Quick, before I get Sidetrack'd

An Ordinary Life has teamed up with Sleepy Wrap to offer a great babywearing giveaway – one lucky winner will receive a new wrap (in either black or red) plus $100 cash from Sleepy Wrap!

I’ve had my eye on these wraps since my SIL got hers; she has raved so much about it that I decided I definitely need one when Baby Boo arrives. The Sleepy Wrap website has a bunch of great testimonials as well, such as, “Your Sleepy Wrap is awesome. My son JuÅ¡ likes it very much. I can’t imagine my life without it.” by Nika K.

And now I should say that if you’re interested check out the contest here, but I really don’t want to because I want to win this one myself!

Welcome to Sidetrack’d and my little corner of this big bloggy party! Grab a cup of coffee or tea and a snack (sorry I don’t have anything prepared, we’ve been under the weather this week) and come hang out for a while.

A bit about me…

I am Jana, wife to a wonderful man, Matt, and mom to an adorable 19 month old girl (Little) and to Baby Boo who will grace us with his presence in a few weeks. I spend most of my time chasing Little, reading Dr. Seuss books, and taking care of my family and home. In my spare time, I enjoy reading, blogging, cooking, hanging out with friends, and being outdoors. If you spend any time here, I hope you will realize that I am a Christian and strive to raise my children to know and love Jesus. If you are interested in learning a bit more about me, click here to view my latest meme.

A bit about Sidetrack’d…

I started blogging just over a year ago as a way to stay connected to friends and family and to connect with other blogging moms. Like my life (and the way my mind works), the writing here is somewhat scattered. I write about my family, my life, my faith, my goals with a bit of baseball, books, comedy, and video games thrown in for good measure. I’ve found this is a good way to journal some thoughts, record stories about Little, and “hang out” with some online and distant friends.

Thanks for stopping by to visit; I hope to see you again soon. I look forward to meeting many new bloggers during the party and have a feeling that the Ultimate Blog Party ’08 is going to be even bigger than last year!

One of the fun things about this party are all the great prizes; if you haven’t checked out the prize list, you really should hop over there. Of all the cool things they are giving away, my top 3 picks would be:

~#26 – Nursing cover by The Pitter Patter Boutique
~#22 – Nursing cover by Peekaboobaby
~#37 – Moby Wrap offered by From Dates to Diapers

If these three are taken, I’d love to have any of the following (in no particular order): 4, 34, 77, 84, 103, 137, 141, any of the Amazon, Target or Starbucks GCs, or anything related to toddlers (girl) or babies (boy).

Thanks to 5 Minutes for Mom for throwing a great party! Enjoy!

Somehow, in the midst of this thing called life, I failed to notice that Sidetrack’d turned one year old last month! It has been a year of recording my thoughts, telling stories, posting various comical things, and meeting some great fellow bloggers. Thanks to each of you for stopping by to read, taking time to comment, encouraging me, and making this whole thing even more fun (and addicting) than it should be. I’m looking forward to the coming year.

And in other blogging news…

It’s that time of year again – time for the Ultimate Blog Party 2008 hosted by 5 Minutes for Mom, and boy do Susan and Janice know how to throw a party! There were about 1000 bloggers who attended last year’s party, and this year will probably be even bigger. There are people to meet, blogs to be discovered, and prizes to be won; the party starts this Friday, March 7th, and continues until Friday, March 14th. Click on the button above, or the one in the side bar, to join in the fun!

The ladies at DE Review are offering the chance to win a great ring sling (open or closed tail) from slingcarrier.com. This would be a great addition to my budding (or soon to be budding) sling collection. If you’re interested, click here or on the button in the side bar.

The ladies at MamaSpeaks have put together a nice gift guide for your Christmas giving needs this season.  The guide is divided into several categories: Rockin’ Tot, Girly Girl, Daddy Dearest, Knocked Up (for the mom-to-be in your life), Baby Makes Three, and Toy Joy; so there are ideas for people of all ages and areas of life.  They are also giving away great prize packages in each of these categories!  Check it out by clicking the MamaSpeaks button in the right sidebar.

