Posted in Winners

And the winner is…….

 CMash  August 15, 2011  1 Comment on And the winner is…….
………..of WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS by Natasha Deen

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

27

Timestamp: 2011-08-15 22:07:24 UTC


Pam said… 27 I don’t believe what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.
An email has been sent to the winner and she has 48 hours to respond or another winner will be chosen.  Thank you to all that entered.
ACCORDING TO GIVEAWAY RULES, ANOTHER WINNER HAS BEEN CHOSEN, DUE TO LACK OF RESPONSE FROM WINNER IN AMOUNT OF TIME.  NEW WINNER HAS 48 HOURS TO RESPOND.

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:
11
Timestamp: 2011-08-18 23:03:46 UTC
Niina said… 11 Hey, this book sounds like so much fun! And Vegas, oh things have the habit of coming out and even Vegas can’t deflect that. 😉
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 Posted in Monday Memes

Monday Memes

 CMash  August 15, 2011  13 Comments on Monday Memes
Photobucket

Hosted by Miz B at Should Be Reading
Today’s question:
Do you like looking at other people’s bookshelves?
My answer:
Absolutely.  Other people’s bookcase’s are like magnets when I walk into someone’s home. I’m automatically drawn to it.  If it is the first time visiting, it makes for a wonderful “ice breaker” and topic of conversation.  It also gives a little peek into the likes of the host/hostess. If it someone who I visit more often, I still gravitate to their bookcases.  But the conversation starts with the”what new books have you added and what do you recommened?”  At that point, I either am offered to borrow the book or grab a pen and piece of paper to write down the title(s) for when I get home to write them down on my “tbr hopefully in my lifetime list”. 

Photobucket
August is being hosted by Staci from Life in the Thumb
Mailbox Monday was created by Marcia of A girl and her books and is now on tour.
According to Marcia, “Mailbox Monday is the gathering place for readers to share the books that came into their house last week. Warning: Mailbox Monday can lead to envy, toppling TBR piles and humongous wish lists.”

From Tribute Books

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 Posted in Misc

Mark Your Calendars

 CMash  August 15, 2011  Leave a Comment on Mark Your Calendars

Melissa Foster, author of Megan’s Way and Chasing Amanda (which just received a 5 star review from MIDWEST BOOK REVIEW and THREE Finalist Readers Favorite Awards) friend and frequent visitor of CMash blog wanted to let us know about a great deal.  And I mean a GREAT DEAL!!!!

She is taking part in Bestseller For A Day promotion through IBC.

Bestseller For A Day!

MARK YOUR CALENDARS! Wednesday, August 17th, FIVE books will be reduced to just 99 CENTS each–and you can enter to win a KINDLE!
I’m taking part in the Bestseller For A Day promotion through the IBC. During this promotion, which will take place AUGUST 17th, there are 5 books that will be listed for just 99 cents! CHASING AMANDA is one of those books!
Mark your calendars! In addition to 5 books, each reduced to just 99 CENTS, author Terri Guiliano Long will be giving away a Kindle! Check out the Best Seller For A Day site, set an alarm on your phone for AUGUST 17th, then share this link and buy the books!
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When visiting, please feel free to leave any suggestions,
ideas and/or comments. Would love to hear from you!!
 Posted in Guest Author

The story continues……….

 CMash  August 14, 2011  Leave a Comment on The story continues……….

I postponed Sunday’s Shining Star today due to technical difficulties with blogger.  It has been hit or miss with it all week.  Seeing that for me, it’s been on a miss basis, I felt that I couldn’t draft up the post in advance giving the blogger enough notice so I thought it best to not have it.  But instead I showcased an author the other day, Lynda Fishman, an incredible woman who has had an amazing life and has written her memoir.  She just sent me this guest post that was a tad bit late, but I would like to share it with you today.
So once again.  Ms. Lynda Fishman………….

