Keeping Family Together

I’ve been a little MIA from this blog because stuff in life has gotten in the way, like that migraine I talked about a couple of weeks ago (my back is still outta whack because of it). And then there was a case of strep (Tukey caught it but thankfully didn’t pass it to anyone else), and now Ajers is recovering from having his wisdom teeth removed. We thought he’d be better in time to go to school. Surgery was on Friday. Here it is Tuesday and he’s still home. He hates missing school so it’s been a bad recovery.

My parents were also here for 10 days and they just headed back to Florida this morning. You know, to get back to the good weather, since we’ve had crappy weather here in AZ. Haha! I always love when my parents come to visit, and my kids especially cherish the time with Nana and Papa. Seeing them together and the bond they’ve created just gets me every time.

They’ve never lived in the same state together, except for the first 10 months of Ajers’ life when we all lived in Illinois, until we up and left them and moved to Pennsylvania. Boy, that was a heart-breaker. So, in being away from grandparents so much, we have to do what we can to keep the bond strong. And as the kids get older, and more socially busy (friends, sports, movies, sleepovers, babysitting, other activities), it’s hard to find things for everyone to do together.

Interestingly, during this trip, I watched though, as all of my kids found some fun things to do with both Nana and Papa. I stood back and watched. I kind of have to thank the iPad for some of the bonding. Nana has an iPad. We don’t. But damn that iPad did a good job of bringing everyone together.

Diva and Nana, and even Tukey clocked many hours playing Words with Friends, and then there’s this App where you can make pottery. Diva’s quite the artist and they were creating some cool stuff, so much so that Nana bit the bullet and splurged and bought the $5.99 App so she could create even more intricate pottery! Yep, she got suckered into it! It was funny to watch because Nana would ask Diva, “What colors do I mix to make brown?” and Diva would go over and help her mix the pottery colors. 

Then *I* got sucked into this STUPID Word Whomper game with these groundhogs that pop out of the ground where you try to spell a bunch of words and beat a clock. So Tukey, Nana and I were playing THAT game. I kept saying, “THIS SUCKS, I’m DONE, onemoregameplease!” Addicting!

And Nana was showing Ajers a bunch of old Carol Burnett youtube videos with Tim Conway as the Dentist because Ajers had his teeth pulled. Papa and Tukey had a few rousing games of checkers. I’m telling you, there was some serious family bonding happening, all because of the stinkin’ iPad. We loved every minute of it.

One thing that ALWAYS happens when my parents leave is that my mom always puts individual secret notes hidden in the house for all of us to find. The kids left for school this morning and when they come home, they will know to go to their rooms and search for their special Nana Note hidden in their room.

It’s a special tradition we’ve got in our family, one that makes the saying goodbye less difficult for all of us. I love this ritual – it’s something we’ve come to look forward to and expect. I keep these hidden notes as treasures from my mother, and I know my kids love to get them too. They keep us fortified throughout from the times we can’t be with my parents, and we always talk about the funny and sentimental notes she leaves around the house for us. 

Family rituals are great. When my kids were little, the Balloon Fairy used to visit their rooms on the night before their birthday – they’d wake up to a bedroom full of balloons all in their room. That one has since dissolved – the fairy’s lungs couldn’t handle it much longer, but it was fun while it lasted – what kind of family rituals do you all have set up in your house? I know that darn Christmas Elf on the Shelf will be here very soon – he’s been a big hit the past few years.

There are tons of special ways to make family rituals in your own family, and here’s a few that’s shared on Subway’s Fresh Takes site. If you’ve got some family rituals of your own that you’d like to share over there, feel free – it could get you $50 worth of subs (which, by the way, was the first REAL food that Ajers asked for when he felt he could eat after his wisdom teeth surgery!). So, go on over and share your fun rituals and you could also be featured on the Fresh Takes site as well!

