It's finally official. We are now a waiting family with our adoption agency. I'm optimistic that our wait time for a baby won't be long, but I'm also realistic and I know that not at all adoptions work like that. But a girl can hope, right?
Showing posts with label giveaway. Show all posts
Showing posts with label giveaway. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
Saturday, February 12, 2011
Posh Peach Winner and Other Updates
First I want to say congrats to commenter #67, Sarah Smith, for winning the personalized market basket from the Posh Peach. I myself am waiting for my new basket to arrive and can't wait! Unfortunately a few people were automatically disqualified for not completing the mandatory entry so for future reference please read all the rules before entering the giveaways! I hope to have another one soon but I will definitely have a giveaway after my trip to Ireland.
So on to other updates. I wish I could give you the results of my second beta test but unfortunately the paperwork never made it to Womack so nobody knows what the results are. Oh well. Nurse D told me I could pee on a stick or take another blood test. I chose the pee stick (which of course was negative) so I stopped the meds. I guess this means I can now go horseback riding and get completely shitfaced on Guinness when I'm in Ireland.
I guess this also means I need to start unfollowing some blogs as well. I know quite a few people got recent BFP's and I'm very happy for you but this is also getting more and more difficult for me to read. I've come up with a sort of "system" for these pregnancy blogs. I usually continue to read and follow them until they enter the second trimester and then I stop. So if in a few weeks you find that you have one less follower I hope you understand and don't hate me for life. Perhaps one day I will join your ranks as a pregnancy blog.
As for me, the past few days have been quite hard. I don't cry all day long but there are moments when I break down, usually when I get up in the morning (I have no idea why). I think this particular BFN hit me hard because I had sort of an epiphany that these last 5 embryos are our last chance at biological children. And while I never thought that having biological children was important to me because we were always open to the idea of adoption (but we put it off because of the ridiculous cost) I guess I was wrong and it really is important. Or maybe it's the thought of never being pregnant that hurts so much.
See the parasailer? No?
BAM!! There he is
I think I'm going to try my next FET again in June. It may or may not be our last. If these FET's don't work out then we will not pursue embryo adoption (I know some people asked me about it in the past). My reasoning is that we make decent embryos. Yes, I've only got 4 and 5-cell embryos left but they're not shitty embryos. Heck, we had 7 left on day 3 during our last IVF which isn't bad at all. So if I can't get pregnant off my own embryos then I'll have no confidence that I can get pregnant off someone else's. And considering my history of miscarriage this option seems just a little too risky.
And unfortunately we might not choose domestic infant adoption either. You see, adoption costs about $25-$30K (let's just highball it and go with the $30K). The military offers a $2,000 reimbursement and currently the IRS offers a $13,170 adoption tax credit, which makes a $30K adoption a very affordable $15K. Obviously you have to come up with the $30K first and then wait to get the money back but you get my drift.
But that adoption tax credit might not be around next year. It was set to expire in 2010 but the government passed a bill to extend the credit for one year and increased the credit by about $1,000. Who knows if that is going to happen again. And I'm sorry but if the credit goes away then I just can't see myself spending $28,000 to adopt a child. After this FET's we will have hit the $25,000 mark in family building attempts...I can't imagine doubling that amount. It just doesn't seem fiscally responsible.
But here's the odd part: for Brandon and I, coming up with $30,000 takes just a little over a year. It's not like we'd be slaving away for 10 years before reaching our goal. For us it's easily attainable because we don't live beyond our means and we're able to save money regularly. So I think to myself, because it's so easy to save up that money, why not just do the adoption? After all, what's one year in the grand scheme of things? A child is the one thing that I've consistently wanted all my life. But then I try to pull my emotions out of it and say that spending $60,000 to have one child is just financially stupid (in my opinion). But on the other hand, as long as we're not going into debt and we save properly, it's not really financially stupid, right? It's not like we're spending money we don't have. So as long as we can afford it, we should do it, no matter the cost. My decision making skills confuse me sometimes.
