The Giveaway Winner and random questions answered

Random Integer Generator
Here are your random numbers:57
Timestamp: 2008-11-01 01:51:20 UTC

And the winner is:

jenny said...
i need my coffee if i dont have it i'm not all that happy and please enter me in to your giveaway i love to win this thanks
October 28, 2008 12:11 AM

Congratulations, Jenny! I'll be e-mailing you right after this and hopefully we can get the school supply package right out to you!

Thank you to everyone who participated! I was amazed at the number of questions that y'all came up with. Allow me to try to elaborate on them just a little. I'll try to hit the highlights.

5. I got my driver's license the day I started college. I had to hitch a ride there and back.

This one bugged a few people. I didn't get my license earlier because I didn't really need to. I wasn't incredibly popular, so I didn't have many social engagements. I did work, but either my parents took me or my aunt who worked at the grocery would take me. The rule in our house was that if you wanted to drive, you pay the maintenance bills, insurance and gas. I was busy saving for college, so I just hopped a ride when I could.

6. My first car was a 1979 Chevy Berlinetta Camaro that my dad purchased for 50.00 from a guy that he worked with. The guy had just won the lottery and ordered himself a brand spankin' new car.

You know, I don't recall what the car was that he bought, but no one in the shop took the guy seriously at first. At lunch, my dad asked if he was serious, he said that he was and my dad said he'd bring the money in the next day. We were not wealthy by any stretch, so it was pretty neat to score a really cool car for cheap. Should I add that it had an 8 cylinder in it (350), so that is probably where my heavy right foot comes from. Boy, could she move.

7. I eat one thing on my plate at a time. All the potatoes, all the meat, all the other whatever stuff. I'm not a mixer flavorer.

Either you guys do it or you don't. This one bugged a lot of people out. Especially one who went by Mannequin that suggested a bite, a sip, a bite, a sip. I have come to the conclusion that I eat all of each thing at a time to let each flavor come to it's fullest, then move on. I'll often start with my least favorite and finish with my favorite. That way, the flavor that I have last is the one that I keep the longest. I also don't really drink anything as I eat. My husband doesn't understand it, but I'm perfectly fine to have a meal without a drink.

8. I don't drink coffee. Love the smell, though.

Coffee just tastes gross. It's not to say that I don't have an intake of caffeine. I'm pretty high energy anyhow, so caffeine is often not necessary. Caffeine is available in plenty of other sources, though.

9. My husband says that I can go into a store that I've never been in before, an invisible antennae pops out of my head, twirls around and directs me straight to the clearance rack.

Yes, Target is my favorite! I know the clearance rack location in each store and have developed a pattern through each store so as to hit all of them. I get it from my Grandpa. The man could sniff out a deal.

10. I start Christmas shopping on December 26, the year previous to that the gifts are due.

I have 27 children or so to purchase for. I run with a $5.00-6.00 limit for each and by running clearance racks throughout the year, the cost is spread throughout the year and I'm capable of finding groovy stuff for the little that I have to spend. I've gotten things for as much as 90% off-- great toys and whatnot-- for gifts. The kids don't know and don't care!

11. I love Birkenstocks. They are granola, but way comfy.

eBay. I've gotten new ones w/shipping for between $15.00-30.00. My feet have never been happier.

12. I love jeans.

'Nuff said.

16. I only take baths. God never intended women to stand and shave their legs.

I was surprised that not more than one person mentioned the "lying in my own filth" thing about baths. I do not find showers relaxing. I run full speed all day. I can come home, take a relaxing and extremely hot bath and be re-energized yet relaxed. It's hard to explain.

17. I hate to have my eyelashes wet.

This one caused the most comments. Here's the deal. I have long eyelashes. Yes, I do wash my face. Yes, my eyelashes do get wet, I just hate them to be wet. I must wipe my face immediately. The long wet eyelashes are like sopping dust mops hanging off my eyelids. I don't find it comfortable. Ugh.

22. I use an electric blanket to heat up my sheets even in the summer.

I just don't find cold sheets that comfy. Cold sheets make me shiver. Cold sheets are almost painful. I don't particularly care for being cold. In the summer, I only use it to warm the sheets. In the winter, I use it for it's longer all night use.

