Yep.? I deserve that.? I haven’t been around much.

And you know what? I’ve missed you.? I’ve missed your blogs, your stories, your lives.? This week, I will stop by to catch up.

So where am I today?

I have an appoint with a Federal Investigator for the Consumer Protection Agency regarding my blender issues.? Sigh.

While I’m off saving the world one blender at a time, I need a favor.

Our friend and On a Limb community member, Liz Dwyer is up for an award at Divine Caroline.

You know Liz as Los Angelista.? She’s just a great person.? She quit her awful job to pursue her dream as a professional author and to raise her two sons.? If you haven’t had a chance to check out her blog, it’s a great read.

So do me a favor and vote for her.? She deserves it in so very many ways.

Cheers!

UPDATE: I just got back from meeting with the Federal Invesigator for the Consumer Protection Agency. Damn.? I can’t say much, but between you and me?? The supplier and wholesaler of the blender are in some fairly deep shit.

I WON THE TENUOUS CONNECTIONS AWARD!!!

Of course, I could have never done it without all of your votes.

So the award really belongs to all of you!

Thank you very very much!

And the family stuff?

Of course….

I’ve wanted to do this for a while. This week, I saw a number of bloggers stretch out, speak their mind, and get slapped hard.

I want to give a High Five to the brave bloggers who speak their mind.

“You speak out all you feel is defiance.” – Nelly Furtado

Miss Britt spoke her mind about the sex offender list and was brutally slapped. High Five Britt for being brave enough to speak what is actually true!

Scott Abel wrote this piece comparing the extreme dieting done by body builders to a study done in the 1950s on starvation. A regular author at all the major magazines, no one will publish this article. There is a lot of talk about steroids but very little conversation about what drives people to take them. High Five Scott for speaking about a very dark side of the sport!

Daniel Miessler wrote an interesting piece entitled “What every American should know about the Middle East“. The response was… shocking. High Five Daniel for trying to educate on a difficult topic!

Jameil went out with friends and was brutally slapped by the next day! High Five Jameil for going out and living a little!

Vixen came out to her mother a couple weeks a go. She is just one brave gal going through a very challenging time. High Five Vixen for being honest with someone who loves you!

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The purpose of this meme is to give high-fives to 5 people, posts, blogs and/or websites you’ve admired during the week. I will link to everyone who participates and leaves a link to their 5 high-fives on Friday. Trackbacks, pings, linky widgets, comment links accepted!

Visiting fellow High-Fivers is encouraged! If you participate, leave the link to your High-Fives in others comments (please note if NWS).

Find more High-Five Friday folks here!

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The final segment of the Driver was delayed due to the Brit-astrophy today. Click here to download a .pdf version of the entire story or go to storiesbyclaudia.com to read the final installment. Thank you for your interest!

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It’s awards time again! Yippee for awards!!

I received this award from Storyteller. *

Gosh, I’ve met so many nice people online. I’m kind of amazed at all the hard working, nice people I’ve met. Scratch the surface of almost any blogger and you’re going to find a nice person.

I pass the Nice Matters Award to:

• Odat for her capacity to face the winds of life,
• Josie at C’est La Vie for always having a kind word,
• Squirrelly for being nice about my fumbling,
• FuriousBall for just being a really sweet person,
• Puss ReBoots for helping me with the title of my books,
• Heart in SF for working to be nice in challenging situations,
• The CEO at Morning Meeting for support and cyber hugs.
• Nicholas at Gentleman’s Domain for making weather.

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I received this monkey award from Joy at Joy of Desserts. If you haven’t seen her yummy blog…. it’s yummy!

I give this award to:

• Avitable for this picture and post. (Be forewarned… it’s hairy.)
• Mr. Fabulous at Pointless Drivel for this fabulous dancing post.
  
• Janet at Fond of Snape for this bacon post which made me crave bacon for a week.
• BroLo at Soliloquy in an International Cloister for this post on dead Catholic saints.
• Moobs for his current nipple crisis.

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I received this award from the CEO.*** He said: “If you have no idea of the high pedestal that I have put Open Grove Claudia deservedly onto, then you haven’t been reading my blog for a while. Not only did Claudia help Susan, she was rocking out in the video. Naturally.”

Ok, that only make sense in the context of the sex on the beach video on his post. Which I think sounds a little gritty, but … never mind.

Is this a sexy butt??? It seems a little, well, flat to me.? My butt does not look like this.? My hips are narrower, my legs are more muscular and my butt is rounder.? I got in this very “discussion” with Furious Ball.? Clearly, THIS is sexy.? Sigh.? What does that mean about me?

Moving on….

