I hope that you all know that you are helping me to not only keep my goal of reading two or more books a month but also holding me accountable to not having so many books to store away. I feel like I'd rather share the books that I read than to hold on to them only to eventually give them away. So...with that said....here are the two winners of the Used Book Giveaway.... Random Generator....chose.... Anita from Beyond Diapers and Spills as the winner of Same Kind of Different as Me. The next winner is........ Kat from Heart2Heart as the winner of You're All That by Paula White. Congratulations to the both of you. Please send me your addresses and I'll get the book out to you.

Don't forget to enter the used book giveaway here The giveaway ends on Friday. Now, on to Things I've Learned Thursday 1) I'm so glad that my new neighbors are playing music at full volume that is tolerable. They are from Hawaii so I feel like I'm there, listening to the waves splashing across the sand. 2) Arizona is pathetic if they think that racial profiling is okay! Enough already! Stop the discrimination. Okay....breathe...breathe...I'm okay. 3) My pit bull sheds enough to make a whole 'nother puppy. 4) Elephants and creditors never forget. 5) My weight gain this week is totally dedicated to my daughter Apricot-tea aka Married Boo. Thanks for the yummy vegan cornbread recipe but did it have to taste SO good???? 6) Boo is now a true rancher. He's just started his own worm farm so that he will have endless worms for fishing. You would think he was plotting and tilling the soil for a 200 acre farm. He is one proud farmer and the worms haven't even arr...

I've done pretty good with sticking to my two books a month goal because actually, most of the time, I've read three and sometimes four books in one month, depending on the length of the book. Here are the books that are up for giveaway: Same Kind of Different As Me by Ron Hall and Denver Moore I'd have to say that this is one of my favorite books to have read this year. I loved the emotions that existed as I read the book. A few times, I found tears filling my eyes. It is a true story which makes it even that more special. Here's what the back of the book cover says: A dangerous, homeless drifter who grew up picking cotton in virtual slavery. An upscale art dealer accustomed to the world of Armani and Chanel. A gutsy woman with a stubborn dream. A story so incredible no novelist would dare dream it. A friend of mine recommended that I read The Shack, by Wm. Paul Young. She said, "You will definitely view God differently once you read The Shack." It was truly ...

Have you ever stared fear in the face and something inside of you kicked into motion and you stomped on that fear and kept on going? I grew up fearful. In fact, thank God I was born an identical twin because many nights, my twin and I either slept in the same bed, hiding under the covers or sat in the bathroom until the sun came up, afraid of monsters, robbers, ghosts, boogey men - you name it. I once had this dream that I saw a headless guy riding a horse on my closet door and that did it for me. I slept with my head under the covers just in case. One time, there was a male cat, prowling for a female and he was making the most horrible sounding mating call. We just KNEW that it was some dead person coming back from the dead. My twin and I ran to the bathroom. She sat on the floor and I sat on the toilet, waiting for the courage to go back to bed. The courage didn't come until we heard our dad getting up for work the next morning at 4:30 am. One day, though, I didn't have a cha...

There are those great issues of global warming and poverty but then again I have questions on things that are simple...that are possibly easier to answer. Here are some of the things I wonder about.... 1) When someone falls down, why do people ask, "Did you hurt yourself?" Of course, they hurt themselves. They FELL down! 2) In the phrase "To be or not to be, that is the question"....to be what? A frog? A cookie? A human being? 3) Why is a salt shaker called a shaker and not a sprinkler? 4) Who thought of the name, "hot dog"? It bears no resemblance to a dog. 5) Why do waiters and waitresses come to your table every 5 minutes to ask if everything is okay? I think it's a bit overkill if you ask me. If they are that curious, they may as well pull up a chair and join me. I'll give them the play by play detail. 6) Why do dogs lick themselves? 7) Why DO they call those hot wings, buffalo wings? 8) Why do the NFL players get paid so much money to throw a ...

For those of you new followers to my blog, Things I've Learned Thursday was born after I realized that there's not a day that goes by that I don't learn something new. Not everything is intellectual - most of it is pretty humorous. But, stick with me, you may end up learning something new too! 1)It's better to have a bad day of fishing than a good day scrubbing the toilets. 2) This monkey totally has too much time on his hands. 3) Latest fashion statement for Baby Boo is layering. That means, two shirts, three pairs of undies and two pairs of socks. Then, she hollers, "Momo, I need help with my shoes" because her socks are too thick to even fit inside of the shoes. 4) I need to remember that my blue tooth redials the last person called, when accidentally pressed. Married Boo got an earful of me singing at the top of my lungs, until I heard her scream, "Mommy" and I realized that I had dialed her. 5) Vegan cornbread is heavenly. (According to Married...

