Free for All __________

Three times a charm.  That's what I've heard.  

The first time you hear a message... forgettable.  We're busy people, bombarded daily with messages, so a one-time announcement is our dream come true.  Total dismissal, guilt free.  Second time you hear an announcement... recognizable. The message might be familiar, but details are blurred and there exists no sense of urgency to take action.  But, three times.  Three times is supposed to be the charm.  After having heard a message a third time, its contents should be familiar - maybe even anticipated.

So let's see if it works.

If you've been on Highlowaha over the past two days, you might have heard _______ is in the air.  Highlowaha is 26 days away from celebrating our ____  _______   __________.  The celebration of our great achievement will peak on Wednesday, _________ 18, at _:__ p.m. CST.  Planning for The ______ _______ _______ Show cannot get underway until each of you does your part.  We need you to submit _________(s) for each category.  Wednesday I outlined the first three awards.  Thursday I outlined the next three and today we will introduce the final three.

To submit your nominations, simply send me an _____ at ______@lslog.com, by Monday, January __th at midnight.  Please be sure to put People's Choice Award in the subject heading.

Now for the final three awards to be presented.

The Newbie Award

This People's Choice Award goes to a Highlowaha reader who has only been with us since October 2008, or later, but whose participation we couldn't live without.

The Veteran Award

This People's Choice Award goes to a Highlowaha reader whose been with us since at least May 2008 and whose participation we couldn't live without.

Oz Award

This People's Choice Award goes to the Highlowaha reader you would most like to bring out from behind the curtain to meet.    

There they are.  The last three.  To get details about the other six awards (Sliced Bread Award, Raising the Bar Award, Good Neighbor Award, Energizer Bunny Award, Spirit of #218 Award, and the Home Run Award), please visit posts from Wednesday and Thursday.

Next an introduction and then it's onto the business of the day...  Free For All Friday.  

Let's give a big welcome to Shannon, a friend with whom I have recently reconnected.  If a prototype existed for the "Quintessential Highlowaha Reader," it would be Shannon.  She is creative, an event planner by nature (and profession), adventurous, lives the Spirit of #218 without even knowing it, and understands the value of participating in community in the same way we do.   She posed the perfect "Free For All Friday" question when we had lunch yesterday, so let's see if she jumps right in today and shares it with the rest of you.  If so, let's show her what we've got.  

Now, Free-For-All-ing.  For those of you who are new to our blog, Friday is the day of the week readers capitalize on the collective creativity of our group by posing their own questions.  You might want help developing a party theme, promoting an event, raising money, or as was the case earlier this week, generating ideas to help a homesick friend.  The canvass is clean for you to do with what you want.

With that, let me get out of the way.

Signing off until tomorrow...

Free for All Friday: But first...

There's a special irony to today's post that deserves some explanation.

I grew up in New York with a father who is Jewish and a mother who is Catholic. That is to say, my family never really participated in formal religious activity. I did, however, go to a Catholic school for a period of time and we did celebrate Christian holidays (Christmas and Easter). We never really celebrated Jewish holidays, though every year at Passover, we looked forward to my grandmother's matzah. Warm with maple syrup... PERFECT!

The other thing we never did was have a pet. Wait... not totally true. My father - the consummate environmentalist - had a large fish tank in his basement office for a while. I think he liked it because it brought the outside world inside. I can't quite remember when it went away. I seem to remember more years without the fish tank around than with it around. That fish tank was our only run at pet ownership. No dogs, no cats, no guinea pigs, not even a pet rock. Consequently, there is no "pet-gene" embedded in my DNA. If I didn't have a pet, my life would be complete, but I certainly acknowledge our home is a warmer, cozier place because of our dog, May Day

The combination of my non-religious, non-pet-owning upbringing is what makes today's post so ironic. Today we celebrate Blessing of the Animals. The only reason I even know about Blessing of the Animals is because I spent four years working at a small Catholic school in Louisville. The Campus Minister, in conjunction with the president of the University, coordinated an annual event in the quad. Students, faculty, staff, and surrounding community members were encouraged to bring their pets to campus in late afternoon, so the pets could be blessed. The event is in honor of a patron saint, I think (already, I am feeling out of my league). Nonetheless...a fun event and one I thought we should acknowledge.

