A.D. Duling's Blog, page 5

Baking for a Cause: The Great American Bake Sale-A no Kid Hungry Production

I love Family Circle Magaize and their website. On pag. 60 of the June 2012 issue I came across their Local Hero article. Cupcakes for a Cause it said in bold letters. Reading on I found about two long time friends (Leanne Youstra & Margaret Quinn) baking cupcakes for a cause. No child left hungry.  It started when Leanne (17yrs old) volunteered at City Camp and went on a weeklong community service mission, where they visited local children from low-income familes in northern Philadelphia. She couldn’t help to noitce the meals given out were box meals that didn’t look too appetizing.

She had to watch some of the kids, younger than her even, not eat because they didn’t like them, but were obviously hungry. This got Leanne to thinking. She had remembered reading A memoir from Sandra Lee called Made from Scratch, with mentioned her partnership with The Share out Strength (SOS) and Great American Bake Sale (GABS). A national effor to end childhood hunger in America by 2015.

So back at home, Leanne got to work with the help of her friend Margaret and they decided to bake (since they did enjot doing that) and in turn sell their yummy treats to raise money for GABS. They did a bake sale at their school and throught their church, making 200 cupcakes for both events. They sold the cupcakes for $2 dollars each and after only two sales these amazing young ladies raised $1000.00 dollars!

Click here to read the article.

What an amazing story and cause. Many are doing just the same. HAve you, share your story or anothers. Want to have your own bake sale for this cause, go to the to find out more about it and how to do your own! Need some cupcake recipies?! Go to www.Familycircle.com/bakesale and here are a few yummy ones to start you off! Please share and spread the word, this really matters and like the statement above, no kid should ever have to go hungry.

Not a baker or into bake sales(at least doing them:0)?  No worries!  You can go to Share our Strength website where you can join the Hunger Core, learn about ways to get involved,  or learn about other ways to give.

Thanks for dropping by!

Tagged: cupcakes for a cause, family cirlcle magazin, GABS, Great american bake sale, Made from Scratch, Sandra Lee, Share our strength, SOS

Authors are Frazzled…Should You Leave Feedback to Negative Reviews? Elle Lothlorien Thinks You Should…

Some think it makes sense, while others are frazzled. Is Elle Lothlorien onto something?  Should we respond to negative reviews ? Have a read and you decide…wanna leave a comment ? She responds.

When You Wish Upon a Star, You Get the Pointy End: Why Authors Should ALWAYS Respond To Negative Reviews

Since we now have readers on the brain…after all they are the ones who leave the reviews, this brings the next little tid bit. Is it OK to Ignore Reader’s Desires? Nick Widhalm

says 9 Times It’s OK to Ignore Reader’s Desires  Now don’t get excited and think I’m just as full of poo as Nick is… He isn’t meaning ignoring them completely. What Nick means is ignoring the readers demands on certain things that just may hurt your story.  These are the 9 things he wants you to consider ignoring:

1. The hero’s backstory

2.  I Want the Protagonist to Date my Daughter

3. The Smoldering Lovers Get It On

4.  A Safe Haven

5. Tall, Dark, and Handsome

6. More Magic!

7. You Can’t Kill my Favorite Character!

8. Answers! Answers! ANSWERS!

9. A Happy Ending!

Now that you’re feeling a bit fazzled, yes this is all pretty frazziling stuff, right? Responding to negative reviews, ignoring the demands of your readers…well you need something uplifting…you need to remember to Stop Writing to Be Read & Adored  What?!  Yes, you read that right. Jeff Goins  thinks you need to do just that, so he wrote up The Writer’s Manifesto: Stop Writing to Be Read & Adored  it’s based on his blog post he wrote called Writers Don’t Write to Get Published.  Right now if you join Jeff’s Newsletter, you’ll get a free copy of that manifesto. I’ve read it and you know what it makes sense! Go there, sign up and read. Come back and share your thoughts!

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for dropping in and getting a little fazzled with me,

Tagged: 9 reasons to ignore what readers say, Elle Lothlorien, Jeff Goins, Nick Widhalm, respond to negative reveiws, The Writer's Manifesto

The Other Vampire- A sneak peek…

I’ve said it a few times and mean to stick to my word. I’ve been a very busy gal, typing away the continuation of Evie Patterson’s story- The Other Vampire  and wow! I am excited! It never fails, I’ll have a layout of  how my story is told and KA - POW!  Suddenly, it takes a turn and a twist lands in my lap. Something that would have never come about until the story unfolds and it is so lovely!  My results are far from the original plan and THIS IS GOOD! I love this! Makes it so much fun!

