Glasses, Glasses Where Did I Put my Glasses?

I have not been blessed with 20/20 vision. Whenever presented with the "what would you wish for if you had three wishes" one of mine would be to open my eyes in the morning and be able to see clearly. I had to get my first pair of eyeglasses when I was 6 years old. SIX! While I don't remember much from my childhood I do remember those glasses; they were baby blue cat's eye glasses with rhinestones at the corners. Have I given away my age with that one statement? Let's just say I have been wearing glasses long enough to see those cat's eyes go out of style and now come back in. *sigh*

My eyes have not improved in time. Oh no! While I did wear contact lenses - what teenager wants to wear glasses I ask you - I still had to have my prescription glasses as a fallback. Especially in the beginning when I had my hard lenses. Those buggers would seem to pop out for no reason at all. I was glad when soft lenses appeared on the scene but still I relied on and was always happy I had those glasses for days when I didn't feel well or my eyes hurt. Then I hit my mid 30ies and suddenly my arms weren't long enough any longer. Hmmmm, it was bi-focal time. So now I had reading glasses on top of my contact lenses.

Then my brain went south on me! I had my brain aneurysm which left me with a myriad of problems one of them being double vision on top of my already poor eyesight. I now required 4 pairs of glasses for my daily functions; one pair to see, one pair to read, one pair for computer work and one pair for making my jewelry. FOUR. I will tell you shopping for four pairs of eyeglass frames is challenging. Especially with my "peanut face" as the opticians always refer to it , my coke bottle prescription and the prisms that now have to be added to adjust for the double vision. Whew! At least after all of these years I have a good idea of what looks good on my little face.

Look for further tales of my eyeglass adventures in a future post.

Book Review: The Sweet By and By by Sara Evans with Rachel Hauck

From the Publisher's Website:

A redemptive story from multi-platinum recording artist Sara Evans.
Jade Fitzgerald left the pain of her past in the dust when she headed out for college a decade ago. Now she's thriving in her career and glowing in the light of Max Benson's love.
But then Jade's hippie mother, Beryl Hill, arrives in Whisper Hollow, Tennessee, for Jade's wedding along with Willow, her wild younger sister. Their arrival forces Jade to throw open the dark closets of her past--the insecurity of living with a restless, wandering mother, the silence of her absent father, and the heart-ripping pain of first-love's rejection.
Turns out Beryl has a secret of her own. She needs reconciliation with her oldest daughter before illness takes her life. In the final days leading to the wedding, Jade meets the One who shows her that the past has no hold on her future. With a little grace, they'll meet in the middle, maybe even before that sweet by and by.

My Opinion:

The story tells the tale of Jade Fitzgerald and her coming to terms with her past; her relationship with her hippie mother, her absent father and her first love who shattered her heart. Jade has fallen in love and is getting married but her past won't leave her in peace.  I enjoyed how the story was told in flashbacks. It let you learn about the characters slowly and you learned how past events were influencing the present. Jade and her parents have not had contact in years. There is blame on both sides and much lack of communication. I feel the ending came too fast and was much too contrived given the slow build up of the beginning chapters. It is Christian fiction so be aware of that. Not being religious I didn't find that part of the tale realistic. I did, though, enjoy the book for the most part.

Disclosure:  I received a gratis copy of The Sweet By and By for review from Thomas Nelson Books. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinion and were not impacted by the receipt of the free book.

REVIEW and GIVEAWAY: Cleaving by Julie Powell (audiobook)

From the Publisher's Website:

Julie Powell thought cooking her way through Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking was the craziest thing she'd ever do--until she embarked on the voyage recounted in her new memoir, CLEAVING.

Her marriage challenged by an insane, irresistible love affair, Julie decides to leave town and immerse herself in a new obsession: butchery. She finds her way to Fleischer's, a butcher shop where she buries herself in the details of food. She learns how to break down a side of beef and French a rack of ribs--tough, physical work that only sometimes distracts her from thoughts of afternoon trysts.

The camaraderie at Fleischer's leads Julie to search out fellow butchers around the world--from South America to Europe to Africa. At the end of her odyssey, she has learned a new art and perhaps even mastered her unruly heart.

About the Author:

I was born and raised in Austin, Texas. After graduating from a northeastern liberal arts college with an incredibly useful double major in theater and fiction writing, I embarked, with husband-to-be Eric in tow, upon a seven-year foray into New York City's dizzying wealth of temp jobs. This enlightening tour of desperate dead-end jobs culminated in a year-long blogging endeavor, "The Julie/Julia Project," which ended in late August of 2003. I now write in my pajamas for a living - long may this career path continue. I live in a "loft" in Long Island City, Queens, with my long-suffering husband, three cats, one snake, and a 110-pound dog named Robert.



 My Thoughts:

I have not had an opportunity to read Ms. Powell's first book, Julie and Julia as of yet. Whether that was detrimental to my understanding of Cleaving I don't know. I do know that I found this audiobook to be a bit whiny. Maybe that is because it is after all, a memoir and it may have been a whiny time in Ms. Powell's life. I found the shifts from the tales of her life to the times in the butcher shop jarring. Whether this would have happened if I was reading rather than listening - again, I don't know.

