Christmas Giveaway

I love Christmas. It is getting to be about that time and in the true spirit of the season, I wanted to give away not just one book, but a couple books. In that spirit, I will give you all a little while to share the word and gather up names before I announce a winner, but not too long, because Christmas isn't too far away. :o) These are the books I am giving away:

1. Saturdays with Stella by Allison Pittman ~ This book is subtitled How my Dog Taught me to Sit, Stay, and Come When God Calls. This isn't a novel - but more of a quirky, inspirational book. I think it sounds like such a neat book, especially for animal lovers.
2. A Leap of Faith by Lenora Worth ~ Big City gal Autumn Clancy comes home to take the reins of her Dad's company only to find someone else already doing that job. A very annoying and yet handsome someone. Campbell Dupree tries to charm her, but doesn't really know if God will deem him worthy enough to win her heart...
3. A Texas Legacy Christmas by DiAnn Mills ~ Zack Kahler is going home to Texas when he becomes the victim of one of twin orphaned pickpockets. He decides to take them with him, but can he manage them and the paper, plus recover from his broken heart? Chloe Weaver has always been the outcast. Only Zack ever treated her with any compassion. Now he's back and boarding at the house where she works. Can she hope to capture his heart or is it safer to look for romance with someone else? Maybe they all need a Christmas miracle.
4. A Carol for Christmas by Robin Lee Hatcher (hardcover) ~ What would you give up for love? Carol sacrifices her dream to sing. But was it worth it now that her marriage is crumbling?

None of these books have been read, they are all brand new, but one has a tiny bit of white on the cover where it looks like it was rubbed during shipping or on the shelf and very corners of two of the books are slightly bent from when they shipped to me - and it moved around in the box. You can see the tiny white line in the pic, and you can see all the books bottom corners - so you know they aren't in bad shape. I really hope you'll enjoy them.

So, there you go. If you want to enter, please leave a valid email address, but disguise it so the spammers don't bug you. If you become a follower, you get two entries, my existing followers get three, and extra one if you share about the contest on your blog and link back to me. Tell me all of this in your entry. I will announce the winners on the 30th of November.

I also want to let you all know about my friend Lori's giveaway. Hers is truly unique. You get to pick which book you want! You can read all about it on her blog, Some of My Favorite Things.


Have a wonderful weekend and good luck on these giveaways!

Honest Scrap Award

I want to thank Hannah at Project Journal for giving me this award. The rules are that I have to share 10 honest things about myself and then pass it on to 10 other bloggers. Let's see...

1. I love just about all carbs.
2. I love cats.
3. I love to write.
4. I love to read.
5. I like to watch mystery/crime shows.
6. I'm short.
7. I used to be in the Army.
8. I hate having my picture taken.
9. I wasn't saved until after I had my second child.
10. I graduated from high school in Germany.

As for the ten bloggers, that's a lot harder for me to come up with. Most of you I've already been bugging and I see that you already have this award. Since I'm supposed to come up with so many, let me just say this. Anyone who happens reads my blog and is a follower, or is willing to become a follower... take up the challenge and this award; share with us ten honest things and then pass it on to others.

In the meantime - be true to who you are and whatever He has called you to do.

Win a Kindle!

Win a brand new Kindle! Noobie has a contest where all you have to do is enter your email to enter to win a Kindle. That would be a nice Christmas present for you or someone you love. :o)

It's easy ~ Just go here: Noobie Contest

Good luck!

Remembered by Tamera Alexander

Title: Remembered
Author: Tamera Alexander
ISBN: 978-0-7642-0110-3


From the back cover:

The threat of war ~ and a final request ~ send Veronique Girard from France to a distant and uninviting country. In the Colorado Territory, she searches for the man who has held her heart since childhood ~ her father. Pierre Girard left Paris for the Americas to seek his fortune in fur trading, vowing to send for his wife and daughter. But twenty-five years have passed and his vow remains unfulfilled. Sifting through shards of broken promises, Veronique embarks on a dangerous search for a man she scarcely remembers.

