I mentioned a giveaway, didn't I?

Its almost that time of year again, there just isn't any avoiding it.

I've spent the last couple of weeks rearranging furniture and generally clearing all the junk out of my that accumulates during the year to make space in my living room for my Christmas tree. I don't live in a huge house and permanently vacant corner for a tree so it has to be created every year.

Its a good weekend's worth of work just to put up and decorate our tree and that's before I even think about doing anything with the rest of the house so I like to get the organising and rearranging out of the way nice and early so that I can enjoy decorating my tree because, you know trying to shift a bookcase and throwing your back out when your plan was to have a wee glass of wine and hang a few stockings can really put a crimp on a girl's Christmas spirit. Yes that actually happened to my mum and whereas my solution to the problem was to start earlier hers was to buy a 1 foot fibre optic tree that sits nicely on top of the bookcase.

So I'm feeling all Christmassy and I want to share my Christmas spirit (not the mulled wine variety) and what better way than with a giveaway.

And its a pretty good one!


Everything is handmade by yours truly. If you win you'll receive a set of two of my prim style Christmas trees, a set of three gingerbread men tree decorations, a set of three mini I-cord wreath tree decorations (complete with hand knit berries) and a hanging star gift bag, big enough to hold a piece of jewellery or a handful of chocolate coins (I'd recommend filling with chocolate coins). As if that wasn't enough, there will also be something edible included in the giveaway, maybe not a reindeer that poops jelly beans as cool as that is, but something yummy just the same.

The giveaway will be open until midnight on Saturday 14 November, I'll then draw a name on Sunday and pop in the post on Monday so you have it in plenty of time to decorate your home and tree.

Easy peasy, and all you have to do to enter is leave a comment on this post. Tell me something you like, love or loath (we'll work on your issues at a later date) about Christmas!

You can get extra entries into the giveaway by doing any or all of the following;

1. Subscribe to this blog here;
   
   
2. Become a fan on Facebook;
   
   
3. Tweet about the giveaway and include @SeetheWoods in your tweet;
   
   
4. Blog about the giveaway and link back to this post (not the main blog url)

That's a total of five chances to win this giveaway, just remember though that you need to leave a separate comment for each entry, the more times you enter the more chances you have of winning.

And because we don't have the sole rights to Christmas in the UK (actually I think Disney might own those) this giveaway is open worldwide. You've no excuses now, get entering!

Big Fish Games and a Winner

In every effort to prepare Toots for primary school, I have been letting her play around with my laptop for the last few weeks.

When we attended the open night at her primary school a few of the teachers explained that the school actively encourage the use of computers and that from day one each child will spend some amount of time using a PC every day. There are a bank of computers in each classroom and it works out roughly one computer for every three to four kids so there aren't any time constraints on the kids using them.

I've been allowing Toots to play around with the laptop, basically opening either a word doc or paint and letting her do her own thing. I want her to get used to the basics, using a mouse, drag and drop, navigating around the screen, that kind of thing.

Anyway, I'm very likely to be the last person to have heard about Big Fish Games, but I'll tell you about them anyway.

The weather was awful last week and I was starting to run out of things for Toots to do. We baked, did some crafts, colouring, painting, music, singing, dancing, you name we did everything, but it was getting a little repetitive so I went hunting online for something to keep her occupied. I didn't really have anything in mind, probably paper dolls or some new colouring pages or word games, but instead I stumbled upon Big Fish.

For anyone who hasn't heard of them, you should check them out. Ok, the games are mostly based n characters like Dora, Diego, Spongebob and Wonder Pets but there are a few lego games and such.

The games are designed with preschool age kids in mind and the way it works is that you can either buy the complete game (usually around 60 levels) for about $8 which is totally worth it for a preschool game. Toots received a V smile for her birthday and the games for that thing are £20 and upwards and no offence but they're crap.

The other thing you can do (and this is what I do) is download one free hour of gameplay. You can choose any game at all and once your child uses the free hour it gives you a handy uninstall button and you can download another free hour. I have six hours of gameplay downloaded and ready for her if the weather turns out to be bad again.

Toots loves the games because there is a lot of variety. Mostly they are number games, word association, colour matching and such. The games are actually very educational and best of all, considering that the games are essentially free, there aren't any advertisements at all.

Toots favourites so far have been Dora's Carnival Adventure 1 & 2, Diego's Dinosaur Rescue and the Wonder Pets Save the Puppy, particularly the last one because as she completes each stage she "wins" a colouring page which she can print out all by herself.

She's only played a little bit of each but so far I can see a vast improvement in her computer skills. She has absolutely no problems using either the mouse or the navigation pad on the laptop. She can click, double click, drag and drop ad type her name in at the beginning of each new game without any help at all.

I have linked to the preschool games but they also have free downloadable games for older kids and adults (CSI NY anyone). All you have to do is go to the homepage and click on "Download Games".

Any now for the winner of the Q Bee Chicks Giveaway.

Drum roll please...

Random.org chose number 11. The winner is Heather who said;

"These are adorable! Are they your original design? My favorite thing about spring is the flowers, esp irises. My nose hates the fine yellow coating of pollen everywhere though."

Heather, I've sent an email to you today and I'll get the Q Bees in the post to you as soon as.

I hope everyone is having a great Easter.

Drum Roll Please.........

The comments are now closed on the giveaway for the Charlotte Reid London bag.

I've had a lot of fun with this giveaway and met a lot of new people. Its something I will definitely do again and I already have a few planned.

There were a total of 29 entries for the giveaway making the odds of winning this bag very good indeed.

I know, I know, hurry up and get to the point.

I used Random.org to draw the winner of this giveaway.

And the winner is...




Congratulations Multi Tasking Mommy of Circle of Life Blog.

Please email me your full postal address and I'll get the bag off to you as soon as possible. I hope you enjoy the new bag and don't forget to tell everyone where you got it;)

I'm shameless, I know.

Three's the charm

So I'm going to be a millionaire. No really, I am.

You, with the skeptical look on your face, yes you. Stop being so pessimistic. You must be an absolute joy to have around.

Anyway, let me explain my thinking.

I never win anything.

Nothing at all. Except once I won £7 on a scratch card. Say it with me friends "Wooooohooooo".

But this week has been a little different.

For a start I won this week's challenge in the Friendly Project 365 Challenge with this shot

So I was chuffed to bits.

Then I won a Superwhy DVD for Toots (not me, obviously) over at the Supersisters Blog at PBS Parents.

So now I'm well and truly chuffed.

I figure if luck does come in threes, then I must be due a lottery win.

Don't worry though, I won't let all that money go to my head.

I'll still live in Ireland, although maybe I'll buy something a little bigger.

Do you think this place is for sale?

And of course I'll still write (do I write?) here.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have a HOT date with a lottery terminal. I think I might get lucky.

Knowing my luck I'll find a pound coin on the ground on the way there......