Book Giveaway!

**The Winner is....#31 who is Jenny from Jenny and the Princess Peonies...CONGRATULATIONS!!**

As I stated a few posts back I joined up with WaterBrook Multnomah publishing to review books...and GIVE them away!!!

The book that I read between yesterday and today...yes, I read it in less than a day...it was that good...is called The Night Watchman by Mark Mynheir. I'm not usually one who appreciates crime/murder mystery books; however, this book was fantastic! It moved quickly, had some surprise twists and turns and throughout the book still had God as the underlying theme!


This book is about an Orlando detective, Ray Quinn, who is forced to resign due to a shooting that left him barely alive and his partner dead. As he is working as a night watchman at a condo complex there is a murder-suicide involving a pastor and a dancer/stripper girl. The pastor is accused of murdering the girl and killing himself; however, the sister doesn't believe that her brother would commit murder or suicide.

The sister comes to Ray for help proving her brother's innocence, however, Ray doesn't want to get involved with it. Yet something keeps dragging him into the case until he is in too deep to get out! Investigating the case with the pastor leads to investigating high standing community officials, a strip club owner, a cop gone bad and the murder of his partner.

There are definitely twists and turns that I wasn't expecting and the characters are greatly written and drawn out so that you can fully experience who they are. Anyone who appreciates a good mystery will definitely enjoy this book!

Author Bio:

A detective with the Criminal Investigations Unit in Central Florida, Mark Mynheir investigates violent crimes and writes riveting Christian Fiction. Mark has worked on narcotics units, SWAT teams, and in a myriad of high-risk situations. His four novels offer a realistic glimpse into the gritty world of law enforcement and the rarely seen raw emotions behind the badge. Mark lives in Florida with his wife and three children.

You can buy this book online from Random House for only $13.99...great deal

OR

You can win this book! That's right, I have an extra copy to give away to one lucky winner and you have three different ways to gather entries to win!

1. Leave me a comment why you want to read this book

2. Follow me (if you already follow me, then please leave a comment stating that you follow!)

3. Blog about this giveaway and link back to me

Please leave separate comments for each opportunity to enter....I will use random.org to choose a winner on June 2, 2009 at 6:00 pm (or a time thereabouts).

Benefit #1 of NOT having a job....

So there are a few benefits to not working anymore...

No longer do I have to wear these heavy, hot work boots to work anymore...they are now SHOVED into the closet and I don't anticipate them coming out anytime soon!

Instead?

Yep, these are my favorite flip-flops and they are now out permanently for the rest of the SUMMER. I say Summer because here in Eastern WA Spring seems to have been skipped right over in favor of hot, hot, hot summer!

Scrap Page...Fishin'

I have been wanting to do this page FOREVER...I have been searching and searching for the perfect fish to grace the front of my page!! Finally I found one...YES, using the Cricut!

This is a tri-fold page protector...it splits the image on the front and then you open it up and get a full 12 x 12 in the middle and 6 x 12 on each side!
Sorry, not the greatest picture!

This was done with my Dad and that middle picture in mind. He was 25 years old when the picture was taken and it was of his first big Steelhead that he caught. I remember this picture hanging in our house all of my growing up.

You might not be able to tell...but my Dad was handsome! (He still is!)

The side pictures are of my Dad and sister Shannon...she was more of a fisher women than I was...I merely went out to visit with my Dad.

Here's a bit of a close-up...I used stickers to list the details of the catch along the sides and a few rub-ons about fishin'

Scrap Pages....the ZOO

You saw some of my pictures from the Zoo a few posts ago...those are the pictures that I used to scrap throughout part of the weekend!

I used my favorite new tool....the Cricut and the Zooballoo cartridge. I love it because I was able to make all the animals and all the words huge since I only had a few pictures for each animal that we visited! This is one of my favorite pages.

The letters on here are HUGE!!!

Even though there isn't much on here it was a perfect page! This was Mason and his Leopard mask that he bought from the gift store!

Giraffes...Giraffes...Giraffes!

This page was all about Mason as he waited and waited and waited for us to get to the Lion at the Zoo!

Elephants...well, really we only saw one Elephant!

And the Hippos!

I have to buy this cartridge now so I can finish up the rest of my zoo pictures!

Scrap Weekend

A few weekends ago I had the opportunity to go on a scrapbook retreat with a few friends from Puyallup. We went to this great scrapbook retreat called the Keepsake Cottage in Kent. Ladies...listen up...if you scrap you need to schedule a retreat here. I'm bad in that I didn't take any photos of the house...sorry!

Anyways...Katie, the owner, built an actually cottage on her property and created a scrapbook retreat center. It has something like 8 rooms with two beds each, two bathrooms, a full kitchen and an enormous scrap area!

Late night scrapping. I actually stayed up until almost 4am one night with Holly! I haven't stayed up that late in forever...I'm realizing that I am not a teenager anymore! LOL...

