Friday, December 12, 2008

Preview** Six Days of Christmas** Preview

I had so much fun shopping for all of the prizes for this giveaway! Everything that I picked out is something that I really liked and want for myself. (Can I enter my own giveaway?) Remember the theme is All About Mom so everything is with YOU in mind, not your kids!

When you see the prizes you're going to ask yourself "How could she afford all of this?" Part of it is from my BlogHer money -- remember all the money I earn from the ads on the sidebar I turn around and use for my giveaways so be sure to click on those ads!

Part of it, the largest part, came from a gift certificate that Best Buy tried to buy me off with after our little escapade. Newer readers don't know about my dishwasher saga with Best Buy. It made great blog fodder with multiple posts. From the first purchase and bad installation to the moment I realized that Best Buy was holding us hostage by not repairing my broken dishwasher to when it was finally repaired 8 weeks later. I think Best Buy realized that I was a public relations nightmare, not with standing the Hostage Crisis Counter I had prominently displayed at the top of my blog. So long story short (or not so short) to say that they paid me off compensated me for my extreme discomfort by sending me a large gift card. Not large in size, it was actually quite small in size, but large in monetary worth. I had vowed to not shop at Best Buy again, part of their incentive for sending me the gift card, so I decided to use it for the giveaway. Wow, that was a long explanation!

Without further ado, here are the prizes for the Six Days of Christmas listed in order of their days. The giveaway starts Sunday and goes to Friday.

The First Day of Christmas is a snowflake candle holder and votive candle from Yankee Candle. Ross helped me pick out this day and Day Two's prize also.

*Child not included, well maybe she is if she's having a particularly moody day on this day's giveaway.


The candle is Sparkling Snow. Ross picked this candle out from all the other candles at Yankee Candle. He wouldn't let me pick any other candle. When Julia picked the candle up she exclaimed "This smells really good!" I can't tell you how it smells since I have no sense of smell. You newer readers might not know that, but yes, I am special needs. So much more could be said... but we'll let it go.

The Second Day of Christmas is a gift bag from Bath and Body Works.

The bag includes shower gel and body lotion in the scent of Japanese Blossom and also has a loofa. Poor Ross, I drug that poor boy around the entire store sticking open bottles of lotion and gel in his face. He was a trooper though and swore this scent smelled the best. I promised him lunch at Appleby's for helping me. My children can be bought. Well not bought bought, like I'm not selling them. Barter maybe, but selling them would be illegal.

The Third Day of Christmas includes 2 books and chocolate. The first book is The Friday Night Knitting Club by Kate Jacobs. I loved this book! I was completely surprised to see there was a sequel titled Knit Two. The first book is a paperback but the second is hardback. I'm dieing to read it and asked Ross if he thought the winner would notice it had been read. He looked at me like I was an idiot and merely answered "Yes, it would be noticeable." So I am refraining from reading it but its not easy!

Also included are two Dove chocolate bars in Dark Chocolate and Milk Chocolate. When you are laying around reading your books you can indulge in some chocolate too.

Okay, this isn't part of the giveaway but Ryan has recently decided he wants to be in photos. He was feeling a bit left out so I took his picture. So there he stands in his new snow boots that he insists on wearing from first thing in the morning and until I took them off to put his pajamas on. Obviously, pants are optional. He is wearing a diaper so his thing isn't hanging out.

The Fourth Day of Christmas is a Sex in the City gift basket! The day after taking these photos I realized the irony of this one!

Included is a wide screen DVD of the Sex in the City movie, 2 clear plastic martini glasses, a bottle of Cosmopolitan mix and 6 squares of Ghirardelli chocolate.

When I think of Sex in the City I think of Cosmo's so I had to include it. The mix is alcohol free but you can add Vodka if you like. It's alcohol free because for one thing some people don't drink alcoholic beverages and secondly because to the best of my knowledge, its illegal to transport alcohol across some state lines-- Arkansas definitely comes to mind. If I got sent to the big house I'd have to change the name of my blog from There's Always Room For One More to Doin' Time in the Hokey. Do you know what a hassle that would be? Also although it might be a nice vacation, orange jumpsuits really aren't a good look for me. Trust me on this.

The Fifth Day of Christmas is a Digital Picture Frame! Ryan is so happy because he finally got to hold something!

