No denying she's a funny girl, that Belle!

This blogging thing is amazing, no? One day, I blogged about being the last person alive to own - and love - a VCR. The next day, I had a message from another blogger, who happens to have an awesome site about organizing, offering to send me all her kids' old videos.

Because, as I may have mentioned, nobody else really uses a VCR anymore.

I said, sure! I thought it'd be great. And then I kind of forgot about it.

Until today, when the mailman delivered a diaper box FULL of videos to my house! I'm talking two dozen Veggie Tales, Blues Clues and Disney movie videos! It's like Christmas!

For the kiddo. Not me. No, surely I wasn't the one so excited I had to find my husband's pocket knife and slice open the packing tape. Right. Now.

Umm, actually, I guess I should be glad that was me. Wouldn't look so good on the parenting resume to have my 17-month-old wielding a pocket knife.

Anyway, I'm quite sure that me singing along to Beauty and the Beast is helping the kiddo's ear infection. Oh yes, a little Belle and Gaston and Beast is just what the doctor ordered.

Thanks, Tanna! (If you need organization tips, check out her site today!)

What's your favorite animated movie?

Daisy Chain Giveaway Winners

Today is a lucky day for Amy, Nichole, Kimberly and Erin. You each won a copy of Mary DeMuth’s new book, Daisy Chain. Send me your address, and I'll drop your copy in the mail! (E-mail to givinguponperfect [at] gmail [dot] com)

And if you didn't win a copy, well, that's because you didn't enter the contest! But you can still get your own copy; it's worth it! This is a good book.

For more information about the book, the author and all the great things she does, visit Mary DeMuth at The Writing Spa and Wanna Be Published.

Daisy Chain: Book Review & Giveaway

Things aren’t always what they seem. At least I know that’s true in my own life.

My family always seems to have some sort of drama going on. Some sort of tragedy or disagreement or issue. But that’s the new normal, right? Putting the fun in dysfunctional, or however that saying goes?

Maybe. But I remember one particularly dark season when I was a senior in high school. My family went through something so traumatic that I didn’t know how to deal. I didn’t know how to work through it. I didn’t know if anything would ever be okay again.

But I couldn’t tell anyone about it. Because there are some things you just don’t talk about. Even if it eats you up inside.

Have you ever felt that way?

Jed Pepper has. He’s the main character in Mary DeMuth’s new novel, Daisy Chain. Here’s a synopsis of the book:

The abrupt disappearance of young Daisy Chance from a small Texas town in 1973 spins three lives out of control-Jed, whose guilt over not protecting his friend Daisy strangles him; Emory Chance, who blames her own choices for her daughter’s demise; and Ouisie Pepper, who is plagued by headaches while pierced by the shattered pieces of a family in crisis.

In this first book in the Defiance, Texas Trilogy, fourteen-year-old Jed Pepper has a sickening secret: He’s convinced it’s his fault his best friend Daisy went missing. Jed’s pain sends him on a quest for answers to mysteries woven through the fabric of his own life and the lives of the families of Defiance, Texas. When he finally confronts the terrible truths he’s been denying all his life, Jed must choose between rebellion and love, anger and freedom.

I’m in the middle of this book right now, and I don’t know if I’ll be able to go to work tomorrow. Not because I’ll still be reading (It’s not that long, and I’m not that slow!), but because there’s no way I’m stopping to do laundry. And I’m pretty sure the black pants I want to wear tomorrow are dirty!

Here’s the giveaway part:
If you’d like a chance to read the book, today is your lucky day. Well, actually – dare I say, ironically – this Friday, the 13th, could be your lucky day. Because three readers will receive a FREE copy of this book. All you have to do is leave a comment by midnight (CST) on Thursday, March 12. I’ll announce the three randomly selected winners on Friday.

If Mary DeMuth’s name sounds familiar, it’s because I wrote about her a couple months ago. You can find her giving great writing advice at The Writing Spa and Wanna Be Published, and you can read more about her in the interview below.

Tell me a little bit about your background and your family.

You can read my testimony on my website (http://www.marydemuth.com/). I came from a difficult upbringing, but Jesus saw fit to find me at fifteen. He has utterly changed my life.

I’ve been married 18 years to my husband Patrick (who’s been told he looks like George Clooney on more than one occasion). Interesting side note: I’ve been told I look like Laura Dern, and we share the EXACT same birthday. Twins separated at birth? Possibly. If you’re reading this and you’re chums with Laura, could you probe a bit?

How did you get involved in writing?

