Notes of Encouragement and DaySpring: Part 1

One thing I love to do is send notes of encouragement.  It is one of my "spiritual" gifts that I found out about over 15 years ago at the church we were attending at the time.  I didn't even know that there was a way to find out what your gifts were.  After taking the class, all the things that came out as my top 3 were so true, and encouragement was number one.  

Now, have I used my gift to its full potential?...NO!

Have there been times that I have been moved to send a note and it hasn't happened?....(sadly YES)

Do I want to be more faithful at obeying the still small voice of the Lord when he prompts me?...YES!!!!!

However, my desire to obey my heavenly Father in this area is foremost because I Love Him and I want to do what He is calling me to do.  Secondly, I have heard testimonies from people of "how it came at just the right time", "it lifted their spirit", they were "blessed by the scripture", they "didn't feel alone".  So knowing these two very important things, how can I hide my gift?   

One way that will help me use this gift, is that I was given some beautiful cards from DaySpring that will certainly bless the person who opens and reads it.  Several weeks ago, I had been alerted by a dear friend and mentor of an opportunity to do a review for DaySpring.  At the time, I thought how cool to get some free stuff in the process.  However, when I got the cards, I was amazed at the beauty of them and the sweet words and scripture that were written on them.  As I was reading through them, different people came to my mind as to who would get each one.  This may sound a little hokey, but that is how the Lord has done it in the past, and I am sad to say....I had not heard Him speak to me like this in a VERY long time!  

I'm learning that we can get so FOCUSED on our life, that we have tunnel vision, and we can not see the hurting, suffering and needy people around us.  What good is it to the Lord, if we are so stuck right where we are that we can't be his feet, hands or loving voice to the lost and hurting world or a brother or sister in despair.  I am the chief sinner in this area, and the Lord has begun to show me the time I have lost and how He wants me to broaden my view to see what is going on around me.  

I am encouraged to see what will happen and what He will do.  Maybe I wont ever see the fruit on this earth, but knowing I am following the still small voice that leads and guides me is ENOUGH for me!

What are your gifts?  How do you encourage others?

Blessings,

Denise

*The pictures are of several of the "So True" series of cards that I was sent at no cost by Dayspring to give an honest review.  Stay tuned for part 2 of my review!

Molly Saves! In the Powder Room

Who would have thought that you could write a whole issue of Molly Saves with the main emphasis as the "powder room" (aka the bathroom, restroom, water closet...).  Well, Molly does and it is full of some great "how to's", DIY's, tips and tricks and much more. 

This issue has checklists for cleaning the bathroom from top to bottom, recipes for making your own cleaning supplies, frugal ways to beautify your bathroom, and so much more.  There is a great DIY project idea that Eleanor Joyce shares with us about how she took an old dresser and made it into a place of beauty and of storage. She also shows how to transform a ordinary bar of soap into a beautiful gift.  Christmas is just a few weeks away, and these would be a great gift to make up and give to your mother, girlfriend or your children's teachers.

This is the time of year when everyone is getting colds and flu, so pull those turkey bones out of the freezer from Thanksgiving and make some Turkey Stock. Molly takes you step by step through the process, and it is not hard at all, but it is so much better than anything that you can get in a can or box.  If you don't need it now, freeze it and save it for that day when you are feeling a bit "under the weather".

Now, my favorite part of this issue is the article on "Stop Spending on Children's toys", it has GREAT ideas (I am a mom, I know a good idea when I see one).  There ideas from watercolor paints to marshmallow shooters.  They are brilliant ideas!  You can put them together fairly quickly and at a very low cost.  Just think you can avoid the mall or superstores and enjoy making something for your child, grandchild or neighbor in the comfort of your own home.  So click on over here and get your December issues of Molly Saves in the Powder Room or leave me a comment by Sunday, Dec 11,2011 with one way that you save in the powder room, and I will be giving away a copy of this issue on Monday December 12.  Merry Christmas!

Molly Saves! In the Laundry Room

It’s November, and I just love this time of year; the weather, the smells of yummy food, scented candles or a nice fire in the fireplace.  Well this issue of Molly’s Digest: Molly Saves! In the Laundry Room will help anyone out the that is trying to get out from under the laundry pile. 

·         Learn ways to remove stains using household items.

·         Make your own “rolling laundry cart”.

·         Make helpful organizational items using an old laundry box.

Even though his issue features topics about the laundry room, there are holiday ideas, great recipes to make and serve during this holiday time, and ways to have a “stress-less” holiday season.  My favorite is the review of the book “Unplug the Christmas machine” which will help you to refocus and make this holiday special and important in your own way.  We all need to step back, take a deep breath and enjoy the season and not let ourselves get so caught up in all the events of the season that is passes so fast and without much enjoyment.  You can go here and get a copy of Molly Saves! In the Laundry Room so you have time to prepare for this season.

