Fund-raising and Giveaways: Help my nephew and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation

I have seen some other bloggers do things to raise money for charity. I have a Great Strides Walk coming up in April for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. My sister-in-law, Stacey is organizing it and it's a local function but all money goes to the CF foundation (donations go through their home page). I would love to help my SIL out .  My family plans on walking in it, but I would love to donate some money too. This is where my followers/readers come in.

First a little history. My nephew, Hunter (see above) is a beautiful and strong five-year-old who looks very healthy. However he was born with cystic fibrosis. Through research this disease has become more manageable, but a cure really needs to be found so Hunter and others with this disease can live his life to the fullest.

Once upon a time the life expectancy for CF was very short (teens), but through research it has been extended out to the 30s and 40s (which is still way too short). Help Hunter and his family along with the CF foundation find a cure and in the meantime find other treatments to prolong and increase his quality of life.

How you can help:

• Individual donations would be very welcome. I'm part of my sister-in-law's team, but have my own donation page here.  For every dollar donated you will get 5 entries into  these giveaways, just let me know that you donated in the comments of this post (you don't have to say the amount - I can figure that out) and a way to contact you if your email is not available in your profile and I will enter you. Here are the current giveaways and I hope to add more as I contact more people:

• Choose 5 books from a list of books (these may be ARCs, recent books and they may be older books but you can have your choice)  (From me) (1 winner - worldwide)
• $20 Amazon GC. Giveaway open worldwide.  (From me) (1 winner - worldwide)
• Two sets of JP O'Donnell's Gallagher series that is reviewed highly here and on Amazon.com - this is a copy of Fatal Gamble and Deadly Codes for two winners (donated by author J.P. O'Donnell, see his web site here) (2 winners - US/Canada)
• $25 Gift Certificate to Amazon.com (donated by author J.P. O'Donnell, see his web site here) (1 winner - worldwide)

• Blog about this post for an additional giveaway entry.  Tweeting/Face Book mentions will also get entries - just link up in the comments. 

• Don't have any spare money at the moment (who does?) then help me by commenting here on the blog. For each comment I will donate 5 cents to the CF Foundation. Simply comment on reviews, any of the memes, tours or giveaways and I will donate money. I will tally it up at the end and let everyone know how much you helped me donate.  This is for posts starting today (2/21/2010) through April 1st.  It won't count if  you go back and comment on older posts, though I do love the comments, I just need an easy way to keep up with things :)

• If you know of anyone that will sponsor or match funds or offer giveaway prizes - I will do all I can to promote them for a donation.  I'm not above using my blog for advertising to help out a child (and lots of children and adults) :)

The walk is April 24th so I will run this starting now and with this post through April 1st so I can tally up in plenty of time and make the donation.

Thanks for helping out my nephew - his cousins (my boys) adore him and we all do so we want him as healthy as he can be!

In the coming weeks I will post updates and hopefully some more prizes - the more interest this generates the more the message of what the CF Foundation does can get out there.  Until my SIL was told that her son may have CF when he was born, I did not know much about the disease.  I knew there was a telethon and it was "bad" but knew nothing about it.  Since then I have learned a lot but still do not know all I should.  Awareness is a big thing.  Help me spread the awareness and raise money to cure this disease once and for all.

Weekend Wondering: Genres and General Fiction

First up the winner from last week's Romance Weekend Wondering is:

Heather Y

Please email me at crystalfulcher(at)ec.rr.com and let me know which two books you would like.  The selection can be found here.  If I do not hear from you by Wednesday I will draw another name.  Thanks for all the entries - I enjoyed reading your comments.

I also never heard from the winner of my first weekend wondering so I am redrawing the winner and that winner is:

Anita Yancey

You can email me at crystalfulcher(at)ec.rr.com and let me know what book you would like from the selection posted here.

I will also be sending emails to the winners later today.

