Eight Giveaway Winners

We have the winners from the Great Two Year Blogoversary Giveaway.  I have to confess, I love giveaways just because doing the random number generator at Random.org is so much fun.

I'm going to use it to figure out who gets the last sour cream brownie in this house from now on.

Between tweets and comments, we had 156 entries. Don't blame you all, some sweet prizes. Thank you all for entering.

And now, the winners:


Anna Lefler's The Chicktionary goes to Lucky Winner Anna See of An Inch of Gray.

Let's Panic About Babies, the ORIGINAL pregnancy and parenting parody book by Alice Bradley and Eden Kennedy, signed author copy goes to Lucky Kristin Z of Taming Insanity.

Scary Mommy's New Book, Jill Smokler's  Confessions of a Scary Mommy, signed by the author, won by Kim of All Work And No Play Make Mommy Go Something.

The T shirt I covet, from the fantastic web series The Louise Log, won by Lucky Ali of My Suitcase Full of Tricks.

The incredibly exciting social media package generously offered through EliRoseSocial worth $150 dollars goes to Brian Miller the brave, from WaystationOne. The male among us in a sea of women bloggers. He is one cool dude, you all need to get to know this guy.


Smooth frizz-free hair for 30 days, thanks to Organix at-home keratin hair treatment, won by Lucky Jen of KvetchMom.

Guest Spot on Mondays for your child, offered up by Baby E, won by the Lucky children of Kir from The Kir Corner.

The reason I love my life, a can of Bustelo fine ground Espresso Roast coffee, won by Lucky Rach of Life Ever Since.

Congratulations to all. Winners, please email me your addresses and I will send out your prizes. **For the Scary Mommy book and The Louise Log T shirt, I'll be forwarding your address info on to them, they'll be sending out your prizes (hope this is alright..)

Thank you all so much for entering, thank you for giving me your time, and thanks for stopping here -- with all the thousands of blogs out there -- thank you for stopping here.

Now, go on, before you get me all verklempt.

Love you guys.

True Confessions

My post, along with my confession, at Aiming Low today: What I really thought when they showed me my baby for the first time.

Just keepin' it real. Hopin' it doesn't scare any mama wannabe's away.

**Don't forget to enter to win one of 8 great prizes. The Great Two Year Blogoversary Giveaway, Here.

Don't Read This

...you should be reading this. And entering. Eight great prizes, Eight chances to win, Eight winners. (did you ever notice, if you type eight too many times it starts to mess with your mind?)

I'd enter if I were you.

The Great Two Year Blogoversary Giveaway. Don't miss it.

Astounding

So many times, I have been guilty of reading something, but not really paying attention to what is there, in the words. I've been working hard lately to take in what someone is telling me, and not just letting my eyes fly over their sentences.

A perfect illustration:  I met a blogger with a larger than life story. In her introductory blog post, she details a time in her life where circumstances required her to be in a hospital for nine months. Now, we can do a skip like a flat rock over water skim with our eyes on her words 9 months, or we can stop and marvel at what she is saying: NINE months in a hospital.

Today I am writing my 547th post. 547. That number astounds me. What have I had to say, and what kept me coming back to say more?

It's this blog, and it's you. You and the interaction and sense of belonging and acceptance that you have all given me here.

I'm celebrating two years of blogging. And I celebrate because my life became better when I began blogging, and 99.9 percent of that reason is all of you. My life is better and richer because of the relationships formed through and because of this blog.

You have all become a big part of my life, I don't like to think about the time that I didn't even know you. And, so, to celebrate two years of knowing you -- which is the real reason to celebrate more than the two years of blogging -- I am having a mother of a giveaway because I want to try and give you all something back, for what you've given me.

1.  Anna Lefler's The Chicktionary

Yes, I have this book. Yes, I want you to have one of your own. The Chicktionary, by the award-winning writer and humorist, Anna Lefler, of Things Just Keep Getting Weirder. Why should I be the only coolest mom on the block? Impress and loosen up the moms at school pick up with your chicktalk as well as know what the hip moms mean when you eavesdrop and hear "wasband" "fat pants" "back fat"  and "Basset knees." I'd be lost without this book (no reason for people to know the true dork that I am, right?) Why am I giving a copy away? Because it will make you laugh. Don't want to wait until then to laugh? Go now and see The Chicktionary official trailer here. 

