And The Winner Is .....

..... getting ready to be named!

Got you there, didn't I?
You cannot be surprised by that fact.
Not if you've read my blog for more than a week or so.
Not if you know me IRL*.

First, before I reveal the big winner (really, Peeps .... don't salivate over this because I don't think I did that good of a job of finding something.  The pressure ended up being WAY too much for me.  Seriously.  How could I pick something for someone whom I've probably never met?  What if the winner is a man?  What if the winner hates what I choose?  See?  The pressure was freakin' HUGE (said with a heavy Scottish accent).  I almost could not enjoy the first few days of the cruise due to the pressure of finding the perfect gift.
Almost.
I mean really ...... do you think I'd let the pressure of choosing something totally ruin my Mediterranean cruise?!
I didn't think so.
Nonetheless ..... I still felt the pressure.
I think I felt it so much that I had to have 2 or 15 drinks every day.
I can't remember the exact number.
Don't judge.

Wow .... did I just digress there or what?!

So, back to what I was saying typing ..... before I announce the winner of said object(s) of humongous pressure .... I'd like to take a moment to shout out to all of the wonderful Lurkers (and to the rest of you) who came out of hiding to say hi (you greedy little lurker Peeps, you!).  :)

Hi to Mollie, who isn't a true Lurker as you've commented once or twice before.  And congrats again on being the first person to have the correct answer about our trip to hell and back to the oh-so-lovely  highly misleading excursion up the volcano of Santorini.
Very.  Very.  Misleading.
I cannot say who is to blame for that trip to Hell, but I think I can safely claim that it just might be someone who works for Celebrity cruise lines.
I will also add that yes, this excursion was included as an option on the Seaborn cruise, but I don't recall them extolling the virtues of it quite as strongly.  Though that could also be due to the fact that at the moment I saw the word "volcano" listed under the word "Santorini",  I had such a violent reaction that I almost threw the brochure across the room.

Wow #2, there I went again .... digressing.
I think I missed my Adderall dose this morning.

So hi again, Mollie and thanks for popping out to give a comment.

Hi also to Grandma Poppi, who is in no way a Lurker.  Don't worry, that's a good thing.  :)
I'm so sorry to say that I was not able to find a nice Greek, Croatian or Italian man to bring back for you.
Hell, I couldn't even find a mean one for me!
Thank you so much for your kind words about my blog and thank you for making comments.
I  LOVE comments.
(Do you think the true Lurkers caught that?)

LE ..... even though you try to be a Lurker, you are my sister-in-law and so you cannot be considered Lurkerish.  Nope.  Because I know you're there .... even though you rarely, RARELY comment.
Thank you for always reading.  Especially when you're reading it on your cell phone while sitting in my family room.  :)  Love you and thanks again and again for coming all the way to Texas to support Son #2 .... and me.

Alicia .... I don't consider you a Lurker, either.  I think you've commented a few times, and I read your blog regularly, so I don't feel that you're a true Lurker.  Thank you for reading.  And understanding.  :)

Anonymous #1 .... who was the 6th commenter .... thank you for coming out of Lurkerdom .... sort of.
Wait .... not "thank you" sort of, but "thank you" for sort of coming out.  You did not come all the way out, as you didn't post your name, initials or even your government-given Witness Protection Program name.  I'm so glad that you made a comment, but so sad that I couldn't put you in the pot to win since I didn't have anything to go on.  And if I picked someone who was totally "anonymous" ..... then most of my regular readers and I'm pretty sure many of the Lurkers would all lunge forward to claim that they had been that "anonymous person".  Not that I'm judging ..... but I think that's the kind of people that I attract.  :)
I hope you keep reading ..... and commenting.

OK ..... here's where you all witness the fact that I really do type the way I speak, as I think.    I rarely delete something I've typed that might be wrong, although I do correct it.  Just as I can't delete the words that have come out of my mouth, I don't delete the words that come out of my fingers.  Sometimes it makes for some humorous posts.  Sometimes it makes me look absolutely stupid.
As in this case.
I am going down the list of commenters .... mostly in the order they commented (except for Anna, who's getting my attention in a moment).  So I did not remember that Anonymous #1 really didn't remain anonymous, since she posted again immediately after the first post, giving me her initials.
Picture me ...... hanging my head in shame.
And now you know for certain that this is the way I write ..... very, very rarely planned out.  My fingers type the words as they come to my brain.
So .... a-hem .... Jo Ann C. ..... my wonderful friend, thank you so much for always reading and for always keeping up with me.  You mostly comment on FB, where my blog entries are also posted.
I love you.  :)