His grief finally healed, Jack Brennan is moving on with life. After years of guiding families west, he is now working as a freighter to the mining towns surrounding Willow Springs. What he doesn't count on is an unexpected traveling companion on his trips up into the mountains, and how one woman's search will cause havoc with his plans... and his life.
~~~

Tamera Alexander is one of my very favorite authors. This book is a perfect example of all the things I love about her writing. There are no stiff characters here. Veronique, Jack, Mr. Colby, Miss Maudie... they all stepped off the page ~ living and breathing. I could picture them in my mind, I could hear their voices and believed their personalities.

She does a beautiful job of creating relationship and chemistry between the main characters, but she doesn't limit her talents to them. Nearly everyone you meet in the book gets treated with the same ample paintbrush. I feel as if I traveled to Willow Springs and met the fine people there myself. ;o)

Veronique is a wonderful heroine. She is the perfect mix of naive, feisty, stubborn and good-hearted. I loved the way her character changed in a multitude of ways over the course of the book. It would have been easy to label her as the "city" girl and then have her learn to fit in and make herself useful in her new surroundings ~ but Tamera went the extra mile.

Jack is a great character. He's an unusual hero in that most of his stress and trial happens before the book starts. We learn about it as he shares the story. His sense of humor (and sometimes being the butt of someone else's) often made me smile. That's the real test of a great book for me. If I find myself moved to laugh, cry, or think about the book even when I'm not reading it, then I know it has to be a winner. This one did all of the above.

I won Remembered in a contest (Not from the author- and I wasn't paid in any way to review it, nor was I expected to. Consider this my disclaimer.). So, I read it out of order (I know- bad Lee). But I will be picking up the rest of these. If you haven't discovered this series yet, I wholeheartedly recommend them.

One Lovely Blog Award

Thank you so much to Gofita over at Gofita's Pages who gave me this award. I need to apologize to her because I am way overdue putting it up and thanking her. I haven't been feeling well and things have been really busy at home. I really do appreciate it so much. Thanks!


Here are the rules of the "One Lovely Blog Award": Accept the award, post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link. Pass the award to 15 other blogs that you've newly discovered. Remember to contact the bloggers to let them know they have been chosen for this award.

I'm new to this whole blogging world, I won't be able to come up with 15 newly discovered blogs, but I certainly pass on that challenge to those who get the award. :o)

1. Deborah at Butterfly Journey

2. Deborah at Country at Heart~ Deborah Vogts Blog

3. Julie at One Rainy Afternoon

4. Tina at The Homestead Heart

5. Beth at Weavings

~~
I want to thank all of you for hanging in there with me. I have to tell you that I have had some interesting things happening with my writing lately. I'm starting to feel inspired in a way I haven't since I first started writing the manuscript. I'm also totally terrified. lol

It's kind of the way you feel when you're on the way up the chain lift of a really tall roller coaster. That dread builds inside you and you think perhaps this wasn't such a brilliant plan after all... And yet ~ you're excited, anticipating the thrill, the wind rushing by, the g-forces, waving your arms like a crazy person and feeling young again.

I don't think this is the kind of fear that tells me I'm going the wrong direction or about to make a terrible mistake. I think it's the type that reveals the ride ahead is going to be exciting and it just might take my breath away. I hoping for that anyway. :o)

Unfinished Business

First~ an apology. Though I have tried to make time to drop in on some of you over the last week or so, I have been rather absent in the blogging arena, and haven't caught up with my own blog. I haven't been feeling well, and things at home have been rather hectic and stressed.

Having said that, I have a few things to get done. :o)

The winner of The Vanishing Sculptor is hmsgofita! I'm sorry I didn't post this earlier.

Next up ~ Kreativ Blogger AwardWow! I'm floored. I just received this blog award from Beth at Weavings.
I am to list 7 of my favorite things and send it on to 7 other bloggers, so here goes...

My Favorite Things:
1. My family/Homeschooling
2. Books, books, books
3. Browsing the internet
4. Writing
5. Watching TV
6. Playing word games
7. Making Jewelry

7 Bloggers:
1. Christy at Southern Sassy Things
2. Renee at Black and Gold Girl's Book Spot
3. Lori at Some of My Favorite Books
4. Michelle at Edgy Inspirational Author Blog
5. Angie at Never a Dull Moment
6. Camy at Camy's Loft
7. Julane at Inspiration From the Commonplace

Feline Felicitations

My friend Angie over at Never a Dull Moment has inspired me to share my cats with you. She has more than I do and has been more generous with her pictures too. So, without further ado, here are my cats...
This is the old lady of the bunch. She is Siamese and was the only one of our pets (not just cats) we didn't "rescue" by either adopting them from a shelter or a rescue organization. She was one of my mom's cats and had just had her first litter when I came to visit - quite round with my first baby. Since there were bunches of other animals around (including very large dogs), she was keeping them in a kennel. She kept putting her paws out of the holes as if she badly wanted out and I kept thinking... It was hot, humid, my ankles had disappeared about a month ago, and my back never quit hurting... I wanted away from my baby too. lol We bonded. :o)

Her kittens were old enough to wean and Mom gave me her and one of her kittens as a present for my birthday. She's the sweetest thing - but so tiny. She is not like most Siamese I have known (and I grew up with a lot of them). She is sweet, loves to cuddle and is quiet. She isn't really happy unless she's curled up on one of us. For the longest time it used to be my feet - but that started hurting I had to get up too often. Now she picks my son's back as he lies on the couch and watches TV or reads his schoolwork.


This diva is Miss Faith. She is 100% cat. She acts like she owns the world and everyone in it. lol She is so pretty that I almost let her. :o) She is the first cat I ever owned who loves the sink. It's like her own personal spa tub. She also enjoys bird watching from the window (you should see her mouth move and hear her teeth smack together)... She watches TV and also seems to have conversations with us. We'll talk to her and she'll meow back and then we say something and she'll meow and it'll keep up for quite a while. She's a smart kitty.

Now she's also a clown. Unlike most graceful cats, this one will be grooming herself and roll right off a piece of furniture and land sprawled on the ground. It's funny to watch, but she'll catch us laughing and then glare at us as if she knows what we're laughing at and we should surely know better. :o)

She's so pretty. She's a lady to the core. She has the pinkest skin and toe pads. I love her green eyes. I was born with black hair ~ if only I'd had pretty green eyes like hers. I think that would make a nice combo for a character - male or female. ;o)



This teddy bear is Thomas. He is the cuddliest, most laid back and relaxed cat I have ever had. His picture should be next to the definition for mellow in the dictionary. He just doesn't get ruffled by much of anything. He takes most things in stride. We try to get him upset and he usually just winks those yellow-green eyes of his, purrs and licks our hands - then goes back to sleep. lol

He likes to perch next to me on the couch and reach down one of those fluffy paws of his and rest it on my arm. It's as if he wants to make sure he can touch me - without having to bother with leaving his comfy spot. He weighs about 18 pounds - but I think about 1/3 must be fur. He seems to be made of it. The only non-soft thing about him is his tongue - which I think could be used in home improvement projects.

We give him all sorts of nicknames. Sir Fluffs a lot is the most used one right now - Fluffy... When he walks around, his tail (which is very.... "fluffy" all by itself) is held straight up like a flagpole trailing behind him.

I love all my pets ~ especially my cats. They teach me so much. I hope you enjoyed meeting them.