So, not to be selfish with it, I am sharing a bit. It would be the decent thing to do, right? After all, I am still need to finish it and then the there is still the editing!  You’ve got to have something! So  here you go! A share from The Other Vampire:

“Why are we going in the Janitorial closet?” Pete asked them as Evie opened the door to it.

He went ignored and was shoved inside. His female friends quickly followed in after and closed the door behind them. Evie locked it and turned back to him. A swarm of expressions streaked across her friend’s face as he stared back at them. He looked excited, worried and a little fearful all at the same time. Evie looked over at Cass and understood quickly why the fearful look had come about Pete. The girl looked almost mad crazy as she stared at him.

“Jeez, Cass, what’s with the look?” Evie asked her and Cass’s eyes darted over to her. Cass relaxed and changed her expression; it wasn’t an improvement.

“Ok, if one of you doesn’t tell me right now what the freak is going on, I’m outta here!” Pete snapped at them.

“We’ve just gotta tell you something, is all, so quit freaking!” Cass squeaked out at him, jumping up and down a little in her excitement. Evie reached over and stopped her.

“I’ll tell him.” She said sternly.  Cass nodded, looking a little disappointed. Evie looked back at Pete, whose eyes darted over at hers.

“Ok…you’ve probably noticed things seem a little different about me, right?” she asked him. Pete’s eyes darted over to Cass who nodded enthusiastically at him and then looked back at her

“Yeah…”

“Well…how do I say this…”

“You’re gay.” Pete spoke up.

“What?” she asked him.

Pete nodded. “Yeah I know, you’re gay, right?” he asked her. Evie shook her head.

“Why would you think she’s gay?” Cass asked him. Pete’s eyes darted over to her.

“I thought you were both gay.”

Cass’s mouth dropped. “I’m not gay!”

“Cass, shut up!” Evie told her and looked at Pete, “Why did you think we were gay?” she asked him.

He shrugged. “I don’t know, you started acting weird and then Cass started drilling you with all of these questions, looking suspicious and I thought…you know like she was jealous and thinking you were, like cheating on her.” Both girls busted up laughing, which made him mad and he crossed his arms. “What, ok so you’re not gay…then what?!” he snapped at them.

Evie calmed herself and wiped at her eyes. Tears, she was tearing up. She looked over at Cass, “Cass! I made tears!” she announced in excitment to her friend. Cass grinned.

“That’s cool right?” Cass asked her. Evie shrugged, she didn’t know.

“What the heck…what is going on!” Pete yelled at them. A  cold hand clamped on his mouth. He jumped and shrieked in a muffle; still enough to make Cass laugh. Evie removed her hand and stepped away from him.

“You scream like a girl!” Cass teased him. Pete’s eyes remained on Evie. They were wide and the look of realization came across his face.

“It’s ok Pete…”  Evie stepped forward to assure him, but her friend jerked back from her and knocked some cleaner bottles off the shelf behind him. Evie darted over and caught them before they hit the ground.

“What the f…” he went, his eyes darting back and forth between her and the door.

“It’s ok Pete, you’re ok…let me explain.” Evie told him.

He nodded. “Yeah, you start explaining Evie…”

“Ok…Pete there’s a reason why my hand is cold…” she started.

“Evie, I’m not stupid, I know what that means!” he spat out, interrupting her.

“You do?” she asked him. Pete nodded.

“Yeah…you’re a zombie.” He told her, looking very uncomfortable. Evie and Cass started  laughing again.

“Aren’t I supposed to look gruesome?” Evie asked him, between her laughter.

Pete frowned at her and his arms returned across  his chest. “I thought you were like in the early stages…” he went to explain himself.

“You’re so stupid!” Cass laughed at him.

Pete flicked her off.  Anna’s hand came up and push it down. Pete jerked his away from her cold touch. “Your mother would beat you if she knew you flicked off someone!” Evie lectured him, “Worse a girl.”

