MY FACEBOOK HERO IS ....

.... Kristal!!

Last week I asked for help creating profile and cover pictures for the new Facebook page I'm linking recipes at. This week I have those pictures!

Kristal came up with a profile picture that I love. If I had the skills to make one myself, then this is what it would have looked like. It's like she read my mind.

She also made a cover photo that coordinates and thought ahead to move the salad picture over to make more room for the profile picture. Smart lady!

Go check out For the Love of Grub's Facebook page, then visit the Facebook page for Kristal Davis Photography just for kicks (or if you're looking for a photographer in the Akron area).

OF FACEBOOK, CREATIVITY, AND A CONTEST

I frequently link recipes from For the Love of Grub on my Facebook page, but I recently asked Facebook friends who use my recipe blog if they would find it helpful to have a Facebook page dedicated solely to linking recipes. Enough of them said yes that I decided to do it. I'll still link things on my own page when the mood strikes, but a separate page will be convenient for friends who use Facebook as their primary online hangout.

I started the Facebook page a week or so ago, but I didn't think about the fact that it needs a cover photo and profile picture. Two things I don't have because my site is just a plain ol' recipe file for myself and my friends to easily access, not a real food blog that's trying to drum up business. The problem is the page looks kinda naked without them. The other problem is that I have absolutely zero creativity or skills in the "let's come up with profile and cover photos" category. Actually, I could probably just take a shot of a regular meal at our house, do a collage of a few recipe shots from the blog, or just use some fun pattern for the cover photo, but I'm at a total loss for the profile picture.

That's where you come in, oh creative friends of mine. I would be forever grateful if someone could create a profile picture for the Facebook page. Really grateful. Here's what it needs to be. Simple (because I'm not a fancy kind of person) and ... well, yeah. That's the main thing. Simple. And square, because that's the shape of the profile picture space. The blog has a lot of blue in it, so something that coordinates (or at least doesn't horrifically clash) would be a bonus. 

If you want to contribute a profile picture for me to consider, then please e-mail it to me at missesweathersby @ gmail . com (spaces removed, of course) by the end of next weekend (11:59 pm on 4/5/15). Do not post them on Facebook. Just e-mail them to me. Assuming I get entries, I will look at them with the other Ws on Monday (4/6/15) and either make a family decision or post them up for a public vote. I'm not sure which it will be yet. Either way, the person whose profile picture gets chosen will get a $10 gift card to the place of their choice or $10 in their PayPal account. I know that's not much for spending time creating something, but maybe someone is bored and can bust out a cool profile picture in 15 minutes or someone wants to give the project to their kid for school or ... something. If no one gives it a shot, then I'll just stick with a naked Facebook page until I figure out something else.

Ready? Set. Go!

WINNER - NEPALI SCARF

Congratulations to SheilaK!  You are the winner of the beautiful Nepali scarf from Simone Coster and Trades of Hope!!

If  anyone would like to learn more about how Trades of Hope is helping women around the world to get out of poverty, then please check visit Simone's website or Facebook page.

GUEST POST: GIVEAWAY - NEPALI SCARF

THIS GIVEAWAY HAS ENDED

The following is a guest post from Simone Coster, a friend of mine.  I'm posting it simply because I think giveaways are fun and that the organization she works for sounds pretty awesome.  

As a mom of three young boys there isn't anything that could make my heart heavier than not being able to provide for my little guys.

Unfortunately, there are many moms in extreme poverty all around the world that aren’t able to. Some moms are left with the choice of giving their children away, selling them to try and earn money, or stay together and starve. Being part of sex slavery, sweat shops, or raising kids with disabilities alone. For example, Nepal is one of the poorest countries in the world with a 42% unemployment rate. Every year, approximately 10,000 girls from the ages of 9 to 16 are stolen, sold, or forced into brothels.

I am blessed to be part of a business called Trades of Hope. Trades of Hope offers these women a chance. With the help of Cooperatives, Organizations and Missionaries, women are getting out of sex slavery and supporting their families! They are given a chance to not only survive, but live a life filled with meaning and hope. They are able to work and make lovely items that are being sold, at their asking price, in the United States. They are able to provide food for their families, shelter, schooling, and medical care. Things that I have taken for granted many times.

Being a full time mom and being a Compassion Entrepreneur for Trades of Hope and work as I choose is amazing! I love helping my family and helping a mom across the world at the same time! What other careers give you that option?

I would love to offer a giveaway of one Nepali Aqua Scarf to one lucky winner! To enter, please do any of the following.  Each person may have up to three entries.

#1 Leave a comment on this blog.
#2 “Like” www.facebook.com/simonecostertradesofhope, then leave a comment here saying you did it.
#3 Leave a comment on the above Facebook page, then leave a comment here saying you did it.

