Blog Tour and Giveaway

Welcome to the Skizzer Blog Tour! Every so often I'll post book reviews of hot-off-the-press Christian fiction and non-fiction books. Sometimes I'll even throw in a giveaway for a copy of the reviewed book. Today is one of those days - details below!




ABOUT THE BOOK


After receiving news of her sister Becca's abrupt disappearance, Claire Trowling must piece together the shadowy remnants of a past she's long forgotten in order to find her. A cryptic note scrawled in Becca's handwriting leaves more questions than it answers. When a stack of mysterious letters bound by a rare necklace is found, Claire races to discover the secrets that hold her family captive. Suspenseful and full of intrigue, Skizzer takes you on a transcontinental hunt for answers, weaving seamlessly between the distant past of childhood and the urgency of the present.


"This debut novel from Kiesling is a quick and engaging read with plot revelations meted out skillfully enough to keep the pages turning.... [The book has] an adventurous story, a compelling protagonist and thoughtful musings on the real meaning of sisterhood." -Publishers Weekly.



ABOUT THE AUTHOR

A.J. (Angie) Kiesling grew up loving trees and words--trees because they formed the natural backdrop and playground for her childhood years in rural North Carolina, and words because they captivated her from as far back as she can remember. When she wasn't romping through the woods with her siblings, she might be found with her nose in a book--or lost among the shelves at the local library.

She has worked in the Christian publishing industry since 1985 as an author and editor. A former religion writer for Publishers Weekly and Religion BookLine e-newsletter, she frequently reported on spirituality trends and religion book publishing. Angie is the author of numerous books, including Skizzer (a novel, Revell), Where Have All the Good Men Gone? (Harvest House), Jaded: Hope for Believers Who Have Given Up on Church but Not on God (Revell), and Soul Deep: Prayers and Promises for Cultivating Inner Beauty (Barbour). She also ghostwrote Live Like a Jesus Freak (Albury), the popular follow-up to D.C. Talk's bestseller Jesus Freaks.

Beginning her career as a staff editor for Charisma magazine, she went on to cover industry news and book trends for the award-winning trade periodical Christian Retailing, followed by an editorial position on the startup website iBelieve.com. Over the years she has worked as an independent book editor and writer for some of the leading names in book publishing: Baker Publishing Group, Jossey-Bass, Thomas Nelson, Honor Books, Harvest House, Creation House, Barbour Publishing, and Xulon Press, among others. Today she heads up the editorial department at Xulon Press, a print-on-demand publisher based in Orlando.



Now for my thoughts on Skizzer:

I gladly recommend this book! It is full of suspense and mystery, leaving you with a new set of questions after each revelation.

Claire drops everything to search for her missing sister. As she digs up the past, old feelings surface and perspectives begin to change. Becca has always been a mystery to Claire and the quest to find Becca would reveal so much more than Claire could even imagine. Would things ever be the same between them?

I found myself saying, "I'll stop after this chapter." Then when that chapter ended I would say, "Ok, I'll stop after this next one." I finished the book in two days, which is amazing for me considering 1) I'm a slow reader (but I love reading) and 2) you know, 4 kids take up a little bit of my time. ;o)

Skizzer left me with just enough questions to keep me reading, but not so many that I was confused or frustrated. I did find myself having to flip back and forth to get the dates/timeline right in my head but I enjoyed the brief flashes of memories that both answered my questions and left me with more.



Buy the book here.

To find out more, visit A.J. Kiesling's website.




Want to win a free copy of Skizzer? Just leave a comment to this post and your name is automatically thrown into the hat to win. Depending on how many comments I get, I'll either randomly pick one, or I'll grab the child closest to me (who can say more than "Ma" and "ah-boo") and have them pick a number between one and two...or how many comments there are. I'll pick a winner on Saturday morning (May 31st). Unless I know you and already have it, be sure to leave an email address where I can notify you if you win. You don't have to have a blog to enter.


Also, check out other reviews in the Blog Tour for Skizzer here and see how you can win $40 to the restaurant of your choice!

Friday Five

What is Friday Five? I don't know, I just made it up. Maybe because I had planned on doing the Thursday Thirteen and I missed it.

1) Today was supposed to be Mackenzie's Track & Field day but the school postponed it due to rain. I didn't schedule any tutoring hours today because of it, so this afternoon I'll probably do some much needed cleaning of the house and do some much needed reading to Jessica (the only one who will be here and awake this afternoon). Oh and they rescheduled the Track & Field day for next Thursday, which I have a dentist appointment. So I need to see if I can reschedule that, too. That's always fun.

