Creative Blog Award

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            I know I said a while back that I wasn't going to be doing the blog award thing, but I did say that I would try to acknowledge them when I could.  This post has been sitting here since April, when I was busy with the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.    For the Christmas lull period while I'm on vacation I thought I'd preschedule this post of award acknowledgement.

           And speaking of Blogging from A to Z, if you aren't following the official Blogging from A to Z Blog I hope you will check it out.   Right now we are in the middle of a series of posts by past participants of the Challenge.  You won't want to miss any special announcements about the Challenge so I encourage you to follow and check in every now and then.  Blogging from A to Z sign-ups begin on January 30, 2012.

And Now For Some Awards:


              Creative Blog Award

           During the April A to Z Challenge, one of my event co-hosts, Jeffrey Beesler, passed the Creative Blog Award to me.  I wanted to thank Jeffrey for this gesture and the kind words that accompanied it.







            Another award from April came to me from Deidra Eden-Coppel at A Storybook World.     I don't recall what the award was but I noted it in this post I started months ago.  I think it had something to do with best Science Fiction blog or something like that.   Sorry Deidra.  But I still say thanks.




         Then there was this Jiminy Cricket commenting award from Jenny Pearson at The Pearson Report.   Thanks Jenny-- I try to leave as many decent comments as I can, but I'm not always so good keeping up with emails and such when I get inundated.  At least I saved the email she sent me so I could acknowledge this award.






I hope everyone is having a wonderful holiday season!

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In Time for Halloween--And the Award Goes Too...

          It's an old scary story that I visited about this time last year in this post.   As though dressed in a fancily adorned Halloween costume my blog was once festooned with awards given to me by many of my blogger friends.  I even had a separate page set up for the overflow of the awards this blog had received.

          Then the malware scare that began sweeping many of our blogs at the end of August drove me to drastic measures.  I frantically wiped off awards from my main page and even tossed out the special page I had created for my awards.  I wasn't sure what I needed to do to clean up my blog of whatever links may have been responsible for the malware--if indeed there even had actually been any malware--so I decided to just start cleaning up the whole thing--period.

           I have often struggled with the concept of blog awards and the time it takes to acknowledge them.  First I leave a comment for the person who left me the award.  Then I add my awards to a post and include the  appropriate links.  And then, there are the various rules of the award which typically include listing some facts about myself or something of that nature.  Finally the stipulations usually request passing the award on to a certain number of bloggers which may be as many as fifteen.  But I probably don't need to tell most of you about this since you've received these awards yourself.

         So I've come to a conclusion for this issue I raised a year ago.   Awards will no longer be displayed on my permanent pages.  When I have time, I may still continue to acknowledge awards in my posts and I will come to your blog to thank you if you if I see that you've given me an award.  But I will not be spending much time adding awards and links to my site.  I hope all of you understand my decision and no one takes offense from it.

          I don't mean to sound sour about this issue, but I must prioritize my time and energy to do the things that are more relevant to what I am trying to do.   I truly appreciate the sweet attention that I receive from all of you and I hope that you understand my decision.   The biggest award that I can ever receive from any of you is that you visit, read, and leave comments.

          Keep in mind that I am always interested in having other bloggers as guests.  If you are looking for more exposure and greater opportunities to network, please email me at the address in my profile and let me know what you'd like to do.  I've been trying to have guest posters every Wednesday.  There's a place on my blog for you.

          Do you feel that I am being harsh about the awards issue?  What is your opinion of blog awards?  Are you ready to do a guest spot on Tossing It Out?

WE HAVE A WINNER!

The winner of the BlogWorld Expo pass is Beverly Diehl who can be found at Writing In Flow. Congratulations Beverly!  See you at BlogWorld.



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Awards

Here's some awards and stuff:

From everyone's favorite world traveler and poetry wiz, Yvonne Lewis, of Welcome to My World of Poetry comes this Stylish Blogger Award.    Thank you, Yvonne.  You are one of my sweetest and most consistent commenters.


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       This award is from Jeffrey Beesler at World of the Scribe, who had some wise words of advice in the same post that delivered this award to me.   I also want to thank Jeffrey for the fantastic job he has been doing with the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge.  You have made a lot of us smile.
 
