New SwagBucks Promotion

 

There's a new SwagBucks promotion beginning tomorrow!


If you're new to SwagBucks, it's a fun way to earn gift cards and other rewards for doing simple things online - like your regular 'Net searches or watching short videos.  I've earned nearly $200 in Amazon gift cards in the past and am about to order a bread machine with Amazon gift cards earned through SwagBucks!  You can learn more about it here.


Now, on to the promotion ...

March Swagness has come to Swagbucks - it's all about you earning bonus Swag Bucks while doing all of the things you’re already doing on Swagbucks. Every day thy’ll give you an earning goal, which you’ll find on their homepage. As you earn Swag Bucks throughout the day, that meter will fill up and when it’s full, you’ll have earned your bonus for the day. The bonus will always be 10% of that day’s goal. 

Be sure to check in everyday, as the earning goal for any given day could be higher or lower than the day before. Your total bonus amount will continue to accumulate each day, and your bonus amount will be applied at by April 5th – this special promotion runs through April 2nd. If you hit the earning goal every single day of March Swagness, your bonus amount will be doubled!

EVERYTHING you earn on Swagbucks counts towards March Swagness – including (but limited to) Search,Surveys, Tasks, Swag Codes, Special Offers, Referral Bucks, Winning TTPTP, Hashtag and Comment hookups – if you earn it from us, it counts towards the day it was earned!

Get your March Swagness on starting tomorrow, when the goal will be 50 Swag Bucks"

Menu Plan Monday - March 19, 2012

 

Whewwww!  It's been quite the week around here.  NOTHING was as we expected - beginning super late Wednesday when our Big Helper's tummy bug moved in.  With company expected for her weekend birthday, all plans changed - and that changed our meal plans, too.  So some things that didn't happen last week will reappear here this week, and ... well, you get the idea.

Breakfasts:


- fruit salad with Cinnamon Almond Granola and Yogurt Honey Dressing
- scrambled eggs and toast
- popovers
- cinnamon rolls, fruit

Lunches will be our usual assortment of leftovers or sandwiches with cheese or yogurt and sliced fruit or veggies.

Dinners:
- Southwest baked chicken, rice, salad
- Ham and cheese omelets with sliced oranges

- Italian beef sandwiches, Guilty Good Green Beans, applesauce
- Homemade baked corndogs, roasted cauliflower, baked beans
- Delayed dinner out as part of the birthday celebration

 

- Johnsonville Sausage House Party!  We're making pizza, lasagna, a dip, baked navy beans, rigatoni, and some sort of trifle.
- Birthday party lunch, chosen by the Birthday Girl:  Cheeseburgers, baked corn, leftover trifle for dessert.

What are you cooking up this week?


For more Menu Plan Monday, visit OrgJunkie!

 

From Couch Potato to Exercise Nut?

I don't like exercise.

There, I said it.  I mean really, what fun is it?  You get hot and sweaty and sore and then you just have to do it all over again the next day.

I like to do things that I can check off my 'to-do' list and be done with - not done for the day with.

All of that makes me a couch potato, I suppose, but have you ever looked at a potato?


They're roundish and bulging and really not very pretty.  Most of the time you have to change the shape of them to suit your purpose, because they're not ready the way they are.

And that's me.


If I stick with my couch potato habits, then I'm not very useful to my Master.  He has to reshape me and mold me and cut stuff away to suit His purpose.

I want to be useful.


I want to have the energy to play with my kids.  To keep up with my house and responsibilities.  To carry around all of their stuff with ease.  To have the energy to put into helping a neighbor, building my marriage, doing yard work.  To be moving my kids into college someday as one of those cool, youngish parents like mine were, instead of the elderly types so many of my friends had.

So I can't remain a potato.  I've gotta become a nut.


An exercise nut, that is.  I don't suppose I have to like it, actually, but why not accept it as necessary discipline that will make my body, mind, and soul stronger and go with it?

I currently have a friendly competition happening with a friend.  It's meant to encourage and inspire us, because we've both realized that as women, we prefer to work in groups  - especially when our work is less than thrilling.  However, it's still difficult to pull myself out of bed at 5 AM and go work out without daily accountability.

