Flash Giveaway!!

*Note this is a sponsored post, but all thoughts, opinions, and words are my very own!

Hello everyone!

Two posts in one day ... I know, I'm shocked too!

But this post in a fun one!

I've got a weekend family pass to ChiTag (Chicago Toy and Game Fair).

Not sure what ChiTag is? Basically it's a room full of toys and games. Things you can try out, things you can buy. It's a lot of fun. Still want to learn more? I wrote about our trip there in 2014.

This year will be our 4th year going. Even my 16 year old wants to go - if that doesn't tell you something, I don't know what else could convince you it's fun!

Anyway, I'm going to give away to TWO lucky (and fast) readers - this giveaway is open for 24 hours - a weekend family pass. That means you can take yourself and your whole family to the fair. And you can go on Saturday. Or Sunday. Or both days!

Here are the details. ChiTag is THIS weekend November 21 and 22. Yes, as in just 2 days from now (hence the flash giveaway). It's in Navy Pier's Festival Hall. And it's open 10am to 5pm.

All you have to do is leave a comment. You can tell me a game you and your family likes to play, or you can just say pick me! Or you can leave a smiley face. You are also welcome to comment about what a fabulous person I am! ;-)

I will notify you tomorrow night!

I know this is last minute, but hey, think of it as a fun game! =)

PS If you don't win, follow this link to get a coupon to save you $2 on your tickets

Comments are closed as the contest is over!! Congrats to Nicole for winning tickets! 

StreamTeam

Note: as a reminder, I am part of the Netflix StreamTeam and am getting compensated for sharing with you. As always, all opinion are my own!

So, in addition to knitting a lot this weekend, I also took full advantage of my netflix subscription! Because that was a lot of knitting and pacing in my living room so I needed something on the tv!!

So, I started Saturday morning by watching some Freaks & Geeks. Now, I didn't watch this show when it aired. Okay, I didn't even know about this show when it originally aired. But I had heard some chatter and was told that this was a must see. So I watched it.

The show was great, I admit it was fun seeing some of the actors and actresses and I like today earlier in their careers (especially little John Daley!)

After finishing that show, and since it was Saturday night, I flipped on Bag of Bones. I'm not a big scary, scary movie fan, and I hesitated to watch it, but had been told by my 14yo (who LOVES scary things) that it wasn't actually that scary.

She was right and I enjoyed it. And I was able to actually sleep after watching it, which, um, I'm sad to say doesn't always happen when I watch "scary" or even "sort-of-a-little-scary" things LOL!

Sunday was another day and so I sat down to watch The Guild. I heard about this on twitter and since a lot of my fellow Doctor Who, Firefly, etc lovers said it was good, I decided to watch it. I gotta say, I wasn't sure at first. But then I cracked up. As a former World of Warcraft player, and member of a guild or two, the show cracks me up. It kind of makes me miss the days of raiding and gaming and farming and playing.

Bonus: This month netflix is giving away a three-month subscription to one of my readers! Leave a comment here to be entered and make sure that I have a way to contact you! This is a quick giveaway and will end April 30 at noon! So enter now! 

ChiTAG

Mister Man with his favorite!

It's that time of year again ... it's time for ChiTAG (Chicago Toy and Game Fair).

My family and I look forward to this every year. Well okay, for the last 3 years since that's how long we've known about it! It's a great place to have a lot of fun and learn about new games. Both of the last two years we've brought home a bunch of extra games to play.

We do play games around here fairly often. We don't have a set game night, but we have a pretty big board game selection and enjoy playing them as often as we can!

Miss M with her favorite

We all have our favorites to play, usually the newest games are the favorites, but we also have some classics we like to play as well. I enjoy playing Carcassonne. A new game we just got (warning, not for young kids, some cards have bad words on them) is Trailer Park Wars.

We have friends who also enjoy board games. Sometimes we are gifted some great ones. Other times we play a game at their house and end up buying it for ourselves. We've found some great games at ChiTAG. Two years ago we bought the game Gotcha at ChiTAG and it is a big hit! Lots of laughs during that one!

A rousing game of Ticket To Ride

All of this to say, we really love games! And ChiTAG is great for anyone who loves games, toys and having fun. ChiTag, once again, takes place at Navy Pier (side note: there is parking right there which is so helpful!). And ChiTAG is THIS weekend! I know, I should have told you about this like 3-4 weeks ago, but alas, my brain is a bit jumbled right now. But yes, ChiTAG is this weekend, November 23-24.