Ms. Powell reads the book herself. Her voice is fine; she does not read in a monotone but there was something lacking when she was trying to "read" in another voice for different characters. Not a big deal overall.

I also suspect that the reading of the butchering details might be easier than the listening although one could easily blank them out if one wanted. I have butchered  the chickens here on the farm so it's not like I haven't been there with small animals....

Cleaving is available at Borders.com

Now on to the giveaway!

Thanks to Hachette Books I have THREE copies of Cleaving for my readers! How do you win? It's easy! But first a some  rules:

Winners must reside in the US or Canada
Audiobooks cannot be shipped to PO boxes
One Audiobook per winner

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Name a cookbook author Julie Powell admires. You can find out here. Please be sure to leave your email address in your comment so I can contact you if you win. Thank you

EXTRA ENTRIES:

1. Follow my blog publicly. If you already follow, just say so. And thank you.
2. Follow me on twitter and tweet about the giveaway(one per day) - @BrokenTeepee and Hachette Books are giving away 3 copies of Cleaving by Julie Powell (audiobook) @http://tinyurl.com/yfvakdg  #giveaway

3. Blog about this giveaway with a link back to Broken Teepee (this is good for 6 entries so leave 6 comments)
4. Follow my goat Pricilla's Blog publicly. If you already do, just say so. And thank you. 
5. Enter any of my other current giveaways. Good for one entry per...

6. Put me on your blogroll and leave a link where I can find it.

7. Add my button to your blog and leave me a link where I can find it. (Good for 5 entries)



All entries need to be in by 9PM MST on January 12th when I will go to Random.org to choose the winners. They will have 48 hours to respond or I will pick new ones.  Good luck everyone!


Disclosure:  I received a gratis copy of Cleaving(audiobook) from Hachette Books for review. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by the receipt of the free book.

Category: BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Format: AUDIO BOOK

Subformat: CD (AUDIO)

Edition: Unabridged

Publish Date: 12/1/2009

Price: $29.98/$35.98

ISBN: 9781600245695

Living Room - First Coat Up!

I put the first coat of paint in the living/dining room today. The color is called Quaker Grey and in person is a rather bluish/silver/grey. In the pictures it looks more battleship grey which is a bit disappointing. It really is a bit more welcoming when you are in the room. It's my most neutral color pick, heh heh.

I think it frames the windows nicely.

This corner will house our woodstove. It's a Vermont Castings in deep navy blue so the paint will really show it off. The hearth is slate with black grout.

The grey will abut the cherry red of the kitchen so that will surely warm it up. I hope to find a red sofa - that would be my dream - but I doubt I will have the money for it. I will have to take what crosses my path.

I think the second coat will make it a much richer color.

Next will be the second of three coats in the bathroom. Woo hoo!

Giveaway Winners - Exit Music by Ian Rankin

Yay! Like a late Christmas present I get to give out 5 copies of Ian Rankin's great new book, Exit Music.
Woo Hoo!

The lucky winners are:
Deb
Benita
Marjorie
Shelly
Ann On and On

Congratulations!!!! I will be sending emails to the winners. They will have 48 hours to get back to me or I will choose new winners. Thanks to Hachette Books for the well, books.

I hope everyone had a great holiday!

Shy and Retiring

Uh-huh.
Riiight, that's me.
Especially when it comes to paint colors.

I didn't get to paint my living room like I wanted to today. I was sent in to paint the bathroom. I had primed it on Tuesday. I had also painted the yellow accent sections.

Today I put on the first coat of the raspberry.
Oh yeah. It's bright.
It's happy.


This is as you walk in the door.  The tub wall and base is going to be tiled. Black tile. Drama.

This is where the toilet will go.

Only one small oops with the two meeting colors. Not bad I think all things considered.

This is the corner. It's an oddly shaped room. We are going to put shelving here for storage. The chair is just hanging out in there for now. I am going to refinish/recover it.

This is the way out. The linen closet - off to the right at the doorway - is painted yellow too.

I am going to put a chair rail up - black.
The living room is primed and I will get to that sometime next week.

Woo hoo! Progress.

Is there an Intruder in the Hen House?

I hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas. I know we did. We are laughing at ourselves 'cause we have now entered the 90ies; I gave the hubby and mp3 player and he gave me a video camera. These are the first of these devices that either of us has ever owned.

Yo!
Are we with it or what?!

But back to the reason for this post. We came back from our friends' house after a truly delicious Christmas dinner. I attended to the goats and the hubby to the chickens. When you are livin' the farm life there are no days off.  There were a couple of eggs in the hen house including the monster sized one in the carton here with the normal eggs we usually see.

WHA?
That is the biggest chicken egg I have ever seen.
Did a goose or something move into the chicken house?

I mean, just look at that monster next to one of the regular, large eggs we usually get.

I pity the hen that plopped that bugger out.
Whew!
We can't close the carton cover it's so big.

