The Big One

Hello to everyone at eNA.

I notice that many people have journals here, and so here is mine.

This is the story of my sweepstakes adventures. I will not bother to list my small wins because you would get tired of reading about them, they are many! But when I do hit a big win, I will report. They say it takes a year or so on average to win big, so my time must be right around the corner.

Goodbye for now.

It's getting closer.

Today I received a call from a judging agency concerning a sweepstakes that ended May 14th. It was an automobile company, so I thought...NEW CAR.

But instead I won a $100 Visa gift card. Sweet! That's a week's groceries.

Only 30 people in the contest won these gift cards. This is a national with no telling HOW MANY entries.

Big One is right around the corner.

Getting closer still, I feel it coming.

This year my best prizes are:

Panasonic Blu-ray & 3 Movies

Flip Mino HD Digital Camcorder

Sony Bravia 40" HDTV

And today I woke up from a nap and read my e-mail. Found a notice that I won a Sony Digital Camera & Duracell Pack.

Now, on to the cars.

A car company called me yesterday.

Adrenaline rushed through my body as the lady told me congratulations.

I had won two Nascar tickets. lol

Oh, well...

I turned down a $6,000 trip today.

Getting closer all the time.

After that experience I was beginning to think it's hopeless.

But I won cash at 3:11 a.m.

A LOT of cash.

Or at least I think so.

I will come back IF I actually get the check.

Our retirement years may be easier.

They say enter it and forget it. I normally follow that advice, but the morning I won this prize I wrote a note to the company to make sure my online claim went through to them. Trusting a computer program to a win like this was impossible for me. The sponsor company wrote me back, asking for my e-mail win notification in a screen shot form. Long after that, they wrote back and said thanks for the screen shot but it would be more helpful to have the actual e-mail. So I sent that to an e-mail of someone with the advertising company. She has sent that to the web company. And now it's almost a week later. Would have been much smarter to claim it and forget it. Now 27 days after I asked that question, I have no answer, and I don't expect to get one. Still 37 days until they will send out notices to winners in the mail. I wasn't cut out for this.

It has been 70 days since I won. SEVENTY DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So far I have seen no one else posting that they have gotten their affidavits in the mail, so I am not freaking out. The last day to claim the prizes online was July 28th, and they were not doing anything until at least that date. That was only 6 days ago, so I need to be calm. But the pressure is on because I TOLD people about this. If it doesn't work out, I will feel like the world's biggest loser.

On the company's Facebook, there are comments from some boy that won a prize a long time ago that was never delivered. He is threatening them with legal action. I hope I will handle it better than that if it happens to me.

Oh, well...I did win 3 packs of beef jerky last week.

Also won a one-day weekend car rental this week. But where would I go for only a day? Think I may pass on that one.

And this week I won enough online gift codes to buy new gym shoes. Would have cost me $49.98, but with the wins I paid only $14.98.

Been waiting since May 25th, and that is a LONG time.

I've been doing searches for others who won this money, actually found someone and wrote to her. She and I have been talking today. She wrote the company four times recently and finally got a reply a couple of days ago. They said they are now verifying the winners and someone would contact her by end of next week. So hopefully I will know something then too.

The Three P's

Patience

Persistence

Postage (This is slowly changing with Internet, text and social networking. I do not mail many snail entries.)

Thanks to a very gutsy lady in California, the papers will be here tomorrow. I thanked her for lighting the fire under these guys. I was worried they might take her win away for talking that way to them, but they didn't. So relieved to know that.

This is unreal. Finally my older son believes I really won this money. He never did until Monday when he saw the e-mail from the company and the FedEx tracking number.

Awesome! It's a miracle. Have to call my dental hygienist tomorrow because she wants to know the minute I see proof of this.

Now I am curious to see how many other people won this. It will be on the Facebook page at end of next month, so I won't know that until then.

I hear they will be notifying us again about October 1st about delivery of the checks. Waiting anxiously. Have decided to use about $20,000 of the money to put down on the principal of the mortgage when refinancing it at a much lower rate. Will probably pay about $10,000 to IRS, and will save the other $10,000 for emergencies.

Now, today is another really big day.

There is a company giving away 24 Silverados today. There will be people all over this country celebrating. I have entered 4 times daily online and sent more than 80 postcards to this one. I rarely do mail-in entries but for some strange reason I just went wild. I probably spent $25 on postcard stamps. The drawing they had a few months ago had 18 trucks. Besides that there are lots of other nice prizes like gift cards to their store. This is just so huge. If I don't win this round, they are still having many more drawings but only giving one Silverado at a time from now on until end of the year. Still lots of chances on this.

Oh, I won a years supply of fruit roll-ups last week.

This week and last there is a TV show that has a secret word each weekday. You watch this show and go online to enter the word. At the end of this week they are giving one prize of $30,000 cash. I didn't know about it all last week, only got a couple of entries in. But I've been doing it each night this week.

No more news yet. It's getting old. This lady promised one of the winners in FL she would be in touch with us around OCT 1. Maybe by Friday.

