Today at my door there sat a box from B. Smith, cook and Food Network participant.  Inside was a cookbook, sauces, and various mixes that are nice but unnecessary.  Not complaining!  Wonder what the grand prize was?   Hmmmm……

Several gift cards have trickled in lately: a $100 SpaFinder gift card, a $50 Shell gas card, and a $10 Lowe’s gift card.  Small – but they all add up!

Travel & Leisure magazine was pleased to inform me that I was the winner of their “Unforgettable Thailand” Sweepstakes.  This was a vacation package including roundtrip air coach class for two to Bangkok, Thailand, with tickets provided by Thai Airways International, and four days/five nights accommodation for two people at The Oriental Bangkok Hotel.  Retail value of the trip: $4790.  UNFORTUNATELY, the trip had to be taken by December 31, 2007 and I was notified October 13, 2007.  The entire month of December was blacked out, as was Thanksgiving week.  So I threw the prize back into their pot.  Talk about inflexibility!  Harumph! 

Chris won a “Joe Nichols Live At The Ryman Auditorium” CD from Cracker Barrel (instead of an all expenses paid trip to Nashville and lots of healthy Cracker Barrel food!), and Jim won a $50 gas card (instead of a new Toyota) and a $25 National City Bank gift card.  Mini prizes, not maxi prizes; still, better than no prizes!

No, I didn’t win a trip to L.A. to have lunch with Jackie Collins to promote her new book, a sweeps sponsored by Lifetime Television.  But I did win the book and a $25 Sephora gift card. 

Son Jim got a call today from Doug Laughton at Sweeps Planners, the agency handling the Spike TV – Adventures for Life Sweepstakes. Doug told Jim that he (Jim) won the grand prize: a 2-night trip for two to NYC, $500 spending money, and the chance to win $250,000.

Of course, chances are slim that you’ll win the $250,000 because you have to pick the right two envelopes out of 20 or 25. But Doug implied even a loser wins: “You have a chance to win up to $250,000…with a ‘worst case scenario’ consolation prize of $15,000 (maybe more).”

Congratulations, Jim!

While in Chicago, I received a frantic call from my daughter, Ali, that Zoe Londen (yes, “Londen”) had called from Vincent Properties, saying we had until Friday to claim our First Prize in the “Lovewrecked” sweepstakes.

First Prize is four nights for four people at the all-inclusive Sun Village Resort and Spa in Cofresi, the Dominican Republic, where the Amanda Byrnes teen flick “Lovewrecked” was filmed. All-inclusive? We’re there! We have until June, 2008 to go. Five restaurants, lots of bars and, as Betsy inquired, is there a gym to work it all off?

Son Jim won First Prize in the L’Oreal Paris Golden Getaway Sweepstakes on March 16, 2007! Notice was delivered by FedEx the last day he lived in St. Louis, so how lucky is that? The First Prize is a catered dinner for ten people – NOT INCLUDING ALCOHOL – with an estimated value of $700.

This might prove to be better than the Grand Prize we thought he had won – a hair and beauty makeover plus trip to L.A. to attend the InStyle Awards Show in January, 2008.

Still, can’t L’Oreal tell the difference between “Grand” and “First”? Their first communication said “Grand”; the second, “First”! Who’s on first?

A voice mail on my cell Wednesday night confirmed that I won the grand prize in the (deep breath) “Clear Channel LOVELY by Sarah Jessica Parker $2,500 New York Shopping Spree Sweepstakes”.

Prize: 3-day/2-night trip for two adults, 21+, to New York City, NY; $2,500 shopping spree with Stylist Francine Taylor, limo for 4 hours, $1,000 spending money, and LOVELY by Sarah Jessica Parker gift basket (ARV $7,500).

The trip must be taken by June 30, 2007. Who is Francine Taylor and can she really help us?

The theme, in case you’re wondering, was “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”! Contest mom worked very hard on the decorations. That is why she dressed the part of Dorothy’s big sister or Little Bo Peep Without the Staff, as her friend Beth Robenalt called all good girl 70′s promgoers.