Happy Boxing Day to those that celebrate and look for video in the future.
The memory card is backordered.
I am trying to be adult about it.....

Merry Christmas

I want to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas. Have a truly joyful day with your families.

I will be spending today cooking a lovely dinner for my husband - we celebrate our Christmas today and we go to a friend's house tomorrow. I am making lamb for dinner with goat's milk ice cream with goat's milk caramel for dessert.

Oh, and I will be painting the living room. *sigh*  I'm taking the day off from blogging tomorrow but will be back on Saturday so there will be photos of the lovely slate blue that will be on the walls.

So take a cue from my goats and 

Enjoy what you eat

 dance for joy

sleep in the sun

and cuddle close.

 What could be better?

Merry Christmas!!!!

Wordless Wednesday - Hot Chocolate Cake

Hot Chocolate Cake with homemade marshmallows. It went to the hubby's fire meeting on Monday night.

My Jones - Heh heh

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Jones Soda. All opinions are 100% mine.

I just learned that there is an area of the Jones Soda site where you can customize the labels and order a case all done up either for yourself or for a gift. You can pick any Jones flavor and then you send them a photo and a quote for the back of the label. Then Jones does the printing and sends you a 12 pack or a 6 pack with your specialized label. It's called myJones custom soda and boy could you have fun with that!

I am thinking I could send them this picture of my Pricilla

and call the soda Goat Gas! Wouldn't that be, well, A GAS?!  How hysterical to have Happy Goat soda called Goat Gas. It's perfect.  But obviously there are many other ways one could use this cool application that doesn't involve methane production by ruminants.  Think wedding favors. Think the coolest birthday gift ever. Think a really wild way to propose.  I am sure that there are many more ideas out there but my mind is still stuck on the Goat Gas. Bwahahahaha! I'd probably go with green apple because Pricilla loves apples so much.

Goat Gas.

I think I need to go to bed.

But seriously, why not go and check it out for yourself. Then when you have that person who you can never think of what to give them, think myJones!

Giveaway Winner - Tropical Traditions Organic Moisturizing Cream

Woo hoo! Another winner to announce. It's like an early Christmas present!

So here we go  - the winner of the really wonderful Tropical Traditions Organic Moisturizing Cream is:

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 52 


And that comment was from:

Style Wins!!!!!

Yay!!!!

Congratulations. I will send an email and Style Wins will have 48 hours to get back to me or I will have to choose a new winner. Thanks to everyone who entered. And Merry Christmas!

For My Canadian Readers - How to Make Great Gravy

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Club House. All opinions are 100% mine.

If you ask me gravy is about the best part of the Turkey dinner. The bird is dry without it. The potatoes lack a certain something and the stuffing is just dried bread. A rich flavorful gray just enhances a meal in many delightful ways. Aaaah, but the making of that gravy! That can drive some people right up the wall. They live in fear of lumps or congealed masses of questionable gunk.


Fear not! Club House Gravy is here to help you! They have a wonderful gravy tips video that can show you how to make gravy and help you make gravy the easy way. Won't that take a lot of the stress out of your holiday dinner? And many other dinners in the future? Just think! You might even start serving gravy on a weeknight! What a concept.

Club House really wants you to have a Happy New Year too! They are sponsoring a contest now for new people who check out their newsletter. If you go to the newsletter sign-up and contest entry link you will be entered to win a basket full of Club House Gravy products. (Again, this is for my Canadian readers only.) That will surely help you become a gravy master in no time at all.

So don't be afraid of gravy! Let it become a mealtime staple for you. Keep your pantry stocked with Club House Gravy to help you along and you will be all set.

The AllState Foundation's Safe Teen Driving Initiative

Climbing behind the wheel means freedom and independence for teenagers. Kids everywhere wait impatiently for the day they hit that special age and their parents finally hand them the keys to the family car. But studies by The Allstate Foundation have found that teens are particularly susceptible to dangerous distractions, highlighting the need for parents to sit down early on with their teens to discuss safe driving.

These days, more and more teenagers own up to using their cell phones to text while driving. According to The Allstate Foundation, two thirds of teens admit to texting and instant messaging behind the wheel! Yet nearly 81% of teens rate parents as their number one driving influencers. Knowing this, how can we as Moms not take steps to ensure we set a good example and make safe driving a priority? Especially when recent research by Virginia Tech's Transportation Institute reveals that texting while driving can increase the risk of an accident by 23 times.

Allstate's "X the TXT: Thumbs Up to the Safest Holiday Ever" campaign challenges teens and parents alike to make the pledge not text and drive. By joining the cause at  www.causes.com/thumbsup, you're pledging to put your cell phone down behind the wheel. For each person who takes the pledge, Allstate will donate $1 to the National Organizations for Youth Safety (NOYS) – a collaborative network of national organizations and federal agencies that serve youth and focus on youth safety and health – for safe teen driving programs.

As part of the campaign, a 30-city "X the TXT," tour kicks off this holiday season during which teens and their families can add their thumbprints to a pledge banner as a public commitment not to text and drive.

