Sweepstakes Time... Atlanta Noir giveaway

So...

I am giving away a couple of copies of Atlanta Noir.

Autographed by yours truly!!

All you have to do is comment on a post from this week or last week. So comment on any post since August 1. I think we will run this contest until AUGUST 15th.

So many people already have a book, so I will sweeten the pot with a $25 Visa gift card.

That is Visa... that means you can get gas, groceries, makeup and underwears from the Wal-marts... whatever from whoever takes Visa!

How cool is that?

I haven't given away anything in awhile. Most blogging has moved to "micro-blogging", i.e., Twitter and Facebook, so there are not many people reading. Although giveaways do bring the lurkers out of hiding. LOL

I lurk on those sites, and I rarely say anything. I prefer to write long long thoughts and stories. And my blog keeps that fresh for me! Yep!

But comment to win.  One comment per post, please. And who knows, you can leave just one comment overall and be a winner! That will make you lucky!!

So rest assured as always, I have someone pull my winners and certify them.

So comment to win!

*back to our regularly scheduled programming*

***10th Bloggaversary Sweepstakes Winners***

I was pretty busy today, so I didn't get a chance to post the winners.

Plus, my official puller, Commander Get Jiggy with it, was not in yesterday. Someone hit her car in a parking lot while she was shopping this weekend, so she's been fooling with the body shop.

You know it's bad when someone breaks your tail light and half knock off your bumper... and looks around and keeps going.

Whoever did that, you just ain't right. You just ain't. They must don't know that she is military, and trained in hand-to-hand combat! And she is highly trained in pulling my sweepstakes winners. She would've busted them UP if she caught them hitting them car, busted them up with her fists of fury!

Anyway, she is back at work and ready to pull. I love her excitement. I think her excitement is for the $10 gift card to her favorite local workplace eatery she earns.

Here are the names:

I thought there were 120 comments, but there were actually 197. I messed around and missed writing out the final week of comments. I did that last night. I know now it's easier to write down comments during the whole time rather than waiting until the end. There's a whole comment section in the dashboard and I was looking at it wrong. So I spent an extra hour last night making SURE everyone was listed and accounted for.

We decided the bag was too small. So we found a large envelope and placed the names inside.

Commander Git Jiggy Wit shook that bag up very well and started pulling names. Most pics came out blurry but I will work with what I have... Only because I may buy a new phone this week.

1st name is... Joanie V!

I think I know who that is. That may be Remnants. Not sure why she is using 2 google accounts. But Joanie V! Holler at me.

And the remaining 3 winners are...

Sasha!!!

Ginae!!!

Erica!!!!


GLORY!

Congrats to you all! You win $100 gift cards.  And Commander Git Jiggy Wit It certified them all!

Good for you! Laura, I was rooting for you because you were so... enthusiastic. But unfortunately, you didn't win. Good effort, though.

I was rooting for a multiple, too. Meaning one person winning 2 or more gift cards. Never seen that before, either. That would be interesting, though.

Congrats to the winners. You will have your cards sometime in September. Not this week because it is raining cats and dogs and outside. I ain't getting wet for ya'll.

Text me if you have my cell phone number, or email me.

Email addy:  Oldgirlladylee@gmail.com

I don't know how to prove you are YOU.  You just best get to me soon. Email me. If I don't hear from you, there will be an alternate winner. Email me!

Oh yes, I wanted to give away a cookbook.  The winner is:

BOP!

Beautiful Oppulent Playboy. Something like that. Holler at me, brutha! You get a cookbook plus a $10 gift card from your place of choice.

I don't know if that will be from the local Burger King or Mickey Ds. Or Wal-mart. Your choice. Just don't make me have to run all over ATL looking for a card. Not happening, bruh. No way. So give me 3 choices.

Congrats to all the winners!

This makes me SOOOO giddy! I'm so happy that I feel like I won something!

I will get those cards when I can walk down to my local credit union. I think I will just get some Visa gift cards. That way you can use them for whatever you want. You can get that 6 pack of panties at the Wal-mart. Or you can be like your Grandma and special order a bedspread from the J.C. Penneys.

BOP... brutha, I hope you enjoy your Big Mac or Whopper meal.

Or your pack of boxer shorts on sale at the Wal-mart.

Congrats to the winners! Email me!

On purpose.

