This is what she said:

I’ve been a stay-at-home mom full-time since February due to some health issues our 5-year old son had been having, and then my husband was unexpectedly laid off from his job on 6/30 due to “reduction in workforce”, and while he’s been pretty fortunate as far as interviews and leads go, he hasn’t had any offers yet and we don’t know how long it’ll be before he is working again.  As such, I don’t know if I can afford to spend the kind of money I’d have to in order to attend the BlogHer Outreach Tour in two short months. I wanted to let you know in case you wanted to hold another contest to give away the ticket to someone else.

I felt so badly hearing that! I asked if there was anything I could do, and she mentioned spreading the word if I knew someone with an opening for a high-level marketing person to let her know.

Shoot, she couldn’t even use her pity party prize. I thought it was very sweet of her to return the prize, but it troubled me that she couldn’t win even after winning the contest! So next thought led to another, and that’s when it struck me: blog contests are for promotion. Who says I have to promote me? I already got a chance to do that once with this contest. So this do-over is just for Amy and her family.

I asked her to be sure she didn’t feel uncomfortable about everything. She did say they aren’t in a dire situation, and they do have money to live off of for a period. She didn’t want to over-dramatize the situation. But the fact of the matter is these are hard times, and Amy’s story isn’t that odd.

We can’t help every family with someone laid off from a job. Maybe, just maybe, we can help her. We can help give a boost to her new mommy blog. Who knows, maybe just the right person could read your blog and Dan could land a great new job! How cool would that be?

So here are the prizes:

One BlogHer Reach Out Tour registration. I will be presenting at BlogHer Greensboro (and hey, let me know if you will be there!). There are also several other locations for those of us who missed the big San Fran par-tay earlier this summer.

One set of 100 totally cute and funky-cool Moo Minicards, donated by Bitchy Betty. If you have not checked out Bitchy Betty yet, please do so now! They are a perfect sponsor for this contest because their motto is “bitching for change.” Plus, you’ve just got to love a site that actually encourages you to complain!

And contact me right away if you’d like to toss another prize into the pot to help this cause!

Here’s how to enter (COMMENT below for it to count as entries):

• One entry: Link to Average Everyday Super Woman in a post on your own blog. It can be to her site in general, or to a specific post. You can do this for any occasion, such as a write-up about her blog, a link in a post you’re writing about something related, or even a regular link round-up on your site.
• One entry: Write a post encouraging anyone looking for a high-level marketing professional to check out Dan Giampetroni’s LinkedIn profile.
• Five entries: Add Average Everyday Super Woman to your site’s blogroll (which must be on at least your blog’s home page).
• Ten entries: Blog about this contest, and include both a link to Average Everyday Super Woman and a link to Dan Giampetroni’s LinkedIn profile.

The deadline is September 15th at 11:59 p.m. EST because, well, you’ll want time to pack for your trip to a BlogHer Reach Out Tour stop. You can choose any combination of entries. Just be sure you comment with a link here because this is where I will look when I choose a winner (via random.org).

Where: MommyTalk.com
Hosts: KelbyCarr.com, TypeAMom.net and MommyTalk.com
When: Saturday, 9 p.m. EST
What: a big huge BlogHer Pity Party
Why (off the record): Because we can’t go, and we want to whine about it
Why (on the record): So we can do our own virtual version of networking
What you need: A cool BlogHer Pity Party badge from Mrs. Hannigan
RSVP: At Facebook or email kelby at typeamom dot net

We will announce the winner of the BlogHer 2008 Pity Party Contest! I’m also working on getting some more prizes. If you want to donate a prize for the party, contact me at kelby at typeamom dot net.

UPDATE: the contest winner will be announced Saturday night at the BlogHer Pity Party Live Chat at MommyTalk.com.

I know I’m not the only one who’s oh-so sad about missing out on the blogging chick party of the year. I’ve seen my Twitter friends whine about it, too. Those of us who can’t go should have a chance to do something, right? I mean, we’re already going to be forced to watch it all go down with about a kajillion tweets (posts on Twitter that are a play-by-play of the conference).

So I’m holding the BlogHer 2008 Pity Party Contest. Hey, even if we can’t go, that doesn’t mean we can’t have fun? Or at least do what I personally love to do: complain when I don’t get my way. I chatted with the cool chicks at BlogHer, and they eagerly agreed to offer up a sweet blogarific prize for someone who can’t do BlogHer 2008. Enter the Pity Party Contest and you can win a free ticket to the 2008 BlogHer Reach Out Tour conference of your choice* (I’m doing Reach Out Tour Greensboro! Whoo-Hoo!).

Plus, I’ll buy the winner a pack of 100 uber-cool Moo MiniCards so you can network in style at the conference. Have you seen these things? They are some kind of freaky cute. They aren’t sponsoring this contest, but I just love the minicards.

Welcome to the party. There’s just one requirement to enter the contest. You have to NOT be attending BlogHer 2008. Hey, you can’t be part of a pity party if there’s no reason to pity you! To enter, leave a comment below about why or how it sucks that you can’t go to BlogHer 2008.

Want a bonus entry? Subscribe to Kelby Carr.com by email.

The BlogHer ladies also have a cool alternative for people who can’t attend. If you haven’t already, be sure to register for BlogHer in Second Life. I will definitely (virtually) be there.

_{One winner of the BlogHer Reach Out Tour ticket (valued at $100) and Moo MiniCard set of 100 (valued at $26.98) will be chosen amongst those who comment here. To get an extra entry, also subscribe to the newsletter. The winner will be selected randomly through Random.org. If the winner cannot make it to a BlogHer Reach Out Tour, the winner can instead choose $100 towards registration at BlogHer 2009. Deadline to enter is Saturday, July 19 at noon Eastern Standard Time.}