Today is Thanksgiving Day in Canada. In addition to wishing everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and sharing my gratitude list, today feels like a good day to respond to a recent nomination for the Mystery Blogger Award from Suzanne over at Happily Decluttered.

My 2021 Thanksgiving Gratitude List

Here are the things I’m most grateful for this Thanksgiving.

• My daughter Laura came home from college for the weekend, so our whole family is together for Thanksgiving.
• The COVID situation has improved enough that I could invite my mum and my sister for Thanksgiving dinner.
• My husband and I have this coming week off work.
• We’ve had an unusually warm fall so far, and the weather forecast for our week off is beautiful.
• We have so many beautiful hiking trails to explore within easy driving distance of where we live. We plan to do that this week.

In addition, one of the things I’m always thankful for is the support and creativity of the blogging community. Thank you for the nomination, Suzanne! Please drop by Happily Decluttered and check out Suzanne’s blog. I love her approach to decluttering and simplifying life and I think you will, too.

What is the Mystery Blogger Award?

The Mystery Blogger Award was created by Okoto Enigma as a way to create a link between bloggers and help people discover new blogs. These peer recognition awards are a great way to find new blogs to read, and also to learn a little bit about the nominator and nominees.

Mystery Blogger Award Rules

1. Put the award image on your blog.
2. List the rules.
3. Thank the person who nominated you and provide a link to their blog.
4. Mention the creator of the award, Okoto Enigma, and link her blog.
5. Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.
6. Answer the 5 questions from the blogger who nominated you.
7. Share a link to your best post(s).
8. Nominate 10 – 20 people.
9. Ask your nominees any 5 questions of your choice; with one weird or funny question.
10. Notify your nominees by commenting on their blog.

3 Things About Me

1. I’m a lifelong learning addict and have never gone more than a year without taking some sort of course. Currently, I’m working on the Plain Language Certificate through Simon Fraser University.
2. I’m afraid of heights.
3. I have visited 10 of the 13 Canadian provinces/territories, and 26 of the 50 US states.

The 5 Questions From Suzanne

What’s your favourite thing to do outside?

I am a big fan of walking and hiking outdoors, especially this time of year when the air is crisp and the colours are so beautiful.

What was the last good book you read?

I don’t read anywhere near as much as I’d like to. There just always seems to be so many other things to do. I think the last really great book I read was Elton John’s biography “ME”. I have always been a big fan of his music. Reading the book felt like sitting down and having a conversation with him.

What was your favourite thing to play when you were a kid?

Ha ha. It’s so long ago it’s hard to remember. I used to enjoy playing hide and seek. When I was a child, we lived next to a cemetery so we used to hide behind the gravestones.

What are you planning on doing for your next vacation?

Here in Canada, we are still under a lot of pandemic restrictions so we have absolutely no travel plans in the foreseeable future. That said, I’d love to reschedule the trip to Hawaii that we cancelled in 2020, and I’d also like to visit my sister at her new home in England. As for the timing of these trips, who knows?

But, we do have this coming week off work. We’re hoping to do some hiking and enjoy the fall colours.

What is your favourite part about blogging?

I enjoy so many things about blogging, but the thing I love the most is that there’s always something new to learn. I never imagined when I started out that I’d learn so many new skills.

My best posts

This is a tough question. It’s almost like asking me to choose my favourite child. Here are some of the posts I’m most proud of, even if they weren’t my most popular posts.

• 10 Years, 10 Lessons – What cancer taught me about life
• Boss and leader are not synonyms
• Top 10 parenting tips you need to know

Let’s keep in touch! Join my mailing list and I’ll email you when I add a new post.

My Nominations

I’m nominating some of my favourite bloggers from my recent monthly roundups, if you’d like to participate.

• Jaclynistic Vibes

• Crispy Confessions

• Gemmaa Jayne

• A Sustainably Simple Life

• Forever Saving For A Rainy Day

• The Low Waste Weekly

• Tom’s Tales of Woe

• Snap Happy Travel

My Questions for You

1. What was your least favourite subject in school?
2. What’s your favourite holiday?
3. If you had a chance to relive one day of your life, which day would you choose?
4. When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up? How far off were you when you look at your current job?
5. If you could be reincarnated as an animal, which animal would you be and why?

I hope this post helped you learn a little more about me! I also hope it helped you find some more great bloggers. Thanks again to Suzanne for the nomination! If you’d like to join in the fun, answer any of these questions in the comments below. I’d love to get to know you better.

Oh, and Happy Thanksgiving to my Canadian readers!