yay

I want to make something perfectly clear.
If you enter a contest, and your name is drawn, you are a winner, but if your name isn't drawn, you aren't a loser.
You are a participant.
Being a participant is what makes a contest fun.
Mostly for the winner mind you.
And, of course, if almost no one participated, it would make winning even easier which would still be fun for the winner.
Hmmmmm.
At any rate, I'm a winner!!!
I'm so excited.

I was a participant first.
And then I sort of forgot about it.
That happens because participating is only exciting for a short time.
Not like winning, whence you may be excited for some time.
In my case, six months apparently.
I must fill you in on the gaps in this story.
A few weeks back, I entered a contest hosted by our local paper, the Langley Times.
It was very easy to be a participant, and the prizes seemed appealing.
I remember reading that first prize was a dinner for ten prepared in your own kitchen by a chef.
I mentally counted on my fingers and my imaginary table was filled with smiling guests.
The first prize also included a hefty sum to spend on a Maid Service in case your kitchen wasn't chef worthy and your dining room was under an avalanche of debris.
There was also a hefty sum included for a Home Stager. You know, flowers, a bowl of lemons, plumped up sofa pillows........
The value of the prize defied imagination.
There were also fifty dollar gift certificates waiting in the wings for a generous handful of happy runner-ups.
I set my sights and that was that.
And then, I got the phone call.
Congratulations, she said.
I was the lucky winner of second place.
Errrrrrr.
Second place?
I was told that I had won a six month subscription.
"Newsletter or magazine," I naively asked.
Oh goodness.
Nieither.
A six month subscription to The Missing Ingredient was much more. 
It meant that for six happy months, I would receive a big box of bounty delivered to my door.
Recipes, tips, specialty ingredients and marvelous kitchen goodness and gadgetry.
I'm a winner.
But I was a participant first.
Yay!