monthly book giveaway for may!

April 30, 2013

Congratulations to Nancy from New Jersey for winning the April book giveaway! Nancy has won a copy of Jodi Picoult’s newest novel The Storyteller. With the weather getting nice and warm, be sure to do some outdoor reading Nanc ;) Now, on to the May selection…

Since May is the month we traditionally recognize mothers, this month’s giveaway book is written by one of the most amazing moms I know. It is the newly published memoir My Intense and Meaningful Life with Cancer, A Diary of Healing written by Mary Ann Wasil. It is the touching, and humorous account of this mother’s battle with breast cancer.

The author of this book is the mother of three. Many are impressed by her beauty (both inside & out)…by her wonderful relationship with her children…by her courage…by her amazing attitude…these things are impressive to me too, but the thing that impresses me most about Mary Ann is her dedication to giving back. She is not content focusing on her own recovery. She has established a nonprofit called The Get in Touch Foundation to help others and to affect change. This foundation helps girls of all ages (starting in grade 5) to ‘get in touch’ with their bodies, information, and each other to help in the crusade against cancer. Mary Ann has made an amazing commitment with her life and I would like to share her story with you…I hope you win one of the three signed giveaway books!

Because this book is so special, I have decided to give away three signed copies! This month, I am asking you to say you are a cancer survivor, know a cancer survivor, or want to help eliminate cancer…just write this in a blog comment, in a tweet, in an email, or on my Facebook page and you will be entered to win one of the three copies I will give away at the end of the month!

Good luck! In the meantime, you can meet Mary Ann here.

Thanks so much for visiting! Remember to take pleasure in simple things, Jackie

7 comments

…a few more eggs

March 26, 2013

I know I already posted my favorite ways to decorate Easter eggs (including coastal style). But, I thought you might like to see the results of some of the natural Easter eggs I dyed. My grandmother always used onion skins and beets so I had to dye some in ‘old school’ fashion. I also dyed some using my gift of saffron I told you about in this post in addition to dyeing some with red cabbage.

If you don’t remove the insides of your eggs before dyeing, it is hard to part with the ones you really love..at least it always is for me!

I make egg salad from the insides of the eggs and recycle the outsides by using them in terrariums or houseplants…or to create mosiacs. You don’t throw out the colored egg shells, do you? When I was a kid I saved all the colored shells…I just couldn’t part with them. Over time, I discovered ways to use them…

My favorite was to create mosaics. You can do this too….or, as a project for the kids. I suggest giving your children the task of separating the shells by color (a good way to keep them occupied for a while!) and then use the assorted shells to create designs by glueing them onto notecards. A great gift to give grandma for Mother’s Day!

I hope you enjoyed seeing some more of my decorated Easter eggs. This batch used only natural dyes from plants.

You still have time to get some eggs dyed before the weekend! If you don’t want to use natural dyes, you can mix 1/2 cup boiling water, 1 tsp. white vinegar, and food coloring in a coffee cup and use that to dye your eggs…no need to buy a kit. I wish I knew this when I was a kid…we would split up the color tablets from the egg decorating kit between the four siblings and there was always a fight over a color everyone wanted!

Oh, and remember to save the shells so you can do some experimenting…

Have a blessed Holy Week my friends…remember to take pleasure in simple things :)

Thanks so much for visiting, Jackie

P.S. The natural dyes I used in the photos in this post: 1.saffron, 2.red cabbage, 3.onion skins, 4.saffron, 5.saffron & beets, 6.beets, 7.red cabbage, 8.saffron & beets

I am sharing at Coastal Charm.

4 comments

counting our blessings

November 9, 2012

Today’s Friday field trip is my first social gathering outside my house since Sandy hit. I was invited to have lunch at a friend’s house with a group of women. Of course, our conversation started by discussing the horific week we had been through…our coastal state being hit hard…many still suffering from loss of homes and; even life. So heartbreaking. We all felt truly lucky knowing that a loss of power and water and some fallen trees was a small inconvenience compared with what so many of our friends and family had endured. What we soon discovered, was that we were all able to tell of wonderful accounts of people we knew coming together to help each other since the storm hit…amazing accounts…everyone finding a way to help in their own way during a time of disaster.

It was hard to believe we were able to enjoy such a calm, relaxing afternoon after the week of turmoil caused by Hurricane Sandy. The afternoon turned into a time of reflection on how to help those we know…and a time to reflect on how thankful we all are for the blessings in our life. So, as we sat enjoying each other’s company and our surroundings, we also realized that this time of tragedy put a sharp focus on what is important in life. It gives us a strong reason to go forward in the best way we can. Being together on this afternoon was the perfect way to spend the day…

And, the perfect time to remember to take pleasure in simple things. Sincere prayers to all affected by Sandy.

If you would like to help with Sandy Relief and your way to help is through a monetary donation, consider texting a $10. donation to the Red Cross…it’s easy to do!

Text REDCROSS to 90999 to give $10 to American Red Cross Disaster Relief, which helps people affected by disasters such as hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, wildfires and tornadoes.