And the winner is...

Well, it pays to come out of lurk mode. The winner of the $75 RIDEMAKERZ giveaway is Susan, who decided to reveal herself (or at least her first name) and leave a comment on the 4th Frog for her sole entry into the RIDEMAKERZ contest. Her name was drawn out of 248 entries, many people having taken advantage of every opportunity to enter.

So, Susan, please contact me via e-mail at 4thfrog70 at gmail dot com by noon on Sunday with your mailing address and I'll send your gift card along its way. If you want to take pics of your finished ride, I'd love to post them here for everyone to enjoy.

For those of you who are not the lucky winners, you can either hope that Susan doesn't come forward (though that wouldn't be very nice) -- in which case I will draw another name -- or you can ask Santa for a RIDEMAKERZ gift of your own.

And of course, you can all keep coming back to check out what's going on at the 4th Frog!

The 12 blogs of Christmas: #5 -- Soccer Mom's got the spirit

Through the obsession with -- I mean the magic of -- Facebook, I recently reconnected with my friend Lori. She and I met in the lobby of a major pharmaceutical corporation where we were both starting that day as members of the media relations department. If I remember correctly, it was the Monday before Thanksgiving and no one was exactly waiting for us to arrive. We should have taken that as a sign of things to come.

After spending nearly three years writing ridiculously long and convoluted press releases that no one but the legal department was happy with, she and I both left said pharma company to embark on lives as mothers and freelance writers. Aside from the occasional run-in at the grocery store, we haven't been in touch much. But Facebook changed that; Lori found The 4th Frog and I found her blog, A Soccer Mom Speaks.

A few days ago, I read her entry Christmas hits and knew I had to link to the post as soon as I read "Christmas shopping used to mean hunting for something your loved one really wanted; today it's all about finding that one thing your loved one doesn't have."

Then all this RIDEMAKERZ mania happened and I didn't get to it. So tonight, when I went back to Lori's blog to link to her post, I was treated to another link-worthy entry, Mom tunes. Where Christmas hits might leave you a little teary, Mom tunes will have you giggling and singing along.

And the best part? The legal department doesn't get any say!

The 12 blogs of Christmas: #4 -- Wordless Wednesday: Snow angel or fallen child?

When I saw this in the Santa village at the mall on my big shopping trip, I wasn't sure if this figure was supposed to be making snow angels or if I should dial 9-1-1 to report a child down. Anyone remember the scene from A Christmas Story where the little brother, who is wearing his big puffy snowsuit, gets knocked down and can't get up? Maybe my mind is just a wee bit warped that way.

Click here for more "wordless" fun. (Ok, so mine isn't exactly wordless.)

Click here to enter my Ridemakerz giveaway!

VOTE FOR ED!

First of all, woohoo! Michelle is in the finals! She totally deserves it. Not only did she work her tail off, but she is good people, as they say. I've never heard Michelle say anything nasty or disrespectful. I wish we got to vote for the winner because Michelle would have my vote all the way.

And I have to admit being disappointed that I don't have the opportunity to vote against Vicky. She didn't learn anything about herself in this 12 weeks?! What a waste of time and effort. Of course who would want to look inside yourself and see a hateful, toxic mess?

So, our choice comes down to Heba or Ed. My vote is for Ed. I don't know if strategically that's the smartest vote, though it doesn't really matter what I think because I am historically wrong.

But Heba will not be getting my vote because she is second only to Vicky when it comes to arrogance and nastiness. Ed, while he is a big doofus, at least doesn't seem mean. He just always has a confused look on his face. Actually, without his wife around, I think Ed could be a likable kind of guy.

So who will you be voting for and why?
Heba -- 1-866-613-0001 or Ed -- 1-866-613-0002 or vote online until 3pm EST on Monday, December 15.

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And don't forget -- you can be the biggest WINNER of a $75 RIDEMAKERZ gift card by entering my giveaway.

