It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

Is just one of the songs you will hear on A Very Chappy Christmas, Volume I - IV. My blog contest is officially over. Thanks to everyone who participated, and if you didn't, then you are a loser. LUH-YOOZ-ERRR. And you will rue the day that you didn't enter my contest. You are remiss.

So you're all probably wondering who the big winner was, huh? I will tell you shortly but first, have you all sampled this product yet? If not, I'm going to insist that you do so immediately, if not sooner.

It's Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. I believe it first came out last year around this time, and you can only get it during the Holidays. My lady claims it's available year round in Bammie, but I'm not sure I believe her. I'm not calling her a liar or anything, but even according to the official Pepsi website says that it's only available for 8 weeks starting in November. So basically, my lady is a liar.

Anyway, it's delicious. It's refreshing. It's delightful. It's a taste sensation for your mouth. And while it is quite enjoyable just served alone, on some ice, it's fabulous excellence when splashed with a little vodka (or as I like to call it, vodker) and a twist of lime. Oh help me Rhonda. Delicious. So please go out and buy some today and try it. I don't work for the good folks at Pepsi, and this is the only product of theirs that I support. I'm a coke drinker, myself.

Now onto the contest. The winners were selected last night by a random number generator. And I promise I did not cheat. To tell you the truth, it was a little anti climatic. I kind of felt like this blog contest was a big deal, and it was.....but only to me, I guess. When I put the numbers in, I kind of felt like there should be a drum roll. And a guy in a tux. With a mic. And some balloons. And maybe one of those big phone booth things with a wind maker that blows money around. Not for the winner of the blog, but for me, just because I've always wanted to go in there and try to grab the money. The people that do it on TV go about it wrong way, and I've always wanted to show the world how it's really done.

But it was just me, in my jammies, and my dogs, and they were passed out on the bed, exhausted from eating the raw hides we gave them. Which, coincidentally, give them the WORST gas you've ever smelled. It's heinous. It'll make a girl really not enjoy her Sierra Mist Cranberry Splash. Uck.

So yeah, I told the random number generator to pick a number between 0 and 28, since that was the number of comments, and then I just hit enter, and the number came up. There was no loud music, no confetti, no "Tell her what's she's won, Johnny!" It was a real let down.

Anyway, since I wanted MORE out of the whole choosing a winner experience, I decided right then and there, that instead of ONE winner, we would have THREE!!!! That way, I got to push the "enter" button on my keyboard twice more and really punch up the excitement value over here.

So! The winning numbers were......(drum roll please)...........

9!

27!

25!

Tell them who they are, Cappy!

9 - Reenie - my dear friend from Kansas, who chose O Holy Night by Martina McBride as he favorite Christmas song. Good news, Reenie! That song does appear on one of the CDs!

27 - Sara P - my good friend Sara, or perhaps loyal readers of this blog will know her better as The Cuteness' mother! Sara cheated and selected 3 Christmas favorites, including Silent Night, Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas (I said it first, for the record, though), and Hard Candy Christmas (Dolly Parton). Sara, you'll be pleased to know that ALL THREE of those songs (yes, even Hard Candy Christmas) are included in the Chappy Christmas CDs!

25 - Lisatastrophies! This is a cyber friend, who I met through Ravelry, who has a hilarious blog that you should all go read. Lisa is local (she lives in Austin), but I've never met her. She's been going through a bit of a hard time lately, so I'm super pumped that she won, and I hope these CDs will give her some Christmas cheer. Her favorite Christmas song is I'll be Home For Christimas, which appears on Volume 4, sung by ol' Blue Eyes himself, and it's also one of my very favorites.

So congrats to all who won, and thanks again to those who entered. Reenie and Sara P, I know how to get your packages to you. Lisa, send me a message on Ravelry and let me know how you want me to send your package.

I will definitely do another blog contest in the future, probably for my blogiversary in April, so stay tuned. I'm off to start decorating the house!

