Advice for New Freelance Writers

If you are just venturing into the world of freelance writing, there are some things that you should do to prepare yourself.

The first thing you should do is figure out how long it would take you to research and write an article, both 300 words and 500 words. This will be just so you can know how many articles you would be able to write in an hour. Make sure that you give yourself enough time when applying for writing jobs. I had a job offer today where they were expecting me to write 4- 350 word articles in an hour. Yeah, I'm sure I could do it, but they would be shotty articles because I wouldn't have the time to do the proper research and proof read everything a few times.

The next thing you should do, is figure out what the smallest amount is that you are willing to take for your time and effort into writing an article. I am bringing this to your attention because I am seeing too many writers selling themselves short. When you are applying for jobs on freelance websites such as elance and odesk, be sure to know what your hourly rate would be. I've seen job posts where some clients are only offering $1 for a 500 word article. Seriously? My time is worth a lot more than that, and if the topic is something that needs researched, it is going to take even more time to search and read through material. I can't believe that so many people are willing to work for such a tiny amount, or that clients or buyers expect writers to put all kinds of work into an article, for mere pennies. If you are a good writer, you are worth more money!

If you are going to try out one of the freelance websites I have posted about, make sure that you know what to say when you apply for a job. Unfortunately, there are lot of other writers out there who are applying for the same job and are willing to work for pennies per article, however their articles may not be of very good quality. When you apply for freelance jobs, be sure to list any experience that you have, whether it be blogging, guest blogging on other blogs, other freelance writing gigs you have done, any college courses you may have taken, and what your areas of expertise are in. Also, always make sure to give them an example of your work. If you have never done any freelance writing, go practice by writing a few articles. Pick a subject and then write about it. Always have something to show in your portfolio. Most freelancing websites provide a way for you to upload articles to put in your portfolio or profile. Also, if the job listing includes what subjects they need articles about, or how many hours per day, be sure to include something of the same nature in your application letter.

Also, never write a specific article for someone as a test. I've had people contact me telling me, "write a 300 word article on Ohio Real Estate (ok, I made the Ohio Real Estate thing up, just as an example), for a test and then I will decide if I want to hire you." Errrrrrrrrr, hit the brakes! This is a great way for them to get a free article out of you. Don't waste your time on something you don't even know if you are going to get paid for.

Once you begin producing quality articles, clients will begin noticing you. Don't expect to get a bunch of jobs immediately, it may take time; just be patient and write your butt off!

My Other Blogs and More

Just a quick post to let any of my  new readers know that I also have 2 other blogs.

Rants In My Pants is my venting blog. This is where I complain and vent about things going on in the world that I don't agree with or things that just straight annoy me. I do curse in many posts, so don't bother if you are easily offended.

Madam Sarcasm is more of a personal blog. This is the blog where I just write about whatever I feel like writing about. I write about things going on in my personal life or things that are bothering me. Again, don't bother if you are offended by curse words and vulgar sarcasm!

Also, don't forget to "like" my facebook (link on the top left) and add me on Google + . Since Google Friend Connect is going to be phased out soon, I guess Google + will be taking its place. I don't mind, I actually like Google + and thinks it gives me a chance to interact more with my readers and other blogs.

Merry Belated Christmas!

Here's to hoping that all of you had a great holiday weekend and spent it with your loved ones! Anyone care to do some bragging? Tell us what your best gift that you received for Christmas was? Come on, you know you wanna brag!?!?!?

Bring Santa Into Your Home!

Imagine your child's or children's faces when they wake up on Christmas morning to find a photograph of Santa in their house! With icaughtsanta.com you can upload a photo of your home and insert santa into the picture, then print out the photograph and have it ready for your children on Christmas morning! This is such a neat idea and my kids would be soo excited to see a photo of santa in their house!

You can also share the photo via Twitter and Facebook and even purchase gift certificates for your friends, so that they can print a custom photo out for themselves. If you don't have children yourself, you can purchase e-gift certificates to give to your family and friends as a gift. I mean, how cool is this?:

Ok, so this isn't really my house, although I wish it were! haha. You can even take a photo of your child sleeping and put santa in his/her room! Woah!!

icaughtsanta.com

Microworkers Anyone?

Does anyone have any experience working for Microworkers? I signed up with them a few weeks ago. They have lists of various small tasks you can do to earn money. Some of the tasks include writing a review on an amazon product, "liking" a Facebook page, following and re-tweeting someone on Twitter, commenting on youtube videos, posting a comment on a blog with a specified link, commenting on different forums, signing up for various websites, and downloading things. Personally, I won't download anything because you never know what you are putting on your computer that way. I work on this site sparingly, and most of the jobs only take a few minutes. As it sits, right now, my total earnings are $36.69. When I first signed up, I saw the paypal logo, but apparently they are not paying via paypal at the moment. They did for a short while, but stopped (not sure why), so now they are only paying via moneybookers and alertpay. So, now I have to go sign up for an alertpay account. I was expecting to get paid this week from them via paypal, but that's not going to happen.

I think once the pay gets straightened up, this could be a good way to make some spending money. Wouldn't pay all the bills, but would definitely help!

One thing, for bloggers, there are offers there to write a blog post for pay however the pay is rather low; usually only a few dollars. Honestly, you can make a lot more money other places (I do most of my paid posts via blogsvertise), but for a blog wanting to get a start into writing paid posts, this would be a good place to begin.

Would love to hear some input from other microworkers? Such as how quickly do you get the payment once you request a withdrawal?

More Opportunities for Freelance Workers of All Trades

As I said in a previous post, I have been diligently searching for more ways to make money from home especially after the demise of Demand Studios who was my main source of income. This is one reason why it is a good idea to have more than one egg in your basket. With freelance work, you never know when a company may either go under, or change things completely, leaving you out in the cold.

 oDesk offers many projects for freelancers. oDesk is not just for freelance writers, it is for freelancers of all sorts. They have job postings available for all kinds of writers, web designers, virtual assistants, researchers, customer service reps., and more. You read through the job listings and apply for the ones that you are interested in. You also bid on the price that you are willing to work for. When you first sign up, you are limited to 3 application submissions per week. Once you take the oDesk readiness test and pass it, that number goes up to 15 per week. They have other skills tests available such as English tests, office skills tests, helpdesk tests..etc., which will then showcase your skill level on your profile.

