Crazy 8's

Stacy tagged me for this one. I'm glad because I've been wanting more post ideas. Thanks Stacy!

8 Things I'm Passionate About:

1. Serving God
2. My relationship with Beef
3. Scamp (and being a good mother)
4. Writing
5. Teen Lit Review
6. My IRL friends
7. My blogging friends
8. Nutrition (when I get a chance to use it)

8 Things I Want to do Before I die:

1. Meet all my blogging friends in person
2. Write a book
3. Vacation in Australia
4. Have more children
5. Work in women's ministry
6. Finish writing a murder mystery
7. Take a writing class
8. Learn to Type (correctly)

8 Things I Say Often:

1. "No!"
2. "What's going on in here?"
3. "Where's the remote?"
4. "Is Scratchy outside?"
5. "Guess what? I love you."
6. "I don't know."
7. "Are you gonna get the phone?"
8. "Old MacDonald Had a Farm..."

8 Books I've Read Recently:

1. Black by Ted Dekker
2. Covenant Child by Terri Blackstock
3. The Name of This Book is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
4. Eleven by Patricia Reilly Giff
5. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer
6. Heavens to Betsy by Beth Pattillo
7. Earth to Betsy by Beth Pattillo
8. Hollywood Nobody by Lisa Samson

8 Songs I Sing Over and Over:
(Original Question: 8 Songs I Could Listen to Over and Over:)

1. Twinkle Twinkle Little Star
2. Baa Baa Black Sheep
3. Where is Thumpkin?
4. Jesus Loves Me
5. Behold
6. Hush Little Baby
7. Please Christmas Don't Be Late (by the Chipmunks)
8. Pop Goes the Weasel

8 Things That Attract Me to My Best Friends:

1. They love (or tolerate) teeny bopper movies.
2. They love reading (or at least tolerate me talking about books).
3. They can keep a secret.
4. They love chocolate.
5. They love God.
6. They like to share in my passions.
7. They share their passions.
8. They like to laugh.

8 People I Think Should Do Crazy 8's:

1. Sonya
2. Angi
3. Annie
4. Jenny
5. Lauren
6. Rachel
7. Hyperactive Lu
8. Karen

I hope none of you have already done this one.

30 Days of Housecleaning Revisited

Last month I challenged myself to keep the house picked up for 30 days. Here's the original post. Well, it's been over a month, and I've really done well with this. I have actually kept our dining room table clean of my stuff. It's the new home of all of hubby's RC Airplanes now though! I have worked extra hard on keeping the kitchen fairly clean. I've been known to sweep at 10 pm now. Who would have thought I would be that person?

My next challenge will be to clean up all the piles and piles of stuff in our bedroom. Hubby has his own piles, too, and he's even agreed to help me with this. We have the most beautiful furniture in there that God provided, but you can't see the gorgeous granite tops because of all the clothes and piles of papers. I am so ashamed to show the before pictures, but maybe that will give me more incentive to clean up.


Hubby's response to me showing the pictures: "Do you ever think you show a little too much of yourself on your blog?"

Well, sometimes.

The Ultimate Blog Party 2008

Click here for newer posts and my book giveaway!!

It's that time of year again!! It's time for the Ultimate Blog Party 2008 hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom.

I am so excited because I got so many new visitors and met so many new bloggers last year. I'm really excited about all the giveaways, too. The party is March 7-14, and you've been officially invited by Scamp and I. She plans to make a few appearances during the week, and we'll be giving away a book or two.

Also, the ladies and I at Teen Lit Review will be hosting a party ourselves. So, please come and join us for a little fun and a couple book giveaways there.

Here are the rules to participate:

1. Invite your friends!
Post an invitation to the party and link back to 5 Minutes for Mom with one of their blog party buttons. You must be female, and your blog must be family friendly.

2. Host a party of your own during the party week.
Blog as usual, but you do have to have at least one post during the blog party week.

3. Sign the Mr. Linky at 5 Minutes for Mom.
"The Mr. Linky will go live at Friday March 7th, 12:01 am Eastern Time and participating bloggers who have their party post up can add their link any time during the week of the party."

Click here for a detailed list of the official rules. Don't forget to have fun!

