Writer’s Digest is running a Best Websites Contest. I thought perhaps if you had a favorite website or blog, you might want to know how to submit a nomination. All you need to do is
1. Send brief email to writersdigest@fwmedia.com (click now)
2. Put 101 Best Websites Nominations in subject line. (cut and paste now)
3. As an example include some kind of note like
Please consider Deidra Alexander’s Blog at www.deidraalexander.com for your list of 101 Best Website. (copy and paste optional. 🙂 )
Now, another post-Christmas blog.
Let me begin by telling you my house sits on a one acre lot with twenty trees in front and over thirty trees in the back. This will be important later.
In my family there is a giver of carefully thought out useless gifts. I in my novice attempt to out useless her, I gave her a cake stand. She lives in the mountains and baking is out of the question, high altitude and all. I was giggling to myself until I opened the gift she had for me. But first other victims.
To the person who is allergic to scents of any kind, she gave perfume and highly scented candles. Though I appreciate the hives, not cool.
To the person who has all hardwood floors, a carpet steamer. Good one, a chore.
To the guy with body hair, knit shirt. Need I say more, though I appreciate the attempt at werewolf inspiration.
To a single woman over 20, underwear and flannel pajamas. Don’t complain that she’s single if you buy her and Gramms matching gifts.
And to me, she really went all out. I got a gift, errand and a chore. She gave me a tree. One I have to pickup in a large truck, drag back to my house, get a hole dug and then plant. I learned my lesson, do not try to out gift the master.
And to my fellow suffers, there’s a bottle of tequila and a white elephant gift exchange in my room.
Hey, who brought the cake plate?
Done it :). I wish you good luck! You’re a really good storyteller and writer!
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Thank you. Hopefully you mean the gift swap and not the useless gift giving. No takers on the tree by the way.
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Hey, thanks for the ‘how to vote for best website’ tip. I’ll go there immediately
Seriously though. I do love your blog.
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You’re very welcome, public service and all. Thank you both for the nomination and the blog love.
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She may not be able to bake one, but she sure takes the cake. Great funny post.
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I love your way with words. Your comments are even poetry.
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thought you might wanna know I took your “cut and paste” suggestions…I’ve never seen a sight/site quite like yours….ever I don’t think…great job, and I loved the sweet way you asked, so lady like. God Bless. -watw
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Thank you, thank you. Yes, gentility is supposed to run in my family. The rumor is it skipped a generation when it came to me.
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I nominated you for the Versatile Blogger Award. (o:
http://plaidoak.com/2011/12/31/the-end-of-the-trail/
Not quite the same as the Writer’s Digest contest… but I’ll go ahead and nominate you for you one too. (o:
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Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Hopefully that’s enough thank you’s and exclamation points. You rock.
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Funny b/c so true. I’ll trade you some plaid flannel PJs for your tree. Can you deliver to Florida?
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No you must pick up said tree or you miss part of the point. I’ll take the pjs.
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Right, that’s part of the gift, the inconvenience of you getting to deliver the tree so far! Hee hee
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That’s the worst part. It’s definitely an all day event between pickup and hole digging.
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Ooh, I always take a tree. Unless it’s invasive. Then I burn it. I am now planning on giving someone a future tree, but I might cut out the making-them-pick-it-up part. Even if it was a gift to me and I was super excited about it, I’d probably never make it to the nursery until the thing was dead.
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One hour drive one way. I’m not going to whine about it any more. … Two hours, ugh.
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Happy Friday! I have nominated you for the Versatile Blog Award! : )
Check it out! http://iliveiloveiteach.wordpress.com/2011/12/30/a-christmas-surprise/
~M. Hunter
http://www.mhunterexperience.wordpress.com
http://www.iliveiloveiteach.wordpress.com
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Thank you so much. I appreciate the nomination.
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TEQUILA! 😀
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Only because I can drink it like it’s water … and have.
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Love it… I once got a very hairy red mohair jumper with “brick wall” motif on the front, complete with velcro detachable mohair “brick”… a particular low from Aunty M. Good luck with the nominations…
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Wow, don’t have much to say to that one except, yikes. Thanks.
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You have a very interesting family! 😀
I wish you good luck with the contest! And a Happy New Year!
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They are much more entertaining now that I blog about them.
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hehe so should we all nominate each others site’s for this contest? 😉 lol love the useless gifts tale!
