I'm keeping her employed or cursing me a blue streak, because she filled my mailbox and TWO parcel compartments with all the goodies I have to review for AB in the next few months yesterday :)

6. I have a wonderful and generous hubby who is putting up with a whole lot from me... I may not be PMS'ing for 9 months, but this pregnancy has had its challenges...and he's been a great sport

7. Speaking of hubby, he's not really big into blog awards and all that stuff... but I want to give him a shout out... in the midst of the chaos I've created and his demanding job... he's started blogging at www.waynewsmith.com (please visit and give him some bloggy love)

received from He is my Beloved

The rules...

1. Accept the award. Post it on your blog with the name of the person who has granted the award and his or her blog link.

2. Pay it forward to 15 other bloggers that you have newly discovered.

3. Contact those blog owners and let them know they've been chosen.

Now, if I add all of that up, I can give blog awards to 37 people... but I'm going to be a bad bloggy friend and end the line here this week... It's 3:21 am and the tums have finally taken the edge off my heart burn... 

so I'm heading back to bed right now...

If you'd like to be the recipient of one or all of these awards, just leave me a comment and I will happily link to you in this post when I get some time later this morning :)

Thanks again to Kat from Kat's Confessions, Tisha from Inspired Moments and Mel from He's My Beloved for sharing these award with me

And I want to thank...

Heather from Out of the Box Into the Kitchen for my latest award! She has given me the

You can read all about my responsibilities and the origins of the award here, but the main task I have is to share this with 7 fellow bloggers and of course to let them know they've won the award :)

So without further ado, I share this with seven wonderful bloggers that you should definitely check out:

Serene is my name, Not my life...
The Versatile Investor (Yes this is my brother, but if you can't plug for family, who can you plug for)
The Skinny Fight
The Thought Bubble
Sugar Tails
A Diary of Lovely
Blue White Life

I hope you will take the time to visit these wonderful and diverse blogs and share some bloggy love today!

Yay for Blog friends!

I am humbled to say that AB has won two more awards:

comes from my friend and recent guest poster: Outnumbered Mama from The Busy Woman's Guide to Surviving Motherhood

As with all blogs, this one comes with strings... and an opportunity to showcase some new bloggy friends I have made in the past few weeks!

Rules: Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you’ve newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

So without further ado, here are my nominees for the Lovely Blogger award in no particular order:


Poohbear and Mommy 
Kelley's Family Jewels
Mommy Living the Life of Riley
The Sporadic Cook
Serene Designs
Life of a Modern Mom
The Bird Nest
Finding the Pot of Gold 
House of Hepworths
Creative Attempts
Theme a Party
Living Proof that God has a Sense of Humor
The Attic Girl
Deb's Here
Moving on from the Drama
To Be Thode
Life Happens During Naptime




I also received the Stiletto Award from The Husailey Bunch
Please go and read about the Stiletto Award Here

and am required to share it with 5-10 excellent bloggers, and while all of my new bloggy friends above also qualify for this award, I wanted to tap a few more friends too, so my nominees for this award are:


Out of the box and into the Kitchen
The Snyder 5
The Busy Woman's Guide to Surviving Motherhood
Becoming Homegrown
Hallee the Homemaker
Angie Mizzel

Awards... :)

It's so much fun to become part of a blogging community and share not only with friends and family, but also to share with a warm and fabulous group of fellow bloggers who understand that not only do we want to see that people are visiting our pages but also that we are starved for comments and followers...  One of the fabulous things that happens when you make blogging friends is that you can share the love by giving and receiving awards and today I was lucky enough to receive:

 

from Jamie at My Kitchen to Yours  whose wonderful blog is so much fun! If you haven't visited her yet, you need to click on this link

Instructions for the award:

1. Thank the person who gave you the award.

2. Paste the award on your blog

3. Link the person who nominated you for the award

4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself

5. Nominate 7 bloggers or less

6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominated.