So are there any other exercise nut wanna-bees out there?  Is anybody else interested in being part of a group that encourages and inspires the others to move their bodies in some way, whatever way, with the goal of increasing their fitness?


If there are, please comment on this post.  Perhaps we could begin emailing the others in our group when we've completed our daily exercise, whatever that may be.  Perhaps we could benefit from some accountability buddies.

Maybe someday God will work a miracle and I can be svelte and athletic.  While being smaller would be nice, my heart would appreciate it, too.  So maybe someday 'thinnish' will describe me, though I most hope for 'fit.'

But you have to start somewhere.  So, for now, I'm probably more like this:

Healthy Homemade Potato Chips

When I read about baking potato chips online, I was rather skeptical - but not so much that I wouldn't try it.


Try it I did - but I was disappointed.  Despite shortening the baking time drastically, nearly every chip burned. 


With a bowlful of sliced potatoes that didn't fit onto the baking sheets I decided to try again - and this time we all liked the results. 


Now, compared to the general fried-and-in-a-plastic-bag kind of chips you buy in the store, these are going to be waaaaayyyy healthier.  With only two main ingredients, both of which we can all pronounce, it doesn't get much simpler than this.


These chips are rather labor-intensive, however.  If you're used to eating a bag a day, these might not be for you.


If you're planning a pool party with a hundred guests, I'd buy the grocery store variety by the case.


But if you want a good, flavorful, healthy, crunchy chip to feed your family alongside a really tasty sandwich, then these are for you.


Here's how you can make your own healthy potato chips in just minutes:


Ingredients:

• 4 medium Russet potatoes
• olive oil
• salt to taste

Making these chips is really easy.  I recommend a comfortable pair of tongs, however!

1. Slice your potatoes in super thin, uniform slices.  I used my mandolin and put it on the crinkle-cut setting.
2. Put the sliced potatoes in a bowl and toss with 1/4 c. of olive oil.  Work with your hands to be sure that all the slices are evenly coated.
3. With an electric skillet or griddle preheated to 400 degrees, spread out the chips in a single layer with no overlap.  Unless you have a monstrous griddle, you'll need to batch-cook these.
4. Watch closely - as they begin to brown, flip them with tongs.
5. Give the second side just a minute or two more and then remove to a paper towel-lined bowl.
6. Sprinkle with salt to taste.
7. You want your chips to look like this:

and not like this:

They cook on the griddle surprisingly fast, and as they cool, they gain a rich, satisfying crunch.  Yum!

I think I'll go make some more.

 

"Gabby's Stick-to-It Day" by Sheila Walsh

Sophie wants to be helpful - but when the going gets rough, she gives up.  Feeling that she isn't big enough or good enough to help, she feels sad and useless.  Then Gabby, her guardian angel enters the picture.  Can Gabby teach Sophie to attack life with patience and endurance?


Based on Galations 6:9, Gabby learns that “We must not become tired of doing good. We will receive our harvest of eternal life at the right time if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9 NCV).  With this second installment of the Gabby series from author Sheila Walsh, our children can learn that same persistence.


Gabby's Stick-to-It Day is fabulous for young children.  Both fun and funny, with spirited examples of the things children find to quit doing, Sophie sets a great example for today's preschooler.  As a child who's both helpful and learning to be trustworthy, children see that we don't have to be perfect - but we do need to stick with it, even when our task is difficult.


I love the artwork in this book.  It's colorful and whimsical, with timeless clothing and hairstyles, making it truly a book that will remain fashionable forever.  This book is a large hardback book with a dust jacket, and the jacket actually has raised, embossed art on it.  The attention to detail is stunning.


Though described as a story for children aged 3 - 7, I would probably lower that a bit - at least if your child enjoys listening to stories.  With short passages of text on each page and colorful, detailed illustrations, each page will capture a child's attention until it is turned to the next.  


