And the Winner is....

Kelley H. 

Congratulations Kelley! 

Thank you all for participating and supporting this blog.  I appreciate all of the thoughtful comments and cannot wait to interact with you all in the future.  Stay tuned for more great giveaways!

Blessings,
Tiffany

Christmas already?!?

As you may know, my husband and I have a 2 year old son.  Something you probably don't know about me is that I love Christmas.  LOVE!  I love everything about that time of year.  My Christmas starts on Thanksgiving day.  The one day of the year I don't have to button up my pants to sit down at the dinner table and gorge myself on food.  It is even acceptable to wear a nice shirt with pajama bottoms.  It is like a mullet for clothing.  Business up top and a party below!  Once we are all at the table, all we see is the nice shirt!  Anyhow, before I start drooling, I wanted to talk more about Christmas.  Did I mention I love Christmas?!  I love what Christmas is...the birth of our Savior.  I love that it is a time for family.  I love that my husband (a teacher) gets two weeks off.  I love the trees, decorations and lights.  I love the food!  I love the gift giving...as well as the receiving!  Which brings me to the purpose of this post.  How to earn money (or even win prizes) to use for gift giving.  As we are a one income family, Christmas can also be kind of stressful for us.  Coming out of November that has our sons birthday, travel for and other expenses makes my husband and I toss the "how and where" question back and forth.  Yes, I do know that it is not about giving and receiving but rather about the birth of Christ and His promise to us but...the traditions are fun too!

Swagbucks:  Around October of last year, I decided to join Swagbucks.  We bought our son a drum set with what I earned from there.  I saved up 450 swagbucks at a time and traded them for $5 Amazon gift cards.  It added up fast!  Since January, I have earned about $35 that I can use at Amazon.com.  You can earn bucks by doing surveys, playing games, signing up for free trials such as Netflix and Hulu and even by printing and redeeming coupons.

Here is a link to get started earning with Swagbucks today! 
http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/tiffers77

Inbox Dollars:  This is something I have been doing since around November of last year.  This one is much slower earning but you really don't have to do anything but open emails to get money.  They pay .02 for every email that you confirm.  Two clicks is all it takes.  Easy as pie.  They will cut you a check once you have reached $30.  I just requested my first check and expect it to be in the mail next month.  They gave me an extra $3 for requesting a check and now I am about to be ready to request another $30!  They do give you a $5 bonus for signing up.  There are other ways to earn such as surveys, games and offers.

Here is a link to sign up for Inbox Dollars:
http://www.inboxdollars.com/?r=ref12727078

Entering giveaways:  This has been an easy and fun way to win prizes from gift certificates to toys!  I love getting up in the morning and checking my email to see if I have a "Congratulations" message.  I have located several low entry giveaway links that I use on a regular basis.

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Anyhow, this is how I relieve some of the stress that comes along with one of the happiest and most important times of the year.

Check it out!!

I was just looking around at some blogs and found one I had never been to before...and I love it!
Worthyoftheprize.blogspot.com has all the things and more that you might be looking for here.  They are doing a great giveaway with Red Letter Words (also a fabulous must-see) and it is a great resource for faith based fitness information and support.

Check them out and enter the giveaway while you are there!

http://worthyoftheprize.blogspot.com/2013/03/hope-for-home-linky-party-red-letter.html

New Giveaway

http://www.rafflecopter.com/rafl/display/51d4d72/" rel="nofollow">a Rafflecopter giveaway

Is that dissapointment I am feeling?!?

Recently, I asked a friend of mine if she wanted to team up with me and audition to sing the National Anthem for one of our minor league baseball games.   It had been a very long time since I had to audition for anything and I was pretty nervous but she said yes and so we went! While we were singing, I had an incredible case of stage fright but we got through it and did an awesome job.  We had such a great time and also came to the conclusion that the reason we were nervous was because we were actually performing.  We sing in front of people on a weekly basis but that is far different.  When we sing at churches or for different ministries around town, we are not actually performing.  We are lifting up the name of The Lord and singing to Him.  He is our only audience.  He is the one who deserves all glory.  He is the one who gave us the talent in the first place!  It was a really humbling reminder that we sometimes get caught up in what we are doing and sometimes end up with our intent a little "off".  We did not make the cut this time and I must say that the feeling I had felt really bad!  I wanted to be the one to sing.  I wanted the opportunity for my family to come and hear what I have been doing lately.  Some of the ministries I am singing with are not safe or suitable for children to attend...I sing at a church that is held underneath our freeway bridge as well as for Celebrate Recovery.  The lesson here (I think) is that there are just too many "I's" here.  It is not about me.  It is not for this world that I should be singing.  The only one who matters here is our Savior!  To God be the glory!  The experience did give us a new found appreciation for what secular singers and songwriters must go through! :)

So that brings me to my new endeavor!  I need to practice the guitar.  I piddle around with it but have no real skills...yet.  I will be needing to play a lot better since I keep saying "Yes, Lord!  Send me!"  That's good though.  We should step out of our comfort zones occasionally for Him.  He will always guide us and protect us when we are glorifying Him.  He has given me two such reasons and though I am terrified, I know that with a little hard work and a whole lot of prayer, success will come and it will be awesome! 

I can't wait to see what He has in store for me...and those who I will be bringing the Gospel to, through music!