**9th Bloggaversary Sweepstakes Winners***

So alas... The Sweepstakes is over. And you chicks were in it to win it. I know because,there were over 300 comments. So yes, ya'll were serious. I know it must've taken me a few hours to write out the names of each commenter and to cut everything out. That right there was more than a notion.

There were over 3 pages of names of commenters and texters. So congratulations to you all for hanging in there for over 35 posts. That was some marathon run...

And our beloved Commander By is back from his top secret deployment mission on the West Coast.

Equipped with fists of fury!

Trained in hand to hand combat!

Hands able to annihilate the enemy! Able to sweatlessly incapacitate the enemy with a barrage of one-two punches.

At the same time, he had hands soft and gentle enough to love on his woman...

(Poor By... I have been singing that to him today: "Fists of fury... hands trained in combat... hands gentle enough... to love on his wooooomaaaaan... la la la la oooooooooh!)

Yeah. Sang that to your favorite quiet storm old school beat. Indeed.

And his hands are agile enough to draw the winners of the 9th Bloggaversary Sweepstakes....

So shout in your seat if you see your name! That means you won that money, honey!


First winner drawn!

Congratulations Adrienne... You win for your comment on the 8/13/14 bloggaversary post!

Adrienne had an interesting technique: Don't run the marathon. Come in on the last few posts and take her chances and throw in 3 or 4 comments. I have seen that she has done that before, but this is the first time it has worked to her advantage. Congrats, hon! "Plan Go-and-Sew" worked well for you!

Second winner:

Lisa B!!

Congrats girl!! You win for your comment on the Good Monday Morning post on July 28, 2013!

I noticed Lisa B had an interesting strategy. In the past, she would text. She decided to leave her comments this time in the comment section. (Does she not trust me to record text message comments in the table? Hmm). I also know in the past she said she doesn't comment... just wanted to read and enjoy and text me. (We have good long soul cleansing convos about posts over texts). I remember telling her "Girl, you better go for the money, honey!

I guess she too could see how she could get her groceries, panties and makeup from her local wal-mart if she won. LOL.

This time, she ran "Operation Arkansas runner". She lightly sprinkled comments throughout the marathon run. No she wasn't going for the most comments, which is an automatic winner. She wanted to just get enough in to up her chances! Go girl!

Watch as the Good Commander certifies the winnings with his deadly yet gentle hands.

Thank you Commander By for your hard work (and Thanks for clipping your nails and lotioning your hands... cuz us sisters can't stand an ashy rusty-tailed brother. No sir).

And finally, the winner for most comments:

I counted up the major players. I tell you, your names rained hard all across the comment tallies.  So congrats for hanging in for 35 posts. You all sprinted hard!

I counted up everything and figured out who the top two commenters were... then I counted those again in the final round to make sure I didn't miss a comment.

And here's the tally sheet.

Congrats This One Woman! Go girl! Go girl!!

She said in the beginning when she does this that she just wanted to challenge herself to comment daily. And that she did... and then some! Go girl!

You TOO get a $99 gift card for making the most comments- 42!

So congrats ladies! You can get your shop on at your local Target or Wal-mart! Just shoot me a quick email with your address and choice of store!

And thank you all for not only reading, but participating. I only get to do this twice a year - for bloggaversary and my birthday. And thanks for allowing me to sow some seeds -words in post, and financial- into your lives!

From your friendly neighborhood Original Oldgirl LadyLee. 

Monday Night Fights: Holiday and Sweepstakes Edition

Good Monday Afternoon...

I didn't plan on posting today, as I write much of my Good Monday Morning material on Sunday evenings (save for the intro), but I thought I would anyway, being that this is the first day back after the holidays.

Nothing much happened this holiday weekend. I must say I enjoyed everyone else's activities.  Between all the facebook and twitter talk about Prince's performance at the Essence festival and various family get-togethers, there was a lot going on. And I felt like I was experiencing it all myself.

I myself did nothing particularly special for the 4th. Holidays make me extremely skittish and for the most part, I don't really care to deal with them. (My sister and I had a conversation about this last month, and I said something that disturbed her deeply. I will do a food-for-thought post about that soon).

Anyway, I hadn't heard from my sister, and my goal is to make sure she has a good holiday. Our family just doesn't get together. It's WAY too much drama, and you know I can't deal with too much over-stimulation these days. But our tradition for the two of us has been to get together and hang out and cook and watch movies.