I am not believing I instantly won a trip to L.A. for two people to see a reality show. I am turning this down even though I would really love to go. My child can't go, so we can't go. That is that! This trip was a $5,000 value. This is one I really hate to turn down. The other one I couldn't have cared less about.

Someday I will win a trip for FOUR people. No fun if the family can't join me.

Finally, FedEx dropped a letter on my porch a few minutes ago. They have officially declared my win and I guess this means they still have 8-10 weeks from yesterday to deliver the money. That is probably the date of the verification. Was hoping it would be here sooner but I sure won't complain.

We've decided not to spend any of this except the closing costs on our mortgage refinance. That is $3,600. The rest is going straight into savings. I have a feeling there is another layoff coming within a couple more years and this could get us through a very long rough patch.

But that's gloom and doom. I want to celebrate something good for a change! Forget that stuff and try to think positive.

This week I have won a second prize for a photo of my cat. My award was a free box of Arm & Hammer Double Duty Cat Litter. And a lady on our board has given me a coupon for a 12-pack of Science Diet canned food. That was nice of her. I love the sweeps board, where you can trade things you don't need. I gave someone a movie ticket this week and I got cat food from someone else. The small things really help out.

And I won another candy bar. Just what I need.

About two weeks ago FedEx rang the doorbell. I had to sign for a box. Brought it inside and when I first opened it I saw a win announcement that said Mattel Games. I felt disappointed, looked over at my son and saw a frown. When I pulled the item out, I saw it was an iPad 2. This was quite a surprise, and it took me awhile to remember the contest I entered. This one is selling for $630 and it's very nice. This is almost the value of the TV I won in summer of 2010.

Bought an AT&T plan just to see how it would work since you only pay month to month with no plan. Was very disappointed in the service and cancelled it. The movies and TV programs would have no picture half the time, audio only. Why would I pay for that? The $15 plan would run out in days even if you barely use it. Then there is a $25 plan, which of course costs more than $25 with the other fees. I'm not about to pay for that. A few years ago I wouldn't have batted an eye, but now I feel guilt when I pay for things like that. It's so frivolous! I can have plenty of fun with this at home using our wireless access.

The big money win was finally announced on the company's Facebook page. This whole thing has been an ordeal from start to finish. We can't enjoy this because the winners that were disqualified are posting comments under the photo with LOTS of profanities. Some are reporting to their State Attorney Generals. If they didn't cheat, I can sympathize with those guys. Just hoped my first win would be a pleasant experience but it's been filled with a lot of stress, since May 25th. I don't believe there should ever be an instant win game with this much money because there are always going to be computer glitches and people who cheat. Why not just draw winners at the end and weed out the cheaters BEFORE contacting anyone? Avoid ALL this drama! My sister congratulated me and I told her thanks. But then after I saw all the horrible things under our comments I deleted mine and UNLIKED the photo. Wrote to my sister and she removed her comment also.

Got an e-mail after 7 o'clock tonight while watching Dancing With The Stars. Playing around on the iPad, reading some e-mail during the commercials and saw, ****** $250 Sweeps - Potential Winner. This is a very nice online cooking store. I went ahead and made an account there and filled a cart full of nice things. Hopefully I really won.

2 loaf pans

2 cookie sheets

2 cupcake pans

2 large baking pans

2 round cake pans

nice double boiler with glass lid - Never owned one.

knife sharpener - Never owned one.

My son won $190 worth of gold pieces a couple of weeks ago. I called the number on his cell phone and expected to hear, "Sorry, but you are not a winner." Instead I got, "Congratulations! You are a winner!" He had to record all his personal information on the phone. I told him Merry Christmas.

Last week I opened the mailbox and found $40 worth of gift cards to my favorite grocery store. Today there was a $10 VISA card from one company and a $25 one from another. My wallet is getting so full of plastic. Right now, besides those I have a $60 gift card to my husband's cell phone store. Still have about $20 credit left to Starbucks too. This really helps cheer my family up at Christmas time.

I feel sad for some people that can't win anything. It bothers me and makes me feel guilty. I shouldn't. God knows this is the only thing I've ever done well. lol

It came on Tuesday without even so much as an e-mail to alert me. FedEx called around 8 o'clock and said I should be there to sign for something. I had gotten no sleep at all that night and was trying to get to sleep when they called here. I couldn't believe it happened when I was that wiped out. Ended up staying awake a total of 36 hours with all the excitement of going to the bank with that deposit. I have to keep looking at the balance online to believe it. It took them about 6 1/2 months from start to finish for them to deliver that check!

This morning at 2:53 I won a $100 prepaid card from a tobacco company. And last week a $100 shopping card to a discount store we all know and love. Yesterday morning I got an e-mail that said I won a $30 shopping discount to an online sportswear store. Picked out a very cute hoodie for my son with Memphis Grizzly Bear on front. Very cute and he will love that.

