May Day Is Like Pay Day

         Anybody else need a rest?   I may slow down a bit for a few days but probably not by too much.  What a time it has been!  I have been so impressed by the way the majority of you great bloggers lasted all of the way through the challenge and even the ones who didn't finish stayed for the most part to see us through.

         I'm not going to bother too much with a recap this Saturday.  And as for the week to come, right now the main thing on my mind is the Monday May 3rd Blogging From A to Z Challenge Reflections Mega Post. I really don't think I need to say much more about it other than please be there.  If you still don't know what I'm talking about go back to Tuesday's Post and read about it.  Please try to leave us with some kind of thoughts.  And there will be the Linky list that you can add your blog link to--you might even be able to gain a few more followers in doing so.  Don't be overly concerned with the list--it should be fairly easy and self-explanatory, but if you have any problems send me a message in the comments or e-mail me and I'll try to help you out with it. 

           And about that Reflections blog post, don't forget we want to share our experiences, but we also want to share our knowledge.  I think we learned a lot about what it takes to gain new followers and loyal readers.  Let others know so we can help improve the blogging community.  Let's be good teachers of blog science.

             Also on that same Tuesday Post that I mentioned above, we talked about the upcoming Fifteen Fantasy Island Favorites on Monday May 17th when we will be talking about music that we appreciate and that has special meaning in our lives.  If you want to know more about that post go back and read all about it and then please join us on that day.  This will be another educational event where we can learn more about each other and some music that might be new to us.  I hope we can make the post on May 17th even bigger than A to Z, so please tell your friends.  Remember--it's only a one day post so there's no long range commitment.

         And now for Pay Day!

         I had been asked about a badge or award of completing the challenge and despite my technological shortcomings I think I came up with something that works.  Uncle Sam stays since he's been such a fixture in this challenge--I just changed the wording some.  I added it to my side bar okay and I guess it works.  All you need to do is download the image from this page and then go to the layout page to "add a gadget" then go to the box that says "picture".  After you click this, you can add your own text to label it in any way you want.  It's like adding an award and I think most of you have done that.   I tried adding the html code but ended up with a giant monster Uncle Sam that didn't fit on the page--I'll have to work on that trick some more.  Hey I'm learning stuff though, which is pretty cool.

And Still another award!

        From Lydia Kang  at The Word Is My Oyster  comes the Blogger BFF Award.   Well I've turned this into an April Challenge tradition, so I have no other choice to pass this on to all of you--you are all my Blogger BFF's.   If you want to add this to your site then do so and just say it came from Tossing It Out and then go and thank Lydia for passing to me in the first place.  Besides, I like words and I like oysters and I like Lydia and her fine blog--thank you Lydia.

Now I've got work to do.  Big things are ahead for all of us.  Have a great and restful weekend.