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The Words Crafter at Rainy Day Wanderer gave my this Through The Keyhole Award for making a correct guess on a blogfest.   I had missed this one.  She passed to me on December 17th.  Talk about getting behind.

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From Elizabeth Mueller at her Author Blog comes still another Stylish Blogger Award.

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        My good blog buddy and fellow host of the Blogging from A to Z April Challenge Alex J. Cavanaugh very kindly passed this Friends for the Journey award my way.  The award is the creation of
Michelle Gregory at Beautiful Chaos in honor of those who have helped on the blogging journey.


The Rules for Passing It On:

1. Pass it on to 7 other bloggers and tell how they've encouraged you.


2. Please let your recipients know that it started at Beautiful Chaos.


3. Leave a comment on this post when you've posted on your blog.

        My distribution of this award is based on those who gave me comments early in my blogging career. They let me know that somebody out there was reading what I had to say.  Without those early comments I might have gotten frustrated and hung it all up.  There are several who don't have blogs so I will limit the award to those who do have blogs in case they might wish to display it on their site.

Patricia Stoltey was among my earliest commenters who inspired me to keep the posts coming.

Stephen T. McCarthy is the guy who got me started blogging and encouraged me and inspired me from the beginning.   I usually don't particularly like it when people have more than one blog, but Stephen does and I can forgive that since his have good content and good writing.  You can visit him at the blog he'd like you to read, Stuffs, or at the blog he really wants you to read, Ferret-Faced Facist Friends.   He doesn't accept these awards but I still like to give him some well-deserved recognition now and then.

Ada Zdanowicz doesn't have a blog, but she and her sister Emilee were among my earliest commenters and followers.   You can visit her at her website CollagePodge.  I think she'll at least put up the award on her site.and maybe she'll even eventually start a blog.

Judy at Sixty Is Just the Beginning frequently encouraged me with her comments at the start of my blog days.

Diana at Rotten With Images didn't have a blog when she left her comments on some of my early posts, but partly through my encouragement she now has one.  She still doesn't post very often, but perhaps with some more encouragement from other bloggers she might post more in the future.   Hope you'll at least stop by her blog to say hello.

Tom at Ocean's Six Group Blog had left comments and provided support in other ways.  He has a very helpful blog about real estate.  If you are buying, selling, or just keeping up with what's happening in the housing market, you  might enjoy checking out his informative blog.

Gregg at Gospel Driven Disciples has continually offered support, encouragement, and enlightenment to me.

Stephen Tremp was an early follower and consistently leaves me comments to make my efforts feel worthwhile.  You can find Stephen at Breakthrough Blogs.

***

             My thanks to the above bloggers for these thoughtful awards.   It's possible that I have missed other awards and if that's the case I will put them in a future post.   Now I hope you'll pay a visit to the above links and give them a nice hello.


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Winding Down and Turning Around

           I have an idea-- Let's start a blogfest! ----Not!

           Oh, my, I've had a grand time with the blogfests hosted this past week by Elana Johnson, Alex Cavanaugh,  and Jennifer Daiker.   I've found interesting new blogs and added new followers.  I even passed my 400 follower milestone!  Now I'm on my way to 500 followers, but I don't think I will actively be pursuing this to any great extent.  The time has come to really pare things down and get focused on other life issues.

           Anyone who participated actively in either blogfest or has been a part of  any others for that matter knows what I'm talking about.  The post itself is business as usual in a sense, but it's what comes afterward that takes time.  The point of these blogfests is to interact with other bloggers by commenting on their posts and responding to comments we have received.  It's like any normal day of blogging except multiplied many times over.

             I'm making my shift towards less blogging activity but it's hard to break away gracefully.  I've been listening to your comments and watching my poll to see what your suggestions are  It all comes down to what will draw and retain readers on one hand and writing what I enjoy on the other.  I will probably retain most of my current features by consolidating them into three days.  I sadly will probably eliminate my Sunday Bible Study post and only post on Saturdays if I have something special like awards or other announcements.   My active blogging will more than likely be reduced to Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. 

             I will be announcing my definitive decision on Monday October 4th.  Until then I will continue to post daily, although some posts may be much shorter than normal.  And the crowd jumps to their feet cheering.  

