Wednesday, February 4, 2009

We Have a Winner!!!

The last few weeks I've been struggling to reclaim my mojo. I'm in a funk. Part of my funk can be attributed to the fact that I've given up my planning period to teach an additional class, so I have no time to recharge. My motor is constantly running. I'm running on empty, and this coupled with the fact that I'm an introvert who needs time by myself has resulted to more appearances by Mr. Crankypants. It takes all my energy to keep him at bay, so my writing and creativity has suffered.

I'm not one to sit back and accept my fate. I've decided to be proactive. I've decided to follow Jack London's advice and to not wait for inspiration. I'm going after it with a club. To inject some enthusiasm into my blog, I decided to host my first giveaway contest at The Greasy Skillet. Tonight I'm announcing the winner.

For the sake of full disclosure, I should note that I personally know three of the individuals who are eligible for this drawing. They are:

Jane: She cared for our daughter for a year. Since I could never repay her for the quality time she spent with my daughter, I should probably rig the drawing for her to win.

Steve: He's married to one of my wife's college friends. I've only met him twice - once at a Nebraska football game, and he, his wife, and their two flatulent Great Danes visited our home once. Steve posted an outstanding post to the question, "What do you love most about your hometown?" You can read it here.

Rechelle: She writes a quirky blog called The Country Doctor's Wife, and she's a rock star - a regular Leather Tuscadero - in the blogging world.

I met her once at a bon fire, and despite her rock star status, she didn't wear leather. However, she had some great words of advice for this beginning blogger. For the record, she didn't play by the rules for the giveaway because she never responded to my prompt in her comment. Despite a profanity-laced protest by Mr. Crankypants, I've deemed her eligible for this drawing.

Here's the moment you've been waiting for: I placed the names in The Greasy Skillet prize hopper.

I gave it a good spin.

I turned it upside down and pulled out the following name:

Rebel

Congratulations!!!

Rebel's a regular reader of The Greasy Skillet, and she writes a great blog called Hillbilly Woman. I regularly read her blog for inspiration because she does a great job of capturing the lore and history of the Ozarks. I hope to use this inspiration to document the history of Lawrence, KS.

Anyway, Rebel wins a Josh Ritter album or she can choose a cookbook from my basement stash. She has the following choices:


How to Bake by Nick Malgieri
Jack's Skillet: Plain Talk and Some Recipes from a Guy in the Kitchen by Jack Butler
Crust and Crumb: Master Formulas for Serious Bread Bakers by Peter Reinhart

Rebel, email me your address and prize choice, and I'll ship it out. My email is mtrendel@excite.com.

thanks for playing,
muddywaters

7 comments:

rebel said...

YAHOO!
Thanks so much, I can't believe I WON! It's gonna be a hard decision because I really liked listenin' to the Josh Ritter music video you posted BUT I collect cookbooks sooo, I'll have to figure it out. I'll email you my address.
This is the second comment, I wonder where the first one went????

rebel said...

Sorry, disregard. All I can say is it's late and I get stupid when I'm tired. I was havin' trouble earlier with my computer and I thought it lost my first comment but as soon as I sent the second one I realized why I couldn't see the first one.

rebel said...

You have been tagged! Come on over and see.

muddywaters said...

I accidentally deleted some comments. Sorry!

Rechelle, I'll email my address, but I was thinking you could just give the book to The Oracle.

Also, you're confusing Pinky with Leather. Aren't they two different people? Who can settle this?

muddywaters said...

Steve, I received your comment about teaching without a planning period, but I deleted it. It's been tough, but I'm starting to find my groove, and some ways I'm becoming a better teacher.

I'm currently teaching a class on basic reading skills to our students who didn't meet AYP standards. It's actually been great working with them, and I'm learning a lot about why some students struggle with reading and tests. I still have a lot to learn though.

Jenny said...

Thanks for the comment and I completely agree. The human race, myself included, baffles me and frustrates me more than I could have imagined. And I have a great imagination.

Sarah said...

Man, I step away from blogging for a few weeks and miss all the fun! I've been in my own blogging funk, thanks to my own lack of time. I clearly have some catching up to do! Hope all is well out in the great state of Kansas.