Hi friends!

Sorry I’ve been MIA for so long!  It’s not that I haven’t thought about you – oh no. I have two or three projects that are all done, pictures taken, I’ve just been to lazy to write about them!
But that’s for later.  To celebrate me coming back on line . . .

WHO WANTS A FREE BOOK!

check out her site here
Yup, it’s giveaway time!  Book 9 in the Sadie Hoffmiller culinary mystery series is here!
This time, Sadie heads off on a cruise with her two kids and her awesome significant other. Of course, even at sea, she can’t seem to stay out of trouble!

My thoughts: this book reads different than the others. Usually there’s one big mystery that takes the whole book to figure out. This is set up a bit more like several short stories all about the same people at the same time. I thought I knew what mystery needed to be figured out, but then it’s done by page 50. A few more pages twiddling my thumbs, and then I find a new mystery! But actually, that was great! My least favorite thing about a short story is it’s always just long enough to make me ticked when it ends. This way, it’s like it keeps on going. 

And the end. Oh be still my twitterpaited heart the end! There are awesome nuggets throughout the book

“You breath energy into my world,” he whispered, so close she could feel his breath move over her face. She felt the words down to her toes. He pulled her to her feet and smiled at her. “Come look a the starts with me. There is nothing better we can do right now that be together.”

Aww. But that’s not as fun as the end!

Anyway, it rocked. Another quick, fun, clean read.

Want your own autographed copy?  Just leave a comment on this post by Sunday March 3, 8 pm central time.  What’s your fantasy vacation? I'll draw a winner at random and you can at least escape mentally!

*pssst! Wanna win a book?

'Cause it's that time again!

Yup, hot off the presses, I have an autographed copy of Josi Kilpack's newest book, Tres Leches.


Usually I give a little blurb about the book and how much I liked it. But I'm not this time. "Cause other than the recipes, I don't have a clue what happens to Sadie in New Mexico. In all honesty, my book came late last night, and I have to leave in just a couple of days to fly to Utah. Since most of my readers actually live in Utah, I want to bring the book with me to save $ on shipping, 'cause that's how I roll!

CONTEST: win a copy of Tres Leches.
TO ENTER: leave ONE comment on THIS post telling me something interesting. Say your favorite memory of me. Or a random fact. Or the thrilling tale of how you shaved your legs yesterday.  Just something more than "I want a free book".
DEADLINE: Sunday, Sept 23, 8:00 pm Central time.  Winner will be randomly drawn from all entries (though bonus brownie points to all comments that make me laugh!). I'll announce the winner on this blog . . . um sometime after I land in Utah!

The Results are in!

Sorry I didn’t get this up last night – we were having some computer issues that are thankfully resolved!

Well, it looks like this little one:

has an overwhelming majority preference for gender from  you guys!

Out of 10 people, 9 (ish) of you said boy. And even the one naysayer (and the one person who said both!) mentioned a boy would be great!

Well, before I tell you if you were right, (hah! Love to keep you in suspense!) Let’s see who won the new book!

And who is #4?

It’s Lynn! Hooray for you!  I’ll try to get that mailed out soon.

And just so you know . . .

The majority was right!  Now I just have to see if I can convince Hubby that my boy names ROCK!!!

Pumpkin Roll Winner!

Ready to find out who gets the newest Sadie book?

And who is #2?

It's Paily!

See, the luck finally comes through girl!

Let me know your physical address and I'll send it out when I finally drag myself to the post office!

30 to 30 wrap up

hey all!

Sorry it has taken me so long to report back on my big day! I've been trying to finish up the prizes, and it's taken a bit longer than expected!

I got a lot of very positive comments on my posts. To be honest, after about 10 days or so, I thought you guys would be sick of hearing from me. And in case any of you actually thought I was that dedicated to write every single day, I totally started writing those back in November. My goal was to have them all done before the series even started. I did NOT make that - my favorite post of all (day #30) was written the day before my birthday. In other words, I deliver on time, but need to start months in advance!

Biggest thing I learned - goal wise: I really stink at keeping track of things. I only had seven goals. I made myself a little chart so I could check of each day when the goal was completed. I think I managed to pick up a pencil and mark something like, 12 of the days or something. But I actually worked on most of my goals every single day!

