FTC disclaimer: This Post contains affiliate links
I decided it would be a great giveaway to give one of my lucky readers a Sweepstakes Wins Record Book. This would be a great gift for yourself or anyone who loves to enter contests. It is under $10 at Amazon, and would make a great stocking stuffer
Giveaway is open to the USA only (APO and FPO addresses are welcome as
well. ) Winner has 48 hours to respond to the e-mail. Must be 18 to enter.
FTC disclaimer: This post contains affiliate links.
I have become so tired of hearing the words "unprecedented" and "things might look a little different this year", but the truth is, 2020 has not been a fun year for anyone. So, this might be just the time to begin a new family tradition.I've been able to share this with other families, and it has become a favorite.
I remember when I was little maybe about 4 or 5, Mom came into my bedroom in the middle of the night to wake me up. I asked her what was going on. She told me to go look outside.
The house I grew up in had a huge picture window. While it sounds lovely, the truth was we were on the main road of a town of 1500. Privacy curtains weren't really a thing in the 1970s and 1980s, and we had different people tell us over the years how they would stand on the sidewalk outside our walk and watch TV (with no sound) over the years. So everyone could see inside.
But this night, the picture window was almost magical. Outside were the biggest, fattest snowflakes I have ever seen coming down. There was a streetlight right outside our house, and it illuminated them into something magical to a small child.
While I sat mesmerized by the show, my mother headed to the kitchen. She made some popcorn (this was in the days you had to make it on the stove) and hot chocolate. She brought the bowl to me while I was sitting backwards on the couch so I could watch nature's display. The hot chocolate was sipped silently by the two of us until we finished our literal mid-night snack and I headed back to bed.
It's been over 40 years since I sat at that picture window and watched with wide eyed wonder as snowflakes drifted to the ground. I'm looking forward to when my neice is old enough that I can share this tradition with her. Although, I'm sure at first we'll have to eat graham crackers for safety reasons, but the sentiment and love will still be in our celebration.
If you are curious about the cup in the photo above, it is a Starbucks cup I bought off eBay. I spent a summer teaching English in Asia before Starbucks was much of a thing, so while I usually only buy mugs on location, I wanted one from where I had spent a summer! It is the mug I used for this year's first snowfall tradition.
When I was five or six, I asked for money to buy Christmas gifts for everyone. My mother gave me $20 (probably about $50 today). Even so, that doesn't go far when you are buying for 10 people. The mall that year had artists in the middle kiosks, and there was a man who crafted things from seashells. They were priced right and I bought several for people on my list. I asked my mom to buy me a small amount of pipe tobacco for my uncle, and the hardest person to buy for was Papaw. So I left his gift for last, and in so doing, I had under $1 to spend. I found the best gift ever for him at the grocery store -- he drank coffee all day, and I can remember his dress shoes clipping from the table to the coffee pot for refils, so in my six year old mind, the perfect gift was a trial sized container of Taster's Choice coffee for 29 cents. The great thing is, that gift went down in legend, and when I was a senior in high school, I gave him a larger container of coffee and said that was the rest of his gift from when I was 6. Everyone had a great laugh about that.
Another year, I was still very little, probably still in Kindergarten, and my mother had always warned me about germs, not to use combs that belonged to other kids at school, and was a bit overprotective about my health. She had somehow burnt her hand badly on the toaster. I remember I was terrified of her hand, not understanding how germs and contagion worked. After going to the mall and Hills, my aunt, cousin and I stopped for dinner at Long John Silver's. I always ordered the Billy Boneless chicken meal for kids. There wasn't a toy with it, but there was a treasure chest where they would give you a coin, and you would get a bubblegum machine type prize from the chest. I remember Mom touching one of my hush puppies. I was terrified I would catch her burn (it looked terrible.). I don't remember how I reacted except I didn't want to eat the hush puppy thinking it would turn my skin looking like hers. I do remember that she told me how bratty I acted and how embarrassing it was, and I got spanked when we got home. I remember thinking how it was unfair but worth it so that I wouldn't look like her burn all over my body.
