Sunday, May 31, 2009

Heidi's Book Excerpt- And the Winner!

Whew, what a weekend! I just got home. Beautiful weather meant non-stop horsey work. All day Saturday I worked for my horse, but not with him, not one bit! Today was our day together, our quality time, if you will. But there was even a little bit of a wrench in that plan, which I will share later this week.

Today was also the drawing for my contest. Here is how it all went down.

I had Paint Girl help me out, which is why the winner was announced so late today, as I was up at her farm until this evening.

Somebody was a little leery of the drawing "container!"

Paint Girl's OH holds the cowboy hat while she folds the papers with everyone's names. Oh and of course, I did go over and help! As you can see, we had a very interested assistant!

The names are ready. And no, My Boy, these are not cookies!!

Reaching in for the draw. My Boy looks very excited here! I was too!

I love the look on Paint Girl's face!

We have a winner!

Yee haw, SquirrelGurl! Please send me an email so I can get your information! And thanks to everyone for stopping by to post a comment, I know Heidi really appreciated hearing from you all!

Now, I also wanted to give you a little taste from Cowgirl Dreams. The historical fashion piece on cowgirl attire was written by Heidi, but not an excerpt from the book Cowgirl Dreams.


Excerpt from Cowgirl Dreams:

On a warm late-September Saturday morning, Nettie stood sweating in the stuffy little teacherage at the Hay Lake schoolhouse. The voile bodice of her pink blouse kept coming untucked from her satin skirt. At this rate, she would look like she’d bathed and slept in this stupid dress. After having had a taste of wearing denim pants and men’s shirts, donning any kind of dress—especially a silky, shimmery one like this—was so uncomfortable, so binding.

She wove the buttonhook around another tiny pearl button on the back of her sister’s wedding dress and tried to pull it through the satin loop. “Pull in your stomach again. I can’t get this hooked.”

“Hurry up.” Lola muttered through gritted teeth. “If I hold it any longer I won’t make it to the altar alive.”

Nettie squared her shoulders. Well, if her sister hadn’t insisted on this stupid wedding gown with a million little buttons up the back, she wouldn’t be having this problem. She jerked at the offending button with the hook. Not for her, when, if, she ever got married.

Their older sister Margie bustled in, smelling of lilac water. “Oh Lola, you look so beautiful. Here Nettie, let me help. I’ve had more practice with these things.”

Nettie let out her own pent-up breath. Yeah, let the experts handle this “ladylike” chore. Fancy wedding dresses. What a waste of money, especially since her folks didn’t have any to spare. Good thing Lola’s fella was pretty well set. He’d bought the dress. Floyd Marshall seemed to worship the ground her sister walked on, would do anything to make her happy.

That was all well and good, but did that mean he was spineless, that he’d let Lola walk all over him? Nettie hoped not. She wouldn’t want a husband like that. If she ever did decide to marry.

Margie finished with the buttons and arranged the veil. Lola’s cheeks were flushed, her eyes glowed. But Nettie just couldn’t summon up a lot of excitement for all this falderal.

Especially since she’d rather be at a rodeo somewhere, anywhere but here.

Okay, that is just a little taste!

I hope you had a great weekend, everyone!

17 comments:

  1. I sent you an email!

    I'm so excited!!

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  2. cdongrats! You'll have to do a book review.

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  3. Congrats to the winner, but somehow I thought my name would be pulled out. I know you are going to put some cool goodies in there. I guess I'll just have to keep taking your fantastic hand me downs!

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  4. Congrats SquirrelGurl! We had fun drawing your name! We tried to involve the whole farm, but that can be difficult to do, with 14 furry ones and 3 humans!

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  5. I think it's a good thing you didn't ask Paint Girl's goats to draw, because they would probably have eaten up the winner! Congrats to SquirrelGurl!
    Are Paint Girl & My Boy for loan when it comes to give aways? They did a lovely job!

    Warm greetings from West Africa,
    Esther

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  6. cograts to squirrel gurl...i think my boy should have picked the winner. he looked a little jealous when paint girl was doing the picking.

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  7. Congrats Squirrel Girl! Looks like you had fun picking the winner :-)

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  8. Squirrelgurl! That is a great name!!! Congratulations to Squirrelgurl!

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  9. Yay! Congrats! To SquirrelGurl!

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  10. Congrats Squirrel Gurl!

    What a fun contest. I really liked the pics of Paint Girl, OH and My Boy. Such focus and determination and excitement!

    But why is it that you always put Paint Girl's face on your blog....but there's rarely ever a Pony Girl face. Are you hiding from us, PG? hehe!

    I enjoyed the book review. I look forward to reading it soon.

    ~Lisa

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  11. Congratulations to SquirrelGurl....the excerpt from the book was interesting, so I am sure she will enjoy it. I missed the contest :( Hadn't done much blogging lately...too many other things in the way! But if you ever host another contest, I will make it a point to participate!!

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  12. LOL I love how you did the drawing with the help of your sis!!!

    Congrats SquirrelGurl!!!

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  13. Congratulations, SquirrelGurl! I hope you enjoy the book! (let me know!)

    I just returned from a 3-week "reality" book tour in Montana--fun and fabulous trip, very tired, but pleased with it overall.

    Thanks again, Pony Girl, for being such a wonderful host during my blog tour!
    Heidi

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I love hearing from my readers!! I truly enjoy all of your feedback, advice, helpful tips, and stories. You all make me laugh and I learn so much from you, too. I will try to post replies to your comments as often as I can.

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