            On Monday I will finish my thoughts on this first year of daily blogging and give some additional ideas about commenting and followers.  I have not planned the rest of the week, but I'll come up with something you can be assured of that.

I know, I know-- but I didn't actually say I wasn't going to accept any awards!

           I received two thoughtful awards this week which I would like to acknowledge now.  As has frequently been the case of late, I am too preoccupied to pass these on like I am supposed to do.  I discussed this on a blog post a couple weeks ago.   I am grateful to the kind folks who passed these to me.

You Deserve A Star Today Award

          Kittie Howard from The Block has given me the You Deserve a Star Today award.   Thank you so much Kittie.  I may eventually try to pass this on in a future post but I hope you will understand my current constraints on time.

The Versatile Blogger Award

  From Marguerite at Cajun Delights I've scored another Versatile Blogger Award.    This sweet Cajun lady is always tormenting me with delicious looking dishes from Bayou Country.  Anyone know a good Cajun restaurant in Los Angeles?  Like I mentioned above-- well I'm sure you understand.

             Did you participate in any blog events this week?   How do you do it?   Is the outcome of blog events worth the effort to you?    Any big blogging plans in your future?

Tossing It Out Tuesday: Barriers That Block Progress

        Life is filled with things that hinder progress.  Sometimes we just have to deal with those roadblocks as we encounter them and improvise a new plan of action.  The unexpected surprises are something we should all learn how to deal with calmly and rationally.  Fits of rage rarely help.  If we just sit down in defeat and do nothing we will make no progress unless someone just happens to come along to save us.  Until that lifesaver appears on the scene we are wasting valuable time.  If they never show up then we don't move forward unless we get off our butts and do something.  Clear, patient, rational thinking is the best way to keep making the most steady progress in life.

        Then, there are the little things.  Traffic tie-ups, household emergencies, long waits, or whatever else comes along to interfere with our plans.  It's a good idea to be ready for emergencies and to plan ahead .  The goal that I'm talking about is to toss out stress caused by frustration over things you can't control.   Maybe you can't control the unexpected complications that arise, but you can prepare for them.  If you have to be somewhere at a special time, schedule your time properly so that you can be early.  That way if you do have traffic, you have made some compensation for it. 

         I like to try to have reading material nearby whenever I am doing something so that if something happens to bring my life to a standstill then I can read.   Or what about situations like having to wait in line?  You could nervously go through nervous gestures, exasperated sighs, or impatiently looking around with a snarl on your face.  I like to start up a conversation with someone near me.  After all, we're both in the same situation and the conversation can help pass the time, introduce me to someone new, and toss out some stress.  You're shy you say?  Then it's good practice for you.  Just say anything--like "Long line isn't it?"  Conversation will come unless the person you're addressing is a total jerk.  Then you can always just people watch or make up jokes in your ahead about the jerks around you.  Worrying and getting exasperated will not make things move any faster and it will only make you feel worse.

                                        Detour

           But now to the topic I really wanted to address today.  This post could have been immensely long if I had wanted to very cautiously broach this topic in a delicate way so as not to offend.  And hopefully readers will fully understand that I am not setting out to offend anyone, but merely to study upon this topic and hear your thoughts to know how some of you feel about this.

           The topic of which I speak is Blog Awards.   It is so flattering to receive recognition from peers about one's accomplishments.  To have ones name and blog link touted on another's site for all to see is an image builder and can help bring traffic and potential new followers and readers to your blog. 

           When I first started blogging I began seeing these awards on blog sites and felt a certain sense of envy.  I wondered where these awards came from and how a blogger received an award.  Then I received my first award:  The Friendship Award which was given to me by one of my earliest followers, Judy Harper of Sixty Is Just the Beginning.   I was so excited.   Then I received another, then another, and then many more.  I had an award winning blog.

            Soon I began to understand the networking concept behind the blog awards.  It's a great way to get one's blog known around the community and bring visitors to one's site.  I don't know where the idea originated, but it is a clever networking technique. 

             As the stream of awards poured in I realized the other side to them--they can take time to administer.  According to proper blog etiquette, one should post the awards with attributions, follow the rules that accompany the award, and save them to display on one's site.  Bottom line:  it can add up to considerable extra work if you get very many.