I’ve been writing since college when the bug hit me. I wrote my first short story about a missionary going to Russia (when it was firmly encased behind the iron curtain) and having to do all these clandestine things to share the gospel. I’m embarrassed to write this, but the piece started with these four words: Thump, thump, thump, thump (representing the protagonist’s heartbeat, of course).

I’ve been actively writing since 1992 when my daughter Sophie was born. I created a newsletter that helped moms manage their homes. I bought my first computer from the proceeds. I also designed and edited church newsletters, wrote homeschooling curriculum, and even wrote a script for an ultrasound training video. Soon after, short stories started flying out of me. When we moved from East Texas to Dallas for my husband to go to Dallas Seminary, I decided to get serious. I met my friend Sandra Glahn then, a professor at the seminary and a published writer. She shepherded me through the query-letter-writing process and has been an incredible cheerleader.

In 2002, I wrote my first novel. In 2003, I signed with an agent, then signed two nonfiction books. Since then, I’ve had five books published (those included), Daisy Chain being my sixth book. The first novel I wrote is yet to be published.

Where did you get the idea for Daisy Chain?

I had a friend who shared a difficult story with me. He grew up in a Christian home. His father was in leadership in the Christian community. From the outside, all looked perfect. But behind closed doors, life was very, very hard. I wanted to expose that kind of abuse. That’s why the idea of family secrets plays heavily into all three books of the Defiance, Texas trilogy.

What do you hope to accomplish with Daisy Chain?

I liken this book to an Oprah book, but with hope. Yes, there is darkness and meanness abounding in this world, but God’s light has a way of fully penetrating that darkness. I hope Daisy Chain cradles the reader through its deep, scary journey clear through to the end because redemption will shine brighter in the midst of darkness. That’s my own personal testimony, so it can’t help but leak out on the page.

Don't forget to leave a comment to enter the drawing for your own copy. Or, hey, go out and buy a copy of your own! (Or both...I really love it when you comment!)

Crisis Management: Fighting world hunger one blog at a time.

On my way home from work tonight, I ate a couple of mini candy bars, disappointed that I had forgotten to bring an apple to the office but secretly glad for the excuse to indulge. About an hour later, I put my daughter in her high chair and gave her some chicken, a few carrots and a cup of peaches. I got on to her when she threw some of the food on the floor, but I didn’t worry too long. After all, my cat was right there, ready to help clean up the mess. Then after I put my daughter to bed, I sat down to watch American Idol with a big plate of steaming fajitas.

But when our pastor mentioned last Sunday that our church’s crisis food closet needs donations, my first thought was to go to Aldi’s for the 49-cent canned vegetables.

What?

I realized right away how selfish that thought was. I don’t buy groceries for myself at the discount store, but that’s all I was willing to offer those in need. But I’m telling you that was my gut reaction, my first thought. (Not that Walmart store brand is much different, but I think you can see the principle of the matter here.)

Later that night, our Bible study talked about how sharing resources is one of the ways the early church developed authentic and contagious community. Our book pointed out that they gave of their possessions, sacrificing to provide for every one who had a need – instead of giving just a fraction of what was left over at the end of the month.

Again, I was brought to my knees. Apparently God had a word for me on Sunday.

And I’m listening to that word. I am. And while I can’t presume to think I could speak to your heart like God has used others to speak to mine, if any of this is making you think about giving, about sharing what you have, about sacrificing your abundance so others can fill their most basic needs – well, I want to share with you a way to do just that.

Today is Global Food Crisis Day, a day set aside by Compassion International to raise awareness of the global food crisis and to raise funds to make a difference.

According to Compassion, the food crisis occurring today is “more rapid, urgent and devastating than any other in the history of our planet.” Compounding the existing hunger in our world are various factors causing the cost of food to double in many countries that Compassion serves. And now we have a situation affecting millions that the UN World Food Programme is calling “a silent tsunami.”

But what does that even mean, a silent tsunami? Is this just charity propaganda? See for yourself:

• One person in seven goes to bed hungry every day.
• One-third of the world’s population is undernourished.
• There are 25,000 starvation-related deaths each day.
• Each night more than 300 million children go to bed hungry.
• More than 4.4 million children die from malnutrition each year.

Sources: www.one.org, www.bread.org, www.unicef.org, www.who.int, http://www.unep.org/

I think I’d call that a crisis.

So how can we help?

• Donate online to Compassion's Global Food Crisis Fund. Just $13 can help a child for a month.
• Add a Global Food Crisis widget to your blog sidebar or posts.
• Pray for the Compassion Bloggers preparing to travel to India. Their stories and pictures will open so many eyes and hearts to the desperate need in India and what Compassion is doing to help.
• Just learn more about our world’s hunger problem. See if it doesn’t break your heart. Just see if God doesn’t give you a good word, too.

