Thursday, February 18, 2010 - another book giveaway
Check out the Grand Drawing giveaway for Lisa Wingate's Book, Never Say Never at my book site 4 the LOVE of BOOKShere.
Click here for details.
Drawing held on Feb. 18th.
(Note: This message will remain at the top of this page until after the drawing. Please scroll down to see new messages. Thanks. Abi)
Enter to win Virginia Smith's grand prize drawing @ my book blog 4 the LOVE of BOOKS
The Grand Prizewill be awarded to one fortunate person who leaves a comment at one of the blog tours participating in the KCWC Third Time's a Charm blog tour. It includes:
The complete collection of Virginia Smith books, TEN in all (listed below), with a personal behind-the-scenes commentary written by the author - especially for this tour!
Sister-to-Sister Series, including: Stuck in the Middle, Age Before Beauty, and Third Time's A Charm.
Unforgettable Mayla Strong Books: Just As I Am and Sincerely Mayla.
Classical Trio Series from Love Inspired Suspense: A Taste of Murder, Murder at Eagle Summit, and Scent of Murder.
Murder By Mushroom
Bluegrass Peril
(Note: This message will remain at the top of this page until after the drawing. Please scroll down to see new messages. Thanks. Abi)
I had to wait and see what my hubby's work schedule was before I committed to the Feb. Friday Night Sew-In that Heidi is hosting at Handmade by Heidi. Well, we're in WooHoo! Hubby works evening of Friday, Feb. 19th, the date of the next monthly sew-in. My daughter and I are so looking forward to it again. Actually, we had our own the week after the last scheduled one, however, haven't had a chance to have them every week as hubby's been off work on those evenings. Someday I may find time to post pictures of what we did.
On another note, the day is getting closer that I get a different computer. This one has been a lemon for over a year now. But this last Thursday night we did get out to buy hubby a new computer so I'll get his old one. Yippy! Now we just have to get them switched over. Then I can post pictures without having to go through three or four steps and people. Cool!
On my Gazelle Crosstrainer (No that isn't me either, in my dreams)
Week of Jan. 29th-Feb. 4th Friday - 45 min. = 3 miles
Monday - 45 min. = 3 miles
Tuesday - 0 min. = 0 miles
Wednesday - 45 min. = 3 miles
Thursday - 0 min. = 0 miles
Lisa lives in central Texas were she is a popular inspriational speaker, magazine columnist, and national bestselling author of several books. Her novel, Tending Roses, received dozens of five-star reviews, sold out thirteen printings for New York publisher, Penguin Putnam, and went on to become a national bestselling book. Tending Roses was a selection of the Readers Club of America, and is currently in its fourteenth printing.
The Tending Roses series continued with Good Hope Road, the Language of Sycamores, Drenched in Light, and A Thousand Voices. In 2003, Lisa's Texas Hill Country series began with Texas Cooking, and continued with Lone Star Cafe', which was awarded a gold metal by RT Bookclub magazine and was hailed by Publisher's Weekly as "A charmingly nostalgic treat." The series concluded with Over the Moon at the Big Lizard Diner.
Lisa is now working on a new set of small-town Texas novels for Bethany House Publishers. The series debuted with Talk of the Town and continued with Word Gets Around and Never Say Never. A new series is also underway for Peguin Group NAL, beginning with A Month of Summer (July 2008), and continuing with The Summer Kitchen (July 2009) and Beyond Summer (July 2010). Lisa's works have been featured by the National Reader's Club of America, AOL Book Pics, Doubleday Book Club, the Literary Guild, American Profiles and have been chosen for the LORIES best Published Fiction Award. In 2009, A Month of Summer was nomiated for the American Christian Fiction Writers Book of the Year award.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Kai Miller floats through life like driftwood tossed by waves. She's never put down roots in any one place--and she doesn't plan to. But when a chaotic hurricane evacuation lands her in Daily, Texas, she begins to think twice about her wayfaring existence.
And when she meets hometown-boy Kemp Eldridge, she can almost picture settling down in Daily--until she discovers he may be promised to someone else. Daily has always been a place of refuge for those the winds blows in, but for Kai, it looks like it will be just another place to leave behind. Then again, Daily always has a few surprises in store--especially when Aunt Donetta has cooked up a scheme.
I haven't posted a recipe so thought I'd post today.