A young employee at our gym was eyeing my iPad and had to ask me a lot of questions. I told him I didn't buy it, that I got it free. He seemed very leery and asked me did I not have to buy anything from the company that sent it. I promised him that I did NOT. So then I told him about the $40,000 cash win and he almost flipped out on me. He caused ME to have a panic attack. OMG! I had to write down all the information for him on a sheet of paper before I left the gym. This week I am going to type all the things I have learned over the years and print it. Then I will keep copies with me all the time so I don't have to tell them and take so much time. I love giving people hope, especially people that I know REALLY need it.

On Christmas morning as my ham was cooking, I decided to play a few instant win games.

On one, I won a $445 leather handbag, and I am attaching a photo. It is very large, so I can carry a LOT.

And after that I won $150 credit to shop on 3 different online specialty stores, $50 to each store.

The store credits will not arrive until January or February possibly.

Amazing how fast the bag arrived! That is rare.

This is a gold coin we got today. It's the smallest piece of money I've ever seen, pretty though. Value was (at win time) $190. I read an article online that said you aren't supposed to touch the gold coins, right after I touched it. Way to go, me!

Strangest thing happened a couple of weeks ago. My husband got a call on his cell from a brewing company, and they told him he won a 46" Flat Screen TV with a value of $700. I have been entering text sweeps since end of December, but I looked at the records and never found any sign of texting to that particular sweepstakes. They are supposed to call him this week and set up a time to deliver the TV. I've been winning prizes almost 4 years now and have NEVER been asked to pose for a photo, and the first big win my husband gets they do. He isn't thrilled to do that, but my husband loves TV enough I have no doubt he will go along with their request.

This makes the second TV I've won, the other a Sony 40" in 2010. The new one will be so big we'll have to take a mirror off my son's dresser and put it there. He is thrilled because his is very small.

Other than that, things are slow, as usual for first of the year. Just small stuff lately.

Just small stuff lately, two free meals at a nice restaurant, $75 in free gas, lots of other things not worth mentioning.

But Monday I received an affidavit for an iPad from a jewelry company sweepstakes. This one ended mid-February, and I was a second chance winner. That means someone failed to claim it or theY weren't qualified to enter maybe.

Ran to the UPS Store and got it notarized and they should get the signed papers in the morning by ten o'clock. This will be the second iPad in six months. Hope they send it soon.

Typing on the new iPad. It's helping me to work out at home since I dropped the gym membership. Computers are much easier to see than a book or magazine. It ended up that I had to drive way into Nashville to pick this up at a ritzy jewelry store, one so exclusive that they keep the doors locked all day. I would never shop in that store. Their diamonds made me envious. I did try one on just to get a close look though.

Since then I have won hardly a thing. But Thursday morning way before daylight I played an instant win and scored a $500 Visa. That is a lot of free gas for my husband's car. The game ends the 30th so that means I shouldn't have to wait too long. They almost always wait until weeks after the end and send everyone their prize at once.

Husband has been gone all week long. At least I have plenty to keep me busy online.

That $500 was all spent yesterday afternoon. I had $20+ left and used it to put gas in my husband's car.

Since then, I have been getting gift cards I won for myself and some my husband won on the same sweepstakes. It's confusing, but in the end I was able to go to Best Buy online and buy a Bunn coffeemaker and still have money left. That was a $130 purchase.

Just got a $20 Visa in the mail this week.

And one sweepstakes ended and will soon be getting (4) $10 cash cards from that one.

There was one sweepstakes that had a nice daily prize for a month. I won one of those days and got a $150 shopping spree to a very nice online sport store. I bought my husband two of the Polartec hiking underwear suits, black long pants, black zip-up long sleeve t-shirts. They are so pretty he wears the shirts on the outside with white t-shirt underneath. Was also able to get him a pair of wool gloves.

Since my husband hasn't lost a job lately, we have decided to let go of $5,000 of the $40,000 I won last year and buy new flooring for all downstairs.

This is not a bad hobby for an old lady, beats knitting or quilting and especially cooking.

After winning the huge cash I don't get the thrill I once did. But I still love winning prizes. This morning I won a $20 tool with all sorts of things on it and a flashlight built in. I am sort of a tomboy so tools are fun.

This summer is mostly cash prizes and Visa and Mastercards. Today my husband, our son and I took our three cars to the gas station and filled them to the rim, about a hundred bucks for that one visit. Much more on the way.

Best item this year so far is a recliner with soft, espresso faux leather. It will be delivered soon. Cost would have been over $1,800 if I had paid for it. I got to choose the fabric, which was so much fun. Went to a furniture store and actually felt it. So soft I couldn't believe it. Looks like leather but feels better than. Strange that we had given our son one of our leather recliners for his apartment then I won another.

I hope to report something more exciting soon!

Pinterest sweepstakes are the newest trend, and I have done my share of those. After many months I finally won my first prize, a $200 check. It is being delivered next week. This prize was from a magazine.

UPS sent a notice that a PC wireless charger is being delivered tomorrow. I don't know anything about those, hopefully something I can use.

My son has been living in a low rent apartment since February, and he is happy there. But I am hoping to win a new camper and a decade of free parking. I think he would enjoy that. This sweeps ends on the 16th. I know the chances are slim but there IS a chance. I love dreaming.

What a nice home!

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