Thursday, July 17, 2008

Prizes, prizes and more prizes AND a multi-winner PiF

Not too long ago, back when I announced the winner of my contest in the Group Effort PiF contests, I whined about my always a loser, never a winner status. Over the next couple of days, I discovered that I would have to eat my words, as my status changed in a MAJOR way. I won not one, not two, not even three, but FOUR, yes FOUR contests. UNBELIEVABLE!! I won Pantsfreesia's contest, Whimsey's contest, Parkingathome's contest AND Amelia Sprout's contest. I can now be considered certifiably LUCKY!

So far I have received three of my four prizes, and as I am going to be incommunicado for about a week beginning tomorrow evening, I've decided to go ahead with my Four-in-One Pay it Forward contest. In addition, I have several children's chapter books of which we have duplicates. So there will be a BONUS drawing for those who would also like to enter to win those. So really there are FIVE prizes here, and thus your odds of winning SOMETHING are pretty darn good. THIS TIME, I have assembled the prizes PRIOR TO the contest. This is mainly due to the bargain shelf FEEDING FRENZY I had last night at the bookstore.

But let's get to the PICTURES, shall we? I must first say that there are some mighty talented bloggers out there, as evidenced by some of the handmade items I received. First off, my prize from Pantsfreesia was a FABULOUS handmade tote bag with matching book covers, one sized for a hardback book and one sized for a paperback:



AWESOME, don't you agree? Next up, I received this BEAUTIFUL and amazingly timely prize from Parkingathome:



I LOVE Willow Tree stuff AND my tenth wedding anniversary is in a couple weeks. My plan is to hand this to my husband and say, "Look what I won for you to give me." The third prize that arrived was from Amelia Sprout, who makes some really cool stuff. I received an ADORABLE hot pink sock monkey, complete with a stuffed banana on the side (that sounds dirty, yeah I'm 12), a knit ball and a jar of delicious honey:



Such great prizes! And I still have one coming! Thank you all! This was so much fun! To repay the kindness (these were pay it forward contests after all), I will now move into the contest portion of this post. Unfortunately, I am woefully lacking in the area of talent of any sort, but particularly the crafty sort, so there will not be any handmade items coming from yours truly. However, I offer the following four prizes:

Prize 1:



Prize 2:



Prize 3:



Prize 4:




Each of these prizes will also come with a book that the winner will select from my Bookmooch inventory. In addition to the four winners that will be chosen, a winner will be chosen for a BONUS prize:



These books are those which, for some reason, we have duplicates. Some of them are brand spanking new, others are used. I realize that some of you do not have kids and may not be interested in the bonus prize, so I'll work the entries like this:

1) To enter the contest to win one of the main four prizes, simply leave a comment on this post. If you don't know what to say, tell me a neat thing you did on vacation this summer (or last summer if you haven't gone anywhere this year). Specifically, I am curious about fun and not too expensive things to do with kids, but I'm interested in fun things you did even if you have no kids.

2) If you also want to enter to win the children's books, just mention that in your comment and you will be entered in the contest for the main prizes AND the contest for the bonus prize.

Now technically, if I were to do these contests separately, it is conceivable that one of you could win multiples of the main four prizes. However, since the prizes are so similar, there will be four different winners chosen. In other words, if your name is chosen the to win the first prize, it will not go back into the hat for the subsequent drawings. (Metaphorically speaking, since I will use a random number generator.) EXCEPT in the case of the bonus prize. All commentors who express an interest in the bonus prize will be entered to win the bonus prize EVEN IF they won one of the main four prizes. Got it? Okay then, comment away...

[EDITED TO ADD: Oops! Forgot to say that entries (comments) will be accepted until noon on July 28th.]

26 comments:

Pickles and Dimes said...

You won FOUR prizes???

Hrmph.

Jess said...

You and I are BOTH super lucky. I've won three prizes and I am quite content to leave it at that. So please don't enter me in this contest! I'm just saying!

Pam said...

Woot! I love me some books. And I have kidgets, so consider me entered!

Amusing story: I'm on round 4 of fighting the cat for space in my chair. So far, I've won 2 rounds, and she's won 1.

moo said...

wow, VERY lucky!

Would it be possible to only be entered in the bonus drawing? I already have those books but I would ADORE having some older kids books to start Gray's collection.

Shelly said...

I would love to enter both contests. The entertaining books look particularly interesting and Supergirl can use all the books she can get. And congrats on your big wins! Those are some kicking prize packs!

Nowheymama said...

I would like to enter both, please!

Um, on vacation (in NH) we like to look for wild blueberry bushes and pick lots of free berries. Whoo!

Stormy said...

For summer vacation this year, we have been stuck at home due to my oldest (8) doing swim team. Practice 4 nights a week, swim meets at the ass-crack of dawn on Saturdays. What was I thinking, you ask? I clearly wasnt.

Hopefully, though, we are going to get to go camping after she's finished in 2 weeks. We want to take them tubing down the Guadalupe and then to the Schlitterbahn waterpark...central Texas area.

PS My oldest would love the bonus prize!

Anonymous said...

I'm diggin' that sock monkey. I'm not sure I even knew they existed until I saw it, but that thing is cooler than cool. And so thoughtful that he comes with his own sex toys (apparently I'm 12 as well).

