Giveaway!

I have here an extra copy of "Black Heels to Tractor Wheels", Ree Drummond's latest book.  I want to share the love and see that one of you gets this book.  It'll be something to help pass the time on these cold, snowy winter days.  Unless, like my sister, you live in south Texas.  Or Florida.  In that case, it's something you can read while you lie on the beach getting a tan.  
Did you know that the readers of the Pioneer Woman blog helped choose the title for this book?  Yep, Ree had several ideas for a title back when she started telling this love story on her blog; she took a poll of her readers to find out which we liked best.  I voted for "Black Heels".  

Ree autographed the book.  

To enter this giveaway, please leave a comment telling me someplace you'd visit right now if the airplane tickets were free.  I allow anonymous comments on my blog, but if you have trouble with that, email me at mosie1944@gmail.com with your entry.   I'll write down the names (or email addresses), put them in a hat, and have Cliff draw.  Let's end this contest at midnight Sunday; we'll find out the winner when Cliff wakes up on Monday morning.  


If you're like Cliff and really don't want to go anyplace, that's OK.  Leave any kind of comment as long as it's a nice one.


Where would I visit if I had the chance?  Hawaii, I think; if I couldn't do that, I'd go visit my sister in Texas.   Today it's supposed to get up to 74 there; tomorrow a cold front will affect that area, so the high will only be 54; but I'm sure it'll warm back up in a day or two.  It always does.  


I would ask that relatives not enter this giveaway because if one of them won, it would look a little fishy.  Besides, when I'm done reading my own copy, I'll pass it around the family to anyone who's interested.  


Ree will be going on a book-signing trip again; you'll find the schedule HERE.  So far, Kansas City isn't on the list.  

Just a thought....

There's a very prominent blog I love; I've loved it since the first day I stumbled onto it.  
As the lady who owns the blog became more popular, she drew a few people who didn't like her.  
She was too rich.  
She made herself a "product".  
She wasn't really "keeping it real". 
(Can you say "jealous"?)  
She didn't give you enough personal attention when you thought you were her "BFF".  
Some people really hit below the belt, making up stories they thought were funny.  Like the woman with that blog called "Poop on Peeps".  Don't bother looking it up; it's gone now.  
There are others.  It seems they go on for awhile; then they cross a certain line, and they either stop blogging entirely, delete their blog, whatever.  
Let me give you a tip, folks.  If you are going to smear somebody's name and reputation, make sure they are too poor to hire a good lawyer.  Because if I were in their shoes, I'd be calling my lawyer.  
Now, if you want to smear me... have at it.  I barely have two dimes to rub together.  And I could use the publicity.  Just don't badmouth my husband, my grandchildren, my dog, or my cow.  
My kids can take care of themselves just fine, so go ahead and take them on if you're brave enough.  Now that I think about it, they'll take care of my grandchildren too.  
But you WILL be sorry if you mess with them.

Another chance at "Pioneer Woman Cooks"

Midlife Mom was the winner of Pioneer Woman's cookbook in the giveaway I had here on my blog; she already had a copy of the book, but she wanted one with an autograph. Now she's keeping the new one and having a giveaway that will bless some lucky winner with her other one. Go on over to Home on the Range and put your name in the pot! She has some interesting rules that will give you more chances to win, so scroll on down in that entry and read all about it.

And the winner is....

Midlife Mom! Contact me with your address, dear; looks like a Christmas gift for your DIL. I wish I had a copy of PW's book for every single one of you.

If you want to purchase one, I notice they're much cheaper on Amazon.com than in the book stores. If you want it autographed, Ree has said that if you send your book to her, she will autograph it and send it back. She's already done that for a lot of people. I copied the following direct from her website:

"If you would like me to sign my scrawly, curly, loopy, deeply disturbed signature on a cookbook for you (or someone in your life), I’d be happy to oblige. Just send your cookbook to:

Pioneer Woman, 
P.O. Box 749
, Pawhuska, OK 74056

Please stick a Post-it (or scrap of paper) in each cookbook with the specifics (recipient’s name, etc.) and I’ll sign away. I’m happy to write special messages."

One thing and another

Just in case some of you are Pioneer Woman fans and missed it, you can catch her appearance on the Bonnie Hunt Show HERE. I have never watched that show, but as I was fast-forwarding to Ree's slot, I saw Dr. Greene, of E.R. I just saw him die on the show last week! He seems very genuine. And so does Ree Drummond.

I'm getting along fine with my Mac; oh, there's this one problem that makes me wonder what's going on; I downloaded Open Office, a word processing program. It works just dandy, but it has parked itself on my desktop looking like a little plug-in, and thinks it's a CD. When I try to remove it by dragging it to the trash, it tells me it can't be ejected because it's in use. I know I shouldn't find this hilarious, but I do! The little word processor that thinks it's a CD or DVD! It doesn't cause any trouble; it just sits there looking innocent, and I surf away to my heart's content.

I'm on the verge of making an appointment with my orthopedic surgeon; my knees are hurting enough lately that I find myself avoiding walking, even for small distances. Pain relievers provide me with no relief, even prescription ones; they never did, and I quit taking them years ago; OK, Vicodin relieves the pain, but who wants to be a junkie? Besides, I hate taking pills. I don't hurt when I'm in bed or sitting, although I have to be careful how I position myself or I'm in for a painful pop in one knee or the other; but the less I walk, the fatter I become. I'm sure some of you can relate.

Besides, right now I am insured where Cliff works, and I also have Medicare as my secondary coverage; I imagine it would be wise to do something while I have that much coverage.

If Dr. Strong asks which knee, I'll tell her to take her pick, because they both hurt equally. She won't do both knees at once.

Finally, one of my favorite commenters asked how long I've been blogging and chatting: I found the CTI chat room on AOL not long after I got my first computer, in 1998. It wasn't crazy like most chat rooms, I think partially because you couldn't get there directly; you had to go to a website, then click into chat. Also, it was an "over-fifty" and "Christian" room, so lots of troublemakers weren't interested. Don't get me wrong, though: there were plenty of trolls, especially toward the end. It got to the point of being like junior high, with people accusing others of having cliques, and plenty of gossip and petty jealousies. It turned me totally off the whole chat-room experience, and nowadays, even when the old group of people I care about very much gets together in a private chat, I don't take part. Chat rooms left a very bitter taste in my mouth.

Missing the interaction of the chat room, I haunted a few message boards. Guess what? There are trolls there too! And people who like to argue if your opinion is different from theirs.

That's when I started blogging, so I could say what I darn well pleased; and if people didn't like it, they didn't have to read it. I started my AOL journal in the spring of 2004, and there I found my niche.

The lodge?

There's a Kansas blogger I follow who just posted that she is vacationing at Pioneer Woman's lodge.

I didn't know it was available for vacations. Did any of PW's other readers see something about this that I missed?

Another thing: I don't think I'm getting updates from Pioneer Woman any more. I guess I'll put a permanent link to her on my sidebar.

On a different note entirely, I think I'm going to have to start having Cliff go get the mail from the mailbox. Almost ever day there's some tempting offer from a nursery or seed company, complete with pictures of amazing flowers. Yesterday it was "reblooming Iris" that caught my attention. (If you click on that link, don't faint at the price of the collection. I'm a "preferred customer", so my price is half that amount.)

Seriously? There are iris that bloom in both spring and fall?

In the process of searching for information about that, I discovered a reblooming lilac.

Is there some twelve-step program for people who can't resist flowers?