MOPS Winner!

I am happy to announce we have a winner of the one year MOPS membership!  Hooray!

Congratulations 

Jessica Garcia

Here is the photo with the caption submitted by Jessica:

Haha!  I think this is something ALL of us mamas can relate too, am I right?  Man, how many times am I cringing during the day as I pick off itsy-bitsy pieces of nonsense from the soles of my feet?!?  ARGHH!

Maybe it is a miracle ANY of us have any hair left at all!

I was just telling my husband the other night how I wish God had made toddlers with their own built-in vacuums!  Can you imagine how much easier life would be if toddlers came with one leg as a little "roomba" that just swept up behind them as they waddled around dropping snacks left and right?

Way to go, Jessica!  Thanks for capturing a stressful thought that all of us can empathize with!

Thanks to everyone who submitted a funny caption - it was a blast reading through the hilarious options and difficult to choose only one winner.  Maybe we will have to do this again sometime!

Happy Monday, Mamas!

MOPS Giveaway!

Being a mom is crazy hard.  Ridiculously hard.  Way-harder-than-any-of-us-ever-thought hard.

But, you know what makes it even harder?  When we think we see moms who have it all together, who are doing it "better" than us, or who have way cuter Instagram pics when we can't even get our kids to keep their eyes open for the flash.  Ugh.

Being a mom is hard enough that living in a world where someone is Pinteresting their latest mega-DIY-birthday might make us "real moms" all wanna go jump off a cliff.  Seriously.

I don't know about you, but my best defense to feeling like a total mom-fail is meeting other moms.  I don't mean just reading blogs (though, THANK YOU) or texting, or diving into Pinterest over nap time.  No, no, no.  I mean real life contact with another grown up human female who has procreated.  That's right - connecting with other moms.

Moms.  Yes, I'm talking to you/us.  We need to GET OUT.  We need to meet each other.  And, while the blogosphere can get us FAR in the middle of a spit-up-covered, laundry-overloaded, don't-even-care-what's-for-dinner kind of day...it takes genuine contact to ultimately interrupt our Disney-channel-consuming lives.  (Seriously, I need another Veggie Tales singalong like I need a hole in the head.)

SO, let's break out of our bubbles this week!  Let's put a date on the calendar to meet up with another mom - if only to commiserate and high five!  We are survivors - every day tackling the mundane with the same wanna-be enthusiasm of a revival preacher.  We need each other, and if we don't get out there and encourage one another, then we're just as guilty of neglecting friendship as we are neglecting shaving our legs (a scary reality for some of us, right?)

Have you heard about MOPS?  MOPS is one amazing way to connect, and chances are good it is in your neighborhood.  There are MOPS groups all over the USA!  Check out their blog for gobs of info on meeting up with other moms and getting all kinds of tips and advice on parenting youngsters.

I am a big supporter of MOPS, and today, I'm so excited to be giving away a ONE YEAR MOPS MEMBERSHIP to a lucky reader!

How do you get it???  Well, for the next few days, (deadline is September 8th) all you have to do is CAPTION THE PHOTO BELOW!

I hope you laugh at the photo captions I've put on the other photos in today's blog (LOL here) and I'm looking for a silly and original caption for the photo above that every mom can relate to.  C'mon - we all need more humor in our day!

You can tweet me the caption @pardymama or email it to emily@pardymama.com or just post it in the comment space below.  I'll be checking out your captions and choosing my favorite to award the MOPS MEMBERSHIP!!!

Let's hear it for the moms!  Yay!

Share & Care Contest Winner!

Thank you so, so, so much to everyone who entered the PARDYMAMA Share & Care Contest!  I am amazed at how a fun little contest can bring together SO many people, and I'm excited at reaching out to all of you through this blog!

We have a WINNER!  The ULTIMATE PARDYMAMA CARE PACKAGE goes to:

Congrats, Rebecca!  I have notified you via Facebook message and look forward to shipping the care package off to you soon!  You will enjoy many goodies, such as lotion, coffee, chocolate, a pardymama tumbler, a couple of my favorite books, and a devotional to help encourage you when you run out of that yummy chocolate!  

BUT WAIT....there's MORE!  

This fun contest was SUCH a SUCCESS that I just had to indulge on picking up a couple more items.                                         

There are TWO SURPRISE THANK YOU PACKAGES being awarded today!!!!  

PARDYMAMA had a lot of sharing and caring over the last two weeks, but two people in particular SHARED my blog often, and I want to especially thank them for their support!

Julie and Stephanie, you will each be receiving a pardymama tumbler as well as a leather bound HOPE Journal!  I hope that you feel appreciated and inspired - thank you for your "extra care" these last couple weeks!

HOORAY!  Thanks so much to EVERYONE for helping in the success of the Sharing & Caring Contest!!!

Last Chance!

If you haven't entered the Share & Care Contest yet - today is the day!

This weekend is your final chance to enter to win the ultimate PARDYMAMA CARE PACKAGE!  I've scoured Nashville for some of my new local favorites, I've picked up a few of my most treasured books, and I even made an official pardymama tumbler just for you!

Check it out - here is the final glimpse into the care package that could be shipped to YOU!

There are three easy ways to enter:

1. LIKE my FACEBOOK PAGE if you haven't already. 

(Those of you that have liked it already are automatically entered ONCE! Yay!)

2. SHARE my Facebook page or a link to my blog posts on Facebook.  

(You can do this simply by clicking "SHARE" at the bottom of a post listed on Facebook! New OR old posts!)

3. RETWEET my blog on Twitter.  

(Follow me @pardymama if you aren't already, and just click the RT symbol whenever I tweet out a link to a new post!)

