And the Winner is.....

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9
Timestamp: 2008-09-29 18:02:04 UTC


On thank goodness it was a low number. That means I didn't have to count very far down the comment list. Counting and scrolling and scrolling and counting makes my head hurt. And I'm always afraid I'm gonna mess it all up. I told ya I hate these contests.

Oh, oh yeah, who is number NINE???

Drum roll please.....

Mandy @ Hipp is My Middle Name

Come on down you have just won your very own copies of the first two books in the Twilight series! Let me get my kids allowance money together so I can trot off to the UPS store and ship these books to ya.

And FYI, about my last post, yeah, ummm, my battery died fifteen minutes after I published it. So I didn't get much guilt free blogging done. I had to read the Washington Post and get more depressed about that stinkin' financial bailout that is gonna cost you and I an arm and a leg. Note to all you people that bought more house that you could afford and to the predatory lenders, and yes I call it predatory when you know people are living on the edge, that allowed it to happen, you, you, you , you all should be ashamed of yourselves. Makes me so friggin' mad.

Enough ranting.

Congratulations, Mandy! I'll be in touch.

Nice segue huh?


On a totally unrelated subject, PENN STATE ROCKS!!!! NUMBER 6 IN THE POLLS. Thank you USC, Georgia, Florida, and Wisconsin. You just let us in the door to contend for it all.

Edward and Bella

I knew that would grab your attention. Now don't faint ladies. But, I HAVE to give these away.

Gasp! Why am I getting rid of these you ask? Well, because I have two sets of them. I read Twilight in paperback and then ordered the whole set in hardcover for myself. I planned on sending my copy of Twilight and a new copy of New Moon to my friend Julie in Hungary who is dying to know what the craze is all about. The second book New Moon, arrived on my doorstep Friday. Yes, just as Julie was being announced the winner of a contest Darcy was having. The prize? Yup, the. same. two. books. Dagnabit. She broke the news to me Saturday morning. I'm not bitter. No. Not at all. Her suggestion: "You should have a give-a-way." Yeah, that's a great idea. Except I hate contests. The pressure. What if someone wants to audit the results if let's say one of my neighbors wins so that all I have to do is walk the books down the street instead of spending my daughter's allowance to ship them somewhere else in the world? Not that that would happen or anything. Nope.

Ummm, I need to interrupt this broadcast to comment on the Emmy's for a minute. Does anyone else besides me think Oprah looks, ya know, a little plump again? Not that there is anything wrong with that...seeing as I can't fit into any of my jeans right now. Sigh. And I am blaming all of you.

Back to my story..er...contest...

Now because these books really are ALL that, and you all continue to come back and read my drivel, I want to give them to someone who hasn't experienced the phenomenon that is Twilight. I promise that you too will fall in love with Edward, Bella and Stephanie Meyer (the author.)

Emmy update: Does anyone else think Kathy Griffin is like fingernails on a chalk board? And my word, did she have some "work" done?

So I know you are wondering what you have to do to win these treasures. Nothing. Well except leave a comment here and tell me your favorite TV show right now. I only watch two shows on TV, "The Amazing Race" and "The Office" which is my hands down favorite show ever. I can't wait for Thursday! Why do I want to know your favorite TV show? I don't know. It's just another one of my dumb questions that I like to ask.

Another Emmy interruption. Alec Baldwin??? Alec Freakin Baldwin beat out Steve Carell for Best Actor? Are you kidding me? It's rigged. I want a recount.

That's it gang. So do you want to know what the Twilight phenomenon is all about? Then let me make your dream come true...blah...blah...blah...

Oh yeah, polls close at midnight EDT Sunday, September 28. I will pick a winner on Monday, September 29, 2008.

Again, in full disclosure, the Twilight book is used (by me). But New Moon is brand spanking new.

Over and out.....

And the winners are.....

