It's Monday, What are you reading?

Another slow reading and blogging week.  I've had a lot of work stuff taking up my evenings, plus the nice weather has had us outside and spending time as a family.  I am sure it will calm down at some point.  I still need to review everything from last week too!

Finished this week:
The Best of Me by Nicolas Sparks
Heaven is for Real by Todd Burpo
Matched by Ally Condi
The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine

Still needs to be reviewed:
Best Friends, Occasional Enemies by Lisa Scottoline and Franseca Scottoline
Judy Moody Saves the World by Megan McDonald
Judy Moody the M.D. Is in by Megan McDonald
Judy Moody Goes to College by Megan McDonald
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

This week:
Not totally sure what I am going to be reading this week.  I guess it will be a surprise next week.

Saturday Snapshot- Legos

 There is a new place in our area to have birthday parties and play.  I am sure it has been around in other areas for a while, but area got one this summer.  It is at a mall we don't go to that often so I don't think I noticed it until fall.

 It is called, you guessed it, Bricks For Kids.  They run mommy and me program, after school programs, open play sessions and birthday parties.  Last month I saw a friend's post about her son's birthday party and it gave me the new idea I was looking for for my oldest's ninth birthday.

 The children had some free time to play, some model building time, a chance to use a Lego zip line and then had snacks and opened gifts.  They were busy the whole time, which is great as there were only two girls there, my daughter and our neighbor.  Large groups of 8 and 9 year-olds need something to keep them busy.

 They had challenges like building the highest tower in a minute and building a tower with a repeating pattern and building with their eyes shut.

 Everyone seemed to have fun.  I do have to say the model builds were harder than I thought they would be, with a number of the children struggling a bit with getting all the pieces lines up so that the battery pack made it actually move, but they really worked together to follow the directions to make them.

I think they enjoyed the unstructured chance to build from the big table and out their creations down the car ramp the most.  All in all it was a fun party that they all seemed to enjoy!

This is hosted by Alyce at At Home With Books.

The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Crystal Paine

About Crystal Paine:

 Crystal Paine is a wife and homeschooling mom to three young children who has been writing on topics related to frugality for the last five years—and living a frugal, simple, and debt-free life since she was born. Her blog, MoneySavingMom.com, is one of the top personal finance blogs on the web averaging over four million pageviews per month. Crystal has contributed to articles in Woman's Day magazine and All You magazine, as well as being mentioned on National Public Radio and CNN.com, in USA Weekend, and Real Simple magazine and numerous other local newspapers and radio and television stations. www.moneysavingmom.com

About the book:

Crystal Paine, who has helped busy women everywhere take control of their finances, presents her most effective strategies designed for families of all sizes and income levels

With hundreds of inspiring “why didn’t I think of that?” TIPS, plus WORKSHEETS, Paine breaks down your goals into easy, manageable steps so you can:

• Achieve a complete financial makeover

• Set up a realistic budget

• Never pay retail

• Slash your grocery bill

• Organize your time & your home

• Use coupons wisely

• Pay with cash only

• Live simply

• Become debt free

• Choose contentment

• Make every dollar count

 

About the tour and giveaway:

"What I love about the audio edition of The Money Saving Mom'®s Budget is that I can listen to it on the go - on my run, in the car, or while I'm folding laundry. AND ... I love that it comes with the downloadable worksheets. I am able to work through those while listening to Crystal speak. So helpful. Perfect for my busy schedule." --Anne, blogger (and reformed budget breaker!)

Celebrate with Crystal by entering her iPad2 Giveaway (a GREAT tool to keep track of your budget!) and RSVPing to the Live Webcast Event on 4/5!

One savvy winner will receive:

• A Brand new iPad2
• The Money Saving Mom's Budget by Cyrstal Paine, audio edition

Enter today by clicking one of the icons below. But hurry, the giveaway ends 4/4/12. Winner will be announced at The Money Saving Mom's Live Webcast Event on 4/5. Crystal will be hosting an evening of chat, laughter and encouragement - bring your friends! She'll share tips and advicde and her husband will be joining her to share how the principles Crystal outlines in her book have dramatically impacted their family life. She'll also be giving away some GREAT prizes: gift certificates, books, and much more!

So grab your copy of The Money Saving Mom®'s Budget and join Crystal and friends on the evening of April 5th for an evening of fun of learning, sharing and encouragement.

Don't miss a moment of the fun. RSVP TODAY and tell your friends via FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning. Hope to see you on the 5th!

Want more info about the MSM?

Click here!