*Thank you, Anna.

 


2.  Alice Bradley's and Eden Kennedy's Let's Panic About Babies

Alice Bradley of Finslippy. Eden Kennedy of Fussy.org. Two clever, witty, funny, funnnnnny women who have written a book that touches on the issues that truly matter if and if you don't have children; like how to tolerate your partner's need for love, and how everything wrong in your life is really your mother's fault after all. Impossible to read this book and not emerge brainier, more smart assier, and smuggishly humor secure.

You want this. Do I even have to add the part about it being signed by both authors? Or is that just the icing on the cake? Can't wait and want some icing on the cake today? Go check out Let's Panic About Babies book trailer: a work of genius.


*Thank you, Alice and Eden.



3.  Confessions of a Scary Mommy by Scary Mommy Jill Smokler

This book, written by Scary Mommy Jill Smokler of the incredibly successful blog, Scary Mommy, is near and dear to my heart. I'll be giving it out at baby showers because it is full of truths. Funny, bittersweet, poignant, shocking, endearing, heartfelt, honest truths. Any new mom would welcome this like they'd welcome an invitation for a three hour nap. Though all the mom confessions in here make you feel so very normal, I think the most exciting part about this book is how many moms will reach the end of this book feeling reassured and like they're not such a bad mommy after all.

I can honestly say that if I had had the good fortune of having this book 17 years ago when I first became a mother, I never would have felt as inadequate and scared as I did. 

Signed by the amazingly generous Scary Mommy, Jill Smokler, author.


*Thank you so much, Jill.


4.  Awesome T shirt from the web series The Louise Log

This T shirt is so cool. How could it not be? Have you seen The Louise Log?

I'm short on the hours in my day, but I don't miss an episode of this web series. Miss an episode, and you'll miss Louise reminding herself to keep her eyes on the vegetables at the farmer's market so the stand owners don't think she's checking out their package. And I feel better knowing that I'm not the only one living in daily fear that school officials are going to call me in on my parenting. And how often have we, the honest ones, confessed to having a little bit of an anxiety attack the first time we're behind closed doors with that new male therapist. 

I may be painfully unhip from the waist down with my out of touch Old Navy jean choices (really, do they have to make the waist that low nowadays?) but from the top on up, I am white on black kickin'. Don't wait to win this T shirt, order one for yourself. All it takes is a small nudge from a T shirt like this to reawaken that cool chick that is still inside.


*Thank you from the bottom of my heart, Anne Flournoy.
  
5.  EliRose Social Media Special Package

$150.00 worth of Social Media Services package from the impressively gifted tech geeks, Liz Jostes and Kristin Zaslavsky, of Eli Rose Social Media. Here's what they can do: help you in establishing a social media presence and growing a strong brand presence online, we can help you improve the look and layout of your site, launch your “big idea”, increase your site’s traffic, integrate a business blog into your marketing plan and broaden your overall virtual presence.

Details of this amazing package, here's the dealio:

Social Media Analysis -
- Evaluation of three (3) social profiles (branding, imagery and text)
- Review of recent history (up to 4 weeks) of activity on 3 social platforms of choice, with suggestions for  best practices and ideas for  improved engagement. That's $150.00 worth of the best from the best, to the lucky winner. Tweet, RT, FB it, comment 10 times in a row: do what you gotta do, folks. This is a good one.

*Proud to off this to my readers, Liz and KLZ. Thank you.

6.  My Secret to Beautiful Hair

I can't believe I'm doing this myself. GAH. What kind of a spell do you people have me under? I use this product: once a month. And it works. I am beautiful for 30 days straight. That's me on the box.

Photo Credit

Organix Brazilian Keratin Therapy formaldehyde-free Home Blow Out Kit (don't make it dirty).


*I'm such a good person.
 
7. Baby E's Contribution:

 

(because he loves you too) A guest spot here, on Good Day Regular People on Baby E's Monday slot, featuring your child.

