Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon When You Take the North "Poll"

Melissa & Doug want you to tell them which of their educational toys you think is the best! Just click on the image below to place your vote in the North "Poll!" You'll Get a Melissa & Doug 25% Off Coupon** to use at MelissaAndDoug.com just for voting!

Disclaimer: I received a $25 coupon from Melissa & Doug in exchange for this post.

Happy November -- A little late

I took a bit of a break from blogging to get some other stuff done, but I think I'm ready to get back into it. I told you in my last post (admittedly months ago) that I wasn't going to post on my blog just for the sake of getting a post up that day. I wanted my posts to have some kind of meaning. I'm not sure, exactly, why tonight is the meaningful night, but I got the urge, so here I am!

So should I catch you up on things? I don't really have too much to report. Not nearly enough to make up for my absence, really. I've been doing some crafting over the past few months. I've mostly been planning the crafting, though. Do you ever do that? You get the inspiration for a project from a magazine article or from something in your everyday life, you get all the supplies to do said project, but then time gets in the way and you don't get to the project? I'm determined not to let that happen. I'll be talking more about these projects later. The holidays are coming, and most of these projects are for gifts, so I really have to get moving.

I also decided to join NaNoWriMo this month and I failed terribly. NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month) is a movement where you work to write 50,000 words of a novel in the month of November. My boyfriend is doing it and he suggested I try too. Well Nov 1, I tried...Nov 2...tried...I've been trying every day but not much is coming. He's doing a fabulous job. I am not. But there's still time for the story to come to me.

See, my writing background is in poetry. When writing poetry, each specific moment, each line is vital. The crafting of a poem, for me is about each line as it comes, tweaking and changing as I go, so that when I finish, it's finished, for the most part. With this novel writing, my boyfriend told me to just write and worry about the edits later. It's very hard for me to do that. Much much harder than I expected. You novelists amaze me! :)

Ok so I've rambled on enough for the night. I'm glad I decided to do this tonight. It feels good to be back! Have a good one!

Guilty as Charged

Tonight, I was on Twitter and came across a link to a post on MomDot listing the Top 25 Most Annoying Blogger types according to bloggers. (Thanks for the link @Shopwithmemama!) I laughed through most of the list, nodded in agreement with some of it, and realized that I am guilty of not 1 but 2 of these blogger-faux-pas!

I am a Drive-by blogger (#19). I am definitely guilty of posting sort of consistently for a week and then disappearing for a few weeks and then coming back. And you know what I do when I come back?! #4 on the list. I apologize. I try to explain where I've been, I make promises about the great posts I have coming up and I apologize for being a bad blogger.

After reading the list tonight and realizing that I am a doubly annoying blogger, yes, my first impulse was to apologize. But I'm not going to. I could promise to be better, but I don't know if I can keep that promise. Sometimes I don't even want to look at my computer. Sometimes I'm lazy or tired or just cranky and anything I post would have a tone to it that I wouldn't mean if I was in a better mood. Sometimes my life just feels dull and not worth writing about.

I know we all feel like that sometimes. I can't be alone in this...

I love my blog and I don't think I could ever give it up completely, but I can only post when I feel like I have something worthwhile to share. Otherwise it wouldn't sound real or honest. No one would want to read that. So all I can say is that I may not post every day. I may get sidetracked with life and not show up for a few weeks. I may continue to drive-by and/or apologize for it and I may annoy you. But I won't post drivel. I won't hand out regurgitated crap or write mindlessly just to get something new posted. If it shows up on my blog, just know that I did think about posting it and found it to be worthwhile. That ought to count for something, right?

(I do want to add that I was not at all offended by this list. Most of the items on the list were dead on. It did make me look at myself in a less flattering light, but it was definitely good perspective to get. Rereading this, I didn't want to come across like I was whining. Then I'd just feel the urge to apologize again!)

Even Your Pins Deserve a Cute Home!

Yellow Felt Cupcake Pincushion from Maria Palito - $7.99

How cute would this be on your sewing table?! I love the bright shade of this pincushion from Maria Palito. It's made from Eco-friendly felt from recycled post-consumer plastic bottles too! This cupcake would also make a wonderful addition to any child's play kitchen! Maria Palito also offers stuffed toys and puppets in wonderful, vibrant colors and made of the same Eco-friendly felt. Super cute and perfect as party favors or package toppers!

Freschetta Winner!

Very rarely does Random.org choose entry number 1, but today's winner is entry #1:

Congrats!! You have been on quite a roll lately!! :) I'll be emailing you shortly! Thanks for entering everyone!!

Freschetta By The Slice - Review & Giveaway!

 *Closed*

When I'm working at home, I tend to dive in deep. Sometimes I get so involved in my projects that I lose track of time and work right through lunch. When that happens, I want a quick, tasty lunch that doesn't take forever to prepare.

Recently, I was given the opportunity to try Freschetta's new By The Slice pizza. When it comes to pizza, I'm picky. I like a crisp crust and fresh ingredients. Many times, crisp crust and microwave pizza just don't belong in the same sentence. Usually, one just doesn't come with the other. 

I was really surprised that this wasn't the case with Freschetta By The Slice pizza. The crust was crisp and the slice was really delicious. Now, I've always been a fan of the Freschetta brand, but I never cooked the pizzas in the microwave. I always used the oven. The additional wait time was worth it for great tasting pizza. I was so thrilled to get that delicious, oven-cooked pizza experience from the microwave!

 The new Freschetta By The Slice pizzas come in 4 different varieties:

• BBQ Recipe Chicken
• Vegetable Medley
• Chicken, Spinach & Mushroom
• Six Cheese Medley

I love veggies on my pizza, so I chose the Vegetable Medley to try. The medley includes black olives (my favorite!) and mushrooms, as well as red, green and yellow peppers. I was really impressed with the quality of the slice I made. It was delicious and the veggies tasted really fresh!

**Giveaway**

Freschetta is offering a great prize package to one of my readers! One reader will receive a free coupon so they can try Freschetta's By The Slice for themselves and a 3 piece Freschetta storage container set!

To Enter (Mandatory Entry): Visit Freschetta and tell me which variety of By The Slice you'd like to try first!

Once you do the first, mandatory entry, you can do any or all of the bonus entries. Please leave a separate comment for each bonus entry you do. (Please also include your email address so I can contact you if you win!)

Bonus entries: 

- Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect (1 entry)

- Like Jodibee Designs on Facebook *leave FB name* (1 entry)

- Like Freschetta on Facebook *leave FB name* (1 entry)

That's it! Giveaway is open to residents of the U.S. only and will end on Sunday, May 8th at 5:00pm EST. I will use Random.org to choose 1 winner and notify them by email. Winner will need to respond to my email with their name and mailing address by 9am est on Monday May 9th or I will have to choose another winner.

***I know this is a holiday weekend and many of you will be very busy on Sunday. If you feel like you may not be around and might be unable to respond to a winner notification by early Monday morning, feel free to email me with your name and address ahead of time. I give you my word that your information will NOT be shared unless you are the winner, and then it will ONLY be shared with Freschetta for prize fulfillment.***

This is a very quick giveaway, so be sure to get your entries in now before you forget! Good luck all!!

Disclaimer: Freschetta supplied me with coupons and products to facilitate this review and they are also supplying the prize for the winner. The opinions here in this post are mine alone and they have not been edited or influenced by the company.

Winner!

And the winner of the Pear Tree Greetings $20 GC is...

Congrats!! I'll be contacting you by email shortly! Thanks to everyone who entered!