Isn't that great? Although it is a little suspicious, and if I didn't know better I might think the whole thing's fixed. You see, the last winner was a gal, with whom, I worked at a homeless shelter. And this gal, is one with whom I worked at the SAME homeless shelter. And these two women's husbands have a podcast together and also host a lovely winter-time bbq. I know, if I were y'all I'd demand my money back!! Which reminds me, every last one of you forgot to pay me to enter the sweepstakes. But seriously though, I really wish every last one of you could have won, I really do. So, just keep entering, and hopefully one day you'll win!!!
And what did Megan win, you ask? I'll let the below picture do the talking...
Do y'all have this kind of thing at y'all's Costco?
Well, congratulations Megan!! Keep your eye on the mail!!!
That right y'all, you could win a Hawaiian thing!!! Remember over here, when good old what's her face won poi?!?!?! Well, you could be feeling the same feelings of delight!
Before I get into how you can win, I have a few free-floating ideas that I'm having trouble making a complete blog post around, so I'll share them right here, right now. They're all short stories about how great my mom is.
1.) Who among us doesn't remember singing this jaunty tune, made famous by the Snowman from "Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer"?
Well, being the imagineer I was, as a child, my younger sisters and I planted lollipop sticks under trees 3-4 times a week one summer. And every morning we'd wake up to find a menagerie of lollipops, lovingly scotch taped to the tree boughs. This only served to feed our lollipop tree addiction, but whatever.
2.) My mom has a funny relationship with technology, in my humble opinion. I mean, she's really good with technology and very innovative when it comes to her career as an elementary school librarian, but then she'll do things like email you detailed instructions on how to find an interesting internet item, rather than just emailing you the link. But, actually, maybe that has more to do with pop culture stuff. Por ejemplo, about 17 months ago my mom asked my sister, Emily, if she had seen the youtube woman. Thinking that perhaps it was a television character, of some sort, Emily said "maybe, I'm not sure". My mother's reply to that what "oh no, you'd know. Go to youtube and type in 'England's Got Talent Woman Singer' "... she wanted to show Emily, Susan Boyle, you see.
3.) My mom wants us all to know Jesus, and sometimes her methods to introducing us to him were a little unorthodox. Par exemple, my baby sister Brittany was obsessed with the rapper Eminem, when she was in 7th and 8th grade. She won a framed poster of him, looking tough, at the Ellensburg Rodeo, along with a sliver chain that was very Eminem-esque. Well anyway, Britt was super in to Eminem, but had a touch of the social anxiety so wasn't very involved with our church's Jr. High Youth Group, so my mom hatched a plan. In 2002, when Brittany was 14, Eminem came out with a movie called "8 Mile". If Brittany went to a church retreat, she could go see "8 Mile" with our older sister, and I think Violet, too. That might be a pop-culture thing too, cause if my mom knew the details of "8 Mile" she might not have let Bun-bun see it. But who knows.
So yeah, my mom rulez. But on to the sweepstakes!!! If you want the chance to win something Hawaiian, leave me a comment. Maybe it could be about something cool your mom did. Or if you're a mom, maybe something cool your kid did. Or maybe your favorite season. I don't know, but something!!! I'll announce the winner on Friday. GOOD LUCK!!!!!!!!
By becoming a follower, Sarah was entered in the drawing, and WON!!! And what did she win, you may want to know... ONE 16 oz. BAG OF MAUI MADE POI!!!!
Here you can see I've kind of draped it over a railing, so you can see the consistency. It's kind of fantastic Sarah won, because she has a food blog (foodyearsresolution.wordpress.com)!!!! I can't wait to see what she does with this poi!
For those of you who don't know, poi is a disgusting combination of taro and water . I once told a Hawaiian that I didn't like poi, and she told me I wasn't eating it right. I was all like 'excuse me, I've been eating since I was darn near 6 months old! Don't tell me how to eat!'. Turns out she just meant, poi isn't meant to be eaten plain. It's generally served atop fish or steak. Or mixed with sugar and eaten like a pudding. A sticky, sour, pudding. Anyway, Sarah and her husband like all kinds of weird things, so I've no doubt they enjoy the poi (that rhymes).
Thank you, thank you, thank you, to all of you who became followers and/or left comments. It did wonders for my self-esteem, and gave me a good many things to consider as I move forward with this blog. However, most of the GREAT (not meant to be read sarcastically) suggestions do sound a lot like work. I was really hoping someone would say 'Kate, my wealthy eccentric uncle has a mind reading device, and he wants to mind-read and record your life stories, and give you $10,000 a post. You never have to work again!!" or even just "Kate, I'm David Remnick and I want to pay you $10,000 a post. You never have to work again!!" or maybe even "Kate, here's a winning lottery ticket. You never have to work again!!". Most of the best case scenarios I worked out in my head ended with "you never have to work again", but this is really good too!!!!!1
I think I'll do a sweepstakes every month or so, cause this was really fun for me, and honestly I want each and every one of you to be able to win!!! I will warn you, I have several ideas for giveaway items, and they kind of weird, so you might not like them. But they WILL be Hawaiian for as long as I live here! Also, is that the proper use of the word sweepstake?
...Anna! Anna left me a comment, suggesting how I might get more traffic to this baby. Which is wonderful, because that's what the post was all about. So, Anna (if that's her name. Should I change names to protect people. Nah, but I should DEFINITELY stop stealing pictures off Google) suggested I give stuff away. Give HAWAIIAN stuff away. How great is that?!?! People love free stuff!!!
So, here's what we're gonna do. If you want this Hawaiian thing (it's a REALLY cool Hawaiian thing, I'm looking at it now. Now I'm holding it. Jamie and Judi if you want to tell your dad about it, so he can get in on it, feel free) leave me a comment, telling me your favorite post of mine and why. Or, give me ways to improve and excel, in blogging or life. No, just blogging. OH, OH and maybe you have to follow my blog too. But maybe not. Hard to say. I'll just change the rules as I go. Then on Monday, I guess, I'll randomly pick one using an online number,or letter, generator. Or I'll pick my favorite one, I'll keep you posted!
Do I think this will make me the next William Shakespeare? Or even the next William Shakespeare of blogging? No, probably not, but I think I might get some compliments/constructive criticism out of it, and one of you might get a coconut! Might, who knows, maybe that's not even the giveaway item. So, friends let's take a chance, just like Celine Dion said!