I gave her a call since I hadn't heard from her, and she forgot that a holiday was coming up (Yes, she seems to be like me. But she repressed the holiday. Wow). But I told her I would cook a little something up, and that I did.

Now I would have LOVED to have some of this:










And some of THAT:





LOL

But we didn't.

(But that sure does look good, doesn't it... especially the shrimp and crab. WOW)

I haven't cranked up my grill in some 5 years. I'm thinking about getting rid of it. Instead I bought 3 or 4 ribs and 10 drummettes off the barbeque bar at the local whole foods.  That was as good as it gets. (Oh and that was from the super high upper class rich white peoples' Whole Foods. I go out there when I am feeling a might bit... fancy).

I was more interested in my vegetables. I made my favorites: kale, mushroom and potato stirfry and a roasted butternut squash-pear- cranberry dish.  I also made potato salad and baked beans. And I bought some grilled veggies off the Whole Foods bar. So I think we were all good. I just wanted to make sure she had her fill, I had mine, and she had a good size plate to take home.

I have my veggie side dishes for the week. And that was my main goal.

Anyway, we watched a couple of movies. She hadn't seen the Thor sequel, so we watched that. And there was a movie she liked on Netflix titled Pretty Ugly People. That was good, but it was a bit too deep for me. I may have to watch it again to "get" it.

Now, I've been into a couple of interesting series on Netflix:

 

Both of those are good. And they are great as backdrops for when I am cleaning up. LOL

Let's see... I didn't do much of anything on Saturday, save for travel out to the east side to get a new battery for my house alarm system. There's nothing worse than laying across the bed and that panel just starts beeping like crazy. First of all, both cats dashed like someone was chasing them. And I'd never heard it before. They mailed a battery the last time, but this time I had to roll out and get it. It is ODD going in a store that just sells batteries. And the place was crowded.

Afterwards, I visited a Whole Foods in that area. And it was the smallest one I'd ever been to. They won't be seeing me again. But they did have my cheap vegetable staples I like a lot (which are cheaper than at my farmers market and grocery store). And they did have my 39 cent water refill station. Hell, that's all I care about. So IF I happen to be out that way, I can drop in and get what I need. I came back and home and that was about it.

Now on Sunday something horrid happened... Well horrid to me. I fell down outside in the driveway. I don't know how. All I know I was laid out on the ground face down, left cheek to the ground, next to Pam. Lord help me.

I scraped my knee something horrible and I sprained my ankle slightly. I am still trying to figure it all out. But I had to bring out some of that old nasty witch hazel. That worked out well. And for some odd reason, Witch Hazel drives Callie Jo CRAZY. Not sure what's in it, but goodness... that little cat was trying to attack me while I was using it. Wow. She's too young to react to catnip, but that witch hazel did something to her. I have to make sure to keep that put up.

I was a little messed up last night, found it hard to walk. I was better this morning, and I went into work late.  I am limping slightly, but I seem to be healing up fine.

That just shocked me... Ugh. I was just trying to go get some gas for my lawn mower. Now I can't mow my lawn. And I have to go to Wal-mart after work and get some gauze and tape.

These are high class problems. It could have been worse. And I am thankful it wasn't. I will happily carry my tail over to the underground Wal-mart some 5 miles from my job and buy as much gauze and tape as I can hold in my arms. Yes I will. Happily, mind you.

That's it for me... We MUST have a Song of the Week. I listen to a ton of music on my Spotify account. And this is one of my top 10 favorite songs of all time, and it happens to be playing right now.  Patti Austin's "Heat of Heat":



I just love love LOVE that song. It was playing at my high school prom. My date was Reggie. I was sixteen and he was 21. He was my Mom's friend son, and I asked him to take me. And he said yes.

I liked him. He looked like a broke singer Prince with a short afro... if you could imagine such. He even said he met Prince once. He worked for UPS and had a delivery for him while he was here in Atlanta and he was so shocked at how short Prince was without the high heel boots. LOL.

This was the first song we danced to. And we slow dragged to a couple of other songs. (I WISH I could remember those songs). I was just SHOCKED to dance that close to this dude who I thought of as "grown".

We went to the Red Lobster afterwards. He ordered a shark entree, and he ordered a drink.

Ordering shark, having a drank, and being 21.  In my young 16 year old mind, he was... dangerous.

