Until next time, Katie Couric...

JK Rowling had the sorting hat. We have the choosing shoes. (Please admire these beautiful new shoes Child #4 got for the Father-Daughter Dance.)

I really enjoyed playing Katie Couric. Perhaps a little much! I may dress up as Katie Couric for Halloween. I've been a pirate for the last three years, and it's time for a change anyway. Maybe I could talk hubby into going as Matt Lauer.

When it came right down to it, Child #4, not Eileen Cook, chose the winning commenter for a copy of the very well written, very funny, very why-isn't-it-longer UNPREDICTABLE.

I could've predicted (ha, ha!) that Eileen would cave on the who-gets-to-choose thing.

Why?

First off, Child #4 can tap dance, and Eileen, um, really can't. Sorry, Eileen, but it was bound to come out at some point.

Second, it's pretty tough to say no to child #4. Ask anyone in my family, including Child #1, #2 and #3, Dorothy the Dog, the two veiled chameleons and our newest addition, the rat. You might be wondering (or not) what happened to Squirtle, our mean, red-eyed dwarf hamster. Without going into all sorts of sordid details, Dorothy's a dog, and the hamster escaped from her cage and was wandering recklessly around our house...

Ahem. Back to Eileen Cook, Debut Author Extraordinaire.

The winner of Eileen's very very marvelous, very very funny debut novel is: Bill Clark of Greenwich Gossip

So, email me your snail mail addy at: barrieDOTsummyATgmailDOTcom

For those of you who didn't win, thank you for participating. Now, just go buy the book. You'll feel better; Eileen'll feel better; I feel better. It's a win-win-win situation.

I promise I will get all the books I owe into the mail this week. Thus fulfilling New Year's Resolution #5.

Oh, yeah, I keep forgetting to do this. Here's the link to the first chapter of Eileen Cook's UNPREDICTABLE.

January Book Winners

Child #4 donned her extra-large $4.00 Walmart high heels and chose the following names. Oh wait! There were so many names of wonderful bloggy commenters that we felt bad only choosing two. So, we chose four. Besides, it helps with my decluttering resolution. And, quite frankly, I am not doing well with the New Year's resolutions. This is the first year that I've been so negligent.

Anyway, anyway, anyway. Child # 4, with great pomp and circumstance, chose four names. I chose five books. Five, because we don't want the last person not to have a choice. Name #1 gets her/his choice of one of the five books; Name #2 gets his/her choice of one of four books; and so on, down the line.

Here are the five books (in alpha order by the authors' last name):

A Good House by Bonnie Burnard (Adult)
I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You by Ally Carter (Young Adult)
Slam by Nick Hornby (Young Adult)
Sushi for Beginners by Marian Keyes (Adult)
Light My Fire by Katie MacAlister (Adult)

And (drum roll) the winners are:

1. Jim D
2. candycana
3. J. Cheney
4. Beth at Blind as a Bat

So, shoot me an email at barrieDOTsummyATgmailDOTcom. Congratulations!

So, um, how is everyone doing with their New Year's Resolutions? Is it just me, or is this a particularly tough year for keeping them???