23. While skiing, I blew my ACL and now have titanium and teflon holding my knee together.

We went to Peek & Peak in New York. We were skiing in a snow storm and Friar Tuck (the run) bit me in the butt. I hit a steeper part of the hill that wasn't packed. I tried to slow down by cutting across the hill. I was going fast towards a big set of pines. I tried to cut upwards toward the hill to stop, over-corrected and shot myself straight up the hill. My ski's got crossed and I ended up sliding down the hill backwards. The bindings didn't let loose, regardless of how far I leaned over. I gave one final lean, my knee popped, then the binding let loose. A little too late. Ugh. Surgery and 3 months of physical therapy later, I'm good to go now.

24. I like to do Mork from Ork fingers.

Oh my. So many of you were born much later than me! Mork and Mindy was a TV show on in the late 1970's. I know that you wanted photographic proof, but I'm too tired. Mork from Ork fingers is when you can successfully split your fingers into a V. (On the right hand, your index and middle fingers are on the left side of the V, ring and pinkie on the right side of the V.) I know plenty of people who can't do it. Look it up! I wonder if Mork and Mindy is on Nick at Night!

28. I love to bake and can. I like to cook, too. I'm just more creative with the baking and canning thing.

The Ball Blue Book of Canning, Preserving and Dehydration (I believe that I got it right) is what will teach you everything that you need to know.

I'm officially tired now. Little girl and I are going to sleep in tomorrow. We're going to try our hand at making a pumpkin pie from scratch. I also scored an awesome sounding Chicken Corn Chowder recipe from Boo Mama's Souptacular Crockpotalooza. I believe that we'll tackle that, too. We want to do some fall crafts. We want to play with Play Doh. We want to watch a movie and enjoy the crunchy leaves. We want to see what things we can eat from the Halloween stash.

If you don't mind, I'll be taking a few bloggy days off. See you on Monday.

Shiver me Trick or Treatin'

It's been a little chilly in Ohio. In all fairness, I understand it is Ohio. I understand that winter is coming. In fact, I welcome it. I love warm sweaters, crunchy leaves, warm green tea with lemon or hot chocolate (ick to coffee.) I have to say, it was a might chilly for a trip to the pumpkin patch this morning. Look:
Yes, that is my car thermometer from yesterday morning. A little brisk, eh? I say Amen to that! So, we shuttled off to the pumpkin patch, kind of grumbling since this was scheduled two weeks ago and it was postponed due to a light mist falling from heaven. At least it was warmer then. It didn't require the fleece lining of the coats to be zipped back in, heavy sweaters, turtlenecks, hats and gloves.

The pumpkin patch was really quite lovely. They did a great job of teaching the kids about what they do there and different uses for the products that they grow. They grow corn, soy and pumpkins. They gave each child a bag, so as they went through the process of teaching them about their farm, they gave them a variety of things to place into their bag. They were sent off with soybeans to plant, a coloring book printed with soy ink, soy crayons, soynuts with a candy shell (the soy version of M & M's and they are rather tasty!), then as we walked, they allowed the children to pull a dried ear of corn from a stalk to take home with them to feed the critters. (Ours was VERY frosty!) In the end, they took us out to a very slippery pumpkin patch to pick a little guy of our own to take. When we got home, guess what we did?

We carved pumpkins! (Surprise, surprise!)

I carved the big one with templates of Cinderella and the castle. (Those can be found at the Huggies website.) K- decided that she wanted to carve her own pumpkin, so I allowed her to wield the safe pumpkin carving knife. She had a great time! After she was done, she went to the backyard to play a bit and look at what she found:

That would be a whiffle ball with a lot of ice around it. We're not talking the little fragile delicate ice. Ice thick enough for a 4 year old to play with it mid afternoon and still remain fully intact. Trick or treating tonight at my parents house will be a little chilly. Good thing we scored a big fuzzy bee costume! Nice and toasty. The right price, too! I got it at the thrift store for a whopping $5.00. My friend lengthened it a little and we're good to go. Lookie here here at the Hubs and K- trick or treating this past Sunday:

I know it's a little dark, but it was trick or treat and I did the best I could!