Take care! And before Thanksgiving, one of you who entered in the Fall Fab Book Giveaway could be winning a boat load of books – that’s a ritual that I’ve started here on MaNiC MoMMy that I’m happy to continue here for all of you book lovers!

My blog is a part of an incentivized online influencer network for Fresh Takes on Family Time Powered by Subway.

Fall Fab Book Winners, But Still GRAND PRIZE AWAITS!

Hey everybody! I've just listed the final winners for the last six books and your name could be one of the winners! So check back and see if you've won any of the previous books that were featured. They were:

MICE

MISTRESS'S REVENGE

COUNTERFEIT FARM GIRL


THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU


PARTY


THINGS WE DIDN'T SAY

Your name could be on one of those books. BUT, if it's NOT on one of those books and you left comments on any of the books during the Fall Fab Giveaway, STAY TUNED! Because YOU ARE ENTERED to possibly win ALL OF THE BOOKS that were featured during September, October and the beginning of November here on MaNiC MoMMy! Yes, even if you only had a chance to comment on one or two or three books, you still have the chance to win all 26 of the books that were featured!

Within the next week or so, DEFINITELY before Thanksgiving, I will be making the announcement of who has won all of the books! I've been dealing with strep in the house, and my oldest just had his wisdom teeth pulled out this morning, so things have been a bit crazy around here. I'm also going to be taking a little girl's trip next weekend but I promise that before Thanksgiving we'll have this all wrapped up and one of you lucky participants will be celebrating the holidays by answering your door every couple of days and receiving books, books, books!!!!

I want to thank all of you for your gracious participation when I host these promotions! You make it so much fun for ME! I LOVE reading all your comments and thoughtful answers to the questions I ask! They always stay with me throughout the day and really get me thinking!

Have a great day and a great weekend and make sure to check the previous posts to see if you're one of the recent winners, and REMEMBER, if you've posted EVEN ONCE on one of the last 26 book entries you are DEFINITELY qualified to win ALL OF THE BOOKS THAT WERE FEATURED here on the blog for the FALL FAB GIVEAWAY!

Special thanks to all of the incredible authors and publicists who donated their books and time to make this promotion happen and of course I'll be doing another smash giveaway in the winter, but for now you'll probably just have to stick around the blog to read about my life and writing and what's going on in that little world!

If you've previously won a book and have NOT received it yet and it's been a month or longer, please email me to let me know!

PeaCe uP!

MaNiC MoMMy!

Gloomy Day in AZ

This morning I woke up and it felt like I was back in Chicago. My room was completely dark, it was obvious there was no sun out. Lately I've been having those dreams again where we move back to either Chicago or Philly. Like we move back to our old neighborhood, but not on our same street, so it's like we're back home, but it's different, not the same. Rain brings me back to nostalgia because I'm not used to it being here.

One of my best memories of rain was when we lived in Philly and the kids were really little. Tukey was still in diapers and probably just walking. Mr. Manic was on his way home from work and I had probably spent the whole day dealing with a 5-year-old, a 3-year-old and 1-year-old. It started to rain, the good kind of rain that's not filled with thunder and lightning, the kind of rain where it's warm and safe to play in.

We had an awesome front porch, I had an awesome bottle of wine, and three riled-up kids. "Let's go outside and play in the rain and wait for Daddy to get home," I said.

I let them go play on the driveway in their clothes, with some umbrellas they soon abandoned, along with some clothes they soon abandoned. Daddy got home, joined me on the porch and we watched our little munchkins play on the drive in the rain. I have video of that day, but the memories that play in my head are just as great. I can remember exactly what little dress Diva was wearing, and I know for a fact that I let Tukey run around in just his diaper. What was I thinking? I was thinking they were my little babies and they were having the time of their little lives!