My thoughts:

This book is just what I needed right now.  I am still on the step of getting rid of the clutter in my life and home, something I have struggled with on an ongoing basis for years.  I know from past experience that, when I don't have to waste time looking for lost items or wondering where things are, everything else goes so much more smoothly, but it is also so easy to put off.  I have also had times in the past where I was great with using coupons and shopping the ads for sales and such, but it is easy to think or feel like you just don't have enough time to do it all.  Crystal gave a very clear figure, she said that once you've implemented a tip if it doesn't save you at least $20 or more an hour than it isn't worth the time you are putting into it.  I am not sure that I will be using her tip of setting a budget and then only giving yourself cash for the month to meet areas such as groceries and entertainment, but I do plan to set up a budget and use it carefully each month to see where our money is going and how we can make it work for us better for the future.

I loved being able to listen to this while I did chores, drove on errands or while I was getting my running miles in.  It gave me something to think about while still getting a lot of other things done at the same time.  I highly recommend it if you are looking for a way to gain back control in your life of your finances.  I can't wait to put some of the tips to work in my own life.

 

 

Link to tour:here.

Watch her videos:  here.

Link to buy the book:  here.

 

 

It's Monday, What are you reading?

Lately reading has been taking a backseat to spending time with my family, running and work.  Same thing with blogging, with limited time that has been pushed off too.  I took lots of fun pictures the last few days, but didn't manage to get around to doing a Saturday Snapshot.  Oh well, the books will be there when I have the time!  Here is my week:

Finished reading:
Best Friends, Occasional Enemies by Lisa Scottoline and Franseca Scottoline
Judy Moody Saves the World by Megan McDonald
Judy Moody the M.D. Is in by Megan McDonald
Judy Moody Goes to College by Megan McDonald

Still Reading:
Heaven is For Real by Todd Burpo
Matched by Ally Condie
a number of others are in the works too but I am focusing on those two.

Still need to review from last week:
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit

Most of my reading has been audio books again.  I am sensing a trend!

Seriously... I'm Kidding by Ellen Degeneres

Overview

I've experienced a lot the last few years and I have a lot to share. So I hope that you'll take a moment to sit back, relax and enjoy the words I've put together for you in this book. I think you'll find I've left no stone unturned, no door unopened, no window unbroken, no rug unvacuumed, no ivories untickled. What I'm saying is, let us begin, shall we?

My thoughts:
I enjoyed listening to this book.  I read one of Ellen's books a few months ago and enjoyed it too, but it was even more fun to have her read it to you.  I liked listening to how she delivered each of the stories and chapters.  It was like having  a friend sitting there with you and talking about their day.  She had me laughing out loud at times, but the hard part with audio for me is remembering each part individually.  I'm not sure if it is because I am also doing something else while listening, like driving or running or doing some sort of housework, or if it is just missing the act of reading the written word, but I tend to have less recall of non-fiction audio.  Fiction audio I seem to do better recall wise with.  I wonder if this is just me or if other people experience the same issues.  I guess part of it is that, while it was a fun and entertaining read/listen it didn't actually tell anything new it was just meant to entertain which it did very well.  So, while I can't tell you any specifics of why I liked it, I really did and I was sad to hear it come to an end.

 Product Details

• ISBN-13: 9780446585026
• Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
• Publication date: 10/4/2011
• Pages: 256

Checkpoint!

This week was a recovery week and I needed it.  I did something to my foot/leg the week before and it needed a chance to rest.  It isn't 100% better, but almost so I am glad I didn't push it.  Since I skipped doing this post last week I guess I'll list both weeks here to keep myself honest.

Last week:
Ran 18 miles (4,5,4,4) which is exactly what was on my Smart plan from Runner's World
Walked at least 6 miles ( I don't always track but those were tracked walks)
No other exercise or videos, just taking it easy to feel better

Two weeks ago:
Ran 29 miles (4,4,5,10,5) All but the last five were on the plan, I threw in an extra run just because it was nice out and I had the time to do it.  The discovery I made was that I need to do something nutrition wise for longer runs, not the 4's and 5's but for runs longer than that.  I never take water because I am afraid I'll need to pee and I had not been using any kind of food gel or chew or whatever.  I bought a bunch of different things to try and then didn't have a long run this week to try them out on.  No so sure about the gels though, I opened one to try for my extra 5 mile run just to see and it was so sweet I couldn't make myself eat it all and I like sweet things.  I'll experiment with flavors and textures and we'll see what happens.

This is hosted by Mari at Bookworm with a View.

It's Monday, What are you reading?

Last week I finished:
Tuck Everlasting by Natalie Babbit (car audio)
Seriously, I'm Kidding... by Ellen Degeneres (ipod audio)
The Beautiful Wife by Sandy Ralya (review for book tour)

I caught up on all the books needing review from the weeks before.

Still reading:
Matched by Ally Condie
Best Friends, Occasional Enemies by Lisa Scottoline and Francesca Scottoline (ipod audio)
Judy Moody: The M.D. is In by Megan McDonald (car audio)

I have a lot of books around to read when I finally get done with all the ones I've started but stopped listing because I wasn't getting anywhere with them.  Except for audio books I am trying to stay away from checking out library books for myself in the hopes that I will read from my shelves and make some sort of dent in my book clutter.