BTW, there are so many cool prizes to be won at this year’s Ultimate Blog Party, but my top three picks would be:

#36: Marketing for Entrepreneurs from Lis Garrett
#60: $25 Amazon gift certificate from Judy
#49: $10 gift certificate from Christelle

And if my top three picks are already chosen, I’d love any of the following (in order of preference):59, 143, 117, 20, 17, 8, 1, 94, 10, 14, 15 or anything else related to books (adult or child) or that would be fitting for my 2 year old daughter.

Slow to Load

As many of you may know, my site is a little slow to load. Well, maybe extremely slow to some of you. But, I have tried to correct that. I had several You Tube videos in my posts, but now I've replaced them with the links only. I hope this helps. If it's still really slow, please let me know. There are a few other things I could take off as well.

Scamp's Flower Girl Dress

My mom and I finally found a flower girl dress for Scamp for the wedding she's going to be in. It looks like a mini wedding dress. After I let her out of the dressing room with it, she started spinning around and singing the "Tahra Time" theme song. It's a little 5-minute show that airs on our local PBS station Monday through Friday between Big Comfy Couch and Teletubbies. Tahra always has the neatest outfits and dances and sings. I can't believe Scamp even remembered the song since we don't watch it every day. I'll have to post a picture of Scamp's dress soon.

Smallville

I don't normally blog about the TV shows I watch too often. I think several of you might remember my TV addiction post about how I had to have the TV on all the time just for background noise. Well, there has been a huge change in my TV watching. I cut my shows down from 11 to 3 over the course of the past year, which only one is coming on right now due to the writers' strike.

That show just so happens to be Smallville, which I've watched since it's first season. I have to admit I love the Clark Kent character, but lately (since the strike) the plot and overall dialogue of the show is so lacking. At times this season, I've been embarrassed to watch due to the beyond cheesiness of the lines. You know, given the nature of the show, you have to allow for some cheesiness, but lately it's been beyond bearable.

I now only watch it due to the fact I've followed it since the beginning. I've been there through Lana and Clark actually getting together to them breaking up to Lana marrying Lex Luther to Lana divorcing Lex and running back to Clark. But, now I'm tired. If you've ever watched the Superman movies and even Lois and Clark: The New Adventures of Superman, you know that Clark and Lana do not end up together. He goes for Lois, whose character was actually added to the cast of Smallville a few seasons back. So, enough is enough. Clark, dump poor Lana (Girl, I like you, but it's just not in your destiny) and start heading over to Lois' for a little coffee. Stop this nasty charade of teasing, and let's get on with it already!!

And who the heck is this Kara character? Yeah, yeah, she's Clark's cousin and Misses Hottie Hot Super Girl. But, why in the world do we need yet another hotter-than-normal-reality character? There's not enough room...unless they're going to off one of the other ladies! Lana, maybe. Yeah, they've tried several times, but she comes back with a vengeance much to my dismay. Writers, please. End my frustration!

Blogging friends, thanks for listening to my rant.

Fairy Princess Days

Sickness hasn't overtaken me completely. It's strange...one day my throat hurts, the next it doesn't, the next it does. But, today we are feeling good!!

Slow, Sick Day

It's a slow, sick day. Thankfully, Scamp doesn't seem to be sick, but I've got a sore throat. I hope it's not the flu since it's going around everywhere. I'm hoping that the sickness will pass quickly, but if it doesn't, I may not be able to post as much.

Even though Scamp's not sick, she is really tired. At 12:45 pm she asked me if she could have her passey. We're trying not to give it to her so much, so I said, "Are you ready for a nap?" thinking she would say "No nap!" Then, I would in turn say, "Well, no passey." Not the case today. She agreed to lay down for a nap, which usually isn't until 2:00 pm. We go upstairs, and I read her a story, then turn on a short TV show to try to kill some time just in case she's not as sleepy as she says she is. Halfway through she says, "I want bed." I can't believe it. She normally cries and fusses. So, I lay her down and Presto, an early nap. Thank you Lord because both Beef and I are really tired, too. He was up until 5:00 am working. I'm going to lay down now.

Valentine's Day 2008

We waited until after naptime to do our Valentine's gifts. If you look really closely, you can see one lingering tear in Scamp's eye. She's awfully grumpy when she wakes up. I'm told she's just like her Mama in this area. I went in her room to get her, and she literally growled at me. She apparently wasn't done with her nap. I started to go back downstairs, but that seemed to make things worse. The only thing that helped her get out of her funk was for her Daddy to come get her out of bed. Even the lure of presents downstairs couldn't shake the grump out of her until she finally saw them.