We would love your help spreading the word about Allstate's "Thumbs Up for the Safest Holiday Ever" campaign and the need for frequent family discussions about safe driving behavior. Click here www.Allstate.com/teen to go to Allstate's  website to download the Allstate Family Texting Pledge and start the conversation about responsible driving with your family.

Disclosure: I copied this text from an email from MomCentral. I received no compensation for it. I just felt it was a VERY important message that needed to get out.

Snow - But Not Here

I called my nephew in NJ today to wish him a Happy Birthday. He's 8. I can hardly believe that time is flying so fast that the toddler that was when the hubby and I embarked on our adventure is now 8. My heavens. One of the goat kids is named after him so for his birthday I send him stickers, a magnet and a 5 x 7" glossy of his goat. He was thrilled. But his bigger thrill was all of the snow that was falling.  His birthday party had to be cancelled but he didn't even care because he was having so much fun out in the snow. My hometown hadn't seen that much snow in years and years. When I talked to my brother he said there was about 10" on the ground and another foot was expected.

I later talked to my goddaughters (15 and 13) and they were just as excited. They called and wanted to open their Christmas presents while they were on the phone with me. How could I say no? I gave them books which are my favorite presents to both give and receive and they were very thrilled. It makes me very happy when a book causes that much joy in a child.

I made some more of that goat's milk caramel I had been making so much of about a month ago. A neighbor (the one who gives me all the lovely apples and pears) wants to give it as gifts to her family members. So of course I told her I would make her some. I made the spiced kind for her. I am going to post the hows on Pricilla's blog between Christmas and New Years as Goatucation. I'll put a note here when it is up so anyone who is interested can see how it is made.

I have a killer headache so I am going to bed. I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Giveaway Winner - 7th Heaven by James Patterson and Maxine Paetro

Woo hoo! Hooray! Yay!

I have the giveaway winner for 7th Heaven.....
Ta da!

True Random Number Generator Min: Max: Result: 19 

And the lucky commenter is:

Style Wins!!!!!


I will send and email and Style Wins will have 48 hours to get back to me or I will choose a new winner. Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who entered. Keep checking back for more great giveaways!!!

Review and Giveaway: The Concise King (Audio)

From the Publisher's Website:

 

For the first time, an edition of Martin Luther King's most important speeches and selected sermons are assembled and available on CD as a value-priced edition. Hachette Audio believes that the timeless message of King, in his own words and voice, are essential listening for any American and for any world citizen interested in American history, social justice, or non-violent protest. We hope to make these incredibly momentous speeches, extraordinary historical documents, accessible to an even wider population via this affordable offering.

My (well, really my husband's) Opinion:

I was a child when Dr. King was assassinated. My husband, on the other hand was not. He clearly remembers some of these speeches and the killing of Dr. King. I thought he would be interested in this audio book and I was right. He agreed to listen to it and give me his opinions.   He said it brought back memories of a very dark time in this country's history. It also reminded him of just how inspiring Dr. King was. He was also able to hear some sermons that he had not heard before and while not a religious man inspiration is inspiration. He did enjoy going back into his past and said hearing the speeches now, as an adult, gave them meaning he didn't necessarily gleen when he was a teenager.

 

The Concise King is available at Amazon.com

And now THREE of you will be lucky enough to revisit Dr. King's speeches and sermons as well thanks to Hachette Book Grouphttp://www.hachettebookgroup.com/index.aspx. That's right! I have three audio books to give away.

How can you win? It's easy! But first, the details:

The prizes:  Three copies of The Concise King

Can be shipped to the US or Canada only. No PO Boxes allowed.

 

MANDATORY ENTRY:  Leave me a comment with your email address so I can contact you if you win.

EXTRA ENTRIES:  

1. Follow my blog publicly. If you already follow, just say so. And thank you.
2. Follow me on twitter and tweet about the giveaway(one per day) - @BrokenTeepee and Hachette Books are giving away 3 copies of The Concise King (audiobook) @ http://tinyurl.com/ygekkoj #giveaway

3. Blog about this giveaway with a link back to Broken Teepee (this is good for 6 entries so leave 6 comments)
4. Follow my goat Pricilla's Blog publicly. If you already do, just say so. And thank you. 
5. Enter any of my other current giveaways. Good for one entry per...

6. Put me on your blogroll and leave a link where I can find it.

7. Add my button to your blog and leave me a link where I can find it.


All entries need to be in by 9PM MST on January 2nd when I will go to Random.org to pick the winners. They will have 48hrs to get back to me or I will choose new ones. Good luck!


Disclosure:  I received a gratis copy of The Concise King from Hachette Book Group for review and hosting the giveaway. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by the receipt of the free audiobook.

Category: HISTORY

Format: AUDIO BOOK

Subformat: CD (AUDIO)

Edition: Abridged

Publish Date: 12/22/2009

Price: $19.98/$24.98

ISBN: 9781600248740

 

GIVEAWAY: 100 Postcards from UPrinting

I have another great giveaway from my  wonderful blog sponsor, UPrinting.  Woo hoo! I know how much we all love giveaways and this one comes at a perfect time - just when you are going to have to write thank you notes for all of those great holiday gifts.  Why not make it easy on yourself this year - do it with postcards!

