A little bloggie "to do"

Keep reading - there's a giveaway somewhere in here!

Yep, its nearly Christmas. That means the office is nearly empty and so is my brain. So I'm lettin' y'all know about a couple-a things I'm changin' 'round here.

Mommy Always Wins will soon have a new design.

When, you ask? Well, when I stop tinkering with the little graphic that'll be in the header and just leave well enough alone. Darn me and my slacker perfectionist quirks. (Seriously, why is it the things that matter zero in the real world the things I obsess over?) Anyway, here's a little preview:

I've had this pink/brown thing for much too long - I'm not a "pink girl" anyway. (I honest and truly got the color scheme from a dress I own - so its weird I chose that given that A) I almost never wear dresses and 2) I even more seldom wear pink.) So just check back, wouldja?

I'll also be updating my URL to http://www.mommyalwayswins.com. That actually works now, but its a redirect, meaning you won't get permalinks if you click on my post titles. I plan to eventually fix that, soon, and then I'll be updating my feeds. I'll give ya proper notice so my four readers won't get lost.

Aside from that, I'm retiring my weekly Flashback Friday posts.

I'm sure I'll still find funny stories and crazy pictures to share every now and then, but I'm putting a lot of pressure on myself to do those posts every week, and hardly anyone has ever linked up in the Mr. Linky. Going forward, my Flashback posts will have a tag along the lines of "In the life of a girl" or some such junk, and I'll post them whenever I feel like oversharing about my childhood.

Next, a little giveaway!
Remember a few weeks ago when I was stuck at the train station? I made the best of a craptastic situation and bought a book and a Coke and it ended up being not bad, really. So, to celebrate looking on the bright side (by giving away the darkest book possible) and the fact that most of us will probably have some good reading time in the next few weeks, I'm giving away that book - Cormac McCarthy's The Road.

Leave a comment with a book suggestion for me. What's your favorite book? Read anything good lately? (PUH-LEASE don't tell me Goodnight Moon. I read that 57 times a day. I'm really not exaggerating all that much.) I'll pick a winner using the random number generator on Friday afternoon and send them my slightly used copy.

And last but not least, a lil thank you for a few awards!

Melissa gave me this cute little Lemonade Stand award, with the instruction that I pass it on to 10 blogs that show great attitude or gratitude. Drum roll, please:

1) Angie at A Whole Lot of Nothing
2) Kim at Jogging in Circles
3) Marni at Marni's Organized Mess
4) Kim at It's a Dog and Pony Show
5) Mishelle at Secret Agent Mama
6) Kat at Sassy Irish Lassie
7) Maggie from Maggie's Mind
8) Colleen from Wine Please
9) Miss from Just Miss
10) Melisa from Suburban Scrawl

Tammy, uh, I mean, Mama Smurf gave me this purty baby. I'm supposed to share 10 honest things about myself. A-heh-hem.

1) My scalp is really itchy right now.
2) I have a collection of little rubber duckies on my desk here at work. The count stands at 4. One is a red ninja duck with nunchucks tucked under his wing.
3) I almost shot laser beams out my eyes at my poor hubby yesterday. Cuz he attempted to wrap a gift in gold paper. (I've become that Mom.)
4) After I post this, I'm going to make myself some instant oatmeal. I ♥ instant oatmeal.
5) My Christmas shopping is only about 97% complete, but I won't see the people those remaining gifts are for until after Christmas, so I'm not entering another store until, uh, I absolutely have to.
6) I just called hubby and gave him a grocery list. Cuz he's that awesome and is going to the store so I don't have to with two kids by myself.
7) My plans for the rest of this work day are to clean the dust and coffee rings off my desk and to make my way through my Google Reader.
8) I really don't like the sweater I'm wearing. It's pink. It was a Christmas gift from a few years ago.
9) The hubs & I actually have a whole day to ourselves in a week or so. I think I may drag him to brunch and use a gift card I got from work. Either that or we'll sleep till noon. Whichev.
10) I really want to take Nick skiing this year. I think he'd love it! God knows we have enough snow... When I say skiing I mean the downhill kind. Cross-country is too much work and is for wussies. ;-)

And this one I'm taking the easy way out - if your name starts with a C, or your blog name starts with a C, or you are wearing a piece of clothing that starts with a C, consider yourself tagged!

That's enough from me! Remember - enter to win The Road by Cormac McCarthy by leaving me a comment with a book suggestion. Cuz I'm about to finish my current read and I'll need a new 'un!