Kinda Like a Hippie

And the winner is....

Here it is folks, right on schedule, if the schedule is one followed by Braniff airlines, which only has meaning to people at least my age who might actually remember poor defunct, now dead Braniff airlines; and does this count as talking disparagingly about the dead, if the dead is a business? After that sentence (we use the term loosely) doesn't it make you afraid to know that I teach the nation's youth? Don't worry, it isn't really the nation, it's just Texas and most of them will never leave here. It's way too far to drive. And besides most Texans see no reason to leave Texas.

So, as usual, I am a day late (and way more than a dollar short). I did the drawing part on Valentine's day. I just couldn't get to the posting part. I mean, I do have to keep The Boyfriend happy you know. He just loves driving over to my town and taking me out to eat afer working hard all day. I wouldn't want to deny him these pleasures.

I know, I know, get on with the giving away part.

Here are all the little strips of paper that are the 103 comments printed and cut apart. Please notice the holiday appropriate red hat.

And this is me tossing them into the hat. I know, could my veins get any bulgier? Nurses love me.

I stirred them up well. Don't worry, I put that one that fell out back in.

This is the first name out of the hat, which means first choice of the shirts. I made nice little signs so you would know what I was doing. I was taking the picture myself and it's a little blurry.

Here are the three winners.

I will of course be contacting them by e-mail or blog and hopefully mailing out shirts very soon after all the choices are decided.

I loved this giveaway contest. It was tons of fun looking at and entering on the other blogs. I found several I will be reading from now on. I hope some of you will stop back by occasionally. Since I had so much fun with my first give away I think I may have to eventually do some more- after I decide what to give away. Blogland is a cool place.

Feral imagination

Last Saturday The Hippiekid participated in a music contest of sorts. His piano teacher calls it a festival- um,not the kind we usually go to. It's a competition, I guess. They only play for a judge and are ranked. Not sure where it goes from there. Maybe the teacher gets points for all her students. Maybe if you are really good you advance to something else. Okay, it's obvious I am new to this and haven't quite figured it out. I have no musical ability, but I love to listen to it, and I value it greatly. That is why when HK showed the tiniest bit of interest and inclination I decided he will be taking piano lessons until he moves out of the house. He likes it and he does well. And the competition thingy? He got a Superior ranking on his pieces. That's the highest. I looked at the scale on the bottom of the page.

After he played we went out to eat with The Boyfriend's mother, since she lives in the same town, and we were all dressed up. Hereafter we will refer to her as Oma, as that is what all the grandkids call her.

Here is part of our meal conversation.

Oma: Oh my, what happened to your chin?

HK: I shot myself in the face.

Oma: What?

HK: With a gun.

Oma: Oh, haha, what really happened?

HK: A Bazooka

So I diverted the conversation to the delicious green beans. HK sat there eating away, looking so perfect and polite. It's amazing what some pin-striped pants, a white shirt and a tie can do.

A few minutes later we get this.

HK: Look Oma, I'm turning into an alien.

Oma: Ooh, how did your fingers get all green.

HK: I don't know,I just went to bed and woke up like this. I think I've been abducted.

But he cleans up well.

How to make Valentine's Day more fun... at least for yourself.

Enter to win groovy cool prizes (yes, I really do talk that way and it doesn't even seem all that weird coming from me). I am a new participant in the One World - One Heart Event.  Lisa Oceandreamer from Heart of the Nest and Imagination Cafe is the host. I copied this from the event information post:

It is a blog-wide giveaway event. The original idea behind this was to bring bloggers together from around the world who may never ordinarily meet. It closes the gap of the blog community and enables us to interact, discover new and wonderful people, and in the process possibly win a prize or many prizes along the way. Last years event had nearly 100 participants and many connections were made because of it......friendships that are still going strong.

So if you click that image (oops, I can't seem to make that work), or go to http://oneworldevent.blogspot.com/ you will find a long list of participants giving away all kinds of goodies. All you have to do to enter is visit the blogs and leave a comment. And my blog is included. Just leave a comment on this post by February 14th. I will print the names and draw a winner at some point on that day. And guess what? So will all the other participants. Enter on as many blogs as you want and you have more chances to win. Some bloggers have slightly different rules for commenting so be sure to read the post.

I am giving away this tie dyed t-shirt. I just made it last night. It has already been washed and dried and is ready to go. These are great dyes and will look good for a long time. (Update: I have finished some more shirts and will let the winner choose which one they want.)

When you leave your comment please be sure that it links to your blog, or if you don't have a blog, that you leave your e-mail address.

Another update: Due to the enormous response and the matching amount of fun I am having with this I have decided to give all 3 shirts away (actually, I decided that as soon as I made them). The first name drawn will be the super lucky winner. That person will get to have first pick, and on to 2nd and 3rd. The shirts are 3 different sizes so that may have some bearing.

We haz a ded cat.

We iz vera sad.

It's been a rough week here at the hippie house. Our auxilliary cat (as opposed to our other cat known as the real pet), the one who just decided to move in after scoping out the place, came to a sad end on Thursday. When we drove up Thursday afternoon we were met with Mr. Fluffers lying dead in the road. I freaked (understatement allowed so as not to appear too bizarre). Hippiekid took it much better than I did. Damn, I loved that cat. After much crying and pacing and frantic behavior on my part it was decided that we would drive the fluffy yellow body of one of the coolest cats in the world the 70 miles to be buried at The Boyfriend's house. Ain't no way nobody's diggin no hole on this rocky fossil mound we live on anyway...even assuming I had the emotional fortitude. This whole death and grief thing really kicks my butt (especially when it is sudden, I did better when The Boyfriend's dad died since he had been sick a while). I think my body goes into some sort of memory mode and just starts reacting to grief like it did when Will died.

The Boyfriend, being the good man he is, already had the hole dug when we arrived. Mr. Fluffer had a burial by headlights. However, the hole there was too shallow for my liking even though it had been dug with much effort through about an inch of topsoil and lots of rocks. I sobbed and cursed the rocky soil some more. It went something like this, "I just, baaaahhahahahasnifffhooohooo, want to be able to, wahhhhhhuhhuhhuh, bury my damn cat. Why can't I just have, ooohhooooohooooo, somewhere where I can dig a damn hole? Bwaaah, sniffcoughsnort, huhuhuhuhu at least in Oklahoma, sobsniff,  you can bury your pets! Ohohohsobsobsobsnifflesnortcry."

I hope you are in a happy place Fluffer. We miss you here.

 

 

If this post made you sad, I'm sorry. In honor of Fluffer, try this link to cheer yourself up http://icanhascheezburger.com .