CONTEST WINNERS! Finally! Or, why I should never make promises.

So you guys may remember me. I used to blog 'round these parts. Then we had the great idea of having a contest here at the Archives, and everything was going really well until my tooth got infected and I had to get a root canal.

In this post (my most recent one), I told you guys about the tooth. I didn't get the chance to tell you what happened next.

The serious painkillers and antibiotics I was on gave me a pretty bad complication from side effects. We started in urgent care, where they advised us to just "keep an eye on it" at home. The next day, I was pretty sure that I needed more help, but then the Power Outage That Shut Down Southern California happened, and I couldn't go to the ER because there were a lot of people out there that had very legitimate reasons for being there.

Luckily, the power came back rather quicker than anyone expected, and we were able to go to the ER in the morning. A very lucky thing indeed. I had a couple minor procedures done and they declared me fit to release. But it was an ordeal. I hadn't eaten in a week because of the pain in my mouth and not feeling good from the meds. I still didn't eat very much the week after. I lost seven pounds between my urgent care visit and the followup with my primary doc seven days later.

I was wiped out, weak, tired, and still not feeling great. I just needed to heal, but it took some time. On top of that, I STILL got to have a root canal done-- in two visits. The last visit was last Thursday, and while there's one more dental appointment in my near future, the root canal is over with and the next one can wait. And wait it will-- Hubby and I are taking a vacation for our anniversary in a couple weeks and I refuse to have yet another dental procedure before we go.

So that's where I've been, Alliterati, and while I'm no longer on Vicodin, you are more than welcome to call me names. :)

Anyway, on to my contest results! In the event that you've forgotten what the prizes even were (Dude... I totally did... no shame at all in that), here's the original contest post to refresh your memory. Remember, if you've won, please email me at wickedmoon921 at gmail within one month to claim your prize or I'll pick an alternate winner. I will try to get them out ASAP but will be honest-- probably won't be til later in October, after we get back from our trip.

Okay, without further ado...

Well, some ado.

First, the winner of the creative contest, and therefore the picker of the first prize:

Jeigh!

Jeigh's entry for the Greatest Novel That Never Was:

"Lydia had always known spoons were the safest and most practical of all utensils. How people had survived on the Notherworlds before the Razing of All Pointy Things had simmered civilization down to just her tiny village was a mystery to her. But one day, a mysterious and handsome stranger shakes the very foundations of her beliefs with the shiny fork in his hand and one question tumbling from his full, slightly chapped lips: "How do you people eat steak around here?""

Thanks for the giggles, Jeigh!

And now for the random winner.

Usually, I use Random.org for this sort of thing. But I only had a handful of entries this time, and I was feeling a little loopy this morning. So I let my cat(s) pick the winner.

Here is the story in pictures:

Contest entry names on a page

Torn into pieces

Crumpled into balls and ready for an impartial cat-judge

Said impartial cat-judge. I think he looks a little Simon Cowell-esque in this photo.

The important selection

Reaching for the Alliterati's Next Top Idol Dancer

Congratulations, Adam!!! You can pick your prize after I hear back from Jeigh unless you choose the mystery prize. Then just email me a genre and age group and I will pick something for you :)

Thanks for your patience, everyone! Happy Monday!