Things That Inspire Me: Lists, Books and Give-O-Giveaways

It's a quiet morning here on this side of the Rockies.

The clouds are hanging so low

that the hillsides are hidden beneath them.

The house is quiet too,

after Spring Break everyone's back to school.

It's just me and the dog

and a small pile of laundry that's calling my name.

Since Nana left last week,

she's called daily to share her adventures with us.

Before she left,

we both sat down and created "The List"--

if you're a woman and you're reading this,

I know you made your own List when you were young,

right?

1. Sense of humor.

2. Honest.

3. Respectful.

and on and on it goes...

The List contains the finer points of character we want in a companion.

Nana wrote her own list years ago,

when she was just a teenager

but as she's changed, 

so has her List.

So we sat together, and I tapped out on the keys

while she dictated, 

then we printed it up in a smaller font

so she could fold that little paper up

and keep it close

as she goes out in the college scene dating world.

At 6:38 Saturday morning the phone rang

and I jumped outta bed knowing it was Nana!

You know, there should be a different ring tone

for Emergency calls,

and "Hey, Mom, I'm up early and just wanted to hear your voice"-calls.

Just saying.

After a few minutes,

she said she was out in her car,

reading "The List"--

because she'd been away from home just 24 hours

and a few young men were coming on pretty strong 

so much so

that she needed to sort them out, 

if you will.

What sort surprised me

was that some of these young men are well into their 20's-almost 30's--

Nana will be 21 next Fall.

Some 30 year old comes along,

and I wanna poke him in the eye 

or

ping him with a baseball bat!

Unless he's willing to sit through an hour or two

of interrogation--

then we can talk. lol

I digress...

so Nana had her list in her car

and was out there reading it

at six-thirty in the morning.

She's a small town girl

who doesn't wanna get her head turned

in the first twenty-four hours away from home.

So she's reading her list

and talking to her Mom.

At 6:38am.

I miss her.

More than pie.

Speaking of Lists,

Daisie is stepping up being Numero Uno around here.

Hey, she's #5 in the line-up,

but now that she's the oldest at home,

we all wondered how she'd handle it

and I must say,

I'm impressed!

While I have had to work,

she has made sure that I came home to a reasonably sane house--

dishes done,

clutter free,

cookies made,

and youngest yahoos still breathing.
And she made a list too--
a Chore List with just the 3 yahoos' names on it.
I really appreciated that.

She's really coming into her own.

It's actually inspiring.
*********************

Speaking of Inspiring--

I received two beautiful goodies from Deseret Book--

one is a CD by Josh Wright.
His CD arrived with this introduction:
"The twenty-two year-old performer has already proven himself elite in the world of classical music by competing in the prestigious Gina Bachauer International Artists Piano Competition, of which only 38 performers from around the world were invited to. Wright was one of five Americans to play."

I put it on while I was making dinner Saturday night

and we kept it on while eating dinner...

now, you know something is awesome when noone is talking over it!

Josh is classically trained to perfection--

his talent is obvious and lovely.

Some of his arrangements happen to include my 

ALL-TIME favorite songs--

Clair De Lune 

Homeward Bound--

so moving that I nearly dropped tears

into my salad!
He reminds me of William Joseph and Jon Schmidt.
You can go here to get acquainted and order  his CD.
Seriously, you'll want this in your music collection.
The music is timeless and beautiful.
Well done, Josh!

Hillary Weeks.

To know her is to love her.

If you don't know who she is,

you need to find out!

She used to live in Colorado

many moons ago,

and I met her thru a mutual friend 

when she was invited to perform in our Stake.
Hilary writes music about Christ as someone who knows Him.

Hillary is as lovely in person as she is on Stage.

If you've been to BYU's Women's Conference,

you've had the privilege of hearing her music,

her down-to-earth ruminations of Motherhood and cheerios.

So she's written a book--

a collection of what she calls

"The Simple Joys of a Mom's Life"

entitled

"Bedtime and Naptime and Bedtime and Naptime".

The cool thing about this book is that she has included 

a CD with it--

and it's way cute!

Sweet songs and tidbits about her "favorite things",

all of it inspiring and spot-on!

This is a book that you'll want to not only 

RECEIVE,

it's a book you'll want to

GIVE--

to your mom,

your sisters,

your girlfriends,
your daughters,

any gal in your circle of young mothers

that need to know they're not alone 

in the mountains of laundry,

sticky cheerios,

and wee hours of the night with a tiny baby.

Oh, and there are recipes!!

There's one in particular that I am gonna try

this next weekend,

called simply,

"The Cheese Dish".

Gotsta try it!

I have to thank Lois B. at Deseret Book for the opportunity
to enjoy these productions myself and to be able to SHARE them!

That's right, it's time for
Give-O-Give-Away!
To Enter:
Leave a comment about your favorite things!


Winners will be chosen randomly.
Deadline for entries is Friday, April 1st, 2011, midnight.
Easy peasy!