Quick run down of my goals:

• Water. I rarely made my 100 oz goal. But almost always made the 72 mark. And my body craves more water now, which is always a good thing.
• Waking up at 6:00. I'd say an 80% success rate. My body is used it the time now, and it's easier to still do this.
• Scriptures: about a 98% success. I missed a day or two, but I'm in a much better place spiritually now!
• Exercise: about a 90% success. I've been very happy with how well I've been sticking to exercise. I lost 4 lbs the first two weeks, and then gained 2.5 back when I got a nasty cold. But it's coming of again!
• Getting ready: Huge improvement here! Before, I waited to get myself ready until the dirty work was done - exercise, cleaning, etc. But I was using that as an excuse to not get ready. I can mop the floor in jeans just as well as pjs. While I still don't always make the 10:00 mark, more often than not, I'm ready for my day about 9:30.
• Indexing: I did more than 400 names!
• Scrapbook: I managed to finish 'Lil's first book, and I've got 5 months done on Buddy's.

It's amazing what having a real goal - that I really work on - with a concrete deadline has done for me. I love where I'm at so much more now than where I was before.

Now the fun stuff - PRIZES!!!

I finally decided on 3. The "grand" prize is a love of books. Second place is a love of crafts. Third is a love of chocolate. (you can't tell in the pictures, but I put everyone else's name in a big bowl and my kids picked them out. Nice and random!)

The Grand Prize goes to the person with the most comments (I told you to comment lots!) Which is : Grandma Nelson!!!! Yeah Mom! You win:

The new Josi Kilpack book! It came right in the middle of my series, so I thought it would be a good prize to throw in there.

Second Place: A love of crafts (random pick) goes to:And you win:

inspired by here

This cute plate I whipped up with my silhouette. (actually, this was one of the most frustrating things I've made in a long time. I'll explain a bit more when I do a vinyl tutorial next week.)
Hooray you!

Third place:(another random pick) Love of chocolate goes to:
You win an Oreo Truffle kit (a $5 Walmart card to buy yourself some oreos and cream cheese, the recipe, and a bar of Aldi chocolate to dip them in) Of course, you can do what ever you want with the gift card, but I REALLY recommend doing the recipe! (Mommy J, please email me a mailing address!)

Thanks for playing along with me. It's been a great ride!

My FAVORITE cookies . . .

I can now share with you!
Yes, it's here. In all it's delicious glory. Josi Kilpack's latest book. And it is an AMAZING read.

I love all of her books (ok, there was that one that was kind of dorky, but other than that). Her twists, her turns, her silly little side notes are just so endearing. I read this book almost as a stand alone novel. My copies have been lent out so many times, I rarely have them around, and I just couldn't remember what happened in Devil's Food. While some details help you understand some motivations and such, even if you've never read the rest of the series, you can still sink your teeth into this one. I know I did. I may have maybe sort of read all 345 pages in less than 24 hours . . . .

And the recipes are amazing too.

Specifically, Butterfinger Cookies. Just typing that name makes my mouth water. They are the. BEST. peanut butter. cookies. EVER. And you can have the recipe for yourself!

This time Josi has made the first chapter and all the recipes available HERE in pdf format. But the recipes just aren't enough! You know you need to read this book too.

And maybe for your very own!

I've got one copy to giveaway to one of my beautiful amazing readers. It's even autographed. And with 19 followers now, competition may get fierce! Or something.

To enter: leave a comment on this post with the name of your favorite recipe. Extra hugs to those that actually link to the recipe.

Entries must be in by Monday, Aug 24th at 7:00 central time (because I like to sleep.) On Tuesday I'll throw the numbers in to random.org and find the winner.

Believe me, it's worth it!

Time

I have a confession (I know. I confess a lot on here. But hey, that's why I write, right?) I'm a tad bit obsessed with time. More specifically knowing what time it is. I have a clock in every single room of my house (except the bathrooms, but that's because I've never found one I liked for those). Most rooms have more than one. I get really bugged when I want to know what time it is and can't see a clock. I stress when I forget my cell phone, not because I can't call someone, but because I never know what time it is otherwise.

I'm currently working on fixing up our living room (more about that another day, but lets just say my arms are REALLY tired from all the work.) Nothing would make this room more cool that a giant clock. Like this one. (the black one) Right above my piano. I might even win one. Want a chance too? Check out Remodelaholic's giveaway.

sigh. If only no one else ever entered contests. I'd get so many cool things!

I'm in love. (and a give-a-way!)

Sigh. My girl (a girl!!!!) is so cute. Seriously. Just look at her.
Things couldn't have gone better on Monday. When I first heard her cry I joined in. My heart was full to bursting over meeting this tiny creature. We waited for so long (ok, I know many MANY people have to wait longer, but when you're going through infertility, any time at all feels like decades). And seeing my girl for the first time was an amazing experience.

