Monday, March 5, 2012

Thank you very much - again

This post is (very long! and) embarrassingly overdue. Some very fine bloggers have chosen to recognize us here at Bringing up Bella by presenting us with some awards and I have been remiss in thanking them for the honor. (On the bright side, at least they're all from 2012.)

As usual, because I'm so paranoid about breaking rules, I tried to investigate the origins of each of these awards to understand the true intent and am left even more insecure than ever. Blog awards do seem to suffer from a good game of "telephone" where the conversation changes over time due to the interpretation of the individuals involved.

So, while I'm including "the rules" as best I've come to understand them, I'd really just like folks to enjoy the nomination as a token of my admiration and appreciation for their hard work without feeling the pressure to comply with "the rules". This goes double for those folks who've received the awards previously.

Additionally, I have set only 1 rule for myself: I can't nominate anyone I've ever nominated before. To be honest, this rule only exists because if I continued with my previous rule of only nominating folks who've never been nominated by anyone before, I'd never get this thing published. ;)



The first award received this year was the Pawsome Blogger award given to us by the remarkably kind Dachshund Nola.

Speaking of Pawsome bloggers, Nola is one of the most dedicated, friendly and supportive bloggers in the pet blogging community and we are truly honored by her generosity.

The rules for this one are pretty minimal: "Nominate 8 blogs that bring me fun, love, laughs and furiendship". I can work with that.

What follows is a list of blogs that make me smile, chuckle and even laugh right out loud sometimes.
Basset Momma
Fabulous Flo
Little Dogs on Long Leashes
Mango and Dexter's Great Adventures
My Brown Newfies
My Tail Hurts from Wagging So Much
Snoopy's Dogblog
The Spoiled Doxie



Coming on the heels of that award, we were delighted, and humbled, to be presented The Kreativ Blogger award by the gracious Pamela over at Something Wagging This Way Comes. And I do mean humbled as Pamela chose to forward this award to blogs she considers to be "visually creative" (i.e. - we gots good pictures - my dad would be proud.)

I'm sure most of you know Pamela and her Golden Retriever, Honey, but if you don't, she's an incredible blogger whose posts always stir good, thoughtful conversation as she looks at life through the prism of her dog.

There are a few rules for this award:
  1. Share 7 things you don't know about me and
  2. Pass the award along to 7 other blogs.
Okay, so, 7 things you don't (or might not) know about me. (Don't you all already know more than you ever wanted to about me? You must.) However, in keeping with the spirit of things, here we go:
  1. I am a registered, card-carrying sci-fi/fantasy dork. It's true, I can recite, verbatim, "Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog" (not to mention, "The Commentary!") as well as most episodes of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Max Headroom and Doctor Who.
  2. I totally dig musicals. (Not helping the dork-factor here, I know.)
  3. I have been known to forget to eat/sleep/bathe when something catches my obsession attention.
  4. The only magazine I actually subscribe to is Wired.
  5. I am also a registered, card-carrying klutz. Ask Jan. Or Bella. I break things (sometimes me) and tend to bleed and burn with fair regularity (especially, yet not exclusively, while cooking. I have literally burned myself mowing the lawn.)
  6. I am a voracious reader and often have upwards of 5 books going at any given time.
  7. My favorite author is Kurt Vonnegut.
And in keeping with Pamela's little "twist", I'm going to pass the award on to 7 blogs I think fit the "Kreativ" criteria. These are the blogs I go to when I want to "oooh" and "ahhhh":
Eva the Sheltie
Poochie Freak Photography
Romping and Rolling in the Rockies
Roxy The Traveling Dog
Two Dogs, One Camera, Priceless Moments.
Two Pitties in the City
Whiskered Paintings



Also in January, the lovely Dachshund Nola honored us again with the One Lovely Blog award. Nola's requirements were pretty simple: "This award is designed to recognize fellow bloggers and show appreciation for their work." From what I could discover of the history, however, the intent of this award was to recognize blogs that are "newly discovered".

So to make it interesting, I'll take Nola's recommendation of selecting 7 blogs and add the twist that they be new or at least new to me. Allow me to present:
2 Punk Dogs
Daily Dose of Jack
Enzo the Sato
I'm Kind of a Big Deal
Jowls of Fury
manymuddypaws
Tails from the Dach Side



Finally, February brought us The Versatile Blogger award from Donna of Donna and the Dogs - a blog and blogger I truly admire for her informative posts, her dedication to rescue, her love of Labs and her biting wit.

The Versatile Blogger award comes with a few rules:
  1. Thank the award giver and link back in your post. - Thank you, Donna. :)
  2. Share 7 things about yourself. - Seriously, I'm just not that interesting so how about 7 things about Bella instead?
  3. Pass this award along to as many as 15 blogs you enjoy reading and let them know about the award. (See below.)
Okay, Bella's list:
  1. Bella trims her own toenails. (Jan built her a "scratching post".)
  2. Bella has been sprayed by a skunk 3 times. At least now we keep supplies in the house.
  3. Bella looks like a black dog. Bella's hair, however, is only tipped black and is really tan underneath. So her hair shows up on all of our clothes and furniture regardless of color. Grr. Arg.
  4. Bella knows 27 "commands". (Although you don't actually "command" Bella to do anything. She's smart, not necessarily obedient.)
  5. Bella has been attending Agility for Reactive Dogs since October, 2011. She LOVES it.
  6. It took most of the summer to get Bella to step over a stick in preparation for the class.
  7. It took 5 minutes to get her to go over the A-frame. Now we can't get her off of it.
And now to recommend 15 blogs. 15 people are about to hate me with heat of 15-thousand burning suns because they all probably have this award already. Remember, if you already have the award, pay no attention to the blogger behind the curtain. Just know that I think you rock!
Brando and Bogart
Brown Dog, CBR
Cleopatra, the Border Collie
Dachshund Nola
Dakota's Den
Dip-Dip and The Bridge
Dog is God in Reverse
Donna and the Dogs
Hound Dog Mom
Jets Agenda
Kol's Notes
Kootenai's Climb
My Dogs Love Me
One Pibble's Wish
Something Wagging This Way Comes



I follow a lot of blogs and I follow them because they're all great: they inspire me, entertain me, move me and motivate me.