While I'm bugging you with far too many photos today, allow me to give you a glimpse of the little guy who has been living here for a while. I call him Buddy.

He's missing one big ole back leggin'. We're thinking that a bird tried to snack on him. It was great to see him around today. In fact, K- and I were surprised that he was still up and around. We thought he had gone by way of Grasshopperscicle a while ago.

Have a fun time trick or treating! Save the Heath bars for me!

Boo Mama's Souptacular Crockpotalooza

5 Minute Crockpot Turkey Tenderloin

1 pkg pre-marinated turkey tenderloin

1 pkg short cut carrots

5-6 small Yukon Golds, Red Skins or whatever potato you have on hand-- washed, skin on

1 crockpot

Place turkey tenderloin and marinating juices from package at the bottom of your crockpot. Place carrots on top. Place potatoes on top of that. Place an inch or so of water at the bottom of the pot. Put lid on and turn on high. Cook all day on high (5-6 hours) until done.

That's it! It's simple, but I promise that it's easy and delicious!

Say it ain't so-ap

I find that refills for the Kandoo and other foaming soap pump products are costly. With the combo of sales and coupons, you can purchase the initial pump at a reasonable cost, but the price of the refills will kill you. I refill them myself. I twist the top off of the foamer bottle and pour about 1" of regular concentrated strength liquid dish soap into the bottom of the container. I then slowly refill with warm water to the fill line. Recap and swirl around gently, so as not to foam it to death. I have also found that turning the bottle upside down and swirling gently helps to keep from clogging the feeder tube with full strength soap. It doesn't like full strength soap! Turn the bottle rightside up and it's ready! Voila!

Vacation Revelations

We were out camping for a week in September. We pitched a tent on my parents riverfront property in Marietta Saturday through Thursday morning. We were able to spend a lot of nice time with them, boating, swimming and hanging out. While out and about, we found some really neat folk art wall pieces in the window of a furnace installing place. They had prices of 10.00 each on them. We couldn't believe it, but we called the guy and it was true! They are great pieces made from lath from old homes and from the wood of crates that furnaces are shipped out on.

We pitched a tent at Lake Hope State Park from Tuesday night through Friday morning. We had listened to the weather, heard about the possibility of rain, so we opted to hotel it for one night. Here were some funny things that I learned/had happen on our trip.

1. My child is a nudist at heart. After I heated "bath water" up on the fire (yes, I had my pioneer woman hat on), K- stripped down and ran around with nothing but sandals singing "It's BATH TIME! It's BATH TIME!" Now, in all fairness, there was no one else around. We chose a remote end of the camp on a long stretch of a site under a lot of trees. No one saw or heard a thing.

2. K- is fascinated with harvestmen. She can tell you the difference between them and a daddy long legs and why they aren't the same. (Thanks Kinderealm Spider Day before we left.)

3. My husband has now learned to trust me more than the National Weather Service. His wife IS right about rain. I can hear thunder and I was right that it was coming. Thankfully, he believed me regardless to what the computer guy's voice was saying. Just as we were finishing packing up, it started to rain.

4. K- needs to perfect her on-the-fly peeing. Poor kid peed on me and on her clothes twice.

5. When it is 95 degrees out and you are doing the bulk of your hiking for the week, the new Dove Energizing deodorant stands up to the challenge.

6. There is a horned grasshopper and we saw him.

7. There is a pencil sharpener museum run by a retired minister and we went.

8. There is a stretch of road from Hocking Hills to Nelsonville that involves a lot of bellyflopper hills. I almost made Hubs ill. I made K- laugh every time, though.

9. Premade packs of campfire wood from the park never burn like they should.

10. I listened to Screech Owls have a territorial dispute for about 45 minutes in the middle of the night one night.

11. Go Paint from Elmers is a great idea, but even better if you can actually get into the package. I've written to them. Interestingly enough, they never responded. No acknowledgement, either.

12. If you let a child wash camp dishes, they will be entertained for a very long stretch of time.

13. Light up bracelets (those glowy ones that you buy in a tube) will glow so bright that they are like a night light in your tent. We had to wait until K- fell asleep so that we could hide hers. It was too bright!

