**The Skeptical Sweeper News**

Hi Everyone!
Just wanted to give you guys a heads up on what's going on with me!

I'm proud to announce that I am now a part of the Sweepstakes Mama team. For about a month now I've been learning the ins and outs of posting sweepstakes and being involved in the happenings with the blog. I was a part of the 20 minute chat held by The Motherhood last week. It was my first party type experience as a panelist and I was super stoked! It was a cool experience and looking forward to many more!

So if you haven't, go to www.SweepstakesMama.com and check out my posts and get to sweeping! Follow her site as well and you'll get emails when new sweeps are listed and you'll also receive emails each weekend with a round-up of all the new sweeps! You can also feel safe in knowing that all the sweepstakes we list are legit, I know that is a concern for a lot of people that want to enter sweepstakes but don't.

Also I will continue to post my Mamavation Monday posts but during the week starting next week will be touch and go. We are preparing for our move back to E. Texas and it's going to be a bit tricky. I'll be travelling back to FL in July to drive my car home and then we will head to west Texas and make our new home there courtesy of the US Army. Home will be intact by mid-August and the madness begins on Wednesday. (Yikes!) So you guys will see possibly a lack of posts regarding sweeping. As always I am always available if you have any questions- you can reach me via email candyolivares@gmail.com or leave me a comment and I'll get back to you.

I will continue to blog here as The Skeptical Sweeper and hope to learn some new tips and technique and share with you all. I'll always be skeptical ya know. ;)

I appreciate my small following; you all really mean the world to me.

Candy,
The Skeptical Sweeper

Come Party with the Sweepstakes Mama Team 4 a chance to win $100 Gift Card!

Come join us the Sweepstakes Mama team! And your's truly; for the Moms Who Win Chat! This will be my first chat as a panelist! Very excited!   For participating in the chat you'll have a chance to win a $100 Wal-Mart gift card!!!


Leave me a comment if you are planning on attending! There's no RSVP but I want to make sure and say hello if you are there!!


 Moms Who Win: Finding and Entering Online Sweepstakes.  With all of the brands offering blog giveaways, Twitter parties providing prizes, and online sweepstakes that exist out there, you could regularly win fun prizes - if you knew where to start. Join Shannon Schulte of Sweepstakes Mama for tips on where you can find great sweepstakes and Twitter parties and start getting involved.
 
When: Thursday, June 7, at 1 p.m. ET.  We will chat for 20 minutes!
 
Where: On The Motherhood, right here - http://bit.ly/K701O6
 
Who: The all-text chat will be hosted by Shannon Schulte, blogger at Sweepstakes Mama.  Joining as co-hosts are these fantastic bloggers:

Alicia, Sweepstakes Mama, http://www.sweepstakesmama.com 
Candy, The Skeptical Sweeper, http://theskepticalsweeper.blogspot.com/   THAT'S ME!! LOL 


Co-host Twitter IDs:
@SweepMamaAlicia
@candypo

Host Twitter IDs: 
@SweepsMama
@theMotherhood
@EmilyMcKhann
@CooperMunroe
@eolson426

Twitter Trivia- Yes You Can Win!!

Any trivia buffs out there? I know not exactly sweepstakes but bare with me. You've seen my posts regarding Twitter and how awesome it is to win sometimes multiple times a day.. (If you are lucky like some people..) Trivia can be a way to win! Yes- when a brand buzzes about Trivia check it out! You could get a Free Bloomin Onion like I did a couple weeks ago!

When I'm full on alert while on Twitter sometimes I'll notice a tweet about up coming trivia. Wednesday seems to be a hot day for trivia #WinItWednesday is a popular hash tag! Last week I won a a t-shirt from @PureBarre and this week I won some K-Cup coffee samples from @CafeExpress! I dont' normally like to talk about my wins because I want this blog to be about you! And your wins ofcourse! It gives me a sense of accomplishment knowing I helped you win!

