And the Winner is...

Alright, I did it. I resorted to using Random.Org to pick a winner. I tried asking Gabey to pick a number between 1-13, but he can't actually talk so it wasn't a productive conversation.

So congrats to ***BEESWAX*** who was placed at the top of my random order list. (I didn't know how to use it to just pick one number so I used the list randomizer.)

Beeswax, by-the-way, is a complete stranger (to me) who's blog I love to read because she's so stinkin' funny. So check her out sometime.  (But not in the creepy way a construction worker would...)

Now, for the rest of you who are interested in the book but also scared of the book, here's what I have to say: If you know me, you know that I am a big fan of all things sweet. Some may even use phrases like "sugar-addict" or "chocolate junkie", but I'D just say I'm slightly "health challenged". 

So, has this book completely changed my diet and personality and lifestyle?  Yes and No. Here's the thing. The diet Dr. Furman recommends is actually pretty extreme for most of us. He doesn't say go vegetarian or go off sugar, but pretty close. That's where moderation comes in. I read the book, and I'm trying to implement his ideas with moderation. 

For example. We still eat meat, just less of it. We still eat treats, but I've stopped buying stuff with High Fructose Corn Syrup in it. (It's in bread, applesauce, peanut butter, Wheat Thins, EVERYTHING!)  Mostly though, we're just trying to eat a lot more veggies and nuts. We make fruit smoothies in the blender and add spinach and carrots, (don't knock it 'til you've tried it!) I offer the kids veggies as snacks more, and fruit for dessert more.   We add ground nuts to pancake batter (with the chocolate chips) and I make my favorite Chicken Broccoli Rice Casserole with Brown Rice and less chicken.  (I just chop the chicken into smaller pieces.)  Oh, and I use Soy Milk to cook with.  (Less saturated fat!)  

So there you go.  Don't freak out that he's extreme.  Just read it and take what you want from it.

Oh yeah, here's the list in case you didn't believe me...

List Randomizer

There were 13 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

9. Beeswax said...
13. Mindelicious said...
11. mountainmama said...
3. Heffalump said...
2. Sweetest Of All said...
1. Ginna said...
5. Christina said...
10. Anonymous (Dale) said...
7. Thora said...
8. Emily said...
4. Renel said...
12. The Wifers said...
6. mj said...
Timestamp: 2009-01-26 00:40:25 UTC

Once again, congrats Beeswax!   Drop me an e-mail with your address and I'll get it sent out to you!  (emilydeon(at)gmail(dot)com)

Let us know what you thought of it when you're done reading!  And anyone else who ends up reading it, please let me know what YOU think!  I'm very curious!!!

:)

Here's to good health!!!

Book Review: Disease-Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. (AND a give-away!)

Do you ever read "Self Help" books?  Ever read one that make you want to exclaim out loud after every paragraph?  That makes you want to highlight every other paragraph and buy copies for all of your friends and family because they need to read it also?  A book so life changing that for ONE SOLID WEEK after reading it you completely change your behavior?!?  (Which is 6 days longer than with the other books you've read...?)

Well THIS is THAT kind of book.  My new friend here, Neen*, let me borrow it.  

After her father-in-law died of a heart attack, she and her family resolved to eat better.  And this is one of the books that inspired them to do it.

So I borrowed it from her and in the midst of reading it, my father had a heart attack which could have killed him.  And my mom is not exactly in optimum health either.  And I've known for a long time that my youthful skinny genes would only take me so far before I'd start to gain weight and feel yucky.  (Turns out, those genes took me right up to age 30 and then dumped me on my now-expanding bottom.)  

In other words, the time has come for me to reevaluate my eating habits.  (We're not going to talk about exercise just yet.  One major life change at a time, alright?)  

Currently, I weigh 20 pounds more than when I got married.  Which isn't a huge deal since I was under-weight then.  But still...it's not a trend I want to continue.  

But my main concern is, I just don't feel good.  I don't have a ton of energy and I don't feel healthy.

