If I posted separately about each thing going on around here, my head would hurt, and quite possibly yours too. Obviously, time for a coffee break, and jabbering til we're caught up! For me? White Russian with Peppermint Chocolate creamer, a new favorite of mine, so go pick your poison, then come back and pull up a chair.

First and foremost, The Giveaway - I'll close comments at noon tomorrow (eastern time), and pick a winner ASAP after that. Hopefully I can announce it right away, and notify the winner. Obviously if I can't contact you, then I'll pick again. I've had so many sweet comments - if I could just pick I might choose the man who wanted the planner for his wife :-) or the lovely woman who left a sidenote as to my 'lingering beauty in spite of 3 grown kids and 4 grandkids' - heck, who wouldn't pick her? I wish I had 100 of the planners to give away, there were so many of you who sounded like you could really use it. Susan Branch's story is much like Paula Deene's - married to a bum, he left her, she decided to make it on her own, and don't you know those two men drown their sorrows in their beers these days, after both women did so well, and found the man of their dreams to boot. I'd love Susan Branch even if she didn't do lovely watercolors and have handwriting to die for. She's one of those close to perfect people, in my book.

My photo printer is F.A.B.U.L.O.U.S.!!!! I can print out postcard style, with fun clip art or cute sayings on the photos. I did a photo of Caiden and Grayson, taken from behind them, looking through the bars of a zoo cage, heads tilted together - in sepia, with a caption that said "Best Friends" in orange. I can't wait to frame it. I was able to whip out a handful of photos to send to my MIL. I think this is going to work great for us. And I only used half a tank of ink figuring out the basics.

When we bought our car, we went with the drop-down DVD player option, more for resale than thinking we'd ever use it. We kept a copy of Winn Dixie in the seat, in case the dog ever went with us on a road trip. This past Sunday we went to the zoo with Leslie and her 10 month old, and the only DVD I had that came near entertaining him was something Sarah won from a friend, called "Dog Sitter" - a DVD to play when you leave your pets at home alone. If you know Sarah at all, you know she's not the dog-spoiling type, so she gave it to us. We popped it the player, and rode to the zoo to the noise of ducks quacking, squirrels gathering nuts, crows cackling, woodpeckers pecking (which seemed quite appropriate, considering our destination.) The baby was surprisingly entertained. Since language, and not quacking or squawking, is the goal for him, I went on Ebay the next day and bought four Baby Einsteins. When the first one came yesterday, we popped it in and what a difference! Landon went crazy talking to the babies and finger puppets. So ducks and birds and squirrels are good. Little people are much better. I also got a monitor with a camera for the upstairs nursery, and the cool tea pitcher made by Pampered Chef. I'm bidding right now on the salad spinner they make, because it's cool but not $50 cool. I love (buying from) Ebay!

I did a post on peanut butter cookies earlier this week and Sarah mentioned her grandmother's fudge recipe. It's See's Fudge - maybe you've heard of it. I'm not a fudge fan, since I'm not really a chocolate fan, but I'll post it this fall, closer to the holidays. If you like fudge it's the bomb.

My sidebar free Weight Watchers is going well. I'm down almost four lbs, and just thinking that I have to post my weight weekly keeps a lot of junk food out of my mouth. I found a great blogsite if you're battling the bulge (who isn't?), Beth at Tales From the Scales. Encouraging, uplifting, helpful on a practical level - check her out.

I read this week two alarming/funny things. First, diet coke causes heart disease, not because of what's in diet coke, but because those of us who drink it apparently have terrible eating habits overall. Even one diet coke a day puts us in that category. Second, fat friends are contagious. Seriously. If you are fat and your friends aren't, apparently enough time with you and they will be, and vice versa. I'm still not sure what I think about that, except when our group of friends gets together in Robin's hot tub, one girl wears a bikini and it's a wee bit hard to like her right then. All of us who look like we have flesh colored floaties attached to our middle get along well.

The basement project - I've reached the horrible stage. Removing wallpaper, so I can paint all the walls antique white. I tried to get around it, and just was not satisfied. (Believe me, I tried hard to be!) It'll be worth it in the long run, and the next woman to own this house will appreciate it, but right now it's sounding pretty awful. I keep trying to visualize sometime this fall or winter, curling up down there with a comfy movie, a bowl of popcorn, and enjoying it all. On an impressive note, Leslie and I moved the slate pool table across the basement - Girl power!

I've been given another sweet award, this one from Janeen at Our Story, the Blogging Princess. It's hard to think of yourself as very 'princessy' when you wear size 10 shoes, but it was awfully nice of her. Somehow my visual of a princess is about 5'2", wearing a size 6. Neither applies to me.


And - DRUM ROLL!!!!! This is the email I got yesterday:

"Now for the real excitement….Jennifer has invited all of us to join her and her mother and mother-in-law for a week of quilting-by-the-sea at their vacation home in TopSail, NC. They will be there from Saturday, September 8th until either the 14th or 15th. We are invited to come for the week or a portion of the week, whatever suits us. Ingrid, Mary Ann and I are thinking of coming up for a few days, as schedules allow. Put in on your calendar, clear it with your hubbies and think it over! It sure sounds like great fun to me!!!"

I belong to a quilting group, called the Sew & Sows. (We sew fabric, and sow the word, theoretically, and yes I know, the last part is spelled like female pigs - I didn't get a vote when the name was chosen.) We meet weekly in each other's homes, take a couple of trips together each year to quilt shows nearby, or to a fabric shop. But this is the dream of all trips - so some of us will head to Topsail Island mid-September, to quilt together, sit up at night and have a glass of wine on the deck that looks out onto the ocean, take walks on the beach, cook dinner together, laugh and cry together.
When I asked my husband what he thought about me going, he encouraged me, said it would be good for me. And yes, I'm eternally grateful God gave me this man. So I'm going - to the ocean - staying in a beach house for free - with this great group of ladies that I love dearly. I'm still pinching myself, while praying against fall hurricanes.

Okay, that about does it for the going ons around here. How 'bout you, have you been up to anything besides typing til way too late at night entering the gazillion Giveaways at Shannon's Place? Bless her heart, no wonder the girl headed to Chicago - she certainly needed a break!

And, I almost forgot. Bloglines....what on earth?! I subscribed to myself because it was easy to click on the link, then decided I didn't want to do that anymore, then changed my mind again. When I went back, I had THREE subscribers, so to my Mom, my sister, and my daughter - thanks! BTW, Bloglines is also showing each of you has written anywhere from 15-25 posts, so I think it's in melt-down mode or something. G Reader is sounding better all the time.

Labels: Girl Talk