 When I woke up this morning to rain, I had this really nostalgic feeling. We never get rain here. But we love when it does rain because it's so unusual for us. A special treat. It's almost like getting a snow day. When it does rain, the kids and I will go stand outside and put our faces up to the sky and feel what it's like to have the water wash down on our faces. It just feels like a different sensation. Like new. Like something we never experienced before. Even though when we lived anywhere else it always rained.

The first year we lived here in Arizona, it rained maybe six times. We craved rain. It's just a nice surprise when it does happen, like snow. And today's rain brought about cold temperatures for us. I think it's colder today here than in Chicago, high 40s. Diva came downstairs in shorts and I said, "You'll need long pants today." She shrugged like maybe I was kidding. I told her to go outside for a second. She did, then came back in and went to put on jeans. The boys, they still have not worn long pants since we've lived here. I think they will never wear long pants again.

I even offered to drive the older kids to school this morning. Ajers laughed at me. He said, "We lived in Chicago where the temperatures were below 30 sometimes and the snowstorms were out of control and you never drove us to school, and because of a little rain you want to drive us?" Heck, though, these people don't know how to drive when it's raining here! Still, they opted to take the bus today!

The best thing about the rain here in Arizona is that when it is warm out, the rain brings about awesome lightning storms that are just beautiful. They light up the sky and I wish then that I was a photographer and I could capture those moments on film. And anytime it does rain it brings back those memories when my kids were little and they'd play outside in rainstorms.

Do you have fun memories of when you were a child playing in the rain or snow even? Do you let your kids play in the rain? Share your stories on Fresh Takes  sponsored by Subway and you can win a $50 gift card and be featured on their website.

Seriously, it is storming outside right now like I've never seen it in Scottsdale - I'm thinking about snuggling under the covers and taking a snooze - that's another thing I love to do during rainstorms!

Then later this week--book announcements for winners!!!!!

My blog is a part of an incentivized online influencer network for Fresh Takes on Family Time Powered by Subway.

THINGS WE DIDN'T SAY by KRISTINA RIGGLE

Congratulations!
Robyn78
Please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com with your full name and address and I'll get your book to you!

Last book in Fab Fall Book Promo!

Things We Didn’t Say

By Kristina Riggle

Well, here it is! The very last book of the Fall Fab Book Giveaway and I’m proud and honored to feature Kristina Riggle’s third novel Things We Didn’t Say. I’ve featured both of her other books here on MaNiC as well, and I love the depth of her writing. Her characters are so relatable and true-to-life, and she writes about tough subject matter here: alcoholism, divorce, blended families, the sudden disappearance of a child. Things We Didn’t Say is a book you will pick up and won’t be able to put down until the final pages.

Blurb:

What makes up a family? For Casey it’s sharing a house with her fiancé, Michael, and his three children, whom she intends to nurture better than she ever took care of her self. But Casey’s plans have come undone. Michael’s silences have grown unfathomable and deep. His daughter Angel seethes as only a teenage girl can, while the wide-eyed youngest, Jewel, quietly takes it all in.

Then, son Dylan runs off and the kids’ mother, a woman never afraid to say just what she thinks, noisily barges into the home. That’s when Casey decides that the silences can no longer continue. She must begin speaking the words no one else can say. She’ll have to dig up secrets—including her own—uncovering hurts, and beginning healing that is too long overdue. And it all begins with just a few tentative words…

To enter to win the final book in the Fall Fab Book Giveaway, tell me something you say almost every day.

Obviously, you’re probably saying you love someone every day, so tell me something unique or silly or funny or crazy that you say every single day at one time or another. I think I probably say GIVE ME YOUR LUNCH BOXES every single day or DID YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH every single day… So what are some things YOU DO SAY every day? (and yeah, we all know the usual, “Not tonight dear, I’ve got a headache … hahahah!)

Don't forget to go back and enter for the previous books. I still haven't drawn winners from the book MICE on, so there are still six books that you can enter to win! 

Next week I’ll finalize the winners from all of the books and give you info on when the GRAND PRIZE drawing will be. One of you will win all 20+ books! Yes, it could be YOU! How exciting is THAT!!!!