Enter this book.  I started reading it with my kids in mind (specifically Max who was recently diagnosed with ADHD)...not me...but it turns out, it helps the whole family.  We're already eating better and we're just getting started.

In this book, Dr. Furman talks about the link between the foods we eat and disease:  How poor eating leads to disease and superior nutrition leads to health.

Dr. Furman asserts (and I found that I agreed with him) that superior nutrition can, "For today, reduce asthma, ear infections, and allergies.  For the future, protect against diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and cancer."

He explains why so many more people have allergies, why girls start their period's earlier and earlier, and why many foods we think of as healthy, are actually hurting us.

Here's the thing:  I am not an alarmist, extremist, or conspiracy theorist when it comes to health and nutrition.   But this book did change my outlook on many things and I have resolved to do better.  Much better.  Not just for me, but for my kids and my family.  

And since I want the whole world to read this, but can't afford to buy that many copies, I've decided to start small and just give one away.  Out of my own pocket**.  Just because I'm a Nicey-Sugar-Spicy.

To enter, leave a comment.  (Anonymous comments don't count.)  To get an extra entry, post a link (to this site) on your blog. (and then tell me in the comments).  If you don't feel lucky, get it at your local library!  You'll definitely learn something and it just might change your life!

The contest will go until next Monday.  A week from today.  Which is probably Sunday night for you, but whatever.

Good luck and HAPPY READING!

*Neen and her husband were our sponsors before we moved here and I was determined to win her love an affection with all sorts of baked delights upon meeting her.  Turns out, it wasn't necessary.  And she doesn't eat sugar so it wasn't a very good plan to begin with.)

**This expenditure/random generosity not approved by Doug.

And the Winners are...

#12.

#9.


#4. Number 12 and Number 9 tied for first place in the Reader's Choice catagory.

Number 4 was picked from my hand by Sammy boy who at first refused to cooperate, but was then bribed into compliance since he and Gabe are the only other two people in the house and I obviously couldn't be trusted to draw one from my own hand!

WHEW! This has been quite the contest!

Congratulations to the winners! Ladies, please send me your first name and e-mail address to my e-mail address (emilydeon(at)gmail(dot)com) and I'll get the info to the proper place! (I'm sending your info at the same time, Marni.)

Then go praise me on your blog and tell all your friends they should be reading my blog because I'm awesome.

If you didn't win, JUST BUY THE DANG BOOK!!! It's only $30 with the coupon code GRATUIT and it's worth it! Just look at those cute covers!!!! (And let me reiterate, the INSIDE of the book is awesome too. You'll love it.) Plus, you're helping the economy. It's pretty much a win/win, people!

And then you should go to your blog and praise me too, because I really did want you to win, also. I really did!

Thanks for playing everyone! It's been fun!

I have one more give-away coming up before Christmas, (courtesy of my Dad: Dale-Bud) so stay tuned!

Vote For Your FAVORITE Custom Cover!

Leave a comment telling me which one is your favorite.  (Tell me the number directly ABOVE your favorite...a description wouldn't hurt either.)  Anonymous entries wont be counted.  If you want to win, get your friends and family over here to vote for you.  There will be two "Reader's Choice" awards and one "Random Choice" award.  If you haven't entered, you're too late to qualify for Reader's Choice but you still have a shot at the Random Choice award!  

The contest will end Tuesday at 10:00 a.m. my time.  Which I'm hoping will make it Monday evening/night for most of you.  (Don't ask me to do math.  It's not my strong suit.)  

Um...I'm 14 hours ahead of Rhode Island and 17 hours ahead of California if that helps...

Now go forth and VOTE!!!

1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8.9.10.11.12.

And The Winner is...

MARNI! Congratulations to my former Rhode Island neighbor! I hope you enjoy your book! (Stay on the line and I'll get your information.)

How did I pick Marni? I didn't. Doug did.

