Lucky Giveaway Winner.

An exciting moment - time to announce the winner of blog giveaway. Have totally loved all your fawning comments but all good things must come to an end and as I cannot think how to drag this out for a day longer it's with no more delay I announce the winner as.....Sally! As you can see from the screen shot above I abandoned my usual giveaway protocol as too complicated and have embraced random.org to help me select a winner.  You may also notice, if your eyes are good enough or your screen big enough, that Anonymous actually came out on top but as I have good reason to believe  anonymous is a relative, and I am yet to locate and enable the Blogger "Block A Relative' function, I have made the executive decision to go with next along - Sally - who seems a fab choice as she needs a new book to read and may actually grace us with a decent review. Sally please contact me at trophywife43@gmail.com and provide an address to send your book giveaway and, alongside some appropriate grateful sentiments, whether you would like the book fake signed by the author (or not).

Thanks for joining in everyone and remember - you are all winners. Just one with a new book to read and several others without.
(Please note the Appropriate Blogger Giveaway Loser Protocol: leave a comment expressing happiness/envy for winner - sincere or otherwise - and an enquiry as to where can purchase promotional tool the book for self).

The Rules Of Conception - Last Chance To Win For Lucky Individual.

I don't know that turning Giveaways into running double posts is acceptable blogger practice but feel free to view this 'suspense' ploy as a poorly disguised attempt at milking an initiative for personal gain/lame stab at attracting more reader interest. However, in addition to this plainly transparent ploy, I wish to announce that this copy of  'The Rules Of Conception' up for grabs will be SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR! Actually, not really (she is unhelpfully reticent on that front) however we do share similar handwriting and so the book will be FAKE SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR! Or the author's sister. Or not at all. It's your choice. You the winner. But you have to be in it to win it. One last week to join up and go in for the draw...
PS A second comment by one already entered in the draw may or may not give that entrant double the chance of winning.

BOOK Giveaway - The Rules of Conception.

As promised I am having a giveaway for the recent publication of my sisters novel The Rules Of Conception. I know I also promised an interview and to read the book myself plus post my own review but honestly when I got to the second chapter and realised I wasn't in the book I could hardly be bothered. I did ask our older sister Lara if she had read the book ("Yes I have Mia")  and did she have any thoughts on it ("Yes I do Mia")  and if she could be so kind as to grudgingly share them with Trophy Wife readers ("Honestly Mia?") and that eventually came to something. I guess beggars can't be choosers. One week, two phone calls, five texts and a baby sitting bribe later this...."The Rules of Conception by Angela Lawrence is an absorbing and timely counterpoint to the myth women in their thirties are too obsessed with themselves and their careers to make time for romance and babies. Rachel, the protagonist, take us on a well researched journey through all the options available to women wanting to have a baby on their own all the while navigating the frustrating and fraught world of both modern dating and office politics. I found myself backing Rachel, not only as she began to realise her dream but also as she took on her megalomaniac boss Lyndall and the company CEO Patrick -  a character who functions both as metaphor for the dying face of patriarchy and as a literary device for resolving the complex relationship between competing cross generational feministic modalities." Right. Thanks Lara. Whotevs.
Anyway as I said I have a copy of the aforementioned novel to give away to readers so to enter just become a follower and leave a comment below stating why you think I wasn't a character in the novel. Just leave a comment is all.
Also please be sure to refer to my blogger protocol on giveaways first as it is one of my most popular posts.
PS Other more reliable reviews can be found here and here.

The Remarkables - Talent Agency For Bloggers.

It's no secret that I am super ambitious for this blog and the places it could take me and yet, funnily enough, I dont think I have ever been fully clear where I would like Trophy Wife to go. Except, perhaps, that time I devised a rough Blog Mission Statement which saw Trophy Wife build a large following, gain sponsorship, a book deal and, ultimately, link to a shop on etsy which would then showcase my dried Weetbix sculptures to the world, procuring in the process my long held dream of international celebrity crafter status.
Other times I see Trophy Wife opening up a Pinterest account.

Just lately though I have got to thinking more about personal goals vis a vis blogging and, having come to the  conclusion that etsy is just soooo 2009, realising I would do a whole lot better to concentrate entirely on this blog but with a view to becoming a Remarkable. Because being a Remarkable is totally where it is at now and I think by saying that here - this is my ultimate goal - will make for a manifesting consciousness/'The Secret' kind of energy and thus happen. Also - in a manifesty kind of way -  I have contacted the Remarkables talent agency inviting their talent scouts to get their bloggy selves over to Trophy Wife and download some remarkable DIY/Mummy/Whiny Chronic Illness bloggy action. At the moment they have 8 Remarkables on their books and are not planning any immediate additions but I am so sure I'm just what they are looking for to add to their stable of Australian Mummy Blogging talent that I have already imagined myself in one of their feature Cafe Remarkable posts sharing my thoughts on...well, on myself....See what you think....

