And the Winner is.....

Thank you so much to all the many people who entered their Scary Strange Recipes! The contest was truly a success, and you'll see more great recipes that were entered throughout the next few months. But there was one recipe that outshone them all, submitted by Susan T. She will be receiving her $50 gift card from Amazon later this week. Thanks Susan! And happy, but strange, baking to everyone. Like I always say - Go surprise the hell out of someone today!

Beet Pancakes

3 cups flour, sifted twice
1 cup wheat germ
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups organic skim milk
1/2 cup canola oil
4 eggs
1 15 1/2 oz can whole beets

Mix together dry ingredients in large bowl. Add milk 1/2 cup at a time, oil 1/4 cup at a time, and eggs 2 at a time. Mix just until moistened after each addition. Drain beets. Mash in can with back of spoon. Add beets gradually while stirring. Mix until ingredients are swirly pink, not completely red. Drop 1/3 cup of batter onto hot, sizzling griddle. Turn after 45 seconds. Serve with blueberry or raspberry syrup. (Maple syrup would work too, wouldn't it Susan T.?)

Humor-Blogs.com

My First EVER Blog Award

I think this is actually my first award of any type, ever. So, thank you Sandy!!! And thank you Mammadawg! Without you this wouldn't have been possible.

Now its my turn to pass this along:

Army of Epiphenomenon, for always grounding me when I start thinking politicians are actually good, decent people.

Word to Your Mother, for getting me started in blogging

Siouxsie's Musings, for inspiration and motivation - she won't leave me comments if I don't write.

Acorn King, for his efforts in helping human-kind by selflessly giving good stuff away on Craig's List, even when unappreciated.

View from the Cloud - since we both live in the same state as Al Franken. I'm getting an AF campaign sign for all of my out-of-state friends for gifts - you too?

With rights come responsibilities:

• Choose 5 bloggers that you feel are "Kick-A Bloggers"
• Let 'em know in your post or via email, twitter or blog comments that they've received an award
• Share the love and link back to both the person who awarded you and back to www.mammadawg.com
• Hop on back to the Kick A Blogger Club HQ to sign Mr. Linky then pass it on!

Please note: Those whom I am “tagging” with this award can feel free to completely disregard it, or pass it along. It makes no difference to me. I’m just trying to get more traffic to their sites. The good news is that either way, you can still vote for me at
Humor-Blogs.com !

Fun with Flickr

This idea is from Brownie - please leave a comment for me if you decide to do this too, so I can see!
1. TDD - Stephanie, 2. Chicken Enchiladas, 3. Dolphlungren, 4. i can taste summer! a.k.a. childhood summer! a.k.a. childhood reminiscence! a.k.a. those were the good times!, 5. Colin Firth revisited, 6. Lemon Dive, 7. Anything In There For Me?, 8. tiramisu, 9. Each war is different, each war is the same, 10. Joy of life, 11. Cute cat alert!, 12. Beauty & the Beasts

The concept:
1. Type your answer to each of the questions below into Flickr Search.
2. Using only the first page of results, pick one image.
3. Copy and paste each of the URLs for the images into Big Huge Lab’s Mosaic Maker to create a mosaic of the picture answers.

The questions:
1. What is your first name? Stephanie
2. What is your favorite food right now? Chicken Enchiladas
3. What high school did you go to? Pine View High School
4. What is your favorite color? Purple
5. Who is your celebrity crush? Colin Firth of the Pride & Prejudice/Bridget Jones Diary variety. Who could NOT have a crush on him when he walks out of the trees from a swim in the pond with his white shirt unbuttoned and clinging to his skin...
6. What is your favorite drink right now? Anything I can add a slice of lime to
7. What is your dream vacation? Churchill, Canada
8. What is your favorite dessert? Tiramisu
9. What do you want to be when you grow up? Dead
10. What do you love most in life? My family
11. What is one word that describes you? Curious
12. What is your flickr name? msljgdm, but it didn't come up with my search, and suggested Muslim instead. I took it and ran with it.

Check out Siouxsie's Flickr fun!

Guest Writer Week

Starting next Monday, I am hosting Guest Writer Week!!!! If you are interested in being a guest writer on my blog next week, write up a crazy post about absolutely ANYTHING, and email it to me by Sunday. I need at least 5, but will post everything I receive. I can't pay you except with my love, gratitude, and up to 5 links back to your own blog (if you have one). I especially expect to hear from those of you who refer to me as "pet" or have received favors from me recently - such as my surgical empathy, monetary donations, pictures, pig music, and so forth (wink wink).

