Thankful Thursday:Sunshine Blogger Award

Today Cody and I are  excited because we were  presented with  a fun and happy award from our friends over at Four-Legged Furballs. It's the Sunshine Blogger Award, "which is meant to shed light on those fellow bloggers whose positivity and creativity you admire." Thank you so much for nominating Dakota and I for the Sunshine Blogger Award! We have received this award before, but it was all the way back in 2011!!! We figured we HOPEFULLY have some new readers who have joined us since then, so it is an honor to participate! We are super grateful to have received this award! Thank you Four-Legged Furballs for including us!!

There are some rules to follow with this award, and these rules are:

1. Thank the person who nominated you and add a link to their blog. (See above. But also, thank you again to the adorable Four-Legged Furballs family and their sweet Mama!)
2. Answer the 11 questions sent by the person who nominated you.
3. Nominate 11 other bloggers, adding their links and asking them 11 new questions.
4. Notify the bloggers you have nominated.

Our friends over at Four-Legged Furballs came up with some great questions.

1. How many animals have you had in your lifetime thus far?

Eek. I haven't had NEARLY the number of pets that others have had. Let's see, when I was born, we had a Boxer named "Brandy" who lived with us til I was 7. She was the sweetest dog, but died quite young. She passed at age 7. From what my family had told me, she would "guard" my crib and get my parents if I was crying. I also had two turtles, some goldfish, a hamster, my first cat was my Angel Bobo, we shared our lives for 18 years. Then Cody, who I adopted 2 weeks after Bobo passed, then Dakota, my first dog as an adult, came that October.

2. Do you have a favorite blog topic, blog hop, or blogging day?

My favorite Blogging day is Wednesday when people participate in Wordless Wednesday. My favorite posts that day are the ones that ONLY use words in the title of the post. To me, those TRULY "wordless" posts beautifully convey the true meaning of the quote, "a picture is worth a thousand words." and what "Wordless Wednesday was originally intended to be.

3. What is your favorite book?

This one is pretty much impossible to answer. I have read soooooo many books that I have adored. Many are classics, many are cat and/or dog related. If you click book reviews , many of our favorite cat books are listed here, but not all! It is impossible to just choose one.

4. If you had to change your first name, what new name would you choose?

That is a great question! I have never thought of that before. I actually like my first name and am happy that my parents spelled it in such a unique way. Being a child of the 50s, at that time "Caren" with a "C" was virtually unheard of. I think it helped make me the creative person that I am. I like to think that I march to my own drummer, I have never been a "follower", and I don't always do what is the expected thing to do or the "norm."  I often wonder if I am that way because of my name.

5. Are you an early bird or a night owl? 

Both. I often stay up til 1 or 2 and get up at 6 am. It isn't healthy to do that, but I do. I find that I am my most alert in the morning. One thing I am NOT is an afternoon person. I am usually pretty dead at 3pm, then I perk back up from 5pm on.

6. What is your favorite holiday?

Thanksgiving. I love the time of year, I love what it represents and OF COURSE I LOVE THE FOOD!!!! All of my favorite foods are present on Thanksgiving!

7. What is your dream job?

Another tough one. I used to have a dream of being an Olympic Swimmer (I was a lifeguard all through college, and was on a swim team when I was young.) At one time I wanted to teach Early Childhood Education, specifically kindergarten. Now, believe it or not, probably doing what I am now doing, blogging and working part-time in the world of Pets. Pet people, as we all know, are special people. I LOVE that I am able to work from home. I worked for approximately 26 years outside of the home, where EVERY morning I had to get up at 5:15am, I had intense deadlines to meet as well as steep sales quotas, working from home is something I never thought I would ever be blessed to do. If I am lucky enough to still be able to make ends meet at home, it is something I would do as long as I possibly can. One day, I would love to discipline myself to write a humorous children's book involving cats and dogs. That would be fabulous.

8. How many siblings do you have?

one older sister and one younger brother, I suffer from "middle child syndrome."

9. What is your favorite candy?

Almond Joy!!!

10. What is your absolute least favorite food?

LIVER!!!! Have to add another Bleu Cheese.

11. What do you call it: pop or soda? (Or something else altogether?)

Pop...of course (hehehe)

Next up is nominating 11 other bloggers.

To quote the Four-Legged Furballs Mom: "All of the blogs we read in this blogging community give us inspiration. We know so many bloggers deserving of this award, as all of you are so positive and creative in your own ways. That's what makes this community so great!"  For that reason, and others, we always break the "rules" of these hops. I don't want to list other bloggers because inevitably I would unintentionally leave someone out who is deserving and I don't want to accidentally hurt anyone's feelings. If I follow your blog, it is a pretty safe assumption that I enjoy your blog. So, if any of you are inclined to complete the challenge using the same questions above, (because I am lazy), feel free!