At this point, foster care is not an option. I think it would be too difficult for me. It's hard enough losing embryos but to see a child walk out of my house who had been living with me would probably break me. So no foster care. Trying IVF again would be tempting because of the low price tag (compared to adoption) but I seemed to have lost all confidence in getting pregnant from IVF.
But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself, as I usually do. We still have one FET left and I should probably just focus on that (while still saving money for Plan B of course). So I guess I'll just work on losing some weight before June, maybe try acupuncture with this round, prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
So on to other updates. I wish I could give you the results of my second beta test but unfortunately the paperwork never made it to Womack so nobody knows what the results are. Oh well. Nurse D told me I could pee on a stick or take another blood test. I chose the pee stick (which of course was negative) so I stopped the meds. I guess this means I can now go horseback riding and get completely shitfaced on Guinness when I'm in Ireland.
I guess this also means I need to start unfollowing some blogs as well. I know quite a few people got recent BFP's and I'm very happy for you but this is also getting more and more difficult for me to read. I've come up with a sort of "system" for these pregnancy blogs. I usually continue to read and follow them until they enter the second trimester and then I stop. So if in a few weeks you find that you have one less follower I hope you understand and don't hate me for life. Perhaps one day I will join your ranks as a pregnancy blog.
As for me, the past few days have been quite hard. I don't cry all day long but there are moments when I break down, usually when I get up in the morning (I have no idea why). I think this particular BFN hit me hard because I had sort of an epiphany that these last 5 embryos are our last chance at biological children. And while I never thought that having biological children was important to me because we were always open to the idea of adoption (but we put it off because of the ridiculous cost) I guess I was wrong and it really is important. Or maybe it's the thought of never being pregnant that hurts so much.
I indulged in a little retail therapy after my BFN on Wednesday and bought a new camera and tripod. It's an upgrade to my old camera which was kick ass to begin with. It had an incredible 80x zoom (the new one has 140). If you'd like to see what 80x can do, check this out (click on the images to see better):
See the parasailer? No?
BAM!! There he isNow I'll be able to take shots of stuff from miles away (maybe not miles but really really really really really far away).
I think I'm going to try my next FET again in June. It may or may not be our last. If these FET's don't work out then we will not pursue embryo adoption (I know some people asked me about it in the past). My reasoning is that we make decent embryos. Yes, I've only got 4 and 5-cell embryos left but they're not shitty embryos. Heck, we had 7 left on day 3 during our last IVF which isn't bad at all. So if I can't get pregnant off my own embryos then I'll have no confidence that I can get pregnant off someone else's. And considering my history of miscarriage this option seems just a little too risky.
And unfortunately we might not choose domestic infant adoption either. You see, adoption costs about $25-$30K (let's just highball it and go with the $30K). The military offers a $2,000 reimbursement and currently the IRS offers a $13,170 adoption tax credit, which makes a $30K adoption a very affordable $15K. Obviously you have to come up with the $30K first and then wait to get the money back but you get my drift.
But that adoption tax credit might not be around next year. It was set to expire in 2010 but the government passed a bill to extend the credit for one year and increased the credit by about $1,000. Who knows if that is going to happen again. And I'm sorry but if the credit goes away then I just can't see myself spending $28,000 to adopt a child. After this FET's we will have hit the $25,000 mark in family building attempts...I can't imagine doubling that amount. It just doesn't seem fiscally responsible.
But here's the odd part: for Brandon and I, coming up with $30,000 takes just a little over a year. It's not like we'd be slaving away for 10 years before reaching our goal. For us it's easily attainable because we don't live beyond our means and we're able to save money regularly. So I think to myself, because it's so easy to save up that money, why not just do the adoption? After all, what's one year in the grand scheme of things? A child is the one thing that I've consistently wanted all my life. But then I try to pull my emotions out of it and say that spending $60,000 to have one child is just financially stupid (in my opinion). But on the other hand, as long as we're not going into debt and we save properly, it's not really financially stupid, right? It's not like we're spending money we don't have. So as long as we can afford it, we should do it, no matter the cost. My decision making skills confuse me sometimes.
