Thankful Thursday: Cooking Class Success and Award

I am happy to say that my first ever cooking class was a terrific success! Partnered with RHN Melody Busuttil, in conjunction with Nature's Way Select Foods in Kemptville, and hosted at the Kemptville college, we had over 12 students and a fabulous time.

This past class was all about Quinoa (keen-wah) and many delicious and gluten free recipes were made (and eaten!). More classes are on the way, thank you to everyone who came out, I hope you will come to the next ones!
Also, Audrey from Audrey's Country Crafts gave me this award! This award focuses on friendship, and Audrey certainly deserves it as well. Please check out her blog to see her shop, as well as all of the fabulous artists she features each week.
I am passing this on to anyone who reads this blog - you all deserve it! Also, I don't want to single people out, as I give out awards to many people and don't want to over do it :-)

Arwen wishes me to thank everyone for their overwhelming responses to yesterday's post - she would blush if she could from all of your praise, and I certainly did over your liking the bracelet I am working on. Thank you!

Until tomorrow,
and Arwen

Thankful Thursday: I've Been Tagged and Given Awards!

I had to laugh when Audrey of Stage 3! Who Me? Said I'd been given the above awards: Audrey from Audrey's Country Crafts had just contacted me saying I'd been tagged with a 10 Things about Me MeMe. 2 Audrey's in one day, what are the odds??
I have to give the awards to 5 people, so I am giving them to the first 5 people who commented on my blog yesterday (please don't hate me, and don't feel like you have to rush to pass them on - if you even do pass them on, take your time!)
1. Daisy the Curly Cat
2. Rksign88
3. Equine Epiphanies
4. Fireseed
5. FriendsFurEver
You each get both of those awards :)
Now for the 10 things about me:
1. I'm super-shy and don't really have much confidence with things, despite how I may come across.
2. I love my dog and fiancee (obviously), and can't imagine where I'd be without them
3. I used to do gymnastics as a kid, and was supposed to go into serious training
(read possible nationals) when I got "too tall and too fat" so I had to stop - I was 11 years old, 4 foot 9, and not very heavy at all - go figure!
4. I LOVE to garden! Even though my pain and the weather have been conspiring against me, I LOVE getting out and smelling dirt and flowers and yes, even pulling weeds.
5. I love to learn new hobbies and crafts - knitting, crocheting, you name it, I want to try it!
6. I need a new bookcase...again....I've filled all my old ones...anyone want 4 years of Horse magazines??
7. I LOVE to cook for people! When I'm cooking for me, it is simple, but when I get to have people over, it is game on and I have an absolute blast.
8. I'm a computer and video game nerd. There. I said it.
9. I'm a sci-fi and fantasy nerd. Might as well go for the gold in nerdiness.
10. I believe that with a good book, some time and patience to allow yourself to make mistakes, you CAN teach yourself anything. So go ahead! Learn something new!
I'm going to pass this 10 Things About Me MeMe to anyone who wants to do it - I'd love to learn more about you!
Have a great day, I'm off to take advantage of the sun and do some serious weeding :)

Sweet Saturday - Another Award!

DazzledBeader, maker of some great jewelry on Etsy, gave me this award yesterday and I thought I'd share it! I have received this award before, but I sort of copped out and didn't list anyone to give it to, so now I will :)
1 Loopy 4 Ewe
2 Wisp of Whimsy
3 Gandalf and Grayson
4 Mishkat
5 marniekat's musings

These are all wonderful blogs and I encourage you to check them out :)

Remember to enter my monthly contest by adding your name and email to my monthly newsletter (You have to sign up there first to be eligible to win!!), see the full contest details here.

Thankful Thursday: Some Awards and Updates

I have to thank Marianne from Lovely Purses for this Interesting Blog Award - she has the most wonderful blog and really pretty bags :)
I need to share this with 5 bloggers:
1 Jen from Epic Farms Equine Epiphanies
2 John from JohnToftBasketry
3 Marjorie from TheFanTail
4 Renee from CirclingMyHead
5 Heather from 3AMArtProductions
I wanted to thank Audrey at Stage 3! Who Me? for the Uber Amazing Blog award! She is one of the friendliest bloggers out there and I encourage you to visit her blog :)
Now I am supposed to share this with 6 bloggers:
1 The Furkids (and their Mommy and Daddy!) from FriendsFurEver
2 Daisy, Harley and their Mom from DaisyTheCurlyCat
3 The Goats and their Publicist from TheMaaaaaofPricilla
4 The Kitties, Sadie and their Parents at BeadedTail
5 The Llamas and their Mommy at SplitRockRanch
6 Jennifer at TheMare'sTales