Back on to #WinItWednesday.  I also wanted to share a photo of what came in the mail today- thanks to my dear Twitter.  Also some contests will only ask for a re-tweet -hey that's a no brainer- no work, just hit the little re-tweet arrow! Also make sure you follow the brand as well.

Thanks to @ScrubbingBubbles and a fellow Twitter friend I won a Scrubbing Bubbles prize pack that was delivered via UPS! Oh yeah.. UPS! Love it!

Sometimes brands will ask you to post a reply or re-tweet a statement including a fellow Twitter friend. When your post is chosen you and your friend that you listed in the post win! YES! A Two-For-One WIN!!  That doesn't happen in sweepstakes!!

Not sure if I'm that lucky, I'm becoming a Twitter hooker regular or just being a good person is helping me out with these but thankfully I've gotten lucky with #WinItWednesday.

I tell you what, leave me a post with your Twitter handle and when I see the, I call them "Partner" posts I'll post your twitter handle in there with mine and hope we are chosen to win!! Just make to keep an eye out for my tweets and make sure to follow the brand that we are tag-teaming for a joint prize! If not it won't work.. and the brand won't award us a prize.. Atleast I wouldn't if you didn't follow me.. hahaha.

I plan on posting once a week- hopefully more but it will just have to depend on what life has thrown my way that week.

I'll have another post hopefully on Friday to release some good news on my end.

So leave me your Twitter Handle and make sure to Follow Me @candypo  

Here's another question- do you think I should change my handle to @SkepSweeper ? I've contemplated it yet am not sure I want to make the complete plunge..silly I know.

Candy
The Skeptical Sweeper

Skeptical Still? Keep Reading, Start Entering so you can start WINNING!!!

Sweepstakes 101 Twitter Party **TONIGHT**

Are you available tonight at 9pm ET? If you are Join me (I'll be tweeting to win also!) and participate in a Twitter party thrown by the "Queen of Sweepstakes," herself- Sweepstakes Mama!

Here's the info below! Hurry and RSVP to be eligible to WIN!! Good Luck to you!!! Hope the Skeptical Sweeper Readers are WINNERS tonight!

Join us for the #Sweepstakes101 Twitter Party tonight at 9pm ET!

Want to learn how to win frequently and BIG?
If you are new to Sweepstakes Mama, and want to learn how to organize your bookmarks, find local sweepstakes, or have any sweepstakes related questions, we’re here to help!

Join us for a fun chat and let us help you get on the road to winning!

Be sure to follow @SweepsMama, @SweepMamaAlicia, and  RSVP here to be eligible to win a few fun surPRIZES!

http://sweepstakesmama.com/2012/04/sweepstakes-101-twitter-party.html

Wishing you a #FF Fabulous Friday!

It's Friday and I'm very happy! A few reasons for my happiness/excitement :

1)  It's Friday! End of the work/school week for my family so we can have some fun this weekend!

2)  The Ultimate Blog Party 2012 began today! Well the registrations the partying begins on Monday, April 16th with a Twitter party from 9pm-10:30pm eastern time! Be there or Be Square!!

3)  My son has a baseball game in the morning! Ezra and I will be rooting him on while daddy stands along the fence doing some daddy coaching.. LOL

4)  Take time to relax and enjoy our family time.  The work week can get so busy

5) My last long run with Fit 2 Run in training for the Iron Girl Half Marathon next weekend in Clearwater, FL! Goodness I can't believe it's next weekend already!! It's my first half marathon. I've been training since January so I'm looking forward to completing it.  I told my husband last night that I will be purchasing my 13.1 bead to go on my Pandora bracelet and a couple stickers/magnets with the 13.1 for my car!! If they made a shirt, I'd buy it too! I'm almost sure they do! It's a feat I've never in my life ever even considered attempting, so I'm really proud of myself.

Anyways enough about me! Tell me about you?! Is there something you are excited about for this coming weekend? Or in the near future?

