Happy Homemaker Monday!

Welcome to my Monday feature, a place where I'll be writing about my day, what I've learned the past week, any new recipes I've tried, scriptures that made an impact and everything else in between.

Every Monday, I will post a Mr Linky, you are more than welcome to join me, all you need to do is grab the button, copy the categories and fill in your answers, then come back here and add your post so that others can come and visit you.





On my bedside table:
A Country Called Home by Kim Barnes
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff - I'm dying to start this one, I've heard such great reviews about it.


On my TV:
Paranormal State
Dancing with the Stars
Into the West - Disc 1


On the menu for tonight:
Portuguese Pork Chops and Potatoes


On my To Do List:
Sweep and Mop floors
Change bed linens
Laundry
Make up the menus for the next two weeks
Make the grocery list


New Recipe I tried last week:
Jucy Lucy Burgers....YUM!


In the craft basket:
Crochet Easter Eggs
Fabric Easter Eggs


Looking forward to:
Starting my new 30 Day Shred DVD from Jillian Michaels, today.


Homemaking Tip for this week:
I'm sure a lot of you know this one already, but I love it. Everytime you use a jar of spaghetti sauce or anything else...pour a little bit of water into the empty jar, close the lid and shake it up as well as you can. You will get all the extra sauce that would have been left in there.


Favorite Blog Post of the week (mine or other):
I have to say Bonnie's post with the grasshopper picture, that was SO neat. Go and check it out.


Favorite photo from last week:
Earth hour

Lesson learned the past few days:
You can NEVER have enough sunscreen, NEVER. Even if you think that you are don't ever burn, believe me, you will.


On my Prayer List:
Soldiers overseas
My husband and children
Baby Stellan


Devotionals, Scripture Reading, Key Verses:

Proverbs 12:25-26(KJV):
25 Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop: but a good word maketh it glad.

The Mighty Queens of Freeville!

The Mighty Queens of Freeville was a great read, I won't say I absolutely loved it but I did enjoy her wit and her sense of humor.

These are the memoirs of Amy Dickinson, the author of the syndicated advice column ASK AMY. We are led through her journey in life, the trials and the tribulations and her relationship with her daughter Emily.

I was able to relate to her in the sense that she speaks of the women in her family as strong and amazing, which is exactly how I feel about the women in my own family.

The book tells the story of life as a single mother, Amy moved to London because of her husband's job but then finds herself divorced when their daughter is only two years old. The switch from married and dreams of a happy life to facing the unknown and raising a child on her own, send her back to Freeville....back to the arms of the women in her family who have all been through divorce and are now single mothers themselves.

One thing I did enjoy was the fact that Amy refrained from blasting her ex husband or even her own father who abandoned them when she was young. I think she tried really hard to be fair in her writing, even when you feel her despair and her sadness and anger at certain actions and situations, she stayed true to her own feelings through it all.

In the summertime of 2002, after spending months living off of her credit cards between freelance writing jobs, Dickinson sent in an audition column to the Chicago Tribune and became the papers replacement for the late Ann Landers. Here, Dickinson traces her own personal history, as well as the history of her mothers family whose members make up the Mighty Queens of Freeville, N.Y., the small town where Dickinson was raised, and where she raised her own daughter between stints in London; New York City; Washington, D.C.; and Chicago.

I'm not a single mother, but I AM a military wife which means that far too often, when my husband is deployed for months on end, I do become the only parent in the house, so there were a times in the book where she mentioned one thing or another that struck a cord, that made me go "uh huh, I know that feeling".

All in all, I really enjoyed the book, if not just for the story of how Amy Dickinson became a syndicated columnist but for her way of writing, reminiscent of sitting on the back porch with your friend talking about life and it's ups and downs.

If you're interested, you can buy the book here.......BUT, I'm also giving away my copy to a lucky reader. Just leave me a comment and make sure I have an email to reach you if you don't have your own blog or website.

I hope someone enjoys the book as much as I did.

Helping the planet and having fun!

The lights just came back on after one hour in darkness. One hour by candlelight, and one hour spent with laughter and jokes and a game of Gestures where trying to act out clues became even more funnier when you can hardly make out the person standing before you.

Why you may ask? Because we contributed to Earth Hour 2009. Just 60 minutes of turning off the lights in your home can do so much for Global Warming and I can't even begin to describe the excitement in my children's faces knowing that they're a part of something so important.

Forcing ourselves to switch off for that hour was the best thing we could have done, we had so much fun together as a family. I'm thinking we should carry this on not just once a year but maybe once a week.

Nicholas was beyond thrilled to be doing this, look at the excitement on his face.

Listening to daddy's stories

Have you ever read by candlelight? I think it just adds to the relaxing feeling of opening a book and immersing yourself into the story.

It makes me feel like I'm back in the pioneer days, sitting near the fire with my shawl wrapped tightly around my shoulders and my book in my lap, with nothing but the candlelight reflecting off the pages.

And now here I sit, in bed, preparing my menus for the next two weeks, surrounded by new cookbooks and delicious recipes from the internet.

It's getting late and my eyes are starting to close. It's funny, I vividly remember the days where I could stay up into the early hours of the morning without blinking an eye, but now, by 9:30pm, I'm ready to snuggle under the covers and get some sleep....which is exactly what I'm going to do.

Sleep tight!

Giveaways!

The cutest horse collectible card game for little girls.

If you're interested in winning a set of the Bella Sara trading cards, please go HERE and enter the giveaway.

I will randomly pick two winners on April 1st. Good Luck!

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For the grown ups, I have a copy of Amy Dickinson's memoirs "The Mighty Queens of Freeville" to giveaway. Go and read the review here and leave me a comment.

I will also randomly pick a winner April 1st. Good Luck!

Bella Sara!

I'm sure as a parent and having at one point in time, been kids ourselves, we're all aware of collectible cards right?

But what if I were to tell you that there is one specifically made for girls? One that is so adorable and so filled with the cutest horses EVER, that you will wonder how you made it so long without it.

That's what I want to share with you today. Jasmine first got these cards when they were sent to me last year to try. I handed them to her and she looked at them and immediately fell in love, she was even more excited because they have an online website filled with adorable horses and adventures, printables etc.

If you have young girls around, this is the perfect toy for them. Bella Sara just came out with 2 new products.

Bella Sara Miniature Series 1 Collection, you actually get to collect figurines of the Bella Sara Horses. They are ADORABLE and so tiny. Keep in mind they are for ages 5+.

Bella Sara Treasures. Ok, now this one Jasmine was going crazy about. They are playing cards BUT get this, they come with codes, stickers or tattoos AND you can play online with each corresponding code. Jasmine said that with the code on each card she could access a different area of the website.

I am telling you, she spent about two hours glued to the computer, playing with the different horses and exploring different areas. When she was done, she actually called her best friend in Virginia and told her all about Bella Sara.

Ok, so now that I've told you about it, I will tell you that the wonderful people at Bella Sara are offering two sets.

1 Miniatures Set (one random velvety horse, a random bonus code redeemable online and a full color checklist)

1 Treasures Set (5 random horse and/or treasure cards, a random sticker card, a random tattoo card, a mini-game, a card checklist, online codes, and positive messages.)

All you have to do, is leave me a comment, make sure you have an email account listed where I can reach you if you win, and tell me which of these sets you think your daughter would like the most. Easy as that. I will random generate two winners on April 1st!