Weekend Winners: In the Pink

Wow! THE event really started with a bang. Over 110 single entries. So many of you blogged about it. Ya'll are following me. And I LOVE those of you that are not just following me in name only. But are actually here reading, too. Which is good. People tend to stare and point when I talk to myself.

So you want to know who the Wicked winner is? I know you do. But...you'll have to wait one more day. The winner will be posted tomorrow night. Because it will take me a few more hours to write all these names on paper. And take some pain meds for my carpal tunnel. Anyone know a way to use random number generator when you can earn extra entries?

Have I ever told you that one of my favorite colors is pink? I don't think that I would put myself in the "it's my signature color" range. But I do like me some pink. And I like non-sequiturs. And for some reason my roses are blooming. Now. In November. Perhaps they are as confused as my kitties. They really are a lovely shade of pink.Which reminds me. How about we get to this weeks give away? A few weeks ago I first heard about Save the Tatas. I have taken pictures with their shirts. Had conversations with Katie about what exactly a tata is. And then I was compelled to show my support. I got a jibbet for my crocs. I got a totebag. And a magnet for my car.And now I have three car magnets to give away to YOU! So that you too can show your support. And support research for a cure.

But a car magnet. Who is asking themselves "is that all?"

How about we also cook for the cure? You can also win the Better Homes and Gardens LIMITED edition pink plaid cook book with over 1400 recipes - and a special section of "pink" recipes from people like Paula Deen and Nathalie Dupree.

Oh, but wait. There's more! You can also win some cooking for the cure tools. Like a pink spatula.
And some pink measuring cups and spoons.(To summarize: One winner will get a cookbook, spatula, measuring cups, and car magnet. Two other winners will get car magnets)

Worth playing for? (Is anyone other than me still watching Survivor?)

This is what you need to do:

1. Leave me some comment love. Tell me if you have any bumper stickers on your car. Or bumper magnets. What are you passionate enough about to advertise to the world? Are there any bumper stickers that you have seen that struck you as especially funny?

2. For another entry, follow me. Please. Come on. I need to break the 100 mark. If you are already a follower, you get another entry.

3. And for yet another entry into the pot. And another contributor towards my arthritic hands. Tell the world about the contest by posting about it on your blog.

<br /> <a border="0" href="http://sunshineandlemonade.blogspot.com/" target="_blank"><img src="http://i483.photobucket.com/albums/rr191/oikology101/pick_me_winner.jpg" /></a><br /><br />

4. Contest ends next Friday. Winner will be randomly chosen and then announced next Saturday - along with the third prize - as we head towards 10 weeks of weekend winners.

Theme song: Psychedelic Furs - Pretty in Pink

Wicked Weekend Winners

Today is November 1st. In Mexico they are celebrating Dia De Los Muertos. Or perhaps you are remebering loved ones in honor of All Saints Day. You could be celebrating Samhain if you live in Ireland. Or Independence day in Antigua. Or perhaps World Vegan Day has a special significance for you.

But now...November 1st can mark another BIG event.

With the launching of my 10 weeks of weekend winners. Do you think that wiki will add me to their list of events? Hey. It's Wiki. I could add myself.

For the next 10 weekends, there will be a prize to be had. Some weeks there will even be more than one winner. And the prizes...well, they are all some of my very favorite things.

What's the first prize you ask??

Well...let's see...

You know, I am one of the few blogs that plays music. There was a revolt over the summer. And I even heard that a lot of people won't read a blog that has music playing. I somehow don't think that is true for you all. And I thank you for not abandoning me even though I play music. This just wouldn't be as fun without you!

A few weeks ago when I blogged about meeting Lizzy - I used the song "Popular" from the Wicked soundtrack. I had so many hits that day. And my site meter went a little crazy telling me how long people were staying. And even Brandy told me that she stayed on my blog all day...and kept refreshing after the song ended.So the first prize is the soundtrack to the musical "Wicked." So you can listen to Popular. My favorite- "Defying Gravity" - and all the other Tony award winning songs. Any time you like. Even in your car. And if you sing "Popular" at the top of your lungs, your children will think you are very cool. And they'll bow down to your prowess.

Oh, but wait. There's more.

As many of you guessed. When I was at the gay bookstore this week, I got an extra copy of Wicked. And had it autographed by Gregory Maguire. And not simply autographed. But personalized. Just for the winner.As Jeff Probst says - "worth playing for?"

Here are the rules:

1. contest is open from now until Friday, November 7th.

2. For one entry: comment here. Tell me about your favorite plays or musicals. When was the last time you saw a live performance? Have you ever been on stage?

3. For another entry - sign up to follow me. I want to be "pop-u-laaaaaarrrr." (If you are already a follower...you automatically get another entry.)

4. For another entry - post about the 10 weeks of winners on your blog.You can use the following text for a linking photo (with many thanks to Carrie at Oikology for all the tech support!):
<br /> <a border="0" href=http://sunshineandlemonade.blogspot.com/ target="_blank"><img src="http://i483.photobucket.com/albums/rr191/oikology101/pick_me_winner.jpg"></a><br />

5. Winner will be randomly chosen and then announced next Saturday - along with the second prize - as we head towards 10 weeks of weekend winners.