I can't take it anymore!!!!!!! Blog contest

I. Love. Christmas.

I love everything about it. The lights, the sound of jingle bells, the smell of cookies baking, the fact that people seem to generally be in a better mood than the rest of the year, the cheesy Christmas specials and movies, the decorations in the stores, the wrapping of the gifts, and most especially, the music.

Oh, the music. I love love love the Christmas music.

Confession: I've been secretly listening to my Christmas CDs since the day after Halloween. I just couldn't wait any more. I would pop them in the CD player in my car and jam out while I was driving. But if someone else were to be in my ride with me, I didn't let on that I had Christmas music already playing. But now I can. Now, I don't care any more. Because Christmas is 40 days away (40 DAYS???!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!!) and I don't care who knows it, darnitalltoheck I am in the Christmas spirit.

I ought to be, I mean, I've been knitting for Christmas since July forcryingoutloud.

So, in the spirit of Christmas, and to help all my bloggy friends out there get in the spirit, too, I am going to hold my first ever blog contest! I'm so excited.

Here's the story: every year for the past 8 or 9 years or so, I like to make something homemade to give to my friends and family with their Christmas presents. The first few years it was these adorable little snowman/Rudolph/angel figurines (which I will take pictures of and post as soon as I get my Christmas decorations out, which I can tell you right now will be next week while I'm off work). This year, of course, it's knitted goods. But for the past 4 years, since 2004, I've made a mix CD of Christmas tunes. All my favorites, every year a new CD with new holiday classics. And I burn up a bunch and hand them out. They've been extremely well received, ifIdosaysomyself, and they're titled "A Very Chappy Christmas" Volumes I - IV.

And so now I'd like to share them with you. One lucky winner will be chosen to receive all 4 volumes of A Very Chappy Christmas, as well as some of my knitty goodness (what, I don't want to say because I want that part to be a surprise, but trust me when I say that you will love it, I don't care who you are, it's damn adorable and I have mad craft skillz).

To enter this blog contest (did I mention I'm so excited to be doing a blog contest and please please please enter even if I know you in person because I want to see how many people I can get to enter, kthanksbye), all you have to do is leave me a comment here on my blog and answer the following question:

What is your favorite Christmas song?

Like, say you had to only pick one, what would it be? Let me know! I want to hear it! There is no wrong answer, but if you say "Let it snow! Let it snow! Let it snow!" I will tell you right now that you won't win because I hate that song.

Just joking. Not about hating that song, I really do, but if that's your favorite, then hey, who am I to judge? Be honest!

So anyway, leave your comment. I will keep this contest open for 1 week - so next Sunday evening, at 7:00 CST. Then I will have a random number generator select a winner from our entries, and that person will receive an early Christmas present! I want to have it in the mail by Thanksgiving so you have plenty of time to enjoy the CDs!

And now I will tell you my favorite Christmas song(s). It was hard to narrow it down to just one, but I have to say that if I simply must pick only one, hands down, it's "Have yourself a Merry Little Christmas". And I don't really care who sings it, I love all versions. It's a beautiful, simple and poignant song.

Close runners up are "Do You Hear What I Hear?". "O Holy Night" and "I'll be home for Christmas".

So that's it! Good luck! Oh, and because I am physically unable to post a blog with no pictures, here's one of our tree from last year.

Feliz Navidad, y'all!

Gift of Life

See the new banner on the right hand side of my blog?

(if you're receiving this blog through an e-mail or feed, please take a minute to go to my actual blog site and notice the banner, thanks)


You can enter to win a really cool quilt if you click on the link and leave a comment. But the quilt isn't what I want to talk about today. The quilt is cool and all, but really, who cares about quilts when 18 people will die today because they were waiting for a life-saving organ transplant that never came.


The quilt give-away is to help a little baby named Mia, who just yesterday underwent a heart transplant. You can enter to win the quilt, or donate money to her family to help pay for her medical expenses. I'm cynical about donating money over the innernets to people you don't really know, too. Believe me, I hear you.

So if you don't want to donate money, that's cool. Maybe instead you can say a little prayer for Mia and her family. And while you're at it, say a prayer for all the other nearly 100,000 people who are waiting for a transplant.