Brownie Butterscotch Explosion
(taken from the brownie box)
Brownie:
1 (19.5) pkg. Pillsbury Brownie Classics Fudge Toffee Premium brownie mix
1/2 cup veg. oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs
Topping:
1 (4-serving) pkg. instant butterscotch pudding and pie filling mix
1 & 1/4 cups milk
1 cup frozen whipped topping, thawed
3 tablespoons chocolate-covered toffee bits
1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line 8x8 pan with foil. Spray bottom of pan with no-stick cooking spray.
2. Prepare brownies as directed on package, using oil, water and eggs listed above. Bake at 350°F for 40-43 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately use round handle of wooden spoon to poke hose in 1-inch intervals in warm brownies.
3. Meanwhile, in large bowl, combine milk and pudding mix. Beat with wire whisk for 1 minute. Immediately pour about 1/2 of pudding mixture evenly over warm brownies. Tap pan lightly to fill holes. Refrigerate until cool.
4. Continue beating remaining pudding for 1 additional minute. Fold in 1 cup of whipped topping. Refrigerate brownies and remaining pudding mixture for 1 hour or until set. 5. Spread remaining pudding and whipped topping mixture over brownie. Sprinkle with toffee bits. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.
Deeanne Gist, the bestselling author of A Bride Most Begrudging and The Measure of a Lady, has a background in education and journalism. Her credits include People magazine, Parents, and Parenting. With a line of parenting products called "I Did It!® Productions" and a degree from Texas A&M, she continues her writing and speaking. She and her family live in Houston, Texas.
J. Mark Bertrand has an MFA in Creative Writing from the University of Houston. After one hurricane too many, he left Houston and relocated with his wife Laurie to the plains of South Dakota.
ABOUT THE BOOK
In the shadows of Charleston, someone is watching her... Rylee Monroe, a dogwalker in Charleston's wealthiest neighborhood, never feared the streets at night. But now a thief is terrorizing the area and worse, someone seems to be targeting her.
Reporter Logan Woods is covering the break-ins with the hope of publishing them as a true-crime book. The more he digs, the more he realizes this beguiling dogwalker seems to be at the center of everything. As danger draws ever closer, Logan must choose: Chase the girl, the story, or plunge into the shadows after the villain who threatens everything?
If you'd like to read the first chapter of , go HERE
On my Gazelle Crosstrainer (No that isn't me either, in my dreams)
Week of Jan. 22nd-28th Friday - 15 min. = 1 miles
Monday - 0 min. = 0 miles
Tuesday - 15 min.+ = 1 miles
Wednesday - 45 min. = 3 miles
Thursday - 45 min. = 3 miles
Total of 8 miles this week
We had a slow walking week this week. Hopefully next week will be better.
Gidget over at Gidget Goes Home has put forth a worthy challenge for the year. Thought I'd post about it. She is challenging us to hid more of God's Word in our heart in 2010. What better thing to do than to know what God says so when the sly old fox comes at us we're ready with the firey darts and Sword of Spirit.
Since I'm kind of late for January (only four more days) we'll take this verse for February and run with it.
With it being February and Valentine's Day I looked up a verse for love.
As wife, mother, (and being a pastor's wife, or ministry work) we do much of our work as a labor of love, I'm sure you know what that means but just in case- we don't get paid for what we do we do it out of love. Anyway, here's a verse on labor of love~ how cool is that even Jesus thought of us.
Hebrews 6:10 ~ "For God is not unrighteous to forget your work and labour of love, which ye have showed toward his name, in that ye have ministered to the saints, and do minister."
To find out more about Gidget's challenge click here.
Laura Jensen Walker is an award-winning writer, popular speaker, and breast-cancer survivor who loves to touch readers and audiences with the healing power of laughter.
Born in Racine, Wisconsin (home of Western Printing and Johnson’s Wax—maker of your favorite floor care products) Laura moved to Phoenix, Arizona when she was in high school. But not being a fan of blazing heat and knowing that Uncle Sam was looking for a few good women, she enlisted in the United States Air Force shortly after graduation and spent the next five years flying a typewriter through Europe.
Her lifelong dream of writing fiction came true in Spring 2005 with the release of her first chick lit novel, Dreaming in Black & White which won the Contemporary Fiction Book of the Year from American Christian Fiction Writers. Her sophomore novel, Dreaming in Technicolor was published in Fall 2005.