2) Ok, well I called and guess what? They are closed on Fridays. I wonder if they will be also be closed on Monday because of the holiday. Yikes!

3) Three day weekend ahead!! What will you be doing? Considering it's supposed to only get up into the mid 60's and rainy all weekend, I doubt we'll do any grilling out or much outside stuff. Maybe we'll chill and watch movies. Maybe we'll install a ceiling fan in our bedroom and a switch for the new fan in the living room. Maybe Stan won't be too thrilled with this honey-do list I'm making up right now. Maybe we'll play the Wii. Maybe we'll run through the house in our underwear, singing "Don't you wish your girlfriend was hot like me." Maybe we'll watch Jake walk around the house with his blanket on his head and running into things. Maybe we'll be full of cabin fever by the time Tuesday rolls around.

4) The reason I have been frequenting the dentist lately is to fix my jaw...or at least relieve the pain and headaches. I'm getting one of those very attractive mouth guards to help. It should look just lovely (at least my family will be the only ones to see it), but I guess if I survived going to school with a bionater contraption in my mouth (much, much, much worse than a retainer...imagine having both top and bottom retainers that are attached to each other so that your teeth stay together...and then try talking that way) and enduring the ridicule of that I can endure another plastic contraption. Word to the wise: if your jaw pops on one or both sides when you open your mouth, go get it looked at. It's a little piece of bone that is being rubbed away or pushed out of place and the only "real" way to pseudo-"fix" it is surgery. No thanks. It may not hurt at first, but it will. And the daily, intense headaches? Not so much fun.

5) If you've read this far, well, bless your heart! I do have some fun stuff coming up. Next week (Tuesday) I'll post a book review...first of many to come. And with this particular review, I'm also doing a giveaway for that book. So after your fun-filled, three day weekend come back and win a free book!

Have a great weekend!!!

Wordless Wednesday

See more Wordless Wednesdays here.

Hello ~ Good-bye

I would love to stay and chat and tell you about Jake climbing up the slide the wrong way at the playground and falling and busting his lip and blood gushing everywhere, but I must go.

We've been having SUMMER weather the past few days and according to the weather report, summer is not actually here yet and we shouldn't expect this extravagant summertime treatment much longer. No, no. Meaning - rain and cooler temps are on their way once more.

Montanans are like a colony of ants. When it's cold you won't see many of them out and about (mostly because YOU are not out and about to see if anyone else is out and about, but that's a different story). When it's warm it's like everyone is connected to the same brain wave that makes them chant "Must go outside. Must go outside. Must go outside."

I've wondered what we must look like from the sky. You know...the same view you'd have leaning over an ant bed, watching the ants scurry along without any knowledge of your presence.

Anyway...

I've also been sporadically hard at work clearing the rocks out of the flower bed that I'm insisting on re-doing. You know, those "Flower Power Garden Makeover" posts from so long ago? I'll give an update later in the week when the temps have dropped again and I'm back in front of the computer screen, talking instead of doing.



Jake is okay, by the way. He loves it when he gets to suck on a piece of ice through a plastic baggie. Give him a pacifier or a peanut butter & jelly sandwich and he's fine.

Eventful Weekend Ahead

If you like Jessica stories, you're in luck because we seem to be full of them lately.

The other day Stan and I were talking about our upcoming schedule. This weekend is going to be full, complete with a birthday party (not one of ours), a graduation (not one of ours), a changed church schedule (because of the graduation), and...drum roll, please...a date! Yes. A date! Just the mommy and the daddy. No kids. Can you believe it?! It's our anniversary - eleven whole years. Thank you, thankyouverymuch.

And where does Jessica fit into all of that, you ask? Well, as we were trying to get it all sorted out in our heads she pipes up...

"And I'm in a Grape Peeling Contest!"

I guess she felt left out and since we always go to Mackenzie's and Rebecca's school events, she wanted us to come see one of her events.

Why she chose "Grape Peeling Contest" we'll never know. But I'm sure she'd be great at it. I think she's sure she'd be great at it too, even though she made it up.

Have a great weekend!!!

And be sure to practice that grape peeling. Just in case there's a contest.

Montana Menopause

Seems like no matter where you're at in the country people will say "if you don't like the weather, hang around for 5 minutes and it will change" (except maybe in California where they wish it would change). Well, Montana is one of those places.


We have 5 seasons here...Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, and Menopause. Some seasons are shorter than others but the Menopause season can happen any day of the year.


Here's how it works...


One spring day you wake up and it looks like it's going to be a nice, warm day. Hallelujah! It's a miracle! But you can't jump the gun because mornings are NEVER warm (except for when it's been in the 100's for a few days), so you still have to wear long pants and then layer four to ten shirts/jackets.