Guru.com works in much the same way. You make a profile and bid on jobs. If you win the bid, you will then be paid to do the job that you applied for. Guru also offers skills tests to go on your profile. Guru even offers jobs for interior and fashion design, photography, and videography. So again, these freelancing websites are not limited to just writing projects. You may easily be able to find something that you can do!

eCopywriters. My question is simple, has anyone worked for them? I ask because they request a writing sample when applying, and say that they will review your sample and let you know within 2 weeks (I believe) if you have been approved or not. I applied 3-4 weeks ago and have heard nothing. Even a rejection letter would be better than nothing! Anyone have any information on these guys?

I'm working with some other freelance writing websites and will post about those in the future.  Good luck to anyone looking for freelance work. Feel free to leave a comment letting me know who you are having the best luck with or if you have experience with any of these places!

November Update on Sweepstakes/Freebies

Did anyone else have a good sweeping month in November? Not I. I did not win one single thing, nothing. I DID however receive my prizes that I won the month before, which were the fleece blanket and the freebie coupon for Bob Evans. November was already a depressing month for my family, doesn't help when I don't win a damned thing, either, ha! I still have yet to win any blog giveaways, even though I've entered hundreds. Again, I've been entering blog giveaways, along with finding sweepstakes on Facebook sweepstaking apps. I know there are a ton more out there, but I just don't have time for all of them.

Don't forget, "like" my FB page (link on the top of the left hand column) for more freebies and sweepstakes to enter. I try to post them on FB as much as I can to pass them along to my followers.

Since I didn't win any giveaways in November, here's a pic of the freebies I got:

The black thing in the middle is an oven mitt from Private Selections. I received it along with some coupons via Bzzagent. I also received like 6 packs of different brands of crayons for a test/survey. Of course the kids got all of them after I did the survey.

Have you had any luck getting any freebies or winning anything fun? Tell us about it and where you entered through!

Pardon Me While I Fix This Mess...

Is it just me, or are all of my photos/graphics missing? Last night when I checked out my blog, my header banner thingy was gone with just a big blank triangle thing? I uploaded the banner again, just so it didn't look so scary if someone checked out the blog. All of the photos or graphics I have posted in blog posts or in my side columns are gone. Everything. I thought maybe it was just a blogger mishap and was hoping when I checked it today, everything would be back, but it's not. I post a lot of photos on my other blogs and they are all gone, too. What the crap, Blogger?? Where did all of my stuff go? Do you realize what a pain in the butt this is going to be to have to go through and re-upload everything?? Is it just ME this has happened to???? I'm already having a bad day.. Hell, a bad week.. this just takes the cake. GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR

Looking to do product reviews and more giveaways

I know this blog isn't huge, but I am very interested in doing more reviews and/or giveaways along with my regular posts. If you have a small business that you would like to promote, I would love to sample one of your products and/or possibly host a giveaway on this blog. I have done quite a few sponsored reviews and a few sample reviews. I always give my 100% honest review. If you choose just to have me review your product, I will post your website url in the review a few times. If you would like to do a giveaway, I use rafflecoptor, and would offer entries for facebook "likes" and Twitter follows...etc..

I have a Facebook page for this blog where I promote many of the different things I post on here, as well as the few giveaways that I have hosted in the past. I also use Twitter to promote my links and giveaways where I have over 2,000 followers.

If you are interested in working with me on some sort of review or giveaway, please send me an email and we can work out the details.

NaBloPoMo: Learning

What did you learn from doing NaBloPoMo?

I learned that sometimes I just don't wanna post every single day. Some days I don't feel like it or other days I may be just too busy with other things in my life. I don't think that makes me a bad blogger though. Sometimes people post a bunch of crappy stuff just to post. I am curious though why I haven't received any comments in quite awhile? I never got a lot of comments, but I at least got a few. I even left myself a comment earlier today just to make sure that my comment link was working. I finally open up a little bit here and everyone runs away? Am I really that boring??

There will be another NaBloPoMo for December, I think. I may participate again. We shall see.

Husband's Dentist Job in TX

Contributed by Johnny Graves


I am so proud of my husband. He has been going to school for several years to become a dentist and he is almost there. We have just finished settling into our new Texas home and the new location of his residency. He has a lot of work ahead of him, but I know he will do a great job. Everything is slowly falling into place for me. I was able to get a great teaching job at a local school. All the kids here seem to be well-behaved and very nice. Our house is lovely. We found the cutest house with a little, but wonderful yard. All the utilities were already set up, including the best high speed internet service in Texas. I was thankful for that because it was one less thing I had to worry about. We should only be in Texas for a year, so I don’t want to get too settled. However, it does seem like a nice area and I guess there is always the chance we will stay here indefinitely.




This is a paid post.

The Holiday is over and time to vent!

Ok, so I slacked off on the posting every day thing. I just kinda lost the mood for a few days. I'm glad the holiday is over. We had Thanksgiving dinner at our house this year. Wow that was a lot of work and I don't know if I will be doing that again! We did have lots of leftovers though.. mmmmm. I love leftover dressing. Very bad, though!

Got some shopping done. How many of you went out to face the psychotic shoppers at midnight or 4 am this year? I have done it for the past 4- 5 years, but not this year. Last year, my husband and I went out at midnight fighting the masses of annoying and rude people. Later that day, I went shopping with my mom at the same stores and they still had most of the same stuff; they just re-stocked everything. We decided to sleep in this year and head out later in the morning. We got almost everything we were looking for except I couldn't find pajamas for either of my boys. All of the bigger sizes were taken, but I did manage to find some in the girls' for my daughter. Got my sons some wrestling shoes for cheap. This will be their first year in Biddy Wrestling and they are so excited! We found everything else that we needed without dealing with rabid shoppers. Last year, I was just so annoyed and was surprised I got out of there without knocking someone out!

I also spent last week doing a lot of research on more freelance websites. I've found quite a few good ones and will be posting more about them soon once I get some time to see exactly how they all work. Here's my vent though: I was hired a couple of months ago for this freelance job. I won't go into too many details about it, but I did a little bit of work for them at first just fine. The official "launch" date for their website was supposed to be October 1. I didn't hear anything from them for awhile and was told that they had to fix some things on their website and that the new launch date would be Nov. 1 and then I would have lots of work! I've still been waiting, waiting, and waiting, with no work. So then guess what?? On Thursday, I get an email with work for me to get done. This company is out of the UK, so I explained to them that it was a holiday and that I was going to be very busy but would get to it ASAP. I got an email back on Friday saying that I had to get it done THAT day or it would be given to someone else. I was gone most of that day, and when I got home I was so tired that I didn't even open my laptop. I got an email from my "boss" yesterday saying he needed an answer ASAP. I'm feeling a little bitter now that I had NO work for a month and a half, even though I was told "any day now".. since the end of last month, then I get an email on Thanksgiving Day and was expected to drop everything to get it done... and now I lost out on that money. Would anyone else be a little salty about that??? or am I wrong??? 

