Grit Giveaway Winner(s)!

And the winner is.......  Laura of A Simple Happy Life blog!  

And then, as always, I wanted to give a few more readers a taste of Grit magazine.  So I'm sending two back issues to Cindy of Write Up My Alley and Linda from Wander to the Wayside.  Grit magazines have information that is timeless!

Congrats to the winners ~ please send me your addresses so I can get the goods out to you.  {There's an email link at the bottom of each blog post, or you can go to my profile and email from there.}

Thank you to everyone who entered, and remember, there's going to be lots more in the coming months.  More country magazine subscriptions, more country books, more country STUFF!!

Stay tuned!!

And the best way to not miss a giveaway is to subscribe to my blog.  You'll get an email notifying you when I've put up a new post.  

The "subscribe" box is in the left sidebar, Follow Oz Girl Via Email - you can always unsubscribe at any time if you decide my blog just isn't relevant to you any longer.  

It's easy to sign up, and it's easy to get rid of me,

even though I hope you won't do that.  :-)

Last Call for Grit Magazine Giveaway!

This is it, only a few hours left to enter my Grit magazine subscription giveaway!  Read my prior posts for the entry rules ~ it's really, really easy.

No tweeting, Facebook joining, 

or dancing under the full moon required!

We left the chicken coop open this afternoon.  Normally, we close all the birds up securely before we leave for work (we are both 2nd shifters!) but with temps expected to climb near 112 or over today, I didn't want to take a chance on them getting overheated.  Of course, I needed to leave work early in order to close the coop right around dusk.  

We have wayyyyyy too many predators out here on our prairie

to even risk leaving the coop open after dark!

We've got a chance of storms tomorrow night -- whoopeee!  Needless to say, we can really use the moisture.  My fingers are crossed...  here's a pic of an early June storm building momentum.  (I think we've had maybe one storm since then??!)

Here's hoping for some rain on Wednesday!!

Until then, get your entries sent for the Grit giveaway!!

You have until midnight PST.

A winner will be drawn tomorrow using randomizer.org.

Stay tuned to my blog as I tell the

riveting rescue story of keet #3 later this week.

[I don't recall that he ever thanked me for his in-the-nick-of-time rescue?!]

A Keet Nap... and Last Day to Enter Grit Giveaway!

Keets like to stretch o-u-t when they sleep.

Most guinea experts will tell you...

they almost look dead!

Today is the last day to enter the awesome Grit magazine subscription giveaway.  If you're not familiar with what Grit magazine is all about, click on the link to their website and check them out -- they are everything country, and especially self-sufficient country.  Definitely one of my favorite magazines!

Entry rules are posted in prior posts, but it's really quite simple: just hit "reply" when you get an email announcing a new post on my blog, and in the subject line put "Enter me in your Grit giveaway!"

That's it.

Entries will be accepted until midnight Tuesday, PST - that's 3 a.m. Wednesday Eastern time.  So if you haven't subscribed to my blog yet, you still have time.  That neat little subscription box is over in my left sidebar.

Best of luck to everyone who has entered so far, and remember, even if you don't win a subscription to Grit magazine, there are going to be more fun country giveaways over the next 12 months.  

I've got a hay-wagon full of great ideas

and can't wait to do all the future giveaways!

A Kansas Sunrise ~ and a Giveaway!

No, this isn't today's sunrise.  

This morning's sunrise was rather uneventful.  So I pulled this one from my photo archives - one of the most glorious sunrises I've yet to see out here on the Kansas plains.  The shades of red, orange and purple were stunning on this crisp November morning over a year ago.

Don't you think so?

If you haven't yet, don't forget to subscribe to my blog so you can enter my Grit magazine subscription giveaway.  Read the original giveaway post here.  When you subscribe to my blog (see left sidebar to subscribe) be sure you enter your email address correctly - Feedburner will verify your email address by sending a confirmation email with a link you have to click to prove you are the owner of that email address.

The contest is open to family and friends alike, U.S. and Canadian residents only.  And I've decided to extend the deadline to enter.  You'll have until Tuesday at midnight, PST, to enter the giveaway.

So get subscribed, and reply to the next blog post you get in your email to be entered in the Grit magazine subscription giveaway!!

