Don't forget, tomorrow's the day to win a copy of The Light Across the River!  Follow the Great Escape link to the right.

But how cuddly is this?  Enjoy Cute Things Falling Asleep!

And here's another link for you if you live near a Giant Eagle grocery store--follow this link to save 5% on your next shopping trip.

One more cute furry friend from my trip to the Columbus Zoo yesterday (it's a leopard):

Okay, are you ready to win?  Your chance is on Friday 6/26 if you want to win The Light Across the River.  I'll add the link here on Friday.  You only have one day to win!  But please check out the other wonderful books you have a crack at this week, listed below.  Meanwhile, the sponsor of the giveaway, The Christian Pulse, wrote up the contest.  Here's how you can enter:

"The Great Escape Week 4 - June 22nd-26th - 5 New Book Giveaways!

Invite Your Friends To Stop By The Christian Pulse For Your Chance To Win Daily This Week!

Enter daily for your chance to win a free autographed book weekdays during the month of June at The Chrsitan Pulse.  The Great Escape Summer Reading Promotion- 22 giveaways, 22 winners, 22 reviews.No Purchase Necessary.  See rules provided at The Christian Pulse for more information.

***Be sure to invite your friends to sign up for our newsletter mailing list.  Be the first to hear about future giveaways and prizes!

Check out these featured giveaways for the week of June 22nd-26th:


Week 4 Book Giveaways:

Monday, June 22nd  – The Broken Path, by Cami Checketts
Tuesday, June 23rd   – The Red Siren, by MaryLu Tyndall
Wednesday, June 24th  – The Valentine Edition, by Robin Shope
Thursday, June 25th – Praying for Your Prodigal Daughter, by Janet Thompson
Friday, June 26th – The Light Across the River, by Stephanie Reed"

You can find a photo of Light (plus Across the Wide River) and a video preview to the right in the sidebar.

So if you need some summer reading FREE, enter to win!  Just go to the link above, or click The Great Escape banner!

In need of some cheer today?  I'm spreading the love.  This little guy was raised next door in a birdhouse our neighbors put up, but he came over to pay us a visit.  He was so tiny, fuzzy, and CUTE! 

Okay, I'm like a pushover for giveaways.  Lottery tickets and the like don't interest me, but if I can win something for free?  I am there.  The nice part is, if I win something, I make a new friend.  The Gaerte Gang from the post before this one, for instance.

Actually, today I'm going to share about the giveaway prize that arrived today.  I actually won a Pepsi Throwback Giveaway Pack over a month ago at The Life of a Home Mom.  Eliza F asked us to "Leave a comment below telling me a story/memory from the 60-70s, if you are too young share a Pepsi memory..."  Well, I stopped reading right there, because I'm *ahem* not too young.

So here was my memory:

"My favorite memory of Pepsi during the 70's is the US Bicentenninal Celebration in July 1976. My friends and I were 18 and had just graduated from high school. We all went to the local parade (on the 3rd because the 4th was on Sunday, sacred back then), and of course we took Pepsi with us. Back then, Pepsi came in red, white and blue cans. My best friend's mom took a picture of the six of us hoisting our patriotic Pepsi cans."

So I still don't know if I won on the merits of my story or from a random drawing, but I WON!  I just got the package today--Eliza was really good to check on it for me since it took a while.  But here's what I won:

A retro lunchbox, a cap, a can of Pepsi Throwback and one of Mountain Dew Throwback (both are protected from scratching so I can save them for posterity if I choose), a glitter lamp that is glowing and twinkling at me right now, and best of all, the coolest retro radio!  It is a CD player/clock radio, and it's made by Crosley.  What's really cool about that is--my mom and dad worked near Crosley Field outside Cincinnati when they met!  Awwwww.

If I can dig up the photo of me and my friends which I described in the winning entry, I'll post it here.  One of our photo albums is AWOL, but I promise to post and you can guess which one is me.

Thanks again to Life of a Home Mom for the awesome giveaway and prize.  I figure we're all on a budget these days, and if I discover free stuff, maybe I can help out by spreading the word.

I am so pleased to say that I won a packet of hollyhock seeds from The Gaerte Gang .  I wondered if the younger Gaertes can guess what plant is growing behind my snapdragons?  Does it look familiar???  :-)