After extensive pondering on the merits of random selection versus selection based on photographic merit/artistic unity/biased preference, etc., my brain started swelling so I said "Doug pick a number between 1 and 12!" He said 8. And Marni left the 8th comment. (Once I deleted Melissa's second comment to make it fair. Sorry Melissa.) So if you didn't win, you can blame him. ;)

Now I know why people use that obnoxious Random-number-picker-generator! Anyway, like I said...there will be four winners total, so don't give up hope! And please enter if you haven't already!!! I'll use a different selection technique next time. Just to keep things interesting.

It's Like Christmas In My In-Box

Some of the first excellent entries...This is actually really fun for me!!!  I love seeing what you choose for your custom cover!!!!    

(The following is a picture of the dress I never even knew I wanted!  Isn't she gorgeous?)More tomorrow...PLUS THE FIRST WINNER!!!

(There will be THREE MORE after that!!!  HECK YEAH!!!)
:)

"America at Home" GIVE-AWAY TODAY!

Warning: The word "cool" is over-used in this post.

Just recently I've started getting solicitations from different companies asking me to review their product or service.  Some I answer, some I ignore.  A few weeks ago I go a random solicitation from Kim asking me to review a coffee table book.  I wrote back and said "If you send me a free copy, I'll review it!"  I guess I'd thought it was a mass solicitation so I was surprised when I got an e-mail back saying "I'd love to send you a copy!"

I was even more surprised when I got the book and looked at it. It's actually REALLY COOL! 

Not only that, it would be a really cool Christmas (or other) gift for that hard-to-buy-for person-in-your-life-who-likes-cool-photography-and/or-reading-about-the- lives-of-total-strangers. (You know...THAT person.)  

So I wrote Kim back again and said, "Will you send me ANOTHER copy to give away on my blog?"

And Kim said "I'll give you LOTS of copies to give away on your blog!"

And I said, "HECK YEAH!"

So let's cut to the chase and I'll tell you about the book:

Actually, let me let Kim tell you about the book:

"AMERICA AT HOME is extraordinary book created by 100 of the worlds leading photographers and tens of thousands of amateurs over the course of one week (its from the folks who created the best selling "Day in the Life" books). The large format 224 page book book offers an unexpected look at the rituals, ceremonies and all the myriad ways in which we work, play, learn, conduct our lives, and interact with friends, family members (and pets!) as we transform our dwellings into our homes...."
blah blah blah.  You get the idea.

The cool part is, all of the photo's come with a little story. A little written snapshot (if you will) to go along with the photograph. It's sort of like having a vast array of interesting blogs condensed and presented in book form for your voyeuristic pleasure.

Not only did it suck me right in, it's the kind of thing that you want to share with other people so you keep calling--say--your husband over until he eventually takes the book in annoyance and then he gets sucked in and wont give it back and wont move out of the computer chair to join you on the couch. (It could happen.)

Now, here's the OTHER really cool part. Let's go back to the borrowed words again. (I'm still really tired from Doug's absence.)

"The coolest* thing about the book is that you can upload a photo of your own kids or your home or pets and when the book arrives your family is featured on the cover of the book."

Now really, you must admit that's cool.  You get to make your own custom dust jacket for the book.  So not only is YOUR photograph part of the publication, it's the COVER PHOTO!

It just so happens I had the perfect picture of my little demons, eh hem, angels and MY custom cover is on the way!  (See a picture in the sidebar.)

So here's the deal:  If you want to buy the book, do it here.  Enter:  GRATUIT and you'll get it for $30 instead of $40.  Don't forget to order you custom cover!!!

If you want to WIN the book and cover for free, here's what you do:

1)  Go to www.MyAmericaAtHome.com and create your own custom cover.  (It's super-duper quick and easy.)  

2)  Then e-mail a copy to emilydeon(at)gmail(dot)com.  (I might just post it on this blog!)  

3)  Then leave a comment on this post.  (I just threw that last part in 'cause I like comments.)

I will announce the first winner on Friday!  (Make sure you've added me to your reader so you'll be informed of the winner!!)

There will be MULTIPLE WINNERS so give it a shot and ENTER!!!

Good luck!  See you back here on FRIDAY!!!

*See!  Kim started it!  (Yes, I know I need to get a new word.  But I'm not about to start using "rad" again.  I have my standards!)