Livin' the Country Dream ~ A Giveaway

I know it's not everyone's dream to live in the country.  It's always been my dream, and I sure do love where we live.

 Frost on the grass - appealing photo to me right now

with our 100-degree plus days!

For my readers who long to make an escape from a crazy, chaotic city life, and my readers who already live in the country, I have a fun offer for you.

I'd like to offer a subscription to Grit magazine to one of my lucky readers.  This is one of my favorite go-to, rural living, how-do-you-do-that magazines - and other times, it's my country dreamin' kind of magazine.  Whether you already live in the country, or you're just dreaming of a country life someday -- Grit magazine has something for both camps. 

[On a side note, I'm lucky to be part of the Grit family and blog on their website.  Check out the link to my Grit blog (in the right sidebar) when you have a few spare minutes.]

Want to win a year's subscription to Grit magazine?  Here's how:

Make sure you subscribe to my blog and when you get your email announcing my new post, just hit "reply" and in the subject line put "Enter me in your Grit giveaway!"  If you already subscribe, you can reply to either of today's emails.

If you don't subscribe to my blog yet, it's easy to sign up.  You'll see "Follow Oz Girl by Email" in my left sidebar.  Enter your email address and follow the instructions.

That's it.  You've got til midnight PST Sunday to enter.  I'll pick a winner Monday morning using randomizer.org.  Contest is open to readers of the U.S. and Canada only. Please note, this giveaway is not subsidized by Grit magazine.  I will buy a subscription for the lucky winner!

This is my first blog giveaway in a long time. I've decided to offer a country item giveaway every month for the next 12 months.  It might be a magazine subscription, a country themed book, or a too-cute-for-words country item.

Stay tuned, and stay subscribed to find out!

I'll be posting a Lazy Sunday Morning photo tomorrow.  I've got my fingers crossed for a fantastic country sunrise.  :-)

My First Published Blog!

I think many of my readers know that Grit magazine published one of my photos in the Jan/Feb issue of their magazine. If you didn't know, you can see the photo and read about my bragging rights here.

What I haven't mentioned is that I was asked to be a guest blogger in their online blogging community! Let me just tell you -- that email came while I was at work one day, and I was SO excited that I could hardly work the rest of the day. I wanted to tell everyone so badly and yet you know when you have great news that is only great news to yourself?? ... I realized if I told any of my co-workers about this opportunity, I would most likely get this totally blank stare. *What the hell are you talking about girl??* So of course I simply emailed my closest family and friends and tried to contain my excitement for the rest of the day.

But I waited to tell you, my dearest blog readers, until Jenn Nemec at Grit had posted my blog in their community. Well, click right here to see my very first post! I'll be sending Jenn at Grit a new post every week.

Let me just tell you -- if you love everything that is country, then you will love Grit magazine, AND their online blogging community. As I mention on my photo blog, Grit magazine is everything country and it also helps people get back to basic living. Here's a few examples of recent articles: make your own maple syrup, great mac'n'cheese recipes, winter gardening and what works in your area, homemade bread the easy way, rodent control/keeping critters in check on the farm, and of course, how to raise water buffalo. Yep, no kidding. Water buffalo are becoming more popular in the grand ole U.S. of A.

As a side note here: I love my new life in Kansas. Since 2008, I've become better at my photography and have had my own store on Zazzle for almost two years now. I started a blog and met all kinds of wonderful new friends -- because of you my friends, I could never, ever stop blogging!! Then I decided to market my all-natural dog biscuits to my four-legged friends with another new blog, The Lazy G Ranch, and this endeavor is doing quite well. For all my two-legger friends out there, I am hoping to add deelish homemade cookies to the Lazy G Ranch offerings very soon!!

So I will end this post with the thought that I am very grateful to my husband for giving me this opportunity at a fresh, new life in a beautiful part of the United States ~ I love him to pieces not just for that opportunity, but because he's the sweetest husband ever. Not to say that Ohio doesn't have its own corners full of beauty (you show them to us all the time, Joe!), but Kansas gives me an entirely new area to explore and photograph.

And of course, I'm a city gal living in the country now
and lovin' every minute of it!