There are certain words that flash through my mind and I wonder, "Why?" The word that is hitting me is "randomness". I know that randomness happens mainly when it's least expected...like having the hiccups. (Which I have at the moment.) I don't realize how often I live for randomness. I need randomness because if my day is completely scheduled and orderly, I need surprise...random surprise. When my twin sister and I were in kindergarten, we went to a school carnival. There was a cake walk. Of course, it was random, yet, we walked until, the music stopped and my sister's numbered square was called. She was the winner of a cake! Random surprise! I love it when Boo brings me flowers, or opens the door for me or puts my jacket around my shoulders or pulls me to him in an embrace. I need random. No. I. Crave. Random. Random keeps life from being boring. So how about it? Do you like randomness?

When I was a kid, my twin and I loved to catch bugs. We had bug catchers that served a purpose...to catch bugs. We caught bees, ladybugs, butterflies, roly polies and moths. Flash forward....I'm not digging on bugs the same way I used to. Lately, as in 2 months, we have been dealing with this: Otherwise known as a crane fly. (Looks like a mosquito wanna bee if you ask me.) Supposedly, they don't bite or sting but they are a huge nuisance. Not only do they tend to fly mainly at night, but their purpose is to annoy me until I get out of bed, armed with a shoe, attempting to smash it. Not only are they annoying but before they become the fearless winged species, they look like this: Trust me...finding one of those crawling on the kitchen countertop without any explanation at to how it arrived, will make me scream. **I can now add swan diving to their resume because as I typed this, one did a swan dive, right into my glass of water. I'm no longer interested in whether they can ...

I'm a curious person by nature. Some would say I'm nosy. Personally, I'd say that I'm just plain ol' intrigued by life itself. Being the intrigued woman that I am, I'm curious... Have you ever... 1) Made something to eat and then after it was done, didn't want it anymore? 2) Read 4 books at one time? 3) Been so tired that even peeing was a chore? 4) Smashed a bug and then felt bad afterwards for smashing it? 5) Eaten gummy worms with a glass of wine? 6) Walked into a room and totally forgot why you went there? 7) Ran into someone and couldn't remember their names yet, they embraced you and were totally excited to talk to you. And... 8) Did you play it off like you knew the person just because you felt too foolish to ask who they were? 9) Said "excuse me" when you sneezed and no one else was in the room? 10) Declined a meal because it resembled dog food and you couldn't fake an appetite to even take one bite? 11) Read the end of a book becau...

Still running on steam but I'm here. It's been a whirlwind of a week but a good one. The first of the week, I had a blast at the photo shoot for the summer issue with Candace Cameron Bure'. She is sweet, gorgeous and so down to earth. I truly felt like she would be very easy to just kick back and hang out with. Then, Baby Boo, the tornado came in. She is officially three years old! With being three comes some big girl changes. For one, she wants to comb her own hair. She wants to blow her own nose (even if it means a whole roll of toilet paper). She wants to argue points of how she is right and I am wrong. (I see the teen years as being very challenging.) She now eats even stranger stuff like, carrots dipped in mustard and ketchup. (Yuck) I participated in the UBP10 celebration as much as I could but honestly, time ran away from me and I just couldn't visit as many blogs as I had intended to. I just adore the blogs that I do follow and read and I am quite content with n...

Last year, I had the privilege of being a part of the Ultimate Blog Party for Moms. It gets bigger and bigger every year. It's a party that starts at 5minutesformom.com but it turns into a travel to blogs around the world, celebrating who we are as moms. In order to get ready for guests who may stop in, I've decided to offer up a pizza dip. It's easy to make and one of my favorites. Layered Pizza Dip Ingredients 1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese 1/2 cup chopped pepperoni 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese 1 cup Prego® Traditional Italian Sauce, any variety Pepperidge Farm® Garlic Bread, any variety, heated according to package directions or Pepperidge Farm® Crackers, any variety Directions Spread the ricotta cheese in an even layer in a 9 inch pie plate. Top with 1/4 cup of the pepperoni and 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese. Carefully spread the pasta sauce over the cheese. Sprinkle with the remaining pepperoni and mozzarella cheese. Bake at 375 degrees F for 15 minutes or until hot. ...