The 12 blogs of Christmas: #3 -- Don't read if you believe.

When I decided to post "The 12 blogs of Christmas," I wasn't sure I could come up with 12 post-worthy topics. I'm still not sure of that, so I'm going to tap a couple of fellow bloggers to help me out.

Mike of Mike's Brain Blog -- and, oh yeah, my husband -- recently posted about his first experience as one of Santa's "helpers," as in the guys who dress up in the red suits and Ho! Ho! Ho! in jolly fashion.

Read "My First Santa Gig" and then check out the video.

Since Mike obviously has an "in" with Mr. C, leave a comment here about what you would like for Christmas. Your comment will get you 1 entry in my Ridemakerz giveaway.

The 12 blogs of Christmas: #2 -- High Octane Holiday Giveaway

Sometimes the Christmas season comes and goes in such a blur that aside from watching a few Christmas specials on TV, I feel like I missed the whole spirit of the season. This year, I am making a deliberate point of trying to engage the whole family in meaningful holiday activities, with one caveat -- they have to be free. And I want to share the free fun with you, so read all the way to the bottom for your chance at a $75 giveaway!

When Bargain Briana offered to hook me up with the good people at RIDEMAKERZ for a free bloggers' event last weekend, I jumped at the opportunity. Briana put me in touch with Natalie who was coordinating the event aimed at bloggers with boys aged 5-13. But Natalie wasn't about to let Annie feel left out and she must have heard about Mike's childlike tendencies as well because she invited the entire family to RIDEMAKERZ on Sunday for a free afternoon of high octane fun.

If you're not familiar with RIDEMAKERZ, think Build-A-Bear Workshop, only instead of stuffed animals with fashionable attire, you get cool cars with totally rad accessories.

Mike and Charlie had actually been to RIDEMAKERZ once before, so they were really revved at the prospect of getting to go again. When we arrived, Natalie greeted us and handed me $375 in RIDEMAKERZ gift cards! Now that's what I call free fun!

Since we already had two tricked out cars at home, we had decided ahead of time that Robbie would get to keep the car he made and the rest of us would make cars that would be donated to the local children's hospital. (For the record, it was not immediately a unanimously popular decision, but Mike got over the disappointment.)

A few minutes later Marilyn -- apparently the head "mechanic" -- gathered all the bloggers and their families, including Angie from Angelica Grace Designs and Eric from IndyDads.com, and gave us the low down on the RIDEMAKERZ process.

1. First, we all picked the shell of the car we wanted to build. The shells start at $12 and go up to $29. Robbie wasted no time picking "the fire car." Annie had planned to pick the pink Corvette, but changed her mind when she saw the blue Mini Cooper, which apparently is her "dream car." So I took the pink car, while Charlie chose a blue truck and Mike picked an orange Dukes of Hazzard looking car. (Note: the cars all have official names, but asking me to tell you what they are is pointless, though I do know that the Corvette is the newest addition to the RIDEMAKERZ line-up.
   
   
2. From there, we moved on to the sound station. Each car comes with a standard tires pealing sound, but for just $3, you can choose a custom sound, which we did.
   
   
   
   
   
3. RIDEMAKERZ mechanics were waiting at the next station to install the chassis -- which I think is the underbody of the car. I'm sure Charlie could tell me for certain. Anyway, you can choose a street chassis or a jacked up monster chassis. We all went for the street version, except Charlie. This is the station where you can also add radio remote control capability to the car. It's a $25 charge, but absolutely worth it!
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. Next we chose tires -- the standard black tires, which suited my pink car or tires embellished with color treads -- and hubcaps. Who knew hubcaps come in as many different varieties as nail polish does?
   
   
   
   
   
   
5. Then it was on to the pit challenge where we realized Charlie had already lost his remote control. Seriously? We had only walked 5 feet! But the RIDEMAKERZ crew was totally cool and found it quickly. Apparently, they've worked with their fair share of 9-year-old boys.
   
