I'M A WINNER!

Did you happen to see the fabulous giveaway at Rhondi's blog, Rose Colored Glasses? Well, yours truly won that fabulous give away!!! Of course, a bargain hunter knows you can't get a better bargain than "free", but not only was I getting somethin' for nothin', I was getting somethin' fabulous for nothin'!

When I opened the box, the first thing I saw was this beautiful book.

Just look at these beautiful pictures (not that I stopped and looked THEN -- Not until I dug every treasure out of that box, but I did enjoyed reading this lovely book after I finished getting everything out of this box.)

It is such a beautiful and inspirational book. I just want to share one of the quotes from the book:

"Blessed are they who have the gift of making friends, for it is one of God's greatest gifts." I have met so many people in Blogville who have that gift.

Wait, there's more!

Isn't this one of the prettiest mugs you've ever seen? Just look at the lovely ivy covered teapot and tea cups. Almost too pretty to use. I was thinking of just putting it in the china cabinet to look pretty.


I was thinking of doing that, until I found this in my box of treasures. Okay, I'll have to fill my mug with this wonderful tea, and sit down with my beautiful new book, and just enjoy my winnings!

But wait, there's MORE! More, you ask? Yes, more! I am one lucky lady, and Rhondi is one generous lady!

I LUV these napkin rings. I almost didn't want to show them to you, because I can't wait to do a tablescape and use these beauties and I wanted to impress you with what fabulous napkin rings I had!

And isn't that a cute card she enclosed? See that great retro teapot on the card?

Rhondi, what a generous and lovely give-away, and let me tell you, it couldn't have gone to a more appreciative person! I don't know where you got your Random Generator, but I love him! Thank you so much for my prize! If you don't already visit Rose Colored Glasses, be sure to go over there. You never know when Rhondi will have another fabulous give-away.

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Now I have to post something I'd really rather not post. I have a big apology to make. Sweet Lorna at Lace and Ivy Cottage tagged me to do the lists of 8's. I think it involved listing about 40 items about me. Lorna had posted some fabulous lists, and I was honored that she tagged me to participate. I had every intention of following through with the tag. Lorna, I apologize, but, as flattered as I am that you would ask me to give any more information about myself than I've already given on this blog, I'm declining to do it. I just can't think of that many interesting things to post about me. When I started making my lists, I wasn't even interested in what I was listing! Wow! I have a dull life! Everything I thought about putting on my list, I had already said in a previous post. Uh Oh! That may mean I have to give up blogging. I've already said everything I have to say! Lorna, please forgive me for not following through on this. Those of you who haven't been to Lace and Ivy Cotttage, please go by and see Lorna's beautiful blog. You will be glad you did. Thank you Lorna, and I do hope you'll understand.

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In a related matter, if I do come up with something else to say and therefore continue blogging, I am going to become an award free blog, because, as evidenced by the above note, I am not good at following the rules. You bloggers are just so wonderful about giving out awards and tags, and I am just not any good at that. I'm not comfortable receiving an award and then not passing it on, but I'm not comfortable selecting blogs to receive the awards either. I don't want a kind blogger who passed an award to me to feel badly because I didn't pass it on. You know that saying "the buck stops here"? Well, I'm afraid the awards, the memes, and the tags stop here on my blog, and I don't want to be the cause of that. Thank you so much to those who thought of me in the past when they were giving out awards. I really do appreciate it. Thank you for understanding that I will no longer be accepting awards.

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UPCOMING BLOGVILLE EVENTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT:

ON JUNE 19TH- MARTY AT A STROLL THRU LIFE IS HAVING A CLOCHE PARTY. GO READ ABOUT IT ON HER BLOG, AND GET YOUR CLOCHES READY!







ON JUNE 21ST, KATHLEEN AT CUSINE KATHLEEN IS HAVING A WHITE TABLESETTING EVENT, SO GO VISIT KATHLEEN TO GET THE SCOOP, AND START WASHING THOSE WHITE DISHES!



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Just one more thing - I promise! You know, I always have some 'splainin' to do. For those of you who visited my family room post Monday and wondered why or how I had accumulated so much "stuff", I should have explained that on that post. I have been married 40 years this August, and yes, I've always been a collector. When my mother died, I inherited half of her "stuff", and when my mother-in-law died, my husband inherited 1/4 of her "stuff". Believe me when I say that I know there are people who get rid of "stuff" when they end up with so much, but it is just not something that I can do. (I've admitted on this blog several times that I know I need psychiatric counseling, but I can't afford it. I have to save all of my money to go to estate sales, garage sales, and flea markets to buy more "stuff".) The answer to those who wondered who dusts all of that "stuff" is, unfortunately, NOBODY! That's why there were no closeups of my "stuff"! When somebody left a comment about enlarging my already huge pictures, I did wonder if they saw nothing but dust on the enlargement. (If that is what you saw, I need to advise you that you are having computer problems-that is not dust on my "stuff" that you saw on your computer-nope no dust at my house!!) Maybe all of you already know this, but my secret for dusting is to keep the air conditioner and heater filters changed frequently-I'm serious! When I start seeing a lot of dust at my house, I know I've waited longer than I should have to start hounding my husband about changing the filters.

