Limited Time Offer! Hurry!

I want to kill two birds today.

One, I want to give you, my two faithful readers a chance to win a great prize.

Two, I want to help LovelyDaughter spread the word about her new Etsy shop, RoseGoneWild, where she sells beautiful, creative, woodsy, funky, feminine HANDMADE jewelry and beads. Did I say cute? How about fun? Or interesting? Did I say REALLY, REALLY COOL? Well, I'm not biased or anything.

But you don't have to take my word for it.

Here are a couple of things LovelyDaughter/RoseGoneWild has for sale:

Chocolate Brown Glass Earrings


Brown and Black Choker


Aren't they beautiful? I'd LOVE a pair of earrings made by LovelyDaughter, except I don't have pierced ears. It's enough to make me seriously consider it, just so I can have some of her earrings!

But anyway, here's how YOU can have a chance to win:

1. Go to RoseGoneWild
and take a look around. Her shop isn't very big yet, but that should make it easy to choose, right?

2. Pick which thing you'd like to have as your prize if your name is picked.

3. Come back here and leave a comment, telling me what you've chosen. Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you if you don't have a blog.

4. I'll draw a name out of a (virtual) hat Saturday night, November 1, and post a winner on Sunday, November 2.

Good luck!

And for more chances to win, go to the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival. There are over a THOUSAND(!) blogs giving away all kinds of great stuff. But hurry, 'cause most of it ends November 1.


Edited to add: I just found my favorite giveaway in the carnival. An Island Life is giving away two pairs of You by Croc shoes. Can you believe it? I never would have guessed that Fashion + Comfort = Croc.

Giveaway!

Coming tomorrow: I'm joining the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival. You will have a chance to win a piece of beautiful jewelry, made by LovelyDaughter for her new Etsy shop. Stay tuned!

The Important Things

This morning my goal is to get split pea soup started for dinner, and then can some more applesauce. I'm hoping to get a little time to go DO something, like shop with LovelyDaughter. Even though we're broke, it would still be fun. We can try on clothes at Maurice's again, or even go to Goodwill and see if they have anything good. Or check out the western store and try on stuff there.

I'd suggest going to the library, but the library makes me tired. Why? They don't have much that's good any more. It's all horrible. Either badly written, or terrible subject matter. Nasty. It's ten to one that any book I discover on the internet that I'd like to read will NOT be in the library. Actually, more like twenty to one. Or fifty to one. Out of all the books I've looked up, I've only found a few, a very few, that the library stocks (if that is the right word.)

This is sad, because I used to take the kids to the library regularly when they were younger. It was an event, every two weeks; it was free, and we could bring home stacks of books, for free.

Ah, let's hear it for the Good Old Days, when I'd pack the children up and we'd drive to town to go to the library, then to the park for a picnic, and then to the grocery store for the next two weeks' worth of groceries. I'd come home exhausted, but it was so worth it to have that time out with the kids, and come home well-supplied with books and food, the two staples of life.

Fall Birthday #2: DrummerDude's Chicken Fajitas

Yesterday was DrummerDude's birthday. He and his older brother, GuitarGeek, are six years and one day apart in age.

We celebrated by making fajitas for supper, using a recipe from Taste of Home, and I tell you that just to say this: Those fajitas were every bit as good as the ones we ate at an expensive restaurant in Mexico on a missions trip a few years ago. Every bit as good, if not better.

Here's the recipe:

1/4 cup lime juice
1 garlic clove, minced
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 whole boneless skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips (I used pork loin of some sort-- it was cheaper)
1 medium onion, cut into thin wedges (strips)
1/2 medium sweet red pepper, cut into strips
1/2 medium yellow pepper, cut into strips
1/2 medium green pepper, cut into strips
1/2 cup salsa
12 flour tortillas (8 inches), warmed)
1-1/2 cups shredded cheddar or Monterey Jack cheese (I used both together)

In a bowl, combine lime juice, garlic, chili powder and cumin. Add chicken; stir. Regrigerate for 15 minutes. In a nonstick skillet ( a cast iron skillet with a tablespoon or so of peanut oil) saute onion and chicken with marinade for three minutes or till chicken is no longer pink. Add peppers; saute for 3-5 minutes or till crisp-tender.

It actually took a little longer than that for everything to cook, I think because I doubled the recipe. There was just more food in my big skillet to get done. Plus, we like our peppers a little done-er (is that a word?) than crisp-tender.

Then I put it on all the table and let everyone make their own fajitas with the meat, the salsa, and the cheese. It was VERY good.

And for dessert? Pumpkin Pie! And DrummerDude and GuitarGeek each got their own personal can of Reddi-Whip. It doesn't get any more decadent than that....

Why Blog?

Men always talk about the most important things to total strangers. G.K. Chesterton

Fall Birthday #1: GuitarGeek

LovelyDaughter helped me make GuitarGeek's birthday supper tonight, and when she was trying to reach something in a high cabinet I heard her say this to MB3, her six-foot tall brother:

"Oh thou of the blessed tallness, would you come reach this for me?"

The Makeover Has Begun, or, Baby Steps

So LovelyDaughter and I went shopping yesterday afternoon. We only managed to carve out about three hours, instead of an entire day, like we had tried to plan for, but it was a good start.

We only had time to go to one store, but we tried on a BUNCH of clothes. It was a little hard to shop with an anything goes attitude. I'm so used to having to be serious when I shop. That is, I'm careful what I choose to try on, I pre-evaluate stuff, I check price tags first. This time, I picked stuff at random, and sometimes even by sheer unlikeliness!

When I got home, Hubby asked me if there were any surprises. As a matter of fact, yes.

I had tried on a little black dress (LBD, for those of you in the know) that had hounds tooth trim, which just goes to show how radical I was being because I've never liked hounds tooth, never worn it, never even tried it on, and planned to never ever wear it. Ha. Times, they are a'changin'.

So I tried this dress-- with the houndstooth trim and large buttons (also something different)-- and it looked pretty good, and I walked out of the dressing room to find a pair of dressy shoes to try on with it. The sales gal wanted to be helpful, and she suggested a pair of black, shiny, very pointy-toed high heels. My first reaction was, "NO. I don't do pointy."

And then I remembered my new plan, and I tried them on.

You know what? They looked good! I HATE pointy toed shoes! But I looked good in them!

Of course, when I looked down at my feet, I felt like an elf. But when I looked in the mirror, I look sleek and sophisticated in my LBD and my pointy-toed pumps. Whaddaya know.

I forgot to take the camera this time, so I can't show you any evidence, but it was an interesting revelation. And an interesting start to my Makeover Adventure.

Next installment coming soon, I hope!

P.S. No, I didn't buy anything. This is just reconnaissance shopping, till I figure out my new style.