The last day to enter is June 19th at 8pm. The winner will be chosen at random and announced by June 21st at 12pm.

For more information about hosting a home or online party or or about becoming a Compassion Entrepreneur and joining my team, please visit www.mytradesofhope.com/simonecoster.

THE AMAZON PRIZE GOES TO ...

... Gina/Anders Family!!

Thanks to everyone for taking a little walk down memory lane with me. A lot can change in seven years, huh?

77,777

I just noticed another mononumeric visitor count is right around the corner. Want to celebrate? You do? All righty, then.

I'll give away $15.00 in Amazon gift cards that I've earned through using Swagbucks as my search engine. In order to enter, you have to leave a comment telling me what was going on in your life seven years ago. Only one entry per person and you don't have to have a Blogger account to leave a comment. Just be sure I know who you are and have a way to contact you. We'll leave the contest open for 24 hours, which means you have until 3:30pm PST on 6/23/11 to post your entry. I'll post the winner's name tomorrow evening.

I'm obviously ineligible to enter the contest, but I'll still tell you what I was doing seven years ago. We were living in Ashland, OR with a newborn and a toddler. I was home raising the offspring and Tim was starting the MAT (masters of arts in teaching) program.

What was your life like seven years ago?

AND THE 66,666 WINNER IS .....

... Connie/ggmom!!!

Thanks for indulging me in celebrating mononumeracy. It was fun to read everyone's comments!

66,666

Another mononumeric visitor count is about to happen and you know I love mononumeracy. A couple weeks ago I told Linda, my friend who makes the great jewelry, that I was going to give away something from her shop as a celebratory prize. She, being completely and totally awesome, said she was going to donate $10 toward the prize. Isn't that sweet?

Here's the plan. The mononumeric number is 66,666, so I want you to leave a comment telling me anything you want about when you were six. Significant or trivial, it doesn't matter. It just has to be something about your life as a six year old and you can only leave one comment. Cheaters will be kicked to the curb.

I'm posting this kinda late on Monday, I want you to have at least a full 24 hours to play, and I'm not online in the mornings now that school is back in session. So, I'll let this contest run until noon (PST) on Wednesday. Then I'll do a random drawing from the names of everyone who left a comment and that person will win a $25.00 gift certificate to Linda's shop.

You do not have to have a blogger account to leave a comment. Anonymous (technically) comments are allowed, but be sure to leave your name so that I know how to find you if you're the winner.

If you don't wear jewelry or aren't into the style that she makes, go ahead and enter anyway. If you win, then I'm sure you can find someone to spend the gift certificate on!

Happy mononumeric visitor count to me!! Happy reminiscing of being six to you!!

A SALE & A GIVEAWAY & A DOUBLE CONTEST

Ok, folks, I've got three friends with great things happening in their businesses. Think of yourself, Christmas, or whatever gift-giving occasion is coming up in your little world as you enter these contests and take advantage of the sales.

Jewelry Sale - Linda, the one whose jewelry I've been sporting and blogging about lately, is having a "sale of the day" every day between now and Thanksgiving for fans of her Facebook page. I love the items I own (she's even done some custom stuff for me) and those that I've bought as gifts have been hits with the recipients. She has two sites - her main site and one that's primarily sterling silver. Today's sale is one free pair of earrings after the purchase of three at regular price and you can find out how to get your free pair on her FB page.

Apron Giveaway - Robin, who is quite handy with a sewing machine, is giving away a half-apron on her blog. I'm not an apron-wearer, but I've bought two aprons from Robin as gifts. This is the first one, purchased straight from her etsy site, for someone with African-themed decor in their home.
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This is the second one I bought, a custom order. I showed Robin a picture of the style I wanted and told her the recipient is anti-girly stuff. She came up with this reversible apron that is so fun and non-girly that it almost makes me wish I wore aprons. Almost, but not quite.

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Go check out Robin's etsy site and see all the fun stuff she has available. You can also check out her past sales to get a feel for the variety of stuff she can make. To enter the contest, she's actually asking you to go check out Linda's jewelry site, then come back and leave a comment telling which item you like most. The drawing is happening 11/4/10, so I'm assuming the deadline is 11/3/10. Love it when friends use their businesses to support each other!!

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Monogrammed Bag & Gift Certificate Contest - Heidi, the one who made the framed "W" and monogrammed backpack I've blogged about, has two fun things going on at her blog. First up is a monogrammed cosmetic bag, with colors chosen by the winner. Second is a $15.00 gift certificate to put toward a custom item. She does all sorts of amazing embroidery, but if that's not your cup of tea (it's not mine either, so it's all good), then check out her woven monograms. You can see what's in her etsy site, but be sure to also scan her blog, as many of her items are custom and never make it to the etsy site. The deadline is 11/3/10 and the winner will be announced 11/6/10.