When I was eight or nine, my aunt bought an old Scout. I can't remember if it was my cousin or me (probably me) who named it "The Old Blue Heap". I think she bought it in part to show her ex husband how poor she was as much as having a car her teenage daughter couldn't whip around town too fast in it. Well, since we live in West Virginia, there are a lot of hills everywhere. When we were going up a hill in the next town there was this man running along the Scout waving. We all turned and waved to him. Then we saw him still waving. We thought he was being friendly, so we waved again. He continued to run along side us and we hit one of the only stoplights in the town. He was huffing and puffing and signaled for us to roll down the window. I think it was the gas tank that was dragging on the ground. Whatever the case, we had to go home, and since everything was closed that day, we just went to go shopping in our car, not my aunt's vehicle.
One of the last times I remember Veteran's Day shopping, my aunt decided we were going to go to the big mall in Pittsburgh. She and my mother were country girls and hated to drive in the "city" of 35,000 that is an hour away from where they grew up. So, that year instead of Mom going along, it was my aunt, her ex-husband, my cousin, and me. We made my second trip to Pittsburgh (2 1/2 hours away -- my first trip was in first grade when we went on a field trip to the zoo and our bus broke down on the way home.). The mall was amazing to me as a 10 year old from a town of about 1500. There were escalators, which looked fun, but I was actually terrified of them! Mom had been trying to get me to find a pair of boots for a long time as we lived in the snowiest town in West Virginia, but it wasn't until we were at that mall that I found a pair -- moon boots. My aunt questioned me -- was I SURE my mother would be okay with them? I told her Mom would just be happy I bought boots. Sure enough, that's what I heard my mother say into the phone later.
That is the last Veteran's Day Christmas shopping kickoff I remember. My cousin graduated high school that next spring and for whatever reason our tradition wasn't continued. I always think of Veteran's Day as when the shopping season begins. Some people think it's too early to think Christmas, but that's when we started storing gifts in closets and in others' homes until the tree would go up in December and the secret surprises could be wrapped and tucked beneath the twinkling tree.
Right now, iBotta has a FREE Thanksgiving dinner when you purchase it at Walmart. It is no secret that I love iBotta, especially with the Walmart pick up. Just link your accounts and order for pick up and your money earned goes into your iBotta account with no scanning barcodes or snapping receipts. I've gotten almost $500 back this year alone, thanks to offers such as $2 back on Morningstar Farm sausages. I'm not a big meat eater and I'm less picky about meat if it's plant based, so a package of 6 vegetarian sausages for $1.37 is a deal I will snag as often as it is in my account -- and most times I can get five at once -- and since I use it, similar deals often pop up.
I was thrilled this month when iBotta offered a FREE Thanksgiving dinner. You need to join iBotta, then download the chrome extension. It sounds like a lot of work, but it's really quick to do for $20 of free groceries -- a 3 pound turkey breast, a two liter of Coca-Cola, French's Onions, gravy, green beans, cranberry sauce, a box of stuffing, cream of mushroom soup, and family sized mashed potatoes. (The stuffing isn't pictured in my photo because Walmart was out of it, but it's still in my account for next time I do a grocery pick up.)
Another thing I love about iBotta is you pay out of pocket then have the money refunded to you. So I use whatever credit card I have that is best for groceries, and earn points on money that I get back!
To receive your money from iBotta, you have options of getting a gift card to Amazon, money into your Paypal account, or directly into your bank account.
If you aren't going to need these things yourself, this is a great deal to do and donate to someone who can't afford it. I remember what it was like to not be able to afford a turkey at Christmas or Thanksgiving before I got into couponing, and I know it would be greatly appreciated by some people, especially with the pandemic and people being out of work.
This week I am giving away a copy of The Power of a Praying Woman by Stormie Omartian. I received this in the Butterfly Box I reviewed recently and I already have a copy of this book. This edition I am giving away is an imitation leather, teal colored. It has a ribbon bookmark. It would make a great Christmas gift!
This giveaway is open to the USA and APO / FPO addresses. You must be 18 or older to enter, and ends November 16 at 11:59 pm Eastern.
There are many ways to gain entries. Have fun, and good luck!
FTC disclaimer: I received a free Butterfly Box in exchange for this post.
I never have subscribed to a subscription box, but I love to watch unboxing videos on Youtube. Life got in the way (as well as hair that I haven't had professionally cut in over a year), a bit of a reaction to my flu shot, and I didn't get an unboxing videoed.