As you can see, I had a very sophisticated way of selecting winners for my blog bling contest. Oh sure I could have used Random.org, but really, isn't it more fun to see handwritten names, in a "Cars" bike helmet, selected by someone who I had to drag away from playing play doh with her brother and grampy to do the honors?

The winners are Hot Tub Lizzy and Happy Hour Sue both of whom found me through SITS and both of whom make me laugh really hard on a regular basis. I will be in touch with you ladies to hook you up with Cara, the blogicon lady. I'm expecting to see FUN things on those FUN blogs of yours!

So there you have it. My first and probably last contest. I'm not a big fan of contests, are you?

Blog Bling

If you can't see the bling, re-save my blog to your favorites. It will then show up. What? I'm not on your favorites? What you are waiting for? An invite?

Pssst. Can you hear me? I don't want The Man to know this. But I bought a new blog bauble for myself yesterday. Oh wait, he already knows. He helped me pick it out. So why I am whispering? I don't know. I'm alone in the house. Kind of weird. It's so quiet. I'm not used to that. Maybe that's why I'm whispering. My kids are at my parent's house for the day and night. Woohoo. So now, I get to clean out the basement again. Notice I said AGAIN. Yeah, good times. I hate keeping stuff. Once we are done with stuff, off to goodwill it goes or to some unsuspecting recipient like my neighbor T-Luh who will find a Little Tikes Rocking Horse on her front porch when she gets home. Her husband has no idea that horsey is moving in from down the street. That's the way we roll around here. And I mean we roll. As in we roll our unused junk from one house to another. Witness the desk in my daughter's room that was given to us by one of my neighbors. LRRH loves it. Free and functional. Works for me. What does all this have to do with my new bloggy bauble? Not one thing. I just wanted to talk to ya.

Did you notice it yet? My new bling? No? Okay, I'll tell you. Look at the browser tab on this page. Notice the curly cue up there? It's from the dotted "i" in my header title "This is the Life". Cara from Your blogicon custom made it for me. And lucky for you, while I was driving home from the half-a-tank drop off of my kids at my parents house just so I could get some peace and quiet some projects done, I was thinking that it would be fun to adorn a couple of bloggy friends with some new bling. Just like mine. Don't you love it? Your custom blogicon will look cool on your browser. And when your fans add you to their favorites, your blog will, ya know, BLING.

Do you want your own custom blogicon?

If you do, leave me a comment and tell me what kind of gas guzzler you drive. That's more interesting than "Hi, I'm Betty blogger and I want bling. Enter me in your contest." Plus, as I've said before, I'm nosey like that. (Did I tell you I hate mini-vans? Won't be caught dead driving one. Well, I can't be caught dead driving one because I would be, well, dead. I drive a $75- and- rising a tank SUV. )That's all ya gotta do. Just say "Hi Debbie, I drive an SUV or minivan or car or bicycle or in my case sometimes, a broom." No linking back. No wasting a post about Debbie's 430something post giveaway on your blog (437 to be exact). Simple. And I will have Little Red Riding Hood do a live random drawing of TWO of your names at the end of the week. Polls close at midnight Eastern time, July 26, 2008. That sounds so official doesn't it.

I really have no idea what I'm doing. I just wanted to bless TWO bloggy friends with their own custom blogicons as a way of saying thanks. You all think I'm funny. And, you keep coming back. And, I really appreciate that, because I'm a little insecure about this blogging thing sometimes. And, you all have really encouraged me along the way. Oh, wait, now I know why I was whispering, I didn't tell The Man about the blog bling giveaway. Oh honey, it's only $20. I'll pay for it with Hunka Hunka's (my son) birthday money that's soon to arrive in the mail for only me to see. Ever.


A couple of you have mentioned that you can't see my blogicon. Go to your web browser where you would type in a URL, and there should be a curly cue just before my blogspot URL. If you use Internet Explorer it will show up on the browser tab instead of the blogger logo right next to the title "This is the Life."