Need some more lead paint to inspire me, man!
Is it February already? No? Well, it’s almost February! And that means it’s time to roll out another one of The Nest’s annual traditions that is all about the two most important things on this blog…
No Mitzi, we’re not talking about your boobies.
It’s all about my readers and having FUN! Yes, I said FUN! Not that band, that’s just “fun.” Today we’re officially launching the 2020 Contest of Whatever! Our annual exercise in creativity where if you’re either lucky or good, you can take home one of The Nest’s fine parting gifts that rot away in our Cafepress shop! Doesn’t that sound exciting?
Rainbow Bronco anyone? Don’t let John Elway know…
Every year since 2014, the Contest of Whatever has awarded two of my lucky players with fame, prizes and lame badges few would dare put on their blogs. You can check out the history of the CoW, from the themes to the winners on this page. Those of you who have been through a CoW or six probably already know what to expect. But for those of you who may be new to this contest, let’s explain how it all works…
The rules aren’t really that long… it’s just an excuse to show Mitzi in her sexy glasses.
Each year, I will pick a theme for the Contest of Whatever… which in past years have ranged from something containing a squirrel, possum and unicorn up to last year’s “a squirrel walks into a bar” setup. So what do you have to do? Just create something you can post on your blog that satisfies the chosen theme! And it can be anything creative involving any media of art, or mixture thereof, you can imagine! Many entries people submit are stories or essays… but physical artwork of literally any style or kind works as well. If you created it and can show it off on your blog… it’s a perfect entry!
Photography is just fine. Nude photography is even finer.
Anyone can do this! You can do this! You don’t even need any talent. Hell, I don’t have any talent, and I’m hosting the darned thing!
We just need a unifying theme for you to base your contest entries around. I pondered on this long and hard managed to come up with something that I think will work out well, even if it was inspired by a horrific series of unfortunate events that closed out the year for me. The theme for the 2020 Contest of Whatever is going to be…..
Murphy’s Law
I’d assume most of you are familiar with this axiom… but if you’re not….
Sound like a fun idea to create a contest entry around? Have a blast with Murphy’s Law!
Quite literally, in fact.
Get those creative juices flowing and make something for the contest that works Murphy’s Law into it! You have four whole weeks to make something fun out of this. Just make sure to post your contest entry on your blog sometime between today and late Thursday night (Central Time: UTC -6) February 27th. Be sure to leave a link to this post in your entry so it will leave a pingback… and feel free to link to it in the comments as well just in case your don’t trust WordPress’ fine blogging technology to work correctly…
Happiness Engineers are standing by to make sure your pingbacks go through.
As always, there will be two contest winners! The first winner will be the entry I simply think was the best based on merit. Once I decide that winner, all other entries will be placed in a random drawing to come up with a second winner. Both winners will be allowed to pick ONE (1) item priced at $20 or less from my Cafepress shop, which I will have delivered to them. There’s a lot of old crap there from the cartoon days of this blog… but if you dig around enough, you might find something you like. And custom requests may even be possible as well…
Sorry, but you can not ask for some of Fuzzy’s good stuff as your prize.
I will post links to all of the entries (with some irreverant “critique” from Mitzi, Snuggle and Fuzzywig, as has become tradition) on Friday February 28th… and will announce both winners on Sunday March 1st! This is such an easy contest to enter and win! You know you want some of this…
Don’t make me send Shadow out to annoy you all to play…
Best of luck to everyone who chooses to participate in the fun! Feel free to spread the word to your blogging friends, and get that creative right side of your brain working! Let’s make the Seventh Annual Contest of Whatever the best CoW ever!
Evil Squirrel's Nest 
oh that’s a super theme… we are often punished by this law… and we often walk the line…
I though that many of your posts would make for a fine contest entry!
If YOU lot enter, no matter if it is your Dad’s DIY, your Mom’s baking skills or you lot opening a parcel … no other entry will stand a chance …
Can I ‘like’ this a bunch of times? Yay for CoW 2020. Love the theme! 🙂
Sure! Spam the Like button! What’s the worst that can happen….. oh wait. Murphy’s Law will happen!
heh heh 🙂
Good theme this year. Very easy concept to understand and use. Let the fun begin.
