The Great Grandpa Giveaway

So a few weeks ago I asked you guys to help me figure out what I should do with my 1000th post. Should it be a regular old post or something Exciting! Celebratory! Magnificent! You all had some great, and not so great suggestions. Sorry, but I won't be doing 1000 pushups in "celebration." Someone suggested a giveaway and I decided to go with that option. But before I go into details about that, I'm going to tell you about my grandpas.

My Grandpa Ewert was a quiet man. My clearest memory of him is him sitting in his kitchen, at the table, listening to CBC on the radio. Although he did let my cousin and I change it to the rock station when we were doing dishes! Grandpa was a farmer his whole life and loved to travel. In fact, I think he even met Charles Lindbergh in the Southern US or Mexico one time when he was traveling with his parents. Grandpa Ewert was born was on May 1, 1906 and I loved being almost birthday twins with him. When I was little we would sometimes celebrate our birthdays together just as they were arriving home from wintering in Florida. Grandpa loved to sing and walk and he built eight grandfather clocks, one for himself and my grandma and one for each of their seven kids. I loved being able to go to their house, on my own, for a week in the summertime. Grandpa's name was Elmer Edward Ewert and he was very proud of his Triple E initials. He passed them on to my mom. If Rachel had been a boy, her middle name would have been "Edward" after Grandpa. However, her middle name, "Katie" is after Grandpa's mother. This picture is from my Grade 12 graduation, just a few years before Grandpa died. (My parents probably have better, and more recent, pictures of me and Grandpa but this is what I had available here.)

My Grandpa Krahn was a curious man. He started a tree nursery with his father and passed it on (by selling it!) to his sons. My uncle and cousin now own the nursery. Grandpa loved to travel and went everywhere! My dad talked him into buying a computer in one evening, at the age of about 80. The summer before he died, Grandpa sent me e-mails while I was working overseas. Grandpa loved genealogy and family history. Grandpa was born on May 14, 1914 and so I also got to share birthday celebrations with Grandpa Krahn too. This picture is from September 1994 when I was living in The Netherlands and Grandpa and Grandma were visiting Grandpa's sister in Germany. They paid for a train ticket for me to come and visit them. That was such a special visit with them, my aunt who traveled with them and my great-aunts.

So why have I just told you all this? Well, for a few reasons actually. First of all, since both my grandpas died in the 1990s I have just never written about them on this blog. Secondly, I am celebrating my 1000th post in a couple of ways. Starting today (Grandpa Ewert's birthday) and ending on May 14, 2013 (Grandpa Krahn's birthday) you can enter to win my giveaway.

In honour of my 1000th post I am giving away two gift cards. The first gift card is worth 1000 Canadian pennies (which have been taken out of circulation as of February 2013) or $10. (I would have loved to giveaway $1000 as someone suggested but that will have to wait until this blog gets corporate sponsors! Ha ha ha!) It will be for Starbucks. It will go to one of my blog friends who comments on this post. The second gift card (of the same amount) will be for Starbucks OR Tim Horton's OR Second Cup (winner's choice) and will go to one of my "in real life" friends or family who comment on this post.

I decided to give away two gift cards because I know there are a bunch of people I know in real life who NEVER EVER comment. I thought it would be unfair for them to suddenly come out of the woodwork and comment and win when some of you loyal blog readers have commented every day (or near enough) for months and months. So I'm giving away two cards.

To win, leave a comment on this post before 6pm EST May 14, 2013. Sadly, tweeting about this contest, being my friend on Facebook, leaving multiple comments or doing anything else will not get you more entries :) It will just draw more people to comment here and lessen your chances of winning. I will not be mentioning this giveaway again until my 1000th post where I will announce the winners. You can expect that post within a few days of the giveaway's end. This giveaway is not being sponsored by Tim's or Starbucks or anyone else except by my husband, Dave, and I. (I've never hosted a giveaway before and I don't know if I need to make any disclaimers!) The winners will be picked out of a hat by Sam or Rachel. I get to decide if you are an "IRL" friend or "blog" friend. If you have a persuasive argument for one or the other let me know and I will consider it! And if you are an "anonymous commenter" make sure I know who you are.

And if you need an idea as to what kind of comment to leave, feel free to ask me something you want to know about me or Canada or my family or... As long I have answers, and they're not too personal, I'll answer them in my 1000th post. And now let The Great Grandpa Giveaway begin!

Good luck and may the odds be EVER in your favour :)