At this point, foster care is not an option. I think it would be too difficult for me. It's hard enough losing embryos but to see a child walk out of my house who had been living with me would probably break me. So no foster care. Trying IVF again would be tempting because of the low price tag (compared to adoption) but I seemed to have lost all confidence in getting pregnant from IVF.
But perhaps I'm getting ahead of myself, as I usually do. We still have one FET left and I should probably just focus on that (while still saving money for Plan B of course). So I guess I'll just work on losing some weight before June, maybe try acupuncture with this round, prepare for the worst and hope for the best.
Friday, September 3, 2010
Fearlessly Frugal Giveaway!
To celebrate my month of painful sacrifice, or as I've been calling it, my month of no spending, I'm hosting another giveaway! I've contacted businesses all month long to try and get someone to host a review and giveaway but no dice. One of those companies was Sophisticated Shoppers. I wanted to try out one of their stylish coupon organizers and give one away to a lucky reader. I was told they would review my blog and get back to me but I never heard from them again. So I decided to buy a Deluxe Coupon Organizer anyway. I was just itching to have one, especially since they're so cute. It turns out looks aren't everything and I was sorely disappointed. The organizer is made of fabric and the coupon storage area doesn't expand in the way I had hoped it would. It just looks a little too flimsy for me. The only good thing about it was that it came with a pocket calculator, which I'm going to keep. I'll give the coupon organizer to my grandmother or mom if they want it. I was thankful that I had also ordered another coupon organizer from a different company, hoping that I would like at least one of them. This one is called The Couponizer and it is DA BOMB! It's a spiral organizer which is just like the one I have now, only it's bigger, more sturdy and they have many more pockets for coupons, and not just grocery ones! They have pockets for entertainment and travel, fast food, and a bunch more. It also comes with a shopping list, a coupon tracker to track your savings, a small pair of scissors and a plastic bag for carrying (though I don't plan on using that).
So you may be thinking that this giveaway is a coupon organizer, but it's not! It's SO much more than that! It's a Budget Prize Pack which includes the books The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Living on a Budget and The Coupon Mom's Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half. If you haven't heard of it, The Coupon Mom is a great website that shows the deals at your local grocery stores as well as coupons you can find in the local Sunday paper. In addition to the books the winner will receive their own Couponizer along with over 100 coupons to get you started on your new budget!
HOW TO WIN:
Open to US residents only. Each entry must be left in a separate comment, otherwise it will only count as one entry. If your entry is not linked to a Google account please be sure to leave a valid email address along with your entry. If the winner does not respond after 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.
Mandatory Entry
Tell me what you think was the most interesting/funny/helpful/sad/clever part of the Fearlessly Frugal experiment. **You must do this entry first or all other entries will be deleted!**
Additional Entries
1) Become a public follower on GFC or leave a comment stating that you are a current follower
2) Blog about my giveaway and leave your link in the comment field
3) Follow me on Twitter or let me know that you're a current follower
4) Tweet about my giveaway and leave your link in the comment field
Entries will be accepted through midnight EST on Tuesday September 14, 2010. A winner will be selected on Wednesday the 15th. I'll be in NC in the midst of our IVF by then but I'll bring the prize pack with me and mail it from there. Good luck!
So you may be thinking that this giveaway is a coupon organizer, but it's not! It's SO much more than that! It's a Budget Prize Pack which includes the books The Pocket Idiot's Guide to Living on a Budget and The Coupon Mom's Guide to Cutting Your Grocery Bills in Half. If you haven't heard of it, The Coupon Mom is a great website that shows the deals at your local grocery stores as well as coupons you can find in the local Sunday paper. In addition to the books the winner will receive their own Couponizer along with over 100 coupons to get you started on your new budget!
HOW TO WIN:Open to US residents only. Each entry must be left in a separate comment, otherwise it will only count as one entry. If your entry is not linked to a Google account please be sure to leave a valid email address along with your entry. If the winner does not respond after 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.
