Friday, October 8, 2010

Time for a Birthday Present

Well, it's October again! That means that it's time for another Watkins birthday present for one of my readers. This year I'm going to give my winner a choice of gifts. It's fun to win prizes, but sometimes it's even more fun to win when you get to choose your own prize - kind of like how the boys feel when they go to the dentist and they get to pick out their own toy from the Big Prize Tooth bin.


This year's winner will get to choose either a jar of the amazing Cinna Cream Sprinkles or a bottle of our delicious Original Barbeque Sauce. It'll be a tough decision, unless you already know if you are a 'sweet' or a 'savory' person.



The simple looking Cinna Cream Sprinkles will quickly become one of those cold-morning treats that you'll start sprinkling on your toast, your bagel, in your coffee, maybe even into the palm of your hand so that you can tickle your tongue! I like to refer to this as a glorified cinnamon sugar blend. Your first taste will tell you that you are enjoying cinnamon, sugar AND a beautiful hint of vanilla! My customers that are already in love with this purchase several bottles at a time because it's only available at this time of year as part of the Seasonal Favorites line. Timothy loves to sprinkle this on his popcorn and begs for it every time!



For those of you who are savory people, you will want to choose this bottle of Watkins Original Barbeque Sauce. It has a tangy and sweet taste with a tiny bite that causes you to keep the bottle open on the table because you always need 'just a little bit more' for whatever you are eating! We love putting it on chicken, hamburgers, meatballs, barbequed pork (put a pork roast in your crock pot and chug a big glug of this sauce on top!), dipping in fries or chicken nuggets, fish, roast beef...you name it, we use it! You won't regret choosing this gift if you win!

Now, here's the deal. In Canada, if you win a prize, you have to "earn" your prize. Many companies like to give skill testing questions like "The following timed skill testing equation must be answered without any aid: 4 x 3 + 12 - 6 + 244 x 321 - 23 x 468 + 2943 = Ok. That's exaggerating a bit, but I can't stand math to begin with so I am a bit saddened by the fact that in order for me to win a prize I have to answer a MATH question! Why don't they ever ask us to name the author of a book or ask us where to find a certain scripture or to identify a flower or something like that?! No. It has to be math! Well, since I'm in charge of my own contest, I'm going to choose to ask my contest participants to use their story telling and writing skills to tell me about one of the most memorable gifts they ever GAVE to someone! Tell me about a unique gift giving experience, the most meaningful gift you gave, the funniest gift, the most memorable setting of your gift-giving, etc.

This contest is open to anyone in Canada or the US, or family members in Paraguay or Indonesia. You can enter by commenting on this post or by sending me a private message at mjweinhardt at yahoo dot ca. This contest will be open until my birthday, Monday, October 18, at 7:30pm at which time my children will choose a winner.

Thanks for telling me your stories and helping me to celebrate my birthday!

4 comments:

GramS said...

I thought it was really funny when we gave Taylor $20 with brand new one dollar bills, taped end to end, that when he pulled them out, it seemed like it would never end!

Ohio_Momto3boys said...

The gifts that I remember giving the most:
1. Traveling to Hattisburg Mississippi and collecting photos, brochures, and souvenirs to create a scrapbook for my mother's 75th birthday. I also raided her address book and invited everyone in it to send her a memory for her birthday

2. Duplicating Rich's parents wedding flowers in a colorful silk arrangement for their 50th anniversary. This is still on display downstairs.

heidiannie said...

This was a VERY hard assignment, Martha! Happy Birthday!
I can easily tell you my favorite gifts that I've been given but it is hard to now about those I gave!
I love putting together a gift along a themed idea. I love the gift Cynthia and I gave you for your shower gift- and that all came about when we saw the chair that it all sat upon.
But- the best gift I ever gave - that would be a gift that was first given to me. Cynthia had a ring that I loved and one day she gave it to me. Simply said and simply done- Cynthia is a giver that way. I loved it- wore it all the time- a blue sapphire with diamond chips and white gold band. It always made me think of a well-loved woman with flowers and sunlight around her, surrounded by her loving family. When Luke was going to school in Scotland, he told me he planned on asking Willow to marry him whilst they were there. I said,"What will you do for a ring?" And he said, " I don't know, but I'll figure something out."
(Now, this is a part of the story I didn't know until later, but he had already told Willow of his intention, and she said, "I'll let you know what I think when you show me the ring.")
I had a moments hesitation and then I offered him my ring- my gift to him and to his future hopes. Let me say right now-I hoped she would be my daughter as well- so it was to our hopes.
He did ask her, along side Loch Ness one evening and she started to put him off, saying, "I'll let you know, when..." and then she saw the ring in his hand.
They called that night to let me know that the answer was yes!

Willow took the ring as an engagement ring and wears it still as a wedding ring. Every time I see it on her hand I am grateful that I gave it to them.

liz said...

Aunt Heidi, what an awesome story! I love the details. And the depth. And the fact that he asked her by Loch Ness (one of the highlights of our honeymoon).