Repairing Rainbows
A True Story of Family, Tragedy and Choices
This is a remarkable true story of a thirteen year old faced with horrific tragedy, and the journey she took from disaster to life fulfillment.
Rita and Saul had a fairy tale life. Rita, a woman with a heart of gold, was a caring, kind and generous wife to the jolly and friendly Saul, who loved to giggle at his own jokes. Their three adorable daughters, Lynda, Carla and Wendy knew the perfect family life that many children can only dream of having – a very close-knit family in a home filled with riches – not rich with money, but with priceless love and happiness which they shared with extended family.
Sweet tunes of music from the big brown radio in the kitchen echoed through the bustling household that was often filled with laughter and celebrations with relatives. The aroma of delicious dinners permeated from the kitchen, and the entertaining piano playing and dance steps of little feet in the living room was performed with joy.
The three sisters have never flown and are looking forward to the plane ride and the family Bar Mitzvah in California. Young Lynda convinces her parents to let her fly a week ahead with the grandparents to help get everything prepared for their month long stay in California. A week later, Carla (11), Wendy (8) and the mom, Rita (39), board a flight from Montreal bound for LA, with a stop-over in Toronto.
Their Air Canada flight 621, with 109 people on board, crashes seven miles from the Toronto airport. There are no survivors. It was pilot error.
Saul receives a horrific phone call with tragic, shocking news that changed everything. His family has been extinguished in an instant. Inconceivable.
In a state of complete horror and despair, Saul is completely emotionally paralyzed. Unable to move past that terrible day, Saul withdrew into himself, struggling and distraught, leaving thirteen year old Lynda alone in her grief.
Never again the father she knew, Saul, too broken to recover, was so immersed in his own grief that he simply continued to exist, in a state devoid of life or hope.
Lynda, at the young age of thirteen was basically orphaned. She officially lost her mother and two younger sisters and unofficially lost her father too. Teetering on that tender brink between childhood and adolescence, Lynda faces profound loss, the responsibility of a father in a complete state of shock, a house to take care of, and complicated decisions about how to proceed with their shattered lives.
Their home is transformed from comfort and joy, to despair and deafening silence. Terrifying sounds of crying shatter the silence in the house – sounds of sadness and misery emitting from a broken man and a terrified young teen.
Saul and Lynda are unwillingly assigned to a new category of heartbreaking loss, one that not many people will ever experience. Faced with agonizing memories of funerals, nightmares, sorrow and hardship, a young teen and her dad are left to cope with immense grief and loneliness.
Pursued by ambulance-chasing lawyers, Saul becomes involved in an overwhelming and intimidating legal battle with Air Canada. What happened behind the headlines was different than what the public was told. Shockingly, Air Canada’s ruthless, insensitive legal team handled the aftermath of the plane crash and the subsequent law suit in a callous and heartless manner. With complete lack of sensitivity, the family was subjected to hours and hours of depositions as they itemized the dollar value of a mother and two little girls. Saul was essentially bullied into settling for what was obviously a ridiculously low settlement.
Unable to face the reality of this colossal tragedy, Saul is stuck in a state of emotional denial, pushing his daughter further and further away.
Pursued by a pretty widow, Saul quickly marries Sonia who personifies the evil stepmother stereotype in all the darker senses of the word. Controlling and self-absorbed, Sonia wedges herself between Lynda and Saul, constantly forcing Saul to choose between them.
For years to come, Lynda is hurt, frustrated and angry at her father.
At age seventeen, Lynda meets and falls in love with Barry, her soul mate. Barry has also suffered tremendous loss – his mother died when he was an infant, and his father died when Barry was seventeen, just a few months before meeting Lynda. To make matters even more interesting and challenging, Barry has a developmentally delayed brother, a few years older than him. Barry and Lynda are left with the responsibility of Mitchell.
The shared bond of pain allows them to form a deep, mutual understanding of each other.
You root for them as they build their relationship, get married, start a family and balance each other perfectly. Their lives flourish together. They are dedicated to each other and to helping others.
The final part of the story deals with life-changing and comforting visits to a Psychic Medium. Lynda and Barry receive specific, detailed messages and information from their family members on the other side that validates their on-going connection – illustrating without question that while they can’t be with them physically, they have stayed with them. It warms your heart to learn that Lynda and Barry’s family members are “alive and happy” in another realm, and that they have stayed among them as angels, guiding and protecting them.
Choices
It is obvious throughout the story that “we always have choices” and that it is possible with perseverance, courage and patience to be able to live life once again. Lynda made the choice to do everything she could to escape the cloud of despair. She chose to bounce back after such a monumental tragedy, to pick up the tragic pieces of her life and move on. She chose school, growth, positivity, career, family. She chose to stay super busy with school, volunteer work at hospitals, cooking, baking, gardening. She chose to fight the obstacles of pity. She chose hope over despair. She chose to survive and to thrive.
Both Lynda and Barry were determined to live – they chose to create a happy future and to live a happy life. They have strength, will and courage. They were determined not to succumb to sorrow and despair – to use whatever tools they could find, including considerable grit, to build a life together – to fashion the life they wanted. Together, they had and still have indomitable will to focus on the positive.
Repairing Rainbows is a Powerful Story
Prepare yourself for an emotional roller-coaster ride through gut-wrenching trauma, incomprehensible loss, terror, anger, hope, tenacity and triumph. It is powerful not only in regard to the tragedy, but in the messages delivered throughout the story. This is a story of victory – of rebuilding – of the immense power of positivity.
Repairing Rainbows is a story for everyone who delights in true-life accounts of triumph over tragedy. Repairing Rainbows resonates long after you finish the book – it is an unforgettable story of courage, strength and hope.
Repairing Rainbows is described as compelling, captivating, honest, brave, and inspirational. It is a truly special story about choices – a story that reminds you that you should never give up, keep on trying, and that every storm ends with a rainbow.
There’s no template to follow that will determine the course of any tragedy and the effect it has on ones life. But the toughest decision a person has to make is whether or not they are choosing life. Whether or not you respond to a crisis with hope, is a choice. It’s a choice about whether you want to live or die. Lynda chose life.
Thank you for subscribing to CMash Loves To Read.
When visiting, please feel free to leave any suggestions,
ideas and/or comments. Would love to hear from you!!
 Posted in Sunday's Shining Star