If yesterday was about getting to know your cars, today is about getting to know your pets. As requested, many of you submitted pictures of your pets and through the power and skill of CSPgrad, we have turned them into a slide show for your viewing pleasure. We'll have two kinds of fun with these pet pictures.

• First, we'll vote on the Cutest Pet. Each picture has a number, so just post the number of the pet you find cutest in the comment section. The winning pet will receive a treat in the mail.
  
• Second, and for a much more elaborate gift, we will play Pet Match. We will have a contest to see who can match up the most pets with their correct owners. Below is a list of people who submitted pictures and as noted earlier, the photos are all numbered. To play, just list name with a corresponding number.

Pet Owners:

Peggy

Lori (3 pets)

Cassie (2 pets)

Tera and Treye

Susan

Heather
Chaotic

Maureen (2 pets)

Claudia

Brian

The winner of contest #2 will win a great present... especially in light of the Christmas holiday coming up! My good friend, Sherry A, is an artist and professional photographer. She will take favorite photos of your dogs and cats, etc, provided by you, ... and transform them into works of art - Warhol Style!

Pets... the first of many things you can "Free For All" about.

Next. Don't forget to place your bet on this weekend's Green Bay game and to wish Julie and Nicole luck in their face-off. Julie and Nicole, if you're out there... tell us what you submitted. Inquiring minds can't wait until Sunday!

Next... I ran into a friend today and she asked for a consultation (informal and on the side walk, not come-in-to-the-office-I-don't-have type consultation). Her daughter is having a bar mitzvah (or is it bat mitzvah, because she's a girl. Again, out of my league). Anyway, she is looking for inexpensive centerpiece ideas. Much like Maureen's daughter's Sweet 16, costs are getting out of hand. The daughter's mom is looking for something nice, but not exorbitant (like the suggested dozen roses per table). This woman is practical, so something useful/reusable is all the better. Here's what we know. Her daughter likes roses, boxed chocolates, and cupcakes. That's what we have to work with. I told her this was a task for Highlowaha. Surely we can come up with something.

Next. For the month of October, we will celebrate Friday's as Freaky Fridays.... starting next week, when we do a "Freaky Free For All" of our favorite Halloween tricks, treats, decorations, centerpieces, etc... My hope, if everyone participates, is we can come up with a fun list of Highlowaha Favorites. While you're out and about this weekend keep your eyes open for the next best Halloween item. Be ready to share it NEXT FRIDAY, during Free for All Freaky Friday.

Announcements

• Daily Halloween Activity: Celebrate along with the Beeny family. Today's activity is to Warp the Witch. Visit this website http://blackdog.net/holiday/halloween/warp/index.html
  
• Host Ray: Baker Ray has been hanging out in Shaker Heights, Ohio for the last few weeks. He's looking for a new home. Someone willing to bake a batch of Ray cookies and distribute to friends, neighbors, colleagues, a book club, fellow soccer or baseball moms, etc... Ray's looking for his next great adventure. If you're interested, please let us know, so Tera can mail you the Ray cookie cutter and other supplies.
  
• BOO: Though we didn't get any takers when we "BOO"ed other blog sites, I still think it's fun. I will continue doing one a day until Halloween. Will you join me?
  
• Post Office Prank: Tuesday's the day! We've had some fun ideas floating around. A box of cake mix, candles, a container of frosting.... Do you have your idea yet? Confused and don't know what we're talking about? See Monday's post (9/29).
  
• Wacky Wednedsay: Thanks for all the suggestions in response to last week's post, Breakfast in Bed.. Now That's Wacky! (9/27). Issac and Matthew ended up carrying fishing rods with fish on the ends through the swim center. Matthew had the words, "Gone Fishin" on his belly and Issac's belly said, "Happy Wacky Wednesday!"
  
• Blog-a-thon: Still looking for people willing to be on the blog for 15 minutes on Friday, October 24. We have a long way to go before we fill the 96 slots necessary. Remember, this is a fundraiser for Sue, Brian, and Maureen's Helping Hand Project. Click on the Helping Hand link to learn more.
  

Phew... signing off until tomorrow...

Free For All Friday: Football, Throw Down Final Scores, and Friendly Neighbors

T.G.I.F. Hopefully you all have something fun that you're looking forward to this weekend. We will be cheering Ricky on at his swim meet and, hopefully, Richard and I will take in a movie on Saturday night.