Also, to update you on the Arwen story from yesterday...she kept the seal WELL out of my reach for 2 days, and then brought it to me this morning to play fetch, so I suppose I am forgiven :)

And to update on a prayer request, about 2 weeks ago I got an email from Jason asking to pray for his father, recently diagnosed with lung cancer, undergoing treatments and having to be put in ICU for some major health problems. This morning Jason emailed me again saying:
Good Morning,
I wanted to provide an update on my father's condition. The Lord has shown his ray of
healing power. My father was on ventilation and intubated last week but on Thursday,
he was feeling strong enough to breathe on his own. The pulmonologist turned off the
ventilator and my father was breathing normally! To help with his breathing and
coughing up phlegm and other 'stuff', they put in a temporary chest tube to drain the
build-up. What is happening is his lung has the large tumor on it, causing him to not to
be able to cough up and break up everything in his lung.
Since, last Thursday he has been good. At least one person in my family has been
staying the night with him each night but we left him alone last Friday night. That was a
mistake. He had horrible dreams and dreamt of his sister and aunt who passed away,
asking for him to go with them. My father was unable to 'reach' them in his dream but
came out of it and was disoriented. They sedated him and he was fine by Saturday
night. This past Tuesday, he received his 2nd round of chemotherapy. When he
received it last week, he was intubated so they weren't sure how he would react. He
handled it pretty well but had more crazy dreams and disorientation on Tuesday night.
I was with him that night and helped him through it all.
Yesterday we received some better news. They moved him out of ICU and into a
normal room! So, now he can get some more sleep, get some steady physical therapy
and slowly work towards going home potentially!
It is so mysterious how the Lord works. Last Monday, we were told he may never
breathe on his own again or wake up. Now, he is getting stronger and fighting the tumor
and cancer with all his might with the good Lord backing him.
My family and I would like to thank you for all your prayers, kind words and piece of
mind. When I started sending out 'random' emails, my pregnant wife thought it was
strange but I felt that my dad needed more prayers and help. For once, the internet
has shown some positive powers rather than the negatives you see on the news and
read about.
If you don't mind, please continue to pray for my father and my family. I give you full
permission to spread the prayer request to anyone and everyone. Thank you very
much!
God Bless. - Jason Torres

Isn't that wonderful?? I am so happy that all of us praying is helping his family in such a way. Thank you for your prayers!
That's all for now, I'll be back soon with more great things :)
Remember to enter my contest for a chance to win a free pair of earrings!

Thankful Thursday - I Got an Award!

I woke this morning to find that Mishkat had given me a Lemonade Blog Award!!

Here is the text of the award:

The Lemonade Award is given to sites which the giver show either great attitude and or gratitude.
The rules for these awards are:
1. Put the logo on your blog.
2. Add a link to the person who awarded you.
3. Nominate 10 other blogs.
4. Add links to those blogs on yours.
5. Leave a message for your nominees on their blogs

Thank you so very much!! I'm going to have to give this award to a few people whose blogs make getting up in the wee hours of the morning very enjoyable - they are a joy to read and I always look forward to their updates:
Fireseed
Circling My Head
The Fantail
Gypsy Mare Studios
BeadedTail
FriendsFurEver
An Explorer's View of Life
TheLetteredCottage

Thank you again Mishkat, and I hope to continue to earn this award every day in the future as well :)

Sweet Saturday - I've Received a Blog Award!

I had a sweet surprise today - fellow feline blogger extraordinaire Mishkat has given me a blog award! I have been following her blog for a few months and I must say that I eagerly await her next posts as her cats and her art are gorgeous. Imagine my surprise when she gave me the "Love Ya" award! Here are the details:

“LOVE YA” award winner! These kind bloggers aim to find and be friends. They are not interested in self-aggrandizement. Our hope is that when the ribbons of these prizes are cut, even more friendships are propagated. Please give more attention to these writers! Deliver this award to eight bloggers who can choose eight more and include this text into the body of their award.

Isn't that awesome?? I'm so honored!!

The eight blogs I will happily pass this on to are: Fireseed, BeadedTail, CrazyBliss, HighOnCraft, Loopy4Ewe, Mrs.Schuler'sBlog, Pigatopia, DameNamedRedd

I look forward to reading each of these blogs and I hope you will too!

Meghann