day two: c jane soiree!

wasn't day one so crazy?
i am equally excited about day two!

heather of family volley is throwing me
a week long baby shower
and i want to invite you,
but instead of you giving me a gift
heather and generous companies
want to give me AND you one.

isn't that your kind of baby shower?

these are the giveaways going on today
click on each image to enter
or go to family volley to see them all:





it's a pillow, it's a pet, it's a pillow pet! (sprout lovers out there?)

day one: c jane soiree! hooray!

heather of family volley is throwing me
a week long baby shower
and i want to invite you,
but instead of you giving me a gift
heather and generous companies
want to give me AND you one.

isn't that your kind of baby shower?

these are the giveaways going on today
click on each image to enter
or go to family volley to see them all:

jo totes--camera bag for ladies

i can't help it
i love this idea--
jo totes
cute camera bags for women
because who isn't a photographer
these days?

and whether you want to make cash
snapping photos
or just have a place to put
all your equipment
a good-looking bag
never hurt.

perfect gift?
oh yes.

will i have one included in
march's motherlode?
oh yes.

(or you can try to win one now,
if you live in utah
and you go to my perfectly perky provo blog.)

for your spring cleaning consideration: morcheeba

every spring i like to listen to
morcheeba
--one of the many
albums i've stolen from chup's
vast collection of
obscure music.

morcheeba is perfect for a
spring cleaning soundtrack
it's british
funk
hip-hop
blues and
pop.

i recommend
fragments of freedom
watch for
rome wasn't built in a day.

snyder's of hanover pretzel dips

these chocolate covered pretzels are
our favorite treat right now.

we buy the gargantuan bag at costco
and serve them when guests stop by.

plus, they are a heckofalot cooler than
chocolate covered raisins.

toms shoes

for my birthday last week
a very cool cat
(you know who you are)
from sunny arizona
sent me a pair of toms shoes.

i've been wondering about this
argentine-inspired footwear
for quite sometime.

they are linen lounge shoes
and soft on the feet.
i can't wait to use them
in my postpartum phase
(when i don't leave my house
for two months).

but of course the best part of toms shoes
is that every pair purchased
tom gives a pair to a child in need.

check it out here.

easter bowties and hair clips from likely

i am sorry about last week's delay in c jane answering
it is with much pleasure that we resume.

last time i left you with a link to my friend tiffany's etsy shop
it seems in the time we last spoke
tiffany has updated the shop with easter goodies
for little girl bunnies
and little boy bunnies.

human bunnies, i mean.

but i can't help myself on this one
seersucker bowties?
i can't think of anything more
perfect for an easter ensemble
for the little fella
or felt flowers hair clips
for the little ladies.



tiffany is going to keep orders open
until monday night (march 15th) pacific standard time
just for c jane readers
and important to know is
all proceeds from this sale
will go to help families in need.

but let me reiterate,
seersucker bowties
i wish i had enough money in my bank account
to buy one for every boy i know under five.

easter is going to be so cute this year.
purchase here!

forrest findings of likely and sam (esty shop)

a month or so ago
i was reading
some paperwork my
midwife gave me
about newborn babies.

in particular
i read about how they
need to have their
little heads covered
for the first few days of life.

ever since i read that tidbit
i've had baby caps on my brain.

my friend likely
has a swedish grandmother-in-law mormor
who makes these adorable
knitted hats to sell in her etsy shop.

i am pretty
sure my newborn
must have one or two
maybe three.

equally,
i am a sucker for a mormor's gnome hat:



because look how cute it makes the gnome:


please excuse me,
--i can no longer delay--
my due date is coming up
and i am off to shop.

quick as a cricket by audrey and don wood

i have come to a realization:
i don't like a lot of children's books.

some are hard to read
overly silly
or sometimes just boring.

so i am getting picky.

but i will always enjoy reading
the wood's
"quick as a cricket"
a delightfully illustrated book
written in similes.

i love this book.
i love the hot fox
and the cold toad
and the tame poodle.
i love how i feel
almost other-worldly
when i read it.
and i love that it comes
as a board book.

and please, don't get me started on piggies.


(when i was pregnant with
the chief, my writer friends
threw me a party
where they showered me
with children's books
and their picks are among the best
we have to our collection.
it goes to show:
it pays to have
writer friends.)

p.s.
if you'd like to be a dear c jane sponsor
--mostly because it is really fun--
you can email us at
dearcjane@gmail.com

february mother lode giveaway winner

let me explain something
(because i can't believe what is going on here)
when i do a giveaway
i never, ever check the comments until
the giveaway is over and i have picked a winner.

i usually take a huge breath
get comfortable in my skin,
sort out any lingering issues i have
with the pressures of picking one person
out of hundreds,
come to a zen-ish state of mind
and choose a winner.

(sometimes i use a random number generator
sometimes i use my husband
and sometimes i just pick one with no rhyme or reason)

so this time i performed my pre-picking ritual
and saw in my mind's eye the number 5.

5 out of hundreds
is a bit odd
anyway.

then i clicked to the comments
counted down five
and there was my friend
azucar de la pines.

my friend.
close friend.

and i thought,
i can't pick my close friend.

and then i thought,
why can't i pick my close friend?
she is number five
-the number i settled on before
i picked a winner.

and then i thought
(quite lump-in-throat-ish)
she deserves this mother lode
from me.

she who took on my mother lode
of emotional baggage
five years ago when she became my friend.

she lifted me over infertility,
found me a new house for my family,
fed me and my expanding crew
and checks up on me nightly with emails.

sometimes fate knows what is is doing.

azucar my dear,
you win february's mother lode
(thanks for being my amiga.)

thanks to everyone else for entering.

p.s.
my thanks to the sponsorship inquiries
for dear c jane.
my team of tireless monkeys
are working on responding to all emails.

if you'd like to be a dear c jane sponsor
--mostly because it is really fun--
you can email us at
dearcjane@gmail.com

. . . oreo cookie recipe nie keeps blogging about?

when my sister stephanie
was a young woman
her church youth leader
made her a batch of
"homemade oreo cookies"
and they were a revelation.

i was not living at home
when the oreo cookies
made their way into my sister's heart
but she sent me the recipe in an email
so that i too could partake.

as you can see
(above)
i still have the original email
(sent in 1998)

if baked softly, they are everything
my sister claimed them to be
soft, creamy, sweet with a
bite of tea time.

though do they taste like actual
"homemade oreo cookies"?
i sometimes wonder.

i'd almost say they were better.

oreo cookies
(a la julie)

1 package of devil's food cake mix
2 eggs
3/4 cup of shortening

blend all together at once.

roll soft dough in small balls
on a cookie sheet.
(don't press down,
keep balls intact before baking)

bake at 350 degrees
for 8 minutes
(don't you dare over-bake)

frosting for the middle:

8 oz. cream cheese
1/2 stick of butter
2 tsp. vanilla
2 to 4 c. powdered sugar

mix until smooth.

when cookies are cool:
frost backs of cookies
and make sandwich with another cookie.

easy does it.