And a girl! I wanted a little girl so much. A boy would have been ok, but my little girl is perfect.

And now, here for this blog, I officially dub her 'Lil Flower. Girly-Lou really wanted a girl named flower. Since I'm not so much into strange names, I thought having that be a blog name would be a bit more appropriate. The 'Lil is short for Little, since she is little, but also because she has my name for a middle name. So she's a little me. And so cute. Look again.


Sigh. (I have no idea why that last photo is turned. But anyway)

Ok, now for some funness. As you may recall, I'm in a test kitchen for a culinary mystery series. They are awesome! And the third book just came out. And I have a copy. You know you want this. There are some amazing recipes in here (like the devils food cake with chocolate cream cheese frosting. to. die. for!).

*blurb for the series: Sadie Hoffmiller is a 50 something widow with a talent for sticking her nose into places. She has a talent for putting the facts together too, and helps the police solve a few crimes, even when the police really don't want the help. Although this is the 3rd book in the series, it works fine as a stand alone book too. Josi Kilpack is an amazingly talented author. Her books are well thought out, engaging, and just plain fun. I love how easily she throws a wrench into her stories you'd never see coming (I seriously loved this book!)

So in honor of my adorable baby girl, you can have your own copy. Just leave me a comment. Tell my why you want this book. Or how cute my girl is. Or why you like reading my ramblings. Or ask me a question.

Only requirements - make sure there's a way for me to contact you in case you win. And make your comment at least 1 full sentence long. Don't just say "You're cool." We're all over that whole year book thing, right?

You have until 8:00 pm central time Feb. 8 to comment. I'll pick one at random to win.

Oh don't I wish

I know I've mentioned before that I really want a new computer. The relic we are currently using is full, and slow, and driving me crazy. So I just have to try to win this one.


My own laptop. Pardon me whilst I wipe the drool from the keyboard. (Sorry, whilst just HAD to be in this post at least once today. Because it's just that kind of day!)


Of course, there are over 1000 entries already. But here's to dreaming, right?

Winners!

Ok, first of all, I feel the need to give a giant raspberry to all.

Pththththththththththttththth!

Seriously, guys! I know I don't have a lot of readers, but only two of you even tried this contest?!?!?!? What is up with that! I was really hoping for some great names to wow my hubby with.

Well, since only two people entered, and I didn't want to be accused of nepotism, and since I wouldn't even have to pay for postage if I send one to Happy Mom (and I had all the stuff to make two), both of you guys are winners!

Thanks for playing along. At least I know two of you wanted to play with me!

100th post!

Whew! We made it guys! Thanks for sticking around with me. I know my blog following is tiny, but hey, it's fun to have a place to spill your guts and people actually still talk to you.

As apposed to if I was to talk this way in the real world, where people would at best meet me with blank stares and at worst start talking very slowly about "special places" to put someone like me.

I've totally wanted to do a 100th post contest for a while. Especially after InkMom's (which was so fun!). Of course, I don't have something near as tricky to figure out. I've been racking my brain for what to do, and finally decided on a name contest.

See, in case you didn't recall, I'm having a baby sometime in the next 2 months. We're hoping for full term here, but there is some precedence for early. Like, maybe born new years eve early.

But I digress. For the first time, we did not find out the gender of this little one. It's driving my hubby crazy, but the gender wasn't even written down on my chart, so at this point we can't even ask. We also don't have names picked out.

Well, let me clarify that. I have a girl's name I LOVE, and a boys name I really like. Hubby just can't agree with me. He also can't come up with anything he likes better.

So here's the contest: Submit two baby names (1 boy and 1 girl). You also must do an ounce of research and figure out what the names actually mean ('cause that's important to me) Also, your best idea for a "blog name" since we're attempting to keep things private around here. I'll draw a name out of a hat for the winner (and hopefully can convince Hubby of some great name ideas!)

Oh, and the prize.
Last year, I posted instructions for how to make this: (sorry Paily, I know you already have one!) I am giving away one put together mini muffin tin advent calendar (which would be all the squares already assembled, a cute little bag to hold them, and a ribbon to hang it up with) This does NOT include the actual tin, since I'm cheap and don't want to spend that much to ship the puppy!

It's really cute (cuter in person than my lousy camera skills show). And fun, and the kids love the whole thing. You know you want one.

Contest runs until 10 ish on Monday November 23 . . . . .(or just before I go to bed), and I'll announce the winner the next day. That way if I actually remember to ship it, it can get to you in time to be actually used for THIS Christmas.

Unless of course I end up going into labor or some crazy thing. Then you guys are going to have to wait.