Thank You

At the end of last year I signed up for a Pay It Forward exchange sponsored by Michelle in Poland ("Miszelkowy Schowek" blog on my sidebar) and then completely forgot about it.

Not long after Christmas I received a surprise package in the mail, which contained the delicate necklace above,

earrings to match,

a pair of black earrings,

a decoupaged box to put them in and

A decoupaged memo pad holder. All items are handmade by Michelle. The photos do not do justice to these beautiful items!

I was totally floored at the number of things she sent me. I absolutely did not expect such generosity when I signed up for this exchange. What a kind heart she has!

Thank you, thank you, Michelle. I will treasure them forever. (Please check out Michelle's blog by clicking the link on my sidebar to see all the other lovely items she creates.)

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And thank you, thank you to all of you who showed me such sympathy over the death of my beloved dog Penny (post below). I was astounded to receive messages from so many people, some of whom I hadn't heard from in the longest time and didn't even know they still read my blog.

All of them - old friends, new friends, friends of friends, anonymous readers - embraced me with such tenderness, love, care and concern. As many stated in their comments, my pal Penny has, I know, crossed over the Rainbow Bridge and is happily running through the meadows on the other side.

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It's been said before, but Blogland is such a generous, supportive, NICE place. I am happy to live here. I don't think I would like to be in My Space or Facebook. I've heard of people bullying each other on the Internet. I watched a news show the other night in which teenage girls beat up other teenagers and post the videos of beatings. I've learned, sadly, that such things are not uncommon.

I have also heard of bloggers being unkind to other bloggers with words, which can be just as painful as a physical beating. Fortunately, I have not encountered this problem so far. Well, there was one commenter who said that my post about masks was "the stupidest thing" she's ever heard of. But, I have comment approval, so her comment never saw the light of day. Ha!

All in all, however, I think Blogland is a place where people genuinely care about one another. I know I have felt the warmth of their arms around me in the past week. It has been a difficult time but you have helped ease me through it. Thank you.

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PS - I will be writing a post about Penny - I just need a bit of distance right now.