Jack Johnson Makes Me Smile

Okay, I'm going to try to embed a YouTube video on here, something I've never tried in my blogger blog, so hopefully it works. I love this song. It makes me feel happy, plus Jack Johnson - with or without hair - is lovely.

One last thing, if you get a chance, please enter one or both of my Lubridern Advanced Moisturizer with SPF 30 giveaways at Gadabout Media or Girl Looks Swell. I want to give this stuff away and for some reason I'm not getting much response to this particular giveaway. It's good stuff and it's FREE.

Okay,  on to Jack, but first, go to the bottom right of the right column there and pause my plalyist. By the way, I've been thinking about taking the playlist off, but one of my friends says she really likes it. I haven't updated it in forever. Do you have a Askew To You Playlist opinion?  Please share it with me, if you do.  Okay, now, Jack..........

It's a Good, Good Day.......

Just a quick note.... I am having a really great day. Mom brought me by some bush beans for my garden and my neighbor upstairs gave me some tomato plants last night. It's not raining, sun is shining. I think I'm going to split my day between inside and outside chores. Not, oh-man-I've-chores type chores, but I'm glad-I'm-getting-this-done stuff.  I hope that you have a wonderful day!!

One last thing..... Don't forget to enter my skin care giveaway at Girl Looks Swell!

Ruby Tuesday - Cherry Tomatoes

Happy Ruby Tuesday!

If you want to participate, visit The Teach's blog for details.

Today, I've got some fresh tomatoes from the Farmer's Market. These are long gone, but I'm off tomorrow for some more. I still have some on my plants, but only a few and I'm leaving them until I've got a bunch at once.

** I'm giving away a complete set of Good For You Girls natural skincare, at Pretty By Nature. Click here if you'd like to enter for a chance to win.

That's it. Nice and short today.

Candy-coated Dreams

I'm going to make this quick, because the day is almost over and I am trying to get back into writing here each day.

Max was home with me today. He's sick and he's got this odd red area on his leg. It's not raised, just red. He had a fever, but was fever free most of the day. I think he's on the mend. I hope he's on the mend.

I'm going to be doing a giveaway with some young girls - tweens - skincare products soon. I'll let you know when I run the giveaway. The products are Good For You Girl and Sarah uses them. She's loving the 6th grade, by the way. She's dressing girly and keeping her nails painted. Interesting. She starts volleyball in about a week. This will be new for us. I'm excited to see how it goes. I wonder if she will take to it like she did with the basketball.

Bay has two boys right now. She told me, "I'm not trying to have a boyfriend," which I found very interesting. I was never good at that, at the casual thing. I'm in awe of her ability to just enjoy herself and not stress the where-will-this-go, how-will-it-end-ness of it all. The two boys seem very different. Both are friends of her ex. That is interesting, as well. And cute, they are both cute.

Okay, I am off to climb into my bed now. I have a new quilt & sheets on there and they remind me of a candy bar - milk chocolate, caramel. Hopefully they will bring sweet dreams. I wish you the same. Here's a picture that doesn't show them really well, but you can get the general idea.

Wednesday and An Update

I'm craving one of these right now. A black tea/frozen peach smoothie type drink with mint. I have to take Bay to school in a few minutes, then I'm going by the Farmer's Market (smaller version on Wednesdays), so I might swing by and pick one up. I need to figure out how to reproduce them at home. Hhmm, it would be research, after all......... I haven't updated in awhile. I used to update everyday before blogging became my job. I will try to be more regular with the updates. My life is just not that exciting and for awhile it was very sad. I don't want to be a downer for anybody.

While I was gone, I had a birthday. Here's a picture of my lovely mom at the Sierra Nevada Taproom and Restaurant at my birthday lunch. We go there and sit on the patio every year. And every year we say, "This was the best one yet." This year was the best for beer - we tried a couple of new ones and I have new favorite - but the year before was the best for the food. That year we split a smoked salmon salad and a smoked salmon pasta dish. Oh my. Heaven.

The kids are all back in school. I wanted to go back, but instead I'm teaching myself. I want to get a degree or even some sort of Photography certificate (my jc offers one), but the classes are all full and there is the expense. I don't have to have it to do my work, so I'm teaching myself. I looked up the books the teachers are using and I ordered them used - total was around $25 for 3 books.