Sunday’s Shinng Star

 CMash  August 14, 2011  Leave a Comment on Sunday’s Shinng Star

Sunday’s Shining Star will be off the air this week.
Due to technical difficulties with blogger, I was unable to post any images until Friday night.  I usually draft up my Sunday’s Shining Star post Tuesday, Wednesday the latest, to give the guest blogger enough notice that she will be the guest.  This way, if it is not convenient, I have time to draft and showcase another blogger.  Giving the guest 2 days notice didn’t seem right.
Hopefully the glitches have been fixed and Sunday’s Shining Star will return next week.  Have a great day everyone!
Thank you for subscribing to CMash Loves To Read.
When visiting, please feel free to leave any suggestions,
ideas and/or comments. Would love to hear from you!!
 Posted in Guest Author

The story continues……….

 CMash  August 14, 2011  3 Comments on The story continues……….

I postponed Sunday’s Shining Star today due to technical difficulties with blogger.  It has been hit or miss with it all week.  Seeing that for me, it’s been on a miss basis, I felt that I couldn’t draft up the post in advance giving the blogger enough notice so I thought it best to not have it.  But instead I showcased an author the other day, Lynda Fishman, an incredible woman who has had an amazing life and has written her memoir.  She just sent me this guest post that was a tad bit late, but I would like to share it with you today.
So once again.  Ms. Lynda Fishman………….