1) There's just certain foods I can't eat since eating it when I was a kid. One of them is Scooter Pies or moon pies. Blech! It was a staple in my lunch pail but I get nauseous just thinking about having to eat one. Do you remember the smell of the lunchpails after the bologna sandwiches, apple and chips all saturated in together and came out with one huge smell? Yech! 2) I need to put the birds who feed from my bird feeder on a diet. They are consuming a whole bag of seed in less than a week. (The cheeseburger bird is STILL asking for cheeseburgers.) 3) There must be a pregnancy surge going on. In the last two weeks alone, I've heard of 4 people being pregnant. At least I know that I'm not one of them. 4) I love when I see kids outside playing instead of being zoned out on electronics. I passed a little girl jumping rope outside and it took me back to when I was a kid and my mom had to yell for us to come inside. It was usually met with an, "Awwwwwww!" 5) I t...

There's an interesting discussion going on here on my daughter, apricot-tea's blog on what makes a blogger a writer. The person that questioned this basically feels that unless you have a degree and/or published works, you have no right to call yourself a writer. This actually amazed me because I have always considered myself a writer. I have written published and unpublished songs, short story fiction, articles, poems and a children's book. Not to mention that as a blogger, unless I'm stealing work that isn't my own, (which I'm not..I'm just saying...) then, I'm a writer because all of these thoughts are creatively mine. This week, I've had a few people tell me that they didn't realize that I was a writer. I often don't talk about the things that are published and waiting to be published, but yes, I am a writer. I've decided to attach a submission for an unnamed publisher that has a poultry hint to it's name (if you know what I mea...

I went with Boo to get the oil changed in his truck. While I was there, I saw a little boy about 5 years old, with his little sister and dad and grandma, waiting in the waiting room. The little guy spilled a small cup of water with ice that was on the floor. No harm done, right? The father snatched the kid by the arm so hard and then grabbed the area by his neck and shoulder blade, forcing him to sit down. The dad continued to tell the kid in a growling yet quiet tone that he was going to kick the crap out of him and that he was done with him...fed up...had it with him...no more juice, soda, milk. He repeated that he was going to kick the crap out of him like three times. Grandma said nothing but went to the bathroom to get paper towels to clean up the mess. (Which was very small). The little boy's face remains etched in my mind right now. He was a broken kid that sat on the chair and hugged his legs to his body. About 5 minutes later, the dad says, "Hey buddy, when we get hom...

Living here in Southern California all of my life, you would think that I'd be used to the earth shaking every now and then. NOT!! I would be lying if I told you that it didn't bug me one single bit to feel the earth moving for 45 seconds and wondering when it's going to stop. Or, being woken up to aftershocks to a point where I had to pray to finally calm down and get back to sleep. My first reaction was to look at TV Boo as we colored eggs and decide whether to bolt outside or ride the waves. We decided to head outside instead of taking the eenie meenie miney moe route. As strange as it may be, shaking produces results. It tests the foundation of where you are in life. Just when you think that you're on stable ground, a loss of a loved one, a layoff from your job, a terminal illness, or cheating spouse can start the ground shaking. How you respond to that shaking and the aftershocks after the initial shakes will determine your resilience and determination. You rise ab...

Sometimes I wake myself up smiling. Then, there are those times when I can barely fix my feet to climb out of bed without a good cup of coffee. I have had plenty of reasons to smile this week. For one, my Baby Boo turned 3 years old. Even though we haven't had the chance to celebrate her birthday with her, I know that when she's finally here, we're going to party! We're going to make a cake, lick the beaters, play in the dirt, blow bubbles for the ducks and sing at the top of our lungs. I had a great interview with an author of 18 books. Her name is ReShonda Tate Billingsley . She is a Christian fiction author who has written not only books for adults but also books for teens. Three of her books are being made into movies. The interview was for the magazine... Hope for Women Magazine ....which leads me to another reason why I'm putting on a happy face.... I've been asked to step into the role of managing editor of Hope for Women Magazine . Hope for Women Magazin...