Sure enough it warms up nicely and you go outside and gradually start shedding layers until you decide it's TIME for shorts! Oh yes!


You go inside and change into shorts. Go back outside and enjoy the warm weather. You may even be sweating. It's HOT out there! Then within the span of 10 minutes the clouds cover the sun and your sweat turns to little ice drops all over your body.


You run inside and put the pants and all four to ten layers of shirts/jackets back on. Once outside you go about life as usual, until...


...the sun comes back out and you start shedding layers. Not to be fooled again you refuse to change back into shorts even though it seems you're enduring one never ending hot flash. You look up at the sky and there's just one tiny cloud left so you decide it's safe to don the shorts again.


Soon you are enjoying life outside grilling out and watching the kids play and you're not even thinking about the temperamental weather. I mean, it's Montana. We're used to it.


But then comes the severe mood swing. What once was a slight breeze turns into a monsoon (yeah, I know those don't technically happen in the mountains) and the lawn furniture is blowing across the yard. Your husband frantically pulls the meat off the grill, hoping it's cooked, but not too worried because it's elk he shot himself and you know you wont get some strange illness from eating it not fully cooked. (And if he had JUST put the meat on the fire he braves the weather alone because you're not about to stay out there freezing to death.)


You holler at the kids to get inside before they blow away too, sacrificing their bikes and other toys to the moody weather. Did you get everything inside and/or secure? You hope so.


After you've surrendered to the nasty weather and are curled up on the couch with your husband and 4 kids (or 3, and 1 running around entertaining everyone) you realize the windows have stopped rattling. You look outside and the mood swing is over and it's shorts weather again, calm and happy as could be. As if nothing ever happened.


Until the next hot flash, anyway.


Like I said. It could happen any day of the year, to any degree. We lost our trampoline and the kids' playhouse last year to one of those mood swings.

Oh and part of the fence too. Notice the trampoline landed in the lot next door (so thankful there is no house there!)

It also happened one Easter right in the MIDDLE of the egg hunt. Those babies were so cold they didn't care if they found all the eggs. They were running inside, I had them stop, they flashed a quick smile, I took a picture, and that was the end of the egg hunt.

Yum Yum Jalapeno Yum Yum

There's only so much northern "Mexican" food I can take. Being from the south, I've gotta have my spicy fix. Now granted, Stan's idea of a spicy fix is much, MUCH hotter than mine. But he humors me.

Every now and then we get a big craving for, what my side of the family calls, "Stan's Jalapenos" because well...it's his thang. Here's how you make 'em:

1. Buy, grow, beg, steal, or borrow a bunch of jalapenos (8-12 or so). They are sometimes hard to come by up here.

2. Chop off the end with the stem.


3. Slice each jalapeno in half long-ways.


4. Scoop out the seeds -n- such with a spoon. (Don't squirt yourself in the eye...not that I'd know that firsthand or anything. A-hem!)


5. Fill each half with cream cheese.


6. Sprinkle brown sugar on top of the cream cheese. Like this...








I was making these the other day and at this particular point is where I had the bright idea to take pictures and blog about it. So you missed all the other visual steps.


Mackenzie was helping. She was dishing out the brown sugar on the left...I was on the right. I like me some brown sugar! Her? Not so much. She doesn't like jalapenos either, but she asked to help and I wasn't about to question it.


And no, you dont have to have a plastic toy pony with bug-eyes watching you while you work.


Oh, and I do recommend taking off any rings from your fingers (see picture). Trust me, you do NOT want jalapeno juice settling in between your ring and finger. It burns! Like fire! Not right away...but within an hour or two. And just like if you wrote on yourself with a Sharpie marker...it just has to wear off. Again, not that I'd know that firsthand or anything.


I digress...


7. Where was I? Oh yeah...get some (thick sliced) bacon and cut all the strips in half...not length ways...just in half...so they're half as long as they used to be...whatever that's called.


8. Take one of the half-slices of bacon and wrap all the way around one stuffed jalapeno. (You can use toothpicks to keep them in place...or just wrap it so that the end is on bottom when you set it in the pan.)


9. Repeat #8 for each one. Place each wrapped jalapeno on a baking dish (with sides). I prefer to line the dish with foil (easier clean-up) and spray with cooking spray (so you're not eating little bits of foil that's stuck to your jalapeno). Like this...





10. Stick 'em in the oven. I always forget what temp...but I think I usually end up going with 400 degrees. And just bake 'em til the bacon is done. I dont remember how long it takes...probably 30-40 minutes or so. How's that for precise? The aroma is fabulous, so I can't stop myself from checking them every other minute.


