Tuesday, July 07, 2009

clarification of contest


After talking with a couple of my daughters I have decided to clarify this contest. The $20 prize will go to the person with the most creative entry as judged by myself and whoever else I consult. As further incentive I will have a random drawing prize of all the remaining entrys as I want to encourge lots of entrys and not to discourage anyone who is not feeling too creative. I am going on vacation next week and it has been requested that I give you all plenty of time to enter so the contest will end July 31,2009 after I get back. You can enter as many times as you want and each entry will be considered for the judged prize. However, the random drawing will be limited to one per person who entered. (you must enter at least once to be in the drawing). I had fun writing my creative sentence and I know you and your family will have fun too. This could generate alot of laughs as a family home evening activity. Try looking through magazines at pictures as a way to get started, as I did with the picture Dennis posted. Have your young non-literate children tell you a story about a picture etc. HAVE FUN! This is just a little activity to keep the brain cells humming over the long summer.

Please check the previous post, July 4th, and read the comments, Holly has already posted two outstanding entries. Don't let this easy money pass you up.

Saturday, July 04, 2009

A fun literary contest

The Bulwer-Lytton Awards For 2009
http://www.bulwer-lytton.com/2009.htm

I found a reference to a fun and funny literary award and found these outlandish story first liners that were submitted for this years' contest of the Bulwer-Lytton Awards (named, if you don't know, for the guy who wrote the line that Snoopy always used: "It was a dark and stormy night."). I'm thinking it would be fun to try and write our own quirky, fictitious, adjective filled, tangential, irrelevant "opening sentences". So I thought we could have our own little contest, with a $20 gift card for a prize. I want everyone (especially all of my grandkids so mom's and dad's help them out)to submit something. Put on your thinking caps, sharpen your pencils or exercise your typing finger and start writing. Anyway here are a few of my favorites from the real contest, You can read more by going to the link above.

From the miscellaneous section:

1.There were earthquakes in this land, terrible tsunamis that swirled flooding torrents of water throughout, and constant near-blizzard conditions, and not for the first time, Horatio Jones wished he did not live inside a snow globe.
Rich Buley-Neumar
Amityville, NY

Adventure:
1.Runner-Up

In a flurry of flame and fur, fangs and wicker, thus ended the world's first and only hot air baboon ride.
Tony Alfieri
Los Angeles, CA

Detective:
1.Winner: Detective

She walked into my office on legs as long as one of those long-legged birds that you see in Florida - the pink ones, not the white ones - except that she was standing on both of them, not just one of them, like those birds, the pink ones, and she wasn't wearing pink, but I knew right away that she was trouble, which those birds usually aren't.
Eric Rice
Sun Prairie, WI

1. Winner: Fantasy Fiction

A quest is not to be undertaken lightly--or at all!--pondered Hlothgar, Thrag of the Western Boglands, son of Glothar, nephew of Garthol, known far and wide as Skull Dunker, as he wielded his chesty stallion Hralgoth through the ever-darkening Thlargwood, beyond which, if he survived its horrors and if Hroglath the royal spittle reader spoke true, his destiny awaited--all this though his years numbered but fourteen.
Stuart Greenman
Seattle, WA

2. Runner-Up

Towards the dragon's lair the fellowship marched -- a noble human prince, a fair elf, a surly dwarf, and a disheveled copyright attorney who was frantically trying to find a way to differentiate this story from "Lord of the Rings."
Andrew Manoske
Foster City, CA

a "dishonorable" mention:

She expected a beautiful morning after the previous night's hard rain but instead stepped out her door to a horrible vision of drowned earthworms covering the walkway -- their bodies curled and swirled like limp confetti after a party crashed by firefighters.
Rita Hammett
Boca Raton, Florida


To get us all started, here's an offering from me, inspired by Dennis' 4th of July pics and comments on facebook.




She quickly and flirtatiously climbed on top of the bright red, gaily wrapped tower, her unruly perpetually bad hair day blond tresses flowed out from under the not so attractive broad brimmed Panama hat, a remnant of a spring break weekend from her distant but not forgotten past (well mostly forgotten except for the hat) she wondered curiously what that green rope like thing sticking up was as she surrounded it with her long unbending legs and giggled nervously as the flickering flame approached--unaware (like the blond she was) that she had mounted the Fourth of July finale firecrackers!

Happy Birthday USA


I know I haven't blogged in a long time so I apologize, I just got home from work and of course sat down at the computer with my breakfast (raisin bread and milk) and after purusing the days news etc on yahoo home page---here I am.

I am off work until next Wednesday night then I work 6 of the following 7 days (my choice) so I can go on vacation the following Wednesday. I will be driving up to Idaho to visit my mom and should get there on Thursday the 16th. I will stay there until the next Tuesday when we will drive to Nampa/Boise and visit his brother for the evening and then fly out Wednesday am to Seattle to visit with Scott and Kim for a few days. We will fly back to Boise on Monday am and start for home and then back to work on Wednesday the 29th. I am ready for a vacation as I am sure you all are too.

I colored my hair back to brown. Orginally, I was shocked by my blond hair when Susie last colored it--prior to her wedding over a year ago, but afterwards I was worried that by going back to brown I would be losing some of the "lightness" in my countenance but I really like it, and like one of my children said "there's my mama" I thought "there's Deanna!" I tried to take a picture of my hair but the pic at the beginning is about all I can get in, cause my arm is too short to get any farther back and I don't know how to set the timer LOL

This picture really shows how red my face is because of the rosacea! I didn't try to warm the picture up like I did with the first one.



I just took almost all of the color out of this one just to get rid of the red!!but sadly it really accents my wrinkles!!

I guess I posted these pictures because I read a photo tip once which was "Mom get in the picture!" We mom's mostly don't like getting our pictures taken "too fat" "no makeup" "hair not done" etc. etc. but our kids see us everyday and they know how we look and they would like to see us in pictures sometimes so here I am--warts and all.


I still really like my new Washer and dryer. I am waiting for my new utility bills to see how it affected my gas and electric bills.

I'm hoping to go see the musical "Wicked" this week, I haven't bought a ticket yet but I plan on just driving over there one of these evenings and seeing it. They have a $25 lottery for some decent unsold seats just before showtime and failing that I'm pretty sure I can still get a balcony seat at the door.