55,555

This blog hit another mononumeric number today and I missed it. Why, oh why, does mononumeracy and alliteration make me smile? I'm such a dork. I've actually been waiting several days for the delight of seeing 55,555 on the site meter, but I was too busy cleaning my room to catch it.

Anyway, such a cool number must be celebrated, so I decided to do a giveaway. I wanted to keep the mononumeric theme going, so I shortened the 55,555 down to just 55 and counted back 55 comments on my blog. The 55th most recent comment was from Shelley, so she'll be getting some soap from The Custom Soap Shop.

Ok, my mononumeric party is over. Time for me to finish cleaning and organizing my bedroom.

Sidenote - Shelley remains the winner even if people left comments, which would change the 55th most recent comment, while I was typing this post.

A SECRET CONTEST

I've done various contests on here, but this morning I did a secret one. I wanted to give away one of my favorite candles, but didn't feel like doing a regular contest. So, I decided to give it to someone who had commented on my blog last month.

I went to random.org and generated a random number between 1 and 31 (the number of days in March). It came up with 11. Then I went to my post from 3/11 to see how many comments were left. There were three, so the next random number I generated was between 1 and 3. The number that came up was 1. The first commenter on that post was Rachel, so she wins a Glade 2 in 1 creamy custard & blushing apple candle. Smells so good!!

THE COLD STONE GIFT CARD IS GOING TO ....

Kelly!!!

A little sidenote - Kelly's name is linked to Life With Boys,her regular blog, but she also has Love Lasts a Lifetime, a great marriage blog, and Cooking for the Guys, which is filled with oodles of recipes (including almost 200 with Weight Watchers points, for those who are doing that program).

I loved reading all of the comments! I was totally ready to have an ice cream potluck (or does it have to be called an ice cream social)? Anyway, I'd love to scarf a bunch of ice cream with my blog readers. Thanks for making this blog so fun for me!

HAPPY SECOND BIRTHDAY!!

Two years ago today, in a moment of spontaneity, I started this blog. In keeping with tradition (and I think one previous birthday celebration counts as a tradition), I'm going to give away something I love to celebrate the blog birthday. This year it will be a $5.00 gift card to Coldstone. Contrary to tradition, I'll actually get the date right on this year's celebration, rather than doing it a day late like I did last year.
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Oh my. I just noticed something as I typed that word while looking at the logo. I spell it as one word but the company spells it as two. Oops.

Anyway, back to the point. We're having a blog birthday celebration and you're invited. Simply leave a comment telling me something about ice cream. It could be the last flavor you ate, the brand you're loyal to, whether or not you've ever made it at home, your favorite Cold Stone (notice I made that two words) creation, the ice cream bar you loved the most as a kid, or whatever ice cream thought crosses your mind.

All comments left between now and 11:59pm tonight will be entered into the gift card drawing.
You can leave a comment without a Blogger account, but you'll need to include your name in the post. My family members can participate. International readers can enter too, but if they win, they'll have to give me an address in the states to ship the gift card too.

I'll get the party started. I absolutely love apple pie ala Cold Stone and Dreyer's cookies and cream, my dad's mom always had chocolate pudding pops at her house, we got an ice cream maker with Amazon gift cards we earned through Swagbucks and have made a few different flavors, and I used to eat a lot of Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia in college.

I've never tried an ice cream I didn't like.

SILAS HAS CHOSEN A WINNER

He liked several of the suggestions for his blog naming contest, a few had him laughing, but he ultimately chose "SIMPLY SILAS" as the name for his new blog. So, a big congratulations to Gina/peachuvamom for that suggestion!!

Gina, let me know if you want your $5.00 giftcard to be for Starbucks, Coldstone or Jamba Juice and Silas will get it dropped in the mail.

Now, we did run into a little technical difficulty. It appears that someone has already used that blog name. Of course, the guy hasn't posted anything since the summer of 2006, but we can't use that as our address. Stink-o-rama. Having an address and blog name that don't match is a bummer and he really wants SIMPLY SILAS as the name. After a meeting over dinner, Silas has made an executive decision. He will use the phrase "I'm simply Silas" as his address, minus all the spaces and punctuation, and keep SIMPLY SILAS as the title.

And that's that. He'll get the blog going in the next few days, so I'll give you a heads up when his first post is up.

SILAS IS HAVING A CONTEST

Silas has been asking for a blog of his own for quite some time. So, being incredibly awesome parents (well, for the moment, anyway), we're going to let him do it. He plans on using the blog to post recipes that he enjoys making, pictures he's taking, chatting about random things, and doing occasional writing assignments for school.

