Rewarding the Faithful...

One year ago, I wrote a post.

One person commented.

Emz.

The Great Lady of the Treadmill was my first introduction to "fitness" blogging. I didn't know there were genres back then. She was one of my first followers...I have NO idea how she found me. The post was simply that I was super excited about closing in on 1000 pageviews. Woo hoo, right? :P

Fast-forward to today, I have held onto 500+ followers for a little over a week. Surprisingly. I'll be the first to admit I have a weird blog. One day it's pictures of my kids at the zoo watching the otters at feeding time, another day it's about running up some insane hill, and then there was the day we played the boobs-to-bloggers matching game. So, yeah... it's weird. But that's me :D

The parenting/mommy bloggers get bored by my running posts, and the runners get bored by my parenting/mommy posts, and the boob fiends...well, they quickly realize that the boobs featured on my blog are fully covered (except the scary boob-scarves) and go on their merry way.

Back the the 'reward' part of this post...the point of it...

I mentioned a few weeks ago that when I hit 500 followers, I would have a super weird cool giveaway. (note: the word order is important...not a super cool weird giveaway). I've decided that Emz gets a prize for being around and regularly commenting (even though she has not been lately... a-hem...but ummmm... living in the glass house, I don't get to throw stones) for pretty much the whole time I've been at this.

Everyone else who is interested can enter to win the prize.

What is the prize?

It's a mood-lifter, an ego-stroker, a reassurance-giver...

Who wouldn't want one of these?

I have one. It's at the top of my stairs. I wanted to bring it to Long Beach and whack it after every mile of that half-marathon...but I thought "nah...that'd be really obnoxious." Then I found out the Dead Jocks Van 2 had one at the Hood to Coast Relay...so definitely obnoxious but also cool :)

The buttondude's semihuman/robotic voice puts me at ease every time I whack the button. The most stressful and difficult of situations suddenly becomes, if not easy, at least relaxed. There is something about being calmly informed,

That was easy

that makes those words feel true.

So Emz gets an Easy Button. She can put it on her treadmill, and when she hits 20 miles, she can give that sucker a whack.

CONTEST and RULES of ENGAGEMENT

The rest of you awesome people will be competing to win your very own Easy Button, as well as a brand-new Nuun water bottle, a tube of Nuun (you can pick the flavor from my selection), a $25 Foot Locker gift card, and a $10 iTunes gift card (not pictured).

This part will not be a random drawing. The contest winner will be chosen subjectively by me based on responses to the following question:

Where would you likely be using your Easy Button?

That's the contest part.

Here's the giveaway part...

• If you don't want to get creative and all you're interested in is 'easy'...simply leave a comment saying "That was easy" to let me know you're interested in winning just an Easy Button. 
• These lazy easy people will be pooled with those who didn't win the contest, and one person from this pool will be chosen at random to win an Easy Button. There might be some extra goodies thrown in, too :)

Are we understanding this? There are two things ... a contest and a giveaway...you can enter one or both. Got it?


You needn't be a follower to enter either the contest or the giveaway.


Contest ends and entries for giveaway close Friday, November 18, 2011 at 11:59 p.m. PST.


Good luck to all!!!! And thanks for following :)


Disclaimer: the Nuun was a gift from those awesome people :) and the rest of the prizes are provided by me as a way of thanking all of you! And if you really want 'easy,' you can go buy yourself an Easy Button right now at Staples for $5.99+ tax.

Granny's Gadgets #17... and a giveaway!

This one is probably the most useful gadget to date...

and so easy to use :)

aaaannnnnndddddd.....   drumroll, please...  


It's up for grabs!

The way I found out what this weird thing happens to be is pretty funny. This past Christmas, my stepdad gave us a hot pink one, demonstrated it and went on and on and on about it and how much he LOVED it. After one time using it on our own, we were totally sold. We were so excited to have this little, pliable, rubbery gadget!

Imagine my surprise when going through my Granny's Gadgets stash this week! In the bin was this same gadget... only older and brown... not stylishly hot pink ;-)  At that moment I remembered seeing it in there several years before, back when I received the Gadget stash. And I remembered wondering, "what the....? hmmmmm...." and tossing it back in and never trying to figure it out.

What that means is.... I have TWO!  And one can be YOURS!  It really is an amazing helper. If you use a lot of garlic... or any garlic... you will be so pleased and amazed at how easy and fast this thing works.

To enter this giveaway:

• Be an official Taking It On follower and let me know in a comment that you are one  (this is mandatory this time) 
• Tell me how you currently peel garlic... in another comment  for an extra entry
• Let me know what you think of a Gadget Challenge in which readers post a gadget video of their own and we link them up on Mondays, or people send me their own gadget video and I post it along with mine... or something like that... in yet another comment  for an extra entry
• blog or Facebook link to this giveaway... and let me know in another comment  for an extra entry

That means a separate comment for each attempt at winning. And I will throw in a $15 Target gift card on the side for the winner :)

You may enter up until 12:01 a.m. on Friday, May 6, 2011. I will hold the drawing on Friday in honor of .... my birthday!  Woooo hooooo!  I find giving to be lots of fun :)

Best of luck to all who play!

Burn, Baby! Burn!

What's cookin', kids?

