January's Write-Away Winner

Thank you to Summer at Summer's Nook who volunteered her time this month to read the 20 entries on the theme of "The Finish Line" and picked her favorite. Be sure to check back next week when I'm able to interview her and show her off properly.

And last of all, thank you to our entrants.

. . . And the winner is:

A Writer's Dream with It's about Time

Honorable Mentions:

Glacier Racing with The Finisher
Grandma Henke with It's How You Run Your Race

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Here are a list of the entries in the order they were received:

1. All Stace, All the Time with My Disney Diet--Day 124: The Finish Line Is Within Sight . . .
Okay, I leave for Disney in one day, nineteen hours and 59 minutes! Woo-hoo! I don't know these actual numbers in my head, I have a neat little countdown clock on my computer. LOVE IT! So, as I mentioned previously, this last month on the diet has been a real struggle. I lost some of my 'umph' for it and therefore, did not lose the weight the way that I wanted to.

2. Messy Mommy Life with The Finish Line
As the new year approached I tried harder and harder not to think about setting weight loss goals. At this time last year I weight twenty pounds more than I do now. I have since then quit thinking about losing anymore weight. Am I at my goal? Heck no! Did I ever reach my goal? Not even close! I have settled. I have settled at the weight I am because it is easy.

3. Neurotic Grad Student with Dear Tony
Dear Tony Dungy,
I want you to know that I had a sign all made up that said "Go Tony" for today's game against the San Diego Chargers. I want you to know that before the game started, I made my licorice spice tea, curled up under a fleece blanket on the couch, smiled at my little sign, and prepared to watch your team kick the crap out of the Chargers.

4. The Dayton Time with The Boy Who Says 'No' or I *Will* Be There at the Finish Line
It is a hypothesis of mine that the person who came up with the phrase Terrible Twos had no actual experience with two year-old children, and was actually mistaking three year-olds for two year-olds.

5. No Sex in the City with Post 49: The Finish Line: The End to Love and Peace
My three year love came to an end just as the most recent Hamas vs. Israel war began. The words "The Finish Line" bring to mind a race or a marathon, something that requires a lot of training and energy but then ends, one way or another.

6. Stories for us with The Motherhood Road
It was a quick conversation with few words exchanged. I was just at her house to pick something up. I should have been there the day before, but with a sick toddler and a recovering pre-schooler and a mountain of post-holiday laundry, I had completely forgotten about the pickup.

7. Blog o' Beth with Parenthood: The Race with No Finish
Goal setting and resolution making seem contradictory to parenthood. I can set the goal that Max will be potty-trained by July or that Lucy will be reading by October but I'm not the one that actually has to achieve these goals - they do.

8. Grandma Henke with It's How You Run Your Race
When he ran across the finish line, there arose a mighty din,
For the little lad who finished last, yet tried so hard to win.

9. Flea's World with The Finish Line
I really am eye-balling a finish line of sorts, whether I realized it previously or not. Hunny and I have been married 17 years this weekend (no, not THAT finish line - we're happier now than we've ever been).

10. Gaining Equilibrium with The Finish Line
It's always been there, stretched out across the horizon, beckoning. And I've crossed it countless times. It's so final--The Finish Line.

11. Glacier Racing with The Finisher
It was the cruelest thing I'd ever heard said. My sister was teen angst-ing and lashed at our mother. "Do you remember when it happened, the exact moment you gave up your dreams? Was it a choice to throw away your goals and ideals.., or were you oblivious and just let them slip away?", she screamed.

12. Ad libitum with The Finish Line
I have never run many races in my life so far, whether rat or otherwise. So I do not have any 'record-breaking' memories to choose from when I think of a finish line.

13. The Diaper Diaries with Slowing Down to the Finish Line
I’m not big on New Year’s Resolutions. I used to make them, but there is nothing more depressing than realizing on Jan. 17th that you are going to fail miserably. Still there is something about a new year that makes it impossible not to think about fresh starts. So I am renewing my commitment to eat healthy, exercise more, read the bible, gossip less…all the usual suspects.

14. Organized Every Day with Extreme Muscle Therapy
Why is it that we equate "massage" with something that feels... good? A few weeks ago, I decided to catapult my exercising efforts, pretending I was on the Biggest Loser, and ended up pulling something.

15. Little Footsteps with My Finish Line
The calendar is marked for the big day
Training begins
A proper diet of lean protien and complex carbohydrates
Hydrate with lots of water

16. Candid Carrie with The Finish Line
Divorced again. I had worked so hard to remain married. I was an adult child of divorce with an adult child of mine own from divorce. My second marriage had lasted seventeen years, the last two years were the worst and now it was over. Finished.

17. Whitterer on Autism with The Finish Line--Sophie's Choice
As I sprint through the average day, I am far from health conscious, but that’s because I know that life is a marathon, more about survival than winning.

18. TJHirst.com with Persevere through the Januarys of Life
My son reached The Wall in piano. He’s been playing five years and sees his growth waning. He wants to stop. His father tells him, “Push past the wall, and in a couple of years you’ll be able to teach yourself to play most anything you want.

19. I'm a Drama Mama with Still Trying
It scares me. When it comes right down to it, I am scared by the reality of winning. I love the IDEA of achieving my goals, of finally making it to a finish line, of crossing things off my “life list”, but the reality of it all scares me.

20. A Writer's Dream with It's about Time
I swear his eyes got wider every time I saw him. His face a little paler. His voice catching each time I made even the slightest of movements. I readjusted for the hundredth time, glancing at the clock and cursing myself for not having the restraint to keep from tracking every minute that had elapsed.

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