– Wanna win a $500 Walmart gift card?

I thought so.

(Make sure you click on the link.)

(Because I’m not the one with the prize.)

Last Thanksgiving we forgot the ham.

This Thanksgiving, apparently, we forgot the Purell.

Because by sundown Friday night, the people in our family were dropping like flies. Stomach Virus ’08. Live and in person. And ready to ROCK OUR WORLD.

All told, there were six victims. I was victim #2 if our statistics are accurate. I went to bed unusually early Friday night and woke up about midnight with that “OH NO MA’AM” feeling, and while I’ll happily spare you the details, suffice it to say that it’ll be a long, long time – lo, even an eternity – before I ever, EVER want to eat cornbread dressing again.

Shudder.

I also enjoyed some crazy virus dreams, including but not limited to Feeling Panicked Because I Watched An Episode Of ‘The Office” And Forgot To List Highlights On My Blog, A Looping Photo Montage Of The Soup Mama Made With Thankgiving Leftovers (starring: TURKEY BONES!), and Catching Up With A Person I Haven’t Seen Since Approximately 1997 But She Was Still Cute As A Button In Our Imaginary Dream Conversation Eleven Years Later.

Alex also fell prey to Stomach Virus ’08 about twelve hours after I did, and mercifully Mama was able to take care of him while my bed-headed, dazed and confused self stood off to the side and mumbled things like, “Hand you rag?” or “Hand you clean t-shirt?” or “Sorry. So sorry. So, so sorry.”

Oh, I was a world of help, I was.

Anyway, Mama had to change Alex’s pajamas about three times in the first few hours he was sick, and at some point she got into the pajama reserves that the little guy’s older cousins have left at her house over the years. And that is why, when I woke up this morning at the crack of ten, I found a certain five year-old wearing this shirt:

You can imagine my pain. Salt, meet wound.

But being a house divided on an in-state football rivalry has its benefits – because look at the little man’s pajama bottoms:

Bulldogs. Ah, that’s better.

And so are we.

Now we’re about to hit the road, head home, and deck our halls.

Have a good one, everybody!

– I ran across Amy’s Cards for Angels a couple of days ago, and I thought it was such a sweet concept…you let these ladies know of a cancer patient who might need some encouragement, and they send a handmade card with a handwritten message. At no charge to you. Just because they care. And they’ll send the card anywhere in the world.

Isn’t that awesome? You can read all about how it started – and how it works – right here.

– Don’t forget that you can buy Jewel’s latest CD for a $1 donation (plus S&H) TODAY ONLY. All proceeds benefit the Country Music Hall of Fame.

– And for my family? Today’s the biggest college football game of the year. Go ‘Dogs.

Ten winners of the Daniel Renstrom CD Adore and Tremble:

1 – Laura
9 – Kelley
17 – My Twenty Cents Keeps Moving
20 – Jenni (gmail email)
23 – Emily
34 – Pendy
41 – Diana (gmail email)
46 – Susan Kelly (hotmail email)
49 – stephaniesmommybrain
58 – Michelle (hotmail email)

One winner of the VTech KidiArt Studio:

87 – Michelle @ This One’s For The Girls

If you’ll email me your name and mailing address (please put “Giveaway Winner” in the subject line), your prizes will be shipped to you first of next week!

Thanks so much, y’all – and congratulations, winners!

– On Friday, November 28th, for one day only (ONE DAY!), you can buy a copy of Jewel‘s latest CD for a donation of just $1 (plus shipping and handling). ONE DOLLAR! All proceeds will go to the Country Music Hall of Fame. The CD will be available over at Jewel’s website on the 28th.

– There’s a Southwest Airlines Ticket Giveaway that’s going on to support the efforts over at 50,000 Shoes. Anne has all the details.

– Shannon wrote a post yesterday that beautifully sums up why Twitter is increasingly one of my most favorite parts of the wide world interweb.

– Here’s a (growing) list of bloggers who need Africa. If you’d like to add your name to the list, you can write a post about why you need Africa more than Africa needs you – and shoot me an email with the link.

– And p.s. I have a neat giveaway on deck for later this afternoon. Just FYI.

– If you haven’t downloaded Shaw-awn’s song “Kingdom Coming” yet, you still can. And it’s totally free – no email address, registration or cash money required.

– And speaking of Shaw-awn, he’s going to be in concert with Travis Cottrell (Ring The Bells? Ever heard of it?) and Cindy Morgan on Thursday, December 4th at Thompson Station Church in Franklin, TN. This is the kickoff for the Gloria tour that they’re doing in conjunction with Compassion International. If you want to buy tickets for the show in Franklin, click here. If you want to see if the tour is coming your way, you can check out all the tour dates right here.

– Finally. Slow Blogging: It’s all the rage, apparently. (via Throwing Things)