Ignoring the wide, flat arse, I give the Sexy Blogger award to:

• Miss Britt because she is damn sexy.? (Take a peek here).
• Christy because she is music, entertainment and book sexy.
• Colleen at Loose Leaf Notes who is Mountain sexy.
• No Nonsense Girl because she’s no nonsense sexy.
• Amy at Lives Less Ordinary because she proves that Scots are damn sexy.
• Liz at Los Angelista because she’s got sexy hair.
• Jameil because she’s got sexy shoes – particularly these sexy boots.
• Tommie at Tuesday Update because she’s keeps the home fires burning hot with her sexiness.
• Michelle at Lede Me On because she makes sexy, executive mommying look easy.
• Cajun Vegan at I read banned books because she makes Las Vegas sparkle with her sexiness.

PHEW!____________
* Storyteller gave the “Nice Matters” award to: Betty of Betty’s This and That;Carla of zena musings and Women at Rest; Chuck at Foster Me Up; Cricket of Cricket’s Hearth;Eve at Adamswife’s Weblog; Greatfullivin’ at Gratitude Journal;
Ivanhoe of Communique by Ivanhoe; Joyce at Mom’s Musings; Karen at Journey to Authenticity; Kat at Seeking Sanity; Ladybug at Living in the Light I Find; Lucy at Diamonds in the Sky and Lucy Creates; Melissa at Such Simple Pleasures; Mother of Invention at Spilling Out!; Peajay at M?r?n cainte ar bheag?n c?ise; PJ at Bits and Pieces; Sandy Carlson at Writing in Faith; Tina at Tina’s Odds and Ends; Sonya of Mo Mh?le Gr?; and Yertle of Smile, Play, Dream.)

** Joy of Desserts gave the “Blog Yummy” award to Aged Cat.

*** The CEO gave the Sexy Blogger Award to: AmyTree, Glamourpuss, Crankster, Franki, Tiffany King, James Burnett, Heart in SF, WnG, Wicked H, Skinny Little Blonde, Heather of Phoenix Hearse, MJ, Nosjunkie, Echomouse, CMHL, Allan, Ali, Mist, and Odat.

Oh so much to update…..

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The first part of my fiction serial “The Driver” was posted last Friday at Miss-Britt.com. It received really supportive comments – Yay! If you haven’t had a chance to check it out, please do. I’m always interested in what people think. The next segment will be posted next Friday.

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With much reluctance, I entered into a process of renewing the look of this blog. Sigh. It’s time to move away from the Open Grove a little bit. We continue to languish in trademark hell, so I need to find ways to continue forward without that mark. Because a couple of my blogging buddies had a great experience with Cynthia at Nap Warden, I thought I’d try it…. And what a joy!

What do you think of the new look? I wanted something light, fun, energetic, and a little feminine. She came up with the image, made the design, and even installed it. Whoo Hoo!!

While FuriousBall remains my backend programming huckleberry, Cynthia was fabulous, creative, and fun to work with. If you are looking for a new design, do not hesitate to shoot her an email.

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Squirrelly at Lone Grey Squirrel bestowed me with a tremendous honor. He gave me the Blog Mentor award. Wow!

He said: “I have always felt that Claudia kind of “adopted” me and has made it her role to challenge me and probably all her other readers to expand our minds, our experience and our experimenting with this blogging media. She gets me in a lot of trouble but its all fun.”

There are a few people that I feel really mentored me in the blogging process:

BroLo: BroLo is the physical representation of my inner Capuchin. He sat me down one day and told me step by step how to get blog traffic. Where he learned this information? God? Who knows what resources these mysterious brothers have? He’s just returned to blogland with an amazing post about a saint.

Moobs: Moobs has an amazing capacity to translate his feelings and experience into words. Through his essays, I was inspired to share a bit more of my life and strive to express myself with language. As a middle child, I always figured no one really wanted to hear what I was thinking or feeling. Go figure that I would learn this from an oldest!

Seth Godin: I can’t imagine that Seth would give a crap about a blog award, but in all honesty, 100 years ago, I heard Seth speak on blogging. I followed his blog every day for about two years before starting this blog. If you’ve never read Seth’s work, you owe it to yourself to take a look. Yes, it’s marketing, but marketing is really about life. He is one of the best thinkers on the Internet.

Heart in SF: I admired the manner with which people related to her and she to them. From her, I learned to comment back. She is an excellent example of someone who always remembers that there is a human, fragile heart at the other end of the key board.

Yay. I continue to learn, continue to be mentored… this list is woefully incomplete.

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I heard from ZiaQueen!? They will be the source of our bee revival this year!? Yea!!? I should receive four Rocky Mountain Reina queens sometime in early spring.? This is very exciting!

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I am getting some sleep. Thank you for all your kind thoughts. I need to get a bit more exercise, and a few people out of my head. Onward toward the week? Yay!

As always, thank you for reading.

Thank you for caring.

I am humbled in your presence and kindness.