Sunday, December 18, 2011

It's Giveaway Time!!!


Hi, all!!


Well, as you can see from the picture above, Lilli is excited!  I'll leave it up to you to decide whether she's excited about being 4, or about Nana reaching 500 followers - but I'll tell you, I'm excited about both!


Lilli got all the giveaway items for her birthday, but I've got one to share with you to celebrate hitting 500 followers - and it's a goodie!  First, the story - my husband has a hard time leaving any items unpurchased on my Christmas wish list.  (Good hubby, right? ;-)  I sent him a couple of wish lists from different places, and one item was duplicated on two lists - and he bought it from both places!  When he realized what he had done, he suggested that I use the duplicate as a giveaway on my blog.  Great idea!  Here's what he bought......




A True Cut TrueSharp Electric Rotary Blade Sharpener!  Since mine is a Christmas present, I haven't had a chance to try it out yet, but I know if you're like me you hang on to your old dull rotary blades "just in case" - so I've got a bunch to sharpen and re-use!  You can read a review of it and see more pictures of it here, on the I Have A Notion blogsite.  It sharpens 28mm, 45mm, and 60 mm rotary blades, which I find really handy, since my little "hand-powered" sharpener only sharpens the 45mm blades.  


So - - - do you want it?  Imagine the joy of having a freshly sharpened blade the next time you cut out a new quilt - without the expense of new blades! Here's what you do to enter...


1.  Leave a comment telling me 
your favorite funny Christmas memory.  

2.  If you're already a follower, or decide to become a new follower, leave another comment!

3.  If you helped spread the word to help reach the 500 follower mark, leave another comment!

4.  If you post to spread the news about the giveaway, 
leave another comment!

I'll pick a winner next Thursday, 12/22, and announce the winner on Can I Get A Whoop Whoop Friday, 12/23!  

And just to join in the fun, I'll share my favorite funny Christmas memory.  When I was a kid, we would always go to my great-grandmother's house in North Carolina for Christmas.  My great-aunt would make the eggnog from scratch, and it was locally famous.  I never really knew why until the year I helped her make it.  I was reading the recipe to her, and she was carefully measuring the ingredients in - - - until she got to the liquor.  I read out the amount in the recipe, but she just up-ended the bottle and poured until it made her happy!  Suddenly I understood the ritual of receiving a drinking straw in your stocking when you reached a certain age..... 

Hugs!

Sarah

102 comments:

  1. How marvelous that you got the sharpener. I've been looking at this gizmo wondering if it works well. Once you get to open your present, would you post your review of the product?

    Funny Christmas memory. When the kids were younger, my husband wrapped their gifts inside big boxes and used towels so they couldn't guess the contents when shaking the boxes. They kept asking me how come we were running out of bath towels. You can imagine their surprise when they opened a huge box of bath towels. It was so funny. He told them "Are you sure its towels?" Then they started digging through the towels and find the treasures underneath. My kids loved this. Good times!

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  2. I am a follower. Thanks for the chance to win!

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  3. I blogged about your giveaway today at:
    http://new2quilting.blogspot.com/2011/12/block-swap-adventure-december.html

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  4. A fun memory... My dad used to drag 2 x 4's across the yard in the snow so that I could see where Santa's sleigh tracks went through the yard. I miss those days.

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  5. When I was about 6 yrs old we had a huge Christmas tree with lots of presents from family and friends under it. On Christmas morning we went downstairs to the tree to find my 3 yr old brother had been up long before us and had opened every single present! He had mixed up all the wrapping and cards as well so my parents spent the next hour sorting everything out as best they could. My brother was complaining about some of the presents not being what he wanted,duh! We could only laugh, really.

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  6. I am a follower. Thanks for the opportunity to win your giveaway. The sharpener looks fabulous, if I
    am not the lucky winner I may have to buy one!

