IT'S THAT TIME AGAIN!! BLOGGY GIVEAWAYS!

YOU COULD REALLY WIN SOME NEAT STUFF!!

(AND GET TO KNOW SOME NEAT PEOPLE TO BOOT!)

Quarterly, http://www.bloggygiveaways.com/ will host Bloggy Giveaways so that we can get to know each other better and have a chance to win some of the neatest stuff. I've only won some things once out of the two times I've participated, but it was such a neat experience. I read the blogs of some really nice and talented people out there, and I won a subscription to a magazine (never got it although I communicated properly with the person giving it), Luna Pads hankies (got that and love them! They came as a result of entering a contest that had giving to the needy as its goal.), and a patchwork pillow (never got this either, but we communicated back and forth a couple of times to ensure we had the right info., etc.).

Although I didn't receive all of my prizes, don't let my experience give this exciting event a bad rap. Most participants make good on their promises. And realistically, in defense of the people who didn't send out my prizes, people just simply forget or life just kind of takes over and...well, you understand, so I'm not bothered. It was so much fun regardless. With that, I encourage you to PLAY!!

First off, Robin, over at http://www.pensieve.typepad.com/ is hosting her own bloggy giveaway week with lots of prizes. Go there now to check her out. Look for the pink, white, and yellow BG icon, like the one above, and read on. She is giving away one prize a day, so you'll want to check back with her daily. Put her in your favorites or a reader so that you won't forget. She's looking for new readers and a reason to give something away! She likes doing that! There is always something interesting to read at Robin's place, and something to look at too, as she is a blooming or budding photographer.

After this, go to http://www.bloggygiveaways.com/ and see who else is there and what they're giving away. You're sure to find some interesting reads and some fun prizes. I wouldn't miss Bloggy Giveaways for anything now that I've gotten in on it a couple of times. I've happened upon some interesting reads that are now in my favorites, and this is really the neatest part of it for me.

So, what are you waiting for. It's a blog party, AND YOU'RE INVITED!!

Bloggy Giveaway...And this is a good one! LISTEN UP!!

Guys, this is a good one! You should really really really participate!! Okay, Shannon over at Rocks in My Dryer (http://www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/) along with WOW Hits at http://www.wowonline.com/ has an awesome giveaway that I think that some, if not all of you would be interested in. Here's what it is and how you can win, and what Shannon says from her blog:

For Your Summer Listening Pleasure,

Subtitled: That Is a Big Honkin' Bunch Of Music
I have a giveaway for you today that will positively wear out your CD player.
WOW Hits 1 is a new compilation CD, full of hits from some of my favorite Christian recording artists, including Steven Curtis Chapman, Casting Crowns and Chris Tomlin. You can see more details here. The nice folks behind WOW Hits 1 are offering TWENTY winners each a boxed set of 17 CDs, one CD for each of the artists represented on WOW Hits 1.
Did you follow that?
TWENTY of you will each win the following boxed set:
1. Barlow Girl - How Can We Be Silent2. Aaron Shust - Whispered and Shouted3. Cadia - Cadia4. Point of Grace - How You Live5. Skillet - Comatose6. Brandon Heath - Don’t Get Comfortable7. Michael W. Smith - Stand8. Third Day - Wherever You Are9. Relient K - Five Score and Seven Years Ago10. Casting Crowns - The Altar and the Door11. Steven Curtis Chapman - This Moment12. Chris Tomlin - See the Morning13. Matthew West - Something To Say14. David Crowder Band - Remedy15. Jeremy Camp - Beyond Measure16. Newsboys - Go17. Toby Mac - Portable Sounds
::AND:: You will also win a copy of the WOW Hits 1 CD.
Y'all. That's a lot of CDs.
Here's how you can win (this is a little different than most of the giveaways I host,

so please look closely):
This giveaway is only for bloggers (sorry, non-bloggers!). Public blogs only--no password-protected sites. Only U.S. bloggers are eligible to win

(sorry--shipping all those CDs is expensive!)
Put a link to WOW Hits 1 somewhere on your blog: that's http://www.wowonline.com/. You can post about it, you can put the artwork of the album in your sidebar, whatever you'd like. (If you want to put the graphic on your blog, here's how you do it.) As long as you have a link to http://www.wowonline.com/ on your blog, you're qualified.
You don't have to link back to this post of mine, but you can if you want to.
Enter your link in the Mr. Linky below, so I can find you!
I'll close down the Mr. Linky Saturday morning and will draw 20 (holy shmokes!) winners.