After presents we ate supper at the Bangkok, a Thai restaurant. I love the food, and it's never very crowded. We were seated immediately. After that we went to the Hobby Store for Beef to look at RC airplane parts, then we went to the mall. We had a great Valentine's. How was your day?

Snow Day 2008

We woke up to a freezing day yesterday. It was the first snow day of the year. Scamp and I were supposed to go to BSF (Bible study) that morning but changed our minds since the schools were out. We headed out about 9:00 am along with Beef for a little frosty fun. We barely got an inch of snow, and it melted away before lunch. But, Scamp still had her fun digging with the spoon she requested.

Beef built her a tiny snowman. This was actually the second one because she had way too much fun destroying the first one with her spoon. We are mid-snowman-kiss here. It's still really cold, and the only snow that's left is on our back deck where the sun doesn't hit very often.

BTW, Happy Valentine's Day!! We haven't exhanged our valentines yet, so hopefully tomorrow I'll have some pictures to post.

Time Travel Tuesday

Did you have a favorite pet as a child? What was it? Where did it come from? What was the coolest thing about your pet?

Don’t forget to sign the mr. linky at Annie's so we can all read about your childhood pet story!

I will have to mention two pets because one pet was like a member of our family, and I still miss her. Her name was Autumn Sunshine, Sunny, for short. She was a yellow lab, and we got her from my aunt Maurina when I was in elementary school. She was so lovable, always good with kids and other animals. She even let our cats sleep on her back. She would always get excited every time we came home from school. You could tell because she would sneeze repeatedly, and she always looked like she was smiling. We had her until I was in college. My parents finally had to put her to sleep because she had arthritis so bad, she could barely get around. My mom has been unable to buy another lab due to the fact they are very suseptible to arthritis. Gosh, I want to cry.

Sunny was our family dog, but my cat BJ was all mine. I named him after the TV show BJ and the Bear. You know the trucker with the pet monkey that always rode with him. I loved that show. BJ was a black and white Tom Cat, and he was not very friendly. He would let you pet him but never pick him up. He would occasionally come and sit in my lap to let me pet him if I was really still. We had him around the same time we had Sunny. Sunny's brother, Chase, who my uncle down the road owned, killed him as he did several of my other cats. He wasn't a very nice dog.

High Flying Scamp

Our little daredevil loves to "jump", which basically means she loves for her Daddy to pitch her into a pile of pillows atop our bed. She loves to soar through the air and land smack onto her belly or back. This reminds me of my calling as a parent. We are to teach our children to reach their fullest God-given potential in their lives. And yes, some may be called to fly in a sense. We are to teach them that through God all things are possible. If God wants us to soar above the clouds, He will make it possible by giving us the abilities and means to do so. In this case, Scamp needs her Daddy to help her fly just like we need our Father in heaven to help us live beyond what we feel we are capable of doing by ourselves.

What seemingly impossible situation are you dealing with today? God promises us that we are never alone and every trial we go through is for a reason. We will make it through if we just trust in Him. And what we once believed to be impossible won't always be. Let go of your fears and put your trust in the One who will never let you fall.

Teen Lit Review Book Giveaway

Teen Lit Reivew is having another book giveaway featuring Hollywood Nobody by Lisa Samson. If you would like to participate in the drawing, please read the rules below:

1. Leave a comment at this link with an email address or a blog where we may reach you. **(You don't have to have a blog to participate).
2. If you have a blog, please write a small post with a link back to Teen Lit Review. This is not required, but it's greatly appreciated because it helps us spread the word about our blog.

The winner will be announced on Feb. 29 (Leap Year) after 1:00 pm CST. And be sure to read the review here. Plus, if you're the winner, Teen Lit Reivew would love to hear what you and your child think about the book.

Awards to Be Given

I was recently awarded both of these awards. Angi at Thoughts of a Wannabe so graciously gave me the Excellent Blog award. Thank you so much for being so thoughtful. The ladies I'm awarding below are excellent writers and just excellent women in general. They open their hearts up on their blogs and are just so encouraging and lovable and fun.

Jill at Who Could Ask for Anything More

Gail at More Than a Song

Actually these ladies deserve the next award, too.