Surprise blog giveaway

I'm not above using my blog to help further my chances of winning whatever is in this bag. Just click on the bag - it's like a portkey which will take you to Tib's blog, and giveaway info!

All Fun and Games

Here are a couple of short-n-sweet Internet games that have passed my rigorous and careful screening:

This one from Mindi: The River IQ test showed me how not very smart I really am, but I am sure you will pass with flying colors. Rumor has it that in Japan, companies give this to prospective employees to see if they'll be hired, but I don't believe it. It would just show me that this person has interviewed for another job before and had a chance to figure this out (or, as in my case, 10 other jobs).

Free Rice was recommended by two different friends, Donna and Tom, who don't have blogs that you can access, but still, a very fun game. It says that by playing it, you will be donating grains of rice to the UN food program. I'd like to see them provide Diet Coke to comparatively wealthy Americans, but whatever.

And the Winner Is.....

This morning, I held the drawing for my first ever Big Belly Blog Giveaway! For every comment anyone has left in the last week, they got their name put into the cereal bowl - which means some of my more faithful commenters had several chances to win. The winner is: Sled4Fun from Morgan, UT who left a comment on 4/23. Please email me your mailing address and I will send a set of 10 cards to you immediately! (Let me know if there are particular ones you like best, and I can send more than one of those). Congratulations, and better luck next time to the rest of you! You can also make your own luck by ordering cards for $1 each.

A Great Career

In this article on Yahoo, I found out that I am positioning myself for the 4th greatest career no one has ever heard of AND have the potential to make MILLIONS!:

Just 10 years ago, blogging would have sounded to most like a verb relegated to video games. But now, freelance writers, marketers, Web designers, finance professionals--even tea-drinkers--can draw people from around the world to read what they're thinking. Businesses are catching on, which is why they'll often hire people to blog about their products, and some bloggers can actually sell ads on their personal blogs. Are your personal thoughts worth paying for? They are, especially if you have education and a unique voice. (I DO!!!) Top bloggers can make six figures, and a handful are said to make millions. (OMG!)

The only problem I can possibly foresee is that the picture that went along with the article (shown here) portrays a woman who appears to be showered, dressed, and ready for the day. Can I still make millions in my pj's lying in bed?

Ad in Today's Paper

I've reached an all time low in my desperation for larger blog readership, (since in my shallow, little mind, numbers on site reader equals popularity), so I paid a premium price of $54.67 to place this ad in today's Herald Review: (PLEASE don't tell Mike!)

Blog Giveaway

Even though there was an OUTRAGEOUS amount of entries yesterday for my blog giveaway of 10 Belly Laughs Greeting Cards, I am going to extend the time you have to leave comments or suggestions to ONE WEEK!! So everyone who leaves a comment between yesterday and April 29th will automatically be entered in the drawing. Is there a stigma about sending a card with a belly button on it that I don't know about? Let me know that too, and again, you'll automatically be entered to win these stigma-filled cards to send to your friends! Also, for you word-wizards, I have a new game for you. I spent way too much time this morning playing it, and had a difficult time stopping. I just couldn't get past level 41 - but I know you'll probably do much better! Why don't you give it a try, leave your results here in a comment, AND be signed up for the blog giveaway all in one shot?

Belly Laughs Blog Giveaway

Just for leaving a comment or an idea for other Belly Laughs on my blog today, you can be entered in my very first, and perhaps ONLY blog giveaway. The winner of my giveaway will receive a set of 10 greeting cards from my Belly Laughs card line. Below are 6 of the 10, and the rest will be a surprise. Please pass this along to your friends so they too can have a chance at these one-of-a-kind greeting cards!

More Junk for your Trunk

What is perhaps the best indicator that someone has too much time on their hands? My guess is when they start putting an imaginary logo and slogan from a make-believe blog sensation onto shot glasses. But this is what I did last night anyway, and it was F-U-N. I also opened up a store at Cafe Press you can check out here with REAL items you can purchase to your heart's content - after all, Christmas is just around the shopping corner. Unfortunately, you won't find these super spiffy shot glasses at Cafe Press, nor will you find a thong with my logo on it - sorry.