Mandatory Entry
Tell me what you think was the most interesting/funny/helpful/sad/clever part of the Fearlessly Frugal experiment. **You must do this entry first or all other entries will be deleted!**
Additional Entries
1) Become a public follower on GFC or leave a comment stating that you are a current follower
2) Blog about my giveaway and leave your link in the comment field
3) Follow me on Twitter or let me know that you're a current follower
4) Tweet about my giveaway and leave your link in the comment field
Entries will be accepted through midnight EST on Tuesday September 14, 2010. A winner will be selected on Wednesday the 15th. I'll be in NC in the midst of our IVF by then but I'll bring the prize pack with me and mail it from there. Good luck!
Wednesday, August 11, 2010
Now Don't Be Shy....
There's less than a week left on the giveaway, don't everybody jump the gun to enter! There's only 7 entries so far so you've got a great chance of winning the free meditation CD. It really is as awesome as it sounds and even if you aren't into the whole meditation thing, it's a great way to get to sleep when you're tossing and turning (not that I tried it or anything). So click here to enter to win! I hope to start hosting more giveaways, by the way. My goal is to have 2 or 3 a month. They won't always be fertility related because let's face it, we all need a break from time to time about that crappy part of our lives and it's nice to win something that's a little indulgent.
On the fertility-related news, it looks like Brandon won't be able to stay with me the whole time in North Carolina. Bummer. He'll probably miss the first week like he did last time. We need to find out ASAP so we can get him a plane ticket for (semi) cheap. And AF still hasn't shown up. I'm not done with the Provera though so there's still time. Other than that's, all's quiet on the infertility front.
On the fertility-related news, it looks like Brandon won't be able to stay with me the whole time in North Carolina. Bummer. He'll probably miss the first week like he did last time. We need to find out ASAP so we can get him a plane ticket for (semi) cheap. And AF still hasn't shown up. I'm not done with the Provera though so there's still time. Other than that's, all's quiet on the infertility front.
Monday, August 9, 2010
My photo book and a giveaway!
If you're interested in checking out the photo book I made from Picaboo (mentioned in my previous post) here is the link. How cool is that? Spending the $9 for shipping wasn't a "need" but who cares. I got a $40 photo book out of it!
Now on to my giveaway. Since I cut out acupuncture after my last miscarriage I had to find a new way to relax through my upcoming IVF cycle. So I went online to Anji Inc and bought two meditation CD's as a birthday present to myself. They are awesome!! The CD's come with 3-4 tracks and each track is about 25 minutes long. I got the IVF Package #3 which comes with Meditations for a Fertile Soul and Imagery and Meditations in Support of an IVF cycle. It's now downloaded on my iPod under the Infertility playlist and I'm so happy that I can take it with me to Womack for my upcoming IVF cycle. I wrote a review on AC about the Meditations for a Fertile Soul CD. If you want to read it click here. While the majority of her CD's are for women going through infertility, she does have some for pregnancy and women's wellness.
The best part is that Jennifer Bloome, the founder of Anji Inc, has graciously allowed me to give away one of her CD's!! The lucky winner will receive a coupon code for one single CD download from her site.
HOW TO WIN:
Open to residents worldwide. Each entry must be left in a separate comment, otherwise it will only count as one entry. If your entry is not linked to a Google account please be sure to leave a valid email address along with your entry. If the winner does not respond after 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.
Mandatory Entry
Tell me how you relax, whether it's during fertility treatments, throughout pregnancy or just in general
Additional Entries
1) Visit Anji Inc's website here and tell me which product you would be most interested in winning
2) Become a follower or leave a comment stating that you are a current follower
3) Blog about my giveaway and leave your link in the comment field
4) Follow me on Twitter
5) Follow Anji Inc on Twitter
6) Tweet about my giveaway and leave your link in the comment field
Entires will be accepted through midnight EST on Wednesday August 18, 2010. A winner will be selected on Thursday the 19th. Good luck!
Now on to my giveaway. Since I cut out acupuncture after my last miscarriage I had to find a new way to relax through my upcoming IVF cycle. So I went online to Anji Inc and bought two meditation CD's as a birthday present to myself. They are awesome!! The CD's come with 3-4 tracks and each track is about 25 minutes long. I got the IVF Package #3 which comes with Meditations for a Fertile Soul and Imagery and Meditations in Support of an IVF cycle. It's now downloaded on my iPod under the Infertility playlist and I'm so happy that I can take it with me to Womack for my upcoming IVF cycle. I wrote a review on AC about the Meditations for a Fertile Soul CD. If you want to read it click here. While the majority of her CD's are for women going through infertility, she does have some for pregnancy and women's wellness.
