The Prizewinner of Rogers, Arkansas

Those of you who've read the book will know that I stole the title for this blog from The Prizewinner of Defiance, Ohio which I read a few months ago.

Anyway, just wanted to mention that I've become the prizewinner of Rogers, Arkansas; more exactly, the radio prizewinner of Rogers, Arkansas. I'm an avid radio-listener, my radio is on ALL the time when I'm in the car or kitchen, and over the past two weeks my listening has paid off!

On Black Friday I was at a stoplight in between stores when I flipped radio stations and heard "Be the 9th caller right now and win a $20 gift certificate to Old Navy!" I thought, "What the heck, I'm stopped at a light anyway," and dialed the number. Busy. Dialed again. Busy. Dialed one more time, and what d'ya know? "You're the 9th caller, congratulations!"

Then this past Tuesday morning I was listening as I cleaned the kitchen when the radio station decided to have a contest for listeners to call in for Christmas Karaoke. They wanted people to sing their favorite Christmas Carol--the funnier the better. Since I really have no shame when it comes to competition, I decided to call. I must have been desperate, because I kept getting voice mail or a busy signal, but continued trying off and on for about an hour. Finally I got through and was able to sing the most nasally version of "I Want a Hippopotamus for Christmas" that I could muster. I was able to save my family and friends a little bit of embarrassment by only giving my first name (let me tell you, Jordan was PROUD when I told him about it), but I guess thats all down the drain now that I'm telling YOU! At the end of the competition I was named one of three winners for the day--yahoo! a $10 restaurant gift certificate and a Christmas CD! (I would have thought my dignity was worth at least $20, but I guess I overestimated.)

All of this winning lately reminded me of the previous prizes I've won from radio stations--that's right, these are not the first of my radio triumphs. The winning began in high school when I won some pizzas and soda for being the correct caller. And a few years ago I won a small prize pack and had my name entered for a trip to the final four. But the VERY BEST radio victory came about nine years ago when I lived in San Jose. Who Wants To Be A Millionaire had just become really popular and so, of course, the radio station I listened to began their own version of the game. One day I was the lucky caller. I answered the first two question correctly and opted out of the third to win $300--that's right $300!!!!

And so, my advice to all of you who think that you're just not lucky enough to win, is that if you listen to the radio enough, push redial enough, and really, really want it bad enough, you too can be a Prizewinner. BEST OF LUCK!

Thankful

I know I'm over a week late since Thanksgiving was more than a week ago, but this morning I'm feeling thankful for my kids and wanted to mention two thing in particular.

I'm thankful for Trista, because she's always so thankful! I was reminded of this a few minutes ago when after getting her dressed I helped her into the chair and covered her with her favorite blanket, ready to watch Dora, and she said, "Thank you, Mommy." Most of you know that as a Mom you don't really get all the "thanks" you deserve. But from Trista I get a lot of thanks. Some of them are for such little things--like simply answering a question. One example--this morning, after dropping off Alexis and Spencer at school, Trista asked, "We going my house, Mommy?"

"Yup, we're going back home now."

"Oh! Thank you, Mommy!"

The second thing I wanted to mention is how great it feels when my kids get along well or do something nice for each other without being asked to. This was the case recently with Alexis and Spencer when they decided to write a love note to each other. I was really touched by Spencer's note to Alexis, and while it doesn't really seem to be true most of the time, I'll definately save it and treasure it, and use it to embarrass/hold against him when he's older.

In case you can't read it it says:

Thank you for everything. I love you with all my might. You are my best friend. I will never hate you and you will never hate me. Because I love you. I would never ever hate you. I have to say this again. I love you and I will always love you.