Giveaway: Finding Our Way Home by Charlene Ann Baumbich

I'm hosting a book giveaway on my book blog - check it out if you are so inclined! Winner will receive a copy of the newly released Finding Our Way Home by Charlene Baumbich. You can read my review, read the first chapter, and get more details at Curled Up With a Good Book.

Menu for the week of 1/9

Garden vegetable crustless quiche

One of the good habits I began last fall was menu planning. Special thanks to Laura at orgjunkie.com for always hosting Menu Plan Monday and also to Tsh at SimpleMom.net for teaching me how to use pinterest for menu planning. I also use ziplist.com as a repository for my favorite recipes and to put together my weekly grocery list - then I access it via my phone at the grocery store. It's fantastic! Believe it or not, menu planning has become something I look forward to.

It's time to announce the winner of Tsh's e-book, One Bite at a Time! Congratulations to Kristi. Watch for an email from me with details on claiming your prize!

Kristi said...

I like to take a shower to overcome the whelms. It washes everything away.

For the rest of you, take advantage of promo code HAPPYNEWYEAR to save $1 and get One Bite at a Time instantly (it's available as a pdf, on Kindle, or Nook) for only $4. This code is valid through tomorrow (Tuesday 1/10). I have saved sooooo much money just by implementing the menu planning.

The project I'm currently working on from One Bite at a Time is establishing a morning routine and getting up earlier (hence going to bed earlier as well). It never occurred to me to have a morning routine that was for nourishing and preparing me for the day BEFORE I start mom duty. I usually have gone to bed so late that I wake up at the last possible minute (when my kids are trying to eat breakfast or get on the bus).  My routine so far is to read my vision statement for the year, to pray, to study scriptures, to review my weekly goals, and to review my daily task list. Today is my first day with that routine and so far, so good. 

Here is the menu plan for this week.

Monday: meatless tamale pies with green salad

Tuesday: black bean soup and cornbread

Wednesday: spaghetti/spaghetti squash with Mel's homemade sauce, crusty bread, green beans

Thursday: Garden Vegetable Crustless Quiche

Friday: pita pizzas on homemade whole wheat pitas, crudités (bell peppers, carrot sticks, cucumber), strawberry banana chocolate protein smoothies

Saturday: Dovi (African peanut stew) with spinach

Sunday: taco salad

For snacks this week, we'll be eating popcorn and apple slices, cheese sticks, homemade Knekkebrød (which I hope is like a Wasa cracker), nachos (my guilty pleasure) and the occasional FiberOne bar. The kids love these, but I prefer Clif Bar Builder Bar in Chocolate (20 grams of protein!). 

What's going on your table this week? Did you get a copy of Tsh's book? What project are you actually WORKING on?

Fighting that "whelmed" feeling

Sometimes I feel whelmed. Not completely overwhelmed, just whelmed. Do you ever feel that way? It's at those times that I try to most to remind myself, "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass." Or, to quote Flylady, "I can do anything for 15 minutes." Those thoughts calm my mind and help me take action.

I've been envisioning what I'd like to become over the next year, trying to imagine how I'd like to improve my life, what weaknesses I want to tackle and which relationships I'd like to strengthen. I've also been thinking about ways I changed in the past year and what factors helped to bring about those changes.

One of the best things I did this past fall was start meal planning. If you look at the archives of my blog here, you'll see when I started doing it. I've been pretty regular about it, and I'm really pleased. It has helped me save money on groceries, eat better, and avoid that witchy 4 pm panic of "ACK! What's for dinner?"

Tsh Oxenreider is the reason. She is the blogger at SimpleMom.net and founder of Simple Living Media, which includes 4 other blogs: Simple Kids, Simple Homeschool, Simple Bites, and Simple Organic. Tsh is the author of Organized Simplicity, which I have read several times. She has given me great tips to organize my time, my home, my life. She taught me to begin my day by eating a frog (which means doing the worst thing first. I'm still working on that). More than anything, she is a great model of intentional living: thinking about what you want out of life and then living to make it happen. Tsh also introduced me to Pinterest. I had heard of it, but avoided it for a long time, but she showed me how to use it as a meal-planning tool in her e-book One Bite at a Time. She is a homeschooling mom, has lived abroad, and is an all around great person in my estimation.

To help you get a great start on this new year, Tsh is giving away a free copy of One Bite at a Time, right here at Small and Simple Things! To enter, please leave a comment below, telling me what project in One Bite you'd like to work on first. For a second entry, tell me what you do to find peace and soothe yourself when you feel frazzled. If you'd like a third entry, you can subscribe to my blog either in your reader or via google friend connect, and leave me a comment letting me know. The winner will be announced here on Monday, January 9th.

If you'd rather get going on things right away, use the promo code HAPPYNEWYEAR to save $1 and get One Bite at a Time instantly (it's available as a pdf, on Kindle, or Nook) for only $4. This code is valid through January 10th.

I was not compensated in any way for this post. I bought my own copy of One Bite at a Time (although I'm now an affiliate of the e-book because I think it's so fabulous).

My Memories Suite winner

And the winner is Mandy!

Mandy said...

I want the Holiday Magic Pack! Can't wait to use this!!!!

Congratulations, Mandy! I'll be emailing you some instructions on how to get your free software.

And for the rest of you, use coupon code STMMMS55078 to save $10 off the software plus get $10 to use on layouts or packs at the MyMemories.com store.

Giveaway - My Memories Suite Digital Scrapbooking

I'm delighted to be hosting a giveaway today! My Memories is award-winning scrapbooking software that you can use to create digital scrapbooks, calendars, greeting cards, and more. You can enhance your digital scrapbooks with narration, background music, video, and weblinks!