Subway winners
The winners of the Subway giveaway were Kris from Georgia, Sherri from New Hampshire, and Melinda from Kentucky. They’ve all accepted their prizes and I hope they enjoy the free food.

Guest post
I wrote a guest post on Diets in Review about how to start a healthy living blog for any lurkers or newbies out there.

Mary’s blogging guide
I met Mary from A Merry Life at Fitbloggin’, which was lucky since she’d spent most of the day at the hospital with kidney stones. Mary’s just released an ebook called A Merry Life Guide To Creating A Better Health Blog which is packed full of information on blogging.

MizFit and The Ellen Show
Mizfit is attempting to get on The Ellen Show, much like Ellen campaigned to get on the cover of Oprah’s magazine. Carla has always been delightful and helpful, so I hope she makes it!

Trapped in the spam filter
I migrated to a different blogging platform a few weeks ago, and I’ve been very happy. However, I noticed that the spam filter trapped at least two legitimate comments in its electronic nets. I only saw them because I happened to be browsing through the spam. If you left a comment that didn’t get posted that wasn’t spam, it might have gotten trapped. I apologize for that! To increase your chances of getting through, be sure to leave a real email address and not a fake one like none@none.com, which might have been the reason it got discarded.

Camera contest
I’ll draw the winner of the camera contest next week after I have a chance to check my PO box for any final entries. Thank you to everyone who entered!

Thank you for using my affiliate links!
Thank you to everyone who has purchased stuff on Amazon using my affiliate links. I had a really good month in January, and it’s only because of you. I really do appreciate it. My landlord appreciates it too.

I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! Superbowl gift set winner
I drew the winner of the Superbowl gift set from I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! this morning. There were 192 entries! Wow! The winner was Karen, who blogs at Musings From Grandma’s Attic. I emailed her this morning, but I might not have gotten past her Earthlink spam gatekeeper. If you’re reading this Karen, email me at blog [at] pastaqueen (dot) com with your address! As a consultation prize for the other 191 of you, I’ve posted three recipes from I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter! after the jump that you can use at your own Superbowl party.

I also drew winners for both of my recent giveaways. They have been notified and have accepted their prizes. Congrats to Linzmat for winning the Mary Lou’s Weigh Platform and to Becca for winning a copy of The Amazing Adventures of DietGirl.

Also, thanks to everyone who left feedback on yesterday’s entry. It was…interesting (just as I predicted). Looks like I drove off some people who probably shouldn’t have been hanging around here anyway. It’s good to shake down the blog every once in a while. It keeps the site minty fresh. And everyone who said “Oh, no, just say whatever you want to! It’s your blog!” after my defensive blogging post might now have a little insight as to why I laughed my ass off after reading that advice.

BTW, I also wanted to thank everyone who has clicked through on my Amazon links. I meant to thank you on Saturday in my “Elsewhere” entry, but I was too tired to turn the computer back on and edit it, just like I’m too lazy to link to that entry right now. Anyway, I really do appreciate the support and hope the goodwill you put out into the world comes back onto you threefold.

I also wanted to clarify one thing. I am truly grateful for all the support I’ve gotten on this blog, from people who’ve recommended my book or bought it for friends, to people who’ve bought products through my links, or just to people who’ve read all the entries and given me lots of pageviews. You’ve been awesome. However, all that means is that I owe you a thank you.

Thank you.

I was struck by the sense of ownership some people expressed over me in my previous entry. You can buy a book with my name and my picture on it, but you don’t buy me with it. I’m happy to invite you to hang out here. I love the community we’ve built. But I belong to myself and no one else. My book and your click-throughs are not a remote via which you control me. You don’t own me, but I’m happy to share a part of myself with you. Thank you to everyone who understands and respects that.

And thank you, web server, for waiting until after I’d drawn the winners to meltdown. Judging by my readers’ devotion to Starbucks, if I’d lost any of the over 400 entries, I would have been thrown in a vat of hot expresso by a mob of cranky, decaffeinated readers…or perhaps they would have scalded me with a salted hot chocolate instead. After reading all your entries, I felt like an overwhelmed barista during the morning rush. You also gave me some ideas on some drinks to try, but I’ve got to say, I’m not a fan of the Americano.

Another interesting thing I learned, this time from the 40 or so lost comments on the crockpot entry, is that they only made one type of crockpot in the 70s (the one I featured), it only came in olive green or burnt orange, and every single one of you owned it. If I were to travel back in time to the 70′s, I would buy stock in Rival.