What he wants from you is some suggestions for the name of his blog. And, being genetically linked to me, he figured a contest was the best way to make the decision. So, here's the scoop. Between this very moment and 12:00pm PST on 1/28/10 you can leave as many ideas for the name of his blog as your creative brains can come up with. You do not have to have any special account to leave a comment here, but be sure to include your name if you leave a comment without an account. The person whose suggestion he chooses will get a $5.00 gift card to their choice of either Starbucks, Coldstone, or Jamba Juice. If the winner does not live in the United States, then they can choose someone in the USA to give their prize to and Silas will mail it to that person.

Ready? Set. Go!!

CHRISTMAS CHEER IS HEADED TO ...

... Leslie and Simone!!

I snapped a quick picture of our Sneaky Snowman (in the middle) hanging out with his cousins one last time and realized how much bigger the cousins are. Evidently my memory of how big a Sneaky Snowman should be, small enough to hide and big enough to not get lost, was not very accurate. I hope they're not too big to hide! Ack!

Anyway, thanks to everyone who shared some of their Christmas traditions. I love hearing how other people celebrate Christmas!

SNEAKY SNOWMAN

It's just about time for the Sneaky Snowman to make his appearance at our house!! Can't wait!! If you weren't around the first time I blogged about our magical little friend, then here's the scoop.

The Sneaky Snowman, a stuffed fellow, hibernates in a box with Christmas decorations. We always find him when we open those boxes up. Once he's freed from the box, the kids play with him for the rest of the day.

At night they each have to hold him and say "Sneaky Snowman so cold and white, please go hide while we sleep tonight". If they all do that, then the Sneaky Snowman will hide somewhere in our house while we all sleep that night. If they fail to say the magic words, then the Sneaky Snowman just stays wherever he was last put. We've had that happen a few times around here when the kids forgot to say goodnight to the Sneaky Snowman.

We realized that the Sneaky Snowman is pretty gracious toward young kids who don't quite talk, as Naomi would just touch him as a four month old and hug him while she jabbered as a 16 month old. However, he's pretty firm with adults. It seems that no matter how much an adult wants to find him, he's only visible to children when he's hiding. Tim and I are completely unable to figure out his hiding spots.

Each morning the kids go looking for the Sneaky Snowman. Sometimes they find him right away and other times it takes hours for him to be discovered. Once he's been found the kids can play with him until bedtime. Then the magic starts again and continues until the Christmas decorations are packed away. The boys have asked how the Sneaky Snowman gets around the house, but we've never been able to figure it out. It's magic!

Now, I just happen to know that our Sneaky Snowman has two friends who want to adopted by someone looking for a little Christmas magic in their home. One would like to stay close to home, but the other wants to do a little travelling. So, here's the plan. If you leave a comment telling me one (or more!) of your Christmas traditions from childhood or as an adult, then you'll be entered into a drawing to win a Sneaky Snowman. You're welcome to comment more than once if you remember another tradition you wanted to share, but you'll only get one entry in to the contest. The contest will run from now until 11:59pm PST on 11/29/09 and I'll announce the winners on 11/30/09. Two winners will be chosen - one in Oregon for the Sneaky Snowman who is a homebody and one somewhere else in the United States for the Sneaky Snowman with an adventurous spirit. You don't have to have an account in order to leave a comment, but be sure to leave your name so that I can contact you.

Looking forward to hearing your Christmas traditions!!

NORMAN IS HEADING TO ....

... Vinae's house!!

Thanks to everyone for entering the contest. I'll be getting some of your favorite books from the library on our next trip!

GIVING AWAY A PIECE OF ART

Three years ago Sonlight sent out a letter to many of their customers thanking them for choosing their curriculum. Included was a one-of-a-kind print of Norman Rockwell's Land of Enchantment, pictured above, that they had made just for their customers. Originally printed in the December 22, 1934 issue of The Saturday Evening Post, Sonlight had it printed on archival-quality, acid-free paper.

It's a neat picture, filled with characters from various children's stories. However, for three years it has sat in my closet. I'd love for someone to frame and hang it, to enjoy seeing it in their home or workplace. So, I'm giving it away! As Christmas is right around the corner, I'd encourage you to enter to win the print for yourself or to give it to someone you know would love it.

Heads will roll if I find out the winner sold it. Understood? Okey dokey.

I'll give one full day for each year the print has sat in my closet. So, between now and noon on 11/10/09 you can enter the contest by leaving a comment telling me what one of your favorite childhood books was. Only one entry per person. I'm willing to ship anywhere in the United States. I'll do a random drawing and announce the winner before I go to bed on Tuesday night.

As a sidenote, the print is about 12.75 x 23.5 inches (mine actually has a cream colored border around the edge) and you can check out Sonlight's tips for framing the print right here.

THE "DRESSING BLESSING" WINNER IS ....

Mary Lou!!

She's got eight bottles of salad dressing coming her way!!