My Son- U.S. Army Soldier

Since he was 5, my son Matt has wanted to join the Army. I would ask him, don't you want to look around, maybe join the Navy or be a Marine?  And he always, always said, No Mom, I'm joining the Army. Well, I think there was a time that he wanted to be on the SWAT team, but it only lasted a couple of months, if I remember correctly. Oh, let's not forget about the time when he was 3 and wanted to be Pooperman.

Or as we adults called him:

 Superman.

Well, he's done it! He is now officially a U.S. Army Soldier!

Since he is only 17, he has joined the U.S. Army Reserves, but he is thinking he will go Active once he graduates from High School next year. He will be heading to Basic Training June 1st and will be gone almost 10 weeks. He is so excited!

Here are a couple of pictures:

Sorry for the quality of the pictures, but I had to use the camera on my cell phone! Somehow I've lost the charger to my digital and Jim's camera, when you turn it on the screen is wonky (yep, I said wonky!) and you can't see what your taking the picture of. So, if you know of anyone who is hosting a giveaway for a camera, could you let me know? I would love to have a regular camera (not cell phone camera) by the time he graduates from Basic Training!

Do I need to set up blogging rules for myself? Oh! I think I do!!

You know, I think I've done 'ok' with blogging in the year (yep, it's been a year, yes, I know I missed my blogoversary! LOL!) that I've been blogging, reviewing books and the giveaways that MGP has hosted. Boy, I made a doozy of a booboo this morning! I mean, I've announced winners late. I've completely forgotten about a giveaway (that was when I was in the hospital and then recovering once I got home). I've forgotten to finish a review or two before it posted as scheduled. But today. Oh today, what a day you have been! You want to know what I did? Well, let me start out by saying that I've added google doc forms to the giveaways, so those that enter can automatically add their mailing address, nothing more needs to be done. LOVE THIS IDEA! It was working well. Till today. I woke up bright & early. My son had started my coffee (gotta love him!) so it was ready, turned on the computer and remembered! Oh crap! Jordan ended on the 15th. Oh crap! Today's the  (flip hurridly through my day planner) 19th!!!!!! Crap, crap, crap...hurry, hurry, random.org picks my 5 winners....get the post started......add the picture....... winners names....DONE! Oh no! Wait, I still need to send the winners an email, (cause there isn't anything better than first thing in the morning, than finding out you won something!!!) go to the form (HERE is where my doozy happens) hide the non-winning entrants, copy & paste (what I think are ONLY the winning entrants) get the email typed up and hit send. Whew! Done. Winners announced-check! Emails sent-check! Go over to fix breakfast from Jim's mama-check! Come back and check my email- WHAT IN THE HECK DID I DO?????????????

Well see, now go back to the part where I said I 'hide the non-winning entrants, copy & paste (what I think are ONLY the winning entrants) get the email typed up and hit send'. Yep. I emailed EVERYBODY!!!  So everyone that entered thinks they won Jordan. And if I could afford it, I would buy each and everyone of you a copy. But, I'm unemployed and have not had any luck in finding a job yet. So I've reached out via email and let everyone know about my emailing blunder fiasco. I thought I would suck it up, put my big girl panties on and let EVERYONE who reads my blog know. Yep. I make mistakes. Sometimes it's a little one. Sometimes not so little (read: HUGE). I'm human.

But this doozy of a blunder has caused me to stop and think that I need to set up some ground rules (which I will add to as I think of them):

1. 
   
   Don't rush and blog. If I don't have the time that the post deserves, I'm going to wait & do it right!
2. 
   
   When I am emailing the winners, no more copy & pasting more than 1 email address at a time!
3. 
   
   I will not hold more giveaways than my l.i.f.e. will allow me to actively keep watch over!
4. 
   
   When I make a mistake, I will own up to it! (even if it is embarassing!!!)

