Win a copy of 2010 Writer's Market! (Cross-Post)

NOTE: This message is cross-posted from my other blog, Stars in my Sugar Bowl. PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS THERE. Thank you!




To celebrate the launch of my new poetry blog, Stars in my Sugar Bowl, I am giving away an unused paperback copy of the 2010 Writer's Market published by Writer's Digest Books. This tome is a great addition to any writer's toolkit, containing listings for 3,500 places to publish your work. I already own a copy and received this extra one at Christmas -- a perfect opportunity for a giveaway!

To be eligible for the drawing, please leave me comment about science, poetry, or both, on that post only. Any comments left on the Mama Joules blog are NOT eligible.

• Tell me about your favorite scientific subject, describe a fun science activity, tell me what you like about Mama Joules, provide a link to a family-friendly science website, or tell me anything else about science.
  

• If science isn't your thing, talk to me about haiku, tanka, haiga, alliteration, Robert Frost, Gwendolyn Brooks, or anything else relating to poetry.

• And if, like me, you enjoy both science and poetry, share your thoughts on Scifaiku, Fibonacci sequence poetry, or some other topic similar to both.

You must include something about science, poetry, or both, in your comment to be eligible for this drawing. Again, please leave your comments there. I reserve the right to delete any comments that contain spam, sexually explicit references, swearing, or other overtly troll-like content. Please make sure to include enough contact information that I can E-mail you back if you win!

I'll be accepting comments there for roughly two weeks (until 8 pm EST January 20th) and then I'll have my husband, Itinerant Cryptographer, help me pick a winner at random (since he does that sort of thing for a living). At that time, I will announce the winner there, by updating that post on Stars in my Sugar Bowl, and I will request that you contact me by E-mail to claim your prize.

If you are chosen as the winner and haven't contacted me by 8 pm EST January 24th, you will forfeit the prize and I will draw another name from the list.

I look forward to reading your comments on my other blog. Good luck!


Photo credit: Francis via flickr // CC BY 2.0

Win $500 in gardening supplies!

As a parent-volunteer, I've been busy this past week looking for grants and supplies for Kerm's school. Searching for grants is an interesting process. I like to web surf, so I just type various words into a search engine and let 'er rip. As I was looking for a free source of butterfly hatching kits, I wound up finding something delightful and unexpected. I just had to share it with you!

The National Gardening Association has a wealth of information on their website, including a section for gardening grants. The H.J. Heinz company (makers of Heinz® Ketchup) is sponsoring the Heinz Wholesome Memories Intergenerational Garden Award.

The cool thing about this grant is that you don't have to be an organization to apply for it - it's meant for families. All you need is an older generation that wants to garden with the kids in the family - like a Mom and her kids or a Grandpa and his grandkids. The application form isn't long, and you could win a pile of nifty gardening supplies like kids' tool sets, a composter, elevated planter, gardening journals, and more.

If your family likes to garden, this grant is for you! The application deadline is January 10, 2010. Good luck!

(I'm so excited about this grant that I've already downloaded the form and I'm planning to apply. Kerm and Little Brother would have great fun planting in our backyard.)



Photo by Lynn Betts, USDA Natural Resources Conservation Service

Free coffee grounds for your garden

Starbucks Coffee® is currently offering Grounds for your Garden. Come to any Starbucks and tell the store manager (or shift supervisor on duty if the manager isn't available) that you're interested in free coffee grounds. Depending upon the popularity of the store, you can pick up grounds daily or every other day. Starbucks will even bag up the grounds for you!

Coffee grounds can be a nice addition to your garden soil or compost pile. However, since they are acidic, be careful of how much you add. Most home gardens aren't going to need a bag of coffee grounds daily or even every other day. This post over at Green Talk™ covers some of the pros and cons of adding coffee grounds to your garden. What I took away from this discussion is that you probably should "not add more grounds until the original grounds [have] decomposed."

Happy gardening!


Photo credit: Jonny Hunter, through a Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic license.

OT: Celebrate Fat Tuesday with Free Pancakes!

Well, this post is off-topic, but I wanted to share it with you anyway. :) The International House of Pancakes is celebrating National Pancake Day today until 10 pm. Stop by your neighborhood IHOP and enjoy one free short stack of pancakes per party. IHOP only requests that you consider donating to Children's Miracle Network. According to the IHOP website, this event raised more than $875,000 for charity last year!

(My thanks to my friend Maria for letting me know about this event.)

OT: Celebrate Election Day!

If you're in the United States and you're a registered voter, get out there and make sure your voice is heard! And take advantage of these great offers:

* Ben & Jerry's is offering free scoops of ice cream at participating stores from 5 pm until 8 pm.

* Krispy Kreme is offering free star-shaped doughnuts today at select stores if you have an "I voted" sticker.

* Starbucks Coffee is reportedly giving away free 12-ounce cups of coffee to voters today (but I couldn't find confirmation of this on the Starbucks' website; apparently rewarding voters and not everyone may violate federal election laws).