That's right! I have a giveaway for 100 Postcards from UPrinting.com

I have gotten postcards from UPrinting before and I can attest that the quality of both the card stock and the printing is FANTASTIC. I use them as thank you cards with my jewelry orders from my Broken Teepee shop. You can see what other people have to say about UPrinting here.

So now I know you just want to get to the info on how you can win these for yourself. Well, it's easy as always so I will just get to it.  There is a change with this prize - the winner will have to pay for shipping so be aware of that as you enter.

Here are the details:

Giveaway Prize: 100 Postcards for one (1) lucky winner
Size:  4x6; Paper:  14pt Cardstock Gloss; Printing: Full color both sides    
Restrictions: Open to US residents only; Shipping: Sponsored bloggers and Winners have to pay for shipping

And how do you enter?  Here you go!

MANDATORY ENTRY:

Leave me a comment telling me how you would use the postcards. Be sure to leave me your email so I can contact you if you win.

EXTRA ENTRIES:

1. Follow my blog publicly. If you already follow, just say so. And thank you.
2. Follow me on twitter and tweet about the giveaway - @BrokenTeepee and @UPrinting are giving away 100 Custom Postcards @http://tinyurl.com/ykuosfs  #giveaway
3. Blog about this giveaway with a link back to Broken Teepee and UPrinting.com  (this is good for 6 entries so leave 6 comments)

4. Go to UPrinting.com and let me know what else you might purchase other than what has already been mentioned. Good for one entry.
5. Follow my goat Pricilla's Blog publicly. If you already do, just say so. And thank you.

6. Enter any of my other current giveaways. Good for one entry per...

All entries need to be in by 9PM MST on January 2nd 2010 (doesn't that look cool?) when I will go to Random.org to pick the winner. Good luck everyone!

Disclosure:  I will be receiving 100 Custom Postcards from UPrinting for hosting this giveaway. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by the receipt of the free postcards. 

Blog Tour and Review: Highlander Christmas by Janet Chapman

From the Publisher's Website:

Camry MacKeage has absolutely no intention of telling her parents that she left her job as a NASA physicist for the small-town life of a dog-sitter -- which is why she's spending the holidays alone in coastal Maine with her furry friends Tigger and Max. Unfortunately, her irresistibly handsome rival, scientist Luke Pascal, accidentally spilled the beans. Now he's on a mission from her mother to tempt Camry home for the family's annual winter solstice celebration. But Luke is hiding his own secret, and he'll need a little bit of magic to earn Camry's trust...and a whole lot of mistletoe to seduce his way into her heart.

About the Author:

 A native of rural central Maine, Janet Chapman lives there in a cozy log cabin on a lake with her husband. Three cats and a stray young bull moose keep them company. The author of the hugely popular Highlander time-travel series, she also writes contemporary romances.







My Opinion:

This was very light, easy reading.
A typical tale of boy/girl. Girl hates boy. Girl changes mind. Some manner of struggle.  There is "the magic" some mysticism, time travel and it is tied more to the solstice rather than to Christmas. But does it matter how we find that happily ever after?
Like some romances I have read, this is not one I would re-read. The tension between the "girl" and the "boy" wasn't really all that well played and the plot was  implausible. I have not read the other books in the series so I don't know if the others were like this or not.

Be sure to visit the other blogs on the tour.

Books Reviews by Buuklvr81
She Reads
I Read
Seductive Musings
What Book Is That
My Five Monkeys
Rundpinne
My Overstuffed Bookshelf
Book Junkie
Just Another New Blog
Drey’s Library
My Book Addiction and More
My Reading Room
Frugal Plus
Book Magic
The Bibliophilic Book Blog
All About {n}
Psychotic State
That’s a Novel Idea
Brizmus Blogs About Books
Found Not Lost
Wendy’s Minding Spot
Pam’s Personal Reflections
A Book Bloggers Diary
MetroReader
I Heart Book Gossip
Jen’s Book Talk
The Princess and the Monkey
Marta’s Meanderings
Readaholic
Angela R. Simmons’s Blog

Books, Books Everywhere
Books, Books, The Magical Fruit
Find the Time to Read
Libby’s Library News
Reading at the Beach
Book Soulmates

It's Beginning to Smell a Lot like Christmas: Review of Cheap Cookie Cutters

I spent the last two days baking. There are now more cookies in this house than two people should have but hey, it's the holidays and one is supposed to eat too many cookies at Christmas, right?  Yesterday I did the basic chocolate chip and more of the yummy lemon cookies that I made when I reviewed the Italian cookbook.

Today I did the roll out cookies. I used a recipe for sand tarts as the hubby told me once they were his favorite.( I never could find a recipe - erm, I never really looked too hard but my new cookie cookbook just happened to have one.) So I make the dough yesterday all excited that I am going to surpise him and...these are not the sand tarts he was talking about.  How many sand tarts are there?  But anyway.