Each box contains 5 - 6 items each month. Items go through a rigorous selection process so I am told. I am not sure exactly what that means, but each month has a particular theme. I am assuming my box was centered around the theme of prayer.
When I opened my sample box, the first thing I found was small packets of tea. Who doesn't love tea? You might wonder why tea in a Christian women's subscription box, but all their items are faith based or support Christian owned businesses. The tea is super cool! Its called Tea Drops I got white tea vanilla bean and Sweet Peppermint. They are really drops! They dissolve when you make them. How cool is that? (I would have been happy if the box was totally tea, but there was more to explore!) When I went to the website of the company that made the drops I was really surprised to see a big banner ad for teas for zodiac signs since most Christians are against astrology, but the tea was fantastic, so that's just an interesting side I discovered.
The next item was a small little bracelet called "My Prayer Bracelet: a reminder to pray for joy". it has a little butterfly on it, and the Bible verse of Romans 12:12 on the card. My first thought when I saw it was how nice it would be to give to someone who is going through a tough time as a token for them to know you are praying for them.
When I brushed away the paper crinkles to see what else was in the box, I saw it was a book. One of my issues with books is I have read so many books it is hard to find a book I haven't read when it comes to Christian women. The book was a gift edition of The Power of a Praying Woman by Stormie Omartian. Not only have I read this book, but I have read it several times and even have read a number of her other "The Power of a Praying ____" books. I will be giving away this book soon here on my blog. It's nice, would make a nice gift, but it's not something new to me, as I already have this book in paperback. (This one is imitation leather with a bookmark ribbon and does contain new material, but since I have a huge backlog of books I want to read, I'm going to pass this on to someone else.)
The final item in the box was a journal. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE journals. This one is spiral bound and lays flat. (My favorite). It is hardcover, lined pages, and it says "Be Still and Know". I love notebooks and journals of all types. I've been more diligent about keeping a journal of my day to day stuff this year because I figure that since we are in the middle of a pandemic, it will be a great historic record someday. But I use journals and notebooks for all kinds of stuff. Lists, journals, keeping records of things, etc. So I was very happy with the journal (and especially so since it's the exact type I prefer.)
FTC disclaimer: I received a free planner in exchange for this review.
It's no secret to anyone who knows me how much I love planners, calendars, and stickers to put on them. I have a huge box of washi tape to decorate my planner, and even keep some of my older calendars that I love to reuse in the future. I was in 1st grade when I received my first calendar as a
So when I was asked if I wanted to review the Spiritual Seeds Planner, I was so excited. I started using a planner over 30 years ago when I was in highschool. It tucked easily in my backpack and helped me remember everything from when Bible quiz meets were to when I had to take the SAT. Since that time, I have bought a new planner each year, but I've never seen one quite like the Spiritual Seeds Planner.
If you are a Christian woman, I highly recommend this planner. It's about 7 inches across and 10 inches high which also makes it ideal for college students. (Think Christmas gift!). You can get it in various colors, but I chose "Grapefruit Pink". The cover is embossed with a tree that highlights the Fruit of the Spirit as described in Galatians. (Who remembers learning these with "The Fruit of the Spirit's Not a Banana" song?) There is also a ribbon bookmark, blank pages for notes, and a vision board.
There is a two page spread of Fruit Vision at the beginning, and at each month there is a prayer and "Monthly Plotting" on how you prayerfully want to develop that Fruit of the Spirit of the month.
This is a weekly planner, and the side bar of each week gives a life to do and work to do list, as well as a place you can write down what Fruit of the Spirit you are focusing on that week.
In addition to the planner, you can also purchase sticky notepads that coordinate with the planner or stickers.
I received the Teen Challenge pack which included the planner, a tote bag, stickers, and a pencil pouch. For each Teen Challenge pack purchased a planner is donated to an adult or Teen who is in the Pacific Northwest Teen Challenge program.
I have a special coupon code for you if you want to purchase a planner -- just go to https://spiritualseedsplanner.com/ and enter code FRUITOFTHESPIRIT for 20% off. This would make the planner $28 plus shipping or the planner / sticker book combo $40 plus shipping.
Also, you can enter to win one by going to
https://www.blessedfreebies.com/spiritual-seeds-planner.html
The giveaway ends October 25, 200 and the winner will have two weeks to respond. Just click below to enter!
