Thank you for the VIVI!

                                                                          

I'd like to offer my congratulations to all the VIVI award winners this year. In some categories, including this one, I really had a tough time voting because more than one journal deserved the recognition.

I'm going to try to get around to the ones I am more familiar with and offer a personal congrats to them. There were a few categories I had not been following, and couldn't very well vote in, but I do recognize many of the winners.

People who blog here at aol journals, and those who don't but read our journal entries, know that there is some exceptional writing going on out here. I'd like to think that's why they keep coming back!

THANK YOU to all those who voted for this journal. <grin> I had not expected to win because I have great respect for the other candidates in this category (Best Educational), and read their journals regularly. If you haven't read their journals, here are their links.   

http://journals.aol.com/memes121/AsIAM    

http://journals.aol.com/radar446/PhotoTrek/

http://journals.aol.co.uk/bobandkate/AnAnalysisofLife/ 

http://journals.aol.com/my78novata/LorisLaurels/

When you have some time, stop by, and check their archives. Either of them could easily have won this recognition. 

I feel like the best thing about the VIVI event is that I (and perhaps you too) have become acquainted with some new journals and their writers whom I had not known previously. I can say in truth that a year ago, I did not know more than two or three aol journalers. Look at my sidebar to the right and you can see that I have lots of favorite journals now.

I'm so glad Jackie added the links in the VIVI awards journals so we can easily click on them to swing by and tell them congratulations. Jackie, you are the best in all categories!

My plan is to come back and finish the children's book entries with links to the authors and blurbs about each book, sometime today. And to rest, stay warm, and drink lots of fluids.

Seems I have lost my voice, may have a virus of some kind. The irony is that Wednesday I went in for my flu shot, but the nurse would not give it to me because I had flu-like symptoms. If I am better by next Wednesday, I can try again. Talk about bad timing.

The good news is that I didn'tlose my voice until after school Friday afternoon, about the time my husband got home from work.We had to talk by his asking me questions that could be answered yes or no. Instead of "How was your day?" he asked "Did you have a good day?" Instead of "What's for dinner?" he asked "Would you like some soup?"

I do not mind getting sick if I am allowed the time to lay in bed all day, so finding myself sick last night, I didn't even complain. I knew I had Saturday and Sunday to catch up on the bedrest.

I wrapped myself up in a warm blanket, made some hot tea with honey, and tried to write a "thank you for the award entry" last night before I went to bed but there seemed to be some major computer issues going on. Then my entry disappeared in its entirety. I thought it might have been an aoljournals problem because I was having trouble accessing other people's journals. At one point, I couldn't even get to my own journal, and when I finally did, I eventually lost what I had written.

So thank you again for the VIVI! I am flattered by this presentation.

                                    

Photo is the cover picture from a favorite book of mine, All You Ever Need by Max Lucado. Illustrations by Douglas Klauba.