Including my uncle, Maurie.

That's Maurie, or Mo as we call him, there on the left. He is my uncle by marriage, and probably one of the coolest people you've never met. And for those of you who have met him, then you what I'm talking about. Maurie doesn't know I'm blogging about him today, and though I'm not sure how he would feel about me telling his personal story on here (so I will keep that to myself), I know he would want me to get the word out about organ donation.

Maurie received his transplant over 20 years ago, and his donated kidney served him well for just about 20 years. But a few years ago, it gave out, and Maurie is back on dialysis. A machine keeps his blood clean, and keeps him alive, while he waits to see if he'll have another chance at transplantation.

Because of Maurie I feel very strongly about organ donation. I know that it is a personal choice, and not everyone will agree with me, but for those of you who are unsure, and because this is my blog dammit and I'll write what I want, I've put together a few facts about organ donation. For your reading pleasure. Also, I totally stole these facts from the interwebs. Thanks, Al Gore.

Did you know....that organ donation is supported by all major religions here in the US? Well it is!

Did you know....that donating your organs does NOT alter your appearance for funeral purposes at all? Nope, you'll still look like a cadaver. A dead cadaver.

Did you know....that if you are able to donate all your organs and tissues (including eyes, bone, skin, etc.) you could save or help up to 50 lives? Fifty people. Five Oh. Think of the possibilities!!!

You are dead, you don't need your eyes anymore. Why not give someone else the chance to see again? If you were blind or needed a heart or a kidney, wouldn't you want someone to do the same for you?

Please, take a minute and think about this. Consider what you'd feel like if the roles were reversed and the person you loved more than anyone in the whole wide world needed a transplant. Wouldn't you want someone out there to be generous enough to donate the Gift of Life to them? Won't you please do the same?
Take a minute and sign a donor card. But that's not enough. You also must make your wishes known to your family. Discuss with them the fact that you want your organs to be donated. They will have the final say when you are gone.

Click here to receive an organ donor card.

Maurie, Mia and I thank you.

Yes We Can

I'm going to break my own rules yet again and discuss politics on my blog. I mean, really, how can I not?

This phrase has been overused a lot in the past weeks, not to mention the past 24 hours, but we literally witnessed history last night.

And it was amazing.
Now look. I don't care who you are, or where you live. North, south, black, white, red, blue, Republican or Democrat.

I don't care if you agree with his politics or not. I don't think there is any denying that Barack Obama is a powerful speaker, and that was one of the best speeches I've ever seen. And the fact that this country elected an African American to hold the highest office is simply astounding. Not because it wasn't long overdue, which it was. Not because he doesn't deserve it, which he does. But because I, and probably most of you, simply never thought it would happen in my lifetime. And whether or not you voted for him, the fact that he was elected is awesome.

We can all agree that America needs change, right? And the two men who ran for President this year were both admirable, intelligent men. I can't say the same for the VP picks. Sorry, had to get one jab in. But seriously, can Barack Obama really bring change to this country? I don't know. Do I believe he can? Of course. Do we all need to put our differences and bitterness about this election aside and try to move forward? You betcha. (ok, 2 jabs) Is that easier said than done? Yes. Do I like asking myself questions and then answering them? It appears so.

I sat and watched last night with tears streaming down my face. I teared up again this morning watching the Today show. I have a feeling this will happen a lot to me over the next few days.

I am so damn proud to be an American right now. I feel like I helped make this happen, even though I know that my state is and probably most always will be a red state.

I don't know what the future of this country holds, but I do know that I am hopeful. I believe in our newly elected leader, and I haven't felt this way since.....well, since ever. And I hope that no matter which side of the line you fall on, that you could at least appreciate that last night was a very important moment for this country.

Oh, I'm having a bonfire later today to burn all my neighbors' McCain/Palin signs. Anyone want to come make s'mores?

But really, for the record, McCain's concession speech was really eloquent and well spoken.

Also, I have a non-lesbian like crush on Michelle Obama. Is she the cutest?