What a Nice Morning! Complete With Blogger Awards

As I usually do each morning, I was eating my breakfast and drinking my tea and checking out what all of my blogger friends have done since yesterday (note, I usually read your blogs but don't comment nearly enough but I do read them each morning) and I was surprised to see that I made this list over at An Exacting Life blog.  What a nice surprise and what a nice way to start the morning!

In keeping with the concept, here is my list of "top 10 blogs" in no particular order (excluding An Exacting Life because that's the rules although I do love her blog because it's interesting and listy which I absolutely love).

The blogs:

1. Clamco: Lorraine was the first person to comment on my blog which surprised me to no end because someone actually read my blog!  Since then she has been inspiring and a great cheerleader and an overall wonderful person (not to mention an EBay diva which makes reading her blog so fascinating!).
2. My 1/2 Dozen Daily: Carla is clever and artistic and her blog photos are amazing (did I mention she frugally runs a family of six plus an online business plus a popular blog? Wow!).
3. That British Woman: Gil has a wonderful blog. I love her British sense of humor and all of the interesting things she posts about Canada (for our nearest neighbor, I thought I knew a lot about Canada until I started reading her blog!).
4. Out My Window: Kim is one of the busiest people I know (well, not like ever met, but by reading her blog I feel as if I know her) and while she documents her ups and downs and struggles, she always comes out a winner so she is very inspiring!
5. Living Richly in Retirement: I have been following Barb's blog for ages and from one retiree to another, I tend to learn a lot from her and her wonderful blog!
6. Tales from the Trenches: Cassie is another blogger who is listy and organized and I always learn something from reading her fascinating blog.
7. My Journey to Eliminate Debt: I always check this blog since she talks about getting out of debt and Dave Ramsey and getting more organized...basically all of the things that interest and inspire me.
8. Shaking the Money Tree: Jolie is another blogger that I follow regularly.  Like the rest of us, she has her financial challenges, financial success, and lots of other interesting things to blog about.
9. One Family One Income:  I just started following this blog recently but I really find it fascinating (maybe because she says stuff like "eekkk" like I do?).  Definitely a fun read!
10. Digging Out of Debt, One Spoonful at a Time: These sisters write a wonderful blog about getting out of debt and about the mundane stuff of every day life which, oddly enough, I find fascinating.

And seven things about me:

1. I don't sleep with a pillow (apparently that is odd).
2. I like to eat food one item at a time so mostly I graze through my meals (buffets make me nauseous).
3. My pet peeve is when people use big words incorrectly (better to use a smaller, less impressive word correctly then a big, impressive word incorrectly).
4. I love communicating with people (in different languages, in writing, to figure out their problem and help them) but I am lousy at small talk.
5. I love doing research.  Reading, writing, research...that's about all I am good at.
6. I really want to be artistic but I am just not.  Even with practice, I don't have an artistic bone in my body.  It's unfortunate.
7. I have Aspergers (which probably explains all of the above).

And the rules if you are on my top ten blog list and want to participate:

1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Add the One Lovely Blog Award/Very Inspiring Blogger Award to your post.
3. Share seven things about yourself.
4. Pass the award on to 10 nominees.
5. Include this set of rules.
6. Inform your nominees by posting on their blogs.