I think you should go to ChiTAG and so I'm giving away not one, but two family passes to attend! All you have to do is leave a comment on this post. If you'd like to share your favorite game to play as a family, that would be awesome. But, feel free to leave pick me! Or I don't know, what would you play with your 5 year old? And also, leave your e-mail address so if you win, I can let you know! This is a QUICK giveaway. Enter by 8pm on Thursday (central time) and I'll alert the winners so they can plan the weekend accordingly!

If you don't win, you can buy tickets at the door. There is a $2.00 off coupon here you can print up and bring with you if you don't win.

Good luck and happy playing!

*Comments are now closed since the giveaway is over and a winner was chosen!

Chicken dinner

I don't know where I learned this from, but I like to say "winner, winner, chicken dinner." I don't think I'm the only person who uses that phrase, but who knows, maybe I am LOL!

Anyway, all of that to say, I have a winner to announce!

Thanks to those who entered. The winners are Sarah and Kelly!

Hope they have fun at the fair =)

ChiTAG

Comments are now closed because the give away is over! Thanks!

*This is a sponsored post, but all thoughts and opinions are my own
*The blog's been heavy for a bit, so I'm trying to shift into something more fun!

For the last 2 years my family and I have gone to the Chicago Toy and Game Fair (ChiTAG). I've been lucky enough to win passes from other bloggers for the last two years - and lucky is right. {side note: you can read about our first year visit here}

ChiTAG is awesome! We love to go. When the kids found out we are going again this year, they can not wait. I'm often asked "When is the toy thing again?" I mean we really do love it - well, obviously because we keep going back! Last year we even purchased a few games and I got an awesome dot-to-dot book. We play games, build with blocks, hang out and just have fun.

This year, ChiTAG looks like it's going to be awesome again.

The weekend's events include:
- Giant-sized games such as: Bananagrams, Perplexus, Doggie Doo, Word on the Street, Pajaggle, and more
- Settlers of Catan North American Catan Championship
- Meet the Moshi Monsters
- Autographs from renowned toy and game inventors
- Free contests and game tournaments
- Speed Stacks sport stacking demonstrations and tournaments

Bonus for Saturday:
Stars Wars Lunch (12 Noon – 1PM): Tickets will sell out, but are available for purchase now at www.ChiTagFair.com
Official Illinois State Yo-Yo Contest (10AM-4PM)
Top Trumps Guinness Book of World Records Attempt (3PM)
Young Inventor Challenge (10AM-2PM)

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 18: (10AM-5PM)
Stage Performances from Radio Disney, Blues Clues LIVE! presented by Naperville’s Center Stage Players, Elan Dance Company, Ben’s Bubble Show, Lil’ Buds Theater and more.
Boy Scouts Top Trump Tournament (9AM)
Pony Royale Princess Party (1PM-4PM) invites girls ages 3 to 8 to prance & play with the new fashion ponies from Pony Royale! Free pony to each girl, while supplies last.

For you my dear readers, I have some tickets to give away. I'll do a random drawing, just leave a comment below, and I will e-mail the winner a pass to the fair. I'll be doing another give-away next week too!


More details: ChiTAG is November 17 and 18 at Navy Pier Festival Hall A
Admission price is $10 for those 14+, $5 for those aged 3-13

Breast Cancer: My story and a giveaway

As October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month I thought I would kick it off with a summary of the last almost 5.5 months that I wrote for some friends recently.

How I'm (really) doing ....
It's up and down. One day is the good. The next day is so bad.


Surgery was hard. I didn't do well with it. I didn't do well with the pain medicine. I didn't know how often you use your chest muscles every. single. day. I didn't know how jarring and sad it would be to see my body for the first time after it. I didn't know how excited I would be the first time I could wash my hair all by myself again - learning to lift my arms again was hard work! But I also didn't realize how fast I get over it. How soon it would seem normal and how I quickly I would fall in love with my new boobs!


