JanineThrossel.com

Joni!  Thanks for entering! Please send me a comment with your address so I can send your wonderful prizes!  (I have returned the comments settings to the previous format of being moderated--so it shouldn't show up on my blog at all, just in my mailbox.) Congratulations and enjoy the treats!  

UPDATE: Due to some issues with the comments, I have temporarily changed the settings.  Your comments should go right through--without moderation or word verification.  So, if you have commented and don't see your comment, please try again until you do see it.  Don't send anything through that you don't want published.  Click on the word "comments" at the end of this article (lower right), type in the form (with your name) and then don't forget to press "publish!"  Thanks. Welcome to my second giveaway!   Thanks for dropping by! Do you know what today is? ( I mean, besides Saturday, June 21st, and "a day the Lord has made?")   It is the first official day of SUMMER! Of course, "summer" started for us several days ago, when school ended.   However, the weather people seem to count the solstice--not the local high school--as the marker.   Go figure. :) So, today summer is truly here! To celebrate, I am giving a...

Well, first things first, right?   The roses.   I don't know if any of you prayed about it, but that splendorous rose I mentioned in my previous post?  It didn't reach half-bloom until the Friday of show week!   It was amazing!  I fully expected it to be over and done by then. So, here's the deal. . . Roses for judging are supposed to be cut when the sugar is highest.  That's in the early evening or early morning hours before the show.   But by early Saturday morning, more than 24 hours before the show, my rose was already two-thirds open.   If it blooms beyond three-quarters, it is disqualified.   So, I drove to the fairgrounds Saturday morning to meet with a rosarian (Yes, that's a real word.). "My rose is already at two-thirds. What do I do?!!?!?"   (Do you sense the panic there?   Can you feel it?) She told me to go ahead and pick it early, and do the regular prep routine for the pageant--I mean, show.   Th...

6/4 UPDATE:  We have a winner!  We drew comment number six, which was MaryJane's!  Congratulations!!!  (I don't think I have your address, MJ.  Please message me on facebook and I will be happy to put the earrings in the mail for you!)  Thanks to all of you who played along! ================= 6/3 UPDATE:  Giveaway closes tomorrow (Wednesday) at 5PM Pacific time zone.  Two things about posting. . . 1) Your comments go into a mailbox before I open them and put them on the blog.  So, even if you don't see your comment right away, it is time-stamped at the time you send it/ it arrives to that mailbox.  I may not get them POSTED by 5PM, but if you SEND them by 5PM, they should be fine.  2) Anyone should be able to send a comment.  If you are not a "registered user," "Google Accounts user," etc., send it under the "anonymous" setting.  PLEASE INCLUDE YOUR NAME WITHIN YOUR COMMENT, though, or it won't count (Because I won...

Well, I have to get something off my chest.   Years ago, I wrote a small newspaper piece that discussed the dreadful dangers of drag racing.   How terrible for our teens to engage in such risky behavior!   So, is it hypocrisy or maturity that drove me to the same (legal) track with my family to don a helmet and ride along with my husband?   To hold a bouncing iPod and try to video corners like this?  By the way, we had a blast in our closed course, racing against a clock.   So no worries, right?   I mentioned racing for pinks (wink) and one of my sons assured me that registrations are digital now and paper copies must be requested in advance from the DMV.   Ah. . . times, they are a-changin'. From there, I traded in exhaust fumes and helmet hair to something more seemly for a lady. . . .   tending my garden.   A few months ago, a friend enrolled me in a local rose society.   Once a month, she and I take a class in...

A few of my friends have a habit of selecting a word each year that represents a theme for them or subject they want to ponder.  I don't usually participate.  However, I, too, have been thinking of one the last few weeks.  The "word of the year" that has been pinging around in my brain and soul is "pause." "PAUSE" before I say something that I shouldn't. "PAUSE" to appreciate the moments I am living. "PAUSE" the hectic day-to-day rush and make time for things that are really important. PAUSE. I am looking forward to a lot of wonderful things this year.  I have eager expectations about the life that God is giving to me in the days ahead.  About family, friends, work and faith.  I am choosing joy and trust over fear and worry.  I am thrilled to be reading the entire Bible this year.  I am excited about the book of stories that my husband and I are writing.  I am encouraged by the things that we see G...

Watching our male tortoise pace the yard, then stop at random points and turn a different direction with a serious look on his face. . . and then do it over again and again while I laugh and wonder what he is thinking inside that little tortoise head!  Also trying to feed our new female tortoise and NOT having her hiss at me. Making homemade raviolis for the first time--from scratch--with homemade potato-garlic-spinach-chicken filling.  Okay, so the pasta dough turned out less-than-fantastic. . .  The filling was awesome.  And I had fun. Hearing one of my children say thank you, he loves me and--with a hug--tell me that I'm awesome and no one has a better mom than he does. Walking outside to see a garden full of tall and leafy plants that aren't weeds. Talks out on the deck chairs with my handsome husband. A bright moon in a cloudy sky. Rain.  Thunder and lightning. Talks about video games and school and art with my eldest. Music l...