Sunday Bloody Sunday V

Grab a coffee or a beer (depending of course, on what time of day it is!), this one'll take a while ... or perhaps, more appropriately, your drink of choice might be a BLOODY MARY! Bwhahahahahaah! ...

I am totally blown away!

Through our combined efforts, guess how many lives we've saved?

If one pint saves three lives, then it's absolutely safe to say there are 99 more people out there today that are alive because of this blood drive!

THANK YOU!

TOTAL DONATORS: 33

What an amazing FINAL week for BLOOD DONATIONS!!!!

Before I even get to the Blog entries, I had real-life friends who donated this week too! Tuesday, I got a call from a MALE friend who said, "Hey, I was walking through a crappy part of town and looked up and saw we had a blood center. I had time to kill so I walked in and donated!"

And when I was at MY Blood Center, which I am calling it MINE now after Tuesday's escapades with Melisa, (AND my Valentine date with Mr. Manic!) we were leaving, and a friend walked in to donate, after she had received an email I sent to anyone and everyone I knew coaxing peole to donate!

I guess talking it up and bugging people and annoying friends and family does pay off! Thanks to friends Tracy and Ron for donating also this week, spur of the moment, and sorry, but you don't qualify for the contest!

But here are those who do:

Kim Stagliano ABSOLUTELY POSITIVELY ROCKS. NEED I SAY MORE? Check her cute little self out on her little cot:



Kim is an amazing mother to three beautiful girls, a writer and friend of mine, and I can't tell you how hard I laughed when I opened up the photo of her donating and saw the sign she held up! Thanks Kim! And FYI everyone, Kim is going to be a best-selling author someday! (And that's the truth whether she gave me a pint of blood or not!)

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AND WE'VE GOT ANOTHER MAN-DONOR!!! They must make 'em Manly Men in Texas cuz Ryan, our only other male donor (aside from Mr. Manic) was from Texas too. Either that, or they're just MORE GIVING in TEXAS! Thank YOU Donald!



Here's Donald, who's a friend of Kate's! You can read about his blood-donating experience here at his blog:

Zolafan

At least go over and thank him for saving some lives for crying out loud! : )

THANK YOU DONALD!!!

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OH! And we have ANOTHER Manly Man! Kelli at All K Names, who previously donated, used her charming womanly ways and coaxed her hubby, Kevin, to donate! And they are from Washington, so there are Manly Men in Washington too!



What a cool thing to do! Doesn't Kevin look completely at ease and manly donating blood?

Doesn't Kevin look like he wants to do this again in eight more weeks?

Doesn't Kevin look like he would do this again in eight weeks along with Kelli, and then take Kelli out to a nice dinner afterward? (wink-wink!)

Or wait! Maybe they'll skip dinner and just go for dessert--maybe out for donuts at, I don't know... KRISPY KREME! Get it... KKKKKK... All K Names!!!! I kill me!

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This here is Jules!

She's getting ready to donate! Doesn't she look beautiful!



Jules is going to donate for the first time ever! Doesn't she look so relaxed? Well, let me tell you a little secret about Jules...

Jules is soooo frightened of needles she went through childbirth TWICE WITHOUT drugs because she feared the needles more than the actual pain. Yet because of my guerrila blood drive marketing tactics gentle persuasions, I convinced her that donating blood would be a selfless, generous, kind, and giving act of goodness that she would benefit from.

So, she faced her fears this week, and took one for the Manic Blood Team! And I have been bragging about HER all week! Cuz how brave is she?

Don't you agree she felt selfless, generous, kind AND BRAVE as she was donating?


THANK YOU JULES! I know that was a scary thing to do, but YOU DID IT! (Will you please do it again in eight weeks? Pretty please??)

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And you've already read about my adventure with Melisa on Tuesday! We had so much fun! I swear, if I could go and do this every day with someone who was gonna donate, I totally would! I picked up heart-shaped donuts

for the staff and they were thrilled. I seriously love the people that work there. They are the NICEST people. And fun and funny, and they humored us and took pictures with us and took pictures FOR us. I told them when I grow up I want to get a job doing what they do because it's such a worthy job.




Melisa and I had really a blast. Like we could have hung out there all day long! I kinda wanted to but I had to go grocery shopping and then, well, I have kids who get off the bus and they need help with homework and snacks and they have afterschool stuff, so I couldn't hang out forever, even though Melisa and I wanted to!

Melisa donated her pint in honor of her son's Bar Mitzvah and has also taken herself out of the contest. She thinks it would look a little fishy if she were to be chosen grand prize winner. Like maybe she would win and someone might think, "Hey, Manic and she went to the donation place together. MAYBE, just maybe, they were in kahoots and decided to rig the contest and then SPLIT the winnings and faking that Melisa was the winner!"

So, in order to not even be tempted, Melisa's not even going to be entered into the contest. However, Mr. Manic is DEFINITELY entered. Ha. Kidding. He can't enter either!


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And here's another terrific blood-donator, ELIZABETH! Elizabeth is a busy mom, yet she found time to get the needle!


Thank you so very much Elizabeth!

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And you all remember Ragdoll Billie?

She's just one of the many beautiful people who's lives you are helping by donating your blood! She's very grateful for your gift! Please stop over to her blog and tell her hello and learn a bit about how blood donations are helping her fight her disease! She is a strong spirit! She's at and life goes on.

Be well Ragdoll Billie, and thank you for all your kind and beautiful emails!

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And Michelle Miller also donated during the contest time but didn't have a photo to share, although she did get a Baker's Square pie for donating. She's a regular donor and gave me some very pertinent information that might make you skeptics reconsider donating:

YOU LOSE 635 CALORIES WHEN YOU DONATE!

Not too bad, huh? So, I told Michelle I was sorry I couldn't officially enter her into the contest because if she were to win, those of you who did send in a photo might form a... what do you call that when people get mad and form a ... REVOLT! Yes, you might all revolt against Manic Mommy and I'd never hear the end of it.

Michelle was extremely kind and understanding, and I really appreciate her not calling me a meany-bloggy-bitch-face or anything else that might have made me cry and feel like this contest was a waste of time. THANKS Michelle... you rock too!

And btw, Michelle told me she's mildly competitive in nature, and loves to win. Well, to everyone who entered this contest, need I tell you that you're all ALREADY winners? I mean come on! YOU HAVE SAVED LIVES. Selflessly.

How awesome is that?

I am so thankful for your efforts and I hope you will all go back and donate again when you're able to!

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And this is Lisa! She forgot her camera but these are some of the goodies she got when she donated! No, the cutie-pie sitting next to her did not come with the donation!!



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And last, but CERTAINLY not least, if you missed my Valentine post, here he is again, MY Funny Valentine:





Stay tuned for contest winner information planned for sometime this week. It looks like it's been determined that there will be a first, second and third prize winner to share in the final cash prize in varying amounts. It's also unofficially been decided by Manic Mommy readers that the girls from Heartland Blood Center will pick three names as our winners! (Oops, maybe I should ask Jaime, Nina, Gloria, Tammy, Eileen if they're up for this challenge first?? I'LL BRING DONUTS!!!!)

Finally, THANK YOU ALL who donated and supported others during this VIRTUAL BLOOD DRIVE!

THIRTY-THREE OF US.

NINETY-NINE OF THEM!

ABSOLUTELY, SPECTACULARLY AMAZING.

WOW.

PEACE ... PEACE ... WAY WAY WAY UP!