Have you tried out a Twitter party yet?! If you haven't come out to the #UBP12 Twitter party on Monday. You must RSVP- You can do so here: http://www.5minutesformom.com/53476/ultimate-blog-party-2012-live-events/

When you "see me" at a party say hello!! Remember I'm @candypo on Twitter.  SkepticalSweeper is too long for a Twitter Handle so I need to get creative.. soon!

Okie dokie guys and dolls! Leave me a comment- You never know what post I'll be choosing the $5 Amazon code winner from.  One a month and we are half way thru the month..

Skeptical Still? Keep Reading and I hope you have started entering.. Let me know if you win something!!

Candy -
The Skeptical Sweeper

2012 Ultimate Blog Party -1st Timer Here!!! Join Me!

I follow Susan & Janice the ladies that are @5minutesforMom , check them out www.5minutesformom.com for the past four years have put on a huge blogger party called the Ultimate Blog Party- This is their fifth year for the party. The number of participants increases every year and I can say that it will be growing by one more for sure since I have decided to join in on the fun! I'm still trying to figure it out. It seems like a lot of fun! A couple Twitter parties (Who doesn't LOVE Twitter parties?!- This girl does!) and even some Spreecast (actual online video chatting party- very cool to be a part of! Just have to remember to put some make up on! So I'll be ready for my close up!)
If I have peaked your interest go check out the site and get more information on how you can win! Or if you have a blog of your own you can grow your blog but donating a prize and get publicity! Either way it's going to be a lot of fun!

The party starts goes LIVE at midnight on Friday, April 13th and runs thru April 20th! Yes- I know it's this Friday! But LOTS of chances to win during the 7 day period! But don't waste time and get over to www.5minutesformom.com and RSVP when the Linky goes LIVE!

Hope to see some of my readers there!

Candy

The Great Grid- TweetGrid

There it is! See picture above. I call it "the great" because I feel that it is. I have been using TweetGrid for five months now and have found its the best way to keep up during a Twitter party.

How many of you have attended a Twitter party by watching your feed only to give up because you couldn't keep up? I did when I first started. Then I researched parties and came across the wonderful www.tweetgrid.com and started trying out the different sites that ran feeds on Twitter for parties; (this one being the best by far.)

By being able to enter the hash tag and then only view tweets going to the one hash tag it keeps you in the loop of the conversation during the chat. Another genius appeal to it is the ability to have multiple feeds going in each column. If you are attending a party with multiple hosts and panelists you could possibly miss a question if you don't have them all listed, hence missing out on a great prize.

Note: Some chats require you answer all of the questions posted to be eligible for all or specifically the grand prize. Who wants to miss out on prizes?! I sure don't! Always pay close attention to the RSVP page so that u include all important people during chat.

Below you can see a screen shot of the grid. Depending on how many hostesses or panelist are involved you have a lot of choices as to how you want to look at the grid. I like it simple and usually go with 1x3, 1x4 or at the most 1x5.  In some cases the parties will tweet out a custom tweetgrid-check it out and if it's too busy for you go with what you know and feel most comfortable with. I like the simple ones.

As you can see here's the 1x3 grid. I follow the same routine on how I set up my grids, again it's up to you. I like to have the host on the left column, the hash tag in the middle and my feed on the right. I highly recommend that you always have your feed showing. When you win you will always receive a tweet and it will pop up in your feed and also if someone re-tweets you or asks you a question. It's handy. 

As the party gets going the feed will continuously go down what I do to help in case I miss out on something is have the hostess actual Twitter page up as well. You are probably thinking at this point "Are you kidding me! All this work for a measly prize?!"  But once you do it a couple times it becomes second nature and you don't even think about it. Trust me! Having the host's Twitter page up can help in case the feed is coming in a little slow you might be able to jump the gun and answer the question before anyone else at the party. There are some parties that reward the first correct answer. Again- keep an eye out for the rules and guidelines. 