I really enjoy my Molly Digests, and I have been inspired to cook new recipes, learn frugal ways to shop, cook and live, but I recently made one of the items that was featured in Molly Saves! In the Nursery.  Here it is:

My first “blessing blanket”!  I made it for my BFF’s new baby that will be born early next year.  I also made one for my nephew’s new little one who is due to arrive around the same time.

 

It was a lot of fun to make and hopefully it will be a treasured keepsake for these girls.  You can check out Molly’s Digest’s over here.  I hope you will be “frugally-inspired”

Blessings to your and your family!

* I was provided the Molly Money Saving Digest in exchange for my personal and honest review.

Review: Molly Saves in the Dining Room

Is it really October already? Where has the time gone?  Our lives are busy, busy, busy and it seems like this year has flown by so fast.  As I read this month’s Molly Money Saving Digest about saving in the Dining Room, it has caused me to stop and reflect on what is going on in our life.  It was interesting timing for me to get this digest this month, because we have been unable to eat dinner together as a family due to my husband’s work schedule this last month.  It is something that I have always tried to make happen at all costs. 

This digest was extra special to me, because it contains an article on Allergy- Friendly Entertaining.  As a family that has food allergies, any event that is accompanied by food is a challenge.  The article is great in offering cooking suggests, but it more importantly deals with the issue of how to approach entertaining in a polite and helpful manner, so as to accommodate your friends and family who have special food allergies.  I found the information excellent, for those who have food allergies and those who desire to have others over who may have food allergies.  It is a great Allergy Entertaining 101!

Are your kids eating you out of house and home?  Have them do the lesson on Food Finances in the Tightwad Training Camp section of the digest. (Have I ever said how much I LOVE this section of Molly’s Digests?  Oh, just about every month!) It is a great lesson to train kids in the art and skill of shopping and help them understand the cost of the items that they seem to want to slip in the cart when Mom isn’t looking.  Don’t they know we have eyes in the back of our head?  This section has not disappointed me yet, and I am a strong supporter of helping our kids gain life skills early and understand how to manage money in this age of entitlement.

The Dining Room is so much more than just the place we gather to nourish ourselves physically as I read in the article on Inspiration!, I was challenged to bring the Bible to the dinner table.  This is one tradition that I intend to try at our home.  We have struggled lately with our kids, goofing off a lot at the dinner table and I think this will keep their mind engaged in a life changing way as they are nourishing their bodies.

Eating a meal together is so important to the family unit and I encourage anyone reading this blog to reflect on what you can do to make this happen at your house.  It doesn’t have to be dinner, it could be breakfast.  Whatever you do, make time to break bread together each day with your family!

I encourage you to try out a Molly Membership today and begin learning money saving strategies for your family.  This month I am giving away a free copy of Molly Saves in the Dining Room.  Please leave a comment below on why you are interested in this free issue, and I will do a random drawing on October 20th the old fashioned way (putting the names in a hat and drawing one out). 

* I was provided the Molly Money Saving Digest in exchange for my personal and honest review.

Review: Molly Saves in the Family Room

September is here, and it is back to school for the kids, and families are getting back into their routines.  The schedules are getting full with various activities and it will take more effort to gather together as a family.  This issue of Molly’s Money Saving Digest is all about the Family Room.  It’s the room where we all spend time together.  In this issue, there are some great ideas for everyone, but my absolute favorite is the Tightwad Training Camp. 

Each month, I flip forward to this section of the newsletter to see what Molly has to help us in teaching our kids about “how to manage” money.  This is a priority for me and my husband, because we are always looking for ways to help our boys understand that money doesn’t grow on trees and sometimes you have to sacrifice “wants” to supply for your needs.  This is something that is hard to convey to them in this era of “entitlement”.  I think just this section is worth the monthly cost* for the Molly digest because the information is great!  This month it is all about budgeting your “Fun Money”.  There are great tips for everyone in this section, not just the kids.  My favorite is how to save by making your own iced coffee at home.

There are other great features this month:

·    Décor & More: How to repurpose and reuse old items and make them into something new.

·    Great Book Review: The Reluctant Entertainer by Sandy Coughlin

·    Creating Frugal Family Traditions

·    Great Recipes in both the Begin with the Basics section and Meal of the Month. 

I can’t wait to try the “Honey Lime Chicken” recipe featured in the Meal of the Month section.  I’m always looking for another way to cook chicken! 