But he had always been really nice to me, and that had to have been the most fun on a date I'd ever had, even though it was purely platonic. (Don't worry about this age thing. This was 28 years ago. And I was a senior in high school. And I was FAR from virginal. Nothing was happening that night. That was my mama's friend son... talk about getting in a load of trouble. Yikes). 

The last time I saw Reggie was at his mother's funeral a few years later. I shook his hand and told him I was sorry about him losing his mother. Haven't seen him since. But he was a really nice guy, and I am sure he still is.

And every time I hear that song, I think of him and the good time we had.

I just want to get up where ever I am and just do... Wonder Woman spins.

HA HA...

Okay, with that... that is all...

Heads up... 9th bloggaversary is coming up in early August. So you know what that means: 

SWEEPSTAKES!!!! 

*cartwheels*

And you know the trend.

My seed sowing has really sucked this year. I have a certain amount I like to give away per year, whether it is by helping someone, giving to a charity, etc. And the last two years have been bleeeeeeh... as I have only met half my goal.

And it is a strange feeling to offer to help someone and get rejected. Ugh. But that is alright.

You know the trend with sweepstakes. So we have some $99 gift cards available.

Some means more than one... So you know there will be two. Possibly 3. Not sure yet. I would LOVE to give away 3 gift cards... I have for some reason been salivating about that for the past few months for some reason. Wow.

My special employee Commander By is deployed on a special mission out on the West Coast right now, but he should be back in time to pull a name out of the hat. And as always, there is a prize for most comments. And I might shock ya with a third gift card.

Wal-mart and Target are your choices. Blame Serenity_23 for that. She had me on a witch hunt for a dang MAC gift card. Never again... frickin' chicken.

So this will run from now until bloggaversery date which I think is August 13th.

And like I have always said, I am not a comments whore. Ya'll can continue to lurk. I don't care.

But you need to get that money, honey. Comment here, or text me if you have my cell number, or send a tweet, or email... Oldgirlladylee@gmail.com.  We have some Ladylee sweepstakes veterans who have some interesting techniques and strategies, and they have won over the years.  So get on it, doggonit!

I like email and texts. We have some serious private convos about posts. It is mad enlightening, it is.  Ya'll really do solve a ton of my issues.

So work it out. Comment to win. Get your money honey.

I have a TON of posts. Might get a good 40 posts in, as I am pondering the first half of 2014 pretty hard. A load of food-for thought is laying around in my brain.

Hmmm....

With that... have a good week.

By design and On purpose. 

WINNERS of 44th Birthday Sweepstakes!!

These are the hands of the Man!

They are the fierce hands of the man trained in hand-to-hand combat.

They are the mighty hands of Lt. Commander By, The Black Rambo!

By can knock a fool out cold with a single sucker punch... then pick him up, and knock him out again!

And he can also pull the names of the winners of the 44th sweepstakes, which is more important than hand-to-hand military combat.

So Mrs. By clipped his nails and moisturized his hands up extra special for the drawing. She knows us ladies don't like no rusty ashy man. Thanks Mrs. By!

Here are the names of the commenters.

276 entries. That's a whole lot, a world record of sorts. Well, it's a lot because the sweepstakes was extended due to the bad weather.

I cut those pages up into strips.

I shuffled the strips and cut the individual entries up. And I placed them in a cup. And I placed that cup in the hands of Lt. Commander By!

We decided the cup was too small for the entries.

So we threw the names in a bag.

By shook up the bag, and commenced to pulling names...

And the winners are:

Dorothy!!

Honey, your second comment on "Snow Jam 2014... ATLien style" on January 29th won you a $44 gift card!  Go girl!!

And since the contest ran long, I mentioned there would be a drawing for a second winner!

And the second winner is:

Moe!!!

Girl, your comment made on the February post "Celebrating Black History" made you some money, honey! A $44 gift card, just for YOU!

And here's By doing what he does best... verifying the winners by writing their prize on the back.

Now on to the prize for winner of the most comments over the Birthday Sweepstakes time period.

There were 5 of you in the running...

And here's the tally.



As you can see, the winner is Sasha!

It was close, wasn't it?  Shai needed 3 more comments to win.  But Sasha wasn't having it!

Congratulations, Sasha! You win a $44 gift card.

Alright ya'll.  You have to claim your prize.  Text me if you have my phone number. Or email me (oldgirlladylee@gmail.com).