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  7. Funny Christmas memory ... my in-laws shared the holiday with us and so (of course) there were 2 extra stockings hanging. They chuckled about it and told me that Santa surely didn't need to fill their stockings. But on Christmas morning, my father-in-law was just as delighted as the kids discovering tools and funny, homemade themed containers holding restaurant gift cards in his stocking. I loved seeing the twinkle in his eyes!

    I've been a follower for some time. :)
    Merry Christmas!

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  8. This tool would be a dream!!! I've been eyeing something like this but unless 'I' order it... it won't be under our Christmas tree.
    My funny story is when 'Santa' was delivering presents in the wee hours of Christmas morning, and our son woke up and 'caught' Santa in action! Santa's heart never pounded so hard in his life! Luckily my son did not remember anything the next morning!!

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  9. I tweeted your giveaway... hoping you reach the 500 followers mark (that would be awesome!!)

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  10. Oopsies... in my excitement I forgot to give you my twitter name.... mimistarquilter

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  11. I am a happy follower! What a cool gadget - and I do have a stash of old blades, how did you know? ;-)

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  12. One year when my older sister and I were in college - in other words, too old for Santa and surprises - my parents had two huge wrapped boxes in the living room. They told us the boxes were dollhouses for the girls next door, hidden at our house because they were so big. We bought it and were shocked when the boxes turned out to be TVs for us. :)

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  13. And I'm a follower...#499 to be exact. ;)

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  14. I giggled when I read that your hubby likes to buy everything on your list. My hubby does the same thing. If he has purchased an item twice, he hasn't, shared that with me. The funniest incident for me was the time we hid our sons new bike at a neighbor's home. Her hubby found it and thought she had purchased it for him. He was a bit disappointed, but we had a great laugh. Merry Christmas!!!!

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  15. I am a happy follower of your blog:)

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  16. I'm a follower! Thanks for the chance at such a great prize! Congrats on 500 followers!!

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  17. congrats on 500! My brother and I knew my mom hid our santa gifts in my dads closet which was off limits to us 8 kids. He and I were sneaking in to peek and heard her coming and had to hide under the bed. Seemed like she had a lot to do in her room and we had to stay hid forever (if course she knew we were there) lol we never did that again! thanks!

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  18. I am a follower! thanks for the lovely giveaway!

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  19. Funniest Christmas memory? when I was around 10 years old, we were all sitting around the table on Christmas Day eating a wonderful turkey with all the trimmings - then of course came the Christmas pudding! Mum carried the basin to the table and proceeded to turn it out onto the plate only to find that the pudding she had been steaming all morning was in fact the ox tongue for Boxing Day - they were in identical basins and she'd picked up the wrong one! How we laughed!! and pudding that year was tinned fruit!

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  20. I am a follower and your story made me chuckle. I love the idea of receiving a straw in your stocking. And, by the way, your husband is a keeper!

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  21. We still laugh over this one - I always took my kids to the school 'Breakfast with Santa' from when they were very small - my youngest son finally in Kindergarten, and we did the 'Santa' thing that year. His turn on Santa's lap, Santa spook to him and his face just dropped - then he pulled off Santa's beard, jumped up and yelled across the room "Mommy, you never told me Santa was my bus driver!"

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  22. I am a follower - this would come in so handy in our sewing class sessions - thank you to your husband for picking such a wonderful give away item.

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  23. What a great Christmas memory! Thanks for the chance to win.

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  24. I hope no kids read this post. When my kids were young they believed in both the Easter Bunny and Santa...and why wouldn't they? But for some reason my eldest realized that the Easter Bunny was not real. Although she let us know, she was a great older sister (never said a word to her siblings). When Christmas rolled around, I thought for sure she would realize that Santa was, well, you know...To my surprise, she did not have a clue. My husband and I chuckled about it, but we were also so happy that we had her be a little girl for one more year.

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  25. I have a funny Santa memory too. My mom took me to see Santa, and I did the usual...sat on his lap, told Santa what I wanted for Christmas, etc. When we left Mom asked me if I had fun meeting Santa. I said...that wasn't Santa...that was Fred Thye (he was my cousin's Grandpa)! I don't think that made me stop believing - I'm sure Mom convinced me that he was just a helper!

