Molly's Money Saving Digest Review

I was recently asked to review two books that are related to home schooling. Here is my review of the first book.

This review is for Molly's Money Saving Digest: January 2010
If you are not familiar with Molly, she is a very popular writer that shares a variety of ideas from stockpiling, cleaning routines, menu planning and money saving ideas. I have never read her monthly digest before so I was excited to see what exactly was shared.

First, I can share that she writes in what I can only assume is the way she would talk to you in person. Some of her exclamations and insightful comments brought a smile to my face as I knew exactly what she was talking about when she mentions not laying things out for a recipe and missing an item. I enjoyed the recipes and the many web site references that she shared for various projects, free software and compiles them all for you at the end which makes a great quick reference for the future! I love quick reference guides!

Her creative ideas spurred more of my own as I read them. From crafts ideas with the kids to designing home decor items for way less than you could buy them, I was inspired! Not to mention the best part is that you customize what you want instead of buying something that everyone else bought. She shares recipes and includes a weekly meal planner with the list of what to buy at the grocery store, that makes it so simple to follow. You can print out that page and hit the store. Perfect for the busy mom that doesn't always have time to scan recipes and make sure she wrote everything down throughout the steps. Her recipes are the kind of meals that I would serve, a little unique but not outside the realm of normalcy that my kids will refuse it. I really appreciated that she used healthy ingredients in her recipes including her desserts.

Lastly, I appreciated that she shared easy charts and logs to print out for your finances, time and shopping dilemma's. To help give an easy approach to everything from shopping to balancing your checkbook.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this digest! I know that the recipes will be put into my circulation along with trying out the charts and bookmarking some of the links she shared. This digest was definitely a keeper and full of great information!

My Home

I am linking up to Chatting At The Sky where Emily is hosting a linky party. These are random glimpses of things that make me smile and know I am home...
This is my beginning to having Shabby Chic in my home, this area always makes me so happy as I walk past it. What you don't know is that I didn't rub the top to make it look vintage, that was my son chewing on the paint of "his drawer" after I painted it. Yes, Shabby Chic in the eyes of a 6 year old! That means home to me!

What makes you feel at home?

Where Do You Fit?

There is a new theme that I have been seeing everywhere...it seems that God is giving eyes to his believer's and I have more friends noticing it as well...the theme, the issue...the dilemma is being taught, trained, accepted and validated everywhere.

What is it?

Complacency

What is the definition of Complacency?
a feeling of quiet pleasure or security, often while unaware of some potential danger, defect, or the like; self-satisfaction or smug satisfaction with an existing situation, condition, etc.

Do you see it now? Have you even thought about this word before? It is the selfish or smug act of ignoring...accepting to the point almost of fault.

The terms where I have seen it most is through people readily accepting anything that "they" tell you. People turning a blind eye to society around us that is teaching and training our families to roll eyes, disrespect, disconnect, separate, disassociate, "go off into our own world", and "do our own thing"...or "thang" depending...ripping families to shreds one thread at a time...

My heart aches as I drive around our city and see frumpy, grumpy, spoiled and disconnected people. I long to sit down and tell someone that Jesus loves them but what hurts is to think that no matter what, they might...just...not...care...this is what I am seeing more and more. Cold, hard, unattached people.

"Such and such got a divorce" ... "oh well I am surprised they lasted..."
I do not take part in gossip, but you hear it! I don't pass on, I don't engage in the conversations, but how many times have you heard things like this? Not only is it horrible to talk about people and their marriages but there is no shock of what they are going through anymore, there is no more sensitivity...there is only judgment and blame.

The more I try to move on it seems the more this word has stuck out to me this year!

Complacency in our families, accepting where we are at and not moving anywhere.

Complacency in our work, doing the ol' daily grind...but we forget that the Bible tells us to work as we would work for our Heavenly Father.

Complacency in our finances, we will never get ahead so we might as well go ahead and order in a pizza tonight it won't make any difference anyways.

I am sure we have all done it and we will all have areas to work on with it rearing its head. But as I thought about this New Year, the things I want to focus on. The things that are dear to my heart. One big one for me is to show that my heart still beats. I still have compassion for people and their experiences. I still want to reach people that are lost or have lost their path and need to find their way back to Jesus. I still want to have an impact on my children and not let society teach whatever they deem to be appropriate for my family.

God has been stirring the pain in society in me for over a year now. I want to help bring standards back into society. I want people to understand that values are an actual thing that people have! It is becoming a passion of mine.