Pete gave her a frustrated look. “Look, either you start telling me what the f…” he paused, catching himself, “…What the heck is going on here Evie or I’m leaving!” he threatened her, his voice raised.

“Shh!” Evie shushed him, “If you just shut up, I can!” she snapped back at him. He frowned at her, but kept his mouth shut.  “I’m a vampire.”

“I’m leaving…” he responded and headed for the door. Evie’s hand came up quick and stopped him. Pete looked at her.

“What else do you think it is?” she asked him.

“Nothing, I think this is all a sick joke,” he said and then looked over at Cass, “I’ve been telling you for weeks about the stuff I’ve been reading.  You know you suck for that Cass!” he chewed her out and then looked back at Evie.

“Put your hand over my heart.” Evue instructed him. Pete looked at her confused. “Put your hand on my chest and feel for my heartbeat,” She repeated. Pete looked down to her chest.

“Well, I’ll have to touch your breast then…” he said, looking a little too pleased with the conception.

Evie rolled her eyes at him. “Just do it!” she snapped at him and his hand came up to her chest. After a minute he looked up at her dumbfounded. Pete grabbed her shoulder with his other hand and pressed his hand harder against her chest. His head snapped up after another minute and he stared hard at her. Evie held his stare.

“What? How?” he asked her, removing his hand.

“Have a seat, it’s a long story and we have an hour to kill.”

“Why do we have to talk in here?” Pete asked her.

“If we leave now, the students on the other side of that door will see us and the coach will catch us. And because I don’t want Nathan to know either.” She explained to him.

“That you’re a vampire?” he asked her.

Evie shook her head. “No, that I told you.”

I just love Pete!

Thanks for dropping by!

P.S. Wanna catch up! Click the book!

Tagged: A.D. Duling, shape shifters, sneak read, teen series, The Other Vampire, Urban fantasy, vampires, werewolves

I was given the Kreative Blogger Award by the wonderful Sydney Aaliyah!

I just love recieving awards, its so fun and you get so gushy inside for being picked for it! Thanks to the wonderful Sydney Aaliyah, I now get to post the lovely Kreative Blogger Award on my blog! Thank you! Here is that lovely award:

So pretty! Now part of receiving this wonderful award is of course I continue on with this kindness and nominate 7 other blogs that I feel deserving of this award.  After that I get to answer 10 questions about myself and then 10 random facts about me that you did not know! So here goes!

My 7 nominees:

The Practically Perfect Princess blog- http://www.practicallyperfectprincess.com/2012/05/introducing-practically-perfect.html?showComment=1337609153206 I Just love Rebekah Grace and her Queen mommy creators! They have an adorable T-shirt for sale for your Princess, gotta buy!

Making Baby Grand the Novel: http://makingbabygrand.com/2012/05/20/writing-tip-84/  -Dina Santorelli  has some great tips and author interviews, she does deserve the Kreative blog award and don’t forget to check out her book Baby Grand- coming this month!

Holly Michael’s Writing Straight-  http://writingstraight.com/2012/05/19/eye-on-the-ball/  – I just love what Holly writes about and in the way she writes it. She is definetaly deserving of the Kreative Blogger Award! Come check out her blog and congrats Holly on Nick’s success! She is a proud mamma of all her kiddos!

Knitting with Pencils- http://traceybaptiste.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/losing-your-chance/  – I enjoy reading Tracey’s posts and you will too!  As well as an author, Tracey edits! She will edit  manuscripts, synopsis and queries for authors!

Happenence- http://happenence.wordpress.com/2012/05/18/the-best-sort-of-day/  – I enjoy Kate’s perspective of things. She’s funny, witty and nice! She def. deserves this award!

Ghostly Dramas- http://deborahjhughes.com/2012/05/10/living-with-ghosts-part-1/  – I just love the way Deborah writes her posts and just love reading about Paranormal. Come check out her blog and get spooked! Very Kreative Blogging!

Elizabeth Wilder’s Blog- http://www.virtual-zen.com/liz_logic/ - or Liz Logic:0) I enjoy reading Elizabeth’s blog posts (I found this lovely lady via AtoZChallenge) and love her personality! She is so deserving of this blog award!

Now to answer my 10 questions (oh dear!) :

1. What is your favorite song? Hmmm…. my ultimate favorite right now is “Rain” by Bruno Mars (can you tell I’m a Twilight Fan? I wrote a vampire/werewolf book too!)

