Using Social Media To Find Employment - My Plea

I figured I'd throw this out there onto social media, you never know what type of response I might get from it... could be a good one, right? As some of my followers know I was laid off over three years ago by a very large trucking company because after they went on a hiring frenzy they then realized their two companies into one public merge caused them to lost half their customers right after. I was low man on the totem pole, so of course I was laid off from their local terminal. I have found it very difficult since to secure solid full time employment in this area. It's not that my resume, experience, and education are not impressive it's who I used to work for that is causing the problems (not a well liked bad reputation company) I have a car payment, horses, credit cards, and cell phone bills to pay for. (I'm starting to lose my place in the water and seem to be slowly sinking) I can't very much pay for them when blogging isn't bringing in the money to pay them so I also have to look for a full time job.

Oregon Chai Sweepstakes & Twitter Party 8/15

Starting tomorrow 8/7 Oregon Chai  Facebook Fans get their chance to win a $5,000 Chai-scape makeover for their backyard. As an extra bonus, 1,000 fans who enter will get a chic Oregon Chai Iced Chai Tumbler. Make sure you check out their Facebook page here and look for the “Chai-scape Your Backyard” tab to learn more details.

Twitter Party:

Date: Wednesday 8/15 

Time: 8 - 9 PM EST

Hosted By: @OregonChai

Hashtag: #OregonChai
Prizes: oversized, custom Oregon Chai tea mug, double-walled, acrylic iced chai tea cup and a variety of Oregon Chai Original teas. Plus, one lucky chai-ticipant will win a grand prize Kindle Fire.

Make sure you are following @OregonChai and tweet with the #OregonChai tag to participate.

Spread the news of the Twitter Party By Clicking

Tweet #OregonChai

Disclosure:This post is sponsored by Oregon Chai

Lock Up Your Gadgets Safely With Master Lock

With Back To School right on top of us Parents are not just concerned with buying supplies, but also how to keep their children's valuable gadgets safe as well. Every 53 second a laptop is stolen, that fact alone is astonishing to me. Schools now a days almost require that students have some sort of laptop or notebook, but as a parent how do you keep those items safe after spending your hard earned money on them? How do you, as a parent, keep your children's items locked up for a safe school year?

GUND's Top Dog Photo Contest - VOTE FOR ZERO ends 8/15

GUND is holding a Top Dog Photo Contest and I've entered Zero into it! She is in the category of "Faces Only A Mother Could Love" of course the picture I used was of her apologetic sad face after being caught with her head in the garbage can. I'm calling upon all of my followers and fellow sweepers to please vote for Zero! Voting runs from 8/6 until 8/15.

PRIZES: 
One (1) winner in each category will receive a sample of GUND products of their choice with a retail value of $250. 
The Grand Prize Winner will have a GUND® plush dog modeled after the winning photo, to be sold at retail sale. The Grand Prize Winner will not receive any royalties and/or proceeds from any sales. The Grand Prize Winner will also receive twenty–four (24) samples of their plush dog.
No cash or other substitution may be made, except by the Sponsor, who reserves the right to substitute a prize with another prize of equal or greater value if the prize is not available for any reason as determined by the Sponsor in its sole discretion. Each Category Winner and The Grand Prize Winner is responsible for any taxes and fees associated with receipt or use of a prize. Prizes are not transferable.

Vote at I'm Sorry I Was In The Garbage Can

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Using Google Alerts

I keep saying I was going to do a post on how to set up a "Google Alert", well guess what here it is! For those of you who want to search for sweeps or text to win contests setting up a Google Alert is the easiest way to do so. This is what the screen will look like. As you can see I have mine set up to go to my blog's email address

1. Go to Google Alerts 
2. Type in what you'd like to be alerted to in Search Query
3. Drop menu two for where you'd like to search
4. Select how often you'd like to be notified - as it happens, daily, or weekly
5. Select how many alerts you want - only the best or all
6. Deliver to - your email or RSS feed in Google Reader

My tips and tricks are to put the search query in quotes, otherwise you will get every single alert with a single word in it. I have alerts set up for "twitter parties", "text to win" and my name. Why my name you ask, because some companies do not "tag" you on Facebook sweep wins and give you a specific time frame to email them with your information. I've had this happen twice and lost out on one very big win because the company didn't know how to send a Facebook message and didn't tag me in their announcement, yes it made me upset.. but that's why I have an alert set up for my own name. I also use Everything setting along with Once A Day setting and get the summary in my email on a daily basis. Google Alerts are easy to use and make finding sweepstakes and Text to Win contests a cinch!! If you have any questions just leave me a comment and I'll try to answer them all!