W .... where do I begin?  Thank you for always reading.  Thank you for having read for so long.  Thank you for letting me know how my honest rants and raves and very dark days have helped you and may have helped to prepare you for what lay ahead for you.  I treasure you.
Oh .... and thanks SO much for starting the whole "whorehouse" rumor ..... paybacks are hell, Honey.  :)

Roma .... thank you very much for coming out and commenting.  I hope that you will be able to check Greece off of your "to-do" list soon.  Thank you for living vicariously through me.  I hope you choose only the good parts.  :)

Heather .... you're right, you are not a Lurker.  You are a wonderful source of support when you comment.  Thank you very much.  :)   And I plan to come over to your blog later today.  Thanks for the invite!!

Anna .... as my naturalized niece, you, too, cannot be a Lurker.  But you come very close.  I suspected you read, but not as often as you do.  So that came as a wonderful surprise to me!  I love you and I hope that Hawaii is being wonderful to you.  :)

Hello Barbara .... it's nice to see your smiling face!  Thanks so much for coming out to say hi.  And thanks for keeping up with me.  :)

Cindy B from CA .... Hi!!!  California has such wonderfully nice people.  Thank you for your very kind words .... and for letting me know that you're there.  :)

Nat ... Thank you, my dear friend, for always reading and for always supporting me.  I love you.  :)

Andra ..... Hello!!!  It's so nice to meet you!!  And yes, you were very correct .... to say that I was "none too pleased" about the volcano trip is putting it very nicely.  And so ladylike.  Thank you for reading and thank you for letting me know you're here.  :)

Marcia ..... Of course you're a Peep!  Every single one of you Lurkers is a Peep, even if I don't know it.  :)   Thanks so much for popping in and saying hi.

RJ .... For someone who is most definitely not a Lurker, your addition of "seeing a donkey" was .... a bit off.  Not too far off because I did see a donkey .... or twenty.  But I totally mis-read your comment at first and thought you had said that I "rode a donkey".  My bad.
Thanks for being a consistent reader AND commenter.  I LOVE COMMENTERS.
Wait ..... didn't I write that earlier?
:)

Beth ..... you are not considered a Lurker .... at least not by me.  I know you're there and I'm grateful that you are.  Thanks for that and for the times you comment.  :)

Linds ... Yes, I do know you.  You've been here from almost the beginning and you've been in this horrible club longer than I have.  I love reading your blog and seeing how much you are enjoying life and what,  and who, it brings.  Thanks for being a great source of support .... especially back in the horribly black days that I don't like to think about.
And the weather was amazing while we were there.  It could NOT have been better.  It was like being in Heaven, I imagine.
And I, too, hope you can go to Camp Widow next year.  I wish you could come this year and am bummed that I won't get to meet you ..... yet.  But we'll work on asking God about that.  :)

Susan .... T.A.N.W. for the support you've given me and the encouragement.  Not just to keep breathing, but to keep writing.  I don't see you as often as I'd like to.  Not at all.  But I hope that you know that you and M are always in my thoughts and prayers.  I'm praying for him as he's gone and for you as you're single-parenting it for a while.  And for peace, strength, courage and God's love to surround you.  I love you.  Very, very much.

Bella ..... Hi!!!  So nice to meet you!  And thank you for not taking other people's answers.  As I said before .... I think many of my other Peeps just might think of doing that.  Heck, I would.  :)
Thanks for commenting!

Terryobx ..... Thank you SO much for posting!  I am humbled so much by the people who follow my blog .... and who have done so for a long time.  Yes, you are a Lurker .... or at least you WERE a Lurker.  And yes indeed ..... you are very much a Peep.  :)

Nlynch .... Thank you for letting me know that you're still here, my friend.  I love you.  :)

Raydene ....Thank you for commenting .... and for telling me how my life is helping you to help your friend.  That, after all, is what this blog is all about now.  I write totally for you.  For each of you.  For those who've been widowed, those who will be widowed, those who know someone who's widowed, and for those who just want to know what it's like so that they may, someday, be able to help someone they love.    Thank you again, for letting me know you're here.  :)

Chris ... You may think you're a Lurker .... but I don't.  Thank you.  Very much.  :)

