A Belated Blog Bling Post

I am such a terrible award recipient. 

I was given a couple of awards and haven't acknowledged them.  It's not that I'm not thankful, I really am.  It's just that I've gone to writing the majority of my posts on the weekend when I have time and scheduling them out.  The last couple of weekends have been only one-day weekends and I know I should have made time to do this.  Please, Quixy and Janet, forgive me for waiting so long.

Janet at Stuff I Think About gave me this beauty...

I love Gerbera Daisies!  They were the flowers for our wedding.  I didn't have a whole lot of "musts" for the wedding, but Gerbs were at the top of the list.  In fact, I didn't even choose our colors, Ashee-butt did.  And they were perfect with the Gerbs (hot pink and orange).

Of course, there are rules and they are:

1. Post the award on your blog. (check)
2. Link to the person who gave you the award. (check)
3. Pass the award on to 12 of your favorite blogs, and share the links to their blogs. (Ummm, that's gonna take some time, I follow 120 blogs because I love them all.)
4. Let the bloggers know you've awarded them with this award.

Since choosing just 10% of my favorite blogs seemed like an unbearably daunting task, I let the numbers do the choosing.  If I don't like a blog, I skip on over it.  If I like a blog, I click follow.  The twelve blogs I've chosen are the ones that I follow that have the fewest followers.  I think they all deserve more, so check them out and maybe you'll find your new favorite.

12 Blogs (alphabetical order)

• A Girls Life
• Aunt Crazy's here y'all!
• Boots and Saddles
• Coffee Table for Two
• Confessions of a Girl Gone Mad
• Cowboys Love Fat Calves
• One Hot Mess
• Sarahenity NOW!
• So, What Now?
• Tetanus Tomato
• The Ranch on Salmon Creek
• The Zen Cowgirl Blog

The same day, Quixy at Quixotic Life gave me this very cool award...

I can't really believe that someone gave me an award for my big mouth.  Cool, huh?

She didn't really lay out the rules, but I inferred that I needed to pass this on to ten commenters (since that's what she did).  I'm going to automatically disqualify Bill and Juanita at It's A Horse Life, since that would be cheating (they're my parents).

Ten Wonderful Commenters (other followers, please don't use this as an excuse not to comment, I love hearing from all of you)

• 
  
  Shannon O'Donnell at Book Dreaming
• 
  
  Mrs. Mom at Oh HorseFeathers! and Related Twisted "Tails"
• 
  
  Dual Mom at We're At Dad's That Week
• 
  
  Sarah at Sarahenity NOW! (yes, I know it's a double award for her)
• 
  
  Mad Woman at Mind of a Mad Woman
• 
  
  Taylorvillegirl at Girly Bitz
• 
  
  Resentful Wife at Anatomy of a Failed Marriage 101
• 
  
  Michelle Hoad at Table for Nine
• 
  
  Rachel and Mr. Daddy at Once Upon A Miracle
• 
  
  Candance at Crazy Texas Mommy

K. and T!nk, it's not that I don't love you and your comments, but I always give you guys awards.  Thought I'd share the love this time around.

Another Award! Boy, I Love Blog Bling!

Funny story...

Yesterday as I was "working from home", I was going through my blog list and saw that Aunt Crazy had won the Beautiful Blogger award.  Well, I was just so happy for her, I jumped ahead of my reading to click on her blog.  The best thing about reading about the winner's award is that usually one of the "rules" is to pass it on to the blogger's favorite blogs; I've found almost all of my blog list by clicking on the links in winner's blogs. 

Never in a million years did I expect to see my name on the list.  I actually read the list twice and then clicked on the link, just in case there's another GunDiva out there.  Guess what?  It was me!  Aunt Crazy passed the award on to me!  And the funniest part? I read her post before she was able to notify me.

Thank you, Aunt Crazy!

I just love that she's not afraid to speak her mind and her blog header cracks me right the eff up...

***Warning*** ADULT words are used here...if you are offended by cussing, click the little X in the upper right hand corner ***warning***

I wish I'd've thought of that myself, so you're my hero Darlin'.

On to the rules:

• Link to the person who awarded me the blog: Aunt Crazy's Here Y'all!
• Offer up 7 things about yourself (that's gonna be tough) 
• Pass it on to 15 bloggers you've recently found and followed

7 Things About GunDiva

1. An ex-boyfriend-turned-stalker is the one who taught me to shoot.  Funny thing, all I had to do was threaten to shoot him with the gun he bought me to get him to leave me alone.  I should have threatened him right off the bat instead of feeling hunted for two years.
2. I once beat Bud Bond (world champion shooter) in a head-to-head competition.  I really should stop there, but out of fairness and honesty, I have to say that I was shooting a semi-automatic pistol and he was shooting his race revolver and had some ammo issues, which caused him to have to reload more than once.  Otherwise, he'd've kicked my sorry ass.
3. I built a shotgun from the receiver up for my 34th birthday.  It was truly kick ass.  But then I had to sell it.
4. RockCrawlinChef bought me a new shotgun for 38th birthday that I can build up to replace the one I had to sell.
5. Estes is the equine love of my life; I truly believe that she is the equine GunDiva.
6. I've got an almost completed book that I'm terrified to actually complete.  What if I don't have any more stories in me?
7. RockCrawlinChef is the human love of my life; I never believed in soulmates before I met him.