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Brilliant!
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Christmas is always made better by giving ‘unique’ gifts. Last year, I wrapped everything in newspaper and bought the weirdest things I could find. No one in my family needs for anything, and I hated wracking my brain for something perfect. Enjoy the tree. There aren’t enough in the world. 🙂
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Go to the onion store online for wacky boxes for fake weird boxes. Their wicked good fun! 🙂
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I love it! What time does the game start in your room? I heard it is the place to be tonight!
Thanks for the nomination link!
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You missed that round, but there’s another starting soon.
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I love the useless gifts story! Hopefully your new tree isn’t of the variety that drops its leaves every year…you know, the gift that keeps on giving! Happy New Year’s Eve.
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Oh crap I hadn’t even considered that.
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Thank you:-) Read your blog with coffee this morning. Fun.
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Hope you didn’t choke, I forgot the public service announcement.
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Great Going. You Deserve it.
Try for it
Sure winner
Best Wishes
Phil
PS:
Thanks for the follow
Philip
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Thank you. My pleasure.
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😉
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I love it! Dysfunctional gifts for functional people…
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Loved it…..”Useless Gifts” I have alot of them…Have a wonderful New Year.
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Thanks for stopping by Necessary Miscellany! I’m glad you “liked” the post you visited.
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You are most welcome.
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Useless gifts huh… Can’t say I can relate, but it sounds kind of like a scary deal to me. Say I’m allergic to bee stings and for Christmas I was given a jar full of angry bees. Not to mention the jar is one of those movie props that breaks the second I pick it up… Yay me! 🙂
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You would probably get a beehive or beekeeping lessons, got honey?
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Love your stories. And you sense of humor. We need lots of humor these days.
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Too funny! Happy New Year! Good luck with that tree…maybe don’t drink the tequila first – on second thought…
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You got my vote!
Have a wonderful 2012!
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Thank you so much. It’s totally unexpected. (wink, wink, nudge, nudge) Beautiful site by the way.
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I will definitely submit you as the best blog. I really hope you win as well. I wish you and your family a happy new year!
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Not sure if I replied yet or not, but just in case. I get lost in comments some days. Thank you. I love the rail car garden you had pictures of on your site. I think it’s awesome.
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How about Bibles for a preacher? I have a whole shelf of duplicates…
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That’s a good one!
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Thanks for liking my post! I’m glad you did since that lead me here to your highly entertaining stories… I’ll be back!
cheers and all the best to you and your quirky relatives for 2012!!
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Love your paintings, specially the bear. You are very welcome. Thanks for sharing your art. I envy artists.
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Hillarious!!!
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This was really hilarious to read and so poignantly put. Thank you for sharing and humoring me on this lonely New Year’s Eve.
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Then we are lonely together. Have a great 2012. And thank you for your kind words.
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Oh, this needs a LOVE button!
Have a joyous and prosperous New Year!
Red.
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A love button! Thank you!
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Well, I’d hate to sound smug, but I gave up giving and receiving Christmas stuff years ago… It’s great – try it……..’and relax…ah…’
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That is an excellent idea. I hate stores normally, but Christmas is crazy.
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Everyone can use an extra tree. You did not get goofed on at all. Now if she had gotten you a bear….
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Bear skin rug, the perfect gift. Or maybe I can add it to the dinasaur on your cartoon buffet. 🙂
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Happy New Year! Good luck with the comp.
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Thank you and have a fantastic 2012.
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Happy new yearn Deidra. Like you needed a tree, right? I’m reading your blog and I’m sure I’ll be nominating you, you have a great blog.
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Thank you so much. What I really needed was a furnace repairman, mine has been broken for two months. Shiver. Thanks for the nomination. It’s such a suprise. 🙂
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Hello..Thank you for the ‘likes’..thank you for reading so..On life and death..In re your Twitter observations..’all these stories end the same way..expressing them in written word is wonderful..living them is always as different as each passing second..Happy New Year..Peace Tony
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You’re very welcome. Keep it up. Happy New Year. Dee
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Wishing you a happy 2012. Best wishes, Russell
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Thank you. Have an awesome 2012. If you feel the ground shaking, just hang onto something. I’m planning to rock my little piece of the world.