You're probably already familiar with many listed here but I encourage you to check out the ones that might be new to you. There is a tremendous amount of talent and good humor out there and, to my mind, these lists represent some of the best of it.

And to those who thought so well of us to include us in your lists, we really do appreciate your kind words and consideration. It is truly an honor to be in such generous company.

Peace.



22 comments:

  1. Congratulations on all your awards and thanks for passing on the Pawsome Blogger Award to us!

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  2. Congrats on all of your awards! And thank you for such kind words about me, it means a lot.
    Kisses and Tail Wags,
    Dachshund Nola

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  3. Thank you for the Versatile Blogger award. And I can see I'm in awfully good company.

    And I loved learning some new things about you. We share a few things in common, including, unfortunately, burning ourselves while cooking. :)

    Better be running along now. I think I hear Bad Horse calling, I mean Honey barking.

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  4. Eva or sometimes PriscillaMarch 5, 2012 at 9:32 PM

    Congrats on all your well-deserved awards and many thanks for passing on the Kreative Blogger Award to us!

    We will do the post once my mum is free. She has been tight up with all sorts of lame excuses lately. 

    We love to read everyone's blog and we are happy to have met so many fantastic people and wonderful doggies and kitties in this Blogville. It's a beautiful world here!!!

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  5. Well done! There are some great new ones there to check out! Deccy x

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  6. Congrats on all of your awards! I can't wait to check out all of the blogs you awarded :)

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  7. Congratulations on the nice awards. Isn't it wonderful when your friends tell you how much they love you?

    Slobbers,
    Mango

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  8. Yay!!  Congrats on all those awards!! :)  Loved reading all your interesting facts :)

    Bella is smart to trim her own toenails - who wants to be pinned down and have their Mum do it?!  My Mum had this noisy machine when I was a pup - oh no!!  Not for me, luckily I run so much I'm a self-trimmer too :)

    My mum is in your Klutz camp too, if there's an accident or a bruise going she's always first in line and has been since a little kid - luckily I manage to keep out of her way so she doesn't fall on me!  Tee Hee

    Have a fun day,

    Your pal Snoopy :) 

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  9. everything about this was awesome, but what i really need to know is, what now about a scratching post???? how did you get bella to file her own nails??????????? 

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  10. I've been trying to comment all week and keep getting stuck here. I tried so hard to figure out how to make one of these awards be something more than they are, something to recognize two bloggers that I think go above and beyond. You are one of those two. I'm sorry I couldn't quite make it happen this time but I just want to tell you how much I admire your ability to be there for everybody in the pet blogging community. 

    I don't know how you do it keeping up with your own blog and at the same time getting out to everybody else's and letting us know someone is listening.  If I ever find the award for "encouragement and friendship", you will be on my list to receive it.  Thanks for always stopping in and letting us know someone out there is reading us. It is most appreciated.

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  11. And you, Miss Nola (and family), are the second folks I would want to honor with a special award. Isn't it funny that the two blogs/bloggers I wanted to recognize in a special way are the first two to comment on this post? 

    The 'kind words' weren't nearly kind enough to acknowledge your support and encouragement, my friend. You have always been here for us and your support of the community is unparalleled. I can't tell you how much I admire, and appreciate, that.  If I can't find an award that speaks to that, I may just have to come up with one myself. Thank you for always being here for us. It is appreciated.

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  12. Ah yes, but have you ever burned yourself while mowing the lawn? ;)  

    I've noticed some similarities in the past. Now, I'm beginning to think we were separated at birth. ;)

    It's hi-ho Silver!
    Signed Bad Horse. 

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  13. Thank you.  We were happy to pass them along (even though that's always somewhat awkward.)

    I have to agree, we've joined a fabulous community - it's hard to keep up with it everyone and everyone is worth keeping up with. :)

    No worries on posting - we just wanted to tell you how much we love your blog and admire your blog and photos. Just enjoy, don't stress. ;)

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  14. I hope you find a few entertaining, Deccy. We tried to come up with a few you all might not have seen. :)

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  15. Thanks, I hope some are new to you and hope you enjoy them. :)

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  16. It is kind of nice to get these things, I have to admit. Thanks for the slobbers - I kind of miss that, actually. ;)

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  17. I didn't know your mom was in "the Klutz camp" -- I feel so much better now. :) I swear there are days when I wonder just what exactly I did to get that bruise/scrape and how I managed not to notice doing it. lol

    As for Bella's nails, she wasn't "self-trimming" as you say (maybe because she really only gets out in our yard/trails?) and using a clipper/trimmer was just not happening so "dad" made her this scratching area and she's done great with it!  With the ice we had this winter, we had to come up with something. It's been very effective. :)

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  18. LOL - Jan made something like this: http://twolittlecavaliers.com/2012/01/scared-to-clip-your-dogs-nail-teach-your-dog-to-file-their-nails.html

    We spent some time in January teaching her how to use it and now, voila, she trims her own nails.  (Admittedly, only the front ones - still trying to figure out how to teach her to do the back...)

    :)

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  19. Wow - you were really backed up on awards! Congrats on all of them!!

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  20. Thanks Donna - and thanks so much for the Versatile Blogger award.  It was very much appreciated even if it did take me forever to say thanks.  :\  (It's been a very long winter here...)

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