Chemo? The first medicine they gave me? Let me tell you - there were days I could barely get out of bed just to get to the bathroom. There were moments where I wondered if I could just quit and stop it. There were days I was pretty sure the cancer would have been better than chemo. Sometimes I just cried and cried. Other days I was so absolutely pissed off and just angry. So angry. There were moments where I just couldn't get over the unfairness of it all. There were moments where I was terrified that this might be the last summer I get with my family, where I wondered if the next Christmas would be the last.


I still have those moments. They come much less often. I'm mostly to the point where I've accepted it all. It sucks. It is unfair. It is hard. But it is what it is. And we'll get through it. I made it through the tough medicine {the medicine is so tough that even if my cancer were to ever come back, I will never get it again. It's so hard on your body it has a lifetime limit on it}. And we moved on to easier chemo (no, not easy chemo, just easier). But I am regaining normal. I am getting strong. Energy is coming back. Sickness is leaving.


I still have radiation to go. It will start at the beginning of October. 5 days a week for 7 weeks. Herceptin (a protein that is literally a life saver for women with my specific type of cancer and for which I will be forever grateful for) I will get every 3 weeks for one year, starting a few weeks from now. Final plastic surgery sometime in the new year. I will take tamoxifin for at least 5 years. My ovaries will come out before I turn 40. Sooner if they suspect even the tiniest thing going on with them. Follow-up scans and tests.


This isn't over yet. It won't be over, well, I don't know if I will ever feel it's over. But I really firmly believe the hardest part is over.


And really? All the love, and support, and kindness ... has been amazing. Even through it all, we have been so amazingly blessed. I feel like I've been just completely surrounded with love and understanding every. single. step. of the way. And that? That has trumped and been more powerful than every bad, negative, scary, side effect and treatment along the way. 

And a giveaway:

One lucky commenter on THIS post will win a gift basket from P&G for leaving a story about how breast cancer has affected you. I know we all have connections and ties to breast cancer. I also know that sometimes these stories can be hard to share, but we are all here for you. Winner will be chosen on Oct. 10! I'm extending this to Monday, October 17!


In addition during the month of October, P&G has several programs going on:

- Save while you give. On Sunday, October 2, and Sunday, October 16, a GIVE Hope brandSAVER will be distributed in newspapers across the country, with discounts for P&G products, including Olay, Pantene, Crest and many more. For each GIVE Hope brandSAVER coupon redeemed, P&G will donate two cents to the National Breast Cancer Foundation (NBCF) – allowing people to give back, while saving money.

- Share with friends. “Like” P&G Beauty on Facebook.  For every “like” at http://www.facebook.com/PGUnitedWeBeautify, P&G will donate 10 cents to NBCF to further support their mission of saving lives through early detection.  The P&G Beauty Facebook page will also feature stories from female employees who have been impacted by this disease.

- Buy, give and get.  During the month of October, consumers will receive a $10 rebate ( http://www.pgpinkrebate.com/pink_rebate.pdf ) and will also trigger a $10 donation to NBCF with the purchase of $50 worth of P&G Beauty products, including Venus, Olay, Secret, CoverGirl, Nice ‘n Easy, Pantene, Safeguard and Ivory.

Disclosure information: I am working with The Motherhood and P&G and being compensated for my time. However, all opinions are my very own! 

77Kids winner!

So using random.org, I've picked the winner ....

The number 6 entry is

sarah said...

Because I am and my first link didn't work I added another wish for you! (honestly for all my friends but you are included in that)

10:34 PM

 
Congrats to Sarah on winning the 77Kids giveaway!

And a big thanks to all who entered! =)

A (belated) winner!

I have a winner to announce on my Wendy's gift card give-away!

I used random.org to pick a number, and it turned out to be number 1 - Overflow of a Forgiven Soul, who left this comment

I would take my 18 yr old brother. I know that sounds funny, but with the age difference (16 years) we never got to know each other much. We just lost our Mom (His natural, my step-Mother of 31 yrs) and now more than ever I am looking for ways to reach out to him and get to know him better. We need each other more than we ever did before it seems. 

 Which I do understand (there are 12 and 14 years between myself and my two sisters). I am very sorry for their recent loss and while I know one lunch together can't heal that pain, I do hope they have a great lunch with each other!

Yummy lunch (and a giveaway!)

Yesterday, courtesy of Wendy's and theMotherhood, I was able to get out of the house for a little bit and eat lunch with some very wonderful people. And I can't lie. It's always nice for me to get out and get to talk to other adults face-to-face!

