Souvenir Saturdays - Snow Gear for 2010

I haven't done a "Souvenir Saturday" for a while, so I thought I'd dedicate this one to...

Texas Snow by chlywi

Texas snow is usually RARE and BARE.

If you wanted to ski in Texas it might look something like this...

Ski Texas T-Shirt by the Online Paper Airplane Museum

But several times this year there was enough snow to make people actually bring out their sleds, skis and snowboards they usually keep only for trips to other states.

We even got SNOW ON CHRISTMAS in

much of the state!

Hmm...wonder if we'll get snow on Easter like we did several years back...

Snowy Bluebonnet - magnet by Horseshoes3

Weren't those bluebonnets pretty in the snow?

Bluebonnets in Snow - bag by Horseshoes3

Gotta love Texas weather!

(OK, maybe not. But it does bring surprises doesn't it!)

The products listed on this post are from artist shops at Zazzle (except the "Ski Texas" T-shirt which is from CafePress). I earn 15% off sales through these Zazzle Links.

A Glorious Day for Weeding

Today is a glorious day for weeding! Yesterday's snow, which lasted most of the morning, is now confined to rooftops and some shady patches of the yard. The air is still chilly, but the sun is out, and cold wimp that I am, even I felt comfortable with just a turtleneck and a thick sweatshirt. I brought my toddler out to play, and while he sampled what was left of the snow, I went after the weeds. The yard is otherwise dead so they are easy to spot, plus they are young weeds without deep roots so are fairly easy to pull out of the wet soil. I couldn't find my garden gloves, which my children used yesterday for snow gloves when their real snow gloves got soaked (garden gloves work surprisingly well as snow gloves, especially the kind I have which are knitted with rubber on the palms)...so I used dish gloves. These actually worked better than the garden gloves would have since the ground was muddy and I was weeding in puddles in places, and they kept my hands dry.

The weeds were even kind of pretty...all green and purple and decked with dew. Not pretty enough to let them stay though, as these ones turn ugly when they get older (they're the ones that the mature leaves turn prickly...luckily the new growth though was soft and easy on the hands).

Every now and then my sugar bear would come over and want to play with me and I would stop until he got interested in the snow again. Now he's napping but my oldest is outside, so I think I'm going to go out there again. What a wonderful day!

(Waco, TX)

Waco Snow

We have snow!

This is in Waco, not Ft. Worth!

No, this is not oatmeal cookie frosting snow! This is REAL snow.

Enough snow to make a proper snowman!

And it's still coming down! Hasn't stopped since this morning!

Yeah, this is definately something to get excited about! Yeah snow!

So, what's the weather doing in your area? Leave a comment and let me know!

Another Texas Themed Giveaway!

I found another Texas themed giveaway! This one is for a set of Bluebonnet Tumblers! I haven't met anyone yet who's experienced the bluebonnets in Texas and didn't fall in love...with the exception of my husband, who thinks they're lovely but would prefer to be without the allergies they cause. Actually, about th cups though--there's several different styles you can choose from if you win, but the bluebonnet ones were the ones the author at Hope's Cafe received and reviewed. You have until March 1st to enter.

Watch for Scammers

Well, I just almost e-mailed a scammer. I had entered a giveaway for a lovely shell necklace as part of One World One Heart...and got a message that landed (properly) in my spam mail folder saying "Send your details to mr.bruce_07@live.com for your shell won prize." Well, sometimes legit blog giveaway messages get transfered into SPAM so I almost answered it...but then, because that was ALL it said (not anything about the blog or OWOH...not even in the sig, which is unusual) I decided to look up the e-mail on google and guess what: pages and pages about this guy scamming people. WHEW! That was a near miss!

So, if you get a message from him in your inbox, avoid it like the plague--and it's a good idea to double check any prize offering e-mails you get to make sure they were from a real site, not a scammer.

One World One Heart Winner

I had so much fun taking part in One Heart One World! This was my first year to discover this fun blog giveaway and get to know each other event hosted by A Whimsical Bohemian. I enjoyed visiting all the blogs (ok, not ALL of them, since there were over 1,000 and I just couldn't get to all of them) and entering for some beautiful and unique artistic prizes--whether I win a thing is irrelevant, because it was a joy just to explore.

And what a response I got to my little postcard/tea giveaway! 56 people entered! Wow!

The winner (chosen by Random.org) was commenter number 52, Melissa. I visited her blog and discovered that Melissa just welcomed a precious little girl into her family this December! Congrats Melissa!

And...I'll be sending out a few more, just because. So many responses touched my heart, and I would love to send 56 post cards if I could, but I will at least be sending more than just one. I couldn't not send one to the 11 year old girl from England who collects post-cards, and I'm considering several others who's comments stood out to me. So hard to narrow it down! Thanks everyone who came by for all your lovely comments!

UPDATE!

Well, turns out I forgot to moderate my comments before I counted everyone...and had a few more to approve: 7 to be exact (ok, to be exactly exact 8...but one was a duplicate so I didn't count it). Well, since they didn't get included in the first draw this called for a second draw--but I wasn't about to take away the prize from Melissa for heaven's sake! That would just be mean. So, I did the second draw for a second Post Card on only the remaining 7, and the second winner was Asma Kausar from India! I'm assuming she will want the post card, which is good since I only had one Tea coupon.*

This second giveaway was chosen using Randomizer.org not Random.org, as Random.org seems to be down...I do believe all the OWOH participants picking their winners on the same day may have shut them down!

Snow Day

Snow is covering the ground like frosting on an outmeal cookie this morning*, and my son got to go to school two hours late. I didn't even have to wake him up this morning...his younger brother (who didn't notice the snow right outside the window he was sitting in front of until I mentioned it) ran to his room shouting "Wake up! It's snow! It's snow!" and my oldest got up faster then he's ever gotten up before.

That oatmeal frosting  is pretty normal for snow here in Waco, which is rare anyways....but I gather up in Fort Worth they're getting real snow again (like they did this Christmas) because this is what a friend of mine just posted on his Facebook page.



Isn't THAT awesome! Bet they're staying home more than 2 hours today up there!


*Credit to my husband for coming up with the oatmeal cookie description :-).

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Looking for Texifornians

I'm looking for Californians in Texas and Texans in California to interview for this blog, and for Texifornian bloggers to add to my blogroll. Please let me know if you'ld be interested in either!