More predictable than the groundhog.

For the last several years, Mark has worked in jobs that are at least partly outdoors. On days like last Friday, when the sun is shining, the breeze is gently blowing and the temperature is pleasantly hovering somewhere between 60 and 80 degrees, I envy him.

On the other 354 days of the year, however, I'm thankful for my sterile, stuffy office building.

During the coldest weeks of winter, Mark bundles up so much that I'm not sure how he moves, much less drives a truck or a forklift. But the real way he keeps warm is by growing an enormous beard on his face.

It used to be contained to a ridiculous goatee that I begged him to trim and not play with. But two years ago, the goatee grew.

And took over his entire face.

Considering the brutal Midwestern cold (Hush up, northern neighbors. It feels cold to us!) and my indoor job and the paycheck he brings home, I finally realized that I should not complain.

After all, if I'd learned nothing in the 8 years before, it was that complaining about Mark's facial hair was futile.

But just like tulips and ragweed and groundhog sightings whisper that spring is on its way, so does the disappearance of Mark's beard.

And that special day? It was last Friday. Thank you, Lord.













What does the first sign of spring at your house look like?

When it rains, it sure does pour!

There must be something special about March 21. Because we've gotten more invitations for social events that day than we have in the last month!

Chelley and Triple are coming down to visit for T's birthday that weekend, so that trumps everything. But we've also been invited to a friend's son's birthday party, we won tickets to a basketball tournament and we'd considered going to the Christian Book Expo in Dallas that weekend. (Major bummer when we decided we couldn't afford that!)

And did I mention I'm singing with choir and we're scheduled to work in the nursery that Sunday?

I think there's something else...another invitation that I'm forgetting...but seriously, isn't that enough?

I'm really looking forward to seeing Chelley and Triple in a couple weeks (and the murder mystery party for T's big day - fun!), so I don't mind missing the other activities at all. And I'll be honest, Mark is probably better off taking a friend to the basketball tournament anyway! But it's just weird.

Do you find that this happens to you? Do you go weeks without a social event and then BAM! have a bunch in a row or even on the same day? What's up with that?!

My eyes, they have a mind of their own!

When I was little - maybe 5 or 6 - I remember my mom getting really upset with me for rolling my eyes at her. (Are you surprised?)

I wanted so desperately to stop, to behave, to be good. But the thing was...I didn't know what "rolling my eyes" was! And since I didn't know what it meant to roll my eyes, I certainly didn't know how to stop!

Fast forward a couple dozen years to, oh, tonight. At choir practice. In church.

We were practicing one of our very serious songs for Good Friday, and Brett, our choir director, was not happy with our tone. We were too bright, not singing tall enough. So he threatened - as he does from time to time - to make us stick three fingers in our mouth.

It's not as weird as it sounds. It forces us to really open up and have a tall, mature sound.

He kept threatening, and we kept singing...poorly. And so he said, "Okay, that's it. I'm not kidding. Do it."

I felt it start, and I'm telling you, I couldn't stop it. My eyes, they were a-rollin'!

You know, I'm a real sarcastic person. And I will confess to having the urge to roll my eyes often. I mean, we're talking several times a day. I'm not proud of this, but I have - for the most part - learned to control it. My favorite eye-rolling-controlling trick is to simply close my eyes. Close my eyes, roll my eyes, then open again. See?

Actually, no you can't see. And that's the point.

I don't know what happened tonight. Maybe I was tired. Maybe I was feeling at home and comfortable sharing my true feelings. Maybe I have had a rough week and was slightly annoyed at the thought of sticking half my hand in my mouth.

Whatever the excuse, I did it. I totally rolled my eyes. At my choir director.

I'm sorry, Brett. I didn't mean to disrespect you. I hope you'll still let me sing on Good Friday. I promise to open wide and sing tall. For realz.


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What's the point of Lent, anyway?

I don't mean to be sacrilegious or even disrespectful. The days leading up to Easter absolutely should be filled with reverence and worship. After all, we spend an entire month (and so much more if you work in retail) preparing for Christmas. Why not put the same effort and commitment into celebrating the death and resurrection of Jesus?

But what I've never been sure about, never fully understood is the practice of fasting during Lent.

To give you some background, I am a Protestant mutt. I grew up in a Presbyterian and Disciples of Christ church. I was briefly a member of a Methodist church, but have belonged to Baptist churches since college. So the bulk of my upbringin' and churchin' has not focused on giving anything up for the 40 days preceding Easter.