For Tweetgrid that is pretty much it. Remember to give yourself enough time to get your grid set up. Login and get your hashtag entered. Make sure you have the hash tag and hosts names entered correctly, nothing like being a party and not realizing your hash tag has been wrong the whole time! Epic Fail! =(  Sometimes someone will point it out to you if they are nice. If not you are on your own. Don't be at everyone's mercy double check your grid before the mayhem begins. 

Remember: 

1- First & foremost RSVP! You never know if there will be a special prize for RSVPing. 

2-Set up your Tweetgrid ahead of time. Double check your spelling!

3-Make sure you are following the Host (Most important) the Brand (ie.@clorox) and the panelists.

4-Keep the host's Twitter page open and check when you see updates!

5-Follow along and happy partying!! 

6-Make friends with fellow party goers!! I believe in networking!  

If you have any questions please comment below! I'm here for you! and I hope you win too!! 

Still Skeptical? Start Partying, Keep Tweeting & You'll be WINNING soon enough! 

I'm back!

After what seems an eternity I am back to working on my blog. My family took a bit of an "extended" spring break and we are now getting back into the routine of daily life.

I tried to "disconnect" a bit from the wired world, sweeps and twitter parties. I will tell you that I did not sweep while away but I did join in on a couple parties. It's an addiction.. I'm afraid. An addiction that I'm dealing with and only allowing a party here and there now. Def a work in progress.. Have you joined in on one yet?!

Anyhoo back to being back- This week I hope to get into the different ways of winning on my dear Twitter. There are various ways that you can feel the rush of winning without even having to log into a tweetgrid or tweetchat for a party. The Trivia Questions.  Oh yes you can win doing trivia! So Trivia buffs get on your marks!

Speaking of Tweetgrid and Tweetchat, I will go into both of those formats for Twitter parties as well this week.     Instead of just watching your feed on Twitter during a party you can actually modify so that you are only viewing tweets for the specific party you are chatting in.

As most of you know this is my first blog, my "baby blog" as I like to call it; I'm still very new at blogging and am hoping to get creative with my posts.  Including pics and possibly doing a video blog here and there. I'll be adding video-blogger to my title! Snazzy! But nothing to crazy, I just want to slowly expand to new medias and see where this takes me. I'm not out to conquer the world but so far this is fun.

Which brings me to the question of the post- Do you have a blog? Do you have any desire to blog? Yes-No If you do or don't what's keeping you from doing it?

I plan on adding incentive to my atleast one blog post a month beginning in April. Possibly a $5 Amazon code.. What do you think? Remember I'm small time.. =)

Instant Gratification - Twitter Part 2

Instant gratification. The faster it happens the happier I am. During the month of January & three weeks of February I felt it everyday! I won pretty much every day except Sat-Sun (I don't do sweeps during the weekend).  I won from doing trivia and or participating in Twitter parties. The trivia or re-tweet contests are too easy not to do. The message will say "RT for a chance to win," so all you have to do is hit the nifty little Re-Tweet button and you're entry is received. No sign up for this blog, follow me here or there just Re-tweet. Of course I must add that you will need to follow the brand or person on Twitter to even be considered to win. But that's too easy right.

Chat online for an hour and during that hour you could potentially win a prize. What's easier than that right! Unless random chooser isn't on your side it's still a lot of fun to chat during a Twitter party. Either way it's an hour lost. Sometimes I think to myself that I'm just making time fly by doing these parties. Possibly trying to talk myself out of doing them but then "winning" takes over and tells it to hush. LOL

What if anything intimidates you about this process? Because it is intimidating, (or it is at least it is to me) I compare it to being the new kid in town. It can actually be like that at every Twitter party you participate in unless you develop friendships with other bloggers and twitter party-ers.  I'm not saying trade your bff's for the ladies online, just be able to sign into a chat and say, "Oh there's @candypo ! I wonder if she's won anything or which party she's going to after this one!" The more I see it, the more I think the world really revolves by networking.  That's why I highly recommend also joining in on a sweepstakes website such as www.sweepstakesmama.com  A lot of us" sweepers" "run" in tight circles where we bounce off of one another during parties. There was recently a party that the hosts were put in Twitter "jail" and myself and another fellow online friend were asking the special guest questions! We became the hosts for the party at that moment. It was very funny. Did you noticed Twitter "jail?" The Twitter Gods have deemed that certain people can only "tweet" so many times per day. I myself have been placed in jail a few times. My account is held and I can't post any more tweets. I can't even send a message, it's complete Twitter lock-down.  Pretty sad, huh? Eh, it gets better. Just taking watching my tweets from now on.