Repairing Rainbows
A True Story of Family, Tragedy and Choices
This is a remarkable true story of a thirteen year old faced with horrific tragedy, and the journey she took from disaster to life fulfillment.
Rita and Saul had a fairy tale life. Rita, a woman with a heart of gold, was a caring, kind and generous wife to the jolly and friendly Saul, who loved to giggle at his own jokes. Their three adorable daughters, Lynda, Carla and Wendy knew the perfect family life that many children can only dream of having – a very close-knit family in a home filled with riches – not rich with money, but with priceless love and happiness which they shared with extended family.
Sweet tunes of music from the big brown radio in the kitchen echoed through the bustling household that was often filled with laughter and celebrations with relatives. The aroma of delicious dinners permeated from the kitchen, and the entertaining piano playing and dance steps of little feet in the living room was performed with joy.
The three sisters have never flown and are looking forward to the plane ride and the family Bar Mitzvah in California. Young Lynda convinces her parents to let her fly a week ahead with the grandparents to help get everything prepared for their month long stay in California. A week later, Carla (11), Wendy (8) and the mom, Rita (39), board a flight from Montreal bound for LA, with a stop-over in Toronto.
Their Air Canada flight 621, with 109 people on board, crashes seven miles from the Toronto airport. There are no survivors. It was pilot error.
Saul receives a horrific phone call with tragic, shocking news that changed everything. His family has been extinguished in an instant. Inconceivable.
In a state of complete horror and despair, Saul is completely emotionally paralyzed. Unable to move past that terrible day, Saul withdrew into himself, struggling and distraught, leaving thirteen year old Lynda alone in her grief.
Never again the father she knew, Saul, too broken to recover, was so immersed in his own grief that he simply continued to exist, in a state devoid of life or hope.
Lynda, at the young age of thirteen was basically orphaned. She officially lost her mother and two younger sisters and unofficially lost her father too. Teetering on that tender brink between childhood and adolescence, Lynda faces profound loss, the responsibility of a father in a complete state of shock, a house to take care of, and complicated decisions about how to proceed with their shattered lives.
Their home is transformed from comfort and joy, to despair and deafening silence. Terrifying sounds of crying shatter the silence in the house – sounds of sadness and misery emitting from a broken man and a terrified young teen.
Saul and Lynda are unwillingly assigned to a new category of heartbreaking loss, one that not many people will ever experience. Faced with agonizing memories of funerals, nightmares, sorrow and hardship, a young teen and her dad are left to cope with immense grief and loneliness.
Pursued by ambulance-chasing lawyers, Saul becomes involved in an overwhelming and intimidating legal battle with Air Canada. What happened behind the headlines was different than what the public was told. Shockingly, Air Canada’s ruthless, insensitive legal team handled the aftermath of the plane crash and the subsequent law suit in a callous and heartless manner. With complete lack of sensitivity, the family was subjected to hours and hours of depositions as they itemized the dollar value of a mother and two little girls. Saul was essentially bullied into settling for what was obviously a ridiculously low settlement.
Unable to face the reality of this colossal tragedy, Saul is stuck in a state of emotional denial, pushing his daughter further and further away.
Pursued by a pretty widow, Saul quickly marries Sonia who personifies the evil stepmother stereotype in all the darker senses of the word. Controlling and self-absorbed, Sonia wedges herself between Lynda and Saul, constantly forcing Saul to choose between them.
For years to come, Lynda is hurt, frustrated and angry at her father.
At age seventeen, Lynda meets and falls in love with Barry, her soul mate. Barry has also suffered tremendous loss – his mother died when he was an infant, and his father died when Barry was seventeen, just a few months before meeting Lynda. To make matters even more interesting and challenging, Barry has a developmentally delayed brother, a few years older than him. Barry and Lynda are left with the responsibility of Mitchell.
The shared bond of pain allows them to form a deep, mutual understanding of each other.
You root for them as they build their relationship, get married, start a family and balance each other perfectly. Their lives flourish together. They are dedicated to each other and to helping others.
The final part of the story deals with life-changing and comforting visits to a Psychic Medium. Lynda and Barry receive specific, detailed messages and information from their family members on the other side that validates their on-going connection – illustrating without question that while they can’t be with them physically, they have stayed with them. It warms your heart to learn that Lynda and Barry’s family members are “alive and happy” in another realm, and that they have stayed among them as angels, guiding and protecting them.
Choices
It is obvious throughout the story that “we always have choices” and that it is possible with perseverance, courage and patience to be able to live life once again. Lynda made the choice to do everything she could to escape the cloud of despair. She chose to bounce back after such a monumental tragedy, to pick up the tragic pieces of her life and move on. She chose school, growth, positivity, career, family. She chose to stay super busy with school, volunteer work at hospitals, cooking, baking, gardening. She chose to fight the obstacles of pity. She chose hope over despair. She chose to survive and to thrive.
Both Lynda and Barry were determined to live – they chose to create a happy future and to live a happy life. They have strength, will and courage. They were determined not to succumb to sorrow and despair – to use whatever tools they could find, including considerable grit, to build a life together – to fashion the life they wanted. Together, they had and still have indomitable will to focus on the positive.
Repairing Rainbows is a Powerful Story
Prepare yourself for an emotional roller-coaster ride through gut-wrenching trauma, incomprehensible loss, terror, anger, hope, tenacity and triumph. It is powerful not only in regard to the tragedy, but in the messages delivered throughout the story. This is a story of victory – of rebuilding – of the immense power of positivity.
Repairing Rainbows is a story for everyone who delights in true-life accounts of triumph over tragedy. Repairing Rainbows resonates long after you finish the book – it is an unforgettable story of courage, strength and hope.
Repairing Rainbows is described as compelling, captivating, honest, brave, and inspirational. It is a truly special story about choices – a story that reminds you that you should never give up, keep on trying, and that every storm ends with a rainbow.
There’s no template to follow that will determine the course of any tragedy and the effect it has on ones life. But the toughest decision a person has to make is whether or not they are choosing life. Whether or not you respond to a crisis with hope, is a choice. It’s a choice about whether you want to live or die. Lynda chose life.
Thank you for subscribing to CMash Loves To Read.
When visiting, please feel free to leave any suggestions,
ideas and/or comments. Would love to hear from you!!
 Posted in Sunday's Shining Star