Ok, there's my vent. I do hope everyone else enjoyed their Turkey day and had many things to be thankful for. I know many people posted about what they are thankful for .. but I really wasn't in the mood to do the same thing. Now.. onto Christmas.....

NaBloPoMo: Lucky

What is the luckiest thing that has ever happened to you?

Even though I often feel down on my luck, I can't say that I have never been lucky or that nothing good has ever happened to me. I've had a lot of good things happen to me, it just seems like the bad outweigh the good most of the time. I could say that I'm lucky that I have such a wonderful mom. She is the only person that has always been there for me, no matter what. I can't say that about anyone else in my life. I can say that I was lucky to meet my husband (even though I may not feel like that all the time). He loves me despite all of my flaws and has given me strength and courage that I never had before. I could also say that I'm lucky to have my beautiful children, my pets, my house... there are many people who are a lot less fortunate than I am.

What else? I can say that I am lucky enough to have graduated college, even though I did it about 13 years late. Through all of the bad luck I've had lately, I need to get lucky in finding a job. Right now, I'm so desperate that I will take any kind of job. I've been really down on my luck, even with working online. I was making decent money with Demand Studios, but they changed how they run things. Now, only certain writers get first dibs on new assignments, so every time I log in, the que is completely empty. There used to be thousands of assignments to choose from, now there are none. I have little money making things that I do here and there, but have found nothing that even compares to a part time job, let alone a full time job. I'm still searching though. One way or another, I need to make some money either online or offline. What about YOU? What lucky things have happened to you? 

Jingit: Get Paid To Watch Commercials

It really is as easy as it sounds. I joined Jingit a few days ago and have earned $7 already. It's so simple and easy to do. You can log in using your facebook account, watch commercials, and get paid. You get paid a certain amount for each commercial and some commercials will have a few survey questions at the end, but they are simple questions such as "Have you ever heard of this company before?". Nothing too indepth or time consuming.

You do have to stay on the page while watching commercials. If you click anywhere off of the page, even to go to another tab or to adjust the volume, the commercial will pause, so you can't just leave it running while you are doing something else online, but you can do something else off of the computer, such as watching TV or cleaning, you just have to make sure you hit the "pay me" button at the end of each commercial..

You get paid via a Jingit debit card. The debit card is easy to sign up with, but it will deduct $2 from your Jingit balance when you first sign up. Once you receive your card, you can withdraw your Jingit money whenever you wish, there is no payout minimum that you have to adhere to.

This could be a great money maker as long as it stays successful. I've signed up for places like this before and after a few days, you log in and there is nothing there to do..so far so good with Jingit though!

Feel free to leave a comment letting me know if you are trying Jingit and if you have had any experience with them!

A Desperate Plea for Help

I know I don't really get too personal on this blog, I save that for my other blog. This time, it's important. My family needs help. This is not a scam. It's 100% legit. We have fallen on some hard times and don't know where else to turn. I won't go into too many details here, but here is a link for anyone interested to read and get the details. Even if you can't help with a monetary donation, you can help by posting this link on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, wherever. Just helping to get the word out will be appreciated.

Raise Money Online

NaBloPoMo: My Crushes

Make a list of everyone you have ever had a crush on in your life. Choose one from that list and describe him in great detail.

This one is gonna be fun! Ok, so I didn't make a list, because, really, that would have taken me all night! I started out having crushes at a very young age. The youngest I remember is Pre-school with a kid named Joey! That's not who I picked, though. My biggest and longest crush is actually someone semi-famous. His name is Philip Anselmo. He's a singer in my all time favorite band ever, Pantera. I've had a crush on him since I was 16 or 17 years old. I can't even explain what it is about him. First of all, I think he is absolutely just gorgeous. Covered with tattoos. His voice is very deep and manly. He tells it like it is and doesn't care who or what doesn't like it. I've been obsessed with him for almost half my life! ha! I saw his band live 4 times when I was younger. In 2006, I won backstage passes. I didn't believe it until I had the passes in my hand (btw, I still have the pass and autographed photo framed in my house!). After the concert, we headed backstage. I was like 19 years old, shy, quiet, awkward, surrounded by a bunch of beautiful groupie type chicks. I met the guitarist first (R.I.P. Dimebag Darrell), he was super nice and even teased me about being so shy. Then HE came out. Phil came out. I thought my heart stopped when I saw him standing in front of me. All of these groupies were running up to him asking him to sign their cleavage while I stood back and patiently waited my turn. OMG I love to tell this story! First of all, he wasn't paying any attention to the groupies. He would give them an autograph and not even speak to them. I don't know why, who, or what reason, but he spotted ME. I mean, like he stopped what he was doing and walked directly over to me, signed my band photo that I had with  me... then gave me a hug and kissed me on the cheek. Ohhh Emmm Geeee (ok, I only say that in severely sarcastic moments, btw). It was a moment I will never ever, ever, forget.

I followed everything he did. He died from a Heroin overdose, but was brought back to life not long after I met him. A few years later, Pantera broke up, mostly due to drugs and everything bands like that go through. In 2003, his guitarist was shot and killed on stage only a few hours from me in Columbus. I remember watching videos of Phil crying over his friend's death and to this day, I still can't watch it without getting choked up. ....

Anyway, so he has been in a few other bands since then. His big band now is called DOWN. I've been dreaming for years that Down would play somewhere close around here. I knew they were scheduled to play in Michigan back in September... but wasn't sure about going up there since I dont know much about the area. That show was cancelled and ended up being moved to Dayton. I had a friend who also had a big crush on him, so I got ahold of her and we decided that we were going to do this!! This just happened on September 20th of this year. We drove 2 1/2 hours down to Dayton to see Down play. The place was packed, but somehow, we ended up inching our way up to the front row before they went on. We were in the front but kinda of at the side of the stage, and Phil came out literally right next to me. I have a photo of him pointing directly at me, lol! I was just mesmerized the entire time, couldnt' believe after all of these years, he was right that close in front of me again. I got some great photos and at the end, he grabbed my hand from the stage. I really never wanted to wash it again, but, we know that's not possible, lol. After the show, my friend and I waited out by their tour bus for like an hour, but he never came out. The other guys in the band came out, but not him. Can't blame him though, he would have been mobbed if he would have come out. I really, really, wanted to meet him again. My dream is to just be able to sit down and talk with him, hang out with him a little bit. Not that it will ever happen, but a woman can dream, right?

A stock photo of my crush.

My crush on stage, September 20, 2011 in Dayton.

