We have a winner...

Drum roll please!

We have a winner for my little blog's very first giveaway...

Shannon Rae!

Shannon said if she were having her last meal this would be it:

"Oooo, Last meal. So I don't have to worry about regretting it the next day... yes!!! K, I would start with my Grandma's German pancakes topped with cooked strawberries, then have some Chicken Bellagio from Cheesecake Factory, with garlic cheese bread. And for dessert I would have pretty much anything from Extraordinary Desserts.. but I'd probably go with the triple chocolate mousse torte. Mmmmm......"

Congratulations, Shannon! I think you're wonderful and I'm very excited to bake my Almond Joy Cookies for you. Send me a message on my Facebook with your phone number so I can get the cookies to you.

By the way y'all, just in case you're wondering. Just in case it's been keeping you up at night. Just in case the suspense is killing you. Here's what I would want for my last meal...

This is kinda hard. There's a lot of good stuff to choose from...

I would want a steak from Ruth's Chris Steakhouse. (I've only been there once but it was seriously the best steak I've ever had in my life! Ever!) I'd also want a Bleu Cheese Wedge salad and some to-die-for warm bread. Oh, and Janice Luncford's creamed corn. Gotta have Janice's corn. It's sinful. Should we be thinking about being sinful if we're on our way out? Probably not, but Janice's corn is a must have last item and it is sinful so I'm pretty much gonna go out sinning! Oh, and I've just gotta wash it all down with a Diet Coke with tons and tons of ice!

Did you know I'm obsessed with ice? It's true, I crave it. I really do. My favorite is that soft ice that is in tiny pieces. If you need ice advice, I'm your gal. I can tell you where to get the best ice in town. The Spy Who Loves Me will sometimes stop on his way home just to bring me a big cup of my favorite ice, and that's when I remember why I married that man. (Below I will tell you a long and sad story, with a happy ending, about my obsession with ice.)

Anywho, where were we? Oh, we were at the most important part. Dessert! Have you ever noticed that on my blog I list the Sweet Stuff before the Main Dishes? There's a reason for that! I love dessert! It's my mom's fault. My mom is a dessert girl and she raised us kids to be dessert worshipers. When we were growing up we pretty much had dessert every single night. Every single. So, mom, thanks for the sweet tooth! Although it's a huge problem in my life, it's a yum-e one. Dessert...a box of Sees Candy. Nuts and Chews. I know what you're thinking, no way can she eat a whole box of candy. Well, you might be right, although I've never actually tried so there is a slim possibility I could do it, but if it's my last meal, and if I'm going out, I'm gonna stuff some in my pockets and bribe my way into heaven with the best candy in the whole wide world. And I'm pretty sure it will work!

Well, this was fun! My little blog's first giveaway. I realize it's just my Almond Joy Cookies. But I hope Shannon likes them, and I promise I'll post the recipe for y'all really soon.

Ice...a long sad story with a happy ending!

The morning of my married daughter's wedding last summer, The Spy Who Loves Me and I almost went into a complete frantic attack when we realized we had forgotten to pick up his suit at the dry cleaners. His navy blue suit. The one he had been strictly instructed to wear by the bride and groom. Thankfully, we realized the dry cleaners opened super early so off he went to get the suit.

The dry cleaners is in a shopping center next to a grocery store that carries my favorite ice in the whole world. The small soft kind. So because The Spy Who Loves Me is the nicest guy in the whole world, he ran into the grocery store and had them fill the biggest cup they have with my favorite ice because he knows on a day like my daughter's wedding day, I'm gonna need ice. And lots of it. What a guy! Then he came home and filled the huge Styrofoam cup with Crystal Light, put the lid on it, stuck the straw in it and presented it to me as if it were a precious gift. Because it was. I was so happy, not only to have the ice, but also to have such a nice Spy Who Loves Me. I was happy until...

I picked the Styrofoam cup up off the kitchen counter and brought it up to my lips and the entire bottom of the cup fell off, spilling Crystal Light all the way down my wedding dress. Yes, my wedding dress. I know it was really my mother-of-the-bride dress, but I like to call it my wedding dress. It makes the story so much more dramatic.

I was operating on about three hours of sleep at this point. Three hours of sleep tends to bring out either one or two of my many personalities. (They don't call me Sybil for nothin'!) The first personality would sink to the floor in dispair and have to apply cucumber slices to her eyes in order to reduce the swelling after a very long cry. That personality was no where to be seen that day. The second personality would FREAK OUT! Yes, one of my personalities is a freaker outer. It's the dominate personality. It's a problem. Anywho, for some strange and still unknown reason, that personality was no where to be seen that day either.

Instead, in one of my most proud moments, I looked at The Spy Who Loves Me and said, "I'm not going to let anything ruin this day." He looked right back at me with an expression that said, "Who are you and what have you done with my nut job of a wife?"

A little water, a blow dryer and a prayer and I was good as new. By the time we arrived for the wedding the stain had pretty much vanished. A small miracle in the life of me, but a much appreciated one!

So, there's my story about ice. I still love it!

The end.

My First Giveaway!!!!

I'm so excited because I've been wanting to do a giveaway to thank y'all for stalking my little blog. It's brought me a lot of joy, and you are all the best stalkers a girl could ever hope for.

So, here's the deal...

Just put a comment on the blog, or on my Stirring It Up Facebook page, and tell me the answer to this morbid question. If you were offered your final meal, what would you choose?

Why am I asking something so creepy and weird?

Well, I just finished reading The Hunger Games and I LOVED IT! So, I'm thinking about death, and eating. Yeah, I know this proves I have psychological issues, but you'll just have to get over it, cause I'm never gonna be normal!

If you're too shy to share your last meal request, just write something. Anything. And you'll still be entered in the contest.

Here are the rules...

I feel so powerful being able to make up rules.

If you post on my Facebook page you will get your name entered into the contest once.

If you post on my blog under this post, you will get your name entered twice.

And if you post on both, you'll have three entries, but no more than three to a customer, please.

Whadda ya win if I draw your name?

A fresh baked batch of my Almond Joy Cookies. Sorry, it's true, I've been holding out on you. I have a cookie recipe that I haven't shared, and I'm gonna make it for the winner. And, I'm also going to give them the recipe.

This is probably my most famous and beloved cookie recipe. I used to sell these cookies (it's a long story for another time, picture me pulling a cooler through the business districts of Oceanside...it wasn't pretty) and one guy that I sold them to called me the "crack dealer" because every time I would walk through his front door he just had to buy these cookies, just as if he were addicted to crack. He simply couldn't resist.

Only those in the good ol' US of A qualify for this giveaway because I'm not made of money, people. Shipping to Uzbekistan could break a girl!

The contest ends Thursday at 9:00 pm PST. I'll announce the winner on Friday.

(This contest will be handled in a VERY scientific manner, much like the Academy Awards and American Idol.) We will hand write your names on slips of paper and The Spy Who Loves Me will draw out the winner. If you've got a problem with that, then don't enter. Besides, I'm trustworthy. And The Spy Who Loves Me has a Top Secret Security Clearance. He's not allowed to lie and cheat, except at cards, and we can't hold that against him because it's the only way the poor man can win!

Good luck, everybody! May the best Cookie Monster win!