Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Credit: Photobucket

The title and picture of this post says a lot about what this post is about. The past couple of months have been an off and messed up time for me here at the blog. There's been a lot going on at home and that's just not left much time or motivation for my beloved subscribers, but that's going to change.


Just a few short updates and I'll get to the point, but you guys know how much I love going off on my tangents and whatnot...


As most of you know, my year started off pretty rocky, and I really hadn't fully recovered from that, but throw in my best friend of about 8 years moving to the other side of the country, moving myself, my sister being sick, and my mother having another major surgery, I'm sure you can all understand or at least grasp why I've been all messed up. Last Thursday I took another hit...

Sassy and Batman...she loved to snuggle...

We lost Sassy. Another one of our babies. She became sick earlier last week and at first we just thought it was a bug, but since it didn't pass we were going to take her to the vet. But before we could, she left us. It was very unexpected, and has left us all completely heartbroken, even our other babies are in mourning (this does include the cat). They understand even less than we do and it breaks my heart even more to see them so sad and there's nothing I can do to make them understand why she's gone...


Anyways, now that I've managed to thoroughly depress you all and made myself cry...again....I'm going to get on with it. On top of that, my sister, now dubbed "Typhoid Mary," managed to spread the bug from hell throughout the house. I imagine something along the lines of the picture below running rampant on my immune system...

Credit: Suniedlite on Photobucket

Anyways, she's infected us all and it's made for a very icky couple of weeks in my house with five lovely people sick, but regardless of all of that. I have been reading (at least a little), and I do have some stuff planned and that plan includes me being back! Things might be a little slow for the next couple weeks as I get back in the swing of things and play catch up, but I'll get there.


Thanks for bearing with me, and I will have something special for you guys in the coming weeks!


XOXO


Samantha LeAnne

CSN makes me giddy!

Awesomeness at it's finest

I recently received another email from my wonderful CSN Stores contact! Come to find out, I'm lucky enough to be one of their CSN Preferred Webmasters!!! This makes me happy for an unlimited amount of reasons because that's good news for me, and also good news for you guys!

If you've been living under a rock for the past few months, CSN Stores sells all kinds of stuff, from bedroom furniture sets to lamps to shoes...oh man they have some great shoes...

But anyways! Keep watch for another exciting product review from me for CSN Stores!

CSN Product Review

A few weeks ago I told you guys about an upcoming review on a product for CSN Stores. As I told you guys before, I chose a Hobby Table. Well...my table arrived!!

I placed my order on a Friday, it shipped the following Monday and was here by Wednesday! That is super quick in terms of processing, shipping, and delivery.

The parts and pieces were all packaged well and they were all wrapped and sorted and NUMBERED! I loved that fact and the fact the there were thorough instructions that included a picture chart with the pictures and numbers or each part an piece. Despite there being like 500 little pieces, it was pretty easy to put together. I love putting things together, and so I put the whole thing together on my own, and it only took me about an hour, maybe a hour and a half. Which is actually not bad, because as you'll see in the final picture, it was a pretty good sized table and weighs somewhere in the ballpark of 40 lbs or so.

The finished product:

Once I finished the table and stool (which came with it!), and got it adjusted, I moved it in front of the living room window (only temporary). In the picture the table and drawers are empty, but that's because I haven't moved my sewing machine yet. I do know it's sturdy though, I tested it out with a box of books that weighs somewhere around 25 lbs and it didn't even wiggle or anything of the sort!

I absolutely love my Hobby Table, and so does my sister who has already decided that we have to share it so she can draw at it, and my dad has commented about using it too! I think this was the smartest thing I've bought in a long while and the quality is fantastic. 

I will definitely be shopping through CSN Stores again. They have great prices, quality products, and quick service and that makes me not only want to return, but also recommend them to others! Plus with all their stores, you can find almost anything you want!

Question: Book Summaries

Do you prefer summaries written by the reviewer or taken from other sources such as GoodReads, Amazon, etc?

Last night I was trying to write some reviews, and I was having some issues. As you know, I write my own summaries and I always have, but sometimes there are just some books that I just can't seem to summarize myself. Sequels are generally damn near impossible and then there are just some books that no matter how hard I try or how much I loved them, I just can't seem to summarize. I was wondering what your thoughts are on the subject of book summaries in reviews.

Please leave your thoughts in the comments! Thanks!

Upcoming Review: Hobby Table from CSN Stores!!

The other morning I awoke to the surprise of an email from the wonderfully generous people over at CSN Stores with an offer to review one of their products.

Now if you haven't heard of CSN Stores, they are a fabulous company that has 200+ stores and carries everything from lights to massage chairs to espresso machines to shoes to pet furniture. I scoured their stores for HOURS today and finally settled on one thing (and trust me, it was not easy). A few things that I really liked, that I either couldn't afford, or just didn't make the cut were:

          Pet Bookcase Climber Saunder                                    King Chair Bean Bag Bed

But what I did chose is something that I think is totally awesome! I chose this:

The Martin Universal Design Ashley Creative Hobby Table with Stool!

I'm not much of a drawer, but I do like to sew and I think this table will be perfect for my sewing machine. And as an even bigger plus, my sister who is a drawer, will be able to make use of it too, along with my mother who likes to work with mosaics. So this is something that even my family will be able to make use of!

So keep on the lookout for a review in the next couple of weeks! And check out CSNStores.com, they've got just about everything! Including stuff you probably didn't even think about...and a lot of it has free shipping!

Twilight Contest Alert!

Today, by the help of Eleni at La Femme Readers, I discovered this adorable blog called Once Upon a Review which is ran by Khelsea (awesome spelling, right?) who is 19 and just started in our little community of YA bloggers last month. Not only does Khelsea have a great voice, but she also has a thing for the white mochas at Starbucks, and since those are just YUM! I already like her :P

Anyways! She is holding a contest for some awesome Twilight bookends and a copy of the new The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner! Sounds awesome, huh? Well check out her blog and go enter her contest here!

Yes, Very Awesom

The lovely Jennifer Laurens is holding another contest on her blog (she does this pretty much constantly!) Jennifer is the author of Heavenly and the sequel Penitence (among numerous other great books). Check out the trailers below and leave me a comment telling me what you think!

Heavenly

Penitence