WINNER!!! - Busy Mom's Bible Giveaway

Well, according to the clock on my computer, it is now past 6 pm. There are no new comments in my inbox. Which means, I am going to announce the winner of the Busy Mom's Bible giveaway!

According to the random number generator at Random.org, the winner is [imagine drum roll here] ...

#13 - Tracysweetangl! Congratulations!

Thanks to everyone who entered!

Shopping at Home

Hand-me-downs. Most people have been blessed with hand-me-downs at some point in their life. With a husband who is unemployed, I am trying to be extremely frugal and resourceful. Here are a few examples:

Super Girl needed some new tennis shoes. She had outgrown her old ones over the winter, but she was wearing her snow boots 90% of the time, so it didn't matter. Once it warmed up, and the kids began playing outside again, she needed shoes. I thought we were going to have to wait a week to get them, and then I realized I just might have what she needed in my own closet! I had a pair of cute Converse sneakers which, try as I might, just didn't fit my wide feet well (sob!). I had SG try them on, and voila! She is now the proud owner of some very cute, green and pink, like-new (sniff, sniff!) Converse - which should last through the summer, as long as she doesn't out-grow them! Did I mention they were cute? Out-of-pocket cost: $0.

Wonder Boy has also suffered some recent growth spurts. He is suddenly lacking in the "long-enough pants" department. A funny fact about my children is that though WB is about 16 months older, he is a good 3" shorter than his sister. I have been able to pass a couple of unisex jeans UP to him that are too short on his sister. Since they've been inside all winter, the jeans are not really worn. Out-of-pocket cost: $0.

Lastly, Little Miss has not been spared in this growing epidemic (pardon my pun!). I have patterns which I picked up last summer during a sale at the fabric store. I have some t-shirts which are ill-fitting or stained. I am making her some new clothing out of this "found" material. Currently in the works: pants. Next up: a one-piece outfit. Out-of-pocket cost: $0.

So, let me challenge you to think outside the box when you have a need at home. If you can sew, you can possibly make what you need out of old items of clothing or linens you already have. Scrounge in your own and your childrens' closets for items that can be passed on to another member of the family. Check out Wardrobe Refashion for fun ways to make the old "new".

Review: Homestead Blessings

I recently became introduced to the West Ladies. Vicki West and her daughters Jasmine, Hannah, and Ce Ce are four gals from Tennessee with an instructional dvd series, Homestead Blessings. It seems that some friends of mine have been buying these dvds and passing them around.


The first one I watched was "The Art of Soap Making." It was very hard to not run out and buy all the supplies to make my own soap after watching this video! Topics covered were:

Basic soap recipe

Hand milled soaps

Soap balls

Incorporating herbs, scents, etc.

Finishing and packaging

Soap as gifts

I also borrowed "The Art of Dairy Delights" from my friend. Topics covered in this video were:

Ice cream

Butter

Milking

Mozzarella cheese

Yogurt

As a bonus, you can insert the dairy dvd into your computer and print or save PDF files of the recipes. Upon viewing this dvd, I understand now why cheese costs as much as it does - it takes a lot of milk to get a relatively small amount of cheese!

I like the laid-back, "homey" feel of these videos, and the way that Vicki says "It's a blessing" several times throughout! Little Miss liked the music - she bounced like crazy in her exersaucer every time she heard it! I have already ordered my own copy of their new sewing dvd, and am eagerly awaiting it. I also can't wait to borrow the bread, herbs, and candlemaking dvds from my friends! If you'd like to see clips of all the Homestead Blessings videos, check out Laura Williams' review.

If you'd like to win your own copies of the three newest videos (The Art of Cooking, The Art of Dairy Delights, and The Art of Sewing), then check out the review and giveaway at As For My House. Winner will be drawn March 28th, 2010.

You can also buy your own copy of the Homestead Blessings dvds from Homestead Blessings, Vision Forum, CBD, or Amazon.

Disclaimer: I have not received any compensation for this review. In fact, I do not even own any of these dvds, aside from the one I have on order (which I paid for myself). All opinions are my own.

GIVEAWAY - Busy Mom's Bible

I mentioned previously that I have a copy of the new Busy Mom's Bible to give away. Well, the time has come!

This is a cute, slim, two-tone pink Bible in NIV. From Zondervan's website:

Packed with one-minute thought starters, this trim, go-anywhere pocket Bible is filled with quick devotional content for when you only have a few minutes to seek out divine inspiration through God’s Word. It is one of the few products of its kind organized around your busy-mom lifestyle, helping you reflect on the spiritual side of life while addressing the real-world issues you’re dealing with as you go about your day.

In order to enter this giveaway, you need to be a follower through Google Friend or subscribe through a blog reader. Make sure you post a comment letting me know! This is required before earning extra entries.

You may have up to 3 extra entries for doing any of these things (one entry per item):
* Post about this giveaway on your blog.
* Tweet about this giveaway.
* Comment about this giveaway on Facebook.

Please make sure to post a separate comment for each entry. The winner will be chosen at random, and the entry period ends at 6 pm CST on Wednesday, March 31st, 2010. Open to US addresses only.

Disclaimer: The only compensation I have received from Zondervan was a free copy of The Busy Mom's Bible to review. I have chosen to use it as a giveaway prize on my own.

A Handful of Blogs

I have waaaaaay too many blogs on my Google Reader. Especially since I haven't been using the thing for a while! However, I wanted to share a few that I really enjoy.

1. Pioneer Woman. Ree rocks! I want to be her when I grow up, just a little bit. Her posts are always entertaining, and often educational. She covers a variety of subjects - homeschooling, photography, cooking, life on a ranch in general.

2. Hip2Save. Collin is a young, enthusiastic mother of 3 and military wife. She really enjoys the thrill of saving, and always has something awesome to share! She has links to freebies, sales, coupons, etc., and posts weekly coupon/sales match-ups for CVS, Walgreens, and Rite-Aid. Thanks to her blog, I've gotten hundreds of dollars worth of products for free over the past year.

3. Money Saving Mom. Crystal's blog has some things in common with Hip2Save, but she also has posts showing how to cook from your pantry and from scratch. She is a Christian, and I enjoy that she seems to be more about helping her family save money and stretching their budget, rather than focusing on what she can get for free or little money. She is sort of a combination of Pioneer Woman and Hip2Save, with posts about freebies and such, but also about cooking and homeschooling preschoolers.

4. Wardrobe Refashion. This is a blog written by a group of people who have pledged to not buy any new clothing for a certain amount of time, but rather to remake (refashion) second-hand clothing and other pieces of fabric into new clothing for themselves. One member was making a silk wedding dress out of curtains she found at a thrift store! I find this blog very inspirational, and hope to take the pledge in the future.

5. Cake Wrecks. This is solely a guilty pleasure! Jen's readers submit photos of "professionally" decorated cakes-gone-wrong, to which she adds humorous captions. I have often laughed until I cried at some of these creations! Others just leave me wondering, "What on Earth were they thinking?!?!?" This blog is always good for a pick-me-up!