PARTY by TOM LEVEEN

Congratulations!
Shannyn (Toni)
Please email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com with your full name and mailing address so I can get your book to you!

PARTY
by Tom Leveen

When I first heard about this author and his YA book called PARTY, well, what do you think? I had to get my hands on it. I haven’t had time to finish it yet, but I'm almost done and the chapters that I have read are amazing. There is an end-of-the-year party junior year in Santa Barbara and each chapter is told from the perspective of one of eleven people. 

How each of the 11 kids’ lives intersect during that one night and how their lives forever change because of how the night goes is detailed dramatically and realistically in Tom Leveen’s debut novel. 

It’s very Breakfast Clubby/Sixteen Candle-ish so if you’re from that era, this book will be right up your alley!

PARTY is geared toward the 9-12 grade set but I’m a big fan of young adult books so I always like to pick up a few. Of course now that I have teens of my own, I like to know what I’ll be dealing with when they get into high school. Oh boy, please help me!

Check out the very cool book trailer below. Can you just totally see it as a movie? I can!

If you’d like to enter to win a copy of PARTY, tell me something you did that was kind of crazy at a high school party. I didn’t do this but I did freak out when we had just moved to Illinois and I was at my new friends’ home and the girls and the guys got in the parent’s hot tub ... NEKKID!!!! 

I was like, “NO WAY AM I GONNA DO THAT!” I was obviously hanging around a very ‘skilled’ crowd at the time. I was only 16! OMG! However, I did sneak in and take a photo with a Polaroid camera and kept it in order to blackmail the girls later on that year when we were no longer friends! Hahahah!

Share a high school party memory (doesn’t have to be a crazy one!) to enter to win PARTY!

THE VERY THOUGHT OF YOU by ROSIE ALISON

Congratulations
Lindsay Elizabeth
Please send me your full name and mailing address to stephanieelliot@gmail.com and I'll get your book to you!

The Very Thought of You

By Rosie Alison

Well, we are down to the wire this week with only three books left in the Fall Fab Book Promo on MaNiC MoMMy! I want to thank all of you for sticking around for so long! Today’s book is a historical fiction romance/love story and was shortlisted for the 2010 Orange Prize for Fiction, which is a Very Big Deal in the world of books!

I’m very pleased to bring you …

The Very Thought of You by Rosie Alison:

England, 31st August 1939: The world is on the brink of war. As Hitler prepares to invade Poland, thousands of children are evacuated from London to escape the impending Blitz. Torn from her mother, eight-year-old Anna Sands is relocated with other children to a large Yorkshire estate which has been opened up to evacuees by Thomas and Elizabeth Ashton, an enigmatic, childless couple. Soon Anna gets drawn into their unraveling relationship, seeing things that are not meant for her eyes and finding herself part-witness and part-accomplice to a love affair with unforeseen consequences. A story of longing, loss, and complicated loyalties, combining a sweeping narrative with subtle psychological observation, The Very Thought of You is not just a love story but a story about love.

In order to qualify to win this book, tell me if you’re a fan of historical fiction and share some of your favorites here. I’m thinking back to Wally Lamb’s second novel, I Know This Much is True, and for some reason I’m thinking that the second part of it is historical fiction? I just remember being spellbound by that book of his as well as his first. And I know A Tree Grows in Brooklyn isn’t really considered ‘historical fiction’ but that was a book from another era that always stuck with me. To me, historical fiction is from another time, another place. Is that what it means to you? Anyway, great writing is great writing and if we’re lucky enough to find that in a book, then it’s awesome! I hope you’ve found some here during this Fall promo, and I’ve got two more books to share with you before the HUGE GRAND PRIZE where ONE OF YOU will win 20+ books! Stay tuned ….

