That’s right, it is time for this week’s Small Town Holiday Survival Giveaway!  All at once, “YAY!”  This week’s prize is a $10 Barnes & Noble gift card.  I love Barnes & Noble and have passed that love onto Libby.  One of her favorite gifts is a B&N gift card that she can use to order online.  They are also my favorite gifts.  And yet, I love my readers even more, so I am giving one to you.

We are going to change things up again to keep life interesting.  This week, there are 2 photos.  You only need to identify one of them.  Small Town Daddy took the photos for me this week so we had to include his favorite.  I am guessing that most of my readers will not know what it is, so I wanted to include another that is identifiable I think my readers can identify.

Here is the first photo:

You need to tell me what kind of ship this is and where is it from.  I didn’t know, so don’t be horrified if you don’t either (apparently, this is specialized geek knowledge).

Here is the second photo:

Who or what is this?  There are a few different answers I will accept for this one, as long as they are correct.

There you are.  You can submit answers for each photo if you like (each will count as an entry) or for one or the other.  Simply send an email to anne@smalltownmommy.com and leave a comment below (every contest, there seems to be one email that I have to track down).  Since I pay for shipping, all entrants must reside in the United States.  The contest will be open until Saturday, Dec. 6 at 2:00 pm EST.

Good luck and I look forward to your entries!

I know, two posts from Small Town Mommy in one day.  Try not to fall out of your chair.  I don’t usually post twice in one day, but this was so important, I had to add it.  As many of my readers know, we have 2 cats and a dog, here in the Small Town household (yes, the 2 cats are the extraordinarily ungrateful wretches who will not listen to me whine).

We got all of our animals from a shelter.  We actually got the cats from a shelter kitty fair, which is kind of like a giant festival of cats.  Not for everyone, but I loved it (the girls liked it too, Frank pretty much tolerated it, because he is outnumbered).

Anyway, Jodi, from Jodi’s Journey has a great post on helping animal shelters during the holiday season.  We love the shelter (which isn’t even the nearest one, just one that needs support since it is in a low income area) which housed our animals before we adopted them.

Here are our shelter beasts (any opportunity to post cute animal photos)…

Check out Jodi’s post to learn how anyone can help out shelters now or anytime of year.  I am going to go back to hunting for the cats so I can whine at them some more about my teeth.

Today, I went to the dentist.  I needed to get 2 teeth bonded.  Sounds very Brad and Angelina, doesn’t it?  It is so totally not.  Apparently, when I brush my teeth, I am a little overenthusiastic (my dentist uses the terms violent and psychotic).  I have brushed the enamel right off my teeth and have even brushed visible ridges into some of them (doesn’t that sound glamorous?).

I have already cancelled 3 appointments so I was embarrassed to cancel anymore which meant I had to actually show up, on time (well, almost).  Bonding is uncomfortable, and not even just the compulsive drooling problem I develop from Novocaine (have we hit glamorous yet?).

Now that the Novocaine has worn off, it hurts.  Why am I telling you this (you understandably ask)?  Well, I work from home now.  Which means my only coworkers are the cats.  When I start to whine to the cats, they run (faster than me).    Small Town Daddy and the Small Town Ladies have all plotted to be out of the house after my dentist appointment (convenient, eh).  That leaves me with only my dear readers to turn to (unfortunately for you).  You can always hit that big x in the top right corner of your screen, which will make my whiney post go away.  In fact, my husband wishes he could use that big x in person sometimes (now honey, you know it is true).

Tomorrow, my gums wont hurt anymore so I will be back to my usual self.  Make sure to come on by.  Also tomorrow, we will resume the Small Town Holiday Survival Giveaway (with a contest, stolen borrowed from The Junk Drawer).  Can’t wait ’til tomorrow!

Small Town Mommy has been featured on the Web site A Month of Stuff.  The subject was a month of food, and bloggers are featured, discussing food memories, their favorite recipes and other food-related information.

I am supposed to ask you to go and vote for me, but I am not going to.  First of all, I won’t actually win anything except the satisfaction of knowing that I won.  You know me, I am all about the prize and satisfaction just doesn’t cut it for me.  Give me the stuff.  If I am going to ask you to go out of your way to vote for me for something, I want a bitchin’ prize at the end of it (preferably high-cash value).

Second, having read it, I have discovered that I am the most boring person on the planet.  I must have been sleeping when I responded to the questions because my answers could not be any duller (I know I was rushing, but come on).  I am embarrassed to have anyone read it because you will all know how boring I actually am (even I didn’t know I was this boring).  It isn’t the writing, the other featured bloggers are interesting.  In fact, you might want to stop by and vote for one of the other featured bloggers.

One positive (the only positive) about the posting is it includes an amazing recipe for Salmon and Shrimp ravioli.  While they involve a little bit of work, they are the best tasting things I have ever eaten.  In fact, I think I may make them for Christmas this year.  Mmm, salmon and shrimp ravioli, nothing better.  Sorry, I got distracted.  If you are interested, I can save you a trip to not vote for me and can reprint the recipe here.  Let me know in the comments below.  It really is the best tasting thing I have ever eaten.

I am looking at my participation in A Month of Stuff as a learning experience.  Everyone has strengths and weaknesses.  Apparently, my weakness is making myself sound interesting.  I am Ok with that since I am very good at making other people sound interesting, so I guess it all evens out in the end.

Small Town Daddy I finally figured out how to post my blogroll.  Erin from The Mom Buzz tried to teach me how to do it but was defeated by my extreme lack of brainpower technical skill.  Basically, I needed someone to sit right next to me and point to the screen exactly where I needed to click.  I finally forced convinced Small Town Daddy to do it.

If you look in the left column (to the right), you will see a list of my favorite blogs.  Now, many of you know, I have a mind like a sieve.  Which means that you may have been accidentally left off of the blogroll (you know who you are).  If you were accidentally left off, please don’t be offended (I know I have forgotten a number of people, my blogroll is way too short).  If you are part of my virtual posse, leave me a comment to remind me that you should be part of the blogroll.  Also, if you are a funny blogger, leave me a comment so I can check out your blog (I am a sucker for the funny sites).

In fact, I just realized, I left off Small Town Daddy from the blogroll.  I will go add him now, but that should give you an idea of the company you keep if you have been forgotten accidentally omitted.