Thanks to Rachel for sharing the Cool Mom award with me. You really are a sweetheart. The ladies I'm awarding this one to are all amazing moms. They all write about their darling, wonderful children, and you can just see that they would do anything for them. They all love God and show that love to not only their families, but to us blog readers, too.

Annie at My Life As Annie

Angi at Thoughts of a Wannabe

Tamara at Changing More than Diapers

Lauren at Baseballs and Bows

Sonya at Mo Mhile Gra

Jenny Up the Hill at well, multiple places

Elizabeth at the Hazlett Family

Gosh, you are all excellent!!

Doodlebug Designs Giveaway

Doodlebug Designs not only did a complete customized design for Scamp's Place but also designed the header and button for Teen Lit Review. To celebrate the grand opening, Doodlebug Designs is hosting a great giveaway.

1st Place Prize ~ FREE completely customized blog design for a blogger blog!

2nd Place Prize ~ FREE completely customized header for a blogger blog!

3rd Place Prize ~ 10% off any service!

Go to Doodlebug Designs and:
1. Leave your link on the Mr. Linky.
2. Leave a comment.
3. Include the button and information about the give away with a link back to Doodlebug Designs on your blog.

The winner will be announced on Friday February 22nd!

Nuff Said

moar funny pictures

moar funny pictures
Hubby sent the link to this very funny website where people "...take a picture of [their] cats (or sometimes other animals) and write captions on them using a combination of bad text messaging grammar, Internet memes, and poorly translated Japanese-to-English messages." I had to steal a couple. Click on the second image to see the full caption.

Old West Murder Mystery

My good friend Joseph, who I've known since middle school just celebrated his 30th birthday this past weekend. He put on an Old West Murder Mystery in one of his friend's homes that was built in the 1800s to initially function as a Civil War hospital. The owner's are antique collectors so the first story is decorated with authentic period pieces.

I played Poker Alice, a famous female poker dealer in the West. She was actually a real person. I had my satchal stuffed with cards and poker chips. Joseph played Mitch Maverick, a businessman and poker tournament winner who just so happended to be murdered during the evening.

Beef played my outlaw ex-husband, Jesse Wales. He even tied for first place when we voted on best actor, aka Drama Queen. The party was great, and we ended with a creamy chocolate cake covered in fondant and sporting a revolver. I need to get busy on the next Girls' Night Murder Mystery.

Girls' Night Out...Again

Last Thursday was our annual January Birthdays Girls' Night Out. The rain couldn't even hold us back. Like last year, we met at Chili's to start things off. We had several photographers among the group, so before our food arrived we took turns grouping up to have our photos snapped. This was way more fun than it should have been. Greyson even brought her video camera to capture the fun. One of the best parts was when a crush of the male persuasion stopped by our table to make small talk with no one girl in particular...yeah right!. Of course, Greyson had to video him and the reaction of this once audacious now timid female. He looked a little nervous, too, if you asked me.

The main event was at my house: dessert (dirt cake) and a new workout video (of which the name won't be mentioned) that one of the girls received for her birthday the previous week. We all dressed accordingly and after 15 minutes of intense shaping and sculpting, we called it quits and watched the second half while eating dessert and vegging on the couch.

I haven't had that much fun in awhile. We're going to have to do this more often.

The Proverbs 31 She Speaks Conference

Proverbs 31 Ministries is hosting a contest for a chance to win a scholarship to She Speaks Conference 2008. The conference is specifically designed to help improve the skills of speakers, writers and women’s ministry leaders alike.

"The winner of this contest will be awarded a scholarship for the cost of one person’s registration for the 2008 She Speaks conference. The value of this scholarship is $525 which includes your conference registration, 2 nights at the conference hotel and meals associated with the conference."

You choose which part of the conference you'd like to attend. I would love to be apart of the writing portion. I feel God has given me a gift with writing and wants me to serve in this area. It's how I express myself best. I would love to be given the opportunity to hone in on my skills through the conference. I've always had a dream to write a book and over the last year or so my passion for writing has increased. One door for me to serve in this area has already been opened with the start of the Teen Lit Review blog, a ministry a couple of other blogging friends and I created just recently.

The last day to enter the contest is TODAY! Go to Proverbs 31 Ministries to read about the details and enter the contest.