First things first.  I am pleased to announce that Jackie at Our Moments, Our Memories is the winner of the $50 gift card as chosen by random.org.  Now, don’t get me wrong because I’m tickled that Jackie wins this one, but for real, when I toldit to choose a random integer between 1 and 60 and it spat the number one back at me I seriously had to question its work ethic.  But whatever.  Congrats Jackie, I’ll be in touch to figure out which of the fine merchants you’d like to patron with your fifty buckaroos.

Okay, now just a couple of random things to share because, well, because I don’t have a lot of time frankly.  Jeff has been out of town for the last few days and come this time of the evening all I really want to do is crawl into bed, big and empty as it may be.  At least it’s snore free so I shouldn’t complain.  But I’ve had the freakiest thing happen to me two nights in a row.  You remember how our glass top table broke in the storm last week?  Well, last night as I was cleaning up after dinner (and trying to wrangle four kids simultaneously btw), I broke a plate.  I didn’t have a plate in my hand and I have no clue where the plate came from.  I was pouring the leftover tortilla soup from the crock pot into a Rubbermaid and I heard this shattering and looked up to see that one of those shatter-resistant Corelle plates had shattered into thousands of pieces.  I kid you not when I tell you that it took me an hour to completely clean the mess.

Then, tonight, just as I was putting dinner on the table (burritos if you must know, and yes, we totally dig mexican) a glass mason jar plummeted from the tip top of the pantry shelves all the way to the concrete floor and, you guessed it, shattered into thousands of pieces.  The door of the pantry was closed at the time but the glass came swooshing (I don’t care if it’s a word I’m in a hurry here) from beneath the door and ended up all over the floor.

I may have used an itty bitty curse word that rhymes with bell, but c’mon what the *&^%?  That stupid jar must have been like teetering on the edge or something because nobody even was near the pantry when it decided to commit suicide.

So again I had to stop dinner and clean up.

Why is it that these things happen when I’m the only competent (and that’s arguable sometimes) adult around to pick up the pieces (no pun intended)?

A few years ago I would look out the window every morning to see a robin staring right back in at me.  Every morning he was there to greet me and he’d stop back in intermittently throughout the day.  Eventually I began to wonder if God was trying to tell me something so I looked up the significance of robins and found them to be a sign of fertility.  This happened at a stage in my life when pretty much the last thing I wanted was to be deemed fertile.  I smiled up at God though and said a little prayer asking that the cup of fertility be passed to someone who was a little more needy in that department.  It worked, apparently, because my womb remained closed for business until I was ready to put it back to use.

All that just to say that I’m wondering what significance all this broken glass has.  I haven’t taken the time to look it up but with the sheer quantity of glass shards I’ve cleaned up as of late I’m beginning to wonder just what God might be trying to tell me now.

Or maybe I’m just a klutz.

Anyway, I’m off to answer some trip planning questions for the Moms Panel.  And it’s bathroom cleaning week.  And you wouldn’t believe the amount of dirty towels that have accumulated since laundry day on Monday.

Big news around these parts.  I’m edging ever closer to a blogging milestone.  And what better way to celebrate than to host a giveaway?  But seeing as how I like to be different, this isn’t your typical ‘leave a comment and potentially win a prize’ type giveaway.  That’s too easy.  I’m going to require that you familiarize yourself with my little blog here if you want to win what I’m giving away.  Here’s the deal: 

I’ve made up five questions about random things I’ve posted about in the past.  As you can see I’ve included links to assist you as you hunt for the correct answers.  Once you read each and every word find the correct answer, you have to take two steps. 

     * Send me an email with your responses.
     * Leave a comment here telling me which of the posts you found most entertaining.

This giveaway will end around 5 pm Arizona time on Wednesday, July 16th.  Once I have contacted the winner I will post his or her name here.  Obviously that means that you’ll need to supply me with a valid email address.  And please accept my apologies but I can only ship the prize to US addresses.

What is the prize?  Well, now that is (partially) up to the winner.  He or she will receive a $50 gift certificate to Borders, Bath and Body Works, Pier 1, Gap, Buca di Beppo, Banana Republic, Bed Bath & Beyond, DSW Shoes, Express, Lands’ End, J. Jill, KB Toys, Destination Maternity, Shutterfly or Sephora.  Winner’s choice.  For clarification that means winner chooses one.  Not winner chooses all.

So what do you think?  Is it worth playing for?  (I sound like Jeff Probst don’t I?) 

Survivors ready?  And go!

1)  Which MD inspired my “people who smell bad” concept?

2) Besides learning to read, name another accomplishment of This Child.

3) What type of produce mishap led to this post?

4) How old was I when I first became a mother?

5) What adult beverage did Brooke and I drink on the porch?

Yeah, so, that’s about it.  Have fun and good luck.

     We have a winner in the Target gift card giveaway!  Kristen from No Small Thing is the lucky girl who’ll be receiving the prize.  Congratulations Kristen!  Go out and buy yourself something fun.  And don’t let those kiddos talk you into spending it on Icees.  ;)

     Funny story about this though.  The original winning comment, which was randomly chosen from all eligible entries, belonged to my daughter, Torri.  Can you believe that?  What are the odds?  Seeing as how I didn’t feel that would go over well with the other 385 entrants I bribed her into accepting a new pair of Abercrombie shorts in lieu of the Target cash and she happily accepted.  It seems this giveaway is costing me a bit more than I bargained for…

     I had fun reading through all of your comments.  All 386 of them.  And because this giveaway generated such a great response I’m going to be sure to do another in the near future so stay tuned! 

     The time has come in my itty-bitty blogdom for a giveaway.  So I was trying to think of something unique to put up for grabs.  Oh, and I had lots of ideas.  Somehow though I couldn’t see anybody getting really excited over the pair of swim trunks once owned by K-Fed I saw up for auction on ebay.  Yeah.  I don’t blame ya.  Maybe unique wasn’t my best route.  So I thought about things that I have that I love.  Because I’m willing to bet you’d love a panini press as much as I love mine.  Ah, but then there is the cost of shipping.  Let me tell ya, those things are a tad on the heavy side.  Perhaps a practical item would make for a great prize.  A book?  A candle?  Kitchen towels?  Nah.  Too ordinary. 

     And then it hit me.

     If you’re reading my blog – chances are pretty good that you are one of two things.

       1. A mom

       2. Related to me.

     And since chances are good that you fit nicely into one of these categories I can say with nearly 100% assurance that a Target gift card is just the thing for you.  How do I know?  Well, if you are in the first category then you likely stop by Target on a weekly basis and picture how lovely the new Spring line of tableware would look on your dining room table for the upcoming Bible study brunch you’re hosting.  Or how cute those new ballet flats would be with the summer sundress you’ll be wearing to a wedding next month.  But shoot, if all else fails, you could certainly use it to buy household necesseties.  Toilet paper.  Dish soap.  Fabric softener sheets.  Oh yeah ladies, live it up.

     If you are in only the second category and not the first, then that makes you my gramps.  And, gramps, if you enter the giveaway, and happen to win, then you can certainly send the gift card back my way.  They have some cute summer tees I’ve had my eye on for awhile.

     Prize:  $25 Target Gift Card

     To enter:  leave a comment.  I know.  I’ve really raised the bar here.  Oh, be sure to leave your email address so I can contact you if you win.  Only enter once please.  I’ll choose a winner on Saturday. 

     To enter more giveaways this week, surf over here and enter away!