Author: Angie

I know a few people have done posts about this.  This is for my readers.  The non-bloggers, the newbie bloggers, or the bloggers that haven’t entered blog giveaways before.

I have to admit.  The first couple times I entered a few blog giveaways.  They weren’t spelled out very clearly.  Being new to it all, I did the mandatory entries and bonus entries but lumped them all into one comment.  One blogger was nice enough to let me know that i needed a separate comment for each if I wanted more entries.  I think sometimes us bloggers are so used to typing up or entering blog giveaways that we sometimes forget that there are people that don’t know how.  Maybe they would enter but don’t because they’re not sure what to do.  I’m going to do my best to explain it step by step in plain language.

As a visual example I’m going to use my Bacon Hot Sauce review and giveaway I have posted.  (Ends tonight 7/19 10 PM EST so if you want to try out your new skills 🙂

http://bit.ly/bhreviewffcandm  You can look over this to see what I’m referring to as a visual.

The Mandatory Entry —-MOST blog giveaways have what’s called a “Mandatory entry”  You will be asked to complete a certain task.  For instance, In my Bacon Hot Sauce giveaway you have to “like” Bacon Hot Sauce on Facebook.  The Mandatory entry must be completed in order for you to be officially entered. If you don’t complete the mandatory entry in a giveaway, it doesn’t matter if you complete 8 of the bonus entries because none of them will count if that Mandatory entry is not completed.  Occasionally, you will come across a blog giveaway that does not have a mandatory entry or gives you a choice of items to complete as your Mandatory Entry.  


Once you complete the “Mandatory Entry” you must leave a comment on the giveaway post so the blogger knows you did it and you’re entering.  In the Bacon Hot Sauce giveaway your very first entry comment should state “I like Bacon Hot Sauce on Facebook”  with your email address following.  You can see examples of this in the entries on my Bacon Hot Sauce giveaway. 


Sometimes the mandatory entry will be to “follow” that particular blog.  If the only way to follow is with google friend connect, you have to have a google account in order to do that.  If they have a Networked Blogs follow you can follow if you have a facebook account.  If you don’t have these and/or you don’t want to sign up for an account, unfortunately you won’t be able to enter that one if that is in fact, the mandatory entry. 

Leaving your email address in case you win–—Also VERY IMPORTANT to leave an email address in the comment to be contacted at if you win.  To avoid spammers picking up your email address, Leave your email in this form:  Joeshmo (at) gmail (dot) com

 Bonus Entries—Not all Blog giveaways will have bonus entries.  And the Bonus entries may vary.  There might be a lot or there might be a little They could be things like “follow me on twitter” , “Subscribe to my blog by email”, “make a post on facebook about this giveaway”, and many other options.  

One thing to note is that you might see something like this:

Follow me on twitter (2)
OR
Subscribe to this blog through RSS feed (5 entries)
OR 
Tweet about this giveaway (leave 3 comments)

When you complete a Bonus entry you NEED to leave a seperate comment for each one you complete.  So if you tweet about the giveaway you leave a comment and stated  “I tweeted giveaway and leave a link to your twitter tweet” and again leave your email address in each comment .   ( I will explain how to find twitter and facebook links in  a minute).   

When you see a number like i have posted with the “Follow me on twitter (2)” example bonus entry i have above.  The Blogger is telling you, you get 2 entries for completing that one task.  So if you followed them on twitter you’d leave a comment on the giveaway post stating:

“I follow you on twitter as @Joeshmo”  Joeshmo (at) gmail (dot) com”

you would leave that same message 2 times. ( In two seperate comments) in the comment section of the blog giveaway post.

Finding the link to your Twitter tweet and/or Facebook status—I didn’t know how to do this for quite sometime until a thoughtful blogger was kind enough to leave simple directions in their giveaway (which reminds me I didn’t do that on mine, I’ll need to add that.  Shame on me)

Anywho, when you Tweet a giveaway status, your tweet will look something like this: 



“I want to win the Febreze Home Collection Giveaway @iemommy – http://www.theiemommy.com/2010/07/15/febreze-home-collections   
about 1 hour ago via web”


This is one of my actual bonus entry giveaway tweets.  You’ll see in your tweet on the bottom left corner there will be a time statement.  I highlighted that part in orange in the example tweet.  Mouse over that time statement then click it.  It will take you to a twitter page with just that particular tweet on on it.  Look up at the top of your screen.  In the place that you usually type in your web address you should see a link that looks something like this:  http://twitter.com/angiewith3/status/18932149637


That is the link to your twitter status. Right click on that address.  A box will pop up.  Find the “copy” option in the box and click it.  Left click in a comment box and then Right click.  Again a box will pop up.  this time choose Paste.  


Facebook status works the same way. You find the time stamp and follow the directions above for the tweet to find your link to that post. 






I know it sounds like a lot.  Once you get the hand of it you’ll be entering blog giveaways left and right. You can find blog giveaways by doing searches for terms like: blog giveaway and you can find them on twitter, facebook, other social media sites and probably more that I’m not thinking of right now.  


Have fun and good luck.  Please feel free to leave comments if you feel there is an aspect I forgot, something you’re still confused about, or if you have more tips.