NaBloPoMo: Adulthood

When is the moment that you leave childhood and enter adulthood?

This is an odd question that can't really have just one simple answer. Some may say that you become an adult when you turn 18. Maybe when you graduate high school? When you move out? When you become a parent?In my opinion, I think adulthood depends on your maturity level. Ten years ago, I was over the age of 18, but when I think of some of the things I did, I'm wondering what the Hell I was thinking? I think there just comes a point in your life where something just changes inside of you. You realize that the immature drama isn't worth your time or effort any more. You grow up mentally and learn to enjoy the small things and take care of your responsibilities. You learn to stop sweating the small stuff and that you are stronger than you thought you were. That's what adulthood means to me.

Despite that above paragraph, I do have to admit that even at my age (all I'm saying is that it starts with a 3.. but what's the second number? hmm), I sometimes don't feel like a grownup. I still feel like that lost kid that I used to be. I still get shy and scared in new situations. I still act silly and immature some times when I'm in a good mood. Sometimes I even stop and think, "wow someone my age doesn't act like that, do they??". But I know when to be serious.

Funny how when we are kids, we can't wait to grow up. Then we grow up and wish we could be a kid again.

More Ways to Earn Money Writing Articles

Forgive me for not posting in a few days. I was sick all weekend and am just now beginning to feel better. So much for my posting every day, huh? But I will attempt to make up for it after the end of the month!

I've recently been searching for more writing opportunities since I'm not making money with Demand Studios any more. I still occasionally write for textbroker, but honestly, the pay is so small, sometimes it doesn't seem to make it worth my time. I really can't believe how much some people expect from a writer for such small pay.

Examiner seems to be a great place for writers. With Examiner, you must apply to be a writer for them. They have numerous subjects that you can choose from, but if you are hired for a specific subject you have to stick with that subject. They also go by your location, so for instance, I was approved to be an Animal Advocacy writer (which goes right along with my last post, eh?), so I have written a few articles on various things regarding animals. I wrote an event article about a local Pit Bull adoption event and also wrote an article on why people should adopt from shelters instead of breeders/pet stores. Articles are only required to be at least 200 words and no more than 400. They feel that an article that is too long will not keep the reader's attention (makes sense). This means, that the articles can be written fairly easily. I began earning money right away. I've only written a few articles for them so far, but could see this as being a good income source once I get a lot of articles under my belt. Pay is based on a variety of things including page views, and ad clicks...etc.. Apply with Examiner here.

Infobarrel is another writing platform. Your first article has to be approved for publishing, but after that, no approval is needed for future articles. You earn money via your own adsense account, amazon, and chitika accounts. I have only written a couple of articles for them as well, but have plans for more in the future.

Seekyt is another one that also uses adsense and amazon. I have not signed up with this one yet, but would love to know if anyone reading this has any information on them?

The difficult thing with using these websites is knowing which one is the best to make money with. Should you only use one single platform, or should you spread your articles around? It's so difficult to know which ones to sign up with. I have quite a few articles on Suite 101, but have only made about $90 in the last year. Should I put all of my articles on there to grow it? Or try these other places? Ahhhh! Here's an article I wrote last year regarding ways that you can promote your articles . I still use all of these, along with facebook and Twitter.

Would love some comments from any of the other writers out there? What works the best for you??

NaBloPoMo: My Passion

What is your secret (or not so secret) passion?

Anyone who knows me, knows about my passion, so it is definitely not a secret. My biggest passion is animals. I have loved animals ever since I can remember. When I was a kid, I wanted to be a Veterinarian.. until I realized that vets also put animals to sleep. When I went back to school a couple of years ago, I originally wanted to be a vet. tech., but was worried about how I would handle that job emotionally. I cry really easily when it comes to animals being hurt. Animals are such wonderful creatures. They love unconditionally. Most of them are not born mean and they just want to be loved. Even though I ended up going to school for Medical Assisting, I still plan to do something for animals. I have plans. Once I get a job and my husband gets back to work, I want to fence in our back yard. We have a big back yard. Then I want to begin fostering dogs, especially ones that need extra socialization. I really love Pit Bulls. We have one and he is absolutely the best dog I have ever had. He is so intelligent and all he wants to do is make us happy and be next to us. I would love to, one day, take in homeless pit bulls, train and socialize them properly, and adopt them out (to a safe family). So those are my plans for the future. I have written quite a few articles on Animal Abuse, Behavior, Training, and Pit Bulls. I recently became an Animal Advocacy writer on Examiner.com (more on that coming soon, hopefully tomorrow).

My other passion is music. Not your typical country music or crap you hear on the radio. No, I don't like mainstream stuff. I like rock and metal music. I used to travel all over the country to go to festivals and concerts. I've been to close to 100 concerts, met lots of bands. Even though it is aggressive music, it relaxes me and puts me in a good mood. I'd go crazy without my music! I used to run my own underground metal music magazine when I was younger and I got to interview a lot of bands. Wow, I had fun when I was younger.

Yes, that's my fur baby up there!

NaBloPoMo: My Home

When was the first time that you realized your home was not like other people's homes?

Never really thought about this. What's to say that my home isn't like other people's homes? Maybe it's not like other people's homes because I have so many pets? A big dog and 5 cats, not to mention 3 children and two adults? Maybe it's not like some people's homes but maybe it is like others? Why is mine not like others? Because it is mine. My husband and I bought it and fixed it up. It's not completely done yet, but we have plans for the rest. It is OURS. No one can take it away from us (unless we don't pay taxes). We have no landlord to worry about, no rent to pay every month. It is ours. Our first real home. We have a room in the back that is going to be our theatre room. We just haven't been able to finish it because my husband had shoulder surgery and now that he is almost fully recovered, we are waiting for him to get back to work and catch up on bills before we can finish it. We have some cool plans for it. We already painted the walls black. We are either going to put our big screen TV out there or get a projector that plays DVDs. We are going to hang movie posters up all over the room and the hallway that leads to the room. There is a couch out there right now. Actually, the kids use it as a play room for now until we can get it the way we want it. We will eventually get some bean bag chairs out there. One day everything will be done, but no matter what, it is ours.

Advertising Works!

Things have changed over the past 10 years or so. Although the days of billboards and radio advertisements are not completely dead, many advertisers are choosing to go the digital route, specifically, internet marketing.

That Advertising Agency is a new age type of advertising agency. They work with companies of all sizes and budgets both big and small to find the perfect advertising route that works for you. They do the hard work for you by taking a look at your advertising budget and figuring out which advertising methods would be best for you and your company. This may be pay per clicks, search engine optimization, or social media advertisements on websites such as Facebook or Twitter.