Thanks for engaging with me this week to wrap up details from week's prior and to look ahead at exciting things to come.

Before I open the floor for Free For All Friday - the day you get to talk about, brainstorm, or get input on any topic you want - I have few quick announcements and a couple of Free For All Topics of my own.

Announcements:

• Focus Group Winners: As promised... I drew five names of people who participated in yesterday's day long focus group (one person for each question posed). And the winners are: Round #1 = Nicole; Round #2: Kelly; Round #2 (since I didn't post at 9:00)  = CSPgrad; Round #4 = Heather; and Round #5 = Peggy.
• Make Your Mark: Many of your suggestions for what to do with the excess markers were excellent. Our approach will be a compilation of proposals. Details will be forthcoming.
• R.S.V.P. A.S.A.P.: I think we have a commitment from Heather, Katie and Cassie to host the first three Highlowaha Parties. Heather will take the month of November when she and her friends will celebrate a week of creative notions for maintaining friendships from a distance. Cassie, suggested the idea of hosting a baby shower for Melanie. Kelly from Montana chimed in sharing her exciting news, affirming that we're onto something with the whole baby shower idea. Any others out there? This would make a great topic for January when we ring in a new year. Cassie, Melanie, Kelly... can you muster up a few more pregnant mothers who might want to join our party? Katie, that leaves December for you. Any ideas about which circle of friends you want to invite?
• It was a Dark and Stormy Night: We will embark on a highlowaha-blog-a-thon on Friday, October 24 in order to raise money for our Helping Hand holiday family. We will need 96 people to claim a fifteen minute block of time. And, during that time we will be co-authoring a scary Halloween story. It isn't too early to begin thinking about what block of time you would like to claim or to think about who you will invite to participate along with us. Lurkers, we NEED you!

Now for our Free For All-ing.

• First, today we must vote on the secret ingredient for the showdown between Nicole and Julie in this week's Countdown to the Superbowl Throw Down. This week we are choosing between...

Mustard vs. Vanilla

• Second, what are your predictions for this Sunday's Green Bay game... Green Bay or Tampa Bay? Remember, the person who comes closest to guessing the final score earns a gold star patch for his/her Patchwork denim.
  
• Third and finally... share some of your simple ideas about how to celebrate Sunday's National Good Neighbor Day.
  

Signing off until tomorrow...

Free For All Friday:

Whoa... sorry I'm late today.  I got a late start.

A couple of announcements and then it's off to Free For All Friday...

• Create-a-Flavor Contest:  So here's how the contest went down.  Richard voted for Maureen's Cappuccino Biscotti.  I voted for Cassie's Chocolate Masterpiece and Ricky voted for Lori's Vanilla with caramel, chocolate, chocolate covered (something... you left that part out), plain waffle cone bits, and pecans.  Matthew who is four idolizes his brother.  So... Matthew voted for, "whatever flavor Ricky picked."  That makes Lori the winner!  Thanks for all the great ideas everyone.  We actually generated some really good ideas.
  
• Ketel One:  To all of you who thought there was no difference between the bottles, I agree.  I think the genius of the ad is precisely that.  No differences between the ads assures we - the general public - will pour over the picture for long periods of time... just to make sure.  Richard thinks I'm wrong and was emphatic about contacting the company to resolve.  I suspect the fact that he never came back to say, "I told you so" means he finally saw the light.
  

Onward and upward...  It's the time of day when I turn the blog over to you the readers.  Post a question, share something creative you've seen, or answer a question posed.  I have two items to get us started.  

• National Friendship Day:  I have this listed in my calendar as being Saturday, August 2.  A good friend of mine recently sent an email indicating that TODAY is National Girlfriend's Day.  Either way... it is time for us to celebrate our friendships.  Let's use part of today's Free for All generating a list of things we could do to honor/celebrate our friends.  Don't worry you found out too late to act on any of the suggestions.  I ascribe to the belief that when, for instance, you write a birthday card ON someones birthday it is just as special as their receiving the card on their birthday.  The same will apply with any gesture made on National Friendship Day.
  
• Down with K.I.S.S.:  I can't stand it.  All week I've been looking at Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday's titles and cringing.  The title is not fun or funny and the colon immediately following the period is either a grammatical mess or a graphic train wreck.  Help me develop a new name for my "Scrap-Journaling" system, so I can change the titles. 
  

Signing off until tomorrow...