I look forward to seeing Murphy’s Law in action…
OMG I am jumping up and down excited. This is always so much fun. Murphy is great but I think I still might be able to get in a unicorn, a possum, and a vampire or two. I can’t wait to see what everyone comes up with. Woo Hoo.
I’m sure you can squeeze just about everything in. All of those drunk Barbies together look like Murphy’s Law waiting to happen…
Vlad too.
Hell yeah, I want another mug to add to my collection of mugs.
Plus, I know a thing or twenty about Murphy’s fucking law!
Go for it!
*insert evil laugh* Bwahahaha!
So let me see if I got this straight: We need or should or anyway should think about creating a squirrel-based set of Murphy’s Laws? I might actually be able to do this one. Anyway, I can try.
Just something fun and creative that works in Murphy’s Law. It can be about squirrels or birds or gnomes or whatever you choose!
As long as there’s no knitting or crocheting involved!
There have been a few such entries in the knitting category before…. but no, there’s no requirement to get that fancy,
Good. Because I am absolutely inept. My mother had trouble believing her own daughter could be so helpless in sewing, knitting, and other “handwork” at which she was really good. She also could not understand why I didn’t ice skate, play hockey, ski, or go bobsledding. She was a BIG winter sports fan. I spent my life with frozen feet and never learned to skate backward.
Alright! I have a germ of an idea (nothing you need to be innoculated for though) brewing. This time around I’m aiming for an actual win vs. being “random winner” – I’ve been random all my life – it’s time for a loftier title – like WINNER.
Pam
Best of luck! Don’t worry, after eating in the school cafeteria every Tuesday, I’m pretty immune to germs by now…
I can’t help thinking that entry I posted years ago where Buster kept getting more and more shredded as stuff went wrong for him would have worked for this theme. Though with it being Buster, I suppose that sort of thing is less “Murphy’s Law” and more “Universal Law”…
Yeah, it should really be called Buster’s Law. Unfortunately, Buster isn’t usually left alive to complain about his law happening to him…
I am absolutely not asking the Universe, or whatever, for inspiration on this one. My life is sucking enough already without Murphy and his shitty law getting involved! I will come up with something though. Hopefully something entirely fictional.
We’ve been looking forward to it for SOOOO long!!
After a 7 day cruise on Carnival, I think I’m about ‘funned-out.’ 😕
Are you suggesting the Contest of Whatever isn’t more fun than playing shuffleboard?
Shuffleboard didn’t even enter into my thoughts. 😇 It was the rest of the trip that did. Those people party really hard!
As long as nobody fell overboard, I guess it was a good cruise…
There were a number who probably wished they’d fallen over. Can you say major hangovers?
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This is the first I’ve heard of your Whatever contest. Sounds interesting. Murphy’s Law resides permanently at Fort Meezer so maybe we can try this unless Murphy smashes us again.
Tyebe
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I’m working on it!
Here’s my contribution (aired on 2-18-2020, although written several days earlier than that. Editing takes a LOT of time). Please let me know if you have any concerns about my borrowing one of your semi-regulars for my submission. I’ll re-write if necessary. Thanks!
http://sparksfromacombustiblemind.com/2020/02/18/c-o-w-2020/
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Murphy might or might not approve. Here is my entry for what it’s worth, which isn’t much.
https://vampiremaman.com/2020/02/20/vlads-vampire-diary-murphy-and-snafu-went-into-a-bar/
Pingback: The Murphy's Paw – Dysfictional
Every so often I write a story that makes me ask questions like, “What the f*** is wrong with me?” This is one of those stories. Here is my entry: https://dysfictional.wordpress.com/2020/02/22/the-murphys-paw/
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Here’s my entry, if I’m not too late. https://scatteredwithsquirrels.wordpress.com/2020/02/28/two-kinds-of-squirrels/
I don’t see my pingback here so I’m not sure I did it right. Please forgive spelling and grammatical errors and any gaping plot holes – leaving it until the last minute made me have to slap my post together rather haphazardly!
Phenny’s Entry:
https://easyweimaraner.wordpress.com/2020/02/28/triple-furryday/
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