They don’t just do internet marketing though, they can also design a TV commercial for you or a print advertisements for magazines or newspapers. The possibilities are endless, and they are ready to find what will bring you the best traffic. They also offer brand identity services as well, or they can plan special events just to showcase your products or business.

To ensure your satisfaction, they also offer you a way to track your advertisements so that you can see up to date reports on how successful your advertising campaigns are. Whether you are just starting your own business or have been around for awhile, advertising is key to bringing customers to your door.

*This is a paid post.

Balancing Life: NaBloPoMo

How do you balance your children, relationship, and work?

Since I'm sort of jobless at the moment, work isn't much of a problem, although I do spend a lot of time searching for ways to make money from home online until I find a job. I've just graduated college, so now I'm on the job hunt for a job outside of the home. To be honest, I don't want to work from home forever. I enjoy getting out of the house and talking to adults during the day. I'm sure I will change my mind about that once I do get a job and have to get up at the crack of dawn and go outside in the freezing cold, haha. I do a lot of different things online to earn money though, so many hours of the day are spent on the computer. I try to do most of that during the day while my kids are at school. I help the kids with their homework in the evenings and we all sit down to dinner together. On the weekends, we usually have something planned to do as a family together.

As far as my relationship with my husband goes, well, to be honest, that doesn't get much time and it's something we both need to work on. What about you? How do you balance everything?

NaBloPoMo! Say what?

I have joined this:





I decided to join for a few reasons. First of all, I really don't write a lot of personal things on this blog; I try to keep it more on topic regarding working from home. I thought this would be a great way for my readers to get to know ME a little better. Secondly, hopefully, this will keep me on track with posting every day (I know everyone will be in shock!). Thirdly, I can win prizes! eeeeeeeeeeeee!!!

Of course, there may be days where I'm so busy I may not have the time to get a post written. I promise though that I will try my best to post every day, even if it's just short and sweet. Each day, there will be a new prompt for bloggers to write about. We don't choose the prompt, it is given to us. When I signed up, there were over 2,000 blogs joining this, so it's exciting for me to be the part of something so big. I hope my readers enjoy it. Is anyone else participating in this?

Sweepstakes and Freebies Update for October

A few days after my last post about sweepstakes wins (and me complaining that I hadn't won anything), I got emails that I had won this:

This the Little Giant Xtreme Ladder that retails for almost $400! and I also won these:

Luna protein bars and a 2 pack from Softlips.

Since then, I haven't had any BIG wins. I got an email that I won a fleece throw from Sealy, and a free meal from Bob Evans, but haven't received either one, yet. I still do sweepstaking but only in my free time or when I am bored. Some days I just don't feel like it, other days I do. I do know that I could not sit and just enter sweepstakes for 8 hours a day like some people! haha I mostly use the facebook apps I mentioned in this post, and sweepstakestoday.com. I know there are more out there, but these keep me plenty busy for the moment. Anyone else had any big wins lately??

Also, some of the samples/freebies I have received in the mail:

These are not all of the samples I have received, but most of them! These include the Target beauty bag full of samples, a cook book, a Halloween tattoo from swagbucks (which, btw, when I used my swagbucks to order it, I thought it was an entire sheet, not one single tattoo!), and some coupons for free stuff.

Don't forget, you can follow my facebook page (link is in the top left column of the blog, for lots of giveaways and sweepstake opportunities and I will try to post as many free sample opportunities as I can (I don't always remember to save the ones I sign up for) on there. If you like my page, feel free to leave a comment and let me know that you came from the blog (you don't have to, it just makes me feel good that someone actually reads my posts on here!)

Who Doesn't Love Sparkly Toes??

I love painting my toenails! You have so many colors and decorations to choose from. I really love to add some sparkle to my toes and I was so excited to find this deal! What woman wouldn't love pretty toes like these:

If you use my special link, you can get this entire kit for cheap!!

I had to share this deal with my readers because I know what a great deal this is! Plus, with Christmas just around the corner, this kit would make a great stocking stuffer for that special girl in your life.  You get 12 glitters that lasts up to six weeks, a bottle of bonding and a bottle of sealant, plus a pedi brush and file. There are only a few days left to get this deal and you have to use my special code to get it! 

Glitter Toes Pary Kit with Free Shipping! 

NCP Is Accepting Applications!

Have you heard of National Consumer Panel? I've heard about it, but never got to try it myself until recently. They want to find out how we, as consumers, spend our money and what we buy. To do this, they will send you a scanner (below).

Once you receive your scanner, you will start recording your purchases. Now, this can take a bit of time because you have to scan everything that you buy; groceries, gas, clothes...etc.. You scan each and every item, tell them how many of each item you bought, the price, and if you used any coupons. Now, some people take the scanner to the store with them, however, I've decided it is easier for me to do at home, especially when I have my kids in tow.. I don't like going to the grocery store any way and don't want to have to spend more time there. Before I put my things away at home, I scan everything and always make sure I have the receipt next to me because they want to know the total of the entire purchase. If you use a lot of coupons, then it would probably be easier to do it at the store.  You do need to be able to connect the scanner to a modem in order to transmit the information.

What do you get for it? Well, first of all, every week that you record purchases, you are entered into various sweepstakes for prizes such as cash or gift cards. You also earn points. You can let these points build up and then exchange them for prizes or gifts. They have allll types of things that you can exchange your points for: electronics, toys, household items... everything. I've only been doing this for a few weeks now, but I'm hoping it is worth my time to do this every time I buy something. (I forget a lot of times, oops).

Has anyone reading this, done this for NCP? What kind of prizes/gifts have you received from your points? Does it take a  long time to rack up enough points to get something?? Come on and tell us!!

IM Report Card Research

I recently signed up for IM Report Card Research. Yes, it's another survey site. To be honest, I really don't like most survey sites because they just seem to be really time consuming and usually don't pay much. I decided to try IM Report Card because I read they are a good company to go with. Once I filled out all of my profile information, I began receiving surveys immediately. Just clicking on the link to begin a survey enters you into a drawing for cash immediately. Even if you begin a survey but you don't qualify to finish it, you still get credited at least 10 cents for it. The cash can add up quickly and you can redeem them for gift cards. $8.50 can be redeemed for a $25 restaurant card! or you can get a prepaid debit card. There are a few to choose from. I should be able to get some prizes in no time! You also may have the chance to get free stuff. I took a survey the other day and now I am supposed to be getting a box of a new frozen breakfast treat that will be on shelves soon to try and give my opinion on! Of course, I can't be specific about it, but it sounds reallly good so I can't wait to try it! Who knows what other things you could get free!