14. When you have unplugged for a week and re-entry is the form of a hotel, you get questions like:

A. Mommy, will they have a flushing toilet?

B. Will they have a nice clean bathtub?

C. Will they have a nice shower for Daddy?

Upon entering said room, you hear (as child walks past the microwave, TV and refrigerator) "Mommy! Look! They have drawers! You can put your clothes in these!" (In her defense, we had our clothes in a laundry basket and her clothes in a box, open in the car.)

D. [Mommy's body shut down upon entering said room and much TV was watched. After probably the 12th episode of Dog Whisperer . . . ] "Mommy, if you watch too much TV, you'll burn up your brain."

Oh, baby. Mommy's brain needed rest. And her body. Mommy was just getting ready to re-enter and do all that laundry that we amassed from a week of camping. Tent camping. With lots of dirt.

Bloggy Giveaway Time!

I have to tell you that there have been occasions that I was a Bloggy Giveaway entrant junkie. Y'all have given away so much cool stuff! I figured that since I'm new at this blog thing, I'd dip my toes into the bloggy waters by giving y'all some goodies too.

Do you want to know what they are? SCHOOL SUPPLIES! Lots of them, actually! Let's face it, school supplies don't expire. You always need them, even at the weirdest of times. Buying school supplies in the middle of the year is the pits and these could be stocking stuffers if you are in the need! Let me tell you what will be included:

1- 24 box of crayons
5- Pocket folders

1- 10 pk markers

1- Pencil sharpener

1- Pkg colored pencils

1- Pencil case

2- 10 pks pens (1 black and 1 blue)

1- 1" binder

1- Spiral notebook

1- Red pen

2- Pks of pencils (1 pkg yellow/1 pkg sparkly)

1- Pkg glue sticks

1- Bottle of liquid Elmer's white school glue

1- Pkg pencil cap erasers

1- Pair of scissors

1- Pkg of highlighters

1- Pkg of mechanical pencils

1- Denim tote bag from Eeboo (I love their stuff!)

So how is it that I have amassed so many BRAND NEW school supplies? Well, I'm a school supply junkie. When the school year is about to begin, stores like Office Max and Staples will offer promotional school supplies at no cost or for 1 cent each. If I'm within a mile of the store, I'll stop in and stock up. The smell of a new box of crayons is rather intoxicating! Weird, I know. Chalk it up to the category of "Oh, she's an artist." Everyone else does.

So, this brings me to the bloggy public (and those of you who aren't bloggers are welcome to enter!) Only one entry, please. If you aren't a blogger, please make certain that you put your e-mail address in your entry so that I can contact you. If there is no way to contact you, I will have to dump your entry. United States, only. Sorry. Since it will be going via UPS, a valid physical street address will need to be provided. I'll contact you by e-mail to get your mailing information. The prize pack will be going out early on in the week and should be in your hands by the end of the week. Just don't forget to look in your e-mail to see if you have won! If you don't respond, I'll be forced to choose someone else and I hate the thought of that.

Now for the entry portion. I'm going to require you to do something other than "enter me" or "sign me up." That requires no work and here at Bailey's Leaf, we like a little effort. So, if you want to be entered, read my post from 10/26 about my list of 35 things. Which of the 35 things do you find particularly weird, do you do, or you would like to hear more about? That's it! The giveaway will end on Friday, October 31 at 6:00 PM. Since we will be handing candy out to all the children in the neighborhood and of the greater city area, we will be drawing via ye ole random number generator either the evening of 10/31 or the morning of 11/1. It depends upon how much of a sugar buzz that I'm flying from.

Thank you again for coming to visit my new blog. I hope that you'll consider returning! Hopefully, I'll win one of those fancy new layouts that people are always giving away and I'll look all spiffy and new shortly! :) Good luck, all! There are generally over 1000 chances to win, so get clickin' on Bloggy Giveaways!

Now if I can only figure out that permalink thing . . .

This giveaway is officially closed.

Thank you for entering!

A List!

I figured that for the one of you reading this right now and for the two of you that might later on, I'd give a Boo Mama famous list. Since I'm new to blogging, I'll call it 35 things about me. Why 35?