The best part is that Jennifer Bloome, the founder of Anji Inc, has graciously allowed me to give away one of her CD's!! The lucky winner will receive a coupon code for one single CD download from her site.
HOW TO WIN:
Open to residents worldwide. Each entry must be left in a separate comment, otherwise it will only count as one entry. If your entry is not linked to a Google account please be sure to leave a valid email address along with your entry. If the winner does not respond after 48 hours a new winner will be chosen.
Mandatory Entry
Tell me how you relax, whether it's during fertility treatments, throughout pregnancy or just in general
Additional Entries
1) Visit Anji Inc's website here and tell me which product you would be most interested in winning
2) Become a follower or leave a comment stating that you are a current follower
3) Blog about my giveaway and leave your link in the comment field
4) Follow me on Twitter
5) Follow Anji Inc on Twitter
6) Tweet about my giveaway and leave your link in the comment field
Entires will be accepted through midnight EST on Wednesday August 18, 2010. A winner will be selected on Thursday the 19th. Good luck!
Sunday, July 25, 2010
And the Winner Is....
#22, Marci J!
"My American Girl doll Molly - I still treasure her knowing someday my daughter will play with her too and will have just as good a friend in her as I did."
Congrats Marci, I'll be sending you a quick email before we leave for Maine and I will ship your gift when I return.
Thanks to all who entered! I plan on having another giveaway during the first two weeks of August so check back!
"My American Girl doll Molly - I still treasure her knowing someday my daughter will play with her too and will have just as good a friend in her as I did."
Congrats Marci, I'll be sending you a quick email before we leave for Maine and I will ship your gift when I return.
Thanks to all who entered! I plan on having another giveaway during the first two weeks of August so check back!
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
Blogoversary and My First Giveaway
**If you don't want to read my ramblings about our Trip Across America and instead want the skinny on my blogoversary and giveaway, scroll to the bottom.**
Well here I am sitting in a hotel in Cleveland, Ohio and I can finally say that we're almost "home". It still feels a bit surreal to be moving across country, wondering what my new place will look like and how I'll get through the following months without a job. But we infertiles have been taught to adapt and overcome.
Tomorrow we get to Pennsylvania where we'll spend a couple days with my dad's side of the family. For now, though, I thought I'd share how our trip has gone so far. Our original schedule was to drive through Oregon and Idaho to Salt Lake City to visit Brandon's family and then drive across I-80 to Pennsylvania. At the last minute we decided to skip driving across I-80 (and thus miss the boring part of the journey) and go a little north to I-90 so we could see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. It only added 4 hours to the trip, plus however much time we would spend at the stops. Much to my dismay it was extremely cloudy and rainy on the day we went to visit those places so we couldn't see a thing. Needless to say I was pissed.
So we decided to salvage the day by visiting other touristy things in the area. We first stopped by Bear Country, a drive-thru wildlife park. It was actually pretty neat. We saw all kinds of animals like reindeer, mountain goats, and wolves. Some of the animals came within a few feet of our car. Oso was freaking out the whole time and we couldn't walk around the baby area (due to the rain) but we still had fun. We were supposed to keep the windows rolled up but we rolled them down for a quick second to take pictures.
We also stopped by a place called Reptile Gardens. It was like an aquarium type thing for the creepy crawlies. When we walked in the door we noticed a sign that said "Leashed dogs welcome". Seriously?! Are they trying to get free food for their snakes? Who would be stupid enough to bring a dog in a place to see large reptiles? Ummmm...we would. Oso did quite well though, even during the live demonstration. The snakes kept checking him out though. I told Brandon to hold him just in case they haven't eaten in the past week. Our favorite part of Reptile Gardens was seeing the group of 100 year-old galapagos tortoises. Oso enjoyed seeing them too. I bought a cute little hedgehog puppet in the souvenir store and then it was back on the road for a few more hours.