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  26. Hi Sarah,

    Such a great story! My family lives in NC.

    I'm a follower of your blog.

    Congratulations! It took you no time reaching your goal! Please enter me in your giveaway.


    I have 7 more to go to reach 400 followers! My giveaway is still going on. :-)

    Dee

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  27. I've always been a good present guesser. Give me a wrapped box and I can figure it out. My kids won't even let me touch or sometimes even see boxes with my name on them. This started when I was very young. My older sister who was grown decided to get me one year. She wrapped the birthstone ring I had been asking for in about 6 boxes each stuffed with paper and gift wrapped then placed it inside a large box, laundry basket size, stuffed with newspaper and several handfuls of pecans to roll around in the bottom. I had many days of shaking and weighing and guessing before the big day. I about decided that the final box would be empty before I got to the ring that Christmas morning.

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  28. I am now a follower.
    SallyKingemail@gmail.com

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  29. Every Christmas without fail I remember my brother and I sitting on the concrete front porch trying to break open Brazil Nuts with a rock. More times than not the nut was smashed into the concrete. Still funny to me.
    SallyKingemail@gmail.com

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  30. Thanks for a great giveaway, Sarah! My favorite funny Christmas memory comes from a few years ago, when my younger brother was about 14. He was sick on Christmas, but he insisted that we all open gifts early in the morning as always. However, that Christmas was full of socks and blankets, and things that we needed (rather than wanted, as kids). Since he couldn't talk, he was giving thumbs up and thumbs down. When he opened a pack of underwear he gave a sideways thumbs up. It was just so funny - maybe you had to be there, but we thought it was - and we bring it up every year!

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  31. Congrats on reaching 500! I am a faithful and inspired follower.

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  32. I don't remember how old I was, but probably around 8. We always drove to Anaheim, CA to have Christmas with my mother's parents. This year, my dad and grandfather were being very secretive and absent much of the time on Christmas Eve day. On Christmas morning, I found out why. They had found an old rusty bicycle to fix for me for Christmas. The sanded the frame, added new spokes and tires, and painted the who thing with silver rust resistant paint. It was big and clunky and the best Christmas present ever. I called it the silver bomber and rode it for years. That was also the same year I got my first 45 rpm record - Bill Haley and the Comets Rock Around the Clock. Pretty exciting year all around.

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  33. Congrats on 500 followers! Funny story, huh? Hm... One year, my brothers got me an album for Christmas, which I could tell by the shape of it wrapped. I kept pestering them to tell me which one it was, and they finally agreed that they would let me guess the name of it using the "hot" and "cold" game. This totally frustrated me, because the warmest I came was something like "Coffee at Bedtime" at that didn't make any sense--but it made them collapse into fits of laughter. Turns out it was Neil Young's "Rust Never Sleeps."

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  34. When my son was around 12 or so, he had roller blades at the top of his wish list. I knew he liked to peek at gifts beforehand, so I wrapped a box that was the same size as roller blades, filled with something besides the real thing (I don't recall now what it was). He was a desolate little guy Christmas morning, thinking he was not getting the blades. Imagine the smiles when he opened the "real" gift and found his wish had come true :-)

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  35. And I'm a Follower, couldn't miss out on the stuff you do!

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  36. Best Christmas memory...one year my brother and I opened all our presents very carefully on one end then retaped them hoping our mom wouldn't figure it out. We knew she had when we opened them on Christmas and they were empty! She did give us the gifts though, but I'm sure the look on our face was priceless! thanks!

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  37. My funniest Christmas memory is when I was about 5 and my brother was 3. Grandpa dressed as Santa (we didn't know this at a time) but when he left, my brother started crying. He said he didn't see Santa. It seems my brother failed to look up and only saw Santa's shoes. =)

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  38. I am a follower through Bloglines. =) Congrats on reaching 500 followers.