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Check previous book features to see who the winner is -- that's how you'll find out if you've won or not, and you can still enter if there's not a winner's name posted on the top and highlighted! I usually choose a winner for each book anywhere from 3-7 days after I post a feature!

Thanks for checking out the Fall Fab Giveaway – we're coming to a close of the promotion. At the end of ALL the individual books featured and given away, one lucky winner will win the WHOLE batch of the books.

If you’ve got particular questions on how the Giveaway works, check the ORIGINAL POST HERE, or feel free to email me! Thanks!


Good luck everyone! And I really enjoy your comments too!


Thanks for reading and being a part of this promotion! To find out all the details on how to participate throughout the whole promotion click the previous link!


I also blog at Real Moms Guide if you'd like to read some of my other work.


If you're new here, check out the rules and all the books at in the promotion HERE.

If you have any questions feel free to leave a comment and I'll answer it in the thread, or email me at stephanieelliot@gmail.com. It is always at my discretion to change things up, and because of some regulations, I guess I must say that the books I review are given to me by either the authors or publishers or publicists, and I am never paid for my reviews, and they are my own personal reviews, and you know what, because I'm here telling you this anyway, I will also tell you that I never review a book I don't like, because you know what, why waste my time, life is too short to read a crappy book! There.

COUNTERFEIT FARM GIRL BOOKS by SUSAN MCCORKINDALE!

Congratulations to

Buttah!

Please email me your full name and address to stephanieelliot@gmail.com

and I'll send you your books!

Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl
 and 500 Acres and No Place to Hide 
by Susan McCorkindale


Today we’ve got two for the price of one! Which basically means BOTH OF THE BOOKS ARE STILL FREE!

Many of you may have already heard of the fabulous counterfeit farm girl – Susan McCorkindale, who moved from New Jersey to a farm in Virginia, and then wrote two memoirs about her experiences. Well, I’m honored to be giving away a set of her books here on MaNiC MoMMy.

Her first is Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl:

At her husband’s prompting, suburban mom and New York career woman Susan McCorkindale agreed to give up her stressful six-figure job. Together, they headed down south to a 500-acre beef cattle farm, and never looked back. Well, he didn’t look back. She did. A lot.

From playing “spot the religious billboard” on the drive to rural Virginia, to planning bright-orange hunter-resistant wardrobes for the kids (“We moved here to get away from the madness of Manhattan only to risk getting popped on our own property”), Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl is her hilarious account of how a city girl learned the hard way that Manolos and manure just don’t mix.

The second book is 500 Acres and No Place to Hide:

In this charming, poignant, and uproarious follow-up to Confessions of a Counterfeit Farm Girl, Susan McCorkindale chronicles the continuously harrowing journey of what happens when you leave the big city for the land of wide-open spaces.

When Susan’s husband dragged her from the ‘burbs to the back of beyond, she thought she’d never live to see hers sons approach redneck status—and be happy about it. But after four years of living among the cows and goats instead of fashionistas and Wall Street tycoons, Susan has almost adjusted to life on the farm—even if she does miss the occasional grande soy mocha latte.

But “City Suzy” hasn’t gone completely country. In fact, she’s made farm life fit her, not the other way around. That’s why you’ll find her attempting to put pink collars on her sons’ bull calves, and campaigning hard for pair of Hampshire hogs (“They have black bodies with white ‘belts’ around their shoulders. Pretty snazzy for swine, no?”) She’ll never be a real farm girl, but as you’ll see from her sidesplitting confessions, she’s faking it just fine.

Just watch this video of Susan and the struggles she’s been through to go from city girl to farm girl – you’ll discover she is simply AMAZING!



To enter to win a set of Susan’s memoirs, tell me if you would consider yourself a city girl or a country girl. I would say I definitely have a hard time in the country as I’m not very outdoorsy, but I’m also not very good in heels and dressing up and doing the ‘city thang’ … so I don’t know what I’d call myself! More of a city girl I guess! Your turn to share!