I have decided where I fit is "anti-mainstream". I am not like the others. I am not like everyone else. I do not get crushes on male celebrities, nor do I take time to find out what the newest "hottie" is starring in. I do not use the word divorce with my husband EVER! We made a promise to each other after we got married to never use that word or believe that it is an option. I do not roll my eyes and think my husband is a moron because a commercial tells me to act this way. I respect my husband and the man he was created to be. I know that God made me individual and I don't try to tell him his creation stinks and he needs to give me a "do over". I accept myself and my husband the way he created us.(my children too)

The more I see what is in this world, I see who it looks like and it isn't our Creator. So therefore, that absolutely puts me more in line with "anti-mainstream". I should look different from everyone else.

And God said, let us make Humankind in our image, after our likeness…
And God created the Human in His image, in the image of God he created Him; male and female He created them. (Gen 1:27)

Where Do You Fit?

Sarah

'Tis the Season + Giveaway

It is hard to believe that we are just a few days from the biggest celebration of the year. But what is the point of it all? How did you spend the past 6 weeks preparing? Did you snap at the kids, get very little sleep, spend hours on amazon.com searching for gifts, wake up at 3am to hit sales on Black Friday?
I am not against any of these things, but this year I said the same thing to each of those old traditions I have had for years...

"NO!"

No, I will not fret about gifts!
No, I will not worry if my kids know I love them because I bought them the right things.
No, I will not get up early and deal with grumpy people in order to get the best deal.
No, I will not feel like shopping is the theme of December and do it daily!
No, I don't need to spend thousands or even hundreds of dollars in order to show my family that I love them.

You know what happened?

I got peace instead! I still found deals! We had God's favor as we went shopping, praying beforehand that we would find the right things and not have to stress. My husband and I hit Toys R us one evening for an hour, then we went out to dinner and enjoyed couple time because what we wanted to buy...they had...and it was on sale...so it was easy. We stayed out late just simply because we wanted to and the stores were open and we were arm in arm shopping in relaxed fashion!

I have already baked cookies twice this holiday season. In the next few days I will be making gingersnaps, bourbon street pecan pie, Marshmallow salad, ham, green bean casserole, and I am sure many other requested family favorites!

But even at the grocery store when people glare at me because I am taking too long to park...I smile and my older son says, "It is just a parking spot lady, smile! It is Christmas". We both realize together that so many people put the Chaos in Christmas. There wasn't chaos when Jesus was born. The wisemen weren't fretting over what to get Baby Jesus for fear that he would not be satisfied. (Please note that the wise men came by the time he was 2 years old, so they weren't there that night!) Did you know that the shepherds were outcasts? They were considered unclean and were unable to enter the temples. They were the outcasts of society but yet they were the ones that were told and included on the biggest thing happening! A savior is born and they got firsthand news and were the ones to go see him and tell others!

This year we did new things...
We volunteered at a shelter for Thanksgiving.
We caroled at an independent living home for the elderly.
We bought gifts for 5 boys and gave them away for their parents to give them something on Christmas day.
We also have a Christmas Jar that we will find a home for on someone's porch on Christmas Day. (you can read about the Christmas Jar here)

It just occurred to me after reading a short piece from the website...
I am going to giveaway a copy of the book Christmas Jars.
I will end the giveaway on Monday, December 28th.

This book meant the world to me, a former co-worker referred me to it when we ran into each other in a parking lot 8 months ago. I checked it out from the library and quickly started my own Christmas Jar. I am more like the first family in it, not a lot to add this year, but everything counts when you give from your heart!

In the true spirit of giving, I think giving away this book will give you a warm cozy that you will enjoy sharing with others!



























Rules for entering:
1. Leave one comment of what you are doing different this year, something that means a lot to you, or just simply a heart warming thought to share with us.

2. Refer someone and post their website for another entry.

3. Follow my blog for another entry. If you already follow my blog, leave a separate post stating you do.

**Your chances to win are up to you, you can invite as many people as you would like to this giveaway! :)

I will post the winner on Monday.
Merry Christmas!
Sarah

Giveaway Alert!

Kasey over at Lola' B's is offering an unknown, glorious mystery box of items from her Boutique that she is closing indefinitely...There will be 3 winners! Hurry over and enter, contest ends on December 17th! Click HERE Good luck!!!


Sarah

In all Honesty...

