My first ever giveaway!

I've always wanted to do it... have a giveaway.  But I am not crafty.  I don't paint or draw.  And unless you want a photo of my kids or something related to hockey... well you see where I struggle with an idea of what to do.  Plus, what I love about my readers?  Well, they're readers.  I  love words and stories, and I love that people invest their time to read my words and stories.

BUT...  I received an opportunity for something that truly fits the idea of something for ME to giveaway.  This giveaway is generously being sponsored by CSN Stores.  CSN Stores is an online mall, with more than 200 stores.  CSN Stores have a diverse offering of items from bar furniture, to cookware, from toys and games, to home decor.

For instance, this caught my eye.  Thanks in part to the Rachel Ray cookbook my son checked out for me at library, (hint, hint, mom) ... check out these Rachel Ray All Cookware sets.  Look at all the colors they come in and note that they are currently on sale!

Or maybe you are in need of a new bedroom comforter set.  Something like this Croscill Hibiscus Comforter Set may be on your wish list.

With over 200 online stores to shop from, is it any wonder I am excited to think there is something for everyone? CSN Stores is offering a 50 dollar gift certificate to one of my lucky readers! There are 3 ways to enter! So heres what you do:



1- Go to one of CSN's 200 stores and come back and comment about your favorite item. Be prepared to get sucked into the huge variety of items they have and walking away wanting more than just one thing!

2- A blog doesn't exist without its true-blue followers. If you are already a follower ... just leave me a comment if you want in... thats it. Or become a new follower of this blog if you aren't already and come back and leave a comment telling me you are now a follower.

3- If you have a blog, post about the giveaway with a link back to this blog and come back leaving me a link to you in a separate comment.

Thats right... either choose one of the three ways for a single chance to win, or increase your odds by entering all three ways!

One winner will be chosen at random using a random number generator.

You have until noon CST, Sunday, May 9th, 2010. Winner to be announced in the following days.

Good luck everyone!  Happy shopping!

Just so we wouldn't feel left out...

Remember the duck with her nest of eggs across the street from us? I haven't seen much of the twosome these past few days. Momma Mallard is sitting on her eggs all day long and Papa, is occasionally roaming the back yard. I did surprise them on our front steps the other day... ran to get my camera and caught them mid-air... sorta...















But just so we wouldn't feel left out, it seems the bush in OUR front yard is harboring a visitor too.  Are you ready for this?  I mean those ducks are pretty cute and all...




But this???? What I once mistakingly called a mouse, is actually a prairie vole.  Blech!!!

Well... as long as its only the bush in front of our house for now... as soon as she gets any ideas of her or her babies coming inside the house again like last time...






Well she should know, I've seen Caddyshack... just sayin'...

Leaning in...

Its been an unusual week. Its either a fluke, or a new normal evolving. I'm not sure which.

I woke up early Monday morning vomiting. I had felt my stomach churning on and off throughout the night and I tried to ignore it. The relief was almost instant when I finally succumbed to the contents of my stomach.  I had no doubt my dinner hadn't agreed with me the night prior. But I still felt queasy. Upright on my feet for most of the day was not an option. I decided to lean into it.

Actually, I caved.  I crawled in bed with tea and rested.  And then I decided to Get Lucky... this... Get Lucky, by Katherine Center.

I read, I laughed, I dozed, and I'd wake up wondering what new adventure was waiting around the corner for Sarah.  I devoured this book in one day.  I loved turning the page never fully knowing what to expect, but delighting in each new character that came along.

Tuesday, feeling much more like myself, I dug into the day hoping to catch up.  In one day I could not believe how much of a disaster the house could become.  On a whim I called and invited both my dh and my dd (dear dad) for lunch.  Praying my stomach was ready for some "real" food we picked up dad and went to a diner.  My stomach fared okay.  My dad, however, did not.  He is not one to complain and would never pass on an opportunity to go somewhere, but he was not feeling well.

He struggled to walk more than a few feet without completely running out of breath.  He ate some of his meal and then pushed it aside in a move that was perhaps the most telling.  Dad, to my knowledge, has never left a scrap of food on his plate.

When he struggled walking again back a few feet to the car, I decided to talk with him while we were still in the parking lot.  Sometimes, he just needs for us to gently encourage his next move.  This time, he didn't wait for me to say anything, he just asked.  "Do you have some time you could take me in to the er?  I would feel better getting checked out."