2. What is your favorite dessert?  Oh that is sooo easy! New York Style Cheesecake! Plain.

3. What ticks you off? Litering and laziness.

4. What do you do when you’re upset?  I wanna yell, but I walk away :0) My kids thank me for that…

5. Which is/was your favorite pet? My guinea pig “Fuffie”.

6. Which do you prefer, black or white? I would say black, I’m white, pale white…I need color :0)

7.What is your biggest fear?  Pain.

8. What is your attitude mostly? Approachable, pleasant and playful.

9.What is perfection? God.

10. What is your guilty pleasure? Oreo cookies, the whole package.

Ten random facts about me:

1. I was active duty in the Army.

2. I have six children, all under the age of 13.

3. I am LDS (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints) or Mormon.

4. I am a total Klutz! I don’t even get embarrased now, its part of my daily life :0)

5. I am an identical twin, although we do not look so identical now :0)

6. I actually almost died 10 years ago, It was an experience that I humbly and gratefully will never forget. (no this is not what got me into paranormal:0)

7. I am a Ghost Hunters fan!

8. I was married at 19, we met in the Army (15 years this october- we beat the odds!)

9. I have tiny kid hands, literally, they are tiny! My Ring size is 51/2- would be 5, but I cracked my knuckles as a teen :0( Don’t!)

10. I went through a blonde stage, yikes! I look better as a brunette.

So thanks for dropping in and relishing in this award with me. Do check out those nomoniees PLEASE!

Tagged: blog recomends, fun, Kreative Blogger award

Calling all Authors! Have you heard of Jolly Fish Press or Ink Pageant ?

Jolly Fish Press

I was privelaged to have Mr. Christopher Loke critique the first three chapters of my book The Key #1 of The Anna Kippling Series and Wow! Did he have a lot of wonderful advice! Thank you so much Mr. Loke!  Christopher Loke is one of the many brillian minds behind Jolly Fish Press  a  Publishing Company that brings great news for us authors; they’re accepting submissions!

Eight amazing books are already under their wing (so look out for them!) and one among them is The Houskeeper’s Son by Christopher Loke himself! The other seven titles are:

BIG IN JAPAN (July 21, 2012) by: Jennifer Griffith, ONE BOY, NO WATER (September 22, 2012) by: Lehua Parker, DISSENSION (February 23, 2013) by: Adrienne Monson, CITADELS OF FIRE (Fall 2013) by: L. K. Hill, INSIGHT (Summer 2013) by: Terron James, FAIRY GODMOTHERS, INC. (Summer 2013) by: Jenniffer Wardell, & PITCH GREEN (Spring 2013) by: The Brothers Washburn.

So, as I was saying, Jolly Fish Press is accepting submissions and I know for many Indie authors out there, any news of opprotunity is greatly appreciated. If your manuscript gets accepted by this wonderful company, I can assure you, you’ll be in good hands. Christopher Loke by far is a perfect gentleman as well as a brilliant man. He was very kind and respectable in his critique and gave tips that really made me think.  Have I submitted my manuscript ?  No, not yet. I have taken Mr. Loke’s advice and have already made improvements to my novel, but want to give it another look over and then maybe another before I submit:0) Who knows what could happen after that?  Either way, I know I’ll be walking away from Jolly Fish Press with an inspiring experience.

Want some great advice of your own? Jolly Fish Press has a blog with just that! It’s called Jolly Fish Talk and here are two  interesting topics from the bunch to get you started: The 7 laws of Successful Social Networking & Self Promoting using Social Networking.

Ink Pageant

Ink pageant was the link between my three chapters and the wonderful Mr. Christopher Loke. A kind thank you to Ink Pageant for that of course! Now what is Ink Pageant A.D.?  your asking. Well, Ink Pageant is a site for authors/writers where you can find great articles from blogs giving advice about self-publishing, writing tips, social media all the way to Author Spotlights and book reviews. Have some interesting stuff in these areas you wanna share? Well, more good news! You can submit your article to Ink Pageant! If your article is approved, you get to hang their wonderful logo on your blog and the sky is the limit on submitting your articles. So don’t stop at just one. This is a great resource that is growing by the minute!