Okay, it seems like there is a lot of talk "in the atmosphere" I will say about being real, being honest, portraying truth, etc. On a blog as well know there can be the good, the bad, the ugly, we can photoshop our lives to be perfect or we let you see the reflection of us in pj's at 3pm as we take a picture of our newly mounted mirror...whatever the case may be.

So I thought, as we heard preached on Sunday, Christmas is a time for new beginnings, we always believe it is the new year, but there was a new birth on Christmas. So why not take a few days before Christmas (don't freak out, I know it isn't that close yet! But I have NO shopping done yet, so you shouldn't worry...supposedly I should but I just can't seem to freak about any of that this year! Yay!) but back to my point, to take this time and be real about who I am.

I am a real life mom, a step mom, a wife to a fabulous husband but by no means perfect, I always tell him he didn't need to be perfect, he just needed to be perfect for me, which he is! I have two dogs that I love but get annoyed by who eat wonderful grade dog food and admittedly produce foul smells while sleeping..I am not passing the buck here by any means, I mean it!

I am a slightly addictive personality which means I follow a zillion blogs but recognize when I have spent most of a day reading them and have to take a break from reading them for a while...I love home decor and finding goodwill deals, shop deals and other odds and ends to decorate, reuse, etc. I am not completely savvy, I don't have great vision, I painted my bedroom a gorgeous gray, found fabulous bedding on craigslist in another city to buy, had it shipped to me, longing for a chandelier to hang but not sure of who has the expertise to mount it as we have no overhead light, have silver, black, gray and white touches all over to realize I forgot that our trim and doors are all golden brown...see I am not perfect which is why I love following people like nester to realize I don't have to be. I like reading posts like Maisy's because hey I am a goodwill hunter myself! I have found some fabulous things, but I am still at the hoarder part where I find it and keep it, haven't found the good sense yet to sell it...

I have a door in my garage I received off of craigslist for free that I have a vision for but now can't find the link that inspired me of decorating with doors...anyone know what I am talking about? It was a random link from another link from another blog kind of thing and so the history of finding it is lost in cyberspace somewhere..but I have my general idea to go on. But I delayed with the passing of my grandma and put it off so it won't happen until spring next year now...

Is anyone else real? Do you buy things for a project that is awesome and move it from room to room hoping one of them will become the magical room that inspires you to pick it up and do it one day?

I home school two of my 5 kids and when their public schooled brothers quiz them on things based on speed it makes my insides cringe because I didn't test my kids to be ready for a drill, I tested them for knowledge. I can get insecure about my kids and if I am doing the right thing for them. But that is when God chooses to smile on me and give me glimpses...like when my son volunteered at a funeral at our church recently and I had so many people comment to me about how wonderful, thoughtful, compassionate he is as a young man. That is when I am able to remember that all of these things are not about ME. God uses us in people's lives, we are responsible for what we do, how we do it, etc. But still when I see those things in my kids lives, I know that they may not win a spelling bee, but they have a heart. They may not ramble off math facts faster than anyone else, but they absorb truth, they know about God's love and how to show it. They think of others and that to me is bigger than any award that my kids could earn at this age anyways. They have a conscience, it seems those have been randomly going out of style, but I think even if just a handful of parents decide to go retro and bring it all back we can change this nation! We can work together to be honest, we might not be beautiful, we might not be rich, we might be scared to death and think it is easier to hide in our house...I for one have been guilty of that very thing. Someone giving me their phone number and saying let's get the kids together might as well put their number on my desk, that is where it stays...

I am a social person but I don't set things up easily, I don't feel readily accepted usually and I have been told I am too dominant and I intimidate people, oh but no worries it was my old church that said that about me...behind my back...not my friends or anything. I guess my confidence at that point was high and I was willing to do anything for anyone, funny how someone saying you intimidate people can make you go inward and feel like breathing is possibly too much for people around you.
I am slowly creeping back out of my hidden phase. I am great at talking with people once I realize I am not offensive or scary.

I will also share that I deal with acne majority of the time, I have tried a zillion things, eliminated things from my diet and once something seems to work for a while it quits...heaven help me, it is frustrating!

I will add more and aim to get that giveaway going...sorry I have taken a blog-cation but I felt like my depth of heart posts were maybe too much or not "fun enough" to read for some people, so I took a break.

I want to start showing you all some of my projects and inspire but I am not just a decorating woman, homeschool mom, wife, friend, daughter, dog owner, but I am someone with dreams and I want to express them all here. I hope I can keep you here but not just that, I hope we can grow and get onto a fabulous path of trusting in God to bring us into the place of being the new creation he made us to be!

Sarah