Now onto today's Weekend Wondering:

Genres are something I use in my anal-retentive spreadsheet I keep of what I read each year. I like to categorize and know what kind of books I'm reading. Sometimes it's easy to categorize. Nora Roberts is usually romance or romantic suspense, non-fiction is evident (most of the time), John Grisham mainly writes thrillers, but then there are authors that write what I can general fiction.  What is general fiction?  Truly I'm not sure, but to me it is anything that's not obviously another genre.  Kristin Hannah is one, her books have relationships, family, sometimes some suspense and some romance, but I consider them general fiction.  I guess they could be women's fiction because I am sure they appeal more to women than men.  Anita Shreve books also come to mind, but then again are they fiction or suspense, because there is usually a suspenseful plot in her books, but it doesn't drive the books. 



Ah - so there's a thought - books are categorized by what drives the book. But still that is sometimes subjective.  I am sure I would think that suspense drives a certain book, but  another reader might think it's the relationships.  That's the fun of reading - we all see and read different things into a book.  We bring what we know and have to it and mold what the writer intends around ourselves.


Next up is suspense/thriller versus literary suspense.  Some would argue that James Patterson is definitely not literary suspense, but suspense thriller - does that make him less of a writer.  If bestsellers tell the tale, definitely not - his books thrill, they sometimes disappoint, but that is all authors if they have a long career.  So is The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo a literary suspense novel?  I took that for granted when I saw it on more blogs that read more literary fiction.  What makes it literary suspense?


These are all good questions and I being young in the blogging world (but not the reading world) am still tyring to figure the nuances out.  Does it really matter in the end if I enjoy the book?  No, absolutely not.  But it matters for my spreadsheet :)


Have a wonderful Saturday.  Feel free to discuss points in this blog or anything else on your mind in the comments for a chance to win your choice of books in my "have to leave the house" basket (that implies nothing toward the books - I've read them and I need space for new books so I want them to go to good homes).  Giveaway goes through next Friday, my birthday 2/26 and I'll draw the winners in the next Weekend Wondering.  Extra entries for tweeting, following, etc.

I have to hear from my latest winners to see what they want, and then I will update the selection with what is left from previous weeks.  But some of the books/ARCs (some are coming up for review this week) you will be eligible to win are:

Nurture Shock is an audiobook (unabridged), the rest are books/ARCs.  After the winners choose their books, there will be 12 more to choose from too.

Big YA Giveaway Winners

First let me say thank you to all who entered, tweeted and got the word out about this giveaway. Thank you for helping clear off my shelves and I hope each of the winners enjoys their books.
So the winners of the Big YA giveaway are:



Julie J 





Lea 

 

Freda Mans 

Karenk 

Nancye Davis 

Heather Gardner 

Abi

Thanks again for entering - you can contact me if you won or I will be sending out emails to get your mailing address.  Enjoy these wonderful books.

Book Review, Tour and Giveaway: Hear No Evil by Matthew Paul Turner

 

Hear No Evil: My Story of Innocence, Music and the Holy Ghost by Matthew Paul Turner

Publisher: Waterbrook Press

Publish Date: 16 February 2010

Trade Paperback, 240 pages

My Review:

I love music and that is why when I was offered this book I jumped at the chance.  Through my reviewing I have been branching out and non-fiction is one of the areas I have branched out in.  I have to say I did not know what to expect when I started reading this book.  However when I started, I could hardly put it down.  Why you might ask?  Well here's several reasons:

Mr. Turner has an amazing sense of humor.  He uses irony and sarcasm and wit through the book and I honestly would find  myself laughing out loud and then sharing a passage of the book with  my husband.  My husband grew up Free-Will Baptist in the south and from what I read to him, he could really relate.  As a child growing up in the church, I could too.  From references throughout the book, Mr. Turner is my age and I found it so easy to relate to him, but I think if you are 18 or 55 you will find this book easy to relate to also.  Mr. Turner just writes in an easy manner, you feel like you are talking with a funny friend more than reading a book.

I liked reading about how music worked in the author's life.  From an early age when he started singing in his church to now living in Nashville, music was there with him every step of the way.  I also liked seeing how music brought about good in his life.  It's such a positive book with statements about music and Christianity and finding your way as a Christian.

