Motherhood Maternity Giftcard Giveaway

I'm in a contesty mood these days. What can I say? I love giveaways. You know what else I love? Babies. And pregnancy. And birth. I even love (gasp) baby showers! I don't know if it's the excitement or the desserts or the games or the desserts but I just love baby showers. I loved my own and I love other people's too. I'm a freak that way.

Have you ever been to a baby shower where the mother to be opened up a gift so hideous or weird or creepy or inappropriate that it made you marvel at how she could keep the smile plastered to her face as she ooohed and aaaahed over how cute it was? I was once at a baby shower where the mother to be opened a box and inside was a handmade clown that looked like it was crafted out of yarn and nightmares. I muffled my screams and tried to look away from the clowns gaping maw of rainbow colored death but the mother to be was a great sport. She smiled and thanked the maker over and over for her gift. She handled it perfectly. Although later, when the mother to be and I were in the room alone she gestured to the clown and said "I'm burning that thing as soon as I get home. I don't want it coming after me when I sleep."

I wonder what it is about me that let's people know that they can confess to me all their true feeling about the bad gifts they get? I don't exactly understand the magical powers I have but now I want to work those powers on you. It's your turn to tell me about a really bad gift you got at a baby shower. Or about a really bad gift you saw someone else get at a baby shower. Or about about a rotten birthday present you got. Heck, you can even tell me about a really terrible present you once gave someone. I don't want to be picky here, I just want to hear about a bad gift. I'll post some of my favorites in another post. (Because I love my readers and I want to share their wit with everyone!)

Out of everyone that comments (with a story about a bad gift!) I'll pick one entry at random to win a $25 Destination Maternity gift card. Win this card and you can pick out something cute and non-creepy to give as a gift the next time to you to a baby shower. Or win it and sell it on ebay. Whatever floats your boat. This contest will run through July 9th. You can earn yourself an extra entry by linking to this contest on your own blog. (Don't worry about letting me know if you've linked to me. I'll already know. I'm magic. And I use Technorati.)

I can't wait to hear your stories!

What are you hanging around here for?

Why aren't you over at Problem Girl Shops trying to win yourself some popcorn? Think you don't need to win some popcorn? Then you've obviously never tried making Popcorn Salad. It's much tastier than it sounds. Seriously.

The best thing I've read all day

Read this! If it's the only thing you do today, read it. I promise it's a lot more cheerful than the last link I posted here. I promise. Now go!

Oh wait, before you go, let me ask you this. Do you like popcorn? Do you like free stuff? Do you like free popcorn? Then you're going to want to come back on Monday when I start a contest where not one, but TWO people will win free popcorn!

We have a winner!

Thank you to everyone who entered my contest. I have picked a winner (at random) and I've posted all the details at Problem Girl Eats. Thank you so much to everyone who entered! You guys are the best!

Totally random crap that you just can't wait to hear about

How many tea parties do you have every day? Elle and I have about 14. We sip our tea and then say "Oh! It's still hot!" Then we eat "chicken" and proclaim it to be "spicy". Then we eat "corn" and say it's "delicious". And it just never gets old. EVER!

Day 13 of WiiFit: I haven't lost any weight, my thighs and chest hurts and yoga often leaves me feeling like I'm going to hurl. Hooray for fitness!

This morning I was sitting on the toilet doing what one does while sitting on the toilet when I realized the bathroom window was open. How did I realize that? A big gust of wind came along and blew the curtain aside leaving me and all my pants-around-the-ankles glory exposed to the 3 roofers working on the house next door. I hope they enjoyed the show. And by "show" I mean the slapstick comedy that occurred when I sprang up from the toilet, lunged towards the window, tripped over my own pants and nearly crashed through the screen. All without actually managing to close the curtain so that it was just me and my naked ass pressed up against the window.

The other night I had a dream that I was visiting Pioneer Woman. It started out great. She made a bunch of great food for me to eat. Then it took a turn. I spilled a bunch of food on myself and had to go take a bath to clean up. As I was bathing all the cowboys came in and started laughing at me. I woke up feeling depressed but soothed myself by eating some chocolate sheet cake.

I wonder why I'm not losing any weight?

Elle is playing with Play-Doh right now and she's mixing up colors and it is KILLING ME because I am far to anal retentive and I prefer that the Play-Doh in my house not be mixed up. It's taking everything I've got in me right now to not go and knock her off her little chair so that I stop the maddness. YOU DON'T EVEN KNOW!

Please, please, please enter my contest. No one has so far and that is the sort of thing that has the potential to damage my very fragile self-esteem. And then I'll be forced to eat more chocolate cake. Yes, forced. So please, if you won't do it for me and you won't do it for yourself (because for some reason you don't want to win a fabulous prize) then do it for the poor chocolate sheet cakes of the world. Because without your help? I'm totally going to eat them all.

