An Iowa Mom

Happy Thanksgiving! The Winner Is ...

Remember when I said that I had nothing better to do on THANKSGIVING DAY than to pick a winner for the personalized pillow contest??  Surely you can recall me saying that ... it wasn't THAT long ago.

But regardless whether you remember or not ... I lied.

Does that surprise you?

Didn't think so.

I was so busy.  I had to go get donuts for breakfast.  An hour later, open up granola bar wrappers, as I tried to explain that dinner was not going to be eaten at "normal" dinner time ... but was still called dinner.  Then I roasted a turkey.  Made stuffing.  Whipped potatoes.  Created the best freakin' gravy EVER.  Brushed butter on some rolls.  Tasted the wine I bought for dinner.  Sent Big Daddy to the store for some beer ... after tasting the wine I bought for dinner ....  And finally slicing the cranberries (Oh yeah, I serve the jellied ones out of the can) ... (and yes, it is the "hit" of the dinner) ...

OUCH!

Then ... I had to heat up the Sam's Club Pumpkin Pie.  Open up some store bought pudding cups and dump them in a bowl (for those brats of mine who don't like 'the dessert of the day').  Cool Whip had to be slapped on top of all of it ... which was done by who?   ME ...

And then finally ... Big Daddy swoops in and saves the day ...

He is cleaning up the whole damn mess.

Thank Goodness for Big Daddy ... or else I wouldn't be able to pick a winner ...

Ahem. 

But he pulled through ... and I do have a winner ...

 I used that random generator thing-a-ma-jig website. 

Random.org. 

Yeah ... that's the one.

Do I hear a drum roll?

da da da da da da da da da da da da ...

Random Integer Generator

Here are your random numbers:

13	

Timestamp: 2009-11-27 02:15:00 UTC

Well ... with that being said ... the winner is ...

alemos said...

Glad she didn't get sick...for your sake as much as her's. But darn it I really wanted that pillow...lol Maybe I'll get it in this drawing instead.

ALEMOS - I have contacted you by email.  Please respond back ASAP.  If I don't hear from you within 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.

So yes, there is still hope for the rest of you.

Thanks for playing!!!

And HAPPY THANKSGIVING!!!!

Four In One Deal

Paula and I were recently talking on Facebook about being easily distracted and unable to accomplish anything that needed to be done.  Well, not actually talking as in speaking, but we were communicating.  That's right.  And I know, we were on FACEBOOK ... instead of doing what we should have been doing.  See what I mean?  Easily distracted is to put it mildly.  Can you say ADD?

Anyway, I wanted to prove to myself that I can accomplish something in an efficient way ... and so this post is born.

I am on the giveaway train again.  There is no better feeling than to find out you've won something.  For nothin'.  Like, as in 'free'.  Well, okay, there might be a better feeling out there somewhere ... but winning free stuff ranks pretty high up on the list.  Don't you agree?

This post here, will give you the heads up on four different giveaways.  Yup.  Call me EFFICIENT.  Seriously, call me that!  I want to hear you say it.  "Wendy, you are so efficient!!"  Yeah ... that sounds so awesome. 

So ... It's a four in one deal.  Kinda like multi-tasking.

I so rock.

So here goes.

I so say "so" a lot, don't I?

CUTE DAIRY GIFT PACK PLUS $25 HY-VEE GIFT CARD - An awesome giveaway for the holiday season.  I mean, who doesn't need a Hy-Vee gift card ... and cute dairy gift pack? 

DEANS DIPSTAKES GIVEAWAY - Win some free dip, because everyone always needs dip.  Or a grill.  Or a Home Entertainment System.  You just have to enter to win.

SCRAPBOOKING GIVEAWAY - Sara over at Eat, Scrap, Love is needing some help decorating her new craft space.  If you end up being the one to inspire her ... you win! 

PERSONALIZED PILLOW - Since my other attempt at this giveaway didn't work out, we'll try it again. 

Good luck.  And have fun!

Sweet Freak

This morning, my darling dear Emily, ya know, the sick one ... walked past the window on her way downstairs to assume her position on the couch.  She might only be six years old, but has figured out that moaning and groaning on the sofa is much more effective than doing so up in her bedroom ... where I can't hear her. 

Because we all know her main goal in life is to irritate the hell out of me. 

And let me tell ya, when Emily sets a goal for herself ... she does everything in her power to reach that goal.  I'm just sayin'.

Anyway, as she looked out the window she gasped and flaunted her biggest smile.  The one she reserves only for the good stuff.  "Oh Mommy!! Look!!!  The grass has frosting on it!"

I think it's obvious she was going through "sugar withdrawal" ... since she's been sick and hadn't had a fix in 3 days!?

So I gave her candy for breakfast.

Let's Try This Again

Do you all remember when I was taking bets on when Emily would get sick and the person who guessed the closest date won a personalized pillow made by me?

Well, of course since I was looking for the day she would fall ill ... she refused to get sick at all.  I told ya she was like that with me. 

So anyway, now I'm just doing the darned giveaway.  With new rules.  Simple rules.  I just want to give someone the dang pillow.  Do you want one?