I hope this review was helpful to you and encourages you to check out this months Molly Digest, or better yet try a Molly Membership for the next year.  Whatever you do this month, make sure you set aside time to get together as a family and come up with a fun new tradition together!

*Purchase Molly Saves in the Family Room for $4.95 or Sign up as a Molly Member and get each issue for $3.95 per month.

* I was provided the Molly Money Saving Digest in exchange for my personal and honest review. 

Molly Saves in the Closet

The August Molly’s Digest is out and it is all about “the closet”.  Perfect timing as usual, since I am in the midst of organizing items that have gotten out of hand; items to put in my kids portfolios, purging smaller sized clothes for my boys and replenishing them with “hand-me-downs” or determining what I need to buy, purging clutter that has seemed to collect and is causing us to be unproductive and a little stressed. 

In this issue, there are so many great ideas to help you organize, repurpose old items into something new, and get your closets in order.  When I saw the office that Eleanor Joyce created in a closet, I was amazed!  It was well organized and everything fit into a small space.   Molly gives great advice for how we can keep our closets uncluttered and provides links to items that help with many areas that have an impact on our closets.  She covers areas of contentment all the way to the places to shop for clothes. 

Love the Meal of the Month for August, because Kerry Ann shares how to make your own taco seasoning.  This is great for our family, because we can’t purchase the packets because of special dietary restrictions, besides they are really expensive.  I am also going to try and convert the vanilla pudding recipe to meet my son’s special dietary restrictions. 

It is a great resource for only 3.95 a month!

* I was provided the Molly Money Saving Digest in exchange for my personal and honest review. 

Book Review-"Notes to Aspiring Writers:Your Dream, God's Plan"

Are you an aspiring writer? Do you have dreams of one day being published? If you would have asked me these questions a year ago, I would have told you “no”. However, in the last year something has been brewing and I do have a dream that I hope will come to pass one day…if it is what the Lord desires too.

I just had the wonderful opportunity to review the e-book Notes to Aspiring Writers: Your Dream, God's Plan by Brooke McGlothlin.  What makes it so wonderful is the tender heart with which it is written.  Brooke is an example of a woman, wife, mother, writer and more importantly a devoted child of God who shares her testimony in various areas which all lead back to glorifying the Lord.

While the book is not a “how-to” type of a book, it is in my opinion the most important part of the believers writing process.  Is our writing and work what we want, or what He wants?  Brooke shares her testimony of the heart change that she went through as she continued to pursue her dreams…of writing.  I found myself relating to her on many levels, but it was more than just writing, it was other dreams and aspirations that I have. She challenged me through her testimony, thought provoking questions to ask myself and scripture to make sure that my writing lines up with what the Lord desires from me and my writing. 

While this book is directed toward writers, the principles that she outlines in this e-book apply to all the dreams and aspirations that you may be hiding in your heart.  I know that the message she is giving to us and the process which she encourages us to take is more than worth the $2.99.  You can get a copy on Amazon today.

*I was provided a copy of Notes to Aspiring Writers:Your Dream, God's Plan for my honest review.

Molly Saves in the Nursery

Molly’s Money Saving Digest for July is all about saving in the nursery.  While I don’t have a baby anymore… (Sigh), I just found out that several ladies in my life are going to have newborns in the next 6 months (smile).  I’m so excited to meet these little bundles and it is so fun to have these great money saving ideas to use in preparing for their arrival.  This digest isn’t just for new Moms, but all those mothers, aunts, grandmothers and friends who are going to be celebrating the new arrivals in their life.  

Having a baby can be so expensive, and I personally believe, after having two, we parents really just need the basics.  Some of the topics she covers in this issue are:

·    Great organizing tips and projects

·   “DIY” projects for making the furniture you need or repurposing something you already have to meet your needs. 

·    Cloth diapers: the article describes cloth diapers in detail and gives you the pros and cons of each type so you can make an educated decision.

·    Recipes for homemade wipes.

·    Making a child’s lap desk out of “Nursery cast-offs”

·    Review of the book “Baby and Toddler Meals for Dummies”

·    Blender basics

·    5 Moms share frugal decorating tips for the nursery.

I would have loved the “fold away changing table” link she has provided, because our home has very limited space.  We used a dresser top for our changing table and just had to get the changing pad to sit on top.  It worked great and we were able to store all the necessities in the drawers and had ample space to make that task manageable. If you can sew, crochet or knit, there are some links to great projects you can make for the baby.  She also includes many great ideas for blessing “Mom”.  After the baby arrives, it is a very hectic time getting use to the new baby and trying to function on little sleep. 