Oh, and let me know if you want a Target or Wal-Mart card.

Congratulations to all the winners!

Thanks to all for participating in the Sweepstakes!

Thanks By for doing well at pulling names. A free lunch for your, Sir!

Your next Sweepstakes is in August. It will be a $99 gift card for 9th Bloggaversary Sweepstakes. Now that's some money, honey! So be sure to come back and play with us then.

8th Bloggaversary Sweepstakes Winners!!!

We have finally arrived to the moment you've alllll been waiting for:

Announcements of the sweepstakes winners.

Some of ya'll tried to sneak in with some comments on Tuesday morning. NERP! Too late. Comments closed at midnight Monday night. Better luck next time.

I listed out all commenters in my usual bootleg style, using utterly bootleg methods.  There were 108 comments within the timeframe of the contest.

I counted up comments, and once again, the person who left the most comments and the winner of the $25 dollar gift card of her choice is...

Shai

Congratulations Shai! Go girl. I said, GO GIRL

Shai, one of my favorite readers, left 14 comments. She just edged out Sweet Sasha, who left 13. A whole bunch of ya'll left 7 to 9 comments. Good for ya'll for trying.

You need to be like Shai, who has a stealth game plan. She says she doesn't. She tells me often... "I just like to talk."

And that she did. Talked her way into a $25 gift card.

GLORY! *throws glitter*

Now, I had to go find my blog employee Lt. Commander By. He does my regular drawings.

I found him working hard at his desk. And he was snacking on a fruit cup and drinking some bottled water.

That looks healthy. And it looks like a child's fruit cup. I think it was mandarin oranges.

By's sons did not have their fruit cups for lunch today.

And it was because their Daddy stole them.

And the next time I see his babies, I'MA TELL ON HIM.

That is all.

Anyway, By's hands are washed and lotioned. His fingernails are cleaned and clipped. Thank you, Mrs. By. You know us homegirls don't like no ashy man....

There he is pointing the cup of names out to us all.

And oh my! He's shaking the cup up... quite vigorously!!

Don't hurt yourself there, dude!

And he pulls a name!!

And the winner is....

Serenity 23!!

*ladylee claps slowly... with a big frown on her face*

Congratulations, chicken.  Your comment left on 8/15, on the Quote of the Week post, won you that $88.

I am happy for her. But I am NOT happy about her choice of $88 gift card.

She's been hollering that her choice is the MAC store.

This confused me. I didn't know what that was. She said it was some makeup store. Some store at the mall.

I haven't been to the mall in at least a decade.

"Why can't you buy makeup at the Wal-mart?" I asked.

"No," she said. "I want a MAC card."

"But the Wal-mart has two aisles of makeup. You can buy makeup, groceries and a pair of panties at the Wal-mart."

"No."

Then she asked an interesting question...

"Would you buy your veggies at the dollar store."

This caused me to semi-hyperventilate. The HORROR.

I suppose not. So I guess I will be going to the MAC store.... MAC counter, whatever it is.

My cubicle mate, the Cowgirl Cre, and I discussed this dilemma.  "You can look online and see if they sell them online. That's what all the bougie stores do.Online giftcards."

Lo and behold, she found the website. But they only sell the gift card in 5 dollar increments.

"Well," I said. "I guess she won't be getting a gift card, then. I need an $88 gift card.

Cowgirl Cre found this terribly funny.

Hopefully Serenity won't look over here and see her name. Don't tell her that she won. Let her find out.

That way I won't have to go to the mall. Ick.

Knowing her she will come this way, eager to see who won... Humph.

Congratulations, gal.

And a big LadyLee thank you to ALL of you for participating in the Bloggaversary Sweepstakes!

It feels good to have giveaways! Wish I could do a giveaway every week.

A classmate in my writing class said some blogger she reads has had Coach purse giveaways.

O_O

Don't ask me who. I didn't ask. Baby, I was too shocked to ask. All I know is that it was someone who was an executive at Coach or something like that. You have to be careful about that type of thing. You don't know if that chick is legitimate or if she cold boosting purses. I'd be terribly angry if I got locked up for receiving stolen goods. Oh noooo!

Now if I could ball like that?  Give away expensive purses? Wow.

Honestly, that never crossed my mind.

Until then, ya'll gotta deal with store gift cards.

They are good for groceries, panties...  and apparently high class makeup...

And that will just have to do... for now.