And the Winner is............

I waited until Monday to write the names of those of you who entered my giveaway on pieces of paper, and asked my hard-working middle son to sit in front of the Christmas tree, feel around the bowl and select a winner:


I think it was meant to be! Here is my Hurley T-shirt wearing son who pulled the name of this blogger winner, Elucig, who lives in Colorado, is a teacher, and has twin boys who love the outdoors and have Irish names. Congrats! I will send you an email to find out if you'd like a necklace for you, or the twins!? Oh, and plus she is a coffee fanatic.

We brought my mother-in-law back with us from Florida on Saturday and she left today. I had not one moment's rest since the prior weekend but the good news is that Saturday night we took her with us on our family tradition of picking out the Fraser fir from The Home Depot....and my decorating is done prior to December for the first time in history. Sunday Hubs put up the outside lights and she helped me decorate the tree, the stairway, and the mantle. Plus she and my youngest son decorated the tree we put on the screened porch with its orange and blue ornaments (oh yeah) while I made two chicken pot pies. Then at 9:20 p.m. I was determined to spend two hours on the couch watching a dvd even if it meant going to bed at midnight. Crazy. But that's because a really, really super-special full moon is coming in a day or so. Stay tuned.

Thanks everyone for entering and hope you all enjoyed your holiday weekend.

My First

So what's the occasion? Have I been blogging for a year? Nope. Am I at my 100th post? Are you kidding me? I'll get there sometime next year (I have about 70).

The celebration is that one year ago I first started reading blogs. And all of you have added a lot to my life. Kept my mind busy. Learned lots. Made me laugh, and also made me reflect.

This morning I stopped into Starbucks to get a latte and a muffin for my son's teacher whose birthday was today. I didn't know what she liked but I have read on other blogs how many people are enjoying a pumpkin spice latte. So I bought one for her (and a muffin) and one for me. It was 7:00 a.m. and normally I am not out of the house this early. Normally I have a couple cups of Dunkin Donuts coffee at home starting at 7:30 a.m.

So I get to the school and the teacher was thrilled and Hubs and I had a conf about Youngest son and I sip my latte, and ......wth....Yuck! I did not like it all! I guess I was expecting coffee with a little flavor. Anyway I only drank half of it and then I went back home and made some regular coffee. And felt kind of sick until lunchtime. So I guess I am just not with it. Or maybe it was something to be sipped at night with a good book or chick flick and not at 7:15 a.m. in a little kid chair at a little kid table.

But clearly I am in the minority on this and even though my cup of pumpkin brew got trashed, perhaps it is your treasure. So I want to give a caffeine-addicted reader a $10 gift card to:
But wait, there's more!

I want to make you a necklace. I have this green one that I can give you (I have all of the same materials to make another one):
(how do you like the model here wearing my necklace? I had a photo of myself wearing it from when I posted about this necklace in August but two out of three boys just told me that I didn't look so great in that photo after I asked them).

Or, if green is not your thing I can make you one like it but in a different color.

Or if you have boys I can send you a boy necklace. This was is in brown "natural" colors and my 13 year old wears it sometimes (and I have all the same materials on this one too to make another for you). He's told his friends, "My mom made me this necklace" and they say, "Oh cool". (That is the extent of their conversations. Seriously, you should hear them on the phone -- the calls are over and done with in 5 seconds).
So here's the deal: leave me one comment on this post by Saturday, November 28 (midnight). On Sunday I will draw a name and announce the winner. Tell me in your comment what time on Thursday you'll be eating your Thanksgiving dinner. And at whose home?

P.S. Here I am at age 13--and I loved talking on the phone. My hair wasn't this blonde--it's just the light.