*Baby E: you're such a budding business man. Thank you. 

8. and finally: The Reason I Was Able To Post 547 Times:

Flickr  cc

A can of this, faithful readers, and you'll be posting 547 posts in no time.

Dunkin' Donuts? Seattle's Best? Please, for amateurs. Half a cup of this fine ground espresso blend and you'll be taller, faster, stronger, smarter.

I've been fueling up with this since my Colombian grandmother filled my baby bottle with it. *and they wondered why I scored Grade 12+ on my 3rd grade reading test*

*Thank you to my abuela, who taught me the ways of the bean of caffeine.

Good Luck to all of you!
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*Because there is so much booty, there will be 8 winners. I will do a random.org for each of the prizes, in other words: one prize to each winner (8 prizes in all).

Comments, tweets, postings on FB, will all count as a separate entry. Enter as many times as you wish. Winners will be announced at the end of the week. 

Really, enter all week long.

Good luck, and thank you all, for reading, commenting here, keeping me company in my life. I appreciate you so much.

Washington, D.C.

The last time I was in Washington, D.C., I had gone alone. I was there to visit my niece, who -- I will shamelessly braggity tell you -- was a CAPTAIN in the Air Force, and she and her husband were stationed there. (*high five, girl) D.C. was very cool, but I saw it with different eyes then; tourist show-me-some-thrills eyes.

Two weeks ago, when my husband and I took our two youngest children to D.C., being there with my family made me feel as if I had never been there. There was so much to do and only one week's time; we had to choose what we felt was important for our kids to come away seeing.  What this meant was sitting down and without realizing it, laying out our values. Discussing what being in our nation's capitol meant.

Our starting point was The Smithsonian. The Smithsonian is actually 17 museums, 2 specialty museums, and one National Zoo. There is no admission fee to any of these sites. They are free. That price was right for my frugal husband's budget. He is still whispering Smithsonian in his sleep. Boom. Our week right there. We would spend our time visiting 2 museums a day, and save the last day for the National Zoo. Done and discussed and settled.

And then our oldest son called, he wasn't with us. He asked what day we'd be going to see the memorials: the Washington Monument, the Lincoln Memorial, the Jefferson Memorial, the WWII Memorial, the Vietnam Memorial, the Korean War Memorial. Arlington National Cemetery, the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. We told him we didn't have the time with all the museums to see. I felt my face turn red with shame when he said, "I can't believe it. You're in D.C. and you're not going to any memorials, mom?" The way he sounded, his disappointment, made me turn to my husband and tell him there was a change in plans. We'd be going to Arlington.

The Smithsonian Museums were all wonderful, of the ones we were able to visit. The memorials were the moment of pause that gave weight to our trip. But the sight of Arlington National Cemetery, the first glimpse of rows and rows of white crosses of service members that knew nothing else than to sacrifice for their country, I can't even begin to explain the emotions we felt.

Photo Image

 
All those lives stretched out in markers before us.

No one grew restless, no one complained, no one asked when we would be going home.

About ten burials a day take place at Arlington, each of them by horse drawn casket. The day we were there, we witnessed one service and one procession. There are signs every 100 feet or so requesting silence, making the steady clip-clop of the horses' hooves even more solemn. That stillness, together with the sight of soldiers in their respectful ceremonial dress dutifully marching behind, following the flag draped casket, did both my husband and me in. Our children knew not to ask why we were wiping our eyes.

Photo Image

  
At the end of our day there, we climbed to the top of Arlington's hills to see the Tomb of the Unknowns.

Photo Image

Since July 2, 1937, a guard has been posted there 24 hours a day, 7 days a week -- no matter how cold, how hot, how heavy the rain or snow, the watch has never ceased. During 9/11, the guard never left.

The monument is dedicated to American service members who have died without their remains ever being identified. Without anyone on earth ever knowing who they were.

On the western panel, centered and inscribed, are the words:

HERE RESTS IN

HONORED GLORY

AN AMERICAN

SOLDIER

KNOWN BUT TO GOD

We had found the most important thing to see in Washington, D.C.
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