Meet The Author!

I want to share with you all some seriously fabulous news .... one of my best friends , Marinda, has just published her first book!! She secretly told me about months ago and it has been hush hush. She showed me a copy 2 weeks ago and she had to put her final stamp of approval of it before it went to print!

My hubby came home tonight and told me he had seen Marinda's hubby .... and well, the book is online and she has ordered copies!!!! So exciting! She has worked for a long time to do this and we are all so excited for her and her family. It has been a dream of hers to do this for a long time. I envy her because I have always dreamed of writing a children's book .... so my dream lives through her!!

I am so excited for her and wish her the best of best with her new adventures in her writing life!!

Hugs and kisses to you Marinda!

I am so proud of you for sticking to it and getting it done and out there to share with everyone!!!

Check out her book at the following link.

http://www2.xlibris.com/bookstore/bookdisplay.asp?bookid=36551

This will take you straight to her book. You can also email her at this site as well .. tell her I sent you!

ABOUT THE BOOK

Kaleb was very excited about finding his first summer job cutting grass for Miss Blanche. He couldn't wait to earn enough money to buy himself a Super Powered Monster Truck. His first day on the job was going great until he made the one mistake Miss Blanche told him not to. Miss Blanche had some very mischievous goats. When he realized what had happened he thought it was too late and he would surely be fired. With a little help from Miss Blanche would he ever get things back to normal?

ABOU THE AUTHOR

Marinda W. Lane is a native of Winston-Salem, North Carolina and now resides in Northeastern North Carolina with her husband, Bundy and two children, Tucker and Emma. She is a graduate of North Carolina State University and also completed a course in Writing for Children and Teenagers from the Institute of Children's Literature. Marinda grew up on a small family farm and still enjoys the country farm life. She is a stay at home mom, substitute teacher at her children's school and active within her church. She enjoys spending time with her family, horses, taking pictures and going to the beach. She loves flowers and watching wild birds at her feeders and many other wild animals such as deer, turkeys, fox and sometimes bears that live on the farm. She also loves to cook, entertain and decorate for the Christmas holiday. Marinda loves to read to her children and hopes you will enjoy her first book.

Check out this Blog!!

I want you all to check out a friend of mine's blog ... Megan from Creative Oulet Designs. Some of you might already know her from Botuique Cafe and some of the Yahoo Boards. She also has Ebooks on You Can Make This.com. Anyhow, Megan is amazing and so creative. Take a minute to let her creativeness get your mind racing in all sorts of new directions.

http://creativeoutletdesigns.blogspot.com

You'll be so happy you took the time to meet her! :)

Snow Day

Well .. the weather-

man was a little bit off this time! Everyone was broad-

casting that we would get some-

where between

1" - 12" ,but to expect

1"-4" ......... HA! It rained all day yesterday and late afternoon started to snow .. lightly! Maddie was so excited .. as the rest of us were. I had even gone to the grocery store Friday night just to be safe and stocked up for grill cheese sandwiches and hot chocolate.

Of course we were all very disappointed in what we found this morning when we woke up ... just enough snow to cover the ground and see your footprints as you walked through it.... and enough for a snow angel!

What A Sweet Sight To See!

I just wanted to share this sweet sight!

My little lady goes to sleep so well, but she has to have her "eye shutters" & some Hannah Montana music on the CD player going.

My baby's auntie gave her this a year ago for Christmas and she thinks it is FABULOUS ... not just because her auntie gave it to her, but ya' know London Tipton on "The Suite Life of Zack & Cody" wears one when she sleeps. ( this happens to be one of her favorite shows!)

She uses it almost every night. She left it at a friend's house once after a sleepover ... yes she took it to a sleepover ... she was not a happy camper until she got it back. Anyhow , doesn't it just make you say ahhhhh? Yes .... ahhh , your mommy is gonna' be in serious trouble when you get older.

Hopefully we can all stay sane. She is so sweet, but sassy ... yes she is !!Guess I better stock up on some hair color now!!! :) What's a girl gonna do?

Goodies in the mail!!!

I have been waiting patiently all week for some special goodies to arrive that I ordered over the weekend off ETSY .... well they arrived today!! I was so excited!! It was definitely worth the wait.Tiffany at Max & Bella on ETSY .. you are the best!!!! I can't wait to tag an order this week with your fabulous tags and stickers!!! So everyone take a minute and check out her shop. She has super great designs and amazing prices and what a super topper to one of your amazing orders !!!

If you have not shopped on ETSY .... it's time for you to take a peek! There are some amazing women on there with great items for sale. I have been pleasantly surprised at what a wonderful response I have gotten on ETSY. The listing fees are amazing and I lobe that they stay up longer than my usual auction would stay up. Plus no auction templates which means I can get things listed so much faster than before. I also love the "WHO HEARTS ME" .. you can see who and how many people have stopped at your shop and have told you they like your stuff. I just think that is sort of neat.... and it gives you warm fuzzies!!!

So pop on over to ETSY and surf around and see what kind of goodies you can find!

It's Back to School & Mommy is Alone!

Ok, so today was back to school day for Miss Maddie Paddie and my first day home alone is over 2 weeks! She was so excited to get back to all of her friends and take them all little gifts that she had made them all out of clay that she got in her stocking at Mema's house.

So I should be totally excited to have some time alone ... a whole day ... but guess what ... not me. Last night my hubby told Maddie that she was halfway through Kindergarten now .... what a shock! I mean I realized it, but it just jumped out and smacked me in the face. My baby ... my only baby is halfway through Kindergarten and about a month away from TURNING 6!!!!!

So ,today I have been catching up on some laundry and doing a little internet surfing for the my baby's birthday. She wants to have a "Fancy Nancy" party.This will be our first birthday party with friends!!!! Last year we were in Florida at Disney World on her birthday so we had an "Unbirthday Party" for her at Easter when we had our annual egg hunt. Needless to say I am a little nervous about having more than a handful of little fanciful girls running about. LOL!! So Daddy , get ready for some serious fanciness, frills, tutus and tiaras because they are headed your way and you are getting ready to be schooled on what life is like in the little girl world! :)

Happy New Year!!

Happy New Year to you all! I can hardly believe the holidays have come and gone. Where did all the time go? we do all that planning , buying , crafting & order processing .. not to mention the stress of getting it all done & praying we have everything that everyone wants and it is over in a flash!!

Well, we started our New Year off with a little family outing to the movies ... Alvin and the Chipmunks!! What a funny movie!!! I laughed so hard at the whole thing and it brought back such sweet childhood memories of watching the chipmunks on Saturday Cartoons with my brothers. Maddie loved it almost as much as seeing her BFF from school "Miss Ash"! So grab your little princesses and pirates and head to see those sweet & furry little guys and make a memory you all can cherish!