Contest, give away, and bling...oh my!

It all started with this:

It was not an award that I received. Of course not. But it was one that Rhea got. And it made me laugh. Cause my blog is so the antithesis of that. I suppose it has purpose for me. In that this keeps me sane. And gives me adult connections. But what I write about? Not so much.

So...on the post where Rhea thanks the academy for her prestigious award...I commented that I needed an award for having purposeless random drivel - and that I am the queen of that. So...what did my friend Rhea do? She made an award for me.And even had an entire post on her blog awarding me with this amazing bling. (And here we can note my procrastination genius - because she did this like a month ago...and it's taken me this long to figure out what to do about it.)

So...to celebrate my coronation as queen - we have celebrated Rhea week. AND I think that we need a contest. WITH prizes. Fantabulous prizes.

To enter...please submit your favorite "random drivel" post that you have done on your own blog. All entries (or the first 15. Do 15 people even read this blog?) must be submitted by Sunday afternoon...and then will be posted on Monday...with a poll to decide the winner.

And whad'ya win? A bunch of fantabulous prizes. Fantabulous yet random prizes.

What is in that picture? It's like Oprah's favorite things. Except that I am not connected enough to have one for each and every one of my readers. So...it's lots of random stuff that I have blogged about. There are some jibetts for your crocs. Bath and Body Works hand soap in my favorite grapefruit scent. Bath and Body works iced tea lotion. A Brighton bracelet.Sharpie Highlighters. Two well loved book slobbed smutty books. Including one too hot for Borders.Some glitter. From when I had a delusional moment and thought I was crafty. A cook book. A copy of Bookmarks magazine - the one subscription that I receive. Fabulous scrapbooking supplies - including an album that was never for sale, adhesive, paper, and a scalloped corner rounder. I'll also throw in other decorative stuff personalized for the winner.

What else is in that picture? Oh...there's a webkinz.Because my kids thought I should include one. And that everyone needs one. Use it for bribery for your kids. Or your students. Or your cousins. Or keep it for yourself. And that big purple box? It's a brand new Cranium game. Fun and trivial for the whole family.

And there is a gift card to Target. And another for Office Depot.

As Jeff Probst says: "Worth playing for?" Well...send in your submissions...and grab this bling (another thanks to Rhea) for you!

And while you are ruminating about which of your posts would be perfect for this contest...scroll down to play our Friday Follies game...

Off to camp on the Magic Bus (and some contests)

Yesterday we put both girls on the church bus and sent them off to camp for a week. What makes this camp so very exciting (besides being ALONE for a week) is that I don't have to drive to North Carolina twice over the course of the next week! The girls were so excited they could hardly contain themselves. On Saturday, Katie kept asking me what time it was...counting down the hours until we sent her to bed...because then she'd be that much closer to leaving for camp.

Katie went to this camp for the first time 3 summers ago. When we got there, she was the last girl in her cabin to arrive. We got her settled...and she looked at us...and said "you can go now." She was going to miss us for sure. Oh, to be a fly on a wall at camp!

This is Madalyn's first year for sleep away camp. She is so very excited to go. I asked her if she was going to miss me. She said "not very much." I'll interpret that to mean, "maybe just a little."

Here are the girls depositing their luggage to be loaded on the bus:

Getting instructions from Pastor Jill (look at Madalyn's luggage. Didn't you take purple leopard print luggage to camp?):

Traveling buds:

On the bus:

Look at all those happy parents:

Michael and I headed home...and then he quickly left to play softball for our church team. He managed to hurt himself...twisted his knee or something...and I had to run out to Sports Authority to get him a brace. A few hours later he remembered something he heard at softball, but forgot to tell me (does your husband do things like this?). It seems the church bus with its precious cargo, broke down the minute it left the church parking lot! They had to unload the kids and luggage. Load the kids into the other (and smaller) church bus...put the luggage on the trailer (and hitch it to the bus)...and have Pastor Jill and our youth minister drive their vans up to the church to fit all the kids. So...instead of leaving at 11am...they left closer to 1pm! What an adventure!

So...what am I doing with my time? I am being a couch potato. Today, I have watched the first season of "Sex and the City" AND the first season of "Weeds." Now, I just need to watch a tv show about Rock 'n Roll to complete the triumvirate. What am I going to do while I wait for netflix to deliver the next installments?

Okay...here are some things for you to do...enter contests. There is a fun one going on over at Tali's site where you have to guess the image from a scanning electron microscope....with some very cool prizes.

And next...the uber contest...is over at the new site created by Mrs. Romero and Heather called "The Secret is in the Sauce." They have created a blog about blogging...where they will feature bloggers, help you get more traffic...and most importantly commenters...to your site. They have some amazing prizes including a blog makeover, digital voice recorder, a camera, and more. Go check it out!

Theme song: The Who - Magic Bus

My First Blog Give-AwayTime's UP - We have a WINNER!