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  39. I tweeted your giveaway. @nalaxu

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  40. I can't think of any funny Xmas memories. Probably the closest to funny was when my son wanted a huge lego set for Xmas. After all the presents were opened and he didn't get it, you could see the disappointment in his eyes. Then we found one last present hidden under the sofa. His face filled with joy when it was the present he really wanted.

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  41. I think the year I gave my daughter her Barbie Dream HOuse......

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  42. You are blessed to have such a giving hubby. It would be awesome to win the sharpener cause we all know how quickly we go through them as quilters.

    I can relate to the eggnog story. One year I was about 7 and family didn't realize I was drinking from the eggnog bowl. I was acting all screwy, slurring my words and my mom thought I was really sick. Then they smelled my breath and realized what I had been into. I thought it was just really good milk....

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  43. Congratulations on reaching the 500-follower milestone!

    My favorite Christmas memory is from around 1965 or so. My 'aunties' (great-aunts, really, but we just called them the 'aunties') were all at my house for Christmas Eve. They were wonderful women but they liked to gossip. My oldest brother snuck into the family room with his battery-operated tape recorder and recorded everything they said! He played it for us kids later and we laughed and laughed. Then we laughed some more when my mom caught us listenening and big brother got in trouble!

    Merry Christmas and happy healing!

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  44. I'm a follower. Not of everyone, but certainly of you! :D

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  45. Oh, what a handy tool! We always have a lot of laughs with our gift games every year - one year we did a white elephant one with friends and let's just say that there ended up being a lot of naughty gifts going around :-O

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  46. Oh, call us sneaky if you wish, but one year we tricked my dear Mother-in-law. She makes no bones about thinking gifts should be for HER, not for the "house" and no household items would ever work. Well, one year, I got a new iron (which tickled the pants off mee!!) and kept the box. Then we put her present in it & wrapped it up, all nice & pretty. When she opened it, she was pretty vocal about her disappointment. We convinced her to open it up anyway, and she got even more vocal about the "brick" that was inside....it took a lot more convincing to get her to peek inside the holes in the brick to find her lottery tickets. Now she knows that gifts come in all kinds of forms!

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  47. Do I give a G-rated story or not? Oh, heck with it. ;)

    When I was 18, I was working at a plumbing company... the office staff had a Christmas exchange (I wasn't a part of it, I wasn't there for the name draw) and the practical joker gave his giftee a 2 inch, umm... male member "enlarger".

    Some of the ladies were laughing their heads off, I asked why, and nobody could find the words to tell me. So I went out to look at the gift and I had never blushed so hard in my life. My face was flaming red, I sat at my desk with my hands buried in my face, laughing the whole time too. My dad also worked there too, so he saw the whole thing!!

    Hours later Dad brought it up when we were grabbing something on the way home and *whoosh!* my face turned all red again. Can you tell I had never been with a guy at all then?!

    If you feel like you need to delete this comment, that's fine... I hope my name can remain in the drawing, as I've got about a dozen 60mm dull blades that would love to give your sharpener a workout. :)

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  48. Hi! I am a follower!
    Thanks for the giveaway!
    Take care, Leslie

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  49. Hi!
    My husband has really hot feet. One Christmas eve, after our sons went to sleep, we were watching TV, hubby's feet were hot. So he went outside on the deck, and continued to watch TV thru a window, while standing out in his bare feet!
    The next morning, our boys were up, they were about 7 and 9 yrs old. The youngest went outside, came rushing back inside and said:
    "Mom, Dad, Santa was here! He looked thru the window before coming in to make sure we were all in bed!"
    We had a good chuckle all thru Christmas!
    Thanks for the giveaway!
    Take care, Leslie

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  50. What a grand giveaway! I have lovely memories but funny ones are rare. I finally remembered when I was a teen and my little sister ~4 years old was SUPER excited about the holiday. She woke up and was so happy with what Santa brought her she yelled at the top of her lungs. "Thank you Santa whereEVER you are" oh gads we all got a chuckle from that one.