There's a lot of mumbo jumbo about what this puppy does. You can enlarge the photo to see the fine print. I almost didn't get this because it seemed too "mommy" to me but my sister-in-law Janne' convinced me it was a great prize. Its so great that she signed up for a Google account yesterday so she's already to start leaving comments on Sunday.

And now for the final prize, the big finale, the prize my children are fighting to get:

A pink 4 gb Zune mp3 player and case.


I know its pink, which isn't everyone's favorite color, but its girly! And it's All About Mom! Besides, beggars can't be choosers! Didn't your mom ever teach you that?

So the rules are simple. I will start posting on Sunday morning at 12:01 am. A comment gets one entry and if you follow me you get another. I had said that I would keep each day open until 11:00 pm CDT but I have decided to close it at 9:00 pm CDT. That way I have time to pick a winner and announce the lucky person's name before the next day's post goes up.

I can't wait until Sunday!

20 comments:

Vickie said...

I love that clicking ad idea, what a way to give back to the blogging community.

The prizes look great:)

April said...

great stuff! you're so freaking generous :-) p.s. the kids are gorgeous. as always.

Kristin said...

I'll be there!! Tell the kids not to hide all the prizes. :-)

Hope you are having a happy Friday!

Unknown said...

You crack me up - how fun are you!!! Wendi

Margaret M said...

Denise,

my hubby has been asking me for a list of what he and the kids could by me for Christmas. Are you interested in being a personal shopper? I am just going to send him to the site and say pick any day and I will be happy!!! As far as the book....READ IT!

Denise Grover Swank said...

Margaret, I'm a fast reader-- I could definitely have it done before Tuesday.

As far as the gifts, like I said I picked stuff I would want to win. Great minds must think alike, huh?

Denise Grover Swank said...

Oh, and THANK YOU Wendi! Some days I throw this stuff out there and you could hear a pin drop and then I think-- did I go too far that time? Did I just push myself over the top? At least I know that one person thought I was amusing. Mission accomplished!

debi lynn mattingly said...

Great gifts girlfriend! I will make sure I come back...and YES, of course you can keep playing everyday for a give-away! Don't worry about others not wanting to play...they are coming by but, maybe it was a gift this time they didn't want? But, the "best" is yet to come! :)

xo...deb

Joan said...

I can't wait. This is very cool of you!

My 6 year old has been asking Santa for a pink ipod... does that get me extra chances? Just kidding because Santa has that one covered. Still looking for a purple toy poodle though. :-)

Joan.

Denise said...

This is such a great idea...I'll be back~

Dana said...

Will you exlain the difference in follow you and leaving a comment? Just found your blog a couple of days ago and was very interested in your Vietnam series. (we have a daughter from VN) I have been reading since then and just read about the Christmas contest. I am trying to understand the rules (:
Thanks,
Dana
www.thegiftofmaiafaith.com
www.thepromiseofalianagrace.com

Denise Grover Swank said...

Dana, that is an excellent question! Sometimes as I learn all these bloggy things I presume that everyone else is learning them right along with me!

To Follow someone is something that Google has. First you need a Google account, which you already have. Most blogs now will have somewhere on their sidebar a place with little thumbnail photos of people and above it says Followers and a number-- the number of people following. Mine is on the right side, below the BlogHer Blogroll and above the map of visitors. You will see the words: Follow this blog Just click on that and then it will ask you "Do you want to follow this blog?" you just click yes.

On nice feature of following a blog is that you can see the updated blogs on your Blogger dashboard. However I usually just use my blog roll further on down the right side. "Following" is really just a shameless popularity plug. The more followers you have the more clout you have. I almost didn't include that part but then I thought "What the hey!"

(Yes I REALLY do say that and I also really say Crappy Doodles.)

Lorie said...

You are awesome...can't wait!!!

Kim said...

Your posts are so funny! I'll certainly is stopping by everyday! I'm feeling lucky!

Brandy said...

I love your models...they are better than Vanna White. (Are you sure they aren't for sale? Just kidding!) The gifts are amazing and if I win the books you can read it before sending it to me. That just makes it a book that has been "loved".

I'll be back tomorrow!

Free Art Printables said...

LOVE the boots and the shirt! That looks like my house!

Bramblemoon Farm said...

Wow, these are such cool gifts. Are you sure you don't want to keep them. I would understand:)

Dawn said...

WOW ~ Looks great!!

LenaLoo said...

You are awesome and I am going to click away on those BlogHer ads!

Lori said...

Ryan is such a cutie!! :)