Mikasa Dinnerware

My newish, 8 pc. place setting of Mikasa Italian Countryside dinnerware. My favorite piece? The bowl. I see potato soup on a chilly fall evening in my future.

It took long enough (almost a year, and yes, I am ashamed to admit that. Honestly, though, do you not know me at all by now?) but I finally unpacked the dishes I won through a contest sponsored by Susan over at Between Naps on the Porch. It just so happened that I won, not one but, TWO sets of dinnerware just in time for the holidays last year.

Well, both sets remained in their shipping boxes in my garage until this past weekend when I decided it was time they see the light of day. Now, I know it's still officially summer but fall is in the air and as it is my fave of the seasons, it always puts me in a domestic sorta mood. Let me tell you, I cannot wait to use my new dishes.

The 8 pc. place setting also came

with 8 Christmas dessert plates (in 4 patterns).

I'll be sure to put pics of the Nativity dishes (that I won through Stone Gable) on closer to Christmas. I love them, too.

There's only one down side I can see to winning such great prizes...I'm running out of cabinet space.

We is Friends

Me and you is friends!

You smile, I smile...

You laugh, I laugh...

You hurt, I hurt...

You cry, I cry...

You jump off a bridge...

I gonna miss you.

Have a great weekend, ya'll!

P.S. The above poem was given to me by a co-worker at my last school. I kept it attached to a filing cabinet while working there. When I left it came with me and now occupies a spot inside my current desk. I see it every time I open the drawer and it always brings a smile to my face. Thanks, Shelia D.


P.S.S. You know what would make the weekend even better? Winning $100 to spend on a gift card from Gift Card Rescue. For more details check out the always fabulous Miss Mustard Seed.

A Major Award, Or Two

John said I must now know how the father in A Christmas Story felt when he won. My reply was, "Yeah. But this is waayyy better than a lamp."

Something wonderful happened to me this past week and I just have to share. One happened prior to the unfortunate incident involving my purse and the other the morning after I realized the unfortunate purse incident had happened. But first, have you ever seen the movie A Christmas Story? If you have then you will surely recall when the father wins his major award. Remember? “Fra-gee-ly...must be Italian.” Well, that scene should help you paint a mental picture of what happened to me.

About 11 months ago I began blogging. About two months ago I became a follower of two other blogs, one called Stone Gable and the other called Between Naps on the Porch. Both are wonderful sites full of many, many ideas for your home and they are both on my daily must-read list. A couple weeks ago it just so happened that each site was hosting a fabulous giveaway. One lucky Stone Gable reader would win a complete set of some seriously beautiful Christmas dishes depicting the Nativity, while an equally lucky individual would triumph in the Between Naps on the Porch giveaway for a fabulous set of dishes by Mikasa. Well, I’m sure you’ve figured out by now that the lucky person was meeee!!! Both times!!! Can you believe it!?! Not one, but two major giveaways within a week!!! Karma must surely have been feeling quite sympathetic toward me since my purse was lost/stolen.

You can understand why I had to scream aloud when I saw my name announced as the winner the first time and then felt as if I had superhuman prize-winning abilities when I saw I had won AGAIN. John actually ran in from another room the first night because he thought something terrible had happened and, as he works across the hall from me and was the first person I told upon winning the second set, suggested I should look into playing the lottery.

I’m Tyla and I now have a new set, umm make that TWO new sets, of very pretty dishes. Or at least I will when they arrive in the mail. If you want to sneak at peek at my winnings just click on the links in the first paragraph.

image credit

The Sign That Should Hang Above My Door

Yes, welcome to the 3-ring circus I call my life.

P.S. Would you like to win a beautiful set of Christmas dishes? If so, be sure to visit StoneGable and check out the giveaway they are sponsoring. Some lucky person is going to win a set of dinnerware featuring scenes from the Nativity valued at $400.

image credit

(I think this is where I first saw this. I've had it saved on my computer for a while and it just seemed to call to me today. If I have ripped it off from your website, my apologies.)

Look What Came in the Mail!!!(aka the post in which I throw in a lot of exclamation points)

Okay, this post is waaayyy overdue. But I have been waaayyy busy. Or lazy. Or unwilling to retrieve the pictures from my camera. Take your pick. It’s your call. Anyway, a couple weeks ago, or as John-Heath would say, a long time ago when I was in kindergarten, I was one of the lucky winners of a Halloween giveaway held by Carrot Jello over at Oinkle Doinkle. The day the package arrived you would have thought Ed McMahon had shown up with an oversize check and a bunch of balloons, at least by my son’s reaction. He was thrilled!!! What kid wouldn’t be thrilled at a box full of candy!!! (yes, I know that was a question) And spider rings!!! And masks!!! And pens and pencils!!! And a Casper DVD!!! And bunches and bunches of other good stuff!!!

