Ninety-five percent of the time when I run a contest I've purchased the giveaway prizes with advertising money.

I've set aside a nice chunk of my advertising revenue each month for giveaways, like a KitchenAid mixer. I like buying them for the audience, because without the audience I wouldn't have the blog or the revenue in the first place.

I want people to see how hard my husband and kids work on the ranch.

Knowing what I'll write about and what I won't has never really been a problem. I won't write about things that bore me.

My days are spent wrangling children, chipping dried manure from boots, washing jeans, and frying calf nuts.

I hate to play the I-live-in-the-country card, but it really takes all of the 'pack the kids into the car and run from here to there' out of the equation.

Ninety-five percent of the time when I run a contest I've purchased the giveaway prizes with advertising money.