I was able to use my new cookies cutters from Cheap Cookie Cutters. I was sent a set of four cutters: a candy cane, an angel, a Christmas Tree and a Santa.  Here they are in action...

I will say that with a name like Cheap cookie cutters I didn't know what to expect; I have had some really cheap cookie cutters in my day and they were very frustrating but these Cheap Cookie Cutters were not cheap in their construction. When I pressed down on the cutter to cut into the dough it didn't wobble and it made nice, sharp clean cuts in the dough. I was also very happy with the way they were shaped. I was able to make great use of my dough; look how many cookies I was able to cut!

I dusted the tops of my cookies with cinnamon sugar 'cause I was in a simple mood today. Don't they look tasty?

Now, there are not just Christmas cookie cutters at Cheap Cookie Cutters - oh no! You can find a cutter to make just about any kind of cookie. Look at these adorable Disney Cookie Cutters - just imagine how surprise your Cinderella loving daughter would be with slipper cookies at her birthday party!
There is even a goat cookie cutter! How perfect is that for me?!

So go take a look around, you never know what cookie cutter might be the one that makes your next party perfect!

Disclosure: Cheap Cookie Cutters provided me with free cookie cutters to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review.

Blog Tour and Review: A Jolly Good Fellow by Stephen V. Masse

Winner of the Silver Medal in the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards
Best Fiction -- U. S. Northeast Region

Honorable Mention in the 2008 New England Book Festival for Best Books of the Holiday Season -- fiction



From the Author's Website:

One snowy morning in mid-December, Duncan Wagner gets into his car for another attempt at kidnapping the eleven-year-old son of his most despised enemy, State Representative Win Booker. When he drives into the wealthy Boston suburb, he is surprised to find the boy hitchhiking.

So begins Wagner's quest for revenge as he finds himself face to face with a real boy, and without a clue about how to run a kidnapping. Wagner, a self-styled charity Santa Claus, comes to realize that eleven-year-old Gabriel Booker is truly a runaway, much more curious than scared. Gabriel has no idea who Duncan Wagner is -- or could be.

Stephen V. Masse was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He wrote his first practice novel at age 13, handwritten into a school composition book.

Educated at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, he studied creative writing, and was author of a weekly newspaper column, "Out of Control." His first novel for children, Shadow Stealer, was published in 1988 by Dillon Press.

He also runs a home remodeling business in the Boston area, and is active in the Santa Claus Anonymous charitable fundraiser.



My Opinion:

I really enjoyed this book. It was a light, happy holiday read. One has to be willing to suspend reality for a bit and just go along with the story but isn't that what  fiction is about?  The main characters, Duncan Wagner and Win Booker are both likable and fun to watch evolve. The ancillary characters are almost like shadows that flit in and out of Wagner's and Booker's lives with minimal impact until the end.

So much of the story was really unbelievable but I just didn't care because I was enjoying it so much. It is, after all, a Christmas tale of redemption. The writing is easy and the dialog fun. The twist at the end I saw a mile away but again, it didn't matter because I was having fun.

I would certainly recommend this book if you wanted a light holiday read. It will leave you with a smile.


A Jolly Good Fellow is available at Amazon.com 

Disclosure:  I received a gratis copy of A Jolly Good Fellow from Pump up Your Book Promotions. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not impacted by the receipt of the free book.

Giveaway Winners! The Cream Perfume Company

Woohoo for winners! And tonight I get to pick three thanks to the generousity of The Cream Perfume Co. So here we go!

Here are your random numbers:

93

61

21

Timestamp: 2009-12-16 03:59:10 UTC

The lucky commenters are:

The Jewelry Box
Snowflake07
Dina


Hooray!

I will send emails to the lucky winners and they will have 48 hours to get back to me or I will choose others.
Thanks to everyone who entered and keep checking back for more great giveaways!

Two New Necklaces

I fit in some time to make a couple of necklaces just in a nick of time for holiday gift giving.  Both feature beautiful labradorite focal beads.

The first one has an amazing 35tcw faceted heart on gold fill chain. The gemstone was so stunning I just let it be. The gold flash is really something in this bead!

The second piece features a smooth teardrop with a deep neon blue flash. The back of this stone has some imperfections - which is why it is in the back - but the stone is still pretty impressive. This necklace is on sterling silver chain with the sterling toggle placed front and center.

Like everthing else in my shop right now, these pieces are 20% off and will remain that way until the end of the year. The prices are already marked down in my shop so you can just check out and pay and you don't have to worry about refunds or revised invoices. As always - you will have free worldwide shipping.

Wanna Know How Wheat Works?

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Wheat Food Council. All opinions are 100% mine.

Did you ever think how your loaf of bread came to be? Or your bowl of spaghetti? Well, now you can follow the progress of the wheat that created your bread or your pasta from farm to plate thanks to an interesting new website called How Wheat Works.