Self-publishing is hard rnough already and so is building that platform. Help is always appreciated and there is a vast amount of avenues/people out there in the web world that give it. Giving credit to those who kindly share their tips deserve to be shared, so why not share it and that is just what I am all about. If you found this post benifical, I appreciate your comments and pass alongs. Don’t forget to follow my blog, I am always posting, I try daily and you are guaranteed to find more interesting helps to benifit your writing & platform.

Thanks for dropping by,

Tagged: advice, author submissions, blogs, Ink Pageant, Jolly Fish Press, platform building, reviews, submissions, tips

I’ve been nominate for the Beautiful Blogger Award! Yeppie!

Its exciting and oh so touching to find out that you’ve  been nominated for an award! The wonderful Amelia Cruzon nominated my blog for the Beautiful Blogger Award and this is what she said : A.D, Is another prolific blogger who blogs such interesting stuff that should be read.  Aww shucks Amelia, thank you! Now that I’ve been nominated I get to hang this lovely award on my site forever! Yeppie! So lovely….  part of being able to hang this lovely award on my site is I must do these things and so do my nominees:

• I must write seven facts about myself

• Link to the blog of the person who nominated you (click on Amelia’s name)

• Link to seven bloggers who you think deserves the award (too many to choose from!)

• Let those bloggers know they have been nominated!

So now onto seven facts about myself (oh my!)

1. If you haven’t read my bio, I am a mother of six, three boys and three girls. They are all under the age of 13.

2. I used to be active duty in the U.S. Army as a Pharmacy Technition

3. I say ”ya’ll” alot.

4. I like to paint Folk Art (haven’t in some months now)

5. I am never a fake. What you see is what you get.

6. I am an “Indie” author, ever heard of The Anna Kippling Series, One of Them or Molly Woodhaven? That’s ok, not many have either…yet. :0)

7. I am a total klutz, the pro to that, I have great reflexes. I’ll trip, but I do catch myself.

Now onto my 7 wonderful blogging nomoniees!

1. Mormon Mommy Writers- I just love this group of gals and the posts they share. Love them!

2.  Katy Upperman-  A lot of great topics and she was the one who introduced me to the blog me maybe challenge, I am blogging still just because of that (although I am not doing the topics :0)

3. Sara Ballance– First she has six kids like me and I feel exactly the same, if I do want anyone to listen to me, I do have to make them up :0) I also love reading about new books and giveaways!

4.   Writing Sisters- I love their writing tips and shares!

5.  Tracy James Jones- I love discovering other authors and their books and Tracy shares her reviews of them among other thoughts :0) Check out Tracy’s books as well!

6. Today I think…-  I love Patricia’s blog and cats! Great topics and adorable pics!

7.  Bex Book Nook-  Again I like book reviews and giveaways and Bex has this! She gives fair and honest reviews of the books she reads and who doesn’t love giveaways!

So there you go! My 7 facts and 7 nomoniees, thanks again Amelia Cruzon  for the nomination, many, many thanks!!!

Tagged: Beautiful Blogger Award, blog recomends, blogging, giveaways, great sites, reviews

Blog scaring visitors away? Kindlegraph, need advice on building your platform? All this from Novel Publicity…haven’t heard of it?

I just love Emlyn Chand and Novel Publicity. Great advice can be found there and as an Indie author, I so need that great advice as so do many others. The topics in my title are just a few of the really, I mean really great advice articles that are posted on this site frequently. If you have not discovered Novel Publicity, then you are missing something big! This is a blog that deserves to be on your favorites list, so hurry and click here to get to this amazing blog and do just that! Save it, memorize it and utlilize it!

Three topics I am sharing today are very important ones I think  all new writers ventuing into the vast universe of the internet would appreciate. Advice about you blog design, building your platform and something new Kindlegraph (it really is neat, I’m on there!). All of these can be found on Novel Publicity and I will post the links below each particular I talk about for you.

Is your blog scaring away visitors?

Melinda Atlas tells you in this article things that would do just that. For example what is the title of your blog? Does it happen to be something like this: “The Diary of Author Name.” or ”The Curious Writing of Author Name.” or even this “My Blog, My Writing.”  Ok if it is, don’t panic! This is why I am linking you to this amazing article. Melinda will tell you what to avoid using in your blogs. If you have a wordpress blog, you can easily change you title (see I did mine, it was kinda like the above)  and this is how:  Go to General settings and there you will see your site title and tag line, just delete and create!  Link to Melinda’s article on Novel Publicity.