Anyway, Wendy's is launching it's new pick 2 menu!

(*note: I copied and paste this image from here)

Basically you get to pick from one of four salads and then an extra side for 4.99. If you ask me, not a bad deal at all. I picked the very delicious Apple Pecan Salad
 


based on a recommendation from a friend who had recently eaten one. And I have to say, she was right. You can tell by looking - it's not just some iceburg lettuce shredded and thrown in there - it's so much better! It was delish. So good in fact, one little 4 year old kept "stealing" bites of it! And I admit, it's very hard for me to be annoyed at my child for stealing salad!




In addition to my salad, I also picked the baked potato, which was yummy too! Someone else ordered the chili, and oh my, it looked really good to me. Secretly, I wanted to pick the frosty, but thought mutiny might ensue from the children should they realize a frosty was a part of my lunch. So I went with the potato. And wouldn't you know it, they all ended up with frosty's anyway when they finished eating their lunches!

As if the food wasn't enough, I also got to talk to some very lovely people and finally get a chance to see Tracey - because we've been talking about getting together forever (okay, for maybe 6 weeks now) and it was so nice to finally get to see her!



In addition to see Tracey and her lovely family, I also got to chat with Michelle, Weasel Momma, Emily, Paula, Lydia, and several other very lovely people! I wish we had more time to chat truthfully because I could have done that all day. Alas, my children couldn't and they let me know exactly when it was time to return home LOL!

So lunch out with friends is so great. And Wendy's new Pick 2 menu is so great, I have TWO $7.00 gift cards to give to you so that you and a friend can go and try out the Pick 2 menu at Wendy's! Just leave me a comment - tell me who you would take to lunch with you. (Make sure you leave an e-mail address so I can contact you). That's it. You have until Tuesday, October 26th at midnight to enter. I'll pick one winner (only open to those with a US address though!)


Disclosure: I am working with The Motherhood and Wendy's. My lunch and my friend's lunch was paid for and I was paid a monetary stipend for participating. All opinions, however, are my very own!

*Closing comments as give-away is now over!

Give aways!

I've been entering a few giveaways today. My plan to save money on Christmas shopping - win free stuff LOL!!
There are about 400 million giveaways going on right now ... but I've refrained and I have only signed up for the ones I really want to win!

Anyway, over here there are quite a few giveaways and just because I'm telling you about the page, I'm entered into all of them! Nice! So go visit - and enter =)

More giveaways

More fabulous things over at momgenerations.com
Today they are giving away a ton of Playskool Things. If I win, I have a different child in mind for each item they are giving away!
You have to check it out here ... you wouldn't believe me if I told you all the things you could win just today!

Great Giveaways

Over here

Go enter!! I entered two so far ... I hope I win! LOL =)

Fun Contest!

Over at The Secret is in The Sauce (a new to me blog) they are hosting a give away for a pretty decent sized bounce house!
Now, I know. We are supposed to be getting rid of things, but seriously, how great would this be to have during parties or just on that one summer day when you are bored and have nothing else to do?
Anyway, want a chance to win it too - go here and leave a comment and post about the contest on your blog! And if you do win, I hope you'll let me borrow it sometime ROFL!!!

Wii Fit Giveaway!

Holy Moly Cow! The lovely women of The Motherhood are givng away a Wii Fit and a Wii Console! Seriously, how amazingly awesome is that!
So if you want to win one, go here and read the directions!

As an owner of the Wii Fit, I have to say, that this is a fabulous opportunity and please, please, please go enter!

And oh, if you think about, help spread the word to others as well!

The Winner

The winner is Shannon!
Thanks for entering everyone who did. I appreciate it.
And Shannon, e-mail me your info so I can ship it to you! =)

Contest!

Okay, so today I'll start the contest for one of these really adorable change purses:

Whoever wins will be able to pick the one they like. My contests tend to not get lots of entries, so let's make a deal .... if we get 20 entries, I will give away a second change purse!

So here's the deal, I'm gonna make you work for it a bit. You must go over to The Motherhood and spend a few moments looking around, then come back here and tell me what you think!

[As an aside, do you know how to open a new webpage in another tab - right click on the link and select "open in new tab" and that way both pages stay open on your screen. I LOVE being able to do this for so many reasons and always thought everyone knew to do that but learned this weekend that some people didn't know they could do that.]

