WINNER of the "WINNER-WINNER CHICKEN DINNER" Spring 2024 QUARTERLY GIVEAWAY IS . . .
It’s That Time Again! What Time? Time to announce the winner of the Spring 2024 “Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner” Quarterly Give-Away at Kelly’s Fishbowl!
Wait! Before we announce the winner, huge thanks and fishbowl love to all of you who entered this quarter’s Winner’s Choice Giveaway by subscribing to my blog, “Kelly’s Fishbowl,” sending letters & drawing to Norman the Goldfish’s advice column “Ask Norman,” or sharing snapshots of “Activities” on social media.
In the interest of fairness, we wanted choosing the winner to be completely random random drawing. And in the interest of transparency, we recorded the event. As we know you’re on the edge of your seat, anxiously waiting to find out if you are IT! Watch the Winner Drawing Recorded LIVE!
Not showing up on your device? Click HERE!
And the winner is . . .
. . . Sarah Hickner!!!!!!!!
(If you’re that Sarah, you’ll be notified by email, so check your spam folder.)
Lucky Sarah will win dinner with a chicken or her choice of any one of these fabulous prizes:
To all of you: There’s still next time! Enter now, enter often, even better—have your kids, students, second-cousin-on-your-goldfish’s side enter. There is no limit to how many times you enter—or WIN the Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway!
Find the Complete Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway details here!
(Jeez! What’s with all the blinking??? Whoever counts Kelly’s blinks and posts the correct number first in comments will win a prize, too!)
Homer for Jackson!...Giveaway Report
The best part of the Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner Giveaway is—the PRIZE Giving Part!
And the Summer 2023 prize was one hum-dinger!
As you might recall, a second-grader named Jackson won this past quarter.
How did Jackson enter the Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner Give-Away?
I’m glad you asked. An adult in his family posted this picture of Jackson holding The House That Ruth Built on my Facebook page.
In September, in a completely random drawing, Jackson’s name was pulled from a bucket. (To watch a replay of the drawing click to Kelly Bennett Books YouTube Channel)
Get this! Out of all the prizes he could have chosen, Jackson picked a virtual author visit for his 2nd Grade Class at Sue Park Broadway Elementary School in Spring, Texas.
Talk About Surprised!
Thanks to Jackson’s teacher, Ms. Kara Carpenter, who rearranged their busy schedule, I didn’t simply zoom with her class—I actually zoomed into the school. In person!
Noooooooooo I did just stand up there reading to myself. . .
Ms. Carpenter’s 2nd graders were seated on the floor—up front and center—asking questions and helping to remind Vampire Baby:
“Tootie! No Bite!”
And the class asked great questions!
We talked about where story ideas come from.
We talked about hobbies, and poetry and BASEBALL
…And how my families love of baseball and one of the 7-MINUTE CHALLENGE poetry prompts—posted each week on my blog “The Fishbowl” became a book—and more are in the works.
I talked about how stories become books…
“7 Times! Have you ever had to redo your homework 7 times?
You can’t see it—because Ms. Carpenter’s 2nd Graders are hidden by the desks—they are all shaking their heads—really hard—Homework 7 times!!!
And at the end of the visit Jackson passed bookmarks out to everyone and as a thank you Ms. Carpenter’s classroom has their very own copy of my new non-fiction picture book: The House That Ruth Built
Jackson really did hit a homer—an author visit for his homeroom that is!
And so did I! I had a delightful time doing what I love best—chatting writing, reading, books with kiddos!
Big thanks to Jackson and his 2nd grade teacher Ms. Carpenter for making it happen!
Before I left Jackson asked:
“Can I enter the Giveaway again!"
My answer: “YES!!!!”
And you can too!
The Winner’s Choice Giveaway happens—you guessed it: Four Times a Year!
That means 4-count them-1-2-3-4 drawings each year.
How often can you enter? As often as you like! And get this . . .
Enter now, enter often, even better—have your kids, students, second-cousin on your goldfish’s side enter.
There is no limit to how many times you enter—or WIN the Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway!
Find the Complete Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway details here!
#familius #baberuth #sueparkbroadwayelementary #giveaway #notnorman #picturebooks #readingisfun
and the WINNER of the "WINNER-WINNER CHICKEN DINNER" QUARTERLY GIVEAWAY IS . . .
THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER of the Summer 2023 Quarterly Giveaway is . . .
But first an apology: Forgive me for being tardy in plucking a winner for this quarter. No excuses.
Drum roll please!
Wait! Before we announce the winner, huge thanks and fishbowl love to all of you who entered this quarter’s Winner’s Choice Giveaway by subscribing to my blog, “Kelly’s Fishbowl,” sending letters & drawing to Norman the Goldfish’s advice column “Ask Norman,” or sharing snapshots of “Activities” on social media.
The good news is you made our fishy hearts flutter with joy.