Need some advice on building your platform?

Laurance Kitts has some really great advice mingled in with some great humor (he’s funny)! Advice such as marketing yourself on the web. Have a  Facebook page? Twitter account?  Heard of LitReactor and Scribophile ?  Have a blog of your own? Have an idea what to post on it or what not to post on it? Need advice on drawing an audience? Read Laurance’s article, some really great stuff!  Help other people and they will help you… says Laurance.  Link to Laurance’s article on Novel Publicity.

Kindlegraph…what is that?

If you have an ebook out there, you need to set yourself up an account with Kindlegraph. Never heard of it, well your missing out! This is a great way for Indie authors to offer something to their fans that some of the traditionally published authors cannot. It’s a neat place where you can go and request a personalized digital inscription from an author for a specific book. The request then gets sent and the author will type up a little message for you, and then they can literally sign it or use a font style signature (its really hard doing it by hand)  Read more about Kindlegraph in M.B Mulhall’s article on Novel Publicity. Link

So there you go, a start off on your platform or blogging quest. I send tons of luck or as Emlyn says “tons of Karma” your way.

Tagged: blog advice, blog topics, building your platform, indie author advice, Kindlegraph, Novel Publicity

Heartland- If you enjoyed the Waltons, check out this great series on GMC!

If you have not heard of this channel, gmc stands for Gospel Music Channel and they have a wonderful series on there called Heartland, based on the books by Lauren Brooke (there are 25 books to her series) Lauren’s Books   I of course am always one of the last to discover things and just recently discovered this wonderful series. I have just finished watching episode 3 and am really enjoying it! (I do have alot of catching up to do!) I grew up enjoying watching the TV series The Waltons  and once in a while will watch an episode. I just happened to catch a Walton Marathon and this is how I discovered Heartland.

Heartland (GMC Heartland link- http://www.watchgmctv.com/Heartland-show)

Heartland is gmc’s new hit family drama. The town of Hudson in the Rocky Mountains is home to Heartland, the Bartlett family ranch. When Grandpa  Jack’s daughter Marion is killed in a car accident, he is left to run the ranch with his two granddaughters, the fiery teenager Amy and her ambitious sister,  Lou. But the family is so deeply in debt that they might end up losing Heartland.

GMC is know for their uplifting entertainment, after all it’s their slogan. It originally started out as a Canadian TV Series and is now an American FAvorite, I think they are on season 4 (boy do I have a lot of catching up to do!).  Sound like a series for you? Start from the beginning and watch it every Wenesday at 9pm /10pm central on GMC channel. If you’ve been watching it, please share you comments,but please no spoilers :0) After all I am only on Episode 3!  Caught your attention on the Waltons, well! Right now The Waltons is playing on  gmc, so after Heartland, enjoy some Walton reruns too !

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Tagged: gmc, Heartland, series, TV series, uplifting entertainment

A.D.’s Reflections of the #AtoZChallenge…

Hey everyone,

I am a day late, but better late than never right? I’ve been a sick girl this week. A lot of catching up to do and boy you should see my email box WOW! lots. I’ve been able to visit the wonderful blogs that I am following (I followed alot, you guys are just too amazing!) and read their reflections post. I already knew before hand what I wanted to do with my reflections post of this wonderful challenge.

I would fo a final (well until next year) A.D.’s FAV 5… maybe more than five:0) After all blogging was what this challenge was all about and discovering other blogs as well. I think I did make a pretty good dent in the blog list and as many have voiced some fell behind or lost interest and some…well I don’t know what they were thinking. Most, many actually stepped up to the challenge and did wonderfully (yes even those who had a hiccup). It was a challenge, hence the name and I say from experience one that put my brain to work! (I daydream to much)

So without adew….my FAV 5 and then some…

1.  Ophelia London- http://bit.ly/H85lyO  – I picked Ophelia’s blog because I had loved her Audrey Hepburn photo. I also just love Ophelia’s name!

2.  My Little Corner of The World- http://dlwagner.blogspot.com/  – I had picked David’s blog because of his hilarious post for the letter A, you have to check it out!

