THIS IS IT, dear sisters. It’s now or never. Do or die. What’s so urgent? Read on. You have to sign up this week in order to participate in our first-ever (and I hope the first of many to come) Sister Project Cookbook Swap. Join us, and you’ll clean off a space on your own bookshelf just in time to receive a surprise cookbook from another TSP reader/cook. But wait, Ginsu Knife fans! That’s not all.

You, see, I’ve got more than one cookbook I need to give away. So…one swapper, selected at random by the magic of the Random.Org random number generator (Got it? It’s random) will get two more cookbooks hot off my shelves. One commenter, two cookbooks, in addition to the book you’ll receive from your swap partner.

How awesome is that? But like they say about the lottery–”You can’t win, if you don’t play.” So comment. Sign up. (Unlike the lottery, it’s free.)

And, to sweeten the pot for everyone, you can download your very own TSP bookplate to customize the cookbook you bestow upon your lucky partner. Just click on the image to the left, print and cut it out, and gently glue it into your cookbook. (My collage teacher would no doubt suggest a UHU glue stick for this important job, but use what you have. Isn’t that the number-one motto of the kitchen sisterhood, anyway?) And most of all, don’t forget to personalize the book with your name, and that of your recipient.

To join the party, click here, and leave a comment, including your goal (if you have one) for your culinary life in 2010. Mine is simple: get my kids to eat more vegetables. Sad, but true. I’m sure yours are more exciting than that, so, please, share them!

SNOW DAYS AND CABIN FEVER have set in at my house, along with, I fear, the flu. Instead of feeling trapped, I am determined to embrace my short-term life as a shut-in…and clean out the basement. What, you may be wondering, does this have to do with you? Or that pretty cookbook up above? Read on, dear sisters, read on.

Thanks to forced confinement, I’ve unpacked what feels like dozens of boxes, boxes that (oh, the shame) hadn”t been opened since we moved into this house three years ago. On the bright side, if I didn’t miss it, I don’t need it; there’s a lot of good stuff that I might as well pass along, because I clearly don’t want or use it any more. To my surprise, more than a few cookbooks fell into this category…and that’s where you come in.

Don’t you have a perfectly good cookbook you never use? One that you could give away as a surprise to some new friend? Wouldn’t it be great if another new friend sent you a surprise cookbook that she’s no longer using?

Comments are now closed for this post! If you signed up for the swap, watch your email for your swap-ee’s information!

You’ve got two weeks, sisters, to dust off your shelves or unpack a box and find a cookbook; a good one, but one that you can part with. Then, leave a comment on this post, saying why you want to participate, and, if you have one, a particular cooking goal or ambition you have for the year.

Once comments are closed (on Wednesday, February 3) you’ll get an email from me with the email address of the person you’re to swap books with. It’s up to you to get your swap partner’s mailing address, and to mail the book (the USPS’s “media mail” is cheapest). Please specify in your comment if you are outside the U.S., or are unwilling to have an overseas partner (to whom you’d be mailing).

OK–start cleaning, already! Some of us want to get cooking (another time-tested strategy for making the sick/snow day hours pass)!