1. I turned 35 in August.
2. When I was born, I was a month late. Mom insists. I even gave her a gray streak to prove it.
3. I'm on the cusp of Leo and Virgo. Though I don't believe in the astrological thing, it's still funny to say that those that know and love me would insist without a doubt that I'm a Virgo.
4. The back of my left eye is flat. (Lazy eye.) It's basically there ornamentally. I see on the outer edges, but not in the middle. It's hard to explain other than it's like looking at a big gray bar in the middle. It's a birth defect, so I'm used to it.
5. I got my driver's license the day I started college. I had to hitch a ride there and back.
6. My first car was a 1979 Chevy Berlinetta Camaro that my dad purchased for 50.00 from a guy that he worked with. The guy had just won the lottery and ordered himself a brand spankin' new car.
7. I eat one thing on my plate at a time. All the potatoes, all the meat, all the other whatever stuff. I'm not a mixer flavorer.
8. I don't drink coffee. Love the smell, though.
9. My husband says that I can go into a store that I've never been in before, an invisible antennae pops out of my head, twirls around and directs me straight to the clearance rack.
10. I start Christmas shopping on December 26, the year previous to that the gifts are due.
11. I love Birkenstocks. They are granola, but way comfy.
12. I love jeans.
13. I love the thrift store. Where else can you leave with a full wardrobe of clothes for 15.00 or less?
14. I can drive stick shift. Hubs taught me when we were dating.
15. I'm the Christmas merchandise girl at work. I set 6 Christmas trees of a variety of themes and decorate upwards to 9 ceilings. I generally have 3 weeks to do this, at 3 days of work per week.
16. I only take baths. God never intended women to stand and shave their legs.
17. I hate to have my eyelashes wet.
18. Don't touch my nose. Grandpa had a thing for biting noses when we were young and bruised the end of my sister's nose.
19. I'm scared to death of tornadoes, but find the Storm Chaser show on Discovery absolutely fascinating.
20. I line dry our clothes as much as possible to save money. We have a line outside and a 6 line run in our basement.
21. My hair has natural curl. Depending on the day, it'll behave. Mostly, I suffer from a weird frizz.
22. I use an electric blanket to heat up my sheets even in the summer.
23. While skiing, I blew my ACL and now have titanium and teflon holding my knee together.
24. I like to do Mork from Ork fingers.
25. I love the old, original Atari. All the other play systems are for the birds. Pitfall isn't Pitfall unless you are running a blocky guy over blocky alligators and blocky swamps to the blocky prize.
26. Typically, I'm not a fan of remakes. Willy Wonka? Oh, I'm a purist. Give me Charlie Bucket in his original version, please.
27. I love to sing in the church choir.
28. I love to bake and can. I like to cook, too. I'm just more creative with the baking and canning thing.
29. I'm trying to teach our 4 year old daughter modesty. She is very long waisted and shirts want to do the Britney Spears on her. I just don't find that appropriate, so her shirts are often a wee big in the shoulders to accommodate for the extra torso length.
30. It bugs the heck out of me when people talk loudly on the cell phones in public.
31. It drives me crazy when people can't use turn signals. They weren't considered optional when the vehicle was made and shouldn't be considered optional for use.
32. I love dark chocolate.
33. I love to garden. Flowers, vegetables-- anything.
34. I majored in printmaking in college and while at the university, I took 2 years of glassblowing and neon.
35. I love that I can share with my daughter that I accepted Christ at Vacation Bible School at the age of 11.

Was Toys R Us actually thinking?

After church, I sat down and went through the weekly ads. There was the Toys R Us "Our Biggest Toy Book Ever!" catalog and I figured, okay, so I can see more toys that my child will decide that she has to have, but won't be getting. Then something stopped me dead in my tracks. It was this:
It is a little girl between the ages of 5-7 years old leaning over and highlighting the Oui*ja board. WHAT ARE THEY THINKING?! Is it just me? I mean, how exactly do you explain the "Mystifying Or*acle" to this child? Does she know? Will the kids know what the board is all about? UGH! On the top of the box it says, "Ask the questions girls want to know." I mean, really. I'll be writing a letter to Toys R Us about their very poor selection of a toy to highlight in their holiday gift catalog.