AT CAFE REMARKABLE WITH TROPHY WIFE:

My Cafe Order Is...Weetbix with tepid milk.
I started my blog because...I  am looking for personal affirmation from strangers and a place to show the world what I can do with a toilet roll, three weathered pegs and a ball of string.
My Favourite Post ever was....DIY Roll Ribbon.
I think My readership is growing because....I follow lots of other blogs, leaving generous comments, in the hope they will follow me back. On occasion this has worked. When traffic is down I jump in with a giveaway which doesn't hurt and as a last resort I post pictures of studly men in retro knits. My proposed new feature - an interactive photographic exercise diarising the state of my cutlery drawer - is also bound to pull in more traffic.
My Blog in three words would be...Sad, Desperate, Plagiaristic (but in a good way!).
The best thing about being a blogger is...all the opportunities to take photos looking down at my shoes.
My favourite reality tv show of all time is*...."Search For The Next Pussycat Doll". I don't see that ever being topped.

I am sure to hear back from The Remarkables Blogging Talent Agency any day now.

*Not an actual Cafe Remarkable question.

Teaser...

Tutorial: Mini Pantry Bunting.

Love Bunting. Signals fun, festivity, celebration and etsy. Am strong believer in celebrating achievements, from big (kids back at school) to small (kids back at school). That's why when cleaned fetid pantry yesterday, for first time in eight years, was moved to celebrate achievement with dedicated crafting session that gave rise to "Mini Pantry Bunting" and this months tutorial. Hung bunting in freshly cleaned pantry shelves. Delight now to open pantry and see bunting. Will cheer up otherwise lonely days at home preparing endless snacks for kids and monotony of cooking dinner night after night. Also signals to others fragile state of self's mind, hinged as were on random cleaning frenzy and lone crafting session...

Anyways! The how to: Pick some nice paper, you can choose any that appeals. I like to use the children's school news letters before I get the chance to read them. Cut triangles out any size, any shape. I find not measuring them suits my mood best. You'll probably need about 8 - 10. Here I have coloured some in with flouro markers which is optional. Then with some contrasting thread in the machine sew along the top of the triangles, leaving a gap between each one depending on the size of the pantry.

Voila! I can't wait to see them pop up on Pinterest!!!

Secrets of Blogging Succes....

Welcome back to a new year with Trophy Wife. It's going to be a great year for blogs and especially this one. With Trophy Wife reaching it's one year anniversary this January I found it a great opportunity to look back and dwell on thoughts of failure. Twelve months, a dozen posts and only 17 followers. After much much soul searching, asking myself what I want to achieve here with Trophy Wife and how that might be accomplished I have come up with the solution that the answer must surely lie with someone else. That's why I begin back here with the first in a series of "Blogger Interviews" with successful bloggers who will share with Trophy Wife and her 17 readers what it takes to nab that next elusive follower. But first lets define blogging success. For me that would be not just having many followers but that those followers comment on your posts regularly, if not constantly. Sometimes twice on one post. Furthermore those comments would be of the flattering nature. Things such as "Another great post X. You nailed it. We should be friends. Where do you live?". Someone who has achieved this kind of success is my friend Karen with her blog Karen:the blog. I caught up with her recently and asked if she wouldn't mind sharing the secrets of her blogging success.  She wasn't keen but then I reminded her I know where she lives and she relented. Which is good news for us because with 142 followers and counting Karen knows a little bit about what it takes to maintain a successful blog. I began with asking her to tell us a little about her blog and it's readers. (At the time of going to press Karen:the blog had been shut down pending legal action regarding copyright issues. I am therefore, unfortunately, unable to provide a link).  

Trophy Wife: Karen thanks for joining us. Can you tell Trophy wife and her readers what Karen the blog is about"

Karen: "Um, probably not. I'm under legal instruction not to discuss it"
TW: Oh, OK. Lets talk about your readers then. What kind of reader does Karen:the blog attract?"

K: Um generally I'd say my followers are unemployed.

TW: Thats fantastic. Now I noticed that at some point last year the emphasis on your blog shifted away from scrap booking and mixed media lay outs and onto studly men in retro knits. Was this a strategy to improve your blog traffic?

Karen: Not initially. I had found myself one week without new scrap booking content. In desperation I thought I could pass off one of these delightful photos as scrap book fodder. They turned out to be so popular I am thinking of devoting the blog entirely to this genre of Man Candy.

TW: I See. Do you think Trophy Wife could benefit from this kind of imagery?

K: I'm almost certain of it.

TW: Now I'm just about to wrap this interview but do you think that Trophy Wife and her readers could follow you around for the rest of the day?
K: What?
TW: I just think that would be a great way to learn what makes a creative such as yourself tick, for example many successful bloggers I've noticed are also thrifters who wile away their days in op shops, trawling for that perfect mid century retro collectable at a steal of a price to then showcase on their blog the next day. I promise you'll barely know I'm there.
K: I'll give you an hour.
TW: Fantastic.

Trailing Karen proved to be instructive. I was fascinated by how long she deliberated over, say, this cheap chocolate cake mix for her son's birthday. Clearly she is a woman of discernment. It may not be a retro collectable but I'd say I saw some real thrifting in action.
Thanks Karen!!