Book Review

The Lucky One, by Nicholas Sparks

My daugther gave me this book so I thought I'd review it!

Nicholas Sparks does not disappoint in the Lucky One, Logan Thibault is home from the war, as a Marine he endured battles, survival and loss, and through it all he had a lucky charm. After the death of someone special Logan walks across the United States from Colorado to the Eastern states looking for his lucky charm, Elizabeth. With only a photo and a name he wonders if he will ever find her, along the way he meets up with a bit of trouble, trouble that will follow him on his journey.

This is a story about love, strength and honor. Scars run deep and healing takes time, but this is not just a book about love, suspense and adventure keep the story interesting and weave a web that has you clinging to every word as you live right along side Logan and Elizabeth and their journey towards healing and love. I will definately read more Nicholas Sparks books!

....And the winner is!

"What an awesome giveaway! Pick me. Pick me. " Julianna

Julianna, you are my 50 follower contest winner! Hope you enjoy the book and cloths!

Today's the Day....Contest Ending Soon, have you entered to win?

Thanks to my wonderful followers I believe my 50 follower contest will come to an end today! Please don't forget to enter to win:

To enter click on the original contest post! Thanks!

GOOD LUCK!

Friday Blog Hop

Recipe Found!

I'm so happy, see...when you clean your cookbook cupboard you find things! Such as missing recipes!

Here's the peanut butter pie recipe:

1 1/2c heavy whipping cream
1/4c sugar
8oz. cream cheese
1c crunchy peanut butter
1c powdered sugar
1 graham cracker crust

*I add a layer of Mrs. Richardson's chocolate ice cream topping

Whip cream with 1/4c sugar. Mix all other ingrediants until smooth and fold in the whipped cream until well blended. Pour into a graham cracker crust, lined with the choc. topping, if you choose to use it, and chill for several hours!

This is very sweet, for the pb I used 1/2c of regular pb, and 1/2c. soy pb, no one even noticed, not even the picky people!

Peanut Butter Pie

My husband has requested that I make a peanut butter pie for his birthday. Not any pb pie, but the one I made at Thanksgiving, of course, I've lost the recipe....think he'll know if I make a different peanut butter pie? Probably! I'm thinking that if I look on Google enough I'll come across the recipe I used, but I thought I'd ask, do you have a recipe? I put a thin chocolate layer on the bottom for fun, it was so good! I'll post the recipe when I find it, and find it I will!

Book Review: Plain Pursuit

Thanks to Book Sneeze I have received a free copy of Plain Pursuit, by Beth Wiseman to read and review!

Beth Wiseman does not disappoint in her new book, Plain Pursuit. I truly love Amish stories, this is a Daughters of the Promise Novel, and the story definitely is an adventure into to world of the Amish. If you have read previous Amish stories you will feel right at home when you read about the Lapp's and Stoltzfus'. If you have never read an Amish story, be prepared to fall in love. What is especially wonderful about Beth's book is that she has a Glossary at the beginning of the book listing many Amish words and their meanings which really helps you get into the spirit of the story and the Amish way of life!

Carley Marek is told to take a month's vacation from her job, she has recently suffered a great loss and when Carley leaves the busy city life to spend a month with her Amish friend Lillian her healing begins. The beautiful Amish country is a peaceful place for healing, but soon after Carley arrives Lillian's life is turned upside down, can Carley learn to heal through other's pain? Will she find love and happiness? This story will take you through heartache and pain and lead you straight to hope and healing.

This is a story that keeps you entertained, a definite page turner and a one night read, I simply could not put the book down until I learned what happened to Carley and Lillian's family. Love certainly can conquer all! I cannot wait to read Beth Wiseman's next novel.

It's time for a follower party!

Let's have a party.....Phase 1:

I'm looking for 50 followers and of course when I hit 50 followers there will be a Thank You giveaway!

