The Contest is OVER (Thank Goodness)

Well, the contest that I have been bugging everyone about for the past few weeks is finally over and I finished at a respectable #16 in the Top 25.  Thank you for voting for me.  Circle of Moms will be featuring my blog in their April "Roundup" -- I am not exactly sure what that means, but it sounds important.

These contests are important to me because my blog, in comparison to many others, is pretty small.  I do not have thousands of followers -- yet.  By competing in these contests and by being listed on sites like Top Mommy Blogs and Picket Fence Blogs, I hope to gain exposure.  I hope that I will get new fans, new friends, and more input.  I accept that I am not every one's cup of tea -- I am okay with that.  But I do want to find more people to connect with and these sites and these contests allow me to do that.  So I appreciate Circle of Moms and other parenting sites for having contests like this.  And I appreciate all of you supporting me by voting.

As with everything involving women and the Internet, there was drama with this contest.  Some bloggers complained that other bloggers shouldn't be included because they didn't blog enough, but had shifted their focus to their Facebook pages.  Some bloggers complained that other bloggers were somehow cheating to get their votes.  I get so tired of catty women that it makes me ill.  This was a decent little contest on a fairly well known mommy website -- there was no need for the drama.  If someone is cheating, sure, put a stop to that, but quit whining about who gets to participate -- leave that up to those running the contest.  Quit getting your panties in a bunch because someone who entered the contest pretty late is passing you up in the rankings.  It took me the full 2 weeks to get my votes.  I know some people entered the contest a few days before it ended and finished in the top 10 -- I don't care.  I didn't start whining to The Circle of Moms about it.  I just kept trying to get my own votes.  I successfully avoided all of the drama.  I didn't even hear about it until after the contest was over.  Yay me! 

What is sad is that all of the drama has, in my opinion, put a bit of a blemish on the results of what should have been a fairly straight forward, friendly competition.  I mean, I don't think that The Circle of Moms purposely invited drama -- but some of the women bloggers who participated had to get all crazy and made it dramatic.  I find it sad that someone in this competition was so hellbent on grabbing her piece of the spotlight, that she couldn't bear to share it with anyone else that might challenge her position.  I do not know if the women who complained were part of the final 25 or not, but it doesn't matter.  If you cannot hold your own with the best, then what is the point of having a "Top" 25?  If you feel the need to eliminate your competition to somehow feel better about yourself, then you shouldn't compete.

I was honored to be included in this list.  There were some truly amazing bloggers that made the list, and while I was way behind the front runners (by literally thousands of votes), I was still included.  Had those who were excluded been allowed to compete, I still would have made the list.  I would have been further down, but I would have still been on it.  The thing is, the actual place on the list doesn't matter.  The point was to be on it.  And I was.

Once again, I was sort of smacked in the face with how incredibly competitive and petty and flat out catty some women can be.  I hope that I don't come across that way.  A few posts ago, I talked about how we, as women and as bloggers, should be lifting each other up.  I plan to continue to do that, and so I invite you to all check out the other blogs on the list -- there are some truly amazing writers on there.