Okay guys, what do you think about that?!! Well, what are you waiting on? Get on over to http://www.rocksinmydryer.typepad.com/ or http://www.wowonline.com/ and participate! BTW, I want to win these BIG TIME!!

CAN YOU USE A $100.00 TARGET GIFT CARD?

Well, me too!! But here's your chance to win it. There is a new blog out there in the blogosphere that I found through Robin over at Pensieve. It is a blog that's up and coming. They're trying to promote "the family in a family-friendly blogland." They are BloggedIn-Network.Nicely (the link to the giveaway page). I'm going to go back over there and look around their blog site some more, see if I want to add it to my faves.

Go on over and enter. There are 4 different ways of you having multiple chances to win. Have fun! Hope you win! If you do, come back and tell me about it, and what you plan to buy with your GC.

Poll Answer and tea giveaway winner

The answer to last week's poll was the Scelbi. The original question was, "which one of these was among the first of home computers?" I had provided a few choices, and no one got it right. The Commodore 64 was what everyone thought. Well, good guess. I remember my dad buying us one of those. I thought it was the first home computer. Little did I know at the time, computers had been out, especially in businesses, for a long time. But hey, I was young, it was the first machine I had ever seen like that in anyone's home, so that's what I thought. We were the first ones in our neighborhood to have one. It was cool.

There were many computer-like machines out a long time ago, but the Scelbi was among the first two inventions of a home computer for personal use.


And now for the good news---NO KIDDING, PATRICE H. WON MY TEA GIVEAWAY CONTEST...AGAIN. And no people and Patrice, it wasn't planned just because I do love you. It was totally random and hubby picked the names. Hey, if you keep this up Patrice, I will never have to spend money on shipping prizes out, although I don't mind. Let me also ask your apologies for getting this news and the tea out late. I didn't forget, but I had trouble with the ordering at first (didn't know I'd have to call to order rather than just order online), then I had to put this off because I got bogged down with other things. I'm never late on my giveaways, so please forgive me. I'll try not to let that happen again. My goal is to have my winners their prizes by the end of the month. Anyhooty, your tea is on the way. I will privately email you when it's in, and of course, I will hand deliver. Thank you for your patience. Blessings to you!!

Mother's Day 2008 Giveaway Photo

I'm so excited about this giveaway, more for the opportunity to show off my mother than the prize (but, the prize would be really, really nice ;). This picture captures more guts and heart than you can tell just from looking at it. Obviously, this is at my wedding, and yes, this is my mother. If it appears that she is holding her head a little stiff, there is a good reason for that. My mother had just been in a really bad car accident months before my wedding and thought that she would not live, let alone make it to my wedding. When she realized God would have her to stay with us here on earth a little longer, she certainly didn't think that she would be able to participate in the wedding. My mother's neck was broken in 3 places (hence the rigid neck--she had taken off her neck brace to take the wedding pictures) among a host of other injuries that made her wheelchair bound. She wasn't supposed to walk again, and the threat of amputation of one of her legs loomed over her head. She was fiercely determined though, that if the good Lord let her live, she WOULD be in my wedding, but not only that, she would WALK down the aisle on her own two legs, to see her daughter marry the most wonderful man in the world (and the one she and Daddy finally liked:) Well, Shirley (Mom) did just that. With the Lord's miracle firmly in place, she was standing in this photo, telling me how absolutely blessed she felt and how proud she was of me, and, she was escorted, ever so slowly down the aisle to her special place on the front pew. Needless to say, this picture is very special and precious to me. I hope you enjoy it!

BTW, go to http://www.5minutesformoms.com/ if you want to see many other "mom" photos and if you'd like to enter any or some of the many Mother's Day 2008 giveaways posted there and at other sites being featured. I couldn't successfully post a button you could click on to just jump right over there. Anyway, Eggbeaters (R) is giving away a $1000.00 American Express Gift Card to the winner. Now folks, I don't enter every contest or giveaway that comes my way, but I thought that there might be a small :) reason I might try for this one!!

FRIDAY FUN DAY (# I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE)

My precious readers, you want to know what kind of fun I had this Friday and what kind of fun you can have on some Fridays? Bloggy Giveaways and finding blogs that either you can relate to or that you just enjoy looking at because the pictures are so cool!! I don't get to do this often, nor do I want to (have other priorities), but there are so many interesting, talented, gifted, knowledgeable people out there in the blogosphere! Because I visited so many today for the giveaways, I got to come across some of the most wonderful blogs that I would love to go back and visit. One day, I will create a blogroll for my blog page, and share some of my blog finds with you. Then, you can enjoy them too. I know you would.