Anyway - just tell me what you think - tell me your favorite part, a group you want to join, a group that isn't there that you think should be, something to improve the site, etc, etc ... all comments will make you eligible! You have until Saturday night at midnight to enter!

As a bonus entry, if you put the contest on your blog (and let me know it's there) I'll put you in for two entries.

Anyway, spread the word, share the love.

Contest!

My friend, over at 30 Accomplishments While 30 is hosting not 1, but 2 contests right now!

One is an Earth Day giveaway aimed at the adults in the house - here
and one is an Earth Day giveaway aimed at the kiddos - here

So go share what you are doing to help the Earth and enter the giveaways! Good luck everyone =)

Woo-hoo!

I just got an e-mail letting me know I won the Green Baby DVD! I won it courtesy of The Boutique Cafe!
I can not wait to get this movie and watch it because it just looks so very very neat and the description looks wonderful:

The DVD features babies playing in nature while interacting with fun and colourful animation from birds, butterflies and flowers to giraffes, elephants and penguins.

The soundtrack is composed of original music with toddlers speaking words of wisdom such as: "Trees Provide us with Oxygen", "The Joy from the Sunflower", and "Please Protect the Ocean".

Children are attracted to other babies faces and Green Baby brings an instant play group into your home. Have fun bonding with your children as they point and talk to the other babies, animals and animation.

I will let you all know what we think of it once it arrives =)

Winners!

FINALLY! LOL!
I'm so sorry about the delay, but let's face it, family does in fact come first (and gramps is already doing better and it was nice to spend the time with grannie and grandpa today!)

Anyway, on to the BIG news
The winners are as follows:

For the knit market bag:
Christine of Good Company

For the books:
Someone Being Me of Someone Being Me

For the child's apron:
Crunchy Domestic Goddess of Crunchy Domestic Goddess

For the knit booties:
Anne of Adventures in Beanland

For the crayon holder:
Ribbon Rock Star of Ribbon Rock Star


Congratulations to all my winners! Thank you everyone for playing.

I want to extend 10% off any order anyone places from reading this because, well, because I want to! LOL! If you'd like anything custom-made, please e-mail and we can talk fabrics and other items.
Because my store inventory is so low, and I only slowly add things, I am going to extend this until November 20! When you place your order, send me a conversation reminding me of this discount and do NOT pay until I can send you a revised invoice to reflect the price change! =)

Have a great day everyone!

Last giveaway ..

UPDATE: COMMENTS ARE NOW CLOSED, PLEASE CHECK BACK TOMORROW FOR THE WINNER!

Well today is the last and final giveaway for the Fall Y'all Carnival going on. I will be sad to see the week end, although, truly my fingers are starting to get sore from all the typing I've done (yes, rest assured I have entered a LOT of contests on my own! LOL)
Thank you to all who have visited me this week. I do hope that you will continue to return even without me bribing you the carnival pulling you here!

And now, onto the final giveaway. The winner for today will get their choice of one of two crayon holders I have made:

OR
(there are more photos here of each one so go look if you would like to!)

I will tell you, I made one earlier this year and it has come in handy. First of all, it looks a lot prettier than a box of crayons. It's not too many but not too few for all three of my kiddos. It hasn't opened/ripped/crushed and spilled crayons out into the bottom of the purse/diaper bag. We have used it: in the car, in restaurants, while visiting other people's houses. Right now, we only have one ourselves. I will be making a few more (so I can permanently keep one in the diaper bag and my purse). I will also be giving a few of these as Christmas presents. And whichever one is not chosen by the lucky winner, will end up in my Etsy store!

Now don't forget to also:
sign up for my first giveaway
sign up for my second giveaway
sign up for my third giveaway
sign up for my fouth giveaway
visit etsymom for the fabulous giveaways there as well

And go back to the Fall Y'all headquarters and sign up for LOTS of freebies (last I saw, almost 500 giveaways to take part in!)

Other notes:
I'm sorry, but I'm only shipping to the US or to an APO address. I know, it means I'm leaving out a bunch of nice people but the cost of shipping and all that jazz!

Also, a shameless self-promo here, please go and visit my etsy store Emmagail Creations. I'm hard at work over here making some lovely aprons to list over there. So feel free to go over there and browse around =)