The better news is, there weren’t as many entries as their could have been—did you forget you could enter more than one time each quarter?—so all of you who did enter have a 1-37 chance of winning. Talk about great odds!
In the interest of fairness, we wanted choosing the winner to be completely random-random drawing. We asked this guy to pick a winner.
But he wouldn’t take the bait. . .
So, we popped all the entries into our trusty champagne bucket. . .
The drawing was a real cluck-a-do! If it doesn’t show below click to Kelly Bennett Books YouTube Channel—and watch some read-alouds while you’re at it: https://youtube.com/shorts/h8EuHMyVw4s?si=Zcxro3o1LTgCHbhj
And the winner is: Jackson Stacy!
Lucky Jackson will win dinner with a chicken or his choice of any one of these fabulous prizes:
To all of you, There’s still next time! Enter now, enter often, even better—have your kids, students, second-cousin on your goldfish’s side enter. There is no limit to how many times you enter—or WIN the Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway!
WINNER of the "WINNER-WINNER CHICKEN DINNER" April 2023 QUARTERLY GIVEAWAY IS . . .
It’s That Time Again! What Time? Time to announce the winner of the 1st Quarter of 2023 “Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner” Quarterly Give-Away at Kelly’s Fishbowl!
Wait! Before we announce the winner, huge thanks and fishbowl love to all of you who entered this quarter’s Winner’s Choice Giveaway by subscribing to my blog, “Kelly’s Fishbowl,” sending letters & drawing to Norman the Goldfish’s advice column “Ask Norman,” or sharing snapshots of “Activities” on social media.
In the interest of fairness, we wanted choosing the winner to be completely random random drawing. And in the interest of transparency, we recorded the event. As we know you’re on the edge of your seat, anxiously waiting to find out if you are IT!
Watch the Winner Selection YouTube Video! (Not showing up on your device? Click HERE!
And the winner is . . .
Not so easy…to find that out, you’ll need to watch the next video because Dylan and Aiden want to announce it themselves! Click Here for the YouTube Link!
And the winner is . . . Emily!
(If you’re that Emily, you’ll be notified by email, so check your spam folder.) Lucky Emily will win dinner with a chicken or her choice of any one of these fabulous prizes:
To all of you, There’s still next time! Enter now, enter often, even better—have your kids, students, second-cousin on your goldfish’s side enter. There is no limit to how many times you enter—or WIN the Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway!
WINNER of the "WINNER-WINNER CHICKEN DINNER" QUARTERLY GIVEAWAY IS . . .
THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER of the Quarterly Giveaway is . . . Fanfare please!
Wait! Before we announce the winner, huge thanks and fishbowl love to all of you who entered this quarter’s Winner’s Choice Giveaway by subscribing to my blog, “Kelly’s Fishbowl,” sending letters & drawing to Norman the Goldfish’s advice column “Ask Norman,” or sharing snapshots of “Activities” on social media.
The good news is you made our fishy hearts flutter with joy. The better news is, there weren’t as many entries as there could have been—did you forget you could enter more than one time each quarter?—so all of you who did enter have a 1-30 chance of winning. Talk about great odds!
In the interest of fairness, we wanted choosing the winner to be completely random random drawing. And in the interest of transparency, we recorded the event. As we know you’re on the edge of your seat, anxiously waiting to find out if you are IT!
Watch the Winner Selection YouTube Video! (Not showing up on your device? Click HERE!
And the winner is: Marina V
Lucky Marina will win dinner with a chicken or her choice of any one of these fabulous prizes:
To all of you, There’s still next time! Enter now, enter often, even better—have your kids, students, second-cousin on your goldfish’s side enter. There is no limit to how many times you enter—or WIN the Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway!
and the WINNER of the "WINNER-WINNER CHICKEN DINNER" QUARTERLY GIVEAWAY IS . . .
THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER of the Quarterly Giveaway is . . . Drum roll please!
Wait! Before we announce the winner, huge thanks and fishbowl love to all of you who entered this quarter’s Winner’s Choice Giveaway by subscribing to my blog, “Kelly’s Fishbowl,” sending letters & drawing to Norman the Goldfish’s advice column “Ask Norman,” or sharing snapshots of “Activities” on social media.
The good news is you made our fishy hearts flutter with joy.
The better news is, there weren’t as many entries as their could have been—did you forget you could enter more than one time each quarter?—so all of you who did enter have a 1-22 chance of winning. Talk about great odds!
In the interest of fairness, we wanted choosing the winner to be completely random random drawing. We asked this guy to pick a winner.
But he wouldn’t take the bait. . .
So, we popped all the entries into our trusty fish bucket. . .
And the winner is: KARI LAVELLE
Lucky Kari will win dinner with a chicken or her choice of any one of these fabulous prizes:
To all of you, There’s still next time! Enter now, enter often, even better—have your kids, students, second-cousin on your goldfish’s side enter. There is no limit to how many times you enter—or WIN the Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway!
What Inspires Me? #2 Dawgs!
