Book Review: The Departed by Kristy Cooper

FTC disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.

I went to a Christian college for two years, and one night we decided to play a joke on someone to make her think the rapture happened and she was left behind.  This was in the days before the Left Behind series, and we thought we were so clever -- there were stereos playing music, water running, and a couple girls who were the least likely to be raptured according to themselves were around but no one else was.  When our friend got to the final room, everyone was waiting on her so she only had a few minutes to be concerned as to if she was left behind.

But what if that happened on a large scale?  A VERY large scale?  In this series, the world wakes up to find hundreds of thousands of people missing.  Most are in America, but some in Australia, Europe, and Korea.

Keeping Kids Educationally Entertained on Long Road Trips!

FTC disclaimer:  I am part of the U.S. Cellular Blogger Brigade.  This is a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own.

It's nearly summer, and the time for road trips is just around the corner.  My husband and I are hoping to go to the family reunion in Florida (and because of where it is in Florida, it's cheaper to drive, although more time consuming.)  Plus I am hoping to go to an event in Indianapolis where a number of friends from college will be there.  We just returned from a trip to Budapest, Hungary, as well.  As much as we travel, you would think I would be an old pro at it, but I get bored easily, as my husband would readily tell you.

Me having an iPhone 7 and U.S. Cellular which has high-quality national coverage is a sanity saver for my husband.  I have always loved learning and I'm so happy for so many resources on the Internet and apps to help me be entertained while gathering facts I can use during a trivia game at some point! In fact, some apps are collaborative so I can even compete against friends no matter where I am or where they are!

When Grief Invades Easter

FTC disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.

I wanted to write, again, about grief and the holidays.  Most people think of grief associated with Christmas, but any holiday can bring up forms of grief.

It's important to have compassion on yourself.  Twenty two years ago, Easter was on April 16, the same as the year I am writing this.

A friend went to church with me that morning, and we heard the glorious story of Jesus conquering death.  I Corinthians 15:55 was shouted from the rooftops.  "Oh death, where is thy sting?  Oh grave, where is they victory?" (KJV)  The triumphant songs signaled the ending of Lent and the start of celebration.  The toe-tapping, joyful songs associated with this glorious day.   April 1995 was the last time I sat in an Easter service without grieving.

Budapest Hungary 3-D Art Gallery

Last month, my husband and I returned from a trip to Budapest, Hungary.  This is a first in a series of posts relating some of the things we did while we were there.  I received no compensation for this post, it was a fun experience, and wanted to share this neat idea.

Many places in Budapest close at 6 pm.  Because of jet lag, we were still fully awake of an evening and not really into the nightclub scene so we look at the lobby cards to see if we could find anything open a little later.  There was a 10% off coupon for the 3D Art Gallery.  Those of you who are regulars to this blog know I'm a coupon fan, and to be using a coupon overseas just made me laugh.

In Memory of Donnie Williams

I don't remember meeting Donnie.  As an active teenager in district events in the Church of the Nazarene in the 1980s, there were all these kids from different churches at events and over time you got to know them.  That's how I met Donnie.  We went to summer camp together, and I think, like many girls, I had a tad bit of a crush on him.  I mean, who wouldn't?  He was adorable, tremendously funny, and had a spiritual side of him that I wished would be shown by the boys in my youth group who were more interested in armpit farts than actually worshiping during the Sunday morning church service.

I never admitted my small teen crush to Donnie, although I often joked with him that I fell for him.  Indeed I did.  The camp tabernacle had a cement floor painted gray.  I remember the ash color vividly.  It was Thursday night of camp, my last camp before heading to college, and I was trying to make sure I said goodbye to everyone before service that evening because I knew Friday mornings were hectic and not conducive to departing sentiments.  There had been a thunderstorm and rain had blown into the area in front of the pews.  We were required to dress up for evening church at that time, and my dress shoes were not a good combo.  As Donnie and I separated from a hug, I took a step back and forgot momentarily about the slick floor. . . until I landed at his feet.  Evidently he had girls falling for him all the time, because by the time social media was invented and we reconnected, he had completely forgotten (or blocked) the incident from him memory.

