Thank You!

Wow! Wow! Wowee wow wow is about all I have to say. I was excited when I won this giveaway, but then it appeared on my door yesterday. And...it was better than I even imagined!

Num num num. I hope I can have enough restraint to not eat it all a couple days!!

Thanks Lotus for the fantastic giveaway!

Share the Love/Pay it Forward

Ok, so I am getting bloggy love from both Lea and Jen. They say I need to pay the love forward. So....here you go....first SIX comments get something from me (at some point in the next few weeks)....probably something not very big. So, comment away and make sure your e-mail is included!!!

Oh and Happy Valentine's Day.

My Last PIF Winnah!

So Jen over at Mama Mia won my last PIF Giveaway. Here is her post of the goods from me. And here is the post of her own giveaway. Go enter it...you'll be glad you did.

On a different note, it's November 18th and I'm 18 posts for 18 days. Can you freaking believe that? I can't. Seriously. I think in honor of this I shall compose a limerick. Ahem...clearing my throat and cracking my knuckles.

There was once a girl who had a blog.
So much time on her computer, her husband did flog.
She continued to write,
With all of her might
Time time time on her computer she did hog.

How was that? Pretty bad, I know. How about this one...

There was a tired and overworked Mom.
Whom everyone thought was the bomb.
she was funny
she was punny
She resided at yayasmom.blogpot.com.

Not much better. I'm not going to try anymore. Happy Tuesday to you.

Weekly Winners & PIF Giveaway V 4.0

October 26-Nov. 1, 2008

Shorty McShort aka Candy Giver on Halloween
click here or here for why she's not trick or treating

Jack-O-Lanterns all lit up

That's all I have for now. I can't make this stop underlining...I have no idea what I did....

If you've not entered my latest PIF giveaway, please do!!! Click here to enter and get the details.

So I'm relieved to say that yesterday went much smoother than I'd predicted (with Shorty losing her trick or treating privileges and all). We picked her up from daycare and had our usual Friday evening pizza and a movie. We watched Charlie Brown's Halloween. We had Grammy Melynda over too. That was the true hit with Shorty. Oh, and passing out candy each time the doorbell rang. Seriously....the wait between dings killed her. She'd keep asking when is the doorbell going to ring?! (She inherited her dad's patience)

The day was harder on me than I'd expected. I shared what happened yesterday at daycare with a couple friends at work and then just felt terrible and got all teary. I know we did the right thing. I just didn't expect it to be so emotionally difficult. Ya know?

So that was our halloween.

And why did I put a cuss-o-meter on this post? Cuz I saw it on another post and thought it was cool. I wonder if I type some cuss words if it'll increase my cuss level...hmmm.....let's see. I'll put some nasty profanity and then run the cuss-o-meter again. Check back Monday to see. I know, you're waiting with bated breath. Not.

Happy Saturday to you all and if you've not entered my giveaway yet please do so!

Thank You!!! And another giveaway!!!

So I have to send out a great big THANK YOU to Vicky at Secret Mom Thoughts. I won her Pay it Forward giveaway a while back and her oh so sweet package arrived last week. I absolutely love it and we've manage to eat almost all of the candy corn already! I'm loving my Burt's Bees lip balm too. Thanks so much!!! Now I need to have yet another giveaway.

I'm out of creative ideas. So for your entry into my latest PIF Giveaway you need to put into your comment what you want to win in my giveaway (i.e. janelle is out of ideas, just tell her what to go buy for you, keep it under $15...shipping can be a killer).

And now for the goodies from Vicky:

Oh yeah....contest will end November 8th at noon (pacific time). If you win, you agree to blog your win and have your own PIF giveaway as well. If you don't have a blog you agree to do something nice for someone...and document it on my blog (you can e-mail me your story).

Seriously...if you're not going to blog it or let me blog it, don't enter. Keep the spirit of the pay it forward giveaways. It's fun.

Thank You!!!