My only wish for this story is that for Gabby's language to be a bit more put together.  As an angel, she appears almost incoherent with excitement at times, and while her energy is appreciated, she stumbles over simple words, which will do little to encourage young listeners to learn about sentence formation.  Picky, I know, but our children are smarter than we think they are - so let's keep conversational slang in our friendly conversations and basic, simple sentences in our books for these young ones.  With that said, however, Walsh does not water down the vocabulary, which I very much appreciate.


Walsh teaches about the roles of angels in our children's lives with this new Gabby series while at the same time teaching important life lessons from the Bible.  Can a children's book get any better?


If you'd like to read more about this newest edition in the Gabby series, check out the blog hop happening now.  You can find the book available for purchase here.


I received a copy of Gabby's Stick-to-It Day from LitFuse Publicity in exchange for an honest review.

 

Sheila Walsh is a Bible teacher, speaker, singer, and best-selling author with more than 4 million books sold. Sheila Walsh is the creator of the award-winning Gigi, God's Little Princess® brand, which has sold over 1.5 million units and won two National Retailer's Choice Awards. As a featured speaker with Women of Faith®, Sheila has reached more than 3.5 million women by artistically combining honesty, vulnerability and humor with God's Word. She resides in Dallas with her husband Barry and son Christian.

Visit www.sheilawalsh.com for more information about Sheila, her other books or Women of Faith.

Gabby's back ... and she's brought a Kindle Fire Giveaway with her!

Meet Gabby for yourself here. || Read what people are saying here.

Enter today - Sheila and her publisher, Thomas Nelson, have put together a prize package worth over $200!

One lucky winner will receive:

• A brand new KINDLE Fire with Wi-Fi
• Gabby, God’s Little Angel 
• Gabby's Stick-to-It-Day

But wait! There’s more …
The winner will be announced on the Gabby Landing page on 4/ 2/12. In the meantime, enter to win the Kindle Fire then head over to the Tommy Nelson site and download the Gabby coloring sheets, watch Sheila's Gabby video, sign up for news about upcoming Gabby and Thomas Nelson products, and much more.

GratiTuesday: A New Friend

I have a new friend.

I've had lots of friends since I moved to this town nearly 11 years ago, but most of them have come to work and soon go home again.  Since deciding to stay home I meet fewer people, and opportunities for new friendship happen less often.

But while subbing a few months ago I had the chance to meet the mom of a new student in school, and she's really nice.  Since then we've made trips to museum and had play dates after school - and tonight we went out shopping for a special birthday coming up.

It's been a long time since I went out for an evening with a friend, and it was fun.  We ran errands, talked a lot, and had a simple dinner out - that we didn't have to cook!

Having a new friend to hang out with, whose children my kids play well with, is just plain fun.  Who couldn't use a new friend??

For more GratiTuesday, visit Heavenly Homemakers.

Menu Plan Monday - March 12, 2012

It's my Big Helper's birthday week, and boy, is she excited!  She's planning meals and arrangements and decorations and bouncing with excitement.  It's so fun to watch her!

The weather seems to be gearing up towards the beginning of spring, as we're to experience a slow warm-up this week.  We're definitely ready to break out the grill.

With that in mind, here's our party- and spring-friendly menu plan for the week.

Breakfasts:
- blueberry muffins, oranges
- scrambled eggs, toast, bananas

- fruit and yogurt parfaits with Cinnamon Almond Granola
- cinnamon rolls, fruit

Lunches will be our usual assortment of leftovers or sandwiches with yogurt or cheese and sliced veggies or fruit.

Dinners:
- Cheeseburger Calzones
- Taco soup, tortilla chips
- Fish fry night! (My Little Man's studying fish in school this week, and this is the way he wants to cook it.)  Fried fish, oven fries, carrot sticks

- Grilled ham, S'Mashed Italian Potatoes, lima beans

- Pizza, salad
- Dinner out for the birthday girl

- Hamburgers, Mom's Baked Corn, birthday cake and ice cream

We'll also be taking a birthday treat to her classroom.  I have an idea for a kid-friendly combination of cake and ice cream.  If all goes well, I'll post it next week!

What are you cooking up this week?


For more Menu Plan Monday, visit OrgJunkie!