THE WINNER IS:

As promised yesterday, I am letting you all know who the winner is for my latest giveaway. 

First, let's set the stage!!  I decided to use a lovely basket this time for the names.

Then I put the call out for someone to help me with this exhausting task!  One willing participant showed up.  Check out his sly little face here!!  haha!

Here's the complicated drawing process in action!

WINNER!!!!!!!!!!!  Susan Crabtree from poca cosas!!  YAY!!  Check out her blog here!!

You have won this WONDERFUL book!  I must say it has made it to my top 5 favorites!  Keep a look out for a delivery soon!

There are plenty more reviews to come soon and a large majority of them have a book to giveaway.  Till next time!  Adios!

Giveaway Alert

OK, I have been kind of bad recently.  CONFESSION:  I have not kept up on my blog!!  Whew!  I got it out there...I feel sooooo much better.

I do want you all to know that TOMORROW, I will have a winner for the book giveaway that I posted here.  If you would like to get in on this giveaway (quickly) just leave a comment on the post.

 

Post It Note Tuesday

Friday Follow

IT'S FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Want to make more new friends??  Just click on this button above and join the Friday Follow party going on over at One 2 Try.

I'm loving linking up to these blog parties going on out here in bloggy land!!  Can't wait to make more friends!!

Book Review: Forget Me Not

This book was provided for review by the WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group.

Summary:
Crossroads Crisis Center owner Benjamin Brandt was a content man—in his faith, his work, and his family. Then in a flash, everything he loved was snatched away. His wife and son were murdered, and grief-stricken Ben lost faith. Determination to find their killers keeps him going, but after three years of dead ends and torment, his hope is dying too. Why had he survived? He’d failed to protect his family.
Now, a mysterious woman appears at Crossroads seeking answers and help—a victim who eerily resembles Ben’s deceased wife, Susan. A woman robbed of her identity, her life, of everything except her faith—and Susan’s necklace.

The connections between the two women mount, exceeding coincidence, and to keep the truth hidden, someone is willing to kill. Finding out who and why turns Ben and the mystery woman’s situation from dangerous to deadly. Their only hope for survival is to work together, trust each other, and face whatever they discover head on, no matter how painful. But will that be enough to save their lives and heal their tattered hearts?


 
My Thoughts:
First of all, many thanks to WaterBrook Multnomah for allowing me to review books for them.  It's a privilege and an honor!!
 
The book:  OH MY!!!  This book has been, by far, my favorite read thus far!  This author is a definite edge of your seat writer and had me up till the wee hours of the morning wanting more!  I believe my husband became a book widower during these past few days.  I could not put this book down and itched for the moment that I could leave work, get my running done and get in my recliner or out on the back porch so I could sit and read this intriguing book!!
 
If you love suspense, this is definitely the book for you!  There are so many twists and turns in this book AND it keeps you guessing until the very end of the book!  It's not often that you find a book that will suck you in and keep you questioning up until the very last pages.  I highly recommend this book to everyone out there.  I truly don't know what more to say because I don't want to throw out any spoilers.  Please, Please, Please read this book...I beg you!  ENJOY!
 
Author Bio:
Vicki Hinze is an award-winning author of twenty-three novels, three nonfiction books, and hundreds of articles. Selected for Who’s Who in America in 2004 as a writer and educator, Hinze is active in Romance Writers of America and serves as a Vice President on the International Thriller Writers Board of Directors. Vicki lives in Florida with her artist husband, a retired Air Force Lieutenant Colonel. Visit www.vickihinze.com to learn more about Vicki’s books, blogs, and writing programs.
 

GIVEAWAY ALERT!!!!!!!!!!!

I have one book (courtesy of http://www.randomhouse.com/waterbrook/bloggingforbooks/) to give away to one lucky reader of my blog. Please leave me a comment and I will do a random draw for this wonderful book!! Can't wait to see who wins! 

A Few Thoughts In My Head

Ya'll (as Paula Deen would say)!!!  There are a ton of things rolling around in my head right now!

1)  I am soooo excited about the new friends I am making via the blog party that's going on at 5 Minutes For Mom.  Check it out!!

2)  I am thrilled that I have gotten back in touch with a wonderful friend I grew up with via the blog world - Sheila @ A Little Dirt Never Hurt

3)  I am feeling so much better because I went and had a Pedi done at lunch time with Sheila. (don't let her fool ya, she's a girly girl at heart!!)

4)  I am looking forward to the next book review post I am about to do!!  This book is THE BOMB!!!  Oh My Word!  Soooooooo good!!

5)  I am hopin'...and wishin'...and prayin'...and - forgive me, I had a song moment.  I am hoping that I have a better weekend with my children.  Last weekend was too much drama to even mention on this here blog!!  There are many privileges that no longer exist in my home as of this past Saturday...haha!!!  Mom is soooooo mean!  It was so bad that my 12 yr old daughter told me she was going to run away and I actually told her that I would get the door for her - HAHAHAHAH!!  Oh the joy of adolescense!!

6)  Life is grand!

7)  The weather is B-E-A-UTIFUL!

8)  My decorating brain is on overload.  I have been asked to take care of the decorations for Pastor Appreciation Sunday Banquet.  I'm soooo excited!!

9)  I enjoyed a wonderful evening with the daughter-in-law and mother-in-law at the Taste of Home Spring Cooking Show. 

10)  My track star daughter has another track meet tomorrow.  This is #4 for the season.  She has 8 medals with 3 track meets under her belt....what a  show-off!!  I'm so proud of her!