It's National Reading Month! Celebrate with your Mobile Device!

FTC disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post from U.S. Cellular.  All opinions are my own.

With a blog name of "Books, Bargains, Blessings", you know I love books.  I used to be a self-proclaimed book snob and only read physical books.  But then I got a mobile device from U.S. Cellular and discovered the amazing world of eBooks.

My husband and I have a lot of appointments, and I love the fact that since I always have my phone on me, I am able to access a book anywhere I am with U.S. Cellular's national wide coverage.  Not only books, but I can read magazines, news, and yes, even blog posts on my phone.  I have read more than one book by stealing a few minutes here and there.  In line at the grocery store, waiting at a doctor's appointment, or while my husband fills the car with gas, having a reading app on my phone allows me pull up something interesting to read wherever I am.

March 2017 Life Update

Things have been really exciting around here lately.  Mostly with good excitement.  I've kept my big news from February rather quiet because I didn't want anyone to know we were going to be gone for a while, but I won a big sweepstakes prize on SuperBowl Sunday.  So many companies have promotions on that day, I nickname it "SweeperBowl".   Turkish Airlines aired a commercial with James Earl Jones, and in conjunction with that gave away 10 business class tickets.  I won one of them!  For my husband to join me on the trip, we had to purchase a ticket for him, and we had to pay for hotel.  But still, we had planned a vacation for this month anyway.

The New Sheetz Reward Program De-Mystified (Based on What I Know Now)

One of my most visited blog posts is The Ultimate Guide to the Best Deals at Sheetz so I felt I needed to write a blog post about what I currently know about how the Sheetz reward program is changing on April 5, 2017.

This seems to be the year for changes to loyalty offers as My Coke Rewards is changing and the last day to enter codes is March 22, 2017.   Because Sheetz is my favorite loyalty program with My Coke Rewards a second, I have to wonder what is in store for 2017 with anything else I participate in!

One of my favorite things with the Sheetz program has been the buy 10 get 1 free offers.  In my guide to the best deals at Sheetz I suggested saving your free items for MTO products for a more expensive one.  For instance, I love the meatball and pepperoni subs.  (If you haven't tried the pepperoni sub on wholegrain with extra marinara sauce, you are missing out!)  If I save these credits and redeem them for a $9 six inch sub (which can be possible), then here is the breakdown of what I am spending and the rewards on that item.

Five Great Apps for Planning a Date Night

FTC disclaimer:  This is a sponsored post.  All opinions are my own.

My husband and I love to go out and do fun things.  It is rare that we have a date night that isn't in some way associated with something we needed to do that week, but it's also because we live in such a rural area that we try to plan our trips to the cities near us.  When we do, we always pull out my iPhone 7 Plus from U.S. Cellular and plan the evening.

When we were dating, we did a lot of texting as phone plans were different back then.  Did you know that 61% of people texted a potential love interest within the first few weeks following a first date.  (Funny but true, by the time my husband and I had a real date we were already married.  Everything we tried to plan fell through, including a trip to the Smithsonian -- that was when the government was shut down!  Perhaps my husband should have used these apps!)

What are some apps that are helpful when planning a date night?

Here's What Happened When I Took a Blogging Course And What I Recommend Instead

FTC disclaimer:  This post contains affiliate links.

In early 2016, I decided to take a blogging course.  It was quite a bit of money, but I also know that investing in myself is something I need to do from time to time.

The TL;DR version is:  I got my money back from the author of the course and I recommend other things instead of a high priced course.

Why?

1.  My page views went down.   I recently took the GRE and scored at the 82nd percentile of writing, so my page views are not reflective of my writing ability.  I think what happened was two things:  I deleted tons of old content which would have been drawing a little traffic to my blog, and secondly, I felt very forced in what I had to write.  A year later, and I'm still struggling to get page views back to where they were.