One of the interesting ones I found, that I will surely go back to and read more on, is http://www.kettleandcup.com/. This weekend, they were giving away an exciting book that I would love to have...FOR FREE...and I hope I win it! Before now, the only site I've gone on concerning winning something is http://www.pensieve.typepad.com/. It's because I know Robin and this is all safe, etc. Plus, I wasn't really into trying to get freebies from people for the most part. I didn't really care and this wasn't my thing, although receiving something nice from someone was nice. Well, while that's still pretty much my character and way, I have really enjoyed looking at the things offered during this "bloggy giveaway weekend." It was really FUN!! Next time, maybe I'll be better prepared and invite you to join in and see what all of the fun is about. I really think my readers will like and appreciate it...I think! Well, at least go to the two websites I mentioned above. You will enjoy these, one especially if you're a tea lover like me, and the other for the sheer "conversation" and some beautiful pictures to boot. I pray you had fun with your family or...with yourself in whatever you enjoy this Friday!! I sure did!!

ABOUT POST HUNTING AND A PRIZE

Well, since no one responded to the post "POST HUNTING AND A PRIZE," I don't have a winner to announce today. Too bad!! I was ready to give a good book away. Well, maybe next time!! I'll just keep the book and maybe enter it into another contest later, or...add it to my library.

POST HUNTING AND A PRIZE

There is a post with a prize connected to it. We all like free stuff!! Admit it!! Some things in life are free,...well almost. You do have to do some work for it, but you don't have to spend any money!! Anyway, I wrote a post that discusses winning a prize if you make it to the end of the post (meaning if you really read the whole thing:)) The prize is for a LifeWay devotional or inspirational. No clues right now, so when you get time, READ, READ, READ. You might find some interesting stuff along the way. I will announce the winner next week, hmmm probably around, well, on or before Wednesday. That's enough information for now. Oh, BTW, the book is really neat (I bought an extra copy from LifeWay today!!) and it's one mentioned in my post today, Woman to Woman Wisdom, Inspiration for Real Life (the name of the book). I think you'll enjoy it (if you're a woman that is:)) If I find out one day that I have any male readers, we'll expand our give-away closet to be inclusive,:) so let us know guys, if you're lurking around out there. I have a natural tendency and bent toward ministering, writing for, helping, and giving to women, but most of my posts can be enjoyed and used by everyone.

At the end of the post in discussion here, the one with the prize, it will tell you what to do to win, so you will know when you've arrived at the right one. To be fair, it is a post written within the last two weeks. Although I'd like for you to have time to read all of my posts, I know that it would take an incredible amount of time to read and sift through all of them from the very beginning. Most of you would probably give up before you went through all of that. This is supposed to be fun, not wearisome:) Can't wait to see who wins!!

TO THE TUNE OF TEA TUESDAYS (#7)

I'm so happy happy to announce the winner of my tea give-away!! It is Patrice H.!!! Ha!! I bet she is so happy. This lady just discovered my coveted J Greens and...SHE LOVES THEM!!! I had the privilege of turning someone else on to my lovelies!! YEA PATRICE!! Patrice won a bag of imported Genmaicha-Matcha Iri, and I already know that she loves this one because she has sampled it before.



I've decided that I am definitely going to be giving away a box or bag of our own domestically grown tea (from Charleston, SC). Charleston tea is the only tea grown in America (at least on a large scale or on a plantation). Most people don't even know we grow tea here in the good ole U.S. If you missed my post from last Tuesday, go back and read it. It's an interesting little read about tea in American history. Also, google tea in Charleston and you can read about the only tea plantation in America. They're proud of what they do. I can't wait to taste some of it. I'm a very picky tea sipper, so....



Anyway, the tea-cha is ready to get down to business concerning what we'll be discussing about tea today. We're always talking about tea and tea drinking, but how do you really ensure that you brew a pretty good cup? Lots of things factor into having a great cup, but it need not be so much that it becomes difficult or too time-consuming. With the right tools and ingredients, patience and practice, you can smoothly brew a perfect pot, rendering a perfect cup. Start with these simple steps, tips, and items:

1) Always use fresh, cold water. Springwater (not distilled) is preferable to unfiltered tap water treated with chemicals. Soft water is the best. Check to see what kind of water you have in your area. You can purchase springwater just for your tea drinking.

2) No matter what temperature your water needs to brew to steep your tea, always let your water boil first, and then allow it to cool to the temperature it needs to be.