How Wheat Works is a cool, interactive website that will show you in four distinct steps how wheat turns into food.  Once you sign up and pick your food it's a very simple process over the course of four days. You receive an email a day reminding you come back and take care of your wheat through the four stages:  growth, harvesting, milling and creation of your food.

You will get a reminder email for each phase over the course of the four days with activities at the end like recipes to try and harvest videos to view. Nothing like seeing the very start of your bread, huh?

The site is from the Wheat Foods Council  and for each person that participates the Council will donate two pounds of flour, up to 90,000 pounds, to Operation Homefront, a non-profit that provides assistance to needy U.S. troops and their families. Help with these donations comes from members ADM and ConAgra, two of the world’s largest millers. This is the only place I get uncomfortable with the site. The large conglomerates seem to be taking over everything and trying to control what and how we eat. Is this just a way to polish up a reputation?  Either way the site is fun and knowledge is always a good thing.  And I am sure Operations Homefront is going to be grateful for all of that flour!

Snow!

We had our first snowfall of the year. It wasn't much; maybe about 2". Enough to just cover everything and give me some extra goat work. As always, the first snow does look pretty on the trees and in the mountains.

I guess that's what makes it all worthwhile.

Experience a Branson Style Family Vacation

This is a Sponsored Post written by me on behalf of Hiltons of Branson. All opinions are 100% mine.

It's a wonderful time of year! Uh-huh! I don't know about where you are but here it has been below zero and we have had snow for the last three days. I would love to get away. As long as it was somewhere warm OR I could be waited on hand and foot. Oooooh, waited on hand and foot. I would just looooove that!


Right now - if I could talk the hubby into it - I could have an Ozark Mountain Christmas in Branson Missouri thanks to the Hilton Promenade at Branson Landing and the Hilton Branson Convention Center Hotel. I think that would make a wonderful change of pace from being on a goat farm in Montana. I wouldn't have to milk any goats!

There are some delightful packages right now including the It's a Wonderful Life which starts at $329.00 a night. It gives you a Branson Landing passport just chock full of discounts for dozens of shops and restaurants as well as a treatment at the Aspire Medical Spa. Ooooh, massage for me!

Then, if you have children why not think about the Santa's Coming to Town package? Your children will get a story time with Mrs. Claus in the lobby and Santa HIMSELF will bring presents, cookies and milk to your room! Won't that be just the biggest surprise? It starts at $189.00 a night.

Both of these packages run from November 15 - December 23 so there is still time to make your reservation.

Branson is a major entertainment center with golf courses, dozens of live theatres and restaurants galore so why not get away?

Blog Tour for A Blue and Gray Christmas by Joan Medlicot

 From the Publisher's Website:

In this stunning holiday story, a cache of Civil War-era letters and diaries sweeps the ladies of Covington up into a dramatic and heartwarming historical saga that inspires them to plan an unforgettable Christmas for two families forever changed by war.
When a rusty old tin box is unearthed at the Covington Homestead, longtime housemates Grace, Amelia, and Hannah discover that it contains letters and diaries written by two Civil War soldiers, one Union and one Confederate.
The friends are captivated by the drama revealed. The soldiers were found dying on a nearby battlefield by an old woman. She nursed them back to health, hiding them from bounty hunters seeking deserters. At the end of the war the men chose to stay in Covington, caring for their rescuer as she grew frail. But while their lives were rich, they still felt homesick and guilty for never contacting the families they'd left behind.
Christmas is coming, and the letters inspire Amelia with a generous impulse. What if she and her friends were to fi nd the two soldiers' descendants and invite them to Covington to meet? What better holiday gift could there be than the truth about these two heroic men and their dramatic shared fate? With little time left, the ladies spring into action to track down the men's families in Connecticut and the Carolinas, and to make preparations in Covington for their most memorable, most historic Christmas yet.

 About the Author:

 Joan Medlicott was born and raised on St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. She lives with her husband in the mountains of North Carolina. Visit her website at www.joanmedlicott.com





 My review of this Christmas tale will be up shortly. Be sure to visit the other stops on this holiday blog tour.

