Giveaways Galore, and another award!

When it rains, it...is better than pennies from heaven, I'm tellin' ya! So here are a couple more giveaways I've found, as well as my own.

Over at Soapaholics Anonymous, Heidi is giving away a 16 oz bottle of calendula and comfrey infused oil! Go enter and read about how you can use this wonderful product.

Then, to celebrate her 100th post, Michelle at Chocolate and Marmalade Tea is giving away the sweetest Valentine set! You'll have to get yourself over there to see all the wonderful things included in it and to enter.

As for my giveaway, I'll bore you with the background story first (well, you have to suffer some to win, you know!). Dh wandered into my art/sewing/soaping/crafting room a couple of days ago when I was in there, and he remarks how it gives him the heebie-jeebies because it's so cluttered (thanks, dear). Then he peeked into the closet and groused about all the books in there that I had bought when I used to be the Scholastic Book Club coordinator for my homeschool group, and asked that I please get rid of them, and soon.

So, the first part of my giveaway is a set of kids' books, fun facts for kids of all ages, but probably especially perfect for homeschoolers. If you can't see the titles from my photo (because you all know what wonderful photos I take...NOT), they are the Usborne Encyclopedia of Planet Earth, a Scholastic Science Supergiants volume on the Wright Brothers, and an Ocean Origami book (with origami paper and stickers to complete your creations).

The second part of my giveaway is a 2 oz bag (3 if I can sneak some more out without dh noticing...heh heh) of our very own dried tomatoes - both cherry and grape tomatoes - grown with love in our garden and without pesticides or other harmful chemicals. I'd tell you how we pick the tomato hornworms off by hand, but I'd probably gross you out. Here it is in a jar, but I'll be mailing it in a baggie. Sorry, this second part is only available to those in the U.S. as I'm not sure what the mailing protocol for veggies is to other countries.These dried tomatoes are perfect for making sundried tomato paste, and kicks the tom kha soup up another notch with their tangy sweetness.

Please leave me a comment to be entered for the drawing; make sure it has your contact info somewhere, either a link to your blog/website or your email addy (your username on the comment usually has a link to your blog or email). Tell me which part, books or tomatoes or either, you'd like to be entered for.

I'm not trying to drum up traffic to my site, but if you do post about this contest please put that in your comment and you'll have a second entry. Or if you tell a friend about it and the friend drops by to enter, tell this friend to let me know you sent them, and that's another entry for you.

Finally, more blog love! This time, it's from The Blonde Duck, whose "A Duck in Her Pond" blog is one of the most creative ones I've ever read . She bestowed the following on me:Muchas gracias, Duckie!

This just in (added at 3:35pm), Cynthia at The Good Enough Witch (how can you not read a blog with that name??) also bestowed the above on me.

And, flaky me, I just realized that I was supposed to list 10 honest/interesting things about myself with this award. I'm not sure I know what that means...I've always been honest with my readers, unless I'm making some sarcastic joke, of course. If I'm to tell you things about myself, why would I make it up? My sister will just show up here and tell me off if I lied.

So, here goes nuthin':

1) My cell phone's ring tone is the call of a Wood Thrush. It throws me because when I hear a real wood thrush, I want to answer my phone.

2) I have to clean my toilets/bathrooms every weekend or I go nuts. Wait, I am nuts. I'd go more nuts, then.

3) I know I'm gonna get an earful from a lot of folks, but watching baseball or football puts me right to sleep.

4) I still have an unrequited love for astrophysics.

5) I used to dislike cilantro, but now I can't get enough of it.

6) I was once asked to be a Miss Hong Kong contestant.

7) I used to get strep throat at least 3 times a year when I lived in Hong Kong.

8) I don't have an addictive personality, and can break away from just about anything in a New York minute (although you wouldn't know it the way I'm glued to the computer).

9) I fear crowds. I blame it on being short and fearing being trampled, but I think I just fear the mob mentality that can stem from a crowd.

10) I don't know how to program the downstairs VCR; we've had it for about 5 years now.

I don't know if those are interesting or not, but that's all I've got for the day. I'm supposed to pass it along to 7 other bloggers, but....well, those of you who show up often enough will know that I shirk that duty as a duty. ;)

And happy Sunday, everyone!

"He is happiest, be he king or peasant, who finds peace in his home." ~ Johann von Goethe