But I've always been drawn to this mysterious discipline. Once in college, I decided to give up pop (or soda to those of you not from here) for Lent. I've never been a big pop drinker, so it wasn't actually difficult (or much of a sacrifice).

Until the night I was visiting my parents and we had burritos for dinner. As I threw back the last of my rootbeer, I realized what I'd done. I drank pop! Drinking rootbeer with burritos was so ingrained in me that I didn't even realize it until it was too late.

Then a couple years ago, I decided to give it another try and gave up chocolate. To be honest, my intentions weren't so honorable or God-focused. I thought restricting my candy intake would jumpstart the weight loss I'm always reaching for. That's why I did it.

But it turned out that every time I wanted chocolate and couldn't have it (something that happened several times a day), I thought about why. Which made me think about the sacrifice Jesus made for me. And so, giving up chocolate that year really did draw me closer to God.

This year, though...this year, I also decided to give up chocolate. And again, I have to confess that my intentions were more about weight loss than spiritual discipline. But this year, I recognized what I was doing and decided not to do it after all.

Just to be clear, the timeline looks like this:

• The few days before Ash Wednesday, it occurred to me that hey, maybe I should give something up this year.
• The day before (this would be Fat Tuesday, for those of you keeping track), I settled on chocolate. I mean, it worked before, right?
• So on Ash Wednesday, I didn't eat chocolate. Same for Thursday and Friday. And Saturday, too.
• Then, on Sunday, I made brownies for our Bible study group.
• And I decided that giving up chocolate wasn't the best way to grow closer to God.

I discussed it with Mark. Was I just giving up because I wanted a brownie? Or was I really making a better decision for my spiritual walk? My loving husband said it was probably a little bit of both.

And he was probably right.

But more importantly, I am committing to reading through the book of Exodus over the next few weeks. I looked through my Bible to see if any of the books had exactly 40 chapters, and Exodus was the only one that met that criteria.

Or is it criterion? I'm not sure on that...

Anyway. Here's the cool part: for the past week, I have been excited to read my Bible each day. To be reminded of what God did for Moses and the Israelites. To notice details and messages I hadn't seen before. To learn what these stories from so long ago have to teach me in 2009.

And I haven't felt that way in a long time. Maybe there's something to this Lent thing after all.

What do you think about Lent? Do you give up something? Add something to your daily life for 40 days? How do you decide what to do or not to do?

Photo by happy homebaker


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Why wouldn't I give the baby pasta for dinner?

A few months ago, I decided my good little eater (this was before the toddler pickiness began, thank you very much) needed to experience pasta. After all, this is a food we eat at least once a week, so she should start getting used to it now.

So I gave her some pasta. And she loved it. She went. To. Town.

If only that were all the story, but no. This photo is one of many from that fateful night, but shows so clearly her overflowing, saucy joy at being able to eat and mess and eat and mess and...well, you get the picture. (Aha! No pun intended!)

And today I'm entering this photo in the i{heart}faces contest. Wish me luck!

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I've walked these streets in a carnival of sights to see

Photo by adscrubb

Well, we all survived Carnival Week. (At least I think we did. You're still here, right? Hello?)

While I was at it, I found a TON of different carnivals that happen every single week. And since I wasn't able to do them all (I believe that would have put me over the edge, to be honest!), I thought I'd give you a list here. Enjoy!

Monday
Mouthwatering Monday – Southern Fairytale
Not Me Monday – My Charming Kids
Menu Plan Monday – I’m an Organizing Junkie

Tuesday
Positive Post Tuesday – Brody Harper
What I Learned This Week – Musings of a Housewife
Top 10 Tuesday – Oh Amanda
Tasty Tuesday – Forever Wherever

Wednesday
Works for Me Wednesday – We are THAT Family
You Capture (photography) – I Should Be Folding Laundry
Wordless Wednesday – Wordless Wednesday

Thursday
Things I Love Thursday – The Diaper Diaries
‘Fro Me to You – The Glamorous Life

Friday
Flashback Friday – My Tiny Kingdom
Frugal Friday – Biblical Womanhood
Finding Freedom Friday (money) – Getting Freedom
Fat Burnin’ Friday – Mommy Snacks
Say it Forward – 5 Minutes for Mom

Sunday
Weekly Winners (photography) – Sarcastic Mom

So, have you found anything new online this last week? Learned about a new site, or participated in something cool? Let us know! And oh yeah - props to anyone who caught the Natalie Merchant reference in the title.


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