15 Blogs That Have Caught My Eye (In alphabetical order, don't want any hurt feelings.)

1. Linda at Beautiful Mustang:  I've been in love with Mustangs ever since my parents adopted two and was thrilled to find a fellow equi-blogger.
2. Another equi-blogger, Gtyyup at Life at the Rough String, has some beautiful pictures of their ranch and I love reading each post.
3. The Boyles at Little Farm. Growing. are also from Colorado and I love hearing about how their little start-up farm is going.
4. Menopausal New Mom is a fellow LIBer and her lastest post, "Naked or Not Naked", stirred up quite a debate.  (Me? Naked all the way!)
5. Mustang U is another equi-blog dedicated to education about, and adoption of, Wild Horses.  The work they do is amazing, jump on over there, click follow, and then donate to keep these beautiful horses happy and healthy.
6. Monda at No Telling runs a fun contest every month through another of her blogs, Easy Street Prompts.  She's honored me by including me in three of her Blog Carnivals and I just love hearing stories of her Perfect Grandson.
7. Mrs. Mom at Oh Horse Feathers & Related Twisted "Tails".  Another equi-blogger whose writing I really enjoy, as well as her like-minded approach to horsemanship.
8. Wanna feel better about your own family?  Then hop on over to Please Don't Eat Sushi!  Love, Mom.  This guy's letters from his mother will make you want to hug your own and thank her for being so normal.
9. I've been following K over at Preachers and Horse Thieves for quite some time, and I know this award is supposed to go to "new blogs to me", but seriously this guy makes me think and I appreciate that on occasion.  Besides, he's madly in love with his wife.
10. Sara Spelled Without An H is wicked funny and always makes me laugh.
11. Stories From Apartment Managers will keep you scratching your head, wondering WTF?  People really do crap like that?
12. The Accidental Advocate is about the strongest mom I've ever met.  I could have used her strength a few years ago when my son's disease was at its worst.
13. TJ and Mark over to The Ranch on Salmon Creek are ranchers in the Pacific Northwest; their ranch is amazingly beautiful and I'd love to go ride there.
14. Vinomom's Weblog.  I love Vinomom and the fact that she's yet another LIBer.  (By the way, both Vinomom and Menopausal New Mom are kicking my ass in the LIB challenge - for some reason my body thinks it's the Gain It Bitch challenge, not the Lose It Bitch challenge)
15. Dual Mom at We're At Dad's That Week is one of the original LIBer and is also kicking my ass.  She's also wicked funny, though she's a bit obsessed with Robert Downey, Jr.  (I'll forgive her for that.)

Seriously, check them all out (and click follow while you're at it), you won't regret it.  In fact, check out all of the blogs I follow in my sidebar, they're all worth it!

Wow! Another Award!

I could get used to this!  Nathanael over to This Is How It Feels gave me another award.  If he wasn't gay, I'd think he had a crush on me.  We've been mutual blog buddies for a while now, but this was another nice surprise.  You know, one of these days I'm going to have to give him an award.  Maybe a "You're Good For My Blogging Ego" award or something along those lines.

Of course, as with any blog award, this one has some rules:

1. Post ten things that make you happy
2. Pass it on to ten other bloggers

Ten things that make Gun Diva happy: (in no certain order.  Well, except maybe for the first one)

• RockCrawlinChef - otherwise I wouldn't have married him
• Family - and I've got lots of it
• Estes - the equine love of my life
• Books - can't imagine life without them; they are the world's cheapest vacation
• Shooting - there's nothing quite as empowering as a controlled explosion
• Godiva Dark Chocolate with Raspberries - Glenna, you're still in trouble for introducing me to those!
• Fried Ice Cream
• Jimmy Buffett - another cheap vacation
• Swinging from the chandelier
• My girls - there's so much I wouldn't have been able to make it through without them.

