Update...AND THANKS JEFF AND JOHN!!

Thanks everyone for all your good wishes. I am feeling better and while not exactly eager to run around the block and howl, I'm back at the old command post, Rocky on my lap, and able to breathe (more or less) on my own.

Besides the health thing, my computer decided to act up over the weekend and I couldn't access my blog. This morning my daughter took care of the problem - thank goodness.

News: Over the weekend I received two Blog of the Year 2012 Awards for which I am over-due to thank Jeff Flugel at The Stalking Moon and John at Pretty Sinister Books. 

Guys, what can I say? I'm thrilled you thought of me and my blog. When I'm 100% I work pretty hard at this blogging thing and it really is a great feeling to be appreciated. 'Blog of the Year' has a nice sound to it. Thank you.

Now I'm to follow certain rules pertaining to the award:

1. Post a link to the blog that created the award: The Thought Palette.

2. Post a link to the blog(s) that gave you the award. See two links above.

3. Write a post about getting the award. Did and done.

4. Post seven (7) interesting facts about yourself.

5. Pass on the award. 

Seven Interesting Things About Myself...hmmmm. Honestly guys, I'm just not that interesting. But okay, let me see what I can come up with.

1) I'm a grandma to an adorable granddaughter and will become a grandma again this year. Two grandchildren - that's pretty interesting to me. Especially since once upon a time I thought I'd never have any grandchildren at all. Life can be very surprising.

2) I worked as an illustrator for years until I semi-retired for health reasons. Never made it to the really Big Time but made a good enough living at it.

3) I don't like reading long term from a computer screen. I prefer flesh and blood books.

4) In the early 1960's I worked at Paramount Studios in NYC as an opaquer on the newer Popeye cartoons. Later I worked at Decca Records in the art department and later I worked at Cosmopolitan Magazine in the Fashion Department when Helen Gurley Brown was the head editor. I had a fun working life. My sister-in-law once asked me how I managed to get such good jobs and all I could say was: "I don't know. I just show up and I seem to get hired." I was very lucky.

5) I'm a MAJOR football and baseball fan.

6) I was a book reviewer for the long ago (and now defunct) online site, mysteryinkonline. Most of my reviews have disappeared from the site though I was able to save a few which I may post on the blog one of these days. I also reviewed for January magazine online years ago. 

7) I love Pinterest. Don't know how interesting this is, but I sure am having fun. I'm the mad curator. Really, it's like having and operating your very own museums. You want to know about Yvette? Look at my Pinterest boards. It's scary. Ha!

Passing On the Award is hard because most everyone I would name has already been named by John or Jeff and I don't want to repeat. I came up with Five Favorites.

1) WORDSMITHONIA. Ryan is a terrific reviewer whose post always makes me jealous - he knows how to break down a book in ways I can only dream of.

2) ALL THINGS RUFFERNIAN A Design Blog and More. Mark Ruffner's design, art, antiques and anything else that comes to mind, blog is a total delight. I check in several times a week to see what's what in Mark's life.

3) CLASSIC MYSTERIES. Les Blatt is another wonderful reviewer whose posts make me wish I knew so much more about vintage mysteries. He is an expert whom I occasionally take delight in confounding with that rare book he's not familiar with. (Something that hardly ever happens.)

4) I LUV CINEMA. Iba's gorgeous blog is full of fun insights, info and reviews of both vintage and new movies. She has to be the most fervent movie-goer of all time and if it wasn't for her I probably wouldn't know what movies to watch when they come around on Netflix. She also gets advance trailers every now and then.

5) ANOTHER OLD MOVIE BLOG. Jacqueline Lynch, who is not only a reviewer and vintage film enthusiast, but a published novelist, is one of the best bloggers in the biz.  Her in-depth movie essays are not to be missed by anyone who has even a remote interest in vintage movies and oh, by the way, great writing.

PS I don't quite know why those background colors showed up to highlight parts of this post. I mean, I chose the colors only because I had to. The original background color was missing and I couldn't get rid of the white except to change it. So, apologies for that. GAK!