Safe but Affected by the Devastation in Alabama

I have been unable to post for days due to the effects of last week's devastating tornadoes in Alabama. All around us, homes were damaged or destroyed and hundreds in the state-many within a few miles of my home- were killed or injured. There are still many without power and many without homes so please continue to pray for our community. Several years ago, our community lost so many wonderful people and our school and many homes were destroyed. Last week's devastation brought back those horrible memories and while my family and extended family were not injured, our hearts and prayers are with those who did lose everything. I know it seems petty to complain about losing  possesions when so many lost so much more but I was so saddened to learn that the storage building I had put all my furniture and photos and nearly every possession I own in was destroyed. It contained truly priceless, sentimental items from my grandmother and every piece of furniture I owned. Also photos and mementos from my daughter's birth - it is so hard for me to come to grips with the fact these family treasures are gone so when I think of those who lost their entire home and loved ones, I can't begin to fathom those losses. I plan to put a list of ways to help those who are in need - I've been without internet service and most roads were blocked so it was just yesterday that I was able to go to the grocery store and only recently that I was able to use the internet. Please keep our state in your prayers. Thanks to my readers and everyone who sent emails checking on me. 

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Update: Personal Illness & Family

Dear Readers,I am sorry that I haven't posted sooner but due to personal illness and everything that goes along with it like what I call "the blues", trying to spend quality time with my family, falling behind on everything including paying bills and cleaning - I have taken a break from blogging. I also have not had computer or internet access for nearly three weeks-hence the lack of updates. I will work on getting the prizes out to all the winners as soon as possible. If you are a sponsor, don't worry - I will get your reviews posted as soon as I can. I haven't even had a chance to check my emails- not looking forward to that!!  I hope that you all will stick with me - I promise that now that I have my internet access and a computer, I will be making updates when I can. I don't feel comfortable at this time discussing the details of my situation but I know that anyone who has been through an illness or even a health scare will understand the roller coaster of emotions. I was surprised that I still had the same number of readers and I hope that you all will still be here in the coming days. I miss blogging so much and can't wait to dive back into all the great deals. I am also looking forward to posting about health and fitness. If you have sent me an email, I will respond as soon as possible. Thanks to everyone - I'll be back soon!!

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Huge Giveaway Event, Blog Changes & My Rant About the Lack of Robots Who Clean, Blog, etc While I'm Wasting Hours In a Car Running Errands

As you can see, I am making new changes to my blog. I am trying to get everything ready for my upcoming Busy Mommy Must Haves Event, starting March 1. There are some great companies taking part in the event with lots of giveaways for busy moms! I was thinking tonight about how great it would be if we could just do something productive while we're driving. I live in a rural area (as I gripe about a lot I know) where the nearest grocery store is at best a half hour away and we don't even have our own post office. To run errands that would take a normal person an hour, it takes me two hours in driving time alone. I was making notes on my voice recorder tonight about how great it would be if I could spend quality time with my daughter while driving but I can't even listen to her crazy ramblings about wanting to see the dead animals on the road (yeah she's weird) or maybe I could get something that would type up my blogs for me - I could dictate them and then they could automatically post. I am pretty sure that something like that does exist but I can't afford it if it does. I also wish that there was a way to clean and organize my home while I'm driving. Possibly a robot or human who would clean while I am driving around the world to get driver's license, groceries, clothes for my daughter,etc. Well it's 4 a.m. here and I just woke my daughter up with my angry typing so I will be up for a while - guess I will get in some of that quality time now :-) P.S. If anyone has any tips for how I can be productive while driving around for hours I would appreciate them.

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How to Make Sure You Don't Miss Out on Freebies/Deals on Facebook

Well Facebook has changed again and now you are only able to see the posts from people you interact with the most. So all your freebie/deal sites are probably not showing up or very few are showing up. To make sure you don't miss out on upcoming free offers and deals, here's what you do (don't worry, it is REALLY easy)Go to your HOME page where you will see Most Recent at the top right, above the status updates. Click the drop down box and choose Edit Options. You will want to change it to ALL of your friends and pages.

Now you should be able to see all your friends again. 

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Giveaways Announcement & Possible Opportunity for Part Time Blogger Due to My Dad's Illness

Due to my father's illness, I haven't been online in a couple of days. I am now working on a winner's list for the giveaways and will have it posted soon. I apologize for the delay but with my dad's health it seems there is always something going wrong and I am actually thinking about working with another blogger for times like this because it is absolutely impossible for me to post daily when he's in this state. If anyone is interested in possibly posting a couple of times a week on my blog and helping out, we'll discuss the terms if you'll email me at dixiedivadeals at gmail dot com. Just an update for those who may not know, he has dementia and diabetes and it's going downhill at a rapid pace so I never know if I'll be home or at the hospital or home but unable to do anything besides watch him like a hawk to make sure he doesn't wander down the road and fall in a ditch - which happened last week. Thank you ALL so much for the patience and support. I have the best readers ever and really appreciate it so much.