Hear No Evil is uplifting, it's inspiring and most of all it's very entertaining.  Mr. Turner has done a wonderful job with this book and I look forward to reading other titles by him.

Favorite Quote (spoken by a lady the author went to church with when he was a child, read this with the humor intended, not to be taken seriously as a statement against music by the author):

"Did you know Satan was once heaven's musical director?  Look it up; it's in the book of Ezekiel.  Some pastors think that's why Lucifer uses rock' n' roll to help people find hell--because he was very musical.  Like an evil Mozart."

I don't rate non-fiction on my usual scale but suffice it to say that Hear No Evil is an excellent must-read book.

About the Book:

Every Life Has a Soundtrack. 

If you’ve ever had the opening bars of a song transport you back in time or remind you of a pivotal spiritual moment, Matthew Paul Turner’s honest—and frequently hilarious—musings will strike a chord. Straightforward and amusing, Hear No Evil is Turner’s “life soundtrack,” a compilation of engaging personal stories about how music—and music’s ability to transform—has played a key role in his spiritual life.

Groove along on his journey as young evangelical Turner attends forbidden contemporary Christian concerts, moves to “Music City” Nashville, and dreams of becoming the Michael Jackson of Christian music.

Cosmic and compelling, keen and funny, every page is a new encounter with the people, places, and experiences that have taught the music-editor-turned-author some new things about God, forced him out of his comfort zone, and introduced him to a fresh view of grace along the way.

"Matthew Paul Turner's wit and insight promise to keep the pages turning and the readers laughing." -- Kevin Max, singer/songwriter and founding member of DC Talk

About the Author:

Matthew Paul Turner is a blogger, speaker and author of The Coffeehouse Gospel, Provocative Faith, Beatitude: Relearning Jesus, the What You Didn’t Learn from Your Parents About… series, and several other popular books. He has written for Relevant, HomeLife, Christian Single magazines and was the former editor of CCM magazine. Matthew and his wife, Jessica, live in Nashville, Tennessee. He can be found online at www.matthewpaulturner.com.

FCC Disclaimer:

This book was provided to me by Waterbrook/Multinomah, a division of Random House for review and blog tour and one copy was provided to me for a giveaway.

All Amazon links on this blog do not make me money, something in the laws of NC prohibit NC residents from profiting from Amazon.com associates pages.

Tour: Listen by Rene Gutteridge (FIRST Wild Card Tours)

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today's Wild Card author is:

Rene Gutteridge

and the book:

Listen

Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (January 11, 2010)

***Special thanks to Vicky Lynch of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. for sending me a review copy.***

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Rene Gutteridge is the critically acclaimed author of more than fifteen novels, including the Storm series, the Boo series, the Occupational Hazards series, and the novelization of the motion picture The Ultimate Gift. She lives with her husband, Sean, a musician, and their children in Oklahoma City.

Visit the author's website.

Product Details:

List Price: $12.99
Paperback: 432 pages
Publisher: Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. (January 11, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1414324332
ISBN-13: 978-1414324333

AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:

Present Day

Damien Underwood tapped his pencil against his desk and spun twice in his chair. But once he was facing his computer again, the digital clock still hadn’t changed.

In front of him on a clean white piece of paper was a box, and inside that box was a bunch of other tiny boxes. Some of those boxes he’d neatly scribbled in. And above the large box he wrote, Time to go.

This particular day was stretching beyond his normal capacity of tolerance, and when that happened, he found himself constructing word puzzles. He’d sold three to the New York Times, two published on Monday and one on Wednesday. They were all framed and hanging in his cubicle. He’d sent in over thirty to be considered.

He’d easily convinced his boss years ago to let him start publishing crosswords in the paper, and since then he’d been the crossword editor, occasionally publishing some of his own, a few from local residents, and some in syndication.

The puzzle clues were coming harder today. He wanted to use a lot of plays on words, and he also enjoyed putting in a few specific clues that were just for Marlo residents. Those were almost always published on Fridays.