Laura’s third novel, Reconstructing Natalie, chosen as the Women of Faith Novel of the Year for 2006, is the funny and poignant story of a young, single woman who gets breast cancer and how her life is reconstructed as a result. This book was born out of Laura’s cancer speaking engagements where she started meeting younger and younger women stricken with this disease—some whose husbands had left them, and others who wondered what breast cancer would do to their dating life. She wanted to write a novel that would give voice to those women. Something real. And honest. And funny.
Because although cancer isn’t funny, humor is healing.
To learn more about Laura’s latest novels, please check out her Books page.
A popular speaker and teacher at writing conferences, Laura has also been a guest on hundreds of radio and TV shows around the country including the ABC Weekend News, The 700 Club, and The Jay Thomas Morning Show.
She lives in Northern California with her Renaissance-man husband Michael, and Gracie, their piano playing dog.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Sales clerk, barista, telemarketer, sign waver...
At twenty-five, free-spirited Becca Daniels is still trying to figure out what she wants to be when she grows up. What Becca doesn’t want to be is bored. She craves the rush of a new experience, whether it’s an extreme sport, a shocking hair color, or a new guy. That’s why she quit her bookstore job, used her last bit of credit to go skydiving, and broke her leg.
And that’s why, grounded and grumpy, Becca bristles when teased by friends for being commitment-phobic. In response, Becca issues an outrageous wager—that she can sustain a three-month or twenty-five date relationship with the next guy who asks her out. When the guy turns out to be “churchy” Ben—definitely not Becca’s type—she gamely embarks on a hilarious series of dates that plunge her purple-haired, free-speaking, commitment-phobic self into the alien world of church potlucks and prayer meetings.
This irrepressible Getaway Girl will have you cheering her on as she “suffers” through her dates, gains perspective on her life’s purpose, and ultimately begins her greatest adventure of all.
Please let me know if you find any links that aren't working I'm having technical issues today. Thanks. Abi
"All Aboard! the Blizzard Express" Edition of the homesteading carnival
Oh the weather outside is frightful, But the fire is so delightful, And since we've no place to go, Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow!
Welcome to the 130th Carnival
Since I'm in the middle of a Blizzard here in North Dakota just thought I'd invite you all to join me by the fire with a favorite beverage, preferably hot, snuggled in a blanket for this carnival. We have many good posts this week. I was very glad for all that submitted a post. Like to see a lot more participate, but it was a wonderful turn out this week. Use this easy form here to get in on next week's carnival. Let's get started. We have SNOW MUCH to look at.
How about starting off with some indoor activities. Alex presents Printable Valentines Cardsat Home Life Weekly, saying, "Make your own printable Valentines card is really easy to do all you need to do is download the free Valentines Day Card design of your choice then print and fold." posted at
Rose Denson presents Winter's the quilting season posted at Grandma Rosie's Texas Home, saying, "This is from a favorite site that I visit often. It reminded me of my Great Grandmother, sitting through the winter days, making lovely quilts. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did."
Maybe you'd like to try your hand at making a quilt. How about this Hugs & Kisses quilt (ps I don't know why the title hugs and kisses quilt won't take the link. I have tried several times to get it to link. click on the quilt picture to the left or here to go to the site. Sorry.) that Natalia has offered a tutorial for at Moda Bake Shopor maybe you want some thing a little easier to start out with try the Child's Activity bag tutorial by Melissa Moda Bake Shop take a look around at Moda Bake Shop there are all kinds of goodies and most of the goodies have printer version downloadable instructions.
One more craft before we move on. Deanna's boys enjoyed making these Coasters. She has shared step-by-step pictures and directions at Deanna's Corner. at
Annette Berlin presents Easy Stir-Fried VegetablesCraft Stew, saying, "This is the best tasting and easiest way that I know of to make stir-fried vegetables." posted at
Vikki Lawrence presents Winter Squash Cross-Pollination and Variety List posted at Vikki's Verandah, saying, "So many people want to plant a garden and harvest enough food to eat year-round. As homesteaders, we want to also produce seeds for next year. This squash-variety list will help people choose winter squash to avoid cross-pollination. http://vikkisverandah.blogspot.com/2010/01/winter-squash-cross-pollination-and.html"
Dina-Marie Oswald presents How to make Yogurtposted at Dimes2Vines, saying, "Yogurt is so nutritious and full of probiotics. Once I found out how economical it is to make yourself (especially if you have your own cow), our consumption definetly increased!"