Most recently I noticed I surpassed the 10,000 mark for tweets! I should have paid more attention I would have done something cool. Oh well.. maybe at 20k? LOL

Have you tried out a Twitter party yet? Have you won?? Share with us! This blog is meant to share my experiences with doing sweepstakes and winning-sometimes.  I would like for it to be interactive so that my readers also share in their winnings and or experiences as well.  

The Balancing Act

My family and I will be taking a Spring Break vacation and I will be away from blogging during this time. Let's face it I can'y stay away. My posts may be a little shorter, but I am sure I'll be online to post a few blogs while on vacay.

I won't however, be participating in Twitter parties during this time; or at least not for my own personal purposes. I'm planning on doing a tutorial with a friend of mine. 

Recently a friend and fellow blogger posted a blog about finding the balance between being online doing sweeps and having time to do everyday chores and having family time. Check out her blog post here: http://www.blogher.com/obsession-sweepstakes  Check out her site too www.sweepstakesmama.com

I have spoken to other friends about the time they spend entering sweeps and being online for Twitter parties or searching for sweeps and etc.  Some of it may sound alarming to people that aren't normally "connected" as I like to call it aka being online.  Being on the computer isn't the only way you can be connected or online; you can be via your mobile phone, tablet or iPad or worst all of the above at the same time.  I have found that when I'm not sitting in front of my computer I check email, Facebook and Twitter on my iPhone.  You would hate to miss an email letting you know you won something right? It's part of the madness.. LOL 

How do you find your balance? Do you struggle with having to decide on what you want to do because of lack of time? Leave me a comment on what your struggles are with balancing life and fun. 

The Great World of Twitter Pt 1

Are you on Twitter? Are you active in tweeting? What celebrities do you follow & do they follow you back?

I have had a Twitter account since May of 2009- I must say I'm really impressed, I just looked up my join date. I only really began using my account last summer more heavily. I started off not sure of what the point of Twitter really was. It's not like Myspace or Facebook, it's totally different.  You can update your status but once you post it, it goes down the line when others that you follow post. A long time line that can loose your thoughts very quickly if no one is paying attention. I liked the idea of that type of anonymity. I followed a lot of celebrities and no of the followed me back so if I posted something to them they were probably not going to see it or even respond. My how that has changed. I have had several, I like to call them "Rock Star" moments with different celebrities either re-tweeting my tweets to them or actually answering a question I tweeted to them. Awesome! It rocks my socks what can I say.

Celebrities in my eyes are the ladies that have blogs that I would say are pretty huge in the blog-sphere, actors from tv shows some reality and some not and a football player, (only one #88 GreenBay Packer). Most recently Amy Brennemen (@TheAmyBrenneman) from Private Practice was online and I posted a question for you. Low and behold she answered me back. I was stoked!  Dont' get me wrong it's not all about star power, I also have actual physical friends and friends I've made since being on Twitter along with my two sisters. I kind of made them join since they saw I was having so much fun and winning by joining in on Twitter parties. It took me awhile to figure Twitter out and I must say I'm still learning. There are ways to filter your feeds so you only see tweets from people you really want to see tweets from and so on. Like I said I'm still learning. We can learn together! =)

This is a testing the waters post on what you know about Twitter.  Please reply with how long you've been on Twitter of if you've signed up for an account yet. What's stopping you from jumping in with the rest of us fellow Tweeps or what do you want to do with your account.  It's your voice and you can pretty much say what you want as long as it's not offensive or derogatory and of course it all depends on who's reading your posts. Do you have a blog? Have you linked it to your Twitter & Facebook account?