So I just decided to lean in again.

We dropped Rick off, picked up my mom, and spent the afternoon in the er.  I could not have conjured up a more compassionate doctor.  He spent time listening to my dad.  He ran all the usual tests- x-rays, blood work, ekg, etc.  And while we waited for the results, he read dad's history.  I am not kidding when I say he sat at the nurse's station reading the entire 1 1/2 hours we waited.

The tests came back reporting all of the usual underlying conditions. The doctor reassured my dad that he felt all the medications were the right ones, and that the dosages were all correct.  He thought my dad's doctor was on top of his care and doing everything in a reasonable manner.  It was just clear, dad's congestive heart failure is progressing.  It was what we had expected to hear.

I think we were all okay with the news.  I felt reassured.  I felt heard. I felt like I could continue on. Sometimes, you just have to lean in.

Do you ever just lean in?

Sometimes I need to remind myself...

... childhood passes so quickly.  When "the girls" come to play, I am reminded of how fleeting the days are of endlessly filling paper with rubber stamps... and marveling each and every time. "See that?" And that?" As she points to one exactly like the previous one and I laugh at her ability to see each one as "brand new...









... of how you can run until you literally fall into a heap on the couch fast asleep for over an hour...



... how today its just a princess dress, but blink a few times, and it quickly becomes a prom dress...






... how this boy who yesterday needed help on the swing...








... now spends his time helping her on the swing...




... how she reaches to him to steady her, as he used to reach up to me to steady him...



... how sometimes, we all need to let go... knowing someone else has a firm grasp on us.




Of what do you need to stop and remind yourself?

The new "kids" on the block...

A male and female duck have become "squatters," in our back yard. It seems they moved in and have taken over the neighborhood. I've been trying to come up with a name for these pair. Bonnie and Clyde? Sonny and Cher? Fred and Ginger? Hmmm... the closest I came to naming them is the time I found them lying on the bricks of the fire pit in the back yard ... and then the name "roast" duck came to mind. Awww... giggles.

Maybe the most appropriate name is "Jon" and "Kate," as the female laid over a dozen eggs in the bush in front of my neighbors house across the street. Some days she warms the nest all day, other days the two of them snooze in their yard or ours.  But I always see them together. Yeah, so Kate and Jon maybe not so much...

The neighbors stopped using their front door in order not to disturb the nest. I made Rick use a long lens through the window to get these pictures as they dozed in our back yard the other day.  I'm not sure what caused them to pick our two yards over the pond down the street.  But obviously they knew a "protected" habitat when they saw one.

Simple

There is beauty in simplicity.  

Today was really simple.  

And beautiful.  

The sun shined.  

The wind went away. 

4 family members were squished into a golf cart, but fun and amusement were had by all. 

Some days, when the sun shines, its all there for the taking.  

You don't contemplate anything.  

You just be.  

Outside.  

In the sun.  

 

There is beauty in simplicity.  

Today was really simple.  

And beautiful. 

What you find in the empty places...

If you are lucky like me, you find when you lean into the empty places that first you are virtually hugged by all the sweet comments left on your blog and stories of so many other lost furry loved ones. Thank you to each one of you.


Then yesterday just as I decided to embrace the emptiness of being the girl who missed her dog, love walked in. I woke up to a semi-panicked call from Deb, the mom of the girls I took care of last fall. The stomach bug had visited her daycare and grandma was out of town, could I take the girls?

Could I! Within minutes of E and L's arrival, I was smitten again.  It was all dolls, and talking on the phone, and cooking and watching Umizoomi.  We even squeezed in a whirlwind trip to the park.


L's doll of choice turned out to be Woody.  She rocked him, and hugged him. He even acquiesced when she chewed on the hard plastic of his boot to relieve her teething.  The things we don't do for love.
















Despite the vicious gale-force wind, we ventured out to the park. I had more than a couple of flashbacks to my own boys as I raced about trying to keep up with two girls running in two opposite directions. L may be all of 15 months or so, but she is determined to keep up with E who is 3. She was fearless in her desire to climb even though she is still a bit unsteady on her feet. I felt victorious pushing the stroller home. Some days its enough for a tired mama to just bring them home in one piece. I remember those days so well.










Unquestionably, as much as their mom thought I was bailing her out, clearly it was I who was rescued.  With giggles and hugs, running and playing, not even the wicked wind could strip away the joy oozing into all those no longer empty places.