Here is how you can win.  Each of you can earn up to four entries:

• Comment on this post
• Post about this giveaway on your blog
• Post about this giveaway on your facebook page
• Tweet about this giveaway (and don't forget to follow me if you have twitter @aniowamom)

Please leave me a separate comment below for each of the things you do above.  If you don't leave a separate comment, it won't count as an extra entry. 

NO!  It doesn't have to be in these colors. You can pick any colors you'd like.  And your pillow doesn't have to say EMILY.  It can say anything you want.  Within reason ... ahem ... I know my readers ...

Anyway, if you want more information on the pillow ... you can check it out in my Etsy Shop.

Good luck ... I'll choose the winner on Thursday, November 26.  YES ... Thanksgiving Day ... because I don't have anything better going on.

Shut up.

Get to it.

***  UPDATE  ***

  A few hours after I wrote this post ... Emily spiked a fever of 102.

Time To Schedule A Hearing Check

You might get the vibe from reading this blog that there is a lot of sarcasm in this house.  It's just the norm and everyone here has come to accept it and understand it and deliver it.  Well, everyone except for Molly ... but we'll give her a break since she's only four years old ... I'm sure she'll come around eventually. 

Yesterday Molly called out from the bathroom, "Mom ... I used all the rest of the toilet paper.  Do you want me to put a new one on?"

To which I replied, "No, the next person who uses the restroom won't want any toilet paper."

Do you hear the sarcasm?  Cuz it's there.  I heard it.  Did you?  Molly didn't.  I guess it's time to get her ears checked.

And guess who the next person to use the bathroom was.

Me.  Of course.

Sigh.

Cheerky

Last week Emily, who is in kindergarten, ran off the school bus with an assignment that was requested to be completed at home.  My heart sank.  Don't be gettin' all over my case thinkin' I don't like to do things with my children ... because I do.  Really.  However, this particular assignment was to be done with Emily.

You know ... that child who was the third born in this family.  The one with a mind of her own.  The one who will always, without fail, want to do the complete opposite of whatever I suggest. 

"Emily, would you like to stay up really really late tonight and watch whatever you want on TV?"

"No Mom, I think I'd better turn in early."

"Emily, how about this giant sized chocolate bar for dinner.  YUMMY!"

"Ya know what Mom?  I am more in the mood for green beans tonight!"

Get my point?  Makes for some great blog posts, but costs a fortune in sanity medication.  Just sayin'.

ANYWAY - about this project ... it was a turkey.  A turkey drawn on a piece of paper.  A turkey that MUST be cut out and disguised ... so that no one really knows it's a turkey ... and will look right past it when hunting down their Thanksgiving dinner.

That crafter in me took over and a million ideas started racing through my head.  We can cover it up as a snowman.  A reindeer.  A present.  An Easter Bunny.  An M&M camouflaged as a Turkey so that it's not on the menu for the holidays (don't you love those M&M commercials?), a television set, a clock, Bugs Bunny ... oooohhhh ... we were gonna have SO MUCH STINKIN' FUN deciding what this Turkey will be disguised as.

And then Emily spoke. "I've already decided what to do ... it's going to be a cheerleader.  A Prairie Cheerleader.  With an orange shirt.  Let's get started."

Alrighty then.

So, last Friday night we made a date.  Her and I would disappear into the craft room and would not show our faces until we had one heck of a costume for her Turkey.

I made several suggestions ... to which it was no surprise were all shot down by the boss.  All except for adding the cute little hair clip in her hair and Q-Tips instead of toothpicks for the pom pom handles.  Imagine how great that made me feel.  I was such a valuable participant in this process.  Sigh.  But I'm can't forget to mention ... Emily also allowed me to tie the shoelaces and cut out the shirt.  Oh yeah ... and unclog the glue that one time.

So now ... without further ado ... I present you with ... Emily's "Cheerky" ...

Pretty darned cute if I say so myself.  I think she did a great job. 

Now I better go clean up the craft room that we pretty much destroyed so she could see every single resource that I had for her to use.  Wouldn't want to miss anything.

But, before I go ... I want to say, "WAY TO GO Emily!!!  You are becoming quite the little artist.  But just one thing ... can you just PRETEND that you need me sometimes?  For my sake."

Time Is Running Out

Alert!  Alert!  Alert!

At the moment I'm posting this you have exactly 1 day, 5 hours and  21 minutes to get your tickets to "The I Blog Conference".  There are only 29 tickets left, so if you intend on going ... get your butt in gear.  And if you were just thinking about going ... get over your silly, thinking self and just get your ticket before it's too late.  I mean ... I'm trying to save you from having to kick yourself in the butt for not acting sooner.

I'm serious.

You can thank me later.  After you get your ticket.

My friend Jody has done a heck of a job putting this thing together.  There are some awesome sponsors and even MORE awesome speakers.  It's gonna be great.  Bloggers all over the Midwest are gonna be talking about it for months.  Do you want to just HEAR about it?  Or BE a part of it?

Ahem.

That's what I thought.

So ... go get your ticket.  OK?