I got the first book and it's in pretty good shape. It's Art History. Have you ever noticed how Van Gogh's paintings look like they pulsate? Do you think that is how the world appeared to him? Even the air was active and moving?

Time to get busy. One last thing..... I'm doing a giveway at Splendicity fragrance. If you'd be interested in winning a Anne of Green Gables bag and fragrance, then please click here.

Keds Sneaker Giveaway

I'm giving away the shoes on the left at my Pretty By Nature blog. They Keds new Green Label Sneakers.

If you'd like to enter, please look here. The shoes are made out of organic and recycled materials. Pretty cute, too.

So far, I don't have a whole lot of comments, so your odds of winning are pretty good. The giveaway is for North America, only.

Image credit: Keds.com

I'm Giving Away 2 Books

I'm giving away a Green Beauty book, Called Green Beauty Guide at Pretty By Nature. If you'd like to enter, please visit and leave a comment.

Also, if you are a viewer of the show, Millionaire Matchmaker, on BRAVO tonight, I'm giving away a copy of Millionaire Matchmaker Patti Sanger's, Be Your Own Matchmaker book.

That's it for now. Thanks!

Rounding it Up

We have had some Spring moments here in Chico, California. See above for an example. That pot of pansies sits on the table on my patio. When I take product photos for my blogs, I put them next to the flowers.

I took a run with Bay in the park and.......did I already mention this? I might have mentioned this....... anyway, I could feel the pollen in the air as I ran. It doesn't feel good going down, super-sweet. We have crazy pollen here - I never even know that I had allergies before living here.

Tomorrow is the last day of my current mandarin orange giveaway. If you'd like to enter, please do so. I don't have a lot of entries, so your odds of winning are really good.

Also, I was able to put my first post up at Pretty By Nature today. I'm very excited to get into that one.

If you are taking part in Wear Red Day and you post your picture, please take part in my little Wear Red Event. You can see the details here. The girls and I are going to do it and I'm hoping that we won't be the only ones.

Okay, it's late. I'm sleepy. More tomorrow.

More Cuties and I Love TV, Maybe Too Much

I'm holding another Cuties Giveaway. It will be up tomorrow morning at www.veggiechic.com, if you'd like to enter. I'll be giving away 5 - 5lb boxes of Cuties mandarin oranges.

I was home from work today. I got sick in the middle of the night and I still don't feel well. I was able to eat - I made banana pancakes - but the smell of the pan is hanging in the air and it's making me feel ill again.

I watched the return of Chuck and Heroes tonight. I'd given up on Heroes, so I'm not totally clear on how they left it brefore the break. I missed 2 or 3 episodes. This episode, if feels like a good start.

Now Medium. I can't remember how long I've waited to see this show.

It's embarrassing how much I enjoy my tv shows.

Giveaway At Made By Girl

Hello again! Got another giveaway. This one is located at Made By Girl, the site of artist Jennifer Ramos. She's asking questions about your favorite shops and you could win some of her art. Take a look here.

Giveaway at Homemom3

My friend, Eliza, is giving away a copy of this book, through the Bloggy Giveaways. If you'd like to enter, look here. Good luck!

Interested in Some FREE Mascara??

Today Bay and I got to do something very fun. We got to try the new Spinlash mascara with the spinning applicator brush. We loved it. It stays very soft and flexible, not sticky. I liked that. I'm giving away 4 of the Spinlashes at The Scented Life.

Come check out our before and afters and leave me a comment. I will be choosing 4 random commenters to win a Spinlash mascara of their own. Here's Bay with the mascara on.
She has some fancy lashes even without makeup. I haven't had lashes like that since I was 16.

Tomorrow I have the opportunity to take some senior photos for some girls that Mom knows. I'm very excited. To practice, I took some shoots of my super special senior boy, Max. Here he is waiting for the schoolbus on the front porch.

Now, I'm off to give him some medicine before bed. I hope that you have a wonderful evening/day.