Sunday’s Shinng Star

 CMash  August 14, 2011  2 Comments on Sunday’s Shinng Star

Sunday’s Shining Star will be off the air this week.
Due to technical difficulties with blogger, I was unable to post any images until Friday night.  I usually draft up my Sunday’s Shining Star post Tuesday, Wednesday the latest, to give the guest blogger enough notice that she will be the guest.  This way, if it is not convenient, I have time to draft and showcase another blogger.  Giving the guest 2 days notice didn’t seem right.
Hopefully the glitches have been fixed and Sunday’s Shining Star will return next week.  Have a great day everyone!
Thank you for subscribing to CMash Loves To Read.
When visiting, please feel free to leave any suggestions,
ideas and/or comments. Would love to hear from you!!
 Posted in A Bit of Me

A Bit Of Me

 CMash  August 13, 2011  Leave a Comment on A Bit Of Me
Photobucket

Hosted by Danielle at There’s A Book

From Danielle’s blog:
We all leave our “footprint” on the world, in one way or another. We each, individually, do something or are someone that makes the world a little better just by being here. I created this weekly meme to get to know the blogging community I love just a bit better. To know what makes them tick, outside of books, that is. Each week I will post a question to be answered in the following week’s “A Bit of Me(Me)”. Check back each Saturday to get the info for next week’s post and link up with your current post right here.
This week’s question:  What’s one activity you’re looking forward to or that you’ve already done this summer?
Read more: http://www.theresabook.com/2011/08/a-bit-of-meme-tap-tap-tap/#ixzz1UG0eqqZI

First a caveat about Italian families if you aren’t familiar.  Close friends are considered family.  And in 3 weeks, there is a wedding, my bff’s son.  I met her when our oldest sons started HS together and both families became very close and have been friends ever since.  My oldest son, Paul, is in the wedding party, and my youngest son, Mark is coming home for the wedding and staying for the week.  We haven’t seen Mark since March so we are definitely looking forward to that.

However, last week, the Groom-to-be severely injured his arm, which has resulted in the need for major surgery asap, which is scheduled for this week, 2 weeks before the wedding.  He will be in complete immobilization for the day of the wedding.  They had plans to go to Hawaii on their honeymoon, which they have decided to cancel.  I am so upset for the kids.  Can you imagine?  Planning for a year, the gown, pictures, the venue, the band, etc etc and then this.  And of course, it’s his right hand so the poor kid is worried as to how will he put the ring on his bride, or how will he shake hands, or even dance with his new wife and Mom.  My bff and I, over this past year, have talked about all the tears we will shed, for happiness and for seeing these boys grow into men, and then this. 
But it will still be a beautiful wedding.  And the important thing is that they are entering into this marriage for all the right reasons and the vows they declare before God, will be taken seriously.  And the best part, both our families will be together to celebrate this union.  Three weeks and counting!!

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When visiting, please feel free to leave any suggestions,
ideas and/or comments. Would love to hear from you!!