So the other day when I was in the garage finding all the photos for my awesome collection of Big G's first year as a traveling man, I was simultaneously starting to cook my lunch.

Based on my pies... whether turkey pot or mixed berry... and my awesome gadget collection, you'd think I was some kinda somethin' in the kitchen. But I have been very honest with you about my lack of culinary prowess... or is it simply a case of "CRS"... can't remember s***?... so let's drop all expectations.

I was so distracted engrossed in my trip down memory lane research project and recovery mission in the name of The Blog, that I did it again...

And this time the toxic crap from the melted plastic of the steamer ruined the best 50-year old, popcorn-making Revereware pan in the universe. I am in so much trouble :(

Both the pot and the steamer were goners.

Also cookin'...

This kid on the track... she LOVES to run! If you don't remember her indoor workout from a few weeks ago, you can see it here. And now that the weather is super nice, she got a chance to stretch her legs outside...

That is not a load in her pants... I promise. The pants and diaper just look like it is. Really.

The last item on our menu of what's cookin'... or not cookin'...

I have been so slow and struggling with my running all week. My legs still feel thrashed from that hilly leg of the Oakland Marathon Relay last Sunday :(  On Tuesday, I squeezed out a tempo run that felt okay enough to feel good about, but Thursday night... whoa...

Just an easy 5 miles was slated. I headed out at 8:40 PM. Yes, PM. And I really wanted to be out there running... really, I did. But my legs didn't :(

But I made them :) 

We went around the loopy-doos 6 times for 4.5 miles and then they just said, "uncle... no mas." And I obeyed. I have a tenner on the docket for this weekend, and I want to be able to do it. I was going to do it today, but my husband just now told me he has to work all day, and I have to work tonight (yes, people, I kind of have a .... yob .... steering clear of the "J" word... can't quite bring myself to use it). Looks like the big 1-0 will have to happen tomorrow. I'm scared ... wish me luck!

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
VOTE! VOTE! VOTE! see the sidebar! 
remember it is all for YOU if we win :) ... if you have 'liked' the Taking It On Facebook page which you can access by clicking on the badge also in the sidebar  
>>  >>  >>

And enter to win that Williams-Sonoma gift card, too!

And if you want a postcard from a cool place, go play the guessing game :)

Granny's Gadgets – Quarterly Review and Giveaway!

Don't be alarmed!

I am not out of gadgets! There are still many more to come :)

This little change-up is to give us all a bit of a breather, have a chance to see what we've learned, digest the information and talk about which are winners and which are ... not. I know you can go to my tabbed page "Granny's Gadgets" and check out what we've seen so far, but how many people do that? So I am putting it all together into this one post, so we can easily compare.

And there is a lil' giveaway attached to this whole shebang!

The Meat Pounder started the gadget game... it was a mystery. And in its post, how I came to be in possession of Granny's Gadgets is explained. Mandatory reading for any GG lover :)

Over the past 12 weeks, we've seen 4 gadgets that are egg-related.  There was the super cool egg topper, the nostalgic egg slicer, the bizarre contraceptive-device-esque egg peeler, and the nearly-unanimously-agreed-as-unnecessary egg separator.

There were three items that relate directly to baking... the very handy pie-slice-lifter-outter thing, the well-loved and oft-used apple corer, and the super birthday gadget... the cake tester!

We pondered seemingly-broken utensils... our grapefruit tools :P

And rounded things out with our Valentine's Day-appropriate spurtle (who doesn't love saying that?) and attempted to take fancy presentation to famous-restaurant-standards with the butter stamp mold thingamajig.

This brings us to the giveaway part...

To help you start (or continue) your own gadget collection, you can win a...

$20 gift card 

to
Williams-Sonoma!

There are several ways to win this amazing jumpstart toward your own heirloom Granny's Gadgets set. Here's how you can enter:

1. Mandatory!(only this first one is mandatory)  write a comment telling which was your favorite gadget video to date and why (gets you 1 entry), then you can also...
2. leave a comment about which gadget you wish you had (1 more entry) OR
3. post a comment detailing which gadget you felt was a dud and why (2 entries!) OR
4. go to the Taking It On Facebook page and click "like" (another 2 entries) OR
5. link this giveaway on your blog or Facebook (worth 2 entries) OR
6. tell me what kind of gadget do you hope to see in the future! (1 more entry)

You get a brownie point for being a public, official follower of Taking It On... but you needn't follow if you don't like to read my stuff :P And do let me know in the comment that you are a follower. If you add it all up, that's TEN possible ways to win! WOW! I know!


You don't need a google account to leave a comment... anyone can leave a comment :)
And you don't need to leave a separate comment for each entry if you don't want to, just maybe put the corresponding 'ways to enter' number in front of each entry within a single comment... I can add them all up and sort it all out.  


The entries will close Monday April 4, 2011 at 8 a.m. I will announce the winner in that day's Granny's Gadgets post.


Good luck to all who choose to play!  And remember...


you've gotta play to win ;-)


(And don't forget to vote in the photo contest in the sidebar!!!)


Disclaimer:  Williams-Sonoma had nothing to do with this giveaway, other than selling me the gift card ;-)  This giveaway is solely a way of thanking gadget-lovers, followers and "likers" for supporting my blog... and trying to find out if anyone is actually paying attention to this mess :P