           Also, there starts to be a good deal of repetition.  I have received some awards many times.  The acknowledgement posting has provided me with some good blog fodder, but it also means I could be posting an awful lot about myself.   It also can become a challenge to find new bloggers to give the award to and avoid giving the same bloggers the same award.   I think most of you who have dealt with the awards know what I talking about.

           What I want to know is how you feel about Blog Awards.   I've seen some sites that announce that they do not accept awards.   What do you think about the bloggers who take this stance?  Do you play along with the awards?    If not, why not?  If so, how do you feel about them?  

            Sometimes when I'm behind schedule I just post the awards without following the rules, which means I don't pass them on.   How do you feel about that?   If you do the same, why?   I frequently don't let my recipients know that they've been given award so that if they don't read my post they might never know.  Do you think that's appropriate?  Do you always notify your recipients?

              If Tossing It Out chose to be a no awards blog site would you think that I was Mr. Sour Grapes?  Does it bother you if you pass on an award and it is not acknowledged?

               Please tell us your honest opinion about Blog Awards.

                If you haven't completed the poll at the top of the page, please click on your answers so I can get a better idea about what my blog focus might want to be.

        
        
        

A Time for Remembrance

 Time to Remember
God Bless America and all who stand with us!

           For me, September is a time of many memories and things to remember.  The events associated with September 11th make up an iconic collective memory for the United States and the world.  But there are many more things about this month that stir up reminders of days gone by and milestones of my life and my loved ones. 

            There are birthdays of a sister, a daughter, and a grandchild.  The anniversary of my father's passing.   Recollections of childhood when school would begin and days would grow longer as fall approached.  The recognition that another year is fast approaching its end. 

              This year I will be celebrating a new milestone of personal history.  During the week of September 20th I will be celebrating the first year anniversary of active blogging on Tossing It Out.  Over the course of that week I will be looking back over the first year of blogging and having made so many new friends.  As a sidenote, I am nearing my 400th follower.  I'm hoping I will reach this number in time for the blog anniversary.  If you are not yet following, please help me reach that magic number by clicking the "Follow" button.  Or give me a good word on your blog to help me reach the 400.  I'd appreciate any push you can give me.  No contest, no challenge--just the satisfaction of getting me there.

              However, before we come to that week of memories, lets look back at the past week.  I must say that I was impressed by some of the comments on Tossing It Out this week. We looked at the topic of work each day and there was some real quality and thought put into so many of the comments.  If you missed the Debate Day topic about the future of work in the U.S., you might enjoy going back to read the comment section--there were some very impressive comments made and I want to thank all of those who participated.

             In the week to come, the topic will be focused on the future.  I will be addressing the future of Tossing It Out on Monday.   Then, on Tossing It Out Tuesday I will talk about removing roadblocks. On Wednesday I will think about how some of us look at the future.  A Debate Day topic will examine the future of the United States and the world in general.  Friday will be a story about a prediction that was once made--did it come true?   Tomorrow's Bible study will offer some thoughts about planning for the future.  I hope you will be with me in this week to come.

            

            To kick off my Anniversary Blog Week, I will be participating in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Top Ten TV Shows Blogfest .   I don't participate in too many blog events, but I do love these lists of favorites.  If you've never done a blog fest and would like to gain more followers, then sign up for this one.  You'll have a great time and as most of you know Alex is a great host.

             You may also want to join in the Great Blog Experiment that is being conducted by Alex, Elana Johnson, and Jennifer Daiker on Friday September 24th.   I went ahead and signed up after I determined this would be a great way to close my week of my First Year Blog Anniversary. The topic is "Creating Compelling Characters".  I can make that work for my celebration week.  And you can have a great time with this, so sign up!  And if you missed the Blog Trifecta hosted by these three over the past week I encourage you to go back and dig into the archives for each of them.  They presented some very valuable information.

And Now For Today's Awards:

          This Most Versatile Blogger Award was passed on to me by Lynda R. Young from W.I.P. It: A Writer's Journey .   Thank you for the recognition and your continued support of my blogging efforts.

         And with another confirmation of my versatilty comes another Versatile Blogger award, this time from Jeffrey Beesler at World of the Scribe.   