Anyone have experience with IM Report Card Research? Good or bad? Have you redeemed your earnings for prizes?

MobileXpression

If you have a smartphone or any type of  phone that allows you to access the internet, you may want to consider joining MobileXpression. MobileXpression tracks your phone internet usage for use in statistics. All you have to do is download a small  softwareapplication which only takes a few minutes. Once you have confirmed that you downloaded the software, you automatically win a prize. I won a $5 amazon gift card. You also have chances to enter weekly contests for money or other prizes and win "tokens". Tokens can be used to take a spin on their prize wheel where you can win anything from an amazon gift card to an Apple iPad. Once you have a token, you are guaranteed a prize. I just joined MobileXpression about a week ago so I don't know a lot about it yet, but I did receive my amazon gift card code right away. Make sure that you only use this if you have unlimited data usage though so that you don't incur a lot of extra charges on your phone bill.  They promise to only collect data on your internet usage, and not information on any of the private personal phone calls that you make or receive.

Has anyone else had an experience with MobileXpression or know much more about them? You can sign up on their website, but I do ask that if you sign up, you give them my email address as referrer: DRoddy7703@gmail.com . Thanks so much and good luck winning a prize!

Win a iPad!

There's a great giveaway going on. A handful of bloggers have gotten together to make this possible and I think this is a great idea!

Our New Cat

Contributed by Milford Woods


My wife and I have been talking about getting a second cat ever since our first one, Shanks, went missing a few months back. We both think it was a coyote but who knows – we got ahttp://securitychoice.com alarm and talked to the neighbors just in case there was a cat thief roaming around the neighborhood. We’ve started to get over the devastation of losing a pet but now we’re in the mood for a new one. We really miss the way Shanks would roll around on our bed with us and sleep in front of the fire so anyway, we’ve got a friend whose cat just had a litter so I’m thinking of getting two for my wife to surprise her. I know that two is going to be even more work than one but it’s just what we need to get us out of the funk of losing Shanks! And we always said he should have a brother anyway so this way we won’t have to worry about that with the new cat.


*This is a paid post.

Sweeping 101: My First Month

I began my adventures in sweepstaking and entering giveaways just about a month ago. I've spent hours hitting the submit button and entering comments for entries. It became almost like an addiction at first and I would end up spending most of my day (and nights) entering these giveaways online. What do I have to show for these hours spent? Nada. Well, I did win some protein bars on a blog giveaway my first week, but 3 weeks later and I haven't even received them yet. *sigh*

I've read stories from various sweepstakers. Stories of how they were born lucky and have been winning things since elementary school. I've won a few things throughout my life, but only a few things. I've heard from people who have won trips to beautiful places, and money, money, money! Who doesn't love money!?! I think the excitement is starting to wear off now though since I've had such little luck. Now it seems more like a time waster than anything else. Am I ready to give up completely yet, though? Nope.

A few things I've learned along my first month of sweeping. I've entered both blog giveaways, and sweepstakes from large companies. The large company giveaways are usually pretty easy. If you enable the autofill settings in our browser to help save some time by filling in your basic information for you.

Blog giveaways can be either easy or difficult depending on the blogger running the giveaway. First of all, I love Rafflecopter!! It makes entering giveaways soo much easier, especially when the blogger wants you to follow this and tweet that for entries. It's so much simpler to be able to go right down the line and get your entries instead of having to go back and forth between the list of ways to gain entries, and back to the bottom of the blog to leave another comment. It's really a pain if the blog has 200+ other comments that you have to keep scrolling through. I think every one who hosts giveaways should use rafflecopter! If you go to the website, it says you need an invitation to join, but they sent me a personal invitation like a day or two after I submitted my email. Along with saving entrant's time, it also saves the blogger time by randomly picking a winner.

Another tip for bloggers hosting giveaways, if you are going to ask people to follow you via GFC or some other connection, make sure that the sign up widget is easily visible!! I get really pissed when I can't find the widget anywhere!!

I guess I don't really have a lot of tips or advice. If the prize is something you really want, enter as many times as you can. The more entries, the better chance you have of winning. IF/when I do win anything, I will post it here for all to see, along with samples I receive in the mail.

I have made a separate Facebook page for entering giveaways. Most giveaways, especially blog giveaways ask you to like their page or share something on your FB page. I don't want to annoy my family and friends with these, so I have a separate page. If anyone would like to friend me for lots of giveaway information, feel free to add me.

Finding Sweepstakes and Giveaways.

First of all, a good way to start is to friend me on my facebook page so you will be notified about various giveaways and sweepstakes. Once you begin entering blog giveaways, you will mostly likely "like" the hosting blog for an entry, then you will get updates from them announcing new giveaways. Eventually, your list will grow bigger and bigger and you will have all kinds of giveaways to choose from!

Facebook Apps. There are two facebook apps that I really love. One is called Sweepstakes. Do a search for the word "Sweepstakes" on FB and you will find it. It has a huge list of new sweepstakes for you to pick and choose from. They literally have pages upon pages of sweepstakes and giveaways listed. Some of these sweepstakes offer extra entries by getting people to enter under your name. You can share the giveaway on your own FB page and whoever signs up from your link, gets you an extra entry!

Hooplasoft Giveaways is another awesome app on FB. You can make your own giveaway (if you are having one on  your blog..etc.,) and it will be promoted to everyone who uses this app. It has a "Giveaway Stumbler" which shows you 6 giveaways and you choose the one you want to enter. You enter via FB and it only takes a minute. When you are done entering a giveaway, hit the stumbler button and you will be given 6 more to choose from. It also shows you stats on what giveaways you entered, which ones you lost, and if you won any. I love this app.! I could stay on it all day, it's very addicting. Many of the giveaways also have "referral winners". This means, if you post the giveaway on your page or invite people from your page to enter, and they win, you also win the same prize!  This app. is also great for promoting your own giveaway.

That's all I have for now. I will post more updates/tips as I learn them. Feel free to leave a comment and add your own!

Join in the fun and tell me what you have won?

My question is: Are people really born lucky? I guess I'm lucky; bad luck is luck, right??

Winner of our My Memories Scrapbooking Software Is...

The winner of our My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software is #40 Beth McCall!! An email has been sent to her with the code so that she can download the software that she has won! Congratulations, Beth!!!

Thanks so much to Liz at My Memories for supplying us with this software for review and giveaway! Also, thank YOU for entering the giveaway. I hope to do lots more giveaways on this blog in the future.

Don't forget, if you didn't win the software, you can use this unique COUPON code for $20 worth of My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Savings! You will receive $10 off of the software price, PLUS another $10 coupon that you can use towards purchasing other downloads for use with your software! Just go to My Memories Software Suite and before downloading, enter the code into the promo code box: STMMMS19110 . 