Again this isn't a sweepstakes post but it's related to winning in the way that if your successful in Twitter you can win  a lot of prizes answering trivia, doing scavenger hunts and participating in Twitter parties.

You can def be skeptical about the whole Twitter process. But you can choose to be open to it and give it a try just to see if it's something you want to learn more about.  Call it a waster of time or your time to win!

Once I get a feel for the questions some of you might have about Twitter, I will go more in depth into what works for me while using Twitter.

Skeptical Still? Keep reading... We will learn to trust in the process together.

Whoa it's been quite a week!

Sorry for the delay in posts, life has been a little bumpy this week. Nothing serious just lack of sleep and my sweet cranky baby.  I'll have to update my bio so you'll know a bit of my background.

Thanks to my wonderful husband and baby taking naps I have been able to participate in a couple Twitter parties this week. (If you are wondering, I did get some sweet wins!)

Did you "party" or "sweep" any this week? I "ran" into one of my readers a few nights this week on twitter.  I can't wait til her first win! I know it will happen soon! We will def post when she does too!  Once you begin your sweeping journey let me know! Share with us so we can be excited for each other.  My mantra on sweeping is, "Don't be jealous of someone else's win, they have put themselves out there for it and as soon as you do, you too will win!"

I get so excited when I read about other people's wins. 1- Because I feel that it makes a "Win" more attainable to to me as well.  If they won so can I! =) And thank God I have! I share my winnings with all of my family.  I can't wait to send my parents and inlaws on trips!

Have you mentioned to your loved ones that you are going to or have started entering sweepstakes? My parents & sisters think I'm crazy, but are amazed at what I have won so far.  My husband, he gets excited and has plans for the future.. I tell him not to get cocky. LOL  You never know when I'll run out of "luck."  Not sure if it is luck either.. I'm not sure what it is. But whatever it is.. I'm very happy about it. And if I stopped winning, I don't think it would break my heart either.  I'll just chalk it up to what it was, a Great ride! But for now this car doesn't plan on stopping.  Let's begin your sweeping story as mine goes along with it. =)

Let's get some comments going and share my site with friends!  I'll be taking Fri-Sun off this week. Feb 3 is my birthday so I'm going to take the day off. But from now on no new posts will be listed on Sat & Sun.  I've got some reviews that I'll be posting and more information on how you can also become a successful sweeper and winning at Twitter parties in the coming weeks.

The Skeptical Sweeper-
 Candy

You have a package on the Way!

A phrase that will make your heart jump with joy! Are you familiar with UPS Alerts? It was recommended that I set up a UPS account to receive notices when packages are headed my way via UPS. I signed up back in December and LOVE it! With the amount of sweepstakes I do enter (a lot), I forget to check and see if I win. Some contest will alert you of your win via an email. I understand some also notify you via telephone, so always answer your phone. Anyways on Sunday received an email from UPS Notifications stating there was a package on the way to me. The box was listed as 8lbs. What on earth could be coming, I wondered.

Thankfully I didn't have to wait too long, I received the box today! A couple weeks ago on Twitter, a company had a contest asking for a tip regarding dental care. I tweeted a response with the appropriate hash tag. I was notified that my tip was chosen along with four other people to receive listerine prize packs. I was super excited! That's what I received today! 7 bottles of Listerine, toothbrushes for children & adults, 1 flosses (full size), 5 hand held flossers. Totally cool prize!
Point of the story- if u are on twitter and see a company offering a chance to win via tweeting a message- do it! That's just another chance for you to score some freebies! Send multiple messages if you like. I submitted two for this one. And don't forget the hash tag!

Check out the pic of my loot :) Have a question? Leave me a comment or send me an email.

Skeptical still? Keep reading, start entering & start winning!!!