So. There you have it. My doozy. If you were one of the entrants that I emailed this morning, there should be another explaining what happened, along with the actual winners names. I am so sorry! If you have a ground rule that you've set for yourself where blogging is concerned, let me know! Thank you for being so understanding! I appreciate it!!

Winners for Jordan by Susan Kearney!

Sorry I'm late

with the names!

booklover0226

Wanda

cherylbaryl

Virginia C

Scorpio M.

Please email me within 24 hours if you have already won this book

from another blog, so another winner can be picked!

Silent Scream by Karen Rose

When a teenage girl dies in a suspicious fire, Detective Olivia Sutherland is assigned to track down the arsonist. Then she discovers something more sinister: a vicious blackmailer who preys on young people and murders without hesitation. Making her work even harder is sexy firefighter David Hunter. He's not only sharing the case but sparking memories of their long-ago night of passion, when feelings were left unspoken and hearts were broken.David has his own ghosts, and a million regrets. But while he and Olivia try to face the wall of pain between them, a diabolical puppet master is pulling strings to make a group of twentysomethings do his bidding. Soon Olivia and David are scouring the city for a calculating criminal who seems tantalizingly close--and is moving in for the kill.

about the author~ (from the authors website)
RITA-award winning, USA Today best-selling author Karen Rose earned her degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Maryland. For a number of years she worked in the engineering field, earning two patents, but began writing romance suspense novels when scenes began filling her mind and her characters would not be silenced.
Her debut suspense novel, DON'T TELL, was released in July, 2003. Since then, she has released eight more novels and a novella. To date, her books have been translated into five languages. Her third novel, I'M WATCHING YOU, received the Romance Writer's of America's coveted RITA award for Best Romantic Suspense for 2005. In that same year her second novel, HAVE YOU SEEN HER? was also a 2005 RITA finalist.
Her fourth novel, NOTHING TO FEAR, was a 2006 RITA finalist, was nominated for Romantic Times Magazine's Best Suspense and for the SIBA Book Award for Fiction.
Karen's ninth novel, DIE FOR ME, was a RITA finalist for Best Romantic Suspense and won the Romantic Times' Reviewers' Choice Award for Best Romantic Suspense of 2007.
A former high school teacher of chemistry and physics, Karen lives in Florida with her husband of twenty years and their children. When she's not writing, Karen enjoys traveling, karate (she's just starting!), and although not a popular Florida pastime, skiing.
my thoughts~
If you've read I Can See You (and you should have,  HERE's my thoughts on it!) then you might just happen to recall Eve's friend David. (sorry, my computer has been wonky and I couldn't finish on time!)
Silent Scream is David & Olivia's story and.while it took me awhile to read, mainly because l.i.f.e. was happening! But once I was able to actually sit down & read it, I found it hard to put down! I really enjoyed how the story and look forward to reading more, more, more of Karen Rose's work!
If you enjoy reading Karen Rose (and really, how could not? lol!) then you will want to pick up Silent Scream when it hits the shelves near you June 1st!


I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. Receiving a copy in no way reflected my review of this book.

Tasty Tuesday~ Berry Trifle

This recipe was sent to me in the mail from our local grocer. I made it last week and it was delish!


Ingredients


1 16 oz bag frozen Blueberries (thawed)
1 16 oz bag frozen Strawberries (thawed)
1 16 oz bag frozen Raspberries (thawed)
1 Quart Whipping Cream
1 Tbsp. Sugar
1/2 tsp. Vanilla Extract
1 10 oz. Jar of Lemon Curd
1 C. of Frozen Pound Cake, thawed, diced into 1/2 inch cubes

Directions

1. Strain the berries and dry on several paper towels. In a bowl, whip the cream, sugar and vanilla extract to soft peaks. Put the lemon curd inot a separate bowl and stir in a little of the whipped cream to loosen it. Then fold in the remaining cream.


2. To assemeble the trifle, spoon a layer of lemon cream into a large glass bowl. Add a layer of pound cake cubes. Then a layer of berries. Continue layering until serving bowl or glass is full, finishing with a layer of lemon cream.