Ten bloggers: (again, in no certain order)

• Damzee at Living In Distress.  C'mon, how can you not love a story about Damsel (the character's name) living in Distress (the city)?
• Mel at Boots and Saddles .  I'm not an endurance rider.  In fact, I know nothing about it, but I'm learning a lot from Mel.  Her mare Farley looks a bit like my Estes and sounds like she's got the same attitude, too.
• Sally at Environmental Arts and Faerie Houses.  I love her work.  Whenever I'm having a bad day, I just hop on over to her blog for a quick fix.
• Meg at Fuzzle Me Please.  She's a fellow WriMo, who is also a horse person.  I love reading her exploits with her horses.
• Little Farm. Growing.  Boyles Family Farm is a local family trying to eek out a living as new (been at it less than a year) farmers.  I love reading about their trials and successes.
• MJ at Tetanus Tomato.  I love her sense of humor.
• K. Erickson at Preachers and Horse Thieves.  His wickedness reared its hilarious head with his Tiger posts.
• Keep Smiling Smileyfreak!  I must need a lot of laughter in my life, because I keep coming back to the blogs that crack. me. up.  This is one of them.
• JennyMac at Let's Have A Cocktail...  So I'm cheating with this one.  I stole her from Nathanael, but, damn, the woman's hysterical.
• Jessica at Rome Photo Blog.  I love Italy and this lucky girl gets to live there.  And she's a talented photographer to boot.

Whew, that was tough.  Mostly because ole Tink (Nathanael) and I obviously share the same sense of humor, so it's hard to find blogs that he hasn't already given an award to.  Only one duplicate.  Not too bad.

What A Nice Surprise!

Nathanael over at This Is How It Feels has honored me with a bit of blog bling, and what a great surprise it was!  Nathanael and I "met" when he was honored with the Honest Scrap award by Monda over at No Telling, I jumped over to his blog and fell in love.  We were both then honored by Monda when we were included in EasyStreet Prompts' Blog Carnival.

When I think about the people I've "met" via blogging, it's rather mind-boggling.  The internet, I know it's been said before, has opened up whole new worlds.  Where else would I have met a gay solder serving in Baghdad or a Southern gal with a passion for writing or another wickedly funny Southern gal or an endurance rider from California?  There are so many people that I've met through blogging that I would never have had the opportunity to meet before.  It truly is astounding.

The rules, as have been explained to me by Nathanael are:

1.) grab the award (check - see above)
2.) post it on your blog along with five things you love to do (Oh Jeez, just five.  I'll have to think about that.)
3.) five others you want to recognize... (Again, only five?)

Things I love to do: (in no specific order)

1. Ride my horse, Estes.  You can find the story of how I fell in love with her over at my other blog, Tales From The Trail
2. Blog.  Well, write.  I love to write, and blogging is an easy way to connect with people I wouldn't normally get to meet.  I also love my morning blog crawl and can't get through my morning without it; it's my equivalent of reading the morning paper, I guess.
3. Shoot.  Hence the name Gun Diva.  I love the feel of a controlled explosion, which is all shooting really is.  And, hey, I'm pretty good at it.  My friend and fellow Gun Diva, Tara Janzen, is a rifle shooting queen.  Me, I love the handguns.
4. Read.  This kind of ties in with #2; part of blogging is reading.  I get to read small, bite-sized stories daily and look forward to them, but I also love novels.  Really, anything with words.  Hell, I even read shampoo bottles.
5. Work.  I really do love my job and the people I work with; I can't imagine doing anything else.

Recognize Five Others... (again, in no specific order.  Nathanael, you know I'd send this back to you if I could.)

• K. Erickson at Preachers and Horse Thieves.  He was awarded Editor's Pick for the 1st edition of EasyStreet's Blog Carnival.  I jumped over to his blog and immediately followed.  I love his writing and his dedication to his wife.  Here's a man who is head-over-heels in love with his wife and isn't afraid to post it for the whole world.  Oh, and he's got some great stories, too.
• Monda at No Telling and EasyStreet Prompts.  She's a great storyteller and I look forward to her posts everyday.  I'm not sure how I stumbled upon No Telling, but I enjoy it immensely.  And, of course, EasyStreet Prompts has a place in my heart, as my Honorable Mention (posted over at Lyon's Roar) was my first ever blog bling.
• Candance at Crazy Texas Mommy.  I love this woman!  Her posts are guaranteed to make me laugh.  Everyone needs a little CTM in their life.  Imagine my surprise when I was talking to my brother in Arizona one day and he asked if I'd ever read CTM.  We both found her blog at about the same time and fell in love.  Shortly thereafter my step-dad started following CTM, so now it's kind of a family cult thing.  So...that sounds a little creepy.  Didn't mean it to come out that way.
• Roxanne at Pet Blog.  Her stories about Verne the horse trader keep me in stitches.  I love the way she's able to bring his stories to life in so few words.
• Bill and Juanita at It's A Horse Life.  Okay, so there's a bit of nepotism here, they are, after all, my parents.  And I was the one who not only talked them into blogging, but set it up for them.  It started as just a way to share some of their favorite stories and recipes and stay in touch with their guests, but they're really taken it and run and their hits counter is burning up. 
  

That was tough, only choosing five.  Please check them out; I think you'll enjoy them.  And be sure to tell them I said 'hi' when you stop by.