3) Make sure you warm your steeping pot before putting in tea leaves and brewing.

4) Measure and add the tea to the pot if you're using loose. Otherwise, add the right amount of tea bags according to the package instructions. Black tea generally requires one teaspoon or one tea bag for each 6oz. cup. Some green and white teas require more tea. Some of the green teas I drink start out requiring 1-2 tablespoons instead of teaspoons.

5) For black tea, use full boiling water to steep your tea. For green and white tea, the water should be boiled first, but cooled to the right temperature. The temperature of water for green and white teas can vary greatly from tea to tea. It is very important that you follow package directions with these. It will make a difference in taste. If the water is too hot, it will be very bitter. If it's not hot enough, it will be watery and tasteless. For Oolongs, water should be approx. 180-190 degrees.

6) Steeping times vary considerably also, like the temperature of the water can. You can't judge the readiness of your tea by its color. Instead, brew to taste or according to the instructions. I always implore people to brew to taste though. That's important. You can start off brewing by instructions, but adjust steeping times according to your taste afterwards. It it's weak, next time steep longer, and so on. In general, black tea should steep longer, up to 5 minutes. Again, white and green vary from tea variety, etc. on steeping times. Be careful with these, but when you are, these can be very rewarding!

7) Most good, quality tea leaves (loose or bagged) can be steeped up to three times. A lot of the teas in the store (for regular iced tea brewing) may not be able to be steeped, at least not to a satisfactory taste, more than once. Tea is worth its cost because good, quality tea leaves can be steeped more than once.

8) Check a previous post of mine on what you can do with discarded or used tea leaves. You'd be surprised what you can do with them. They have freshening and deodorizing qualities.

Enjoy your tea moments today and everyday. We'll have some more exciting things to talk about with tea next Tuesday. We'll be discussing how to have a themed tea party. How fun!!

The tea-cha is out!

TO THE TUNE OF TEA TUESDAYS (#6)

A TEA STORY IN AMERICAN HISTORY

Just thought I'd share with you a little American history about tea. Usually when we talk of tea, it has to do with the growth, production, and consumption of it in other countries. We are not nearly the #1 consumers of this most wonderful beverage. I hope some day that we learn to appreciate and drink more of it. Here goes the story...

The most famous tea story in American history may be that of the Boston Tea Party, but the United States also produced two other tea phenomena. At the St. Louis World's Fair in 1904, Richard Blechynden, an English tea merchant, was dispensing free samples of Indian tea to promote his product. Since the weather was extremely hot, he literally could not give the tea away. Blechynden added ice to the drink, fairgoers got hooked, and Americans now consume five times as much iced tea as they do hot tea. In 1908, New York tea merchant Thomas Sullivan began sending tea samples to his dealers in silk pouches. These were found to be so convenient for brewing tea that the tea bag was born.

Tea is grown in South Carolina, where French botanist Andrew Micheaux brought the first tea plants and seeds to Charleston in 1799. Although intermittent attempts to market South Carolina tea failed, it is again sold today-and has been named the state's official hospitality beverage by the state legislature.

(This information was obtained by the ALL ABOUT TEA KNOWLEDGE CARDS, by Linda Osborne--Publisher-Pomegranate Communications, Inc.)

Here's what I think: We should check out this tea from Charleston. I've been wanting to taste it just to say that I've tasted American-grown tea, though I've heard that it is "wanting" itself in quality and taste compared to the foreign tea that we consume everyday. I'm not sure if that's due to inferior plants or if the weather conditions and landscape aren't as ideal as the foreign countries that grow it and have been growing it for so long. Anyway, I think it's worth a try and me forming my own opinion. Maybe I'll order it and give it away on the next give-away contest on my blog!! Then you can tell me what you think.

Sorry you're getting this post so late today. As you can see, we have our priorities around here. I try to post each and every day, but family life reigns supreme and calls me to answer to it first. We've been really busy around here for the last two days, so I'm playing catch-up. I love blogging, but on rare occasions (that I hope don't get too common:)), I may have to put a post off for a day or two. Don't despair. I'll be back ASAP!! Keep checking back because the tea-cha won't leave you for long. Thanks for reading when you do. I hope you enjoy it.

The winner of my tea give-away contest will be announced next Tuesday. Be sure to tune in. In case you forgot what we're giving away, it will be a wonderful imported bag of a J Green called Genmaicha-Matcha Iri, the green tea with a wonderful, nutty roasted flavor!!