          With each of these comes a set of rules about telling some things about myself and passing these on to others.  As I have done on some past occasions--and others of you have done as well--I am going to dismiss these rules for the time being and I will discuss this in an upcoming post.  I did want to express my gratitude to Lynda and Jeffrey for thinking of me.

           What special September memories do you have?     What are some of the future blogging events that you have signed up for?   How long have you been blogging?   Do you have any plans to change the way that you have been blogging?

The Trains Are On Schedule

        

           The past week has been an eventful flurry of bloggy activity and fun and there is more to come this week.   The Tossing It Out blog train has been on schedule every day and for the sake of keeping it on schedule I'm going to keep my recap and preview short today.

           Generally speaking, this coming week's blog topics will be themed around public transportation and more specifically my recent tour on the Los Angeles Metro light rail system.  On this upcoming Thursday my debate topic will be more of an educational probe about the topic of public transportation and light rail 
as seen from the perspective of the knowledge and experience provided by you the readers.  I will be sending links to my posts to representatives from the Metropolitan Transportation Authority so they will be able to read what you have to say about the topic.  I hope I will get some strong participation on this.

          My debate day topic this past Thursday was intended to be a humorous parody of my Debate Day features and I got a quite unexpected response.  Apparently the post was taken quite seriously by some readers.  If you missed it you might like to check it out and make sure you read through the comments.  I will be doing a post in the future inspired by this parody post I presented.

Happy Blogoversary!

Junebug's Musings is celebrating a fourth blogoversary.  I thought I was doing good as I approach my first full year of blogging.  Four years is quite an achievement.  Stop by and congratulate Junebug.

And Now Some Awards:
This was an especially lucrative week for awards bestowed upon Tossing It Out. For the sake of greater simplicity and speed I am going to pass each one to three other bloggers.  Here are these much appreciated awards:

This one's from Rayna at Coffee Rings Everywhere      I don't mind Tossing It Out being called a "Sweet Blog" and I think Rayna is pretty sweet for sending this my way.  Thank you Rayna!

I'll pass this to:

Yvonne at Welcome to My World of Poetry -- She probably already has this since she's one of the sweetest ladies we know.  So, Yvonne, if you already have this then here's another--you can never have too many Sweet Blog awards.

Wolfie at Writer Person --   She's still looking for more followers and even though she's busily back to school she's still blogging.

Stephanie at What's So Random --  She will be celebrating her quinceañera next Saturday (that's her 15th birthday party).

Commenters Award presented by Powdered Toast Man at  Just The Cheese.   I'm not going to go to as much trouble as PTM did, though I think he has some kind of widget that keeps a count on commenters.  Hmmm--- maybe I should add that to my blog.   In any case, trying not to duplicate this one without doing any research, I'll give this to:

Jules at Trying to Get Over the Rainbow

Jemi Fraser at Just Jemi

Stephen Tremp at Breakthrough Blogs

With my hat off  to all the other frequent commenters who fill up my comment section, I appreciate all of you.

          From Jules at Trying to Get Over the Rainbow and  From Yvonne at Welcome to My World of Poetry I get another Circle of Friends award.  I appreciate all of the wonderful blog friendships that we all have.  We get so much support, encouragement, and inspiration from each other and that's really a great thing.  I'll send this one on to:

Jessica at The Alliterative Allomorph -- Don't forget her contest.

Bud at B-E-ing Transformed

Ellie at Ella's Edge

      From Alex J. Cavanaugh is the You Rock! Award.  Per Alex's request I'm going to pass this on to 5 other bloggers who rock.

Gregg at Gospel Driven Disciples -- Well maybe more country, but his blog is about THE ROCK.

Glen at Glen's Blog Spot -- Another guy who knows his rock.

Marvin Wilson The Old Silly -- Who actually is a rock and roll musician.

LC at DiscConnected -- Who Blogs about rock and roll.

Daniel Jackson at The Saga of the Concrete Jungle -- I'm sure he won't see this since he doesn't have access to a computer.  I encourage all of you to visit Dan's blog and leave a comment.  He does receive printed copies of the comments he receives on his blog and he does respond to those comments.

         Hope you'll visit these blogs and say hello.  And even if I didn't name you here today, you deserve these awards as well.  I appreciate all of my readers.   Have a great weekend!