3. finding Our Family- http://jakeandterriadopt.blogspot.com/-  I picked Jake and Teri’s blog because I loved their wonderful story about there quest to adopt and build their family…

4. Growing up Victoria- http://growingupvictoria.blogspot.com/2012/04/my-brother.html - I picked Victoria’s blog because she is only a 12 year old girl and took on the challenge and did wonderfully! Her attitude and perspective is refreshing!

5. MyWriteSpot -http://donnamcnicol.blogspot.com/ - I just love Donna’s wonderful personality and spirt, you have to check out her blog and read her great posts. I enjoyed reading her reflections post…

6. Super Happy Jen’s Super Happy Blog- http://www.superhappyjen.blogspot.com/ - Jen is a happy gal and I ejoyed her art and her daughters!

7. Living Fossil Images – http://livingfossilimages.blogspot.com/  - I just loved this post, cool camoflauge!

8. NonnasRecipieBox- http://nonnasrecipebox.wordpress.com/ - I loved Nonna’s blog because of all the great recipies from her grandma’s recipie box!

9. Fuzzy Feet n’ Furry Tail Gerbils  http://ffnftgerbils.blogspot.com/  - this had been my daughter’s pick, but it was still a cute site and I had  to share…

10.  Liz Brownlee Poet’s Blog (the A-Z of incredible Threatened Animals)  http://bit.ly/IbKutR - This is how I discovered Liz and her wonderful blog. She blogged about endangered animals and had some great pics with it!

Wow is this longer than FAV 5…I still want to add just a few more!

11. Angie’s Home Cooking- http://angieshomecooking.blogspot.com/ - Angie does have some good home cooking!

12. 1635 A Second Heart- http://asecondheart.blogspot.com/  – I loved this inspiring story, wonderful mommy and daughter…

13. #220 Inky the Hamster Mommy- http://bit.ly/JcSHch  – Another adorable animal blog

14. #1286 philZENdia- http://www.philzendia.com/  - you can still get the Krabby Patty secret recipie here!

15. #1292 Parenting From Aaaah! to Zzz- http://parenting-aaah2zzz.blogspot.com/ - loved this one about oobes and elbows…

16. #1686 Rantings of a semi-crazy blonde girl- http://krissyranae.com/ – I just loved Krissy’s personality!

17. #868 Katy Upperman- http://katyupperman.com/ - I just loved Katy’s post on your third place here…

18. 710 Solitary Mama-http://solitarymama.com/2012/04/stupid-list-friday-how-to-make-the-woman-you-like-hate-you/ – Loved the personality!

WEll, I had better stop here…scroll down all my A.D.’s FAV 5′s and check them all out. If you would like to keep discovering more wonderful blogs from the Ato Z challenge that are not listed on mine, click here.

Have a wonderful week and thanks for scrolling down memory lane with me,

Tagged: #atozchallenger reflections, blogging, blogs, brain power, friends, great posts, memory lane, posts

Mother’s Day on Pintrest, What are you getting Mother for Mother’s Day?

Mother’s Day is just around the corner, in fact its May 13th for those of you who did not realize just how close this day really was! A gift for mother is what you need and the perfect one is the most essential thing. You need ideas and you want great ones! Pintrest seems to have a ton of them. Googling will bring you many sources as well, but how varied and how convient does this option give you?  It seems Pintrest has it a little better…at least in my opinion. This is the place where you can find a page full of choices and all you have to do is scroll down and click. Choices of homemade, edible, buyable or even growable are on this page and just from one search word or phrase. If you need it or wonder it, someone has thought of it. Pintrest is bound to have it and oh my what a selection!

Check out these great Mother’s Day varieties that I found on Pintrest…

Click to view slideshow.

Like my picks?  Just simply log onto Pintrest (Oh, don’t t have an account? Now worries! FB friend me and I’ll send you a request! -http://www.facebook.com/ad.duling) and type in these three searches: gifts for mom, Mother’s Day, And gifts for Mother’s Day. From there happy pinning! Wanna get the recipie, instructions or purchase the pretty you find? Click on the pic and at the top right corner above the pic you will see the blog where the pin came from. Click it and there you go!

Check out other great crafts from these blogs below that were showcased on my slide show!

Thanks for dropping in and Happy Mother’s Day gift hunting!

Tagged: blogging, gifts for mom, mother, Mother's Day, mother's day crafts, Mother's Day gifts, pintrest