To enter the giveaway:
Mandatory
1 entry, you must follow my blog; please leave a comment let me know if you already follow or if you're a new follower!

Bonus Entries
+1 tweet about the giveaway with a link to my blog
+1 follow me on twitter @lluuluu
+1 post a comment on your blog with a link
+1 sign up for http://mylikes.com/signup?token=luuluu

**Winner will be posted on the blog and notified by email!

Here's what you will win!!!

Hardcover, Come Sunday by Isla Morley
Bookmark with saying "Laughter is the shortest distance between two people"
Daisy Spa Cloth
LuLu Dishcloth

The contest will close at the midnight the day I hit 50 followers and the winner will be randomly chosen! Good Luck!

Crazy for Dishcloths!

This week I have been knitting like a madwoman, nothing too elaborate, I've been knitting dishcloths like they're going out of style. No idea why, maybe because they're fast, I don't have to think too hard, and it's a great way to use up some cotton yarn. The idea of selling them at the local Coffee Shop is out there as well!

I like a variety, maybe I have knitting ADD, not sure, but I get bored doing the same thing over and over when I knit, so here's a bit I've of what I've accomplished this week!

I have a snowperson on my needles that is just about done!

Papa Cat

Wiggles is not an orphan, her momma abandoned her, but we're the proud owners of her papa! He's a grand ole cat...he's almost 5 yrs. old, I'm not sure what that equals out to in cat years, let me know if you do! But, being a country cat he roams the neighborhood and comes home to pretend he's a house cat when he feels that we're worthy of his attention! I thought I'd share a photo of the proud papa with you! Cowboy(papa) tolerates Wiggles, I think he just pretends not to like Wiggles, but then he's a lazy guy compared to the little one so you really can't blame him too much for being annoyed from time to time!

Cowboy.....12 pounds?

No....Wiggles isn't possessed, just yawning!
Wiggles....2 lbs!

Book Review:

For those of you who knit, Debbie Bliss has a book out called:
design it, knit it: secrets from the designer's studio, and thanks to

sixth&spring books I was given the opportunity to review the book.

I love Debbie Bliss's yarn collection as well as her patterns so I was very excited to receive this book! This is a hardcover, spiral bound book...love the spiral! The patterns and photos are beautiful as always, and I know I will attempt a few of the patterns. The book has 15 original designer patterns, a design workbook and a Bonus Stitch Gauge!

The book does fall a bit short on the learning to design aspect. At the beginning of each chapter Debbie does talk about different design elements such as color, texture, body shaping, etc. But after reading the book I would not be able to go ahead and design my own garment with any success. The last chapter of the book consists of different clothing sketches, which I assume you would work with to design the look of whatever you wish to knit, and some charts. I like the charts and will use them for desigining dishcloths, but I am still far away from being able to design any wearable item other than a scarf!

The chapter containing baby clothing is simply adorable and I'm sure I will use a pattern or two so I have something on hand for a baby gift!

Cookie Time!

With two teenagers in the house I have a hard time keeping cookies around, they last about 24 hours! I get tired of baking the same old cookies every few days and like to mix it up a bit, so today I made raspberry-date filled cookies. I just added some raspberry jam to the date filling, WOW, did they turn out tasty!

Win the book: Fallen, by Lauren Kate

http://butterflybookreviews.blogspot.com/2010/01/win-fallen-by-lauren-kate.html

One Skein Down....

One skein down in the great yarn stash bust....one skein of purple yarn has been used up! A long way to go, but you have to start somewhere! I thought that the Ballband Dishcloth would be a great way to use up some cotton yarn!

Wall Decor

Here is a great contest for some wall art!

Click here: Wall Decal Giveaway

Little Wiggles

The sweet little kitten we found in our driveway in October has gotten so big, well, she's still pretty tiny weighing in at 2lb 8 oz! Last week she was pretty sick, she had a hard time breathing, was sneezing all over and had goopy eyes. After a lot of love and care she got better and even more spoiled. It's fun to see her full of energy again, she was named 'Wiggles' for a reason! I just had to take some pictures of her playing in my yarn last night!

