Although I received the "levity" gene, I wasn’t blessed with brevity.  I’m well aware I use a thousand words for something that could be expressed efficiently and sufficiently by three.

I should’ve been born a picture.

Forgive me for my prolific verbosity yesterday…when I’m enthused about something–in this case, three somethings— words spew out of me like projectile vomit.  At least it doesn’t smell and there’s no clean up involved.

I’ve only received THREE snail mails so far to snatch those buttermints–obviously y’all don’t know what you’re missing…or, quite possibly, I sent you to snoozeville…or maybe your eyes were simply glazed as thick as Krispy Kreme doughnuts from two long posts in a row.  Doesn’t matter which…next seven addresses I receive who follow the simple guidelines get the buttermints (and for those of you who’ve graciously already added the Snackalicious button to your side bar–WHY DIDN’T YOU SEND ME YOUR ADDRESS ALREADY?!).

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With all my contest and carnival machinations, I forgot to thank Christine (Are We There Yet, Mom) for a little blog-surcie she sent my way–

She passed it along to me for Pensieve’s Poetic License, which thrilled me all the more (merci beaucoup, Christine–you made my day!).

I thought about the blogs that inspire me, and because that word is so pregnant with meaning, I could award it for some reason or another to just about anyone I’ve read or who has ever commented here!  People who take time to visit and share their thoughts are an on-going source of encouragement.

Looking at inspiration as those who have (by m-w.com definition) "spurred me on", "impelled me" and "motivated me" with regard to blogging, I’d have to give a sharp nod of the head to Laura, Writing the World for Kids (Her "15 Words" poem carnival has been a delight and a great exercise in BREVITY :); she was instrumental in me finally getting Poetic License up and running, and I don’t think I ever told or thanked her); Carmi, Written Inc. (the motivator behind my 100 Things post; I’m a student of his and I don’t even think he knows he’s a teacher); BooMama (I discovered her early in blogging, for some reason "lost" her out of my regular reads, and have only recently re-discovered her, now wondering why I didn’t keep her closer); Shannon, Rocks in My Dryer (in her "every man", self-effacing way, Shannon guides by example; I like her style and she makes me want to be a better writer and blogger).

There is so much giving and receiving in blogging, yes?  It’s like Christmas 365 days a year :).