Thanks to Danielle-Lee at A Little Left of Lost. She sent out the nicest PIF runner up package to me. (she sent something to everyone who entered, what a giver, huh?) I need to do another giveaway, but it'll come later. Hopefully I won't be feeling so overwhelmed with life in a couple weeks. LOVE the candle and can't wait to use the coffee card! Thank you. You made my weekend!!!

Pay It Forward Giveaway to Go Visit!

Remember my last Pay It Forward Giveaway? No? Well then click here. Then click here to enter Lori's giveaway in honor of winning my last giveaway. She has quite a thought provoking post, so go read it and then respond to enter her giveaway. But hurry....it's over on October 3rd at noon (pacific time I'm assuming).

Life continues to be too busy here. So this is all I have!!!

p.s. can you believe tomorrow is October 1st? Me neither!!!!

Fabulous Giveaway!

Ok, click here for a fantastic giveaway! It's for a Pakseat. Go enter to win, I know I did! Seriously, this bag could probably even make you a snack :)

Have a great Saturday. I'm off to the gym with Mr. Tall Man and then the house needs some attention....cleaning attention. I have shower invites to work on, reading to do for a class and attention to shower Shorty McShort with. I've got my hands full. Oh yeah, and Mr. Tall and I are headed to the roller derby tonight....wooo hooo!

Tomorrow is an early morning for Race for the Cure. I'm so excited! I look forward to this event every year!

Enjoy your day!!!!

A Couple of Book Reviews

So I'm finding myself without any inspiration for writing this morning so I thought to myself, why not just post about a couple of books you've read this month. So, here goes...

I read A Wolf At the Table A Memoir of My Father by Augusten Burroughs. I love Augusten's way with words. He is one of my favorite writers of memoir. He has this way of taking small moments, events, parts of his life and writing them with such a big way. He could take a boring day of my life and make it sound amazing I think.

This book was the hardest for me to read. It chronicles the authors relationship with his father. Let's just say that his father is the worst person on the face of this earth and treated Augusten as such. I kept wishing that instead of his dad playing all of the sick mental games he'd just beat the hell outta Augusten.

I'm not sure I completely recommend this book. If you want a raw, honest memoir of a screwed up upbringing read on my friends. It's shockingly honest and at times I just found my jaw in a dropped position and thinking...oh no he didn't....

The first book I read of his was Running With Scissors. OMG! This book kicked it all off for me. Once I read about how his mother sent him to live with her psychotherapist at the age of like 12 and then there is a pedophile living in that house and you can imagine what happens next, I was hooked. I read Dry, Magical Thinking, Possible Side Effects, Sellevision. All memoir except Sellevision.

Another memoir I finished reading Saturday night was The Glass Castle by Jeannette Walls. OK, I'm not sure which of these authors had a more screwed up childhood. If you've not read The Glass Castle yet, run, don't walk to your nearest book provider. Really. It is the story of how Jeanette Walls grew up in a very different way than most of the world. Jeannette Walls grew up with parents whose ideals and stubborn nonconformity were both their curse and their salvation. Rex and Rose Mary Walls had four children. In the beginning, they lived like nomads....and the story goes on.

Walls' goal (at least how I understand) in writing this book was to provide perspective to people who will never experience the uglies of poverty in childhood. Like being dirty, having very few clothes, never having food to eat, rummaging through trash cans for food to eat. This story is so unbelievable. Read. It. Now.

And if you haven't entered my pay it forward giveaway v3.0 go now and enter. It ends August 23rd.

What Are Your Four (A Meme)

A) Four Family members: Caine, Olivia, Jolene, Melynda

B) Four people who e-mail me (regularly): Caine, Liane, Lori, Bookmooch

C) Four of my favorite places to eat: home, Melynda's, Old Spaghetti Factory, Cold Stone Creamery

D) Four places I would rather be right now: European Vacation, Border's Cafe sipping a coffee and reading a good book, getting a pedicure, on a yacht in the Puget Sound

E) Four people I think will respond: Hmmm....this is not an e-mail, so 4 people I think will blog it are: Liane, Jane, Lori, ?????

F) Four TV shows I watch over and over: Word Girl, Curious George, Super Why, Arthur (see a pattern? thank God for PBS Kids!)