Next we stopped by a place called Wall Drug in southern South Dakota. They have a ton of neat little souvenir shops. Retail therapy can cure any disappointment and helped make the day a little better. And seeing Brandon ride a huge jackalope was definitely worth the stop.
Minnesota and Wisconsin was fairly boring, though the drive was much more scenic than I expected. Today we traveled through Illinois, Indiana and most of Ohio. My biggest complaint about today was the TOLL ROADS. I absolutely don't understand toll roads. How can you travel on an interstate for free in one state and then have to pay in the adjacent state? Shouldn't the taxpayers pay for the maintenance of the road? And if I'm going to pay money for a toll, shouldn't they use that money to maintain the road? I drove across some seriously crappy roads in Illinois. I think our money went to pay the wages of the person SITTING in the toll booth. We must have paid about $30 for each car in toll fees today and we still have more to pay tomorrow.
But back to the cool stuff. We stopped by a quaint little town in Indiana called Shipshewana. It's in Amish country and they have all kinds of shops and an enormous flea market. We were only able to spend a few hours there because 1) we were on a mission to get to Pennsylvania and 2) Oso was in the car and 3) we planned on spending a whole day in Amish country in Pennsylvania. Still, I'm a very fast shopper and I was able to find some cool stuff.
**Which brings me to my giveaway! May 22nd is my one year blogoversary so to celebrate the first birthday of my blog I have decided to have TWO giveaways! These are also my first giveaways so I guess we've got a lot of firsts around here!
The first giveaway is a beautiful sterling silver pendant made with the wings of a butterfly. They are made by Nature's Jewels. They're a small crafting company with no website but you can email Linda at naturesjewels@live.com on how to order your own pendant or earrings. Please note that no butterflies were harmed in the making of these pendants. The butterflies were raised on a farm where they were allowed to die naturally (butterflies only live a few weeks).
Entering the giveaway is simple. Simply post a comment in response to the following question: If you could take a road trip anywhere in the United States, where would you go and why?
During this trip I realized that I've visited almost every state in the United States, plus Canada and Mexico. I added it up and found that I've driven through or visited 36 of the 50 states. That doesn't count layovers in an airport because that's technically not visiting. But that's alot of traveling. I'd have to say the best state was probably Washington. Not because I just left there but because it has something for everyone to enjoy: shopping, big cities, wildlife, skiing, and just about anything to do with nature. This thought brings me to my next giveaway. To enter, simple post a response to the following question: How many states have you visited and which one was your favorite?
The second giveaway prize is a cute metal note pad that I found in a souvenir shop.
You can also earn additional entries by becoming a follower. Post an additional comment with your follower status, whether you're a new or veteran follower. This additional entry will count for each giveaway so you only need to do it once. Entries will be accepted until midnight PST on May 21st. Entries will be listed in an Excel table for each giveaway and the winners will be selected through a Random Number Generator on May 22nd. Anyone is welcome to enter, I am willing to ship worldwide. Once I get to 100 followers I will have my next giveaway.
I can't wait to read everybody's comments!
Well here I am sitting in a hotel in Cleveland, Ohio and I can finally say that we're almost "home". It still feels a bit surreal to be moving across country, wondering what my new place will look like and how I'll get through the following months without a job. But we infertiles have been taught to adapt and overcome.
Tomorrow we get to Pennsylvania where we'll spend a couple days with my dad's side of the family. For now, though, I thought I'd share how our trip has gone so far. Our original schedule was to drive through Oregon and Idaho to Salt Lake City to visit Brandon's family and then drive across I-80 to Pennsylvania. At the last minute we decided to skip driving across I-80 (and thus miss the boring part of the journey) and go a little north to I-90 so we could see Mount Rushmore and the Crazy Horse Memorial. It only added 4 hours to the trip, plus however much time we would spend at the stops. Much to my dismay it was extremely cloudy and rainy on the day we went to visit those places so we couldn't see a thing. Needless to say I was pissed.