    Thanks for helping me find that memory! Oh I miss home!

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  51. One year my mom had a little to much holiday cheer an knocked the tree over!

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  52. I'm a new follower.. so many congrats on so many followers!

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  53. I tweeted @Lealee33

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  54. My favorite Christmas memory is:
    I had Santa coming to visit my daughter. Being a single Mom I knew the hardships so I invited another single Mom in my apartment building to bring her daughter over also. About 1/2 hr before the big guy was to arrive he mentally challenged brother came over. I had her leave both kids with me and run to the store to get him a gift. The only thing she could find at the local gas station (small town living) was package of socks of all things. Well he was never so excited as he was when he saw Santa but went giddy over his socks. We were all in smiles with tears running down our cheeks.

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  55. My favorite Christmas memory is when my husband surprised me with an anniversary ring.

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  56. I blogged about your giveaway today (and happy 4th birthday, Lilli) here...
    http://maxinegiveaways.blogspot.com/2011/12/confessions-of-fabric-addict-rotary.html

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  57. I remember having a Christmas that it was so foggy on the way home, we returned from family for Christmas, and one of us had to walk in front of the car on the highway to find the stripe on the road... That's when we decided to sleep over!;-)

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  58. And I am a follower! Follower 501 even... and proud of it!

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  59. And tweeted it! You can find it by #confessionsofafabricaddict.

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  60. I remember a Christmas when my parents had several friends over for Christmas dinner and my sister (who was 3 at the time) was very proud of herself for putting black olives on everyone of her fingers. For some reason my parents were very embarassed - I though it was hilarious. Thanks for the opportunity to enter your great giveaway.

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  61. One of my favorite adult Christmas memories is not about me, but about my squadron in the Navy. We were deployed to Adak, Alaska (one of the islands in the chain). We knew we were going to be there for Christmas. So, we planned goodie bags for the children, US Marines & US Navy folks stationed there. We made a special deal with Santa, he came down from the North Pole and we gave him a ride on a airplane. Then we waited. Soon the children arrived and we opened the hanger doors...up comes this big airplane...the ladder comes down and what do you see in the door? Yes! Santa Claus! The faces of the children and the smiles they had. Priceless. We had a great party. After the party, we drove around the facilities on base and dropped off more goodie bags. So much fun.

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  62. I guess the best would be my first year in college. I came home and there was this very interesting package under the tree. I picked it up and it was heavy and rectangular. Too heavy for it size an shape. I spent days trying to figure out what it could be. All the time my dad telling me you just have to wait, with a little smirk on his face. When Christmas morning it of course was one of the first presents opened. Nicely packed inside a box was a ream of paper. Yes, a ream of paper.... Very funny dad! The Christmas jokes always seem to be on me.

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  63. Hi Sarah,
    OH my gosh, I'd love to be entered--and I don't have a funny Christmas story...I have a heartwarming one...One Christmas Eve when my daughter was 3, she came out from her room and sat in a big wingback chair in the livingroom. I asker her, "Aren't you going to sleep to wait for Santa?" She said, "No, I'm waiting for him right here so I can watch him come down the chimney!" lol and she fell asleep in the chair in her adorable Christmas nightgown...that's my favorite memory.
    XO
    Cindy

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  64. Congratulations on hitting 500! That's awesome. We have a holiday gift exchange tradition that always gets out of hand (in a fun way) and usually ends with a rousing game of Jenga where the loser has to take a shot. Yeah, my favorite year was the one where my mother had to do her shot of tequila for knocking over the Jenga and it came right back up and all over the table.

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  65. Hi, I am a follower and love your blog and marvel at all you accomplish every week. I asked for the same thing for Christmas now I will wait and see if you like it.
    Have a wonderful Christmas with your family and keep getting healthier every day. Blessings Sandra

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  66. Just found your site, it looks wonderful, will be adding this to my favorites. Keep up the good work. Renee
    rbr920@comcast.net

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  67. One Christmas while we were eating dinner the fireplace mantle in the next room just tipped over and fell to the floor. Since nobody got hurt, it was pretty funny.