Today was a big Bay Day. I took her down to the Dr, to discuss what was behind her recent fainting spell. Her Dr, also Max's Dr (and soon to be Sarah's), is a pediatrician. She is incredibly thorough (and smart). She questioned Bailey about her diet, her medications, what she ate or drank, how much water she had, if she felt funny when she stood up, how her ears were affected by the fainting............ she covered pretty much anything and everything.

In the end, after much examination and blood pressure tests in various positions, the Dr decided that it was probably due to a problem with Bay's inner ear. That's what regulates balance. She also explained the importance of eating correctly so that she doesn't suffer from low blood sugar. I've spoken with Bay about nutrition time and again, but I'm Mom, what do I know?

Bay hates it when she learns that I'm right about yet another thing. Hee hee. I love it.

Here is a photo of Bay with her boyfriend, Greg, at the dance that they attended a couple of weekends ago. I cannot get over those legs.

I found this one while looking for some Bay shots for this post. This is Bailey standing next to my nephew, Chance, at the creek. I need to get over there. I look forward to floating in this water in about..........6 months. Possibly 7. Ahhh......

I missed Ruby Tuesday this week!!! Darn it! I hope that you all had fun.

Don't forget to enter my giveaway, if you haven't already. I'd really like to give you that photo! ;D

Now I'm off to bed, because I'm out of time - today is now tomorrow!

Catching Up on Monday

I'm having trouble uploading pictures today, so I'm going to skip it for right now. We had an interesting weekend around our house.

Friday, I met my girlfriends for a viewing of Twilight. I was so worried about the tickets selling out (they did) that I went down to the theater at 1:30 and picked them up. We arrived very early, waited in line, I handed out the tickets, and my ticket was not a ticket, but a receipt! I panicked. I switched out purses - my fault, darn it, I wanted to sneak in a water - and it was in the other purse.

I ran to the ticket office and explained that when I bought the tickets, the girl said, "Here are your tickets," handed me a strip of 4 connected tickets, and then, "and here is your receipt," a single small piece of paper. That's the part that I left behind.

Luckily, I was able to talk them into letting me in. I told them that I would pay for another ticket, whatever it took, but for some reason they decided to believe me. I guess I should thank my believable mom-face for that.

Saturday, Sarah and I sold nuts for the Girl Scouts, outside Trader Joes. We had a lot of fun selling the nuts with her former Brownie troop leader and her daughter. I always dread these booth sales, but they are usually fun. I get to chat with another mom for awhile, the girls have fun.

Saturday night, I dropped Bay off at one place, but she was supposed to spend the night at another place. She did not check in, did not respond to my texts or phone calls. I was very concerned. And pissed. Finally, after midnight she checked in.

Sunday, Sarah and I went to see Twilight. I liked it much better the second time that I saw it. I was prepared for the changes to the story and I enjoyed the opportunity to stare at that handsome boy for an additional few hours. (Honestly, I am adding him to my movie star boyfriend list).

I got a call from Bay's work (Round Table Pizza). Bay said that she had fallen at work, could I pick her up. Heck yeah. I raced over there and was told that she had either fainted or had a seizure. Oh boy. I took her over to get something to eat immediately. I don't think that she ate much over the weekend, I can't be sure, as she spent most of her time away from home.

I'm making an appointment for her to see her Dr today. She has a bump on the back of her head and a really bruised elbow from the fall. That kid scares the stuffing out of me. All the time. People think that Max must be a challenge, but he has never been the challenge that Bay has been. I love her like crazy, but it is exhausting to be her mom.

Okay, now on to business..... I am holding a giveaway over at my Veggie Chic blog. To enter, go to Veggie Chic, click on the post about the giveaway, leave a comment there, and I will pick a random winner on Black Friday (this coming friday). I will be giving away one of the photos from my Etsy shop.

I'm going to go lay down with a book for about 30 minutes now. I have a really busy day ahead of me and I woke up well before dawn because I could not sleep. I'm so worried about Bailey. I need a little break before I continue my work day. My head hurts.

Tracey Is Holding a Giveaway!

Tracey over at Nine Acres: 20 Miles North of Nowhere, is holding a GIVE AWAY!

She's designing a line of lunchbox notes. So smart and creative. If you are interested in checking out her idea and entering her contest, please click the above link.

While you are there, don't forget to look at her photos - she's a wonderful photographer, too.