Amazing what a small world we live in...this is Cara!

Cara and I actually knew each other back in college when we both attended Northwest College. She is now good friends with my friends Jen and Holly...and now we've gotten to reconnect!

Jen (sitting down) was our hostess for the weekend. Meaning she recruited all the attendees, worked with Katie and such! Jen is a friend from my Puyallup Foursquare days...and I'm glad to call her friend!

Wendy is standing behind her. We sat next to each other all weekend and she made me a bit jealous...she was scrapping a vacation in the sun and made me want a vacation!

And this is my good friend Holly! Like Jen we are friends from Puyallup Foursquare. We started out going to the same small group something like 8 years ago or so and have remained friends ever since! She has two cuties that she was scrapping all weekend...Josie and Ben. It was nice to sit across from her and be able to visit all weekend and catch up with one another!

Praise the Lord

In all things I will PRAISE the Lord!

Why am I praising the Lord?

I lost my job today!

Most of you are probably wondering, how can she praise the Lord when she just lost her job?

It is because I serve a GREAT and MIGHTY God who has everything under control!!

Wicked

(yes, I took this picture from the Internet)

Happy early birthday to me!!!

I know, I know my birthday isn't until September...

however, I have been waiting MONTHS for Wicked tickets to go on sale in Seattle. Last Monday they went on pre-sale and I am going!!!

YEAH!!

I've read the book...which I highly recommend and I've heard great things about the play...I am super, super, super excited!!!

So, Happy Birthday Rachel!!! Even better? I am seeing Wicked just a few days after my actual birthday! Whoo--hoo!!!

Upcoming Giveaways

I recently had the opportunity to join the Christian portion of Multnomah Printing. They are looking for bloggers who are willing to read books and publish posts about the books. Even better they give me an extra book to giveaway here on my blog. I have 3-4 book reviews coming up over the next few months with a giveaway for each...so stay tuned for further information.

Apologies

I haven't been blogging per my usual....normally, you see me on her at least once a week and it has been a couple of weeks in between posts...please accept my apologies.

I've been facing a lot of DRAMA and CRAP at work right now that has been a bit overwhelming. However, I'm not going to vent, rant, rave or say anything negative on here because God called me on the carpet the other day for my attitude, my words and overall disposition. Instead I am simply going to pray and watch my tongue. Please pray for me....if you know me personally you will know that I am quick to say things and a lot of times it is very caustic because I am just a very blunt and honest person. Don't get me wrong...it is ok to be blunt and honest with people (hello....some people need that!) but sometimes I don't have a lot tact and say whatever.

I will tell you this...my job is temporary. Either I will be laid off within the next month or so, possibly fired (don't ask) or I will be quitting.

I've also been worrying about what I am going to do next year for a teaching position. I KNOW BEYOND A SHADOW OF A DOUBT that God has control over my life, my work, my finances, my relationships...really, my EVERYTHING. But it gets depressing when I see all the layoffs going on in education because of budget cuts and me a new teacher. However, God doesn't see all this crap, He sees the end of the tunnel. I'm praying for clear vision and direction for next year. There are a couple of jobs open that I've heard about and I am pursuing those and just praying for the right open door!

I really do love you all that come and read about my life. I'm glad that I have family, real-life friends and all my bloggy friends that come by and shower me with bloggy love!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

I will trust in the Lord with all my Heart and lean not on my own understanding but in ALL THINGS trust in the Lord with all my heart, soul and strength

Maddy

Maddy...one of the loves of my life!

Mason took this picture...not too bad

Maddy on the same ride that Mason went on; however, after watching her two or three times I had to tell her she couldn't ride it anymore...it was in the toddler section and she was just a bit too big for it!

"But it's fun"

Auntie and Maddy!

Say cheese!!!

Isn't she beautiful? Not only is she a beautiful girl she is beautiful inside as well....sensitive, caring and very loving. She is always hugging and kissing on me too...just too sweet!

Mason

Last Saturday I took the kids to Chuck E Cheese...we had to drive over an hour to get there...and we ended up staying for about four hours...all in all we had fun!

Mason is flying high on some toddler ride that takes you up in a circle off the ground...a bit strange for Chuck E Cheese, but he liked it!

Enjoying a big ol' sucker!

He gets his love of sweets from his Dad...who seems to have candy all the time~

I love this picture! He is so fun to watch when he is laughing...I love this boy...

My sweaty little man...worked up quite the sweat running around playing on the tubes and slides and spending all his coins. I totally love Chuck E Cheese because it is one of the safest kids places you can go to...you can see the majority of the restaurant from any seat...the security getting out is good (they check each child with the parent...they stamp your hands with a number!)

He also gets irritated at me for taking so many pictures and thus the annoying faces he always gives me...those are my favorites too!

Party like a ROCK STAR!!!