Many thanks and a big Mabel smile to everyone who was brave enough to enter our My Messy Room Contest!

It’s not often that messiness has its rewards but in this case one lucky winner is receiving:

An online consultation with Tanna Clark, our in-house organizational expert and owner of Complete Organizing Solutions.

PLUS $250 in Mabel’s Labels products, including our complete line of fabulous Household Labels.

All the entries were awe-inspiring and choosing just one was very tough. After sorting and categorizing and even a little labeling, we worked our way through the entries and are excited to announce that the winner is…Laura Schultz.

This photo of her daughter’s bedroom (possibly) was one many of us could relate to at one time or another. Thanks for sharing Laura! We’re sure that with Tanna and Mabel’s Labels alongside, you’ll be a neat freak in no time!

Didn’t win (or enter) this one? Check out our Bright Idea Contest, and you might win a set of Label Out Loud™ Sticky Labels to light up your wintry days.

Mabel’s Labels has a great Facebook Fan Page where you can connect with Mabel’s Labels’ staff and other Mabel fans! Get an inside look at the latest and greatest comings and goings of  The Mabelhood. We love to hear from our fans as well, so here’s your chance to leave a comment, write on Mabel’s wall, post a review, join discussions and more!

Add Mabel’s Labels to your Facebook Fan Pages today and we’ll send you a discount code for your next purchase!

I’ve been doing a bit of complaining about having to find a car that suits our family. I was whining about this on my other blog (www.thebabymachine.com).

The biggest issue has been that it seemed like no one wanted to help us out. I e-mailed contacts in the car industry and didn’t hear back. We went to a car lot and looked at a bunch of vehicles and the guy said he would call if something suitable arrived and we never heard from him again. I actually wanted to be pitched by the stereotypical cheesy car sales guy and he was nowhere to be found.

In despair, I blogged about my car issues, threw it on Twitter and it got re-tweeted a few times. The next thing I knew I received an e-mail from GM Canada. Finally someone had heard my cries for help and responded.

The response was a shiny Buick Enclave on my doorstep for a two-week trial with no strings attached. Why? Well, basically they knew we were a tough family to suit up with a car and they wanted to help me out. Shocking, I know. Finally my customer service woes had turned around.

Obviously I was concerned by my family’s potential to either trash or crash the big fancy-schmancy car. I drive cars that get me from point A to point B without caring if there is food on the floor or ice cream smeared on the windows. This car was just too good for me and the likes of my offspring. To add more stress to the situation, I learned that the owner of the vehicle was the President of GM. Yep, my stinky, dirty kids were driving around in Mr. President’s vehicle.

Since we were finally able to travel as a family, we decided to head to the cottage last weekend. After 3.5 hours in the car and only two kilometers from our cottage when we got the call from the back of the fancy-schmancy car: “GET THE BUCKET!!” Not being in my regular van, I did not have my trusty vomit kit with me which meant there was no bucket to pass. Next thing we knew, the big almighty vomit had taken place all over Mr. President’s vehicle. We got the kid beside the puker out just as she started gagging in reaction. It was a bad situation, but at least we were able to limit the damage to only one puker.

The two weeks ended and my friends from GM arrived at the doorstep to collect the fancy-schmancy vehicle. I had a moral dilemma – do I fess up about the puke disaster? I figured if the car couldn’t come clean, then I had better. The reaction was fantastic – they didn’t expect anything less from my family. I’d never been so happy to have such low expectations set for my kids.

I have a friend whose little boy is named Owen Vary. Nice name, lovely kid. Two weeks ago, Owen’s poor mama got hit with the realization that his first initial with last name makes the word “ovary”. We’re hoping his teenage years are tolerable.

It’s fair to say that we Mabel mamas are mildly obsessed with baby naming. It’s a bit of a sport around the office. We get irrationally excited by names and you can often hear squealing in the Mabel’s Labels production area when someone comes across a new or unique name.

My last pregnancy went very quickly and a fast pregnancy qualifies as a good one. The only drawback was that I kept thinking I had loads of time to come up with a fun and clever name. It’s tricky business to name a baby when you’re in the baby name business. It also doesn’t help when you’ve already named a handful of your own kiddos.

I was not confident that I’d come up with a sixth name that I liked as much as the others. It has now been four weeks since the arrival of our little boy and I’m pretty happy with what we settled on: “Finian Aloysius”.

Daddy-o and I fancy ourselves both funny and clever because wee Finian’s name shortens to become a very cool rapper name (think J.Lo or K.Fed). Confused? Well, take the first part of both names and you get “Fin Al”. Yep, you got it – FINAL, as in last one, done, no more babies! I figured with a rapper name like that I would be immune to any future temptation to go for baby #7. I’ll let you know how that works out for me.

Have you got a funny baby name story? How did you name your kid?

Post a story in the comments area and receive an entry for a Mabel’s Labels Camp Pack giveaway.

Want extra entries?
- subscribe to the Mabelhood blog
- follow Mabel on Twitter (http://www.twitter.com/mabelhood)
- become Mabel’s Facebook friend: (http://www.facebook.com/people/Mabels-Labels/755288250)

Want to stay current on the Mabel name trends AND get some free product? Just add the Popular Baby Names application to your Facebook profile: http://apps.facebook.com/popularbabynames
Invite your friends to add this application to their profiles and for every 5 friends who do, you will receive a coupon code entitling you to 15 free Classic Sticky Labels.

I’m looking forward to your stories! If you don’t have a funny story about naming your kid, tell us about that guy at high school named Mike Hunt. Contest wraps up June 1st, so get on it!

**Big thanks to Nicole for the awesome Finian image above that went on the cool cards she sent me. Check her stuff out: http://NSCcards.com

**Comments are now closed. Thanks for all the entries & Congratulation’s to Emma on winning the Camp Pack!**

I can’t help but think of all the fun things in store for Mabel this year, in addition to my actual life. Mabel has big things planned that I’m sure you will all love. 2008 will bring a lot of new adventures to our lives and we hope our loyal fans and customers will follow us along for the ride

We’ll keep you posted with our blog and newsletter, of course. Do you know about our facebook pages? If you’re on facebook – look us up! It’s a great way to learn about new stuff and become a part of our community.

Happy New Year one & all. We hope that 2008 brings friendship, warmth, safety and joy.

A while ago I started getting emails from people requesting to be my friend so I got myself set up on Facebook, but I’m left with a few questions about the point.

First off, I think facebook is just what used to be my old ‘contacts’ list but with pictures. Oh, and with the ability to be a bit nosey, which is a problem because if I had no self-control that could eat up a lot of valuable time. And is it just me, or does anyone really have an interest in someone’s status? I just can’t see myself popping onto facebook several times a day to update people on what I had for lunch.

I also have a pet peeve….I got a friend request from someone I have not seen in 25 years! Yes, that long. His message was “what’s new?” Is that serious…as if I can sum up 25 years in a few lines?

OK Mumby, Facebook……what am I missing?