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Upcoming Giveaways & Tsaleach Winner: Win a Scentsy Buddy, Scentsy Sampler Pack, Toggle Bands & More!

Again, I was kept away because my father was suffering from his health problems and in the ER then back to the hospital today, but now I am back. I have several giveaways to post tonight! Also a winner announcement for the Tsaleach Giveaway: Kelly with comment 113! Congratulations Kelly-she has been notified. 

Tonight I am listing Scentsy Giveaways, Toggle Band Review and Giveaway and a great big "Giveaway" Giveaway where I've put together 5 or 6 free product coupons, 20 or more samples, a grocery tote bag, magnets and even some Sobe flip flops for a winner! I have the upcoming Handmade with Love giveaway that will feature a sampling of handmade prizes for one winner and lots more great stuff coming up! I am getting started now and hope to have it all up by morning!!

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I am Back!

FINALLY! We had a huge snowstorm here in Alabama and my household has been without phone, internet and cable since Sunday!! I haven't gone this long without posting on my blog since I started it. I was really worried that I would come back and have no readers left!! I am so sorry that I have been gone for so long. I am getting caught up on emails, reviews and giveaways then I'll get to the deals that I need to post for everyone. Well I have really missed posting and communicating with all of you! I hope that everyone had a great week and that you all didn't have a hard time during the snow storm. We had no mail for days and school still hadn't started back today but they are starting a couple hours late tomorrow. And we can finally drive up and down the roads - they are pretty bad roads anyway so we were stuck home and it was incredibly boring all week. I am so glad that the cable company (our phone and internet is through our cable company) was able to get the phone, internet and cable taken care of today. I will post some great deals soon!!! *If you are waiting on a giveaway prize that was not sponsored by a company, I will get it out to you at the beginning of next week.

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Why Companies Like Mercury and FBM Give Away Free Subscriptions to Magazines

Many people are skeptical about the Free Magazine offers. I COMPLETELY understand why! There are some offers from the magazine publishers themselves where they offer a one free issue -  you accept then you get bombarded with bills and a subscription that you feel you didn't really order. That is because they have fine print that says they will send you the "Free" issue and then they'll send you a bill, plus 11 more magazines over the next year UNLESS you write Cancel on the first bill and send it back by the deadline.

Now. Let's talk about companies like Mercury Magazine & Free Biz Mags. The offers from these companies ARE 100% Free for you and me. If you sign up for a magazine offer from one of these companies, you will not get a bill. Here's why they give you the free subscriptions: Companies like Mercury Magazines and FBM are paid by Trade publications. When you complete an offer for a free magazine like TV Guide, they also get you to sign up for a free digital subscription or mailed subscription to a free trade publication. They are paid by the Trade Magazine Publications to get new subscribers. They are paid per subscriber to the trade publications - the trade publications don't need paid subscribers because they are targeted to specific professions so their advertisers pay for qualified subscribers- this is REALLY hard to explain. For example, the publications for retailers have ads that are directed at retailers. The advertisers know that their targeted audience is reading that magazine because when you sign up at FBM you enter your profession and job title and they determine which magazines would suit you. 

Anyway, to get subscribers for the trade publications, Mercury and FBM offer free subscriptions to a magazine you REALLY want. The free mags like Entertainment Weekly, TV Guide, Self, etc. are sponsored subscriptions. These companies exist purely for purposes of adding "qualified" subscribers to the Trade magazines and they Good magazines that you really want to read are the lure to get you to sign up for the FREE Trade Publications. Whew. If I made that even more confusing, you can learn more by reading about it on the Slickdeals Free Magazines Forum. I have seen a post about it in the past but couldn't find it tonight. If I do, I'll post it!

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BIG NEWS! Dixie Diva Deals Name and Domain Change

In case you didn't see the previous posts, Dixie Diva Deals is NOW Divalicious Deals!!! You can reach the site at www.DivaliciousDeals.com The Twitter and Facebook account names are staying the same - there's already a Divalicious Deals on Facebook that is a clothing company so I couldn't change it over. So you guys don't have to make any changes - just keep checking in for updates, giveaways, freebies and more!!! Thanks so much for all the support in 2010!!!

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Excuse The Mess - I'm Doing A Little Bit of New Years Renovations!

NEW SITE NAME!!! Pardon the jumbledy-ness and general chaos! I have decided to go with divaliciousdeals.com as my domain name! Don't worry - Dixie Diva Deals Facebook page is still the same - there really shouldn't be all that much difference. The old domain should point you here if you forget the new name! I am working on a new blog style and button but it's giving me fits! So just enjoy the deals and giveaways for the day and ignore any crazy looking stuff for me please ;)

OH and 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

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