"You got peanut butter on my chocolate." And "You got chocolate in my peanut butter." I remember that commercial of the 1970's. Do you? Well why no try these Magic Peanut Butter Middle cookies presented by Cocoa one the Chocolate on my Cranium site. I'm sure they'd go real good with the hot chocolate by the fire.
Oh, and I wanted to post a picture of this beautiful colorful cake, but the site must have no copy button on. This cake is a die for to see. It is bound to add color to the snow storm. You must check out Amy's Rainbow Cake at the Idea Room. She gives wonderful directions and pictures. Even a trick she's learned on how to get a clean frosting layer without all the cake crumbs. It's worth going over there just for her tip. And it is oh, so cleaver. Who would have ever thunk (as pooh would say).
Our last few entries this week have to do with homestead saving tips. check them out right from you home computer you won't even have to go out into the snow storm. The first one is from TSW Blog How To Save Money On Groceries! A Simple 4 Step Plan posted at The Smarter Wallet, saying, "Here are some ways to cut down on grocery costs."
Before we go one last fun post to check out. I posted SNOW MUCH FUN presents presents activities here on my site this weekend. Why not check them out since you are snowed in (or is it me that is snowed in)? Any way one of us is.
That concludes the "Blizzard Express" edition.
Be sure to submit your blog article to the next edition of the homesteading carnival using our carnival submission form.
Remember if you would like to host the carnival at your site please let me know. You may click here to email Abi. I'm pretty much open for dates. You may go here to check out the schedule. I'll post any hosts on the schedule here. We post every Monday. If you have a date you'd like to host let me know.
The next host will be at the Main site unless some one wishes to host it.
How about some Valentine articles for next week's carnival. Hearts, crafts, sewing projects, food, chocolate, you name it see how red we can get. Think love, red, pink, lace, etc. See what you can come up with then submit the link.
Ever since I was a child, I wanted to be a writer. When I was in the second grade, I wrote my first poem about a moth. Luckily, I received encouragement from my teacher. During my teen years, I wrote skits that my church teen group performed during special holidays.
It wasn’t until 1980, that I took a course on writing for children and teenagers. I became serious about a career as an author. Soon after that, I began to write stories, articles, poems, and devotionals, which appeared in a variety of Christian publications. Later, I had 5 books of puppet/ventriloquist scripts published. *These books are currently available by contacting me. (wanda@wandabrunstetter.com)
My first novel was released by Barbour Publishing’s book club, Heartsong Presents, in Dec. 1997. I have now written nearly fifty books, with over 4 million books in print. Many of the novels I've written are Amish-themed.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Life for Kelly McGregor is a daily drudge of driving her overbearing father’s mules along Pennsylvania’s Lehigh Canal. She dreams of one day owning an art gallery where her own drawings and paintings are on display. But these dreams don’t include marriage. . .not after seeing what her father has done to her mother. How then can Mike Cooper, a general store owner, make her realize he is different than her father and wants to support her artistic talent? Will Kelly learn that dreams can walk hand in hand with a love created by God?
I read this book a few years back as a HeartSong book. It was wonderful. I haven't read this new revised edition; however, I love Wanda's books and have read many of them so without a doubt I would say this is a good one.
Well, we're not really in the meadow, but I guess we can pretend. This weekend we were dumped on by a very wet snow. And wet snows are good weather for making frosty friends. That's just what daughter # 2 and I did today. The weather was just right not real cold in the mid thirties and wet heavy snow. Beautiful for making snow friends but not for shoveling. When you threw the shovelful of snow it landed with a thud! So what it easier to move? 25+ inches of light fluffy snow (which we got Christmas weekend) or heavy wet slush?????? I really don't know.
My verdict: Neither is fun to move.
Just thought I'd share with you some pictures of our snow friend..... ENJOY!
(opps we forgot the mouth)
(guess what? the squirrel has already taken the nose)
On my Gazelle Crosstrainer (No that isn't me either, in my dreams)
Week of Jan. 15th-21st Friday - 45 min. = 3 miles
Monday - 30 min. = 2 miles
Tuesday - 45 min. = 3 miles
Wednesday - 45 min. = 3 miles
Thursday - 30 min. = 2 miles
Thrills, mystery, suspense, romance: Margaret penned it all. Nothing wrong with this, except Margaret happened to be writing for the church newsletter. After making the church picnic read like a Grisham novel, her former pastor took her aside and said, "Maybe God's calling you to write fiction."