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Had to Tweet this it was so funny! Will be submitting you for best blog…and thanks so much for reading mine and ‘liking’…it helps keep me motivated to get it rolling. As a seasoned blogger, I’d welcome any feedback you have also…I am a teacher and appreciate constructive criticism xxx
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Thanks so much for the tweet. And as for the nomination, really? Me? What a suprise. Thank you. 🙂
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Love your story. The merry prankster sounds like something my brother would do. He once asked if I’d like Vogon poetry for Christmas. For the first time, I was onto him. “Is that the 3rd worst poetry in the Universe, according to Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy.” I could hear him chuckling over the phone clear across the continent.
Thanks for stopping by my blog.
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It’s great when you can one up them, isn’t it?! 🙂
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You are a really great writer and I am enjoying your blog!
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Thank you. I haven’t thought of myself as much of a writer until lately.
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I was guessing which ones will be the other 100 websites…
Good luck!
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I’m probably wishful thinking, but am going to give it a try. Thanks.
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Thank you.
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lol I’m glad you liked that post Deidra thanks from NosyAss.com 🙂 Happy New Year
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I love an ass.
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Beautiful pink trees photo and I love your new header photo! Happy New Year! You deserve to be nominated.
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Thank you. The header isn’t a self portrait sorry to say.
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Great Blog Dierdre and thanks for liking mine! I’ve loved reading your regular posts as well as your creative writing! Seems we have some things in common! Happy writing in 2012!
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Thanks. I appreciate the compliment and will try to live up to it.
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This made me laugh.
I got a poster of a full size storm trooper.
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I once get a full size cut out of Legolas, the elf from Lord of the Rings, but it wasn’t useless at all!
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That is more or less why I stopped giving gifts. I think the only other way to get out of this situation is by telling her that from now on you will only be accepting cash gifts.
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Cash I could have used. Furnace still broken.
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Reblogged this on buggalcrafts and commented:
Wow! Passing on this nomination for an exceptional site! Maybe next time buggalcrafts can be nominated!!!
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Thank you so much. You are incredibly generous. P.S. I love your crafts. I don’t have time to do any myself, but love living vicariously.
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Haaa!! Gift-exchanging of any sort is fraught with peril.
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Boy, talk about going out of your way to make a point! Provided your family and friends have a sense of humor, this sounds like fun. Maybe a lot of the useless gifts get donated afterwards. I like to think of it as a way not to take the whole Christmas thing too seriously, but on the other hand, it is an excellent opportunity to be passive aggressive. You know, taking out those hidden resentments in a socially acceptable manner. We are too wise for our britches. Whatever happened to the Norman Rockwell days? They only existed in our imaginations.
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Or the opportunity to gather in one room with the family members who have a sense of humor and a bottle of anything.
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Funny. But wait, single women over 20 don’t wear underwear?
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Hopefully not the same ones Grandmom’s wearing.
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I was just looking for this information for some time. After 6 hours of continuous Googleing, at last I got it in your web site. I wonder what’s the lack of Google strategy that don’t rank this kind of informative websites in top of the list. Generally the top sites are full of garbage.
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Useless gifts, not useful gifts. Maybe we’re confused.
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Ahh the holidays…aren’t they grand? I know that after a Christmas feast in which half the dinner table was desserts, for our family gift exchange I got a gigantic, most likely Costco bought, tin of chocolate cookies! Hooray for useless gifts! The cookies ended up in the backroom at my fiance’s office, just in time for New Years!
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Ah, no cookies here or in the office. 😦
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So far what I have read this blog is awesome. I definately will read more and then may I say you are very beautiful.
As far as outrageous gifts…I hear you on this. One year each person in my family got a metal auto funnel. Well I should rephrase, my sister and I got a metal auto funnel, my brother (her favorite) got a Steinbach nutcracker. I think to this day we all still laugh about it, if she isn’t around….
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Same here, I whine about it but laugh inside. Makes the greatest stories.
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I’ve just discovered you blog due to your leaving a lovely comment on mine.
This story is hysterical. It is deinitely one of the issues of gift giving. I applaud you for trying to out gift the master.
Funny …
Isadora
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Thanks. I’ll have to start plotting earlier for her next Christmas gift.
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Wow… is this gift-giver being ironic, or just simply daft/clueless? I’m not sure if I should laugh or get upset for you… oO
(sorry… I’m a little late reading your post because I was SO busy chipping away at my own updates. But I kept it for future reading, when i was done. Which is now 🙂
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I understand been chippin’ myself.
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