While I liked the Twilight series, I have a sister who LOVES it. She keeps pushing me into doing Twilight related things for her—like countdowns, and fragrances, and bracelets.

I finally realized that she's probably not the only rabid Twilight fan on the planet, right? So I decided to jump on the Twilight band wagon and make the things I've created for her available to anyone who wants them.

TWILIGHT INSPIRED FRAGRANCES can be found at http://www.customscentsonline.com

TWILIGHT BRACELETS—charms chosen especially for their Twilight significance—can be found at http://www.twilightbracelet.blogspot.com

FREE BREAKING DAWN WIDGET—Countdown to the release of the book with this widget found at http://www.springwidgets.com/widgets/view/40582/?parameventTitle=Breaking+Dawn&parameventDate=08-04-2008&parameventTime=00%3A01&paramcounterStyle=edgy&paramlinkUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fspringwidgets.com%2Fwidgetize%2F71&parameventSkin=US+Flag&parameventCustomSkin=http%3A%2F%2Fdownloads.thespringbox.com%2Fhostedcontent%2Fimages%2Fd8a47371c30a6d88adde6d1d7ae79187.jpg&paramcounterX=0&paramcounterY=0&width=200&height=266

FREE TWILIGHT MOVIE WIDGET—Countdown to the release of the movie with this widget found at http://www.springwidgets.com/widgets/view/35528/?parameventTitle=Twilight+Movie+Release&parameventDate=12-12-2008&parameventTime=00%3A00&paramcounterStyle=modern&paramlinkUrl=http%3A%2F%2Fspringwidgets.com%2Fwidgetize%2F71&parameventSkin=White+Roses&parameventCustomSkin=http%3A%2F%2Fdownloads.thespringbox.com%2Fhostedcontent%2Fimages%2Ffcdb4c0c6c44b3731a5f784d9f84e988.jpg&paramcounterX=0&paramcounterY=0&width=220&height=361

And for a little EXTRA FUN—you can win a Twilight Fragrance! Here's how.

1. Visit http://www.customscentsonline.com and/or http://www.twilightbracelet.blogspot.com and leave a comment somewhere (anywhere) on the site(s).




2. Come back here and RANK the site you visited (either or both). [Find the blog(s) you visited on my Profile under "Karlene's Blogs and Sites" and click on the RATE ME button.]




3. Post a comment on THIS blog entry.




4. I will draw a random commenter from those listed on this entry on Saturday, Aug 2, 2008 (Breaking Dawn release date). The winner can choose a parfum spray or body lotion in the Twilight inspired fragrance of their choice.

My daughter and I are doing a Summer Road Trip Extravaganza starting this Monday, June 9th through Sunday, June 15th. We're having all sorts of contests and prizes over on my Inksplasher blog. (www.inksplasher.blogspot.com)

Hope you'll come visit.

The woman sits in an old straight-backed chair on the porch, a door to her right opening into a house already much too small for a family of four. She drops a peeled potato, white and wet, into a bowl worn smooth with use. The bowl threatens to tip and spill its bounty, but she catches it just in time, adjusting it to balance precariously in the ever decreasing space between her belly and the edge of her knees.

Taking another potato from the bag beside her, she holds it in a grip that turns her knuckles white. The short-bladed knife, held no less gently in her right hand, attacks the potato, carving away the crooked white spindles reaching outward. She pauses for a moment, knife at the base of the last spindle. The wrinkled skin of the dusty brown potato is a cruel mockery of the lighter brown and wrinkled skin of the hand that holds it.

Snick. She watches the spindle fly across the porch and drop into the sparse grass beyond it. Her hands drop to her lap and release their hold on both potato and knife, wrists draped over the rim of the wooden bowl, fingers still and empty. Her eyes lift to the horizon where the sunset is more than half-finished painting the sky vermillion and apricot and indigo. After a long moment, her right hand moves to rest on top of her belly, fingers spread wide apart as if to protect what’s inside—or hold it back.

She can smell the lavender by the fence, the honeysuckle winding up the oak beside the house. She closes her eyes and lets the fragrance transport her back to her home, the other home, where there was always plenty of food on the table and where there was laughter and dancing and music. Her shoulders relax and round, becoming those of a lady, not a potato farmer’s wife. Her face softens and the lines between her brows and around her mouth fade to nearly nothing. She can almost hear a waltz carried on the breeze that lifts a strand of dark blond hair from her face—one strand only, escaped from the tight knot that holds the rest in place. She can hear the lilt of the strings, the voice of the viola, the violin. She can hear the shuffling of feet upon the dance floor. And for a moment, she looks as young and as beautiful as her years say she should.

“Mamma?”

“Not now, Glory,” the woman says. Her eyes snap open. With barely a glance to notice that the last colors of the sunset have faded into gray and less than a glance for the girl of twelve, herself in miniature, standing in the doorway, the woman picks up her knife and another potato and starts to peel.

Winter is upon us and there's no better way to spend a cold and snowy day than snuggled up with a good book.

So, time for a reading challenge! It's fun and it's easy. You set your reading goal and track your progress. No goal too small; no ambition to great!

Start Date: December 22, 2007

End Date: March 19, 2008

You need a blog you can link to. Use your personal blog, your cre8Buzz blog, or "borrow" a blog I set up just for that purpose.

And yes, there will be PRIZES!

Visit my Inksplasher blog for details.

http://inksplasher.blogspot.com/2007/12/2007-winter-reading-challenge.html

I was just about to sit down and write my NaBloPoMo post yesterday (and it was going to be a spectacular one, I'm sure) when I got THE PHONE CALL.

I rushed off to the hospital to be with my daughter during labor. They have some really cool things now that weren't available when I was having babies. Like a ginormous room that was combo labor, delivery and after care room, with a comfortable fold out couch and sleeper chair for dad and/or visitors.

They had videos, food and drinks for Momma and Dad in an easy accessible, serve-yourself room. Not that Momma was eating anything more than ice chips, but still.

The best new invention, however, was the drugs-on-demand pump. They gave her a big dose of epidural then she had a button she could push to deliver more whenever she wanted it. This would have been a perfect situation—IF THE ANESTHETIST HAD REMEMBERED TO PRESS THE START BUTTON! But other than the two hours between when her epidural wore off and they finally figured out what the problem was and remedied it, she did great.

Baby was born November 21 at 3:49 a.m. 7 lbs 10 oz, 20 ins.

Grandpa Jim asked how hard the whole experience had been. Momma said, "Not as bad as everyone said it would be..."

Hope she's still feeling that way today.

See photos in Photo area.