Enter to win the great cottonelle giveaway!

Are you an under roller or an over roller.....I am a team under roller! As a member of the Mom's Blogging Club I am entering and bringing this contest to you and entering to win a months worth of Cottonelle Toilet Paper!!

http://www.cottonellerollpoll.com

Comment on this post and be entered to win 1 of 10 Cottonelle gift baskets randomly chosen on January 29, 2010 from all entries.

Purple Stash

Here is my purple yarn....

Purple yarn turned Tunsian.....I working on a stash buster Tunisian Crocheted Afghan!

Why I have so much purple yarn I do not know. I like purple, but it's not as if it's an obsession. When I asked my daugther why she said, "well, mom, it's because you have a daughter that loves purple!" Hmm, sounds to me like she should be doing some yarn stash busting as well!

Stash Busting...the saga continues

Since I am taking the yarn stash busting challenge, I decided to challenge my daughter....her challenge is to use up the bits and pieces and yards of odd and end material pieces lurking in our sewing room! Check back for our weekly progress!

Book Review Site

My daughter sent me this link today and I thought I would share it with you! If you like to do book reviews, this may be a site of interest!

http://www.booksneeze.com/

Knitting Goal(s) for 2010

I found this pattern today and it has inspired me:

http://www.knitty.com/ISSUEfall06/PATTlizardridge.html

I have come to the conclusion that unless I set some goals I will NEVER use my yarn stash. I'm not even going to count the number of balls of yarn in my stash, but....what am I going to do with them?

Cotton yarn....I'm going to use the bits and pieces and turn them into ball band dishcloths

Worsted weight yarns in various colors are going to be turned into either ball band afghans, or lizard ridge afghans

Funky yarns....the verdict is still out on the many balls of 'funk'.....any ideas?

Happy Monday

I just have to post and say how this is a GREAT Monday.....the sun is actually shining, haven't seen the sun for days and it was getting a little gloomy! Also, what else can be better than my hubby telling me to go on a Joann Fabric shopping trip! Time to make a list:

Yarn
more Yarn!
Fabric?
Ribbon?
What else can I get my hands on...time to count my coupons!!!

**Update....I didn't go....I decided that I need to use some of my yarn stash....WOW....I am surprised at myself for giving up the opportunity. Haha...the truth.....actually it was freezing cold and I just wasn't in the mood to go outside!

Disney World....Free Tickets!

Have you heard about the Disney program? Not only do you get a free ticket on your birthday again this year, but if you do a day of volunteering you can get an additional free ticket!

Click on the link below to learn more:
Give A Day Get A Disney Day What Will You Celebrate? Disney Parks

The One-Day Way Blog Tour!!!

Ashley Boyer was kind enough to send me a copy of Chantel Hobbs new book, The One Day Way, for review and a blog tour! You can purchase this book at http://www.randomhouse.com/

Chantel writes another great weight loss book! This is not just a book telling you how to loose weight, but a book that teaches you to love your inner self as well as your outer appearance. The One Day Way teaches you not to look back, not to fret about what you did or did not do yesterday, but what you CAN do today to make yourself a better person! Changing the way we eat is the beginning to weight loss, but we also need to change other aspects of our lives so we can be entirely healthy and Chantel does a great job teaching us how to do just that. This is a very powerful book and one that could be read over and over, I recommend this book to everyone looking to change their diet or looking to gain self-esteem.

Frenchy Bag

I ordered a couple of Amy Butler patterns, here is the Frenchy Bag. I made two versions, love them. The pattern is pretty quick and easy to work up, the blue purse has two pockets inside which made it a bit more bulky than the pink purse. I also added the blue dot strip, (not part of the pattern). Won't these be cute for my knitting projects?