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  68. I follow your blog and admire the wonderful things you do. Merry Christmas!

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  69. LOL! That is a funny memory, Sarah. :-) I don't think mine rivals that, but here it is: We moved to California from Kansas when I was five (my parents were all of 23 and 24 ~ hard to imagine now). For the first Christmas there, they got me a pair of Siamese kittens, then proceeded to tell me that was all I would get from them because they didn't have much money. I can remember being amazed that they would worry about that, because I thought those kittens were the best present ever!

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  70. And you know, I'm a long time follower! :-) Hope you and yours have a very Merry Christmas!

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  71. I included your giveaway in my blog today:
    http://straystitches1.blogspot.com/2011/12/peace-and-love.html

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  72. Lovely and funny memory. I was head elf for a charity and one year we were in desperate need of a Santa for our community party. I kind of forced a friend of my daughters to fill in, he was an odd choice, raised by an abusive father and hated Christmas. By the end of the night we couldn't get him to leave, and none of the children would leave as long as Santa was there. He snuck away twice, going back in to talk to the children. It was all fun and funny and wonderful to teach a grown up what Christmas is all about.

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  73. I can't think of a funny Christmas memory that stands out in my mind, other than when us kids were very little(probably about 5,3,& 1) my mom & dad found us under the dining room table, eating a plate of slice onions they had sliced for dinner. Why? I have no idea!

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  74. I'm afraid i don't have a funny moment to share. But I do really need a sharpener. So thank you for the chance to enter to win.

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  75. I am a new follower. Wonderful blog. Thank you.

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  76. I have blogged about your giveaway.

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  77. I am a new follower who can definately (sp? that doesn't look right)use some de-stashing for a good cause. Can you contact me after the first of the year with details?

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  78. Funny Christmas story, hm? Well, us kids thought it was funny, I'm sure my Mom was less so. Usually on Christmas Eve my Dad would stop by a local watering hole & bend the elbow a bit with some of the local businessmen. He invariably arrived home in a new family car. I know that this happened at least 3 times while I was growing up.

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  79. What a neat sharpener! I have several old blades that I've been holding onto for when I did get a sharpener. hehe. Brownie points for your husband not questioning why an item was listed twice, just buying it. He's a keeper. hehe. My story is a few years ago and both my kids were in high school, probably junior and senior years. Both wanted the pajamas that had the feet in them so of course at that time I could not find "adult" sizes so I bought them in the teen section and got the XXL sizes. My daughter looked so cute and my son as well but I had to laugh because he was at least 5'11" and to see him in footie pjs, it cracked us up. I have a picture of both kids posing and it's one of my favorites. I wonder what his Marine buddies would say now? Hehe.

    Congratulations on reaching 500 followers! Thanks for such a great giveaway and a chance to win.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

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  80. I'm a happy follower! Congratulations on 500 followers!

    Thanks for a chance to win.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

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  81. Christmas memory: my brother and his family came to Maine from Florida one year to celebrate CHristmas. My SIL, being used to the tepid city water of Florida hopped in the shower then turned on the water...what a howl exploded from in there!!!! Our winter Maine well water is ice cold from the tap, something she never experienced. I had no idea it was any other way because when I went to Florida to visit them, I let the water run and run waiting for it to get cold! Duh...just didn't realize it's always tepid....

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  82. I'm a new follower. I'm anxious to hear your review of this gadget. I may NEED one after all...:)

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  83. What a great idea, although then what would I use to cut paper (I use my blunt ones to cut paper).
    I wonder if it removes the burrs I have from running over forgotten pins and other weird objects. :D

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  84. I tweeted and RTed about your giveaway.

    Thanks for a chance to win.

    usairdoll(at)gmail(dot)com

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  85. I really like and appreciate your article post.Thanks Again. Will read on…
    christmas loungewear distributors

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