Hey, y’all!

I have been looking forward to this giveaway for a long time.

Know why?

It’s all my favorite things, given away to one lucky (and I mean LUCKY) reader.

(And yes, I’m paying for all this myself.)

Why?

Because my birthday is coming up (Sunday, November 7th!) and the only thing I adore more than getting a gift is GIVING ONE.

So…

That is precisely what I’m doing.

A little gift from me to you to help me celebrate blowing out one more candle on my birthday cake.

:)

A GUSSY Tote Bag ($68)

Saucy Frocks Apron ($35)

A ribboned-hemmed skirt by Prairie Mama (Fabric and ribbon will vary) ($40)

“Sweet & Simple Birdie Necklace” by Lisa Leonard Designs ($58.00)

Rosette Cuff by Allora Handmade ($16)

Petal Pusher Posy from The Pleated Poppy ($15)

Filigree Verdigris Brass – Barcelona Earrings

And last but NOT LEAST…

The FIRST edition of Where Women Cook out on Dec.1st!!!! ($16)

YAY!

Now, what do you have to do to enter this fantastical give away of mine?

I’ll tell you.

One of my favorite things ON THIS EARTH is MY JOB.

I love it.

LOVE.

LOVE.

LOVE IT.

And so…I want to give back to the job and magazine that has been so good to me!

1. FIRST, follow Where Women Cook on Twitter (If you’re already following that is great, just tell me in your comment).

2. THEN tweet about the contest with a link to this post. (If you want to mention me (or follow) I’m @looneytunes. Just so ya know. ;) )

3. FINALLY, come back and make a single comment telling me you’ve followed and linking to your tweet.

You have to do BOTH and it is for a single entry. (What? It’s out of my pocket, I’m allowed to be annoying and picky, dudes. Plus, I’m turning 36 so give a gal a break.)

I know what you’re thinking…”But what if we don’t Tweet! And why can’t we get an additional entry!?”

Don’t despair…there is a way you can up your chances, if you choose. I know that some here would love to be entered and that they don’t Tweet. And, I am also aware that saying you have to “like” a Facebook page to enter a contest is against their Terms Of Service. BUT, you can TOTALLY give an additional entry into the giveaway out of SHEER appreciation for those that are already fans of your page.

So?

After the giveaway closes on my birthday (Sunday, November 7th), I am going to take all of the Facebook Fans of “Where Women Cook” and give them an entry into the giveaway. SO, just letting you all know that. You know…if you WANTED to GO BE A FACEBOOK FAN OF WHERE WOMEN COOK BEFORE SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7th. (Just sayin’… ;) )

So let me recap those rules:

1.FOLLOW WHERE WOMEN COOK ON TWITTER

2. TWEET ABOUT THE CONTEST

3. COMMENT THAT YOU HAVE FOLLOWED AND LINK TO YOUR TWEET TO ENTER THE CONTEST.

4. COMMENT ENTRIES CLOSE AT 11:59pm SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 7th.

5. WE WILL ENTER ALL OF OUR FACEBOOK FANS AFTER THE CONTEST CLOSES AS AN APPRECIATION FOR YOU THINKING WE’RE GROOVY. (If that means you’re entered twice? Awesome.)

6. WINNER ANNOUNCED MONDAY, NOVEMBER 8th!

Good luck!

Thanks for reading and being you. xo

HALLOWEEN 2010

This year we all dressed up as: Flo the Progressive Insurance chick on TV, “HANS & FRANS (2.0)” from SNL (Butterlump totally tore the letters off his sweatshirt), Christopher is a character from Halo and James is something weird. (This is a theme.)

HALLOWEEN 2009

Billy Mays and his bucked of OxiClean, “The Snuggie Girl”, a storm trooper and I still have no clue what James was supposed to be, exactly.

HALLOWEEN 2008

Little Red Riding Hood, The Big Bad Wolf, The Little Bad Wolf and James was a Ninja (again.) Frankly, I think I look hawt for a pregnant chick.