Ok, so go forth and meme away! Provide a link back to me (and leave a comment for heaven's sake) for that bloggy love feeling. And don't forget about my giveaway!

What Kind of Funeral Do You Want & PIF Giveaway

So on the drive home from the memorial service yesterday Mr. McDriven and I had an interesting conversation. It all started with the fact that he didn't recognize any of the songs (hymns) at the service we attended (and neither did I, for the record). Not a lot of people were really into the songs nor were they belting them out with much feeling.

Mr. McDriven decided that at his funeral he wanted songs that everyone knows. He wants people to sing "I've been everywhere" by Johnny Cash. Then I suggested "Ring of Fire" by Mr. Cash as well (appropriate, don't ya think?). Then I had thought that karaoke might be fun, to which Mr. McDriven decided that instead of having people share words about him at his service, they'd need to sing a karaoke song instead. Sounds upbeat, don't ya think?

We brainstormed a number of ideas. Some good, some bad...like Mr. McDriven's idea of having people take jello shots off the dead man's body. That was over the top in my opinion. But to each his/her own. Right? Like, instead of coffee and punch...whiskey or tequila shots. Heck, you could make it such an event that you could charge a cover, ya know? Then donate it to charity or something nice like that. Hold a raffle? Hmmm......

I'm not saying I'm spending tons of time thinking about my funeral. I'm focused on living, ya know? But if I were to think about it, I'd want it to be upbeat. Like a big party. I know I'm going to a better place when I leave, so why not have a fantastic send off for me? Like what about a destination funeral? That way everyone would be able to take a fun vacation. Yeah! I want my ashes taken to Disneyworld and I want all of the participants to take a bit of me and just sprinkle 'em all over the place.

Am I sick? I'd like to think I'm fun. I don't want people to be sad when I die. Seriously. I want them to be happy they knew me and then have a big party to celebrate my trip to eternity. So now you all know...when I die make Mr. Tall follow through with this...that is if he outlives me :)

So....what kind of funeral would you want? Leave a comment for an entry in my THIRD pay it forward giveaway.
*Contest will end Saturday, August 23rd at 5pm pacific time. Spread the word!!
*Open only to US residents.
*You must host your own PIF giveaway if you win mine and blog about it.
*This is open ONLY to people with blogs.
*DON'T leave an anonymous comment or you won't be in the drawing.

okthnxbai!

I Got Blog Bling!

Yeah baby, I got me some sweet blog bling compliments of Jane. Seriously, go check out this post. Notice how sweetly she talks about me, unlike some of my "friends". hee hee...peggy if you're reading this, which you're probably not cuz peggy doesn't do blogs. I know. Sick.
So you may have also noticed how Jane had a bunch of rules of stuff I was supposed to do. Yeah right. Like I follow anyone's rules. So, if you want me to award you blog bling, you just leave it in the comments section and I'll send it your way!!

I made blueberry freezer jam last night. Talk about yummy and easy! I put it on my toast this morning...success!! I've got more berries, so I may be making another round of it today. Maybe I need to throw some bread into the bread machine too, that would go well with the jam. Or maybe some cheesecake....the list goes on...

OH and I won a pay it forward giveaway!!! OH YEAH BABY!!! Bring on the goodies. Click here to see what Michelle is going to send me (and I can't wait...wow...talk about generous!).

So have a happy Saturday. Mr. Tall and I are going to the Rose City Rollers for a long awaited date night. Bring on the violence people. I've never been so I'm not really sure what to expect, but I'm sure it'll be lots of fun!!

OH! And I almost forgot...go over to Mommies United and enter to win this spectactular giveaway!

Coming Up With Nothing

So I've really got nothing today...whenever this happens I think...I really need to keep a writers' notebook. Like I see interesting things ALL the time and I think, I should blog that. But then I don't write it down and promptly forget. Yeah. That's me. Super Bad Memory Girl.