I'd love to show you a picture of the finished product after they've cooked. But I lost my head and was in too much of a hurry to eat them, so taking a picture didn't even cross my mind until they were all gone. All of them. Oh, remorse. I didn't eat them ALL by myself. Stan helped. Some.

You Mean There's Two?!

Yesterday I went to the dentist. Finally.

I'm embarrassed to say that it had been 4 years since I'd been and I was really dreading it. We had moved twice since I'd gone before and I just really hate trying out new doctors/dentists/optometrists/etc. I also tend to put "me" off and make sure the kids get all the appointments they need. It's not right or ok, but we moms tend to do that, don't we?

As the assistant was shoving the sharp plastic contraptions for the x-rays, one by one, into my mouth we talked about...our kids. Shocking, I know. Come to find out, she also had 3 girls then a boy and her third child's name is Jessica, and her Jessica and my Jessica have the very same personality. The. Very. Same. There was plenty of fodder for us to talk about.

Since her kids are older than mine (her Jessica is 14 years old, mine is 5) I just had to ask if it gets any easier. The short answer? Nope. Sorry. Her Jessica told her recently that she wants to ride a bull. For some reason that didn't surprise me in the least, knowing my Jessica.

But even though our Jessicas will provide us with plenty of grey hair, we both can see the amazing potential for their lives. They are full of fire and passion and aren't scared to take a leap. Whether they look first is another matter. But they aren't scared to find out what's going to happen. In fact, sometimes they know full well the future punishment/consequence if they go thru with [insert any action here] and will proceed without a hint of hesitation.

That's where Jessica and I are so different. I'm a scaredy cat. She's a tiger. I'm cautious. She throws caution to the wind. I weigh the situation carefully. She races full speed ahead and asks questions later. I watch and wonder. She does and knows.

Yes, Jessica could "drive me to drinkin'," as they say, but what an adventure she is. She is like watching an action movie where you think you could never do that (but wish you could) and are amazed and impressed with the character's courage and ability.

Jessica, I cant wait to find out what you do with your life. I hope I never crush your spirit in my attempts to teach you and train you for a godly (and obedient) life. Without direction, you'd just be wild for wild's sake. But by God's grace and mercy may I aim you, my arrow, straight and true. And when I let go, I can trust God to propel you straight to his bulls eye. (Just please, no bull riding, ok?)

All Work And No Play?

Of course not!

We had a work day on Saturday. We're fixin' to getting ready to put up a fence around the property but needed to do some dirt work first. Of course while we had the equipment we got some other things done around the place as well. Or I should say that Stan did. I cleaned house to get ready for church meeting at our place the next day.

If Jake was outside (which he was unless I had taken him inside, kicking and screaming, because he needed a nap - needed) then he was on the Kubota with Daddy. Don't argue with him. Just put him on the Kubota and no one will get hurt.

You're not leaving without me!

I can do this. It didn't look too hard. Now, what did this lever do?

Of course we put the girls to work. It's one of those things where you show them what to do, two or ten times, then they do it some other way, completely ignoring all instructions. That's when you ask yourself...do I loose it and blow up all over them? or do I just walk away?

Decisions, decisions.

Many times I can't seem to help but blow up. It just bubbles up and before I know it, fire is coming from my nostrils. But that day I just walked away. Today, they may not be so lucky.

Actually, they are really good helpers most of the time. Especially if they can't see each other while they work.

Then, there's play. Oh silly kids, you make me laugh.

Taco Soup

Linda over at 2nd Cup of Coffee is in a desperate situation. She's got college boys storming her house soon and she needs food ideas! So this is for you, Linda...

I got this recipe from Jenni's mom back when we were in college. It was one of the few "real" foods we ate. And boy, did we eat it!

It's still a staple in my house and I get all kinds of compliments on it...here up north where they've never heard of such a (southern) thing. Taco Soup? You put tacos in a soup? No. But did I mention that it's GOOD?



Taco Soup

1 lb ground beef, browned & drained
1 can corn (I drain mine...depends on how "soupy" you want it)
1 can pinto beans
1 can Ranch Style beans (or "chili beans" will do if you can't find "Ranch Style" up north...and right now my southern readers are gasping in disbelief that Ranch Style beans aren't available everyhere....sadly, neither is Sonic or Chic-Fil-A)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can diced Rotel tomatoes
1 small can diced black olives
1 pkg taco seasoning (dry mix)
1 pkg Ranch dressing (dry mix)



Mix all ingredients & cook for 30 minutes in big pot (or cook in crock pot). To serve - crush plain Dorito or Tostito style chips in bowl, pour soup on top, sprinkle with schredded cheese.