The Winner! and the Answer

I'm afraid nobody guessed right.....


the answer is Angelica from The Rugrats!
Those who commented went into a draw, and the winner is comment number 2, Stephanie V.! So Stephanie, if you'd like to email me your address, i will get "Pamper Me" oil in the post to you this week. Congrats Stephanie and thank you to everyone for trying.

The winners!

Thanks to all who entered this giveaway. I hate it that everyone can't get a prize, I'd really love to be ordering 14 copies of the book to be sent to corners of the world.
And apologies for the delay in announcing the results - we had some unexpected visitors yesterday and today - a lovely surprise!

Back to results ... last time I had a giveaway, I used random.org, but I'm a fuddy duddy old-fashioned person, and when I saw this idea on a website, I knew this was my way to go...

here are all the names ready to go in the magic teapot,

lid on, and give it a little shake,

This is much prettier than random.org!

Then draw out the first winner...

First out was Zuzana, whose blog Life Through reflections has beautiful words and photos, from Denmark.

followed by Amy from The Green Bathtub,

Amy blogs from Smalltown, USA.

And blogger seems to have a mind of its own tonight, and has spread this post out more than I intended, so if you've a sore finger from scrolling, I'm sorry about that too.

Now I have to organise myself and get those books ordered.

Giveaway Reminder

Just a little reminder that my GIVEAWAY closes at noon Irish time on Thursday.

I'm so looking forward to the two winners getting their books!



And to while away the time, may I introduce you to one of my favourite hobbies, when I have time on my hands, which isn't very often - cloudwatching
.

Christopher Reeve once commented on how you could find endless entertainment from clouds, and I too find endless entertainment just watching them float along, beautiful and fluffy and light, and not a care in the world, and when I watch them, some of that carefree feeling washes over me too.

I deliberately included the lamp posts in the corners, to kind of anchor the picture, not sure if it works or interferes.

"It's only life, and we'll never get out of it alive anyway"!

A Giveaway

A good friend recently had his book of poetry published. Tom grew up in the county next to mine, so much of what he writes about is familiar to me. And yet he experienced the 60's in a very different way to how I did, as I went off to the city to boarding school, and gladly shed the cloak of country living. I've never been at all tempted to don that cloak again in real life, but I love reading about country life; perhaps it keeps me connected to my inner farmer, or fisherman!

I missed the launch of Tom's book, due to a bad cold, but I have been enjoying reading it since then.

And I would like two readers to share in that enjoyment, so a copy of "An Exaltation of Starlings" will go to two lucky winners.

Here's a little taste of it:

"Beyond the Mill Marsh

the river takes a turn for the deep

dark pike-swallowing deep,

pike looking up at us,

looking down on them"

To enter, just leave a comment below, followers only, and I'll draw the two winners at noon Irish time on Thursday 28th. It doesn't matter where you are; Doghouse Books have this lovely policy that their price includes postage to anywhere in the world.

A Giveaway

Have you ever gone into a shop where you just want to buy everything? That’s what happened to me today, when I found the etsy shop French Country 1908.
They have some really beautiful “finds”, and their prices are very, very good.

What’s even better is that they are having a GIVEAWAY! Magic words!
If you’re interested in getting, free gratis, AND for nothing, a $50 voucher for French Country 1908, just go over to Nancy's Daily Dish and follow the instructions.

Oops, the link that I tried to insert hasn't worked, but I think if you click on the badge at the top, then copy the url, it will take you there. I do not like the new blogger way of uploading pictures!

Have a really lovely weekend, everybody!

Final Giveaway!

Sorry this post is so late, it's been a hectic weekend.

I decided to have an aromatherapy evening, which took place last night, and have been up to my eyes making creams, oils, sprays, gels... beautiful work, and I've been sleeping like a baby after breathing in all these wonderful oils.

But trying to do this in my spare time, after work, is a bit much, and I probably shouldn't have undertaken the evening at all. But you know when you just love doing something and you know that people will like the stuff, and it will be a way of starting off the Christmas season? Yes, it was all that and more!

There wasn't a big crowd, but it was so lovely to have time to talk to people about the different oils and what they're used for. Everybody enjoyed trying the samples of different combinations of oils and seeing the many ways of using essential oils. And they got some unique presents for their friends. These kind of events really get the enthusiasm going all over again!

I put this oil on tissues tied to the side bar of each radiator in the house, and I'm not joking, the aroma of Christmas was as strong as if I'd been baking for a week!

The giveaway has the same rules as before, leave a comment, I'll get a random number, match it with that number comment, and leave a comment on your blog, you then email me your snailmail address and I'll pop the oil in the post.

As the post is late,let's say midnight Tuesday 8th December GMT for the closing date.

Looking forward to your comments.

Winner

The winning number was 6, so Lola over at Agliooliopeperoncino is the winner of the Christmas Burner Oil giveaway.

Thanks for all the comments, and again I'm really sorry that everyone can't be a winner.

I'll do one last giveaway, same oil, on Sunday 6th, same rules, so call in then if you'd like to be in with a chance.

Winter with a bang!

My goodness, winter has arrived here, with a bang!

Beginning of last week, it was mild enough to go to work without a coat, and now, tonight, you'd need to be wrapped up with anything you can find to brave putting your nose outside the door!

And in between, we've had the most dreadful rain, lashings of it, bad floods that have put hundreds of people out of their homes, thunder and lightening, and now frost.

What has eluded us, my favourite of all, ..............SNOW!

But here's a cute little snowman on my Christmas burner oil, which is my giveaway to kick off the Christmas season.

Read more about it on this post.

If you'd like it, just leave a comment by midnight GMT on 2nd December. I'll pick a number (random selection) and the comment number that matches will get a comment on their blog. You then email me your snailmail address, and it'll be posted within a week, in plenty of time for Christmas. If you haven't responded within 2 days, the giveaway moves to the next number.

There it is, leave your comment!