Sorry, you are not a winner

Emma has such youthful optimism when she sees a contest on a food item, only to be greeted with "Sorry, not a winner." Don't you remember doing that as a kid, just sure that you had won that trip to Disneyland? I never knew how it would work because prizes were always for families of four, and we were five. I guess we would've just left the youngest at home, right Kari? ;)

Now with the age of blogs and internet giveaways, I still feel a bit of optimism when I leave a comment. I just know that random generator is going to pick my number. Um, yeah . . . not so much. Most are just small blog giveaways--$50 Target gift card, a free Martha Stewart book, credit at online stores. I persevere, but no winner yet. It doesn't seem to matter if I am one of 3,278 comments (no lie) or one of 12 comments, I still can't win.

I've tried to think of my own blog giveaway to try and entice more readers to come and visit, but I can't come up with much. I don't think anyone would like to win a $5 expired K-Mart give card or some used tissue possibly laced with H1N1. Other than that, I don't have much to giveaway that isn't random crap I have laying around.

I will say I did win something this year--a free pair of shoes. I didn't even know I was "entered" into that drawing, but it was from the 5K race my sister and I ran this summer. They chose 17 entrants at random, and I was one of them. Maybe I will keep these forever as a reminder of my one lucky day:

I recently read this book

This woman supported her family of 10 on her prize winnings from contests in the 1950's and 60's. Just when they would find a great need, she would win a prize to help keep them going. One of her last big prizes was being the 1st place winner of a Dr. Pepper contest to be able to pay off the bank for their 2nd mortgage (the alcoholic husband took it out without her knowledge). This was all back in the day when contests were looking for new slogans or testimonials, not just random comments on the internet. There were books and social groups dedicated to "contesting". If they knew who the judges were for the contest, they knew how to write to please those particular judges. She would send in multiple entries for contests under all variations of her name--she could come up with at least 50--and also entered under her husband and kids' names. She would often win small prizes, all which were used by the family in some way or another. One year she stashed all her prizes in a closet that was off-limits to the kids and was able to provide a wonderful Christmas for 8 kids on winnings alone.

I don't necessarily want to win enough to support my family, all I'm asking for is a win more than once every ten years. Wish me luck!

ETA: So after I wrote this, I did my normal blog stalk walk through my daily sites and came across a giveaway from Clemson Girl and the Coach. She is so much fun to read and along with some of her favorite bloggers have me intrigued by the Southern lifestyle. Which is way different than things are up here in the North, I tell you. Anyway, go check out Clemson Girl (but don't necessarily comment for the give away, that would only lower my chances of winning) ;) Off to see what I can find on Little Birds Boutique.