Molly introduces KerryAnn Foster of Cooking Traditional Foods who will be providing the Meal of the Month section of the digest.  She has great recipes and she specializes in traditional food recipes with changes that can be made for families who have to allow for food allergies and intolerances.  This is great for our family! Her recipes this month would be great to make and take to a family who has a newborn, so they can have a warm home cooked meal.

In this month’s digest you get all this great information on Saving in the Nursery along with all her regular features: Pet Care for Pennies, Tightwad Training Camp, Forms, Printables and Links.  The Molly Money Saving Digests are very reasonable and you can get a lot of frugal ideas for only $3.95 a month.  To find out more, jump over to Econobusters and sign up today. 

* I was provided the Molly Money Saving Digest in exchange for my personal and honest review. 

Molly Digest-Review

Have you heard of Molly at Econobusters?  If you haven't, you need to check out her website.  Molly publishes a monthly digest called the Molly's Money Saving Digest.  Each issue focuses on a different theme and is filled with frugal ways to live and save.  The June Digest is all about the Kitchen.   

The June issue features a kitchen remodel where a kitchen was updated using a whole set of cabinets they purchased off craigslist.  I was a little sceptical at how it would look at first, and then I saw the pictures, and was amazed!  The article guides you in how they went about the remodel and gives you tips to help you the next time you are working on a remodeling project.

My favorite part of the issue was something as simple as an Emergency Recipe Substitutions lists.  Have you ever been cooking and realized you are missing a key ingredient?  I have many times. Now I have the list in a sheet protector in my recipe binder, however I'm thinking about posting one on the inside of one of my cupboards for easy reference. 

There is so much more in the issue; how to make your own convenience foods, health remedies straight out of your pantry, saving on pet care,  how to organize your recipes and how to create a family heirloom by personalizing those "family" recipes with pictures and putting them together in a 3 ring binder.  What a great gift this would be for a new bride!. The digest always includes a meal of the month, recipes, calendars, forms, crafts, projects and even a section for kids called Tightwad Training Camp.  It is well worth the price of $4.95 per issue or you can sign up for a Molly Membership for only $3.95 a month and you get the digest along with other specials for  "membership only".

*I was not paid for this review, but I was given a Molly Membership in exchange for my honest review.  I have loved Econobusters long before I was given the opportunity to write reviews for the Molly Money Saving Digest.

Review:”The Curiosity Files:Quicksand”

Are you looking for something fun to do with your kids this summer?  Do you wish you could keep them learning and having fun at the same time?  Well The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC has a great unit study that would be a great way to meet both of those needs. 

They have a series of e-unit studies called The Curiosity Files. I had the privilege to review the unit study on “Quicksand”.

I was excited to try it out, because I love to do unit studies, and we haven’t done one in a while.  When I introduced it to my 6^th grader, he was interested to find out what it was all about.  He read the introduction and thought it was so funny that the unit study was written by “Professor Ana Lyze”.  I have to admit, I thought that was funny too.

This e-book is packed with information, and activities that can be incorporated into any day, and provide a lot of fun in the process.  Some of the great information and activities included are:

• What quicksand is, myths about it, steps on how to escape from it.
• Bible lessons
• Math Activities: various levels
• Writing: process of writing an essay on quicksand, and a fun word game
• Spelling and Vocabulary for all grade levels.
• Word searches, Crosswords, and "Just for fun" section.
• Copywork: scriptures to write (printing and cursive) practising handwriting skills
• Labs
• Activities: Quicksand Goo, Edible Quicksand, Coloring pages, and more.

I think The Curiosity files are great for any family with children.  While the study is geared for ages 8-13, I have to say that my 5 year old had a blast with the “Quicksand Goo” activity on page 60.

I love to be able to incorporate all subjects of learning when studying a topic, and unit studies are the way to go about it.  I wasn’t too crazy about all the ink used to print it out (the borders are solid green and it has gorgeous pictures), but we worked it out, only printing what we needed at a time. The Curiosity Files e-Unit Studies are great because they have it all laid out for you so you can dig in, learn and have some fun right away.   

I also believe that even children as young as 4 would benefit and be able to understand the bible lesson comparing quicksand to temptation and sin.  What a great word picture this is to study about quicksand and

how it can pull you down just as sin can.

The Curiosity Files currently have 9 different topics to choose from at $6.95 each.  There are several topics that are available now in the Homeschool Dollar Store at The Old School house Store webpage.  You can also purchase a bundle of 9 for $46 which equals out to be a little over $5  for each unit study. 

You need to check it out!  I know you and your family will have fun with The Curiosity Files : Quicksand.  We plan on working on more of the activities and enjoying our time learning together.  Have a fun and “curious” summer!

*I was given a copy of The Curiosity Files:Quicksand to use and give an honest review.