A nine-letter word for “predictable and smooth.”

Yes, good clue. He smiled and wrote the answer going down. Clockwork.

He glanced over to the bulletin board, which happened to be on the only piece of north wall he could see from his desk at the Marlo Sentinel. Tacked in the center, still hanging there after three years, was an article from Lifestyles Magazine. Marlo, of all the places in the United States, was voted Best Place to Raise a Child. It was still the town’s shining moment of glory. Every restaurant and business had this article framed and hanging somewhere on their walls.

The community boasted its own police force, five separate and unique playgrounds for the kids, including a spray ground put in last summer, where kids could dash through all kinds of water sprays without the fear of anyone drowning.

Potholes were nonexistent. The trash was picked up by shiny, blue, state-of-the-art trash trucks, by men wearing pressed light blue shirts and matching pants, dressed slightly better than the mail carriers.

Two dozen neighborhood watch programs were responsible for nineteen arrests in the last decade, mostly petty thieves and a couple of vandals. There hadn’t been a violent crime in Marlo since 1971, and even then the only one that got shot was a dog. A bank robbery twenty years ago ended with the robber asking to talk to a priest, where he confessed a gambling addiction and a fondness for teller number three.

Damien’s mind lit up, which it often did when words were involved. He penciled it in. An eight-letter word for “a linear stretch of dates.” Timeline. Perfect for 45 across.

So this was Marlo, where society and family joined in marriage. It was safe enough for kids to play in the front yards. It was clean enough that asthmatics were paying top dollar for the real estate. It was good enough, period.

Damien was a second-generation Marlo resident. His mother and father moved here long before it was the Best Place to Raise a Child. Then it had just been cheap land and a good drive from the city. His father had been the manager of a plant now gone because it caused too much pollution. His mother, a stay-at-home mom, had taken great pride in raising a son who shared her maiden name, Damien, and her fondness for reading the dictionary.

Both his parents died the same year from different causes, the same year Damien had met Kay, his wife-to-be. They’d wed nine months after they met and waited the customary five years to have children. Kay managed a real estate company. She loved her job as much as she had the first day she started. And it was a good way to keep up with the Joneses.

Until recently, when the housing market started slumping like his ever-irritated teenage daughter.

The beast’s red eyes declared it was finally time to leave. Damien grabbed his briefcase and walked the long hallway to the door, just to make sure his boss and sometimes friend, Edgar, remembered he was leaving a little early. He gave Edgar a wave, and today, because he was in a good mood, Edgar waved back.

Damien drove through the Elephant’s Foot and picked up two lemonades, one for himself and one for Jenna, his sixteen-year-old daughter who had all at once turned from beautiful princess or ballerina or whatever it was she wanted to be to some weird Jekyll and Hyde science experiment. With blue eye shadow. She never hugged him. She never giggled. Oh, how he missed the giggling. She slouched and grunted like a gorilla, her knuckles nearly dragging the ground if anyone said anything to her. A mild suggestion of any kind, from “grab a jacket” to “don’t do drugs” evoked eyes rolling into the back of her head as if she were having a grand mal seizure.

So the lemonade was the best gesture of kindness he could make. Besides offering to pick her up because her car was in the shop.

He pulled to the curb outside the school, fully aware he was the only car among the full-bodied SUVs idling alongside one another. It was a complete embarrassment to Jenna, who begged to have Kay pick her up in the Navigator. Some lessons were learned the hard way. But his car was perfectly fine, perfectly reliable, and it wasn’t going to cause the ozone to collapse.

She got in, noticed the lemonade, asked if it was sugar-free, then sipped it and stared out the window for the rest of the ride home. It wasn’t sugar-free, but the girl needed a little meat on her bones.

“Your car’s ready.”

Finally, a small smile.

***

“Have a seat.”

Frank Merret shoved his holster and belt downward to make room for the roll of belly fat that had permanently attached itself to his midsection. He slowly sat down in the old vinyl chair across from Captain Lou Grayson’s cluttered desk.