Free Stuff, Fun Sites, Contests, and More

I had seen an ad several times on Facebook for something called the “U-Play mat”  at first glance it looked interesting.  After seeing the ad several times I decided to check it out.  http://www.facebook.com/PLAYTHISWAY

Then I found the video about the U-Play mat:

The more I read and learned about the U-Play mat by Dr. Jen, the more I just had to try it for myself.  The U-Play mat was developed by Dr. Jen, a pediatrician, with consultation from Speech and Occupational Therapists. Dr. Jen is also a mother herself with 2 sets of twins.  Read more about the creation of the U-Play mat here: https://www.playthisway.com/about.php

The U-Play mat attracted me because, not only am I a mom of 3 boys, but I’m also a Certified Occupational Therapist Assistant (COTA/L for short). Personally, I thought of how I would love to use the U-Play mat with my 1 yr old.  He was on the verge of saying more words. He only had the “mama, dada, and no” down at the point that I was researching the U-Play mat.

On a professional level, I was starting to have Occupational Therapy treatment implementations pop into my head.  For instance: communication for daily tasks, increasing attention span, focused activity for sitting balance exercises, just to name a few.

Dr. Jen and the caring folks at  Playthisway.com  sent me a U-Play mat and 2 card decks to try myself.  I received the U-animal deck and the U-food deck along with the convenient storage tote.  There are additional card decks available: Additional Card Decks

This is everything I received. As you can see, my 1 yr old quickly started exploring.  I let him feel and look over the mat as I read through the 10 exercises listed in the “How to use your UPLAY mat” booklet.  I decided to start off simple.  I started with the U-animal deck. I placed all the cards in the clear pockets and seated my 1 yr old son in the center of the U shape.  This shape allows the child to see the cards around them.

My son looked over all the cards.  I started by sitting in front of him on the floor and pointing to a picture. I would then say the name of the animal.  To be quite honest, the first time all he wanted to do was crawl around all over it.  He’d stop and look when I pointed to an animal and said the name, but would move on.  This session only last about…oh 20 seconds and he crawled away to find the his sippy cup.  But, as the instructions state, you should find a little time each day to use the U-Play mat and engage with your child. Do it in a quiet spot with minimal distractions.

The next day was not much better.  After about 4 days however, his attention to the U-Play exercises started to increase.  I tried only placing cards in every other slot on the U-Play mat so as not to over-whelm him with animals.   I started to learn how to engage him more in the activity.  I would point to the cow for instance and say “cow..moo!”  He would laugh.  Then we’d go to the pig. I would say “pig…and snort” and he would laugh even harder.  By the end of the week he was looking around the U-Play mat. He began to place his hand on top of card.  I would then say the name of the animal and the appropriate animal sound of the animal card his hand was on. He would laugh. Then he’d choose another and put his hand on that.  By this point his attention to the U-Play mat activity had increased to about 1 min.

Then one of the most exciting moments (this is the mommy part of me talking). I pointed to the cow and said the name. He was looking at it.  I waited, then pointed again and said “cow”.  He put his little hand on top of the card and said “cow”.  I wanted to cry and burst at the same time.  By the end of trying every day for 2 weeks his attention to the U-Play mat exercise I chose had increased to 2 min and finally said another word.  It may not sound like much but progress is being made.  And for a 1 yr old, I’d say that’s pretty good.  It was 2 min of time you can tell he enjoyed.

There are 10 exercises in the booklet like: Matching (each deck contains doubles), Same, Different, Yes/No activities and more. They have clear easy to understand directions with examples.  You can also make up your own cards using index cards. Try writing a single letter on a card–maybe A, B, C, D etc. or numbers to use.  I even played a memory game with my 6 year old. (like the game Memory where you put the cards face down and each player get to take a turn flipping to cards over to find a match) when he made a match I let him put them into the pockets on the U-Play mat.

1. GROUP A – REQUESTING/MANDING: Works on request-making skills.
2. GROUP B – NAMING/TACTING: Works on skills for identification and naming
of objects in the everyday environment.”

That is directly from the U-Play mat autism manual from the link listed above.  I recommend reading over that section.  There is a lot of good information and ideas to use the U-Play mat appropriately with a child diagnosed with Autism.

As a COTA/L, the advice I would give, is to set realistic personal goals for you and your child.  This would be included for anyone using the U-Play mat.  Don’t expect to sit down your first session and have your child be able to interact and perform for 15 minutes.  An appropriate goal for the day may be to have your child attend to the task for 1 min.  Maybe not necessarily have correct answers the first time.

If your child is able, let them explore the mat and cards for themselves the first time.  If they are able, let them choose the card deck they would like to use. If they are using something they are interested in, they are more likely to participate.  As Dr. Jen points out, praise your child for correct responses.  Don’t forget to have fun!

I get to help choose the best answer!




Please do not leave entry comments here, they must be on the U-Play facebook page to be official. But I would love your feedback on the review!

When I was a consultant for a home sales company I was always looking for a new outlet to showcase my products. I had heard of having online or eparties but was not sure where or how to start the proper way.  I was lucky to fall on: http://myvendorparty.webs.com/

The owner of the site, Andrea, is friendly and helpful.  She even had periodic events with multiple vendors back to back which was nice because some people would stay from the previous vendor party or come early for the next one and learn about your products.

This would also be a great meet and greet and different way to showcase your etsy shop, handmade items, and is great for all you home consultants like Tupperware, Lia Sophia, Pampered Chef, Mary Kay, etc.

It’s very relaxed.  I hate talking in front of people.  I have sort of an irrational fear of that, so this was perfect for me.  It was always a lot of fun. You choose the dates and times along with Andrea.  When I last used the site 30 minute time slots were free and only $1 for an hour time slot.  Please double check with Andrea on this when requesting to set up a party.

You can also request a party if you’d like to host an AVON party or another vendor.

I’m no longer a consultant and I am not compensated in any way for referring people.  I just truly think this is a great tool to use for anyone looking for fun, unique, and relaxing ways to showcase their home business.

The site again is:
http://myvendorparty.webs.com/