TEMPT MY TUMMY TUESDAY

Hey, y'all! It's Tuesday....time for TEMPT MY TUMMY TUESDAY! You all remember my friend, Lisa? Well, she and her twin, Lana, co-host this blog carnival in which so many people link up and share recipes, tips, and ideas dealing with the kitchen. It's a lot of fun. I hope you will pop on over and join us.

I have been hinting at a cookbook give-away for a few weeks now. And yesterday, I PROMISED that there would be something great today. SO......here it is.

THE GREAT ~LL~ COOKBOOK GIVE AWAY

Here are some pictures:








They include:

365 Foods Kids Love
The New Woman's Day Cookbook
Everyday Chocolate
Country Cooking
From My Mother's Kitchen
Necessities and Temptations
Southern Living Slow-Cooker
Vegetables
Dear Daughter
Meals Like Mom
The Lady and Sons (Yes....a Paula Deen book)
Chili Cookbook
29 magazines and inserts (these are mostly Cooks Country and Cooks Illustrated)

SO....how do you get one? Well, May 29th was my 3rd Blog-versary! That, alone, is a good reason to have a give-away. First, I would like to thank my faithful few. Some of you have been "with" me since the beginning of this little hobby of mine. Some of you joined in later. To those of you who read AND comment consistently (no...not every single post, but I don't have to jog my memory as to who you are) then I would like to guarantee you something. Now.....this number is less than 10....it's closer to 6. If you are one of those...and you know who you are...then leave me a comment with your top three choices. I will then get back to you as to what you are awarded. Since there are a few that will be more popular than others, then the first one to respond with their first choice gets it.

After that is claimed, then I will open up the remains to an actual random drawing. Sound good? I hope so. You don't know the pain I feel in giving these away...please love them!

ETA: I will not be mailing anything until next week. I am leaving town tomorrow for the rest of the week.

MAKING A HAPPY HOME MONDAY

Hey, y'all! Hope you are having a good beginning to the week. We are. It's just hot hot!

So, before I forget, I will try to activate Mr. Linky.....but he hasn't been cooperating with me lately. SO, you may, or may not, be able to link up. If it's not up, please leave a comment!

A lot of you already know what I do here, but I suppose there may be a few new readers....either to this blog-carnival or to the blog, in general. I started this blog-carnival as a way to hold myself accountable. You know....pride can be a powerful ally OR a horrible enemy. I have chosen to use it to work on my house. I tend to get a little lazy. But, if I put something out there, then I will do it. Otherwise, I might just think about it and never get it done.

The purpose of (hopefully) allowing everyone else to link up is the same. My hope is that this blog will encourage and inspire others to do something in their homes.

So what is a happy home? A happy home doesn't have to be spotless. Heaven help us if it does. LOL! It does need to be clutter free and well-running. I find that if there is an area of my home that doesn't work well...either it is cluttered, ugly or dirty.....then I need to remedy that somehow. When I do that, I'm happier. My hubby is happier. My kids are happier.

Please join me. Find an area of your home that needs to be cleaned, organized or beautiful. Take pictures if you can. Share them with us. This is a long process. One that, sadly, will never be DONE. It is a work in process. I hope you will join in on that process with me.

SO, without further adieu, I will share what I did for Making a Happy Home.

BOOKS!

Do you remember a few weeks ago when I had the teaser about my cookbooks? Well, it is coming together, so be sure to tune in tomorrow for some BIG NEWS!

For today, let me show you the before and after.

I keep my cookbooks above my bar in the cabinets. Above my bar, on the counter, on the hearth, by my bed, in the FTU, on the sidebar, in the floor, on the kitchen table...the point is, my cooking library has exceeded the capacity for that space above the bar. That will probably not change. I can't give up more kitchen space because, well.....I cook and need that space. I don't want to keep it on our bookshelves in another room because that just seems wrong to me, somehow. :)

I have too many books. Specifically, I have too many cookbooks. (We'll talk about regular books later.) There are some cookbooks that, no matter how much I may or, may not, use them, I will never part with. There are some that I have looked through once and that was it. I'm sad that I invested the money into these and didn't use/keep them. I think my hubby understands, I hope so....otherwise, I'll never get another cookbook. :p

Here is a before picture of the area with my cookbooks.

Here is the after. Not too bad, huh? Just wait till you see what you might could get!

**HINT HINT** You REALLY need to leave a comment.

Holiday Cooking

Almost, but not quite, embarrassed to show this.


Today, while working on my Making a Happy Home post I was also thinking about what I would fix for tonight's Bunco gathering. I was looking in a holiday cookbook. I then thought it would be fun to put a picture up of my holiday cookbooks. There aren't too many.....only 5 cookie books. Why do I need 5 cookie books? And keep in mind that these are just HOLIDAY cookie cookbooks. Hmmm...I can think of 2 more (at least) that I have; not to mention the cookies in my regular baking books.




So you are probably asking why I'm embarrassed.


Keep going.





I mean, I'm not so embarrassed that I'm about to get rid of stuff or anything, but still. Let's take a quick tour.


Click on the picture to see it larger, but here is what I have:



1 Better Homes and Gardens cookbook
3 Gooseberry Patch cookbooks
1 Betty Crocker cookbook
1 Paula Deen cookbook
1 Taste of Home Thanksgiving cookbook
1 Nabisco Holiday cookbook
5 Christmas cookies cookbook
1 Holiday planner

Heh...keep in mind this is JUST for the holidays! Fun, huh?

Is your menu planned? Get on it!