I'm a Winner, I'm a Loser, I'm Thankful 4 Blog Help, I'm Showing Off my D-I-L's Autumn Tree & I'm Thanking my Sweet Friend, Carmen! (Whew! Busy Post!)

I'm still in shock! I actually won someone's giveaway! Me!! The person who hasn't won anything in over 30 years! And just what did I win? I won these beauties: How great is this!!!! Christmas stockings. Do I even have to say how thrilling this is for me? Not only did I win, but I won something Christmas-y. It feels so......perfect! And who was giving these away? Well, it was Jo over at Angel Jem's City Cottage. She made these stockings! Can you believe that? Thank you, Jo. I can't tell you how excited I am at the thought of hanging them up this year in my home. (I'm rubbing my hands together in glee right now, thinking of where exactly they'll go!). lol
Speaking of giveaways, here's two great ones that I didn't win: the flippin' awesome purse at Heather's blog, Splaneyo. Oh I lusted for that purse. I did. And lusting will always get you in trouble, right? Right. However, all was not lost as Heather and son Spencer gave us the recipe for some of Spencer's Super Easy Beer Bread. This recipe looks easy enough for even me to handle. But I hate to speak too soon. Me and kitchen spoken in the same sentence hardly ever results in anything good. But I'm feeling pretty brave so I might give it a try anyway. The other giveaway I didn't win? This awesome scarf over at Karolee's blog, My Montana Moments. That scarf would've looked great with my black winter coat. *Sigh* But alas, it wasn't to be. Still...I had visions dancing in my head of me twirling around at the local Christmas festival, wrapped in Karolee's scarf and carrying Heather's purse. I'd have been one Hot Mama, that's for sure. Guess I'll have to make due with my big honkin' pink purse (unless I can find a red one!) and my OU Sooner scarf. Not quite as hot, but thems the breaks. Oh yeah, congratulations to the winners Nadine (who won the lovely red scarf) and Kim (who won the purse)!
I want to take a moment to thank 3 bloggers who have gone way above and beyond the call of Blogger-helpfulness! Pea at Pea's Corner and Annie at My Life as Annie. Pea provided a website address for doing up a signature for blogs and Annie provided specific and easy to follow directions on how to load the code for it (not to mention actually doing my whole entire signature thingy-I'm still smiling over that)! Thanks to both of you for helping out like that! Because of you two, there's people all over Blogland with pretty signatures now. People like Karolee and Jayme. The other helpful blogger is Tammy at My Gentle Retreat. Without me begging, pleading or actually even asking, Tammy sent me codes and directions (great directions, too, by the way!) to change the background on my blog. How kind and generous is that? Thank you, Tammy! That was unexpected and much appreciated!
Do ya'll remember when I posted that picture of the Autumn tree that I saw in the foyer of my local Hobby Lobby? I said then that I wanted to do one myself. Naturally, I haven't gotten around to that yet (procrastination is my game, after all). But my daughter-in-law, Jodie, did do one. Click on her name to see it. She and my son, Nicholas, are currently stationed in Okinawa and I'm as amazed as she is that she was able to find enough stuff to decorate an Autumn tree over there. It is fairly tropical island, after all. But wow! She did it and it looks fantastic! Great job, Jodie!!
And last, but in no way least, I must say a heartfelt thank you to Carmen. Look at what she sent me for my birthday (I told you guys this was like a birthday "season" this year for me! Woo-hoo!):
Can you believe this? I was stunned, shocked, pleased, teary-eyed...the whole nine yards. She send a gift card for Bath & Body Works as well as one for Macy's! Am I the luckiest person on the planet or what? Such kindness from a friend I've never even met in real life. Thank you, Carmen! You're the greatest! Oh and hey - check out the purse on the cover of the card...looks kind of like one that Heather had in her giveaway. Maybe that's why I didn't win it - Carmen had already sent me one just like it! lol