His favorite? Eyeballs. He was even more impressed when he found out they were made of CANDY!!! Could he be any luckier!!!

My favorite? The card. Hilarious!!! I only know Carrot from her blog but if we lived closer I would most definitely want to be her friend. She is too funny!!! So, thanks for the goodies, Carrot. You made our night!!!

And the Winner Is...

Good morning, everyone. It’s the moment you’ve all been eagerly awaiting - announcing the winner of our first little contest. I can only imagine the pins and needles on which you’ve been these past four days. I truly hope it hasn’t been too painful for you. For me, it’s been a lot of fun - makes me want to find another reason to celebrate so we can have another giveaway. I’m working on that as we speak.

Before broadcasting the good news I would like to thank each of you for entering. I very much enjoyed reading your comments. I hope you’ll stop by to visit with me again soon. And if you just stopped by to visit and didn’t enter? Well, I want to thank you too. Come back anytime.

Now, drum roll please...

Congratulations, Kate (Southern-Belle-Simple)! I'll be in touch shortly and your gift card will be on its way. Thanks for the comment and for following.

True Random Number Generator Min: 1 Max: 26 Result: 7 Powered by RANDOM.ORG
Each of your entries was assigned a #. Kate had entries 6,7,8.

Well, this is my last day off before heading back to begin another school year. We teachers start tomorrow and the students show up Friday for their first full day.

If you have school-age children I hope your year is wonderful and as stress-free as possible. I have one child who we be in high school and one in kindergarten. Pray for me.

Ren and I are going to “do lunch” today. I have wanted to try out the Chocolate Covered Strawberry all summer long.



P.S. In honor of our contest question, here's what kept me up late last night...I was searching online for a little cassette of lullabies we used with Ren when she was a baby. Our copy of the tape is now lost. It had a sweet little song on it about fireflies that she loved to hear. I have been desperate to remember all the words to this lullaby for some time and have searched for it on different occasions. Finally, at 2:42 this morning, a breakthrough. I think I may have found the song and its writer. Now I just need to do a lyric search to verify.

Last Day to Enter

Good morning, everyone. Before I start getting ready for church I want to remind you that today is the last day to enter to win the $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble Booksellers.

The simplest way to do so is by leaving a comment on Thursday's post. Go there to read more about it.

Well, it's off to the closet to pick out something to wear. I don't know about you but this is a task I loathe.

Our 100th Post and Our 1st Giveaway

My Dearest Weblog,

What a good friend, late night companion, and vessel for my venting you have become! It seems like only yesterday that I gave in to the urge to set up an account and exploit my family, friends, and self for all the world to see. And here we are now, 100 posts later. I wouldn’t change a thing, except maybe for the amount of sleep you siphon from me as I succumb to your gentle call in the middle of the night more than I even did for my children when they were still on the bottle.

To celebrate your entrance into my life I feel we must share the joy with those who stop by to browse our reflective wares (i.e. read our family gossip) and have a giveaway. And what is it we are giving away? A $25 gift card to Barnes and Noble Booksellers to one lucky visitor. I figure people who blog and/or read blogs like to read books too and a card to B&N could come in handy.

So I will ask the readers of this, our 100th post, to leave a comment and tell us something that keeps you up at night. In addition to blogs, a good book is also something that siphons my sleep.

Your comment = 1 entry.

A mention of this contest on your own blog with a link back to this post = 3 entries (Be sure to link to the post in which you mention the contest in your comment)

A post to your wall on Facebook mentioning this contest and including a link back to this post = 1 entry (Again, link to your fb page in your comment)

Become a follower of our little blog = 2 entries

Never fear if you don’t blog or Facebook. You can still enter by leaving a comment to the post. If you sign in under the anonymous option just make sure you add your first name/last initial in the comment.

This contest will remain open until 11:59 p.m. Sunday, August 1. A winner will be announced Monday. Good luck!


P.S. The Thursday Three will have to be posted tomorrow (I guess it could be a Friday Four if someone is really anal about that kind of thing). Ren tells me I write more about John-Heath than her and she is jealous. Therefore, I will try to incorporate her into the TT3 to keep peace in my home.