A Blue and Gray Christmas is available at Amazon.com


Books Reviews by Buuklvr81: http://www.buuklvr81.blogspot.com
The Life (and Lies) of an Inanimate Flying Object: http://haleymathiot.blogspot.com/
Good Books & Wine: http://readingisthespiceoflife.blogspot.com/
I Read: http://sumanam.wordpress.com/
Rundpinne: http://www.rundpinne.blogspot.com/
Morbid Romantic: http://www.morbid-romantic.net/
Book Junkie: http://myfoolishwisdom.blogspot.com/
Drey’s Library: http://dreyslibrary.blogspot.com/
My Book Addiction and More: www.mybookaddictionandmore.wordpress.com
Red Headed Book Child: http://redheadedbookchild.blogspot.com/
Blog Business World: http://www.blogbusinessworld.blogspot.com/
My Reading Room: http://myreadingroom-crystal.blogspot.com
Frugal Plus: http://frugalplus.com/
Book Magic: http://bookmagic418.blogspot.com/
All About {n}: http://www.bookwormygirl.blogspot.com/
The Bibliophilic Book Blog: http://www.bibliophilicbookblog.com/
One Person’s Journey Through a World of Books: http://bookjourney.wordpress.com/
Psychotic State: http://www.psychoticstate.blogspot.com/
That’s a Novel Idea: http://thatsanovelidea.blogspot.com/
My Friend Amy: http://www.myfriendamysblog.com/
Brizmus Blogs About Books: http://brizmusblogsbooks.blogspot.com/
A Few of My Favorite Things: http://dixie-afewofmyfavoritethings.blogspot.com/
Found Not Lost: http://jmomfinds.amoores.com/
Jen’s Book Talk: http://jensbooktalk.blogspot.com/
The Princess and the Monkey: http://kennedyandzach.blogspot.com/
Marta’s Meanderings: http://martasmeanderings.blogspot.com/
Readaholic: http://bridget3420.blogspot.com/
Books, Books Everywhere: http://bookbookseverywhere.blogspot.com/
Books, Books, The Magical Fruit: http://booksbooksthemagicalfruit.blogspot.com/
Reading at the Beach: http://ilratb.blogspot.com/


Disclosure:  I received a gratis copy of A Blue and Gray Christmas from Pocket Books for hosting this blog tour and for review. Any opinions expressed are my honest opinions and were not influenced by the receipt of the free book.

GIVEAWAY WINNERS - Knight of Pleasure by Margaret Mallory

Yay for winners! And tonight we have 5 of them. Woo hoo for that!  So without further ado here are the 5 lucky people who will soon have a new book to read:
Random # picked
24
16
34
45
36

And the lucky commenters are:

elaing8
melodie
heatherzilla
Dina
Alicia

Yay! I will be sending emails and the winners will have 48 hours to get back to me or I will choose new winners.  Thanks to everyone who entered. Be sure to keep checking back for more great giveaways.

Baking with the King! King Arthur: Croissants

By now you all know that I love baking with my White Whole Wheat Flour from King Arthur.

 (click the photo for more info on this wonderful product)

I used the last of it (sniff, sniff) to make croissants. THIS was going to be my real test of this flour.  Croissants are light, flaky, tempermental things. I knew better than to go all wheat flour so I went half and half. I make croissants fairly regularly so while I am no expert I am quite comfortable with the process. One needs a bit of patience for them 'cause it's two days from start to buttery completion.

The most important part of making croissants is the rolling in of the butter. If you don't get the million layers (just kidding! I think it's something like 90) of butter and dough they will not puff up in the oven and be light and airy.  So you start on the first day by making the dough - it's a basic dough of flour, water and yeast. You don't do much kneading (in my case my KitchenAid doesn't do my kneading); only enough to incorporate the ingredients. The rolling in of the butter develops the gluten.  After the dough comes out of the mixer it goes on a cookie sheet and into the refrigerator for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile I beat the slightly softened butter in my KitchenAid - where would I be WITHOUT that thing. I LOVE my KitchenAID!  OK, off topic, sorry. Then I put it between two pieces of waxed paper and roll it out.

Then it goes back into the refrigerator to firm up a bit. When the dough is ready I put it on my counter (Can I tell you how much I can't wait for my new kitchen when I will actually HAVE counter space?)

Then the cold butter goes off to the right.

Then the dough gets folded over on one side.

Then the other.

Back to the refrigerator for 45 more minutes.


When it comes out you lay the dough horizontally and roll it out and refold it. You do this THREE more time. (I told you it was a process)


Then it goes back into the refrigerator overnight.


The next morning you take it out - it's nice and puffy.

You roll it out and cut it in half. I use my pizza wheel. It's nice and sharp and easy to control.

I put the one half of the dough out of the way for now and then cut the half I am using into triangles.

Then you stretch out the wide end of the triangle - don't pull so hard as to put a hole in the dough - and then roll the triangle up.

 

When you put them on the parchment lined cookie sheet for baking you turn the ends in towards each other.

You let them rise - covered and in a warm, draft free place -  for about an hour or until they look nice and puffy. Then brush them with beaten egg.

They bake at 450* for about 15 - 18 minutes. You have to keep an eye on them. They will burn quickly.
When they come out they look like this. Yum!

When you cut one open you can see all of those lovely layers.

The White Whole Wheat Flour verdict:  they were good. Not as good as with all white flour but not so bad as I won't continue to make them this way again. They were just a little bit heavier. My husband took them to Thanksgiving dinner (I had the flu and couldn't go) and our friends didn't know they had whole wheat flour in them until he told them. So to me that is a very good sign of how tasty they were.

I am just waiting to use up the rest of my regular flour and then I am converting to the White Whole Wheat Flour. I am just thrilled with it.  King Arthur has a full range of pastry flours as well and I can't wait to play. After I place my order I will continue this little series of Baking with the King and let you know just how they all work.

Disclosure:  King Arthur provided me with a free sample of this product to review, and I was under no obligation to review it if I so chose.  Nor was I under any obligation to write a positive review or sponsor a product giveaway in return for the free product.