Life as a Leach

As I alluded to in a previous post, my attempted photo shoot at the farm was disastrous.  There was lots of screaming, crying, and gnashing of teeth. This classic photo was a product of said photo shoot. Awesome. I haven't done a caption contest in a while, but I think this is a good one to use!  Have at it! The winner will receive a mystery prize of epic proportions.  (Read:  I haven't decided yet!)  :)   The rules: You may enter as many times as you want by commenting on this post or underneath of it on Facebook.   All entries must be received by August 25th at 8:00 p.m.  The winner will be chosen that evening after the 8:00 p.m. deadline. My husband impartial judge will listen to each comment without knowing who wrote it before deciding on a winner. Happy captioning!

Congratulations to Sarah C. for winning the Lock and Lock giveaway!  She was #22, which was the "Magic Number!" Thanks to everybody who entered.  We had about 30 entries and some really great song submissions.  You all have good taste.  :)

Little Mozart has discovered the piano! This girl LOVES music.  She dances and claps to any kind of music, and really enjoys the piano.  Her favorite song is "Little Red Wagon" by Raffi.  She starts bumping up and down as soon as you start singing it! As a fun giveaway to celebrate 200,000 hits, I want to hear about your favorite songs!  Simply leave a comment here, on Facebook, or through email sharing your favorite song, the name of the writer/band, and a short little statement about why you love it!  You can enter up to 3 songs!  Just post each entry separately, because I'll be numbering all of the entries and having Caleb choose a number.  Multiple songs in one comment will only be counted as one entry. As a bonus, you get an extra entry if you link this giveaway to your own blog or Facebook page!  Just write in a comment that you did so.  (You can get an extra entry for each one if you put it on your blog and FB page!)...

We've hit 200,000!  You know what that means????  Another giveaway!  Stay tuned for details! We actually hit 200,000 last night, I think.  I'm not sure.  I was much too busy holding down a screaming, thrashing little boy so that Matt could get the blasted eye drops in while Abby smacked poor, defenseless Caleb on the head to notice the exact time.  I can't wait until we're done with these drops.  Come on, Wednesday night!!

Congratulations to Jill W. for being the winner of our caption contest.  Matt loved her quote, "I don't always wear hats, but when I do, I'm sure to wear Hats for Hannah" for the pop culture and blog references.  (If you don't know the reference, it's a Dos Equis slogan.) There were a lot of good ones though!  Here are a few honorable mentions: I didnt want to put you in the backpack Caleb but you left me no choice! That will teach you to mess with me.........now where are those legos!!!!! ~Barbara O. And just why do you think I should be excited about us going for a hike? ~Darryl S. (not rigged, I promise!) I’m going to school with Caleb today whether you like it or not! ~Linda S. Thanks to all who entered!  I promise I won't let as much time go by this time before the next caption contest.  :)

I'm way behind on posting this, but I have some fabulous news to share, in case you didn't hear it on Facebook...WE WON OUR APPEAL!!!  I was shocked that we found out as quickly as we did, considering they said it would be closer to a month and we found out in a week.  Apparently, the third party arbitrators deemed it so obviously in our favor that there was no need for them to mull over it any longer!  We're approved through May, which is when we would be up for reevaluation anyway.  We're hoping that they will move onto someone else and leave our family alone, but we'll see.  For now, we're covered!! Abby is pulling up on stuff like a champ now and has officially met all of her physical therapy goals that had been set for her...which were meant to be met by April!!  Go Abs!  We're going to meet to write new goals, since there's no rest for the weary around here. :)  Next up:  walking on her own! My parents are fostering a new Boxer nam...

I have some great Lock and Lock products to give away, so I decided to do the first of several caption contests.  The rules:  Come up with a caption for this photo. Then submit it either on Facebook (underneath of the Networked Blogs post), by leaving a comment on the blog under this post, or by emailing me at juliebleach@yahoo.com .  You can enter as many captions as you like!  The winner will be chosen anonymously by a non-biased third party.  Translation:  I'll read all of the entries to Matt and he'll choose one without knowing who it is.  Since you know Matt has the final choice, remember that he loves stupid humor and when the caption is tied to other things that I've talked about in the past on the blog.  So be creative!  :) The winner will receive their choice of either a Hot Tank Vacuum Bottle  or a cosmetics holder .   Both are brand new! The winner will be chosen at 9:00 p.m. on ...