Elance for Freelancers

I believe I mentioned Elance awhile ago, but never had a chance to really look into them. Since Demand Studios has been extremely slow the last few months, I finally had the chance to work with elance a little bit.


Here's how it works: You sign up and make your profile. You have the choice of going with a free membership or purchasing a membership. The free membership comes with 10 free connects a month. Paid memberships come with more depending on which one you purchase. You can then search through literally hundreds of job offers for various freelancing jobs including ghost writing, blog post writing, article writing, web design, sales, admin support, and legal work. Each job is posted for a specific amount of time, sometimes two weeks, sometimes longer. You can "apply" to the job by submitting a proposal. A proposal includes information about yourself, the skills that you have pertaining to the job listing, and some samples of your work. You will also tell them what pay you are willing to take for the work. Each time you submit a proposal, you use one of your "connects", so if you go with the free membership, you can only apply for 10 jobs. I'm trying out the free membership to see if it would be worth purchasing more connects. The job poster then chooses from the applications who they think would be the best for the job.

Choose the jobs wisely. My advice is to only submit a proposal to a job listing that you truly have the experience and skills to do. You may also want to give them your lowest price possible on the project, because many of the job posters will only look to find the cheapest price for the work. I saw some postings only offering  .50 for a 300 word article. My time is more valuable than that, sorry.

I've already gotten one job offer. I haven't started yet, but I will update here with how it is going. To ensure your payment, you can submit a timesheet via elance so that you won't get ripped off for the services you have given. I could see this having some great potential as long as you find the right job matches for you!

Sign up with elance here.

Anyone else have experience working with elance? Good or bad?

My Memories Scrapbooking Software Review and Giveaway

How many of you love to scrapbook? How many of you like to scrapbook but don't have a lot of time to put into making your scrapbooks? I'm in the second category. I love to scrapbook, but it takes a lot of time to cut and paste everything together, decorate it, crop photos...etc. I've heard of digital scrapbooking but never tried it until now.

I've recently tried the My Memories Digital Scrapbooking software and love it so far! You can pick a pre-made background template for your page or you can design your own. Putting photos into the pages is as easy as double clicking, selecting the photo, and cropping it. You can add fancy text to your pages and even add embellishments. They have a nice choice of embellishments, everything from ribbons and flowers, to buttons and other graphics. You can also purchase additional pages and embellishments to use for a small charge. It's so simple to do, I did these two pages in just a few minutes.

Once you have your pages completed, you can either print them out to put into a scrapbook album or you can share them online.

YOU can have a chance to win the My Memories digital scrapbooking software for free (a $39.97 value)! 

This contest will begin September 2 and end September 16.

Mandatory Entry: Leave me a comment telling me how often you scrapbook!

If you don't want to take your chances with the giveway and are itching to try out digital scrapbooking, you can use my special code to get $10 off your purchase of the My Memories software. When you purchase the software, you will also receive a $10 coupon that can be used towards downloads, so that's a total of $20 savings! All you have to do is go to this link: My Memories Digital Scrapbooking Software and enter this code: STMMMS19110 into the promo code box and you will get your discounts!

Sweepstakes and Giveaways!

The other day, I was watching TV, and one of those new sweepstakes shows came on. It was showing two people who spend their days entering sweepstakes. One man makes a living from it by spending 8 hours a day entering sweepstakes. The things that he wins, he either keeps or sells. He has won trips and even a $50,000 car! This peaked my interest. I like to get free samples, so why wouldn't I like to win free stuff?? I always overlooked the giveaways on blogs because I just thought it was too much work to like this and follow that, but I gave in. I've started entering sweepstakes and giveaways. I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to it right now because I am doing my externship for school, but I will be done with that at the end of this week and then will have some time to put into entering sweepstakes. The things that I don't want, I will attempt to sell on ebay or craigslist. Well, that's assuming that I win something, haha. I have to admit, it is a bit tiring entering so many forms, but if I start to win some things, it will hopefully be worth it. This is just something I'm trying out; if nothing comes out of it, I will give up, but I will never know without trying.

My first suggestion is to make a separate email address for the giveaway and sweepstakes entries. You will most likely get a lot of spam mail from signing up for things, so if you don't want your regular email cluttered up more than it probably already is, make a separate address.

Do any of you enter sweepstakes and giveaways? I want to hear your story! Have you won anything? Tell us about your experience!

Here are a few of the websites I am using to find giveaways. Feel free to add your favorites in a comment and I may eventually make a big list for everyone.

About.com Contests

The Buck List

Giveaway for Prizes



Also, be sure to follow me on Twitter as I will sometimes post about specific giveaways I am entering, and you can enter, too!

Oh, and I may be hosting my own giveaway soon, so keep coming back, especially if you love to scrapbook!!

Strange Travels

Thanks to Wm Rowe

I like going on vacation but I especially like it now that I’m married! My honeymoon was my first real foray into international vacationing but now that I’ve got a taste I can’t imagine anything else I’d rather do. This year my husband and I are going to go to Croatia which I’m so excited about but it’s going to be an expensive trip so we’ve been saving for quite a while! I went toHttp://www.home-alarm-systems.COM/to get a system for our new house before we left and I made sure I could pack in a small bad so we don’t get charged flight after flight for a checked bag (we’re flying three times once we get over there) and other than that and one last hotel I think everything’s booked. Flight prices to Europe right now are just outrageous but this is somewhere we’d always wanted to go so we figured we might as well go ahead and check it off the list. Afterall, you can’t take that money with you, am I right?

*This is a paid post

Zemandi: Getting Paid to Write

Since Demand Studio's list of article topics have grown quite boring and none of them seem to be anything that I have enough knowledge of, I have been looking for other places to write for money. I read a bit about Zemandi and decided to check it out. So far, I am not impressed. First of all, you have to request that an article topic be sent to your email, then you have to go check your email and decide if it is something you wish to write about or not. If you don't want to write the article, you have to go back to the Zemandi website to decline it, and then put in the article number. Seems like a lot of wasted time to me. You have your choice of writing content, review, or blog article. A few assignments I received in the mail were for me to write for free so that they could get an idea of what writing level I am at (isn't this why  most places just ask for articles you have already written), or they are 450+ word articles for $2.50. Really? Even though I am pretty desperate for money, I do value my time a bit more than that. Most of the articles are mundane and uninteresting things to write about on top of the no/low pay. It may be a good place for new writers to start off at and dip their toes into the writing world, but I don't know if you can generate a decent amount of money.