Problem Girl has a contest!

I have extended this contest through Saturday.

I need some guest content for my new blog Problem Girl Eats. You need some link love and an Amazon.com gift certificate. What to do, what to do? I know! We'll have a contest! Here's how it will work:

1. Email me (mickeyjj@charter.net) content that you would like to have published on Problem Girl Eats. Content that I'll be accepting includes recipes (your own, not from a cookbook please!) cooking and baking tips, tips for saving money on groceries, ideas for getting kids into the kitchen or pretty much anything else related to food. Everyone may submit as many things as they like but there is a limit of two drawing entries per person.

2. Earn a third entry in the drawing! If you are a blogger and you blog about this contest I will give you a third entry in the drawing. Just let me know about your blog post when you email me your content.

3. Make sure you include all the right info in your email. I don't want to be a pain but I can only accept entries that have all of the following info:

• A full, ready to publish blog entry (I reserve the right to edit for length or clarity but I'll leave the content alone.)
• The name or online nickname that you would like associated with your content.
• The link to your blog that you want me to use. If you don't want me to link to your blog (or you don't have one) then don't worry about this part.

4. I will be accepting entries until Friday June 6th at 11:59. I'll still accept content to be published after that but you won't receive a drawing entry for it.

5. Winner will be determined by random drawing. The winner will receive a $20 Amazon.com gift certificate PLUS a super secret sup rise from one of my very favorite Etsy shops. (For a clue on what you might win check out Problem Girl shops next week when I will be highlighting this Etsy shop.)

6. I will notify the winner via email at what point they will need to give me a valid mailing address so that I can send them their prize. I will also post the winners name here and their winning entry at Problem Girl Eats.

So get those blog posts and recipes into me! I'm looking forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions you can leave them in the comments or email me. I check both more than I care to admit.

The big winner!

I have choosen the winner of my M&M giveaway. I wish I had enough chocolate to give to everyone who entered because it warmed my shrivled little heart to see so many people talking about being proud of their loved ones. But I had to chose just one and this is how I did it:
1. Wrote down each persons name on the back of a mini post it note and folded the note up.
2. Put all the slips into a bowl.
3. Mixed up the slips.
4. Had Elle draw one out.
5. Opened the slip and found out who the winner was.
6. Realized that I had an entry stuck to my left boob.
7. Wondered if said entry got stuck there before or after the drawing.
8. Considered throwing entry in the bowl and starting over.
9. Realized that the entry stuck to my boob was AJ and that the honor of spending that long stuck to my rack should be enough of a reward for him. Also, he lives in Canada, even it he's not happy about it, what can he do? Throw whale blubber at me? (Canadians are Eskimos right?)

After all that, I am pleased to announce that the winner of my very first ever blog contest is ....insert drumroll here..... CamiKaos! She's proud of her husband and he sounds like a top notch guy who's really got his plumbing well in hand so she should be proud of him. Cami, if you email me your info I will get your chocolate out to you ASAP or as soon as I get around to it because I am lazy.

Thank to everyone who took the time to participate. It really means a lot more to me that you probably realize.

Sigh

I'm getting tons of visitors to my contest but not that many people are entering. Not even the people I know who I know are reading this blog because I can see you on my site meter so why don't you just fricken try to win the free candy already? Do people not like M&Ms anymore? Or is nobody proud of anyone? I don't know what one of those possiblities makes me sadder.

Who are you proud of?

A few days ago I was talking with a friend about how no matter how good and fulfilling you childhood is, you always grow up to crave something. (That's our theory anyway.) It might be love or attention or security or any other number of things. When my friend asked me what I crave I responded "I crave knowing that my parents are proud of me ...... and chocolate."

So in honor of those two cravings of mine that never go away I'm going to have my very first blog contest! Check it out!

The Rules
1. Leave a comment on this post by 11:59 PM, September 4th.
2. Tell me in your comment who you are proud of and why.
3. Be sure to include a way for me to get in touch with you in case you are the winner. It's ok if you don't have a blog, just leave your email address.
4. If you do have a blog, mention this contest on it so that more people can get in on the fun!
5. Winner will be chosen at random from all qualifying entries. I will contact you if you are the winner.

The Prize
Chocolate! In M&M form! One lucky winner will receive one tube of Mini M&Ms and one bag each of Dark Chocolate M&Ms, Milk Chocolate M&Ms, Peanut M&Ms, Peanut Butter M&Ms, Almond M&Ms and Dark Chocolate Peanut M&Ms. And to make the deal even a little sweeter I'm going to throw in a super secret suprise. Can you even stand the excitment? If I am able to track down any more varieties of M&Ms I will add them to the prize.

Have fun and good luck!