You Dawg, you! . . . Sure, when said with a certain intonation it's a sideways compliment, but I personally never aspired to being a Dawg or Dog. Before now . . .
"I really don't want to be dog either. But, I'm not sure a bunny is better option."
What Inspires Me?
#2 Dogs!
Confession time: I read AARP magazine. (The subscription's not mine--really, it's not--It's my mother's...not that there's anything wrong with that.) Or, as they used to say about Playboy: "I read it for the articles..."
Of course I opened it. Kevin Costner aside, who can resist a lead line that reads"6 Bad Habits that are Really Healthy?
Moving on: An article titled Our Dog Years in the Dec. 2014-Jan. 2015 issue, caught my attention. (So, I'm a little behind in my reading.) OMG I thought, wanting to rip it into shreds and compost it. What's the deal with all the books and movies starring dogs? It's as though mid-life crisis, once synonymous with mistresses and souped-up convertibles, is now all about dogs. Reminds me of the play Sylvia, in which an adopted dog becomes the "other woman" in a middle-aged couple's marriage. Funny play . . . Scary thought considering how many other recent movies feature leading men who love their dogs more than humans...Richard Gere, really?
Curious about just how many mid-life dog crush movies have been published recently, I Googled "Dog-Lovers+Movies." This list popped up:
The Greatest Dog Movies of All Time
List Criteria: Films must be about dogs or feature dogs / puppies as major characters
(Turns out it's an interactive list! We--you and me--can influence each movie's placement on the list by voting. I've hyperlinked it above in case you'd like to do some investigating--voting--dog movie watching later.)
Anyway, back to the article. As a non-dog lover, I must confess it was a bit of a yawn:
The best part was the end. (No disrespect intended, David Dudley.) The article closed with a nugget of advice from neuroscientist Elizabeth Head.
Dr. Head studies aging beagles at the University of Kentucky. She’s noticed the plaques (hallmarks of Alzheimer’s disease) found in aging dogs is similar to those found in humans (more similar even than those found in primates.) The reason, Head poses, might be that “living in our environment—our food, our water, our homes—has made dogs more vulnerable.” That age-related dementia might actually be a “side effect of civilization.”
If, as Head suggests, domesticating dogs has made them prone to human “Old-timers” then might the reverse be true? Rather than “Gone to the dogs,” meaning something has “gone badly wrong and lost all the good it had,” is the converse true? Maybe going to the dogs the better way? Rather than singing along, should we heed the call of the song: “Duh-duh-duh duh da- dut/duh-duh-duh duh da- dut/duh-duh-duh duh da- dut/duh-duh-duh duh da- dut/Hey baby…”
Dr. Head is confidant she will figure out how to “stop brain decline entirely in middle-age animals" (hopefully humans included). In the meantime, she's offered, via Dudley's article, this sage advice:
“Everything you do for a dog to help them age well, you should do with them”
TREAT YOURSELF AS YOU DO YOUR DOG:
Eat the best food you can afford
Go for a walk, even when it’s raining
Keep your teeth clean and your breath fresh, so that people you lick will not flinch
When someone you love walks in through the door, even if it happens five times a day, go totally insane with joy
Take your vitamins! Like these from topdogvitamins.com!
So now I'm thinking: If we can learn all this from living like a dog, what wellness tips can we learn from our cats? Or our Fish?
Living Like a Dog Playlist:
Click on Fishbowl link and sign up to receive email notifications from Kelly's blog (aka The Fishbowl). All who subscribe, comment or share a poem will be entered in my “Winner-Winner Chicken Dinner” Quarterly Giveaway!
WINNER of the "Goodbye 2021 WINNER-WINNER CHICKEN DINNER" QUARTERLY GIVEAWAY IS . . .
THE GRAND PRIZE WINNER of the “Goodbye 2021” Quarterly Giveaway is . . . Fanfare please!
Wait! Before we announce the winner, huge thanks and fishbowl love to all of you who entered this quarter’s Winner’s Choice Giveaway by subscribing to my blog, “Kelly’s Fishbowl,” sending letters & drawing to Norman the Goldfish’s advice column “Ask Norman,” or sharing snapshots of “Activities” on social media. The good news is you made our fishy hearts flutter with joy. The better news is, there weren’t as many entries as there could have been—did you forget you could enter more than one time each quarter? —so all of you who did enter have a 1 in 77 chance of winning. Talk about great odds!
In the interest of fairness, we wanted choosing the winner to be completely random random drawing. To that end, first we asked this guy to pick a winner. Now! Without further ado—Here’s Jack
And the winner is: Blanca17
Lucky Blanca17 will win dinner with a chicken or her choice of any one of these fabulous prizes:
To all of you, There’s still next time! Enter now, enter often, even better—have your kids, students, second-cousin on your goldfish’s side enter. There is no limit to how many times you enter—or WIN the Quarterly Winner-Choice Giveaway!