Where's Lenny Lee Birthday Bash!

 Guess who is turning 15 today? Can you believe it? It's hard to believe we've been here with Lenny since March of 2010. If you want to check out his first ever blog post you can go here!  I met Lenny in May when I was very sad. My beautiful cat Stripes passed away. I stayed in bed for almost two weeks, just looking for moral support in blogland.  I found some at Brian's Home and that's where I met Lenny. He was such an amazing support to me in a hard time. Our friendship grew and now he is one of my most trusted critique partners and friends. My silver lining to Stripes passing away was finding Lenny.

I talk to Lenny about once a month. Did you know he's gotten taller? And his voice has even changed? His writing style remains the same, but the quality of his posts are better. But I've noticed something, he's kind of been missing from blogland and I don't know about you, but I miss his words of wisdom and his sunshine in people's comments.

Several people have said the same thing, "Where's Lenny Lee?" So I invited them to help me celebrate Lenny's birthday and to let him know how much we miss him in blogland. I know school is harder and some days are worse than others for you, Lenny, but I think if you would spend a little time back on line with your friends you might feeling better. Plus, you would make us all feel better because you seem to say the exact right thing at the exact right time to so many of us.

We love you Lenny and we miss seeing your smiling face in blogland. So maybe, for your fifteenth birthday, you could give us a gift and come back to see us. WE MISS YOU!

Love and hugs from blom


Here are a few blog friends that are missing you and would like you to visit their blogs so they can tell you how special you are to them and so they can wish you a Happy Birthday.

Robyn Campbell
SA Larsen
Shannon Odonnell
Dianne Salerni
Susanne Drazic
StinaLindenblatt
Martha Ramirez
Kelly Polark
Munir
Sherrie Petersen
Melissa Sarno
Jemi Fraser
Lydia Kang
Jessica Bell
Candace Ganger
Hilary Melton-Butcher
Joanne Fritz
Brian Frum
Jenny Matlcok
Natalie Arguirre
Laura Diamond
Connie Arnold
Lola Sharp
Janet Johnson
Len Lambert
Leigh Moore
Sally Odgers
Matt Rush

Happy Birthday to my dear Blon! (PS: red is a birthday hint)




Matt r

A Special Day for Special Friends

HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!

LENNY LEE!!!

and

MELISSA SARNO!!!

Sunday is a special day for Lenny and Melissa. They both celebrate their birthday's. 

Lenny will be 14 this year. He's been blogging at Lenny's World since he was 10. If t you don't know him you need to hop over and make friends with this amazing young man!!!

Melissa will be, well I probably shouldn't tell you that. But for sure you should hop over and check her out. She takes amazing photographs and has had an amazing year.  She's gotten married, signed with an agent and....well, I'll let her tell you her other news. She's been hanging out at This Too... since 2009.

I hope you will stop by and tell these two awesome people Happy Birthday!

(Thanks!)

Today is a Special Day!

A special day requires a trip to a special bakery!

A special day requires getting the perfect cupcake and putting it on my most treasured china.

I bet you are wondering why today is a special day...

 It's a special day because LENNY LEE turns 13 today!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY LENNY!

***************

THE TOP 10 REASONS I LOVE LENNY ...

1. He has a great heart.
2. He's an awesome critique partner.
3. He is a wonderful writer.
4. He is always willing to share and joins in for a good cause.
5. He's fun to chat with on the phone.
6. He feeds and waters animals at the Critter Cafe'.
7. He hand feeds raccoons cookies every night.
8. He never gives up.
9. He loves his brothers and sister.
10. He is my friend.

Have a wonderful 13th birthday, full of fun, cake and presents...

The ABC's of A Good Friend... "K"

(My last birthday was joyful, thanks to the kindness of my bloggy friends.)

It's day 11 of Arlee Bird's A-Z Challenge! Since I write for younger children and we're doing the ABC's, I thought I'd do The ABC's of A Good Friend (and throw in a few random pictures, because I have a bit of a camera habit).

~K~

Kindness is something that comes naturally to some people.  I adore people who care deeply for others.  People who are kind are a gift...they do things for others for no other reason than to help someone out.  It really bothers me when people appear to be kind, but they are doing things for ulterior motives....once I catch you doing that, it's hard for me to trust you....