So we decided to salvage the day by visiting other touristy things in the area. We first stopped by Bear Country, a drive-thru wildlife park. It was actually pretty neat. We saw all kinds of animals like reindeer, mountain goats, and wolves. Some of the animals came within a few feet of our car. Oso was freaking out the whole time and we couldn't walk around the baby area (due to the rain) but we still had fun. We were supposed to keep the windows rolled up but we rolled them down for a quick second to take pictures.
We also stopped by a place called Reptile Gardens. It was like an aquarium type thing for the creepy crawlies. When we walked in the door we noticed a sign that said "Leashed dogs welcome". Seriously?! Are they trying to get free food for their snakes? Who would be stupid enough to bring a dog in a place to see large reptiles? Ummmm...we would. Oso did quite well though, even during the live demonstration. The snakes kept checking him out though. I told Brandon to hold him just in case they haven't eaten in the past week. Our favorite part of Reptile Gardens was seeing the group of 100 year-old galapagos tortoises. Oso enjoyed seeing them too. I bought a cute little hedgehog puppet in the souvenir store and then it was back on the road for a few more hours.Next we stopped by a place called Wall Drug in southern South Dakota. They have a ton of neat little souvenir shops. Retail therapy can cure any disappointment and helped make the day a little better. And seeing Brandon ride a huge jackalope was definitely worth the stop.
Minnesota and Wisconsin was fairly boring, though the drive was much more scenic than I expected. Today we traveled through Illinois, Indiana and most of Ohio. My biggest complaint about today was the TOLL ROADS. I absolutely don't understand toll roads. How can you travel on an interstate for free in one state and then have to pay in the adjacent state? Shouldn't the taxpayers pay for the maintenance of the road? And if I'm going to pay money for a toll, shouldn't they use that money to maintain the road? I drove across some seriously crappy roads in Illinois. I think our money went to pay the wages of the person SITTING in the toll booth. We must have paid about $30 for each car in toll fees today and we still have more to pay tomorrow.But back to the cool stuff. We stopped by a quaint little town in Indiana called Shipshewana. It's in Amish country and they have all kinds of shops and an enormous flea market. We were only able to spend a few hours there because 1) we were on a mission to get to Pennsylvania and 2) Oso was in the car and 3) we planned on spending a whole day in Amish country in Pennsylvania. Still, I'm a very fast shopper and I was able to find some cool stuff.
**Which brings me to my giveaway! May 22nd is my one year blogoversary so to celebrate the first birthday of my blog I have decided to have TWO giveaways! These are also my first giveaways so I guess we've got a lot of firsts around here!
The first giveaway is a beautiful sterling silver pendant made with the wings of a butterfly. They are made by Nature's Jewels. They're a small crafting company with no website but you can email Linda at naturesjewels@live.com on how to order your own pendant or earrings. Please note that no butterflies were harmed in the making of these pendants. The butterflies were raised on a farm where they were allowed to die naturally (butterflies only live a few weeks).
Entering the giveaway is simple. Simply post a comment in response to the following question: If you could take a road trip anywhere in the United States, where would you go and why?
During this trip I realized that I've visited almost every state in the United States, plus Canada and Mexico. I added it up and found that I've driven through or visited 36 of the 50 states. That doesn't count layovers in an airport because that's technically not visiting. But that's alot of traveling. I'd have to say the best state was probably Washington. Not because I just left there but because it has something for everyone to enjoy: shopping, big cities, wildlife, skiing, and just about anything to do with nature. This thought brings me to my next giveaway. To enter, simple post a response to the following question: How many states have you visited and which one was your favorite?
The second giveaway prize is a cute metal note pad that I found in a souvenir shop.
You can also earn additional entries by becoming a follower. Post an additional comment with your follower status, whether you're a new or veteran follower. This additional entry will count for each giveaway so you only need to do it once. Entries will be accepted until midnight PST on May 21st. Entries will be listed in an Excel table for each giveaway and the winners will be selected through a Random Number Generator on May 22nd. Anyone is welcome to enter, I am willing to ship worldwide. Once I get to 100 followers I will have my next giveaway.I can't wait to read everybody's comments!
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