“You got a rookie coming in this morning.”

“I thought we had an agreement about rookies.”

“You ticketed Principal MaLue. We had an agreement about that too.”

Frank sighed. “He was speeding in a school zone.”

“He’s the principal. If he wants to hit Mach speed in the school zone, so be it. The rookie’s file is in your box.” Grayson’s irritated expression said the rest.

Frank left the captain’s office and killed time in the break room until lineup, where the rookie stood next to him, fresh-faced and wide-eyed. He was short, kind of stocky, with white blond hair and baby pink cheeks like a von Trapp kid. There was not a hard-bitten bone in this kid’s body.

Frank cut his gaze sideways. “This is Marlo. The most you can hope for is someone driving under the influence of pot.”

Lineup was dismissed, and the kid followed him out. “That’s not true. I heard about that bank robbery.”

“That was twenty years ago.”

“Doesn’t matter,” the rookie said. “I’m on patrol. That’s cool. I’m Gavin Jenkins, by the way.”

“Yeah, I know.”

“Did you read my stats from the academy?”

“Not even one word.”

Gavin stopped midstride, falling behind Frank as he made his way outside to the patrol car. Gavin hurried to catch up. “Where are we going? Aren’t we a little early?”

Frank continued to his car. Gavin hopped into the passenger side. Frank turned west onto Bledsoe.

“Listen, Officer Merret, I just want you to know that I’m glad they paired me with you. I’ve heard great things about you, and I think it’s—”

“I don’t normally talk in the morning.”

“Okay.”

So they drove in silence mostly, checking on a few of the elderly citizens and their resident homeless man, Douglas, until lunchtime, when they stopped at Pizza Hut. The kid couldn’t help but talk, so Frank let him and learned the entire history of how he came to be a Marlo police officer.

Gavin was two bites into his second piece and hadn’t touched his salad when Frank rose. “Stay here.”

Gavin stared at him, his cheek full of cheese and pepperoni. “What? Why?”

“I’ve got something I need to do.”

Gavin stood, trying to gather his things. “Wait. I’ll come.”

Frank held out a firm hand. “Just stay here, okay? I’ll come back to get you in about forty minutes.”

Gavin slowly sat down.

Frank walked out. He knew it already. This rookie was going to be a thorn in his side.

Excerpted from Listen by Rene Gutteridge. Copyright ©2010 by Rene Gutteridge. Used with permission from Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. All rights reserved.

I'm Fundraising - look for big post coming this weekend

Hello all - this weekend I'm unveiling a fundraising post where I am trying to raise money for a CF Foundation walk I will be a part of in April.


In the process I am trying to get offers of donations for giveaways.  So I am calling out to all of you - do you have suggestions of people to approach for offering giveaways as an incentive to donate money, blog about my fund raising, tweet or just comment on my blog.  I will be doing features of the giveaway authors/publicists/publishers and I already have lined a few things up (and will be doing a giveaway myself).  I just want to make this big because it raises money for something near and dear to my heart - my nephew and research for a cure for him.


So if you have done something like this before and have suggestions either comment or email me at crystalfulcher(at)ec.rr.com.  If you haven't done this but have suggestions please do the same.  I'm open to all suggestions. 


And lookout on Sunday for the unveiling of my fundraising/giveaway.


Thanks and have a wonderful evening.

Review and Tour: A Mom's Ultimate Book of Lists by Michelle LaRowe

A Mom's Ultimate Book of Lists by Michelle LaRowe

Publisher: Revell Books

Publish Date: January 1, 2010

Paperback, 335 pages

100+ LISTS PROVIDE MOMS WITH ALL THE INFO THEY NEED:

International “Nanny of the Year” shares 112 of the most practical parenting lists

that answer everything from pregnancy through preschool.