Seven interesting things about myself (in no particular order)

1. I am a speed reader... I don't like putting down a book once I start it either... so you will often find me hiding in the bath tub (refilling the hot water) for the hour it takes me to get through a book...
2. Along with number 1, I like to read trashy romance novels... I read so much that trying to read different versions of War and Peace all the time is hard to do, so I like to mix in liberal amounts of good trash reading
3. I belong to a wonderful organization called PEO and we raise money for scholarships and educational loans for women, and the fellowship with other PEOs has helped me to move to new cities in far off areas... and land on my feet
4. I like to tweak recipes... no matter how good the original was, I have to add my own flair... sometimes with not so great results
5. I am a rampant couponner and share my coupon and saving knowledge by giving seminars and on my other blog - couponning101.blogspot.com - which if you haven't visited yet, you SHOULD!
6. My best Publix shopping trip ever was getting $132.21 in groceries for $11.60
7. I haven't cut my hair in almost two years because I am loyal to one hair dresser and she is home in Toronto and we haven't been able to visit due to immigration issues (which have finally been fixed!)

Now for some great blogs to visit:

The Lady Bloggers - a new blogging community that includes great blog rolls, features bloggers and provides tips (including two by yours truly)


Out of the Box Into the Kitchen - my friend Heather has finally taken the plunge into blogging and is sharing great from scratch recipes!

Karlospohies - a blog by a fab Aussie!

It's Blogworthy - a neat blog by someone I met through SITS and have started to follow

Sarahcasm - a blog by a fellow Torontonian... cause I miss real Canadian sarcasm

MizDinah - this blogger from BC may be too busy at the winter Olympics to post lately, but check out some of her work anyway - worth the read!

Flicker's Lair - another great Canadian Blog

My first Blogging Award!

I want to thank my friend at Adventures in Mommyland for bestowing me with my first blog award (of many I hope)!  It was so nice to see a comment from Charlene on my last post this morning... and even more exciting when I went to her blog as instructed and found out that I had won a

Since I have learned that blogging in isolation isn't nearly as much fun as blogging communities of friends, I have been regularly reading blogs from several people and would like to pass on the honour of this award to them ...

These are the rules I must oblige by in order to pass it on:

- Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
- Pass the award onto 12 bloggers.
- Link the nominees within your post.
- Let the nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
- Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

Here are my nominees....

under the Mac - the first blog I ever really read that belongs to an in real life friend and fabulous person who was part of my inspiration to start blogging. 
The Snyder 5 - a mom with a great attitude and a great family just ripe for sharing in blog world
Mommy's Sippy Cup - who couldn't be inspired by a title like that - and the blog is just about as refreshing as sitting down with a glass of something :)
Mommy's Time Out Today - can we sense a theme of blogs I follow... ok Mommy Blogs is one of them but this Mommy has a great blog and you should check her out too!
Alone in a Holy Land - a mom who understands some of the isolation I feel living away from family and friends...
MissIndyBabbles - a blog of a fellow mom of a special needs kid and a cute new little peanut... 
Hallee The Homemaker - a blog of a fellow mom who I met through another online community and who gave me my first guest blogging spot :)

My other passion of course is couponning and saving money - and I get inspiration and tips to share on Couponning101 from these blogs:
Coo Coo 4 Coupons
Crystal Clear Savings
The Coupon Sista

And the final theme of my blog reading is food and recipes and since I am switching to more Gluten free recipes, I have been haunting these blogs...
The Gluten Free Goddess
The Gluten Free Homemaker

Wow - picking only twelve was difficult!  I hope you enjoy visiting some of the people who continue to inspire me to blog and share... or make me laugh when I need it... and of course help me to feed Liam on his GF diet..  I would totally have chosen Advenutres in Mommyland as a recipient of my award and encourage you to visit her, but she got this award twice already this week, so I'm letting her off the hook :)  I especially appreciate getting an award like the sunshine award today, because I'm sure it marks the end to some of the craziness that's been happening around me and the return to some semblance of balance in my life.