UPDATE: We have a winner. Thanks so much for all who commented. Even those of you who said you had more than enough...or that you weren't ready to start...or that you didn't want to enter because you'd feel guilty about auctioning it all off on ebay. And then...somehow this contest got posted on the "Red Hot Sweepstakes" message board. I am sooo very curious as to how it got there in the first place! But I hope those of you that came from there might come back again to visit. I promise to have more give aways. I still have more scrapbook stuff to give away. And in honor of well behaved Krissy, I might just do a Disney themed contest.

So...without further ado, the winner is TALISMAN. You all need to go and check out her site. She has some hilarious stories about being a chemist...and a homeschooling mom...and has a son that knows how to stab himself in the back of the neck with a pencil. And very soon she'll be posting pictures of scrapbooking 10 years of pictures that are currently in boxes.

The past few Sundays I have delivered unto you a sermon. About things I am very passionate about. About taking photos...and making sure that you document your stories. I really thought I was preachin' to the choir. That as bloggers, we are writers...and photographers. But then I discovered that a lot of you do keep up with your family albums...but you needed encouragement. Encouragement to keep doing what you are doing...encouragement to get back on track...and encouragement to get started in the first place.

I was a Creative Memories consultant for almost 9 years. And part of being a consultant was to have inventory on hand. And when I retired...I still had inventory on my shelves. And today...I still have some of that inventory on my shelves. Because I am too lazy to put it all on ebay I have decided to share the wealth...and offer the ultimate encouragement...FREE supplies!

Here is what one lucky winner will get:

Denim 12x12 album with 15 white pages:

A set of 8 pens - four fine tip, four round tip in an organizer case (also an incentive gift...never available for sale):
Organizer box for your photos (this was never for sale either - I think it was a hostess incentive gift), adhesive, corner rounder:

Short Cuts paper packs (these are great for adding just a splash of color to your pages)

ABC letters for titles:Decorative stuff (stickers, die cuts, and embellishments): And I will include extras specific to the winner - so, if your kids play football, I have football things to include; if you have a new baby, I have scrapbook themed things for that as well. And if your baby isn't anywhere near "new," but you never made a baby album...I can hook ya up!

So...How do you win? All you need to do is post a comment and let me know what you are going to do with your prize. Are you going to keep it and add it to your stash? Are you going to finally start? Are you going to give it as a gift? Are you going to sell it on ebay because you'll never ever start that project? Wait...don't tell me that last one. Make up something. Anything.

The legalese: contest is open to anyone in the 48 states (My husband tells me I am too cheap to mail elsewhere); one entry per person (feel free to come back and comment - ya'll know I like chatting - but just one comment will count); contest is open until noon (Eastern time), May 20th...and winner will be posted by 8pm on that same day. Good luck!

Sharing the Love

Well...it's Thursday...and like Debbie over at This is the Life...I have blog block. I usually do my Thursday Thirteen, but this week, it just seemed like too much effort. I work on those lists for an entire week. And it's Spring. And my brain hurts. So...today...I thought it was time to share the love instead of making a long list.

Have you noticed my cool blog bling on my right sidebar? Do you need some bling? The first one, my friend Jill over at One Wired Woman created. Yes, created! She was so excited when I tagged her for this meme...and she had never been tagged before...and she still came back and read my blog after reading that post. Have you ever tagged someone first? Then you need to grab this bling and put it on your blog. And before you know it, a "Jill" will be someone who hasn't been tagged before. And we can say it all started here. Or not.

The next one is the "Good Chat" award. This was given to me by my friend Rhea over at Word Tangle. Rhea and I are the queen of answering comments...asking questions...and having discussions about things that have absolutely nothing to do with the post in the comments section. Do you do this? Do you aspire to do this? Then grab yourself a good chat award and put it on your sidebar.

And then just yesterday, I was bestowed with yet another award by my friend Angie over at John Derre Mom. It's a blog stalkers favorite award...because it makes stalking a "not that kind of stalking" thing. Comprende? Or is it Comprendo? Whatever. So...if you find yourself in my blog stalking list...grab yourself an award. And feel free to share the love. (Let's sing together: "give it away...give it away...give it away now...")

Rhea just loves me that much...so I got yet another award. Because I am awesome. Of course. And if I read you...and comment...and forgot to add you to my stalking list...I think you need some "awesome" blog bling. And if you read me...and I don't know who you are...because you lurk...de-lurk...and grab yourself some bling...cause it's pretty awesome that you are one of my three readers.

So...who grabbed the most bling?

Wait, wait, wait...there's more. The next button is for a pink swap. Click on the picture (not this one...the one on the sidebar) and go sign up with Tangee at "A Sparkly Messy Life." She has the "rules" for this great pink, girly girly swapapalooza. You need to sign up by Friday (June 16th) to get in on the goodies.

And what is this? There's more?! Yes there is. There is more. Cause we are giving it away...giving it away...giving it away now. Come back on Sunday to see my first blog give away. It's gonna be big (cause I don't want to be a miser...not gonna keep it like the kaiser...) BIG! Really, really Big...