   Remote safely back in the basket, we set about using the cool pit crew tool (I won't even guess what that's called) to screw in the bolts to lock in the body of the car to the chassis. I think that was Robbie's favorite part.
   
   

   
   
   
6. Once the cars were assembled, it was time to accessorize. Finally, something I could relate to! The most awesome part about the accessorizing is that you could choose anything -- lights, sirens, turbo jets -- from the wall, try it on your car and return it back to the wall if you didn't like the way it looked. Charlie, Annie and I chose underbody lights for our cars. Robbie went with the turbo jets.
   
   

   
   
   

   We also picked out stickers -- an inexpensive ($4), but cool way to customize your ride. Because we were giving away our cars, we didn't put the stickers on the cars at the shop. We wanted to let the eventual owner of the car have the fun decorating it.
   
   

   
   
   
7. To finish off, we sat at the computers and registered our cars. When it was time to check out, we got a title and little license plates customized with a name of our choosing to add to the car.

When we got home, Robbie played with his car all afternoon, including using it for auto bowling. Annie and Charlie got out the cars Charlie and Mike made last year. So in addition to a great activity for free, RIDEMAKERZ gave us an interruption-free afternoon because the kids were so busy playing with their rides.

And tonight we headed over to the children's hospital and gave them General Lee, PrtyNPnk, HyperDrive and Dream Car, paying forward RIDEMAKERZ's generosity. Thanks RIDEMAKERZ for making this possible!

We'll definitely be heading back to RIDEMAKERZ -- Charlie wants to celebrate his birthday there. And Annie wants to go back and buy a blue shell to put on the black Mini Cooper Mike made last year.

That's what's great about these cars -- you can go back later and change them. Don't want to shell out the $25 for remote control right now? You can still make an awesome ride and come back for the remote as a reward for say, good grades. Or you can change up the sound for almost pocket change. In fact, you can go to RIDEMAKERZ, choose a body for under $20, select all of the stock items (sounds, chassis, tires, hubcaps), and still have a toy that rocks!

About that giveaway...
And you know what else rocks? (This is the part that you've been waiting for!). In addition to giving me gift cards to use for my family on Sunday, RIDEMAKERZ gave me a $75 gift card to giveaway on my blog! That's right -- you or someone you love can trick out your own ride courtesy of the 4th Frog and RIDEMAKERZ.

And if you don't have a RIDEMAKERZ shop near you, no sweat. You can buy RIDEZ in a box right on the website and get the whole awesome experience in the comfort of your own home!

So how can you get in on the giveaway? Earn entries in three simple ways:

• Earn 1 entry by leaving a comment on this post or other posts I make this week. Be sure to leave your first name and last initial.
  
• Earn 3 entries by blogging about the giveway on your own blog, then linking back to this post.
• Earn 5 entries by subscribing to the 4th Frog Blog via e-mail (see the right-hand column). If you're already a subscriber, just leave me a comment letting me know you want the 5 bonus entries.

Entries will be accepted until midnight Thursday night. I'll draw the name of the winner on Friday morning, so be sure to check back here then.

The 12 blogs of Christmas: #1 -- Shopping traditions

I've talked about my shopping trip to Cleveland several times, but haven't taken the time to fully explain the significance of this trip or even why a group of women would choose Cleveland, Ohio as their Christmas shopping destination.

The trip started 22 years ago with my Mom and her three sisters accompanying my NaNa to a suburb of Cleveland where my Aunt Susie lives. The purpose of the trip was to help NaNa do her Christmas shopping -- at least that's what everyone told their husbands.

Since then, the trip has happened every year in the first week or two after Thanksgiving. Anyone over the age of 18 is invited to tag along, as is anyone who is not yet walking. I think I made my first trip when I was about 22.

I remember expecting that we'd have a nice leisurely lunch, stroll through the mall and turn in around 9ish. Boy, did I underestimate these women.