I'm in for the kids books as well!

Anonymous said...

Let me think. . . not sure being in a minivan with five children and your mother for 13 hours each way is fun. Or free, actually. Unless mom/gramma is filling the tank. Which she did. Because I have five (plus three step) kids. But keeping them guessing about the hourly treat was fun. But not free. Not much help, am I?

Hmmm. . . Running the garden hose down our mongo slide into our 6 inch deep kiddie pool, creating a way-too-fast-for-mom's-sanity waterslide is our summer fun, I guess. And while technically not free, it keeps the kids outside, happy, and cool so we'll turn a blind eye to the water bill, 'kay?


Even though we lead a boring life, I'm in for both contests, please!

ya ya's mom said...

oh pick me...i won a pif giveaway, but am still waiting for my prize...and have my current pif giveaway posted...i love getting goodies in the mail! and enter me for the kid books cuz i'm a teacher!! :)

LoriD said...

You SCORED with those prizes. You're right, there are some very talented bloggers out there!

For summer vacation with little kids we keep it pretty simple - picnics at the beach, day trips to museums, short camping trips close to home... they're still too young to appreciate long, expensive trips, so we do the "staycation" and make our own fun at home.

I'm in for the bonus prize as well, OBV!

Manager Mom said...

I haven't done anything neat yet because I leave for vacation tomorrow. Uh, and I plan to drink a lot. does that count?

Melanie D. said...

Wow this is a good contest! Glad Swistle sent me over...
:0)
I would love to win any of your contests, my five-year old just recently began enjoying chapter books for bedtime reading.
Summer fun? We went to a local museum this week that features dinosaur bones, my kids had so much fun! We are going to stay at a local motel this coming week that has an indoor water park. It's their staycation package.
Good luck with all of your contests!

Courtney said...

We're currently at the beach for the month with my parents (my hubby will join us for 10 days). We've done lots of fun things over the course of the month, but my favorite most-simple activity was flying the kite we bought at Wal-Mart. Fun and cheap!

Thanks for the chance to win! I'd love to be entered for the Bonus prize too. Thanks!

Kate said...

What a lucky duck you are! Swistle sent me over and I'd love to win any of your prizes, including the bonus, so sign me up!

We haven't done too much this summer as we're in the midst of building a house. The kids and I have done a few things though, and are going camping next weekend.

Thanks for the contest!

Mary O said...

Your prizes look awesome! Enter me for both the main and bonus prizes. My kids are a still too little to do many activities, but we sure make a lot of trips to Grandma's house in the summer to play!

Anonymous said...

this summer on vacation i went down a water slide with my kid!

Adriane said...

Wow! you are one lucky lady! four prizes!

I have a third grade reader, so please enter me for the kid-let books as well as the main entry.

We had a super water day with dollar store goodies. I gave each kid 3 dollars and let them go. They had to budget and choose (I did help out with taxes) the outside toys; they had a surprisingly good selection of squirters, water balloons and buckets.

Jacky said...

Hey - I was directed here from Swistle and wanted to enter both comments. I just recently won a friend's PIF draw and it's so much fun to do it for others. Maybe I'll get lucky again!

Secret Mom Thoughts said...

Wow you are lucky. I am entering and I have kiddos so enter for that too.

Fun vacation thing: Kids museums and the are relatively inexpensive.

Mommy Daisy said...

Wow, you have some great prizes there.

The most interesting thing that happened on my vacataion (I know you said funnest, but this it to good not to share) was have a BIG black bear come onto our porch in the middle of the night and knock over our garbage can and eat some of it. We stood 3 feet from a live, wild, BIG black bear in Gatlinburg, TN. Fun? A little, pretty exciting and frightening too.

And I'd love to sign up for the bonus prize too. These books look like they are a little to old for my son, but I would love to use them for my tutoring. I tutor low-income children, and we don't have many new books at our center.

Michelle said...

Wow! Four prizes. You must have done something nice to someone to have such great karma!

I won Parking At Home's other prize (the Asian food you turned down -- and it's yummy! I had some yesterday) and one other, but nothing like the cool ones you got! Yay, you!

Anyway....

I'm in for both the regular PIF and for the bonus. My son is reading now and we're always on the looking for more books!

Fun things to do that aren't expensive: we walk and bike to the park all the time. We also do lots of fun with chalk and bubbles. And we go to the park district all the time for the spray park (and to our health club that has a full pool and is nominally free). Somehow I think we've run into an age gap though!

Anonymous said...

You won FOUR??? What the hell? Was this stuff rigged or what? Jeez. I suck!
I am in for both contests. :) The most fun I have had this summer with my 3 year old has been going to a littl water park we have where I live. It was cheap, clean, and she was adorable.

Jenny H. said...

I LOVE CONTESTS! Please enter me in both!

I cn't believe you also won four PiF contests! Midwest Mom also won four! Hey, are you two in cahoots?!!!

Anonymous said...

Yay! A contest!!

Please enter me for both contests. I have a niece and nephew who could use more books! :)

Alice said...

not an entry here please, but i wanted to say HOT DAMN what awesome prizes you got! HANDMADE! i feel so vastly uncreative now, and also jealous of that bag, hee :-)