My Review:

A Mom's Ultimate Book of Lists is just what the title promises.  A book full of important lists that will help any first time or many time mom.  I enjoyed thumbing through this book and reading various lists.  Some of my favorites were the clothing size in relationship to height/length for various name brands (because we all know that different companies size differently), The  Preschoolers Library, Bully Proofing Your Kids, When to Call the Doctor and Games and Activities for the Car.  And that is just a small sampling.  There are so many great lists in this book that I just can't mention them all.  One that really stands out and I wish I had when my children were babies was the Length and Weight Guidelines for the First Year.  This has the growth charts from the doctor's office right in the book.   Both of my children dropped on the weight chart and these would have been reassuring to me as a mom when that was going on.
 

If you know of a first-time mom - this would  make an amazing baby shower gift.  I am going to give one to my sister-in-law who is due this summer.  I honestly wish I had this book when my children were smaller.  For those of  us with older children, there are still very useful lists.  I have several lists that I plan on using in the future (such as the aforementioned Games and Activities for the Car).

Grab a copy of this book and prepare to be wowed - all the information a mom needs is here (or most of it) and it is presented in such an easy way - just look for the list you need and read it in about 3 minutes.  Great for a busy mom.

About the Book:

As a professional nanny for more than 15 years and now as a mother herself, Michelle LaRowe has seen it all. She was even recognized as “Nanny of the Year” by the International Nanny Association in 2004, and the following year, President George W. Bush praised her for her dedication to in-home child care.

Now she shares her vast knowledge and expertise with moms everywhere, in her new book A Mom’s Ultimate Book of Lists, in which she provides the most sought-after and up-to-date information for parenting children from birth to age 5 in one easy-to-navigate resource. Also included is a special section dedicated to pregnancy.

In compiling this collection of 112 of the most practical lists for moms to live by, LaRowe ruthlessly sorted through the most reliable sources and tried-and-true recommendations for raising healthy and happy children.

Organized in an easy-to-find format, her book offers mothers the chance to find all the answers to their most pressing parenting questions in one resource. No more having to wade through outdated books, make sense of conflicting expert opinions or search for reliable information online: LaRowe has done all the meticulous research, combined with her professional know-how and experience, so that mothers can spend their time doing what they love best: Being a mom.

A sampling of the lists LaRowe provides in her book includes:

Preparing for Baby

o        What’s safe and not safe during pregnancy?

o        What to include in your birthing plan

o        Key components to include in your maternity-leave proposal

The First Year

o        Introducing solid foods

o        Top toys for baby’s first year

o        Sleep training your baby

The Toddler Years

o        Guilt-free DVDs for your toddler

o        10 life lessons to teach your toddler

o        The best bedtime routine

The Preschool Years

o        6 steps to a successful preschool playdate

o        Teaching children to share, step-by-step

o        The preschooler’s library

Family Life

o        10 house rules for every home

o        Age-appropriate chores for young children

o        Feeding a picky eater

Health and Safety Information

o        When to call the doctor

o        The top 12 safety mistakes parents make

o        Hidden household poisons

Saving Time, Money & Sanity

o        10 time-management tips for moms

o        Common children’s clothing size guidelines

o        A week’s worth of quick, family-friendly meals

LaRowe shares her professional wisdom, insights and advice in her practical, one-stop resource:
A Mom’s Ultimate Book of Lists: 100+ Lists to Save You Time, Money, and Sanity.

Available January 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

 

Michelle LaRowe is a national speaker, parenting consultant, and author of the Nanny to the Rescue! series and Working Mom’s 411. The 2004 International Nanny Association "Nanny of the Year" and a credentialed career nanny who has specialized in working with multiples for more than fifteen years, Michelle has also been lauded for her dedication to improving the quality of in-home child care. www.michellelarowe.com

Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, offers practical books that bring the Christian faith to everyday life.  They publish resources from a variety of well-known brands and authors, including their partnership with MOPS (Mothers of Preschoolers) and Hungry Planet.

FCC Disclaimer:

This book was provided to me by Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group for review and blog tour.

All Amazon links on this blog do not make me money, something in the laws of NC prohibit NC residents from profiting from Amazon.com associates pages.