I don't usually enjoy my birthday.  I've never seen it as a reason to celebrate...I'm just getting older and getting more wrinkles.  We usually go out for dinner, but that's it.  Anyway, I had the pleasure helping organize a surprise birthday wish for a fellow blogger last year.  Then he asked one of my writing buddies when my birthday was and she told him.  Well, he was so excited about my birthday, that I had to be excited too.  His kindness and enthusiasm made me enjoy my birthday.  Most of you know him already and you know how kind he is.  Lenny Lee is one of the kindest and wisest bloggers out there and he's 11 years old.  Thank you Lenny for being so kind to me...and being my cp! Thanks to Lenny's kindness and the kindness of all my bloggy and facebook friends I will celebrate my birthday from now on.  (((HUGS))) to everyone!

Has anyone in the blogging world surprised you with their kindness?  Can you think of any other "K" words that describe a good friend?

Birthday Wishes...

Happy Birthday, Marilyn!  Marilyn has a kitty blog (fuzzy hug) and a writing teacher blog (oh yeah)...My friend Brian (Ginger waves her paw to Brian the cat), asked me to share in Marilyn's birthday celebration and of course I said yes.  (I'm hoping there will be CAKE!)

Have a wonderful day, Marilyn...

Let's talk about birthday wishes, while your thinking about Marilyn and her birthday cake....

For the past twenty years or so I've pretty much tried to ignore my birthday.  No  birthday cakes (Yeah, can you believe it?).  My dear hubby usually takes me out for dinner, but for several years in a row he was always in Chicago at a convention the week of my birthday...

But this year was different....

We had sooooo much fun celebrating a certain someone's birthday and planning his birthday surprises that I wasn't all doom and gloom when December rolled around.  That certain someone found out that my birthday was coming up and started asking me about it.  I couldn't be a grump, so with his help I started feeling a bit excited about having a birthday.  I even told my hubby and Katherine I wanted  a cake... (You can see my birthday cake here if you want to.) 

More than a hundred people "said" Happy Birthday to me on facebook, or my blog or Lenny's blog or via email and it really really mattered to me.  It changed how I look at my birthday and the value of my words on other people's birthdays.   When I get that birthday reminder from facebook I keep it all week, check it daily and make sure I say "Happy Birthday" to my fb friends....Cause my one little wish might matter...If I know you well enough to be your fb friend, I should be willing to take a few moments to say something to you at least once a year, right?   I don't friend everyone...I friend people I know or have communications with...so if we blog know each other (which means we exchange comments and emails) and you have your birthday listed on your fb page...expect to hear from me at least once this year...(LOL, like I'm only gonna bug you once!)

I hope Marilyn has an awesome birthday and that everyone checks the fb stats to see who they need to wish a Happy Birthday to.

Birthday Fun and An AWESOME Announcement...

 Everyone knows I'm a bit obsessed with CAKE...But I can't remember the last time I had a birthday CAKE.  It may have been when I was 18!  (YIKES!)  This year I've been a bit focused on CAKE...So I really wanted some for my birthday.  Doesn't it look delicious?

I also wanted fresh baked bread from Great Harvest Bread, but it's two hours away.  Have you had their bread?  It's all natural, no preservatives, and they grind the grain themselves.  My dear hubby drove twenty miles out of his way to make sure I got plenty of their awesome bread for my birthday (and beyond).

Normally, I'm not very good at my birthday, but this year I embraced it.  I celebrated!  Thanks to a lot of people.  I was overwhelmed by the emails and facebook birthday wishes I got on Monday.  I think I got close to 100!  It was something very special to me.  Thank you all soooo much!  It made me feel like you  wrapped a great big snuggly blanket around me right after you had taken it out of the dryer.  (((Hugs for everyone!)))

One of my cps, Lenny Lee was quite sneaky...He read a comment I left on Susan Fields' blog about the book HOOKED by Les Edgerton.  He even managed to get a personal signature to me in the front of the book!

   Isn't this the coolest cake, I mean card you've ever seen! 

This week, Lenny interviewed me about what makes a good cp.  If you have any additions to my responses to Lenny's questions we'd both appreciate your input.  Check out the cool Snoopy cupcake music box that Lenny sent me too...

The YUMMY carrot cake came from Village Inn.  We had never eaten at one before we moved to Iowa.  Do you have them in your state?

Now on to the announcement.............................................................

My daughter, Katherine, found out today that two of her Haikus are going to be published in Berry Blue Haiku Magazine!  This was the first time she EVER submitted anything.  We are so excited!  It should come out in the December issue.  (Thanks to everyone who congratulated her on my FB page today.  I forwarded all your comments to her email account.)

Which do you like best cake or frosting?  Have a great rest of the week!