After much deliberation, Matt has chosen the winner for the caption contest.  This was no easy task, because there really were some pretty funny ones. But first, some honorable mentions! "My nurse tomorrow is who ?"  (This was a very close second!) "Me, oh my!  Life is a LEACH!" "What's that? A DIET? I just started tasting the good stuff!" The favorite quote of all (and there were many!) was.... "Oh great! Now Dad is going down the steps in the box!" This made us laugh pretty hard!  Great job, Carrie Raines!  Send me a message and let me know whether you would like the ceramic "I'm not a paper cup" cup or the tea mug.  Thanks so much to all of you who played!  I loved reading all of your captions, and Matt took his job very seriously.  He had no idea who any of the writers were until he chose the winner!  (Well, except for Betsie C., since she put her name in her quote...)  :)  Congrats again, Carrie!

Not Mommy's first day back to work!! Yes, today starts a new chapter in my life!  I'm actually very excited--and a little nervous--about my new position.  I'm also worried about leaving Abby with our nursing situation being what it is.  I think Abby's a little worried too, judging by her face here. Now it's your turn!  Make up a fabulous caption for this photo!  My favorite caption will win their choice of either a Lock & Lock "I'm Not a Paper Cup" travel mug (can't find the link for this to save my life!) or a Lock & Lock travel tea mug . To be a bit more fair and so no one thinks I'm choosing favorite people (after all, you're allllll my favorite people!) :), I will read them anonymously to Matt and he will have the final say in the winner.  The contest will end on August 21st at 10:00 p.m.  You can leave your caption here, on Facebook, or in an email.  Write as many as you like!  Happy captioning!

Thank you so much to all who participated in the Lock & Lock giveaway!  I appreciated your kind words (although I seriously wasn't fishing for compliments--I was actually just thinking of funny or quirky things you've learned about us...like Caleb really does think he's Batman.)  We are so blessed to have so many people praying for our family and showing us their love and support.  Thanks! I think my favorite comment was that Karen learned it's okay for her daughter to go down the steps in a box.  Karen, I guess that depends on who you ask!  Matt would say, sure!  Go for it!  I might be a little more reserved... :) Sooooooo, without further adieu, the winner of the Lock & Lock giveaway is... Amanda Davis! Congrats, Amanda!  Email me your info and I will ship it right out to you.  (I would have included a picture of the Random Number Generator, but I don't know how to do screen shots.  I know it's something you have to ...

This is #1,000!  Isn't that crazy??  What is even crazier is that my blog is going to be reaching 100,000 hits in the next few days.  Insane!!   Thank you guys for sticking with me and for loving my girl.  It means so much to us to have so many people praying for Abby, cheering her on, and celebrating with us when she hits a milestone! To celebrate the 1,000th post and the 100,000th hit, I'm going to do a little giveaway!  I have some LOCK & LOCK products for one lucky reader!!  You will receive a teal-lid large box (it's called a lunch box, but it can be used just as a regular storage container), a small round, and two small rectangulars.  You'll also get a water bottle!   If you're not local, no worries!  I'll mail it to ya!!  :) **Both of these L&L products were purchased by me.  I received no reimbursement for doing this giveaway. I just wanted to have a little fun and do something nice as a way of saying than...

...the caption winner!!! Your task was to come up with a clever caption for this photo: And we had some pretty cute ones!  Some favorites were: Hey Mooooommmmmm, did you SEE what Caleb just ATE? yuck!  ~Carrie (If you know Caleb, then you know this isn't a far-off statement...the kid is ALL boy!) You call that a cabbage patch! ~Ferguson Family (in light of Caleb's dance craze) Is that another " stink bug " I see crawling towards me?? ~Dona (Thankfully, we live too close to the beach to get these, but I hear they are taking over some houses!) OH MAN!!! Her she Comes with that camera AGAIN!!!! ~Eric (I'm afraid she may get flash blindness!) But the winner of the $15 gift certificate goes to: (drum roll, please!) .................... Again with the trach tie change????? are you KIDDING me, Mom???? (and a little huffy sigh) ~Betsie! Congrats, Betsie!  You know Abby well, because she seriously does get this look when we put her on the...

You have about three hours left to enter the caption contest to earn a $15 gift certificate!  Leave your comments on the blog, on Facebook, or by email.  :)

Sooooooo, the other day, I was randomly checking out LCD TV stands  and ended up getting hooked up with a company who is willing to do a giveaway for my blog!!!  They get some free advertising and I get to give away a prize!  Yes, I know, it's very exciting ! In order to enter the contest,  just leave your best caption for the photo below on either my blog or under the Facebook post...or you can even email it to me!  You can enter more than once if you like, and the more creative the better!  :) The winner will receive a $15 gift certificate to this store , which is actually over 200 stores...you can find just about anything!  I saw lots of great toys on there for a variety of ages.  They also have lots of home decor items.  Like I said, they've got it all. The contest starts NOW and ends at 9:00 p.m. Saturday.  Happy captioning!  :)