Remember, you have until midnight on Sunday, September 1st to enter.  

Be sure and check back here

MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 2nd 

to find out who wins!!!!

And, you never know...if enough people enter, I might just have to give away more prizes. Hmmmm.

First Day of School

OH.Ver.Whelmed.

Wow, guys, I had my first day of school last night.  My classes are only once a week, on Tuesday nights from 5-10pm.  So, I basically spent five hours with my face in front of a fire hydrant last night, trying to gulp more information than my brain could sponge up.

It was overwhelming and exciting, much as I anticipated.  Anytime you get handed a syllabus with an entire schedule laid out of expectations you have no clue as to fulfill, it's going to be mind-boggling.

On top of that, I met the 22 people I'm going to be spending the next 2 years with - my "cohort".  We are all on the same track, taking the same courses, and forging through the same challenges ahead.  To my surprise, there are 21 women...and one very brave guy.  I kinda felt like I was pledging to a sorority!  So, that should make things fun and interesting to say the least.

We got our books, we met our professors, and we scrambled to grasp what exactly we had gotten ourselves into.  The bar is high.  The mountain is steep.  And it's going to be freaking incredible.

One thing is for certain - this is right where I'm supposed to be!  Even as my eyes glazed over at the sight of the syllabi that dared to intimidate me with such words like "clinical conceptualization" or "genograms" or "1st order cybernetics" (I mean, what the crap do these things even MEAN????  Have I just signed up for a course on the Klingon language, or what?) even then my heart beat with a thrill at the thought of the adventure ahead of me.

I have no IDEA what these things are....BUT I'M GOING TO!

I went to bed around 1am after having read part of one of my textbooks.  There's a TON of reading in grad school, and I'm NOT the fastest reader.  There are a lot of challenges ahead of me, and one thing I'm dedicated to is YOU GUYS.  I have a lot on my plate, and you're all going to be along for the ride.

As I drifted off to sleep last night, I felt so thankful for this opportunity.  And, I was reminded of my "life verse" that I chose as a teenager, years ago.  (Do you have a life verse?  Just a motto from the word of God that can be a steadfast reminder for you no matter what stage of life you are in?)  Well, here's mine:

Proverbs 16:3Commit to the Lord whatever you do, and your plans will succeed.

I can't imagine a better time to wholly commit my actions to God.  It will surely be to His credit that I achieve this feat.  And I thank each and every one of you for your support as we dive into this venture!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
BONUS SNEAK PEEK!

Have you entered the Share & Care Contest yet???  Enter up to three times a day to win a fabulous care package from PARDYMAMA!

Here is a sneak peek at one item in the care package - a pound of coffee beans from one of my new favorite coffee shops in Nashville, Frothy Monkey!  Now, that should perk you up!

Share & Care Contest

As you know, here on PARDYMAMA, I'm all about sharing and caring.  I try to live and write transparently, sharing because I care about life and stories and allowing God to take the reigns and utilize the story of my life to show others truth or grace or humor, or who knows what else.

So, now I'm asking you to help me SHARE this writing venture of mine.  HOW?

There are three ways to enter the contest:
From August 15th through September 1st 2013

1. LIKE my FACEBOOK PAGE if you haven't already. 

(Those of you that have liked it already are automatically entered ONCE! Yay!)

2. SHARE my Facebook page or a link to my blog posts on Facebook.  

(You can do this simply by clicking "SHARE" at the bottom of a post listed on Facebook! New OR old posts!)

3. RETWEET my blog on Twitter.  

(Follow me @pardymama if you aren't already, and just click the RT symbol whenever I tweet out a link to a new post!)

AND, you can enter up to THREE TIMES EVERY DAY!!!! This means you could retweet three times, or share on Facebook three times, or mix it up and do a little of both.  However you wanna enter, I'll put your name in the hat up to THREE times each day.  Woohoo!

Each time you enter, you'll get your name placed in a drawing for the 

ULTIMATE PARDYMAMA CARE PACKAGE!

(Aha!  So this is where the "caring" comes in!)

This care package will be bursting with goodies!  Since moving to Nashville, I've stumbled upon some AMAZING local indulgences.  There are some local coffee roasters, a chocolate company, and even a line of lotion that I've fallen in love with.  I'll also be throwing in a few of my favorite books for you to enjoy.  But, I say all this just to tease you a bit, because... 

In the next couple weeks, I'll occasionally be listing an item at the bottom of a new blog post that will be included in the care package!  SO - be on the look out for goodies that might soon be YOURS!

Official WINNER will be announced on 

MONDAY, September 2nd

Time to SHARE and CARE!  Let's do this!

Tomorrow

Here on PARDYMAMA, I've never held a contest.  I've never had a give-away or interacted with my audience much beyond your gracious emails and comments.

With everything going on between job searching and trying to keep my head above water, this blog has become a deeper source of encouragement for me than I could ever imagine.  I want to do something to reach out to all of you, to say THANK YOU and to just have some fun.

So, I'd say it's high time we have ourselves a little contest!

Mark your calendars, cause starting TOMORROW, August 15, 2013 (and running through September 1st) I'll be holding PARDYMAMA'S very first contest!!!

Don't worry, no need to get out your sweatbands or put on your running shoes.  If you know me at all by now, then you know I'm more of a sit-back-and-click-and-let-me-sip-my-latte kinda gal.  And that's pretty much all the amount of effort it will take on your part to enter this contest!

It will be simple, and fun, and there will be a drawing for a fabulous prize at the end.  I'll explain everything in detail tomorrow, right here on the blog.  But, I just wanted to give you a heads up so you'll be sure and check back first thing TOMORROW and help me kick-off this exciting event.

Get ready!