WHERE AM I?

I'll blog tomorrow and today
Of course I blogged yesterday!
I'll snap a photo here and there
I'm snapping photos everywhere!

It was only a very short time ago
"Blog" was a word I didn't know.
And now, I'm there almost every day
in the Land of Blog - it's my get away!

Away from what, you might ask.
Away from any unpleasant task!
Away from vacuuming and mopping my floor
Away from cleaning toilets, tubs and more.

Away from the dusting so desperately needed,
Away from the garden that should be weeded,
Away from that large pile of dirty clothes,
Away from the drudgery and all of my woes!

Part of my house, I sometimes clean,
because pictures of it will soon be seen
by those who visit my blog each day,
and have such lovely things to say.

But I can't get my house all shiny and clean,
because I AM the blog-visiting queen!
Though my king would surely like to see
A sparkling clean house-it's not to be.

I start out to visit just a blog or two
and end up visiting more than a few.
If blogging folks weren't so darn creative,
I might not have become a Blogland native.

Those who don't blog cannot understand
when I'm at my laptop - it's another land!
There's not a logical explanation I can give,
cause even I'm not sure in which land I live

Thanks so much for coming to visit my blog. laurie

DO WE HAVE A WEINER?

YES, I BELIEVE WE DO HAVE A WEINER! WE ALSO HAVE A WINNER!


After printing all of your comments from my last posting, I cut them apart.

Do you see your comment?
After folding them, I put them into the bowl.

My husband thought I had gone crazier than usual when I asked him to let me take a picture of him mixing up the comments. (I had to promise I'd only show his hands!)

Surely he won't mind if I got part of his arm in the picture. He doesn't look at my blog, so he wouldn't ever know if I posted a full picture of him! He's drawing a name. Are you getting excited?



The anticipation builds as he opens the little piece of paper.

And the winner is Ginger! Congratulations Ginger!

WAIT JUST A MINUTE! WHAT IS THAT?


Do we have another weiner? Well, if we have another weiner, we must have another winner. (I didn't tell you I had two of these bowls still in the box, did I?)
And the winner of the second bowl is Zoey! Congratulations Zoey!

I want to thank all of you who leave messages on my blog. I wish I could send each of you a gift. I am amazed that anyone visits my little blog.

AN AWARD:

I am SO honored to receive the Award for being a wonderful Mom. The translation that came with this award is:
~"You do fantastic work!~Be proud of your accomplishments."~

What a very special and kind award. A huge thank you to a couple of wonderful bloggers:

Melissa at Melissa's Heart and Home and Connie at My Thoughts and Creations passed this award along to me. These are two darling ladies with lots of creativity. If you haven't seen their blogs, you need to check them out. Thank you so much Melissa and Connie for this special honor.

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BLOG COMMENTING:

I have been asked by a friend to give instructions about leaving a comment on a blog. All of you who already comment can skip this little tutorial (I guess you can skip anything you want-you sure don't need my permission!)

When I started visiting blogs, I didn't leave comments for a long time. At first, it was because I didn't know how. But, one day, I saw something on Gollum's blog that I just HAD to comment about (can you imagine that I couldn't keep quiet any longer?).
I went to the bottom of the posting, and I saw that there were 15 or so comments. But how did they comment? I couldn't see their comments. By that time, I had learned that clicking with that little mouse seems to open magic doors on the internet, so I left-clicked on that word "comment", and yes, magically, the comments appeared. I was very pleased with myself until a little box popped up and I read "This page contains both secure and nonsecure items. Do you want to display the nonsecure items?" YIKES! I exited the blog without leaving a comment!

That did not keep me from visiting a few blogs though. I kept seeing how many people were leaving comments, and I reasoned that they wouldn't be doing that if there was a chance of their computer contracting a virus, so I clicked on "comments" again, and very bravely left clicked "yes" when that little box appeared again. I read some of the comments that others had left, and then, in the little comment box, I typed my little comment. Then I had some choices to make. I chose to click on anonymous. I had signed my first name to my comment. Some blogs do not allow anonymous comments, but mine does. If anonymous is not a choice, you will need to type in a screen name (just choose something that reflects you). Then you have to give an email address and a password. Then, you click "publish" and you're done.

After my first comment on a blog, I started leaving comments (or what some might call "books") on everybody's blogs. Some of the blogs required "word verification", and most of the time I was able to type the letters that appeared for word verification. There are still times when it has to give me a second set of letters, because these old eyes do not always see the correct letters.

These directions may sound difficult, but once you have done it a couple of times, it becomes easy. So, please DO NOT HESITATE TO LEAVE A COMMENT ON MY BLOG OR OTHER BLOGS. It really means a lot to a blogger to know that someone is actually reading their blog! I would love to see non-bloggers start leaving their email address in their comment, so that I could occasionally respond to them, but that would be up to the "blogless" to decide whether or not to do that. Most of you may have already heard more than you ever wanted to hear from me by the time you finish reading one of my posts! laurie