HALLOWEEN 2007

Dog & Beth-Bounty Hunters. James was a Ninja and Christopher was Naruto.

HALLOWEEN 2006

The boys were Avatars, I was Thelma and Jon went as “The blue screen of death” . (His costume was greatly appreciated by his fellow computer-geek co-workers)

HALLOWEEN  2004

Jonathan and I went as Jane Eyre and attended a Halloween party with friends. One of my favorite photos of Christopher. He was a pirate and Max and Bridgy’s bird, “Kitty”, made a guest appearance on his head. James wanted to go as an elf. I have NO clue why.

HALLOWEEN 1996

Me and James as Little Bo Peep and her wee little sheep

HALLOWEEN 1982

My twin sister, Loraina, and I as Raggedy Ann.

Next year we are thinking of dressing up as Buck Rogers, Wilma and having Butterlump be Twiki.

Heh.

I hope you had a Happy Halloween!  Did y’all dress up?  Do anything fun?

What?

Let me know, dudes…I love hearing stuff like that.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I am at my favorite part of the holiday…taking a hot shower, crawling in bed and watching  The Changeling.

Night!

xo,

Loralee

I received this email from my father this morning about his jaunt to Sam’s Club. 

My father is…quirky.  (I find quirky awesome.)

And he should REALLY be a blogger since he has a way of making the mundane into a carnival of adjectives.

He served in the Navy, was career-long newspaper man, has interviewed a cool array of people like the dude who played the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz, was quoted in the New York Times and is maker of a mean oatmeal cookie which he named “Jilldas”. If they have cocoa in them he calls them “Gorillas”. (And, no, I have no freaking idea WHY).

If all of you wonder where I got my flair for the dramatic, fancified vernacular and ability to turn two sentences into eleventyhundred or so, wonder no longer.

This is my dad: 

What an ungodly time of year to be on a diet.
 
I just knew my intrepid search for the lost skinniness of my youth might be in jeopardy, if I took the risk going to the local Sam’s Club for “necessary”things. You know the kind, nothing to torment the pallet—just plain old  things like sweet onions to keep the breath nice and be distance-free from the loved ones; Glucosime Chondoitin and Omega III pills to make the aching joints perform just a bit better. No frills here, you understand.
 
But I sensed danger ahead, and was not disappointed.
 
Safe at last, I thought,  from dropping off the diet wagon and breaking the wheels. So with cart empty of anything rewarding to a hungry soul, I yet had to pass by the array of goodies that  would permanently put one back on the “fat arm” for another season.

It wasn’t as if I had no willpower to stay on my diet, but the morass of those pesky Christmas delights seemed everywhere.
 
It was as if someone, perhaps ultra-thin, super devoted “buyers” [ you know the type-- those who  never gain a pound  in their lives from an array of chocolate turtles or sugery bon-bons]were in collusion with the red-costumed elf to fill the shelves chock full.
 
But, undeterred, I pressed on to the check-out counter, unfazed by what I saw.
 
I passed the designer popcorn, the stacks of fancy boxes with design-printed chocolates, a barrage of sweet and savory treats in fancy containers, caramel chewies, and all kinds of tempting things that guarantee loss of a notch or two in the belt.
 
Alas! An epiphany crossed my brow.

Just ahead was what COULD be if I resisted all those goodies, and stuck to boiled chicken and greens. There were shirts I could button all the way down;  flashy new coats for winter–things that seemed not to be designed by small mid-East workers.
 
Out the store I went, with sweet onions, Glucosomin/Condroitin, Omega III, and, leaving the bon-bons behind, I had renewed dedication to the diet and return for some of those “fit-able” clothes, after someone else had emptied the shelves of goodies.
 
Still, it remained an ungodly time to be dieting!

:(

I MIGHT have added the emoticon to that last thing, but I am a firm believer that my father would TOTALLY USE THEM. You know, if he knew what they were. ;)

Heh.