We generally pull into Cleveland around 1 or 2pm and head to the mall for lunch. Over lunch in the food court, the lists come out. Some lists are computer-generated, others are scratched onto lined notebook paper. Some are color-coded, others are divided by stores at which the purchase should be made. But be assured, everyone at that table has their lists. This is also the time that the coupons come out -- Bath & Body Works $10 off, JCPenney save an extra 15%.

Just in case the other shoppers can't detect the seriousness of the mission, our group has chosen to identify itself with matching shirts, a relatively new phenomenon in this event's history. This year's shirts -- recycled from last year -- aren't too bad. Denim with a reindeer embroidered in the "Izod" spot and a reindeer pyramid on the back.

In years past, the annual shopping shirts definitely would have made the What Not to Wear "worst of" show. The first year was sweatshirts of the iron-on-outline-with-fabric-paint-variety. Purple sweatshirts with bright Christmas lights on them. Then there was the glowing turqouise sweatshirt with ironed on snowmen pictures. I think the worst was the ivory sweatshirt cardigan with a snow Statue of Liberty bearing the phrase "Life, liberty and the pursuit of the perfect gift."

The shirts help us find each other in a sea of shoppers and keeps other people wondering if we're going to stop at the Santa village and break into carols. Be thankful we do not.

Once the pre-work over lunch is finished, the shopping begins. Generally at a department store like JCPenney or Sears. We scatter throughout the store and then meet back again at a designated time. This is also about the time that the antics begin. Depending on who has joined the trip, mishaps and misadventures occur, some taking on legendary status, including:

• the year that not one, not two, but FOUR of the group pushed the wrong elderly lady in a wheelchair out the door of Penneys
• the year that my little brother, then 18 months, threw up in his stroller and then proceeded to lose his winter coat -- in Cleveland, in December
  
• the year that Aunt Bonni decided to conquer her fear of escalators and failed miserably, much to disappointment of the shopper in front of her who ended up wearing Aunt Bonni like a backpack for the rest of the ride
  
• the year that NaNa decided to try out one of those electric carts and put a hole in the wall at Sears
• the year that we discovered the hole was still there -- at least two years later
• the year that I was ginormously pregnant with what would turn out to be a 10+ pound baby and everyone watched my every waddle, certain I would go into labor at any moment, though my due date was 10 weeks away
  
• the year that my mom peed her pants laughing so hard...wait! That's every year. Except the advent of discreet incontinence protection has robbed the rest of us of the chance to tease her about it.
  
• the year that Aunt Connie bought so much stuff -- including 8 pairs of boots and 6 giant bags of clearance rack clothing, that there wasn't room for NaNa's wheelchair in the car.

Once we close down the mall at 10pm (open late after Thanksgiving), we head to Kohl's to scoop up the deals there. Then it's back to Aunt Susie's house for dinner -- at 11pm. No need to ask what's on the menu: lasagna, salad, bread and butter. The meal is as traditional as turkey on Thanksgiving.

We all fall alseep fast and hard. In the morning, we sit down to the annual egg casserole and bagel breakfast and map out the morning's shopping. Though there's not much mapping to be done -- we go to the same stores every year. Target, then the Champ's outlet, Old Navy, and if Aunt Connie is with us, T.J. Maxx. Back home for the traditional lunch -- sloppy joes, potato chips and pecan sandies cookies -- and then the traditional jamming of all the purchases into the cars already full with people, pillows and overnight bags.

For all of the traditions, things have changed over the years. The biggest change is that NaNa is no longer with us. She passed away in August 2007. So PaPa comes instead. And since he broke the estrogen barrier, my uncle Bill has started coming too.

(Mom, Aunt Susie, my sister Shelley, me, Uncle Bill, PaPa.
Aunts Connie and Bonni were both sick this year and couldn't make it.)

I know that Christmas isn't about the shopping and the presents. But it is about love and family and amidst all the strategizing and bargain hunting, that's precisely what our annual shopping trip is about too.