Purejoy ..... You're definitely not a Lurker in my mind.  You, too, have been here for me from very early on.  Thank you so much for that.  :)

Wendee .... Hello, my friend!  And thank you for being honest enough to say that you commented just to get the prize.  Refreshing!  :)

SJE ..... Hopefully you commented only to look smart enough to know what Goodbye is in Croatian (so technically not Bosnian).    You cannot be a winner of the Greek stuff because .... you are my son and that would look terribly wrong.  And some disgruntled Peep might contact the FCC to complain of nepotism.  Not that I think of anyone in particular (W).  :)

Laura C ....Thank you for commenting .... and for remembering my trip last year.  This year no one stopped me.  Anywhere.  I was a bit disappointed.
:)


OK, I think that's everyone.  If I missed one of you, please accept my most humblest apologies and let me know.

There were 33 comments.  Those numbers were taken down and one number was chosen at random .... by one of my children.  I did not tell them why they were choosing a number, until after they did.

So ...... imagine a drum roll here ............

The Winner/Lurker/Commenter is ....................  RJ!!!!

And RJ is kind of a double winner because she kindly requested pictures of a Greek cookbook, which I complied with and will provide on this post.

So here's what you've won ..... again, don't get too excited .... and to the rest of you, don't be too disappointed:

I couldn't come up with one item, though I tried.  Again .... the pressure.
So I chose a sampling of items that represent Greece.
From the left ...
1.   A set of colored pencils from Corfu that are made from olive wood.
2.  A small bottle of Ouzo from Santorini, I believe.  If you like licorice ..... and alcohol,  you'll most likely enjoy it.  If, however, you are like me ..... you will most likely think what I thought (as I channeled my 16 - 17 year old self):  "Gag me with a spoon!!!"
3.  A package of sesame coated pistachio nuts (unshelled).  I really enjoyed these and brought extras home to snack on.
4.  A bar of olive and honey soap from Corfu.  It's very, very good for the face.  Gentle and great for cleansing and keeping wrinkles at bay.  For a while, anyway.
I have no idea what it does for already-existent wrinkles.
5.  A ceramic box-like-dish (box-like in that it has a lid) from Kotor, Montenegro.

So there you go ....  small samplings of Greece and Montenegro.  I hope you enjoy them.  Now I have to find a box to put it all in and make sure nothing breaks.  I will get this sent off this week (since I probably won't be doing much next week).

So please send me an e-mail with your name, address and zip.
You can send it to jeggerstx@gmail.com

And .... here are pictures of a few cookbooks I found.  I think it might be the first one that you were looking for, but just in case ... I threw in each one I saw.

I hope that helps.

Once again, thank you SO much to each of you who commented.  Thank you especially to you Lurkers.  I'm glad you took the time to let me know you're here, reading and silently supporting me.

I'm still asking for prayers ..... the sadness is still there,  kind of like a blanket laying underneath everything.  I think that when medical conditions arise, it just makes me more aware of how alone I really am.  The kind of, "If I died in my sleep how long would it take for someone to notice my absence?" or "If I were to slip and fall in the shower (God forbid .... please!) or start to have a heart attack, or even start choking ..... I wouldn't have a husband here who could help and keep me from dying" thing.  Not that I think about that a lot, because I really don't, but when medical stuff comes up, it's hard not to.
Ironically, if I'm in a lot of pain, I usually don't want anyone around anyway, but it sure is comforting and secure-feeling to know that a husband/significant other would be there anyway, just in case.

Thanks again, Peeps.  This was fun for me and I hope it was fun for you.
Have a great Monday/Memorial Day.
:)

*In Real Life

P.S.  I still have a few hundred pictures to upload and then go through more than 1,000 to edit them and get them ready for posting.
My computer is telling me that my iPhoto disk has very little room on it so I don't think I'll be able to upload very many until I can get my hands on a hard drive and move a lot of pictures over to it to make room.  I ordered one the week before I left on the trip from Amazon, but it still hasn't shipped.  Is it just me who finds that irritating?
So ..... that may be something that I'll be working on next week, as I'm recuperating from my surgery.  If so, it should prove to be pretty humorous, as I expect to be drug-filled for as long as I need to be.  So who knows what I'll write, or remember, about each picture.
I will also have the challenge of not being able to type with two hands .... so who knows what's going to happen or what's going to show up here.
Please know ahead of time that I am not holding myself responsible for what appears on this blog after 5:00 a.m. on Friday.