The lovely Susan and Janice at 5 Minutes for Mom are hosting an amazing Christmas Giveaway. Over the next two weeks they will be posting a series of contests to win some great prizes – just in time for Christmas giving (or just to keep for yourself). If you are interested in playing along, click the “Christmas Giveaways” button in my right sidebar or click here.

Fall is in the air – the leaves are beginning to change, pumpkins and mums are showing up at the stores, and the overnight temperatures are getting cooler. The new season officially begins today, and so does the Fall Into Reading 2007 challenge at Callapidder Days. I’m excited about setting and meeting some reading goals over the next few months, and I’m looking forward to seeing what everyone else will be reading as the cooler days come.

This time around I’m going a bit lighter on the non-fiction since I had such a tough time motivating myself in the Spring. This list is subject to addition, deletion, and any other type of modification as I see fit.

Non-fiction:
The Mommy Manual by Barbara Curtis
The Omnivore’s Dilemma by Michael Pollan
Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver, et al. (finish reading)

Fiction:
Love in the Time of Cholera by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen
The Butterfly Effect by James Swallow
Eden Close by Anita Shreve
Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants by Anne Brashares
Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

Bible Study:
I’m currently participating in a study of the book of Matthew through Bible Study Fellowship International; the questions and reading required for my class will be my Bible study time for now.

If you would like to join in the fun, or to view the reading lists of other participants, visit Callapidder Days.

Welcome to those of you who are visiting from Rocks in My Dryer. I’m glad to see you at Sidetrack’d and hope you will stop by again sometime.

Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer is hosting a super fun blog carnival this week rounding up all kinds of bloggy giveaways. At this point there are 250 participants and more giveaways will be added throughout the course of the week! Click on the cute little doggy button above to check out the host of bloggers who have joined the fun.

So I don’t miss out on all of the excitement, I’m hosting my first ever giveaway!

A randomly selected commenter will be the recipient of the darling little angel pictured below. This is the Angel of September from a collection of figurines known as Gnomy’s Diaries. The Gnomy’s figurines include the Angel of the Month series as well as a line known as The Legend of the Fortune Fairies (which I collect). I really like these figurines because of the child-like qualities in the design; they just have the sweetest little faces.

To be eligible to win please leave a comment on this post and tell me what you collect; if you don’t have a collection, no problem, just tell me that. One comment per participant, please; duplicate comments will be deleted. Make sure that there is a way I can reach you (either via e-mail or your blog) if you win. On Friday, at 4:30 pm central time, I will use an online random number generator to choose a winner. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian addresses only, my apologies to any overseas readers.

Head over to the Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway headquarters and see what else you might win! I plan to have at least one more giveaway this week, so check back Wednesday (look here for giveaway #2).

I’m so excited; yesterday I was able to get a Monk & Neagle CD via BooMama’s great CD Extravaganza! It should arrive in 10 days or so, and I’m sure I’ll have more to say about it after I’ve listened once or thirty times.

Click on the button above or the one in the sidebar to hear some of their music.

Man, there are a lot of giveaways and contests going on out in blog-land right now! Here are just a few I thought I would direct you toward:

First, 5 Minutes for Mom is hosting a giveaway for $300 worth of gift certificates to purchase Horizon Organic dairy products. That is a lot of milk (and cheese, and yogurt, and…well, you get the idea)!

Next up is a CD Giveaway Extravaganza Gala Spectacular hosted by BooMama. 100 bloggers will get Monk & Neagle’s new CD for FREE! She has been raving about these guys for weeks, and I’ve really enjoyed the clips I’ve heard of their music. The link will be posted at BooMama’s site tomorrow (July 19th) at noon central time.

Then, I would like to direct your attention to the lovely little dog button in the right sidebar. Shannon at Rocks in My Dryer will be hosting the “Dog Days of Summer Bloggy Giveaway” carnival beginning Monday, July 23rd. Lots of bloggers will be linking up to give away lots of good prizes. Definitely check this one out! (guidelines are here)

And finally (for now) click on the other button in the right sidebar – the one that says “Summer Cupcake Caper” – to check out GiBee’s fun cupcake baking contest. I’m getting my entry ready (more on that in another post); submissions are due July 25th.

That covers us for now. Hopefully I will win something in one of these!