It turns out God was and Margaret did. She now has more than 20 novels to her credit. In addition, she's written many Christian articles and a non-fiction book. Still, it took a lot of prodding from God before Margaret tried her hand at writing inspirational fiction which led to her Rocky Creek series. "I love writing about characters at different stages of faith," she says of the new direction her writing career has taken, "and I'm here to stay."
Happily married to her real-life hero, Margaret and her husband live in Southern California.
ABOUT THE BOOK
Sarah Prescott has never known a respectable life; just a hardscrabble childhood and brothers who taught her to shoot straight.
Justin Wells left Boston in disgrace, heading out alone on the dusty trail to Texas. But when the once-respected clergyman encounters a feisty redhead in handcuffs with a dying US Marshall at her side, their journey takes a dramatic turn.
His high society expectations and Sarah's outlaw habits clash from the start. With a price on her head and a sweet orphan in tow, Justin and Sarah make the difficult journey toward Rocky Creek. There justice will be meted out hopefully with a portion of grace.
Here's some details on Daughter # 2 and My Sew-In last night. We started with the basics. Candle, music and snacks.
Since there are no pets in the house we decided to make lovable Frosty our mascot. However, we had to keep him away from the work space. Didn't want any fires. We both love classical music and who better to entertain us than Lorie Line. We played her Threads of Love (thought that was fitting) and Beyond a Dream CDs all night.
No party is complete without the caffeine. We had four types of kisses and Mint M&Ms along with cola.
We made our mascot, Frosty, guardian of the goodies. And off to work we went.
The machine was a humming!
Rebekah worked on two items: a hotpad for my pan handles and a quilt square that we have had since cut out last winter and never finished it.
And the finished products were:
This is the Brave World quilt square pattern.
What did mom work on?????
A pile of mending..... Robe seam.... fixed
sweat pant's seam.... fixed
skirt pocket's.... fixed
skirt patch.... check
and coat pocket's velcro...check
And.... 1 of 2 quilt squares that were cut last winter....
It's suppose to be The Timid World quilt square, but I messed up the lay out and I wasn't going to rip sooo we'll call it the Abi's World quilt square.
All in all a very productive and fun Friday night sew-in and can't wait for the next one.
Daughter # 2 and I are gearing up for tonight's sew-in. We haven't had a sew-in for some time. This ought to be fun. We aren't starting a new project right now we have some old ones that we want to finish. Here is a list of some projects we'll be working on:
Lined preprinted vest:
Daughter has been working on a lined preprinted vest she wants to finish it. She must sew up lining and add details, buttons, felt cutouts, etc.
quilt squares:
Daughter has one already cut out to sew together. I have two ready for sewing.
Mending:
I have 3 much needed items to mend
1.) hubbys pocket on sweats needs a quick run of the sewing machine
2.) as does his robe sleeve.
3.) I have to add some velcro to his winter coat pockets because it came with just a little 1/4 strip of velcro to close.
So the mending won't take a long time but it's just getting the machine out and set up. It takes more time to set up sewing area then it would to mend these items so I've just been putting it off.
If you decide to do the sew-in please make sure you leave me a comment here of your posted link as well as at Heidi's site here, that way we can see what you accomplished and rejoice with you.
Island Life's question for the week: Toilet paper dispenser . . . over or under?
Over the top is how we do it here. I think it makes the Toilet paper look more complete when hanging down. MOPO.
Rundpine's questions for today: Do you screen your phone calls?
I'd love to screen my calls, but hubby thinks the phone must be answered on the first ring, even though we have caller ID. My thoughts why have CID????? Still scratching my head!
My daughter and I are going to join Heidi in her Friday Night Sew-In this week. Just thought I'd post it and see if anyone else wants to join in. You may click on icon above or click here for details.
We all must have a lighter side to us and I'm hoping that in my blogs to share crafts, game ideas, recipes, funny happenings etc. I have another blog with my quiet spiritaul thoughts as well.
(opps we forgot the mouth)
(guess what? the squirrel has already taken the nose) 