So maybe I'll start one tomorrow. I have a "fun" commute that will most likely take me ten years because of traffic. I'm sure I'll see lots of things that are blog worthy. Heck it's even possible that the class I'm taking will provide some blog worthy content. Time will tell.

Still no package in the Pay It Forward Giveaway I won. I'm having faith that when I get home tomorrow my mail box will show me some love and have goodies for me. And if not, I'll just piss and whine some more here until it shows up. (hee hee) Did I mention I have a problem being patient where gifts and fun surprises are involved? Yeah. I do. I'm also Super Impatient Ruiner of ALL Surprises Girl. Just ask Mr. Tall Man or my mom or anyone who knows me.

So. If you've not signed up in my Pay It Forward Giveaway yet, click here (there are a lot of you who've not entered as I have only 19 people who entered so far) And if you're wondering how my VERY pregnant friend is, click here.

The Good Ole Days & ANOTHER Pay It Forward Giveaway!!!

So as I was guzzling sipping wine politely with my gal pal Jen we got onto the topic of college and "the good ole days". And if there was a time in life we'd re-live, it'd be our college days. We swapped stories of smuggling alcohol into our rooms and how we did it. Some of us on the sly (sneaking it in through ground floor windows) and others, well, not so sly (clanking bottles in overloaded backpacks).

We swapped stories of "pre-functioning" bar visits to make our dollars stretch the farthest. We relished at how easy it was to "cure" hangovers. Just a cheeseburger or grilled cheese would do the trick.

Heck, we even looked at some fun drunk pictures from college.

It was fun to wax nostalgically about the "good ole days". And then we (pathetically) had to admit how old mature we are now. We had to fess up to the fact that the "good ole days" are over and if we drink as much now as we drank then we need a day or two to recover. Isn't it great to get old age with beauty and grace?!

So...here is my question to you. What do you relish as "the good ole days"? What time in your life would you want to re-live?

Leave your answer in the comments section as an entry into my SECOND PAY IT FORWARD GIVEAWAY. (if you really can't come up with anything, tell me the name of a good, but not overly expensive chardonnay because I'm cheap I'm on a tight budget.)

Giveaway Details:
*Contest closes Sunday, July 20th at 10pm pacific time zone.
*PLEASE don't sign anonymously. Without your e-mail address I can't contact you to let you know you've won.
*IF you want TWO extra entries into my fantastically fun giveaway, blog about it (shameless self promotion) and then post it in the comments section with the link.
*I'll put all your entries into some sort of item that is within reach and Little Miss Shorty McShort will pull the winning name.
*open only to people in the USA (sorry, can't afford postage overseas), family and friends also welcome to enter!!!

You've got a week to tell the world about my giveaway (and your good ole days). IF 100 different people comment, I'll giveaway TWO packages!!! Click here to see what I sent the last Pay It Forward Giveaway Winner. Click here to read about the last giveaway. Click here to see why I'm doing a second giveaway (other than the fact that it's just so much fun to send the love all around). I haven't received my package yet, but I have faith that it's in the mail and I'm just soooooo excited to shamelessly promote myself and ask others to do so for me as well do another contest.

Three Cups of Tea (and another giveaway to visit)

So I'm reading Three Cups of Tea. Have you read it? I'd love to hear what you think. I am enjoying the book, but have mixed feelings. I'm about a third of the way through. I'm not completely sure what I'm not loving about this much raved about book. Maybe it's the technical climbing/hiking language. Maybe it's just the way the author's writing style.

It seems to seesaw tenses between the author's view and the main character's words. I think what I'm wishing is that Greg Mortenson had just worked with the other author (can't think of his name) to write the book in only his first person view. I don't know. I'm committed to getting to the end of this book (I waited long enough on the library wait list to get it). It must have something amazing coming. It's a great adventure story so far, I just don't love the writing style.

On a different note, go visit S. Krishna's Books to enter a giveaway for the book, A Page Out of Life. Just click here and then leave a comment on her post. It's just that easy.

Have a wonderful day. Shorty and I are off to the library for some more summer fun as well to the post office to mail off another book for Bookmooch!!! Did you go check it out yet? GO!

janelle