Have any of you worked for Zemandi? Is there potential there? Is it worth writing an article for no or low pay to get to the better paying articles? Please feel free to comment and give us your input!

Crowdtap: Answer Questions and Get Samples while Earning

I joined Crowdtap a few days ago and it seems great so far. You start out simple by just answering quick questions or "quick hits", and you get a certain amount of points for answering them. Your ranking goes up the more points that you get, and the higher your ranking, the more opportunities you get. You can get invited to join in discussions, where you get points for answering a discussion question and then joining in the discussion with other users. You can also get opportunities to sample new products or websites and then you can convert your points into cash once your points are worth a minimum of $10.00. Five percent of your earnings go to a charity of your choosing, so you can earn a little bit while helping a good cause. So far, it's really simple to do and kind of fun. I've been trying to do it as much as possible because I like to see my rank go up and find out what new opportunities I may get.



Have any of you worked with Crowdtap? How has it been for you?

A Little Off Time

I just wanted to post and let my readers know that I may not be posting for a little while. My husband and I recently bought a house and have been working hard to remodel and get it just how we want it. The time has finally come for us to move IN to our new house next weekend, which means that I am running around like a headless chicken trying to pack and clean, clean and pack, not to mention painting, and oh yeah, kids are out of school now and driving me bonkers! I'm taking a little hiatus from this blog until we get moved and settled into our new home!

Live Work; For Freelancers

While searching for new work at home opportunities, I came across Live Work. After looking it over, I decided to sign up and see what opportunities there were here. Basically, with Live Work, you first make your profile which includes work experience, education, skills, and a portfolio. This part can be a bit time consuming, but it is an important step to make sure you finish thoroughly. You can also list any and all types of freelance work that you are willing to do and how much you wish to be paid for it. You then have the opportunity to search through job listings and "apply" for the job. When you apply for a job, you are committing to doing the job if you are chosen. The client posting the job will look through the profiles of everyone who has applied and choose which ones they want to do the project. These projects can be anything from answering emails, to giving phone support. The jobs that are posted however, are not the only possibilities out there. If your profile catches the attention of a client, you may be asked personally to complete other projects with them, as well.

I've talked to a few people who have been very successful through Live Work and have received continuous work opportunities via clients on the website. Personally, I just really haven't had the time to commit to working on this right now. I am moving in a few weeks and my time has been spent packing, cleaning, painting, college work, and kids. Once I get moved, I will put more effort into Live Work as there seems to be some good opportunities here.

Do any of you have any experience with Live Work that you could share with us? Remember, it can be good or bad!

Tone A Day: Opinions Needed

I've decided to start asking my readers for their own opinions on the various money making strategies I post about. I'm asking that if you have had your own personal experience with the subject of this post, please leave us a comment and give us your own personal opinion and/or experience with them. This way, other readers can get various opinions about it before they jump into it head first.

Tone A Day sounded easy enough. I heard some others talking about it, saying that you could make $200 a month with it. I remembered that I had signed up for them quite awhile ago but didn't get anywhere with them because there were not many phrases to rate. When you rate a phrase for Tone A Day you are given a short sentence, or maybe just a snippet of a sentence, as if it were sent to you in an email from someone else, and then you rate it with how the words make you feel, such as anger, enjoyment, embarrassment..etc.. It really is that simple. You do have to pass a test when you first join just to ensure that you understand basic English words. When I first joined up last year some time, you got paid so much for every phrase you rated. I don't remember exactly what it was at the time. I decided to try it again as it seemed to be very busy and always had phrases ready and waiting. I spent a day rating phrases, but then noticed that the amount I was making had not increased. I did some more research, only to find that Tone A Day had stopped paying per phrase, and now you have to continually rate phrases to increase your "rank" and THEN you get special invitations to work on special projects where you will earn money. So basically, you will have to initially spend hours rating phrases for free until you have a high enough rank to be eligible for special projects. I guess this would be good for someone who doesn't have any other source of online income because you really wouldn't be losing anything besides the time it takes to begin rating phrases, but for those of us who make money other ways, this seems like not only a waste of time, but also some lost $$ when you could be doing something else.

If you have any kind of experience working with Tone A Day please tell us about it, good or bad. All opinions are welcome!

Blogging Advice

Many of us in the work at home world have ventured into the world of blogging. By now, many of you have become quite knowledgeable of the blogging world and have learned many tricks of the blogging trade with thousands of followers reading every word that you post. For those of you that are somewhat new to the blogging world, I've recently come across a great article offering blogging tips that are filled with various ways you can get new readers to your blog. Each blogger has a different way of doing things, however this article gives you some of their own favorite ways to get your blog out there and to get it seen by the masses. Even though I have had this blog up and running for a few years now, I have read through this entire article and tried a few of her tips. Check out Singing Through the Rain's article titled "Blogging Tips". If you leave a comment, let her know that Crazed Mama sent you, and good luck!

Beef and guacamole, surprisingly great together

Guest post written by Kathy White

I love to come up with all kinds of fantastic food combinations to make together. A lot of the time I'll combine stuff and not let my kids know and make it into a guessing game. I take this as an opportunity to also get them to like all kinds of food. I used to be a picky eater when I was a kid and I don't want them to miss out on great stuff because they're the same way.

I like to go online with our Clear Bundle to look up all kinds of new food combinations. It's amazing some of the stuff that people will put together into dishes.

The latest one that I came across is this guacamole beef recipe. Never, ever in my life did this occur to me that you could put those two things together and they taste so good! This was one of the times when my family had no clue of the food combination so I just had to go ahead and tell them. But they told me I should fix it again.

*This is a paid post.

Make Lists: Get Paid!

I am loving this new website I came across not long ago. It's called List My 5. The name says it all. You make a list of your top 5 things. It can be anything! It can be your top five favorite movies, your top five favorite animals, anything you wish to make a list about you can do. You then get paid a share of the ad revenue that is generated from your lists via paypal. This being said, you should try to make your lists interesting enough that others will want to read your list. Here are a couple of my lists so you can get an idea of what this site is like:

Top 5 Ways to Relax and Alleviate Stress

Top 5 Things to Do on a Snow Day

You can make them funny, you can make them serious, you can make them informative, you are free to make whatever kind of lists you want. It is actually fun to do. TIP: If you write articles on other websites, you can write a top 5 list around a specific topic and then link to your other article. This way, you may get traffic two ways!

I wish I had more time to dedicate to this website because I really enjoy making up random lists on here. You don't have to worry about editors critiquing your work here, you are free to do whatever you like.

Leave me a comment and let me know if you have had any luck with List My 5!