There's just a glimpse of a FEW of the MANY thoughts that are rolling around in my head today.  ENJOY!  What's on your mind??

IT"S A PARTY!!!!!!!!!

Come one, come all!!  Join the bloggy party out in bloggy world with all of our bloggy friends!!

I've never participated in a Blog Party before.  I have recently been trying to figure out how to get more traffic to my blog.  I got an email from one of the wonderful blogs I follow, We Are That Family and she was talking about a blog party going on at the blog, 5 Minutes for Mom.  I decided to join the party!!  Nothing like a great party to get you going on a Monday.

First of all, thank you for visiting my blog.  I am a mother of 3 lovely children, 2 step-children and 4 grandchildren.  We have a blended family and I commonly refer to it as "The Conner Chaos".  Our lives are no different from anyone else's that I am reading about out here in bloggy world.  We are busy, have school activities, work full-time outside the home, church activities and somehow manage to find time to eat, sleep and clean the house (sometimes)....ha!  It's a wonder we are all sane at my home.

I started this blog two years ago with the intent of keeping family up to date with what was going on in our "chaotic" life.  It quickly turned into me becoming EXTREMELY addicted to following other blogs and finding friends out in this big 'ole world.  I have since accumulated a FEW followers and so desire to have more.  I feel like I follow a million blogs but can't seem to get followers myself.  Oh well, I'll do what I gotta do!!

I love to read, sing, play games, watch tv, scrapbook, read blogs, take pictures, fellowship with my friends and attend church. 

My two boys playing in the last snow of the season in Oklahoma (mid-March).

My lovely, sometimes with an attitude, daughter.

Hubby and I with one of the grandkids.  Isn't she a doll??

I was completely overwhelmed looking at all of the prizes being offered at this PARTAY!!  I don't know that I could narrow it down to just a few that I would want.  I'm a pretty content person and would be happy with anything.

Can't wait to stalk visit some of the other blogs that are a part of this party.  Get your button up on your blog and post something about this party to introduce yourself to everyone!!  Come on, join in!

What a Night!!

Our school is out for the next 3 Fridays.  These are our built in snow days that we did not use.  Well, earlier this week my daughter asked if she could have a friend spend the night with her on Thursday.  Of course that was fine with me.  When I get home from work yesterday, there were 2 additional girls at our house just hanging out.  I love being the home where the kids come over to hang out!!  Before I knew it, there were a total of 5 teenage girls in my home spending the night!!  WHAT?!  Yeah!  It was fun!  We were running around town at 10:00 last night looking for ice cream, renting movies and playing freeze out in the car.  Call me crazy!  I just might answer to that. 

Until our next adventure!!

Room Remodel

OK, so I have teased you for a couple of weeks about my son's room being redone.  It's official:  It's DONE!!  Well, there are a couple of minor cosmetic things that I want to do but will have to wait just a few more days.

I forgot to take before pics when everything was in place, but I did get pics of what the walls looked like before.

I started by taping off all of the wood trim.  Hubby came behind and caulked so we could have beautiful straight lines.

Here's a peek at what the walls were before.  They were just painted a solid taupe color.  All walls and ceiling.

Then came the fun part!!  Painting with RED (Crimson).  Yes, you heard me.  I have always been told that painting with red is quite an event.  To tell you the truth, it was super easy.  I did all of the red by myself and I was super excited at the results.

After painting the entire bottom half red, it was time to start painting the upper half & ceiling white.  As you all recall, I had shoulder surgery middle of December.  I was pretty concerned about how I would be able to do this.  Unbelievably, I never had one problem while painting the red on the walls.  I began feeling soreness and pain after I started putting coats of white on the upper half of the wall.  All of the stretching and having that roller movement above my head kind of took a toll on the ole shoulder.  So, I put two coats of white on 2/3 of the upper half and one coat of white on the top 1/3 of the upper half.  After that, I kindly (batting my eyes) asked my hubby if he would mind finishing up the top of the walls and do the ceiling.  He kindly obliged!!  Here's the finished product.

HOW COOL!! I think it looks so fabulous!!  We added aluminum flashing as the border to separate the crimson and white.  We also bought and installed a super cool modern ceiling fan.

Now all I have left to do is purchase a grey comforter for his bed and to put the OU on the wall.  I will post pics of that when I complete it.  It may be a few weeks.  We both need to rest....WHEW!  Enjoy!

Book Review Winner

Well, I have a couple of giveaways today.  First of all, Here Burns My Candle.  I had several comments on this post so I did an old fashioned drawing.  My son Andrew helped.

It started with everyone's name in a bowl.

Then I had my son draw a name out of the bowl.

TA-DA!!  Sheila is the Lucky winner!!!  YAY

Congratulations to Sheila from A Little Dirt Never Hurt for winning the book Here Burns My Candle.   I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

 

Also want to give a big congratulations out to Samantha at Mommy's Time Out for winning the book An Absence So Great.   ENJOY!!  Be sure to email me your address so I can get it in the mail to you.

Catching Up

Just wanted to drop a line and say Happy Easter to everyone!  We had a wonderful weekend.  Hope you did as well.

My son's room is ALMOST complete.  We will be moving the furniture back in tonight and then I can finally get the complete pictures done.  Hopefully this week I can have those up and show you the transformation.  It looks really really cool!!

My computer is in the "shop" getting fixed.  Without my laptop at home, I have found it very difficult to post anything on my blog.  We spent our entire weekend working on the room and  me preparing for dinners and easter baskets.  Nothing too exciting!

Have a great week!