Our School Won from U.S. Cellular! Yours could Too!

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

U.S. Cellular offers a FREE PRINTABLE Parent Child agreement to help you discuss safety of the Internet, cell phone usage, limits, and courtesy with your teen or tween.  You don't even need to be a U.S. Cellular customer to access this, although I have been for 10 years and highly recommend them. 

Do you know a school that could use an extra $25,000?  What would your school be able to do with that?  New computers?  Equipment for classes that have been affected by budget cuts?   Making the playground safer or even putting in a handicapped playground?  I'm sure every school in the country would love $25,000 so if you are interested, read on!

In 2009, it was the first year of U.S. Cellular's Calling All Communities contest.  Locally, it was everywhere.  It was in the newspaper.  I heard about it on the radio.  There were signs up in our community.  Our high school decided they were going to rally the community and see if they could win part of the prize money.  Of course, it made front page news when a representative from U.S. Cellular handed a representative from Preston High School in Kingwood, WV a check for $100,000.  If you think about contests and sweepstakes that no one really wins those things, think again, you can find Preston High on the list of winners at the U.S. Cellular website.  The students really helped get the word out to the community asking for votes for our school, and the teens were asked where they would like to see the money applied from a few ideas that were pre-approved.  It was used for new technology.  Can you imagine the impact that much money could have in updating computer equipment and even tablets for a school?

You can watch when U.S. Cellular told the students and faculty at Preston High right here:



Isn't that amazing?   The excitement is just contagious!

Since Calling All Communities started in 2009, U.S. Cellular has awarded over $4 million to 56 schools across the nation.  The reason they do this is U.S. Cellular believes in being active in the community and wants to give back while encouraging the community to work together towards a common goal.

A few things have changed in the U.S. Cellular Calling All Communities campaign since its inception and my original experience with it.  Now, twenty schools will each win $25,000!  It's out there just waiting to be won!  Think how many bake sales it would take to raise that much money!  Once the campaign launches there will be flyers you can print from the U.S. Cellular website, and think how fun it would be for the band or sports teams to hand out this information!  Students could even ask local businesses if they could leave a flyer there.  You can post the link on your school's website.  Don't forget about social media.  Asking friends and family to vote for your school by posting a link as an update is a great way to spread the word!  Maybe you could get administration involved by promising if your school wins the contest they will be willing to go in a dunk tank.  (What student wouldn't love dunking the principal?  I know I would have been a hit when I was little!)

Details:

• The Calling All Communities Campaign runs from November 4-25
• One vote per person.
• You can find out more including complete official rules at U.S. Cellular Calling All Communities or if you live in my local area at these U.S. Cellular locations:

248 Walmart Drive Kingwood West Virginia
12451 Garrett Highway Oakland, Maryland

Do you have a school you would like to see share in this year's award money?  What would they do with $25,000?

Book Review: Chasing Francis

Chasing Francis: A Pilgrim's Tale by Ian Morgan Cron

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Chase Falson is a successful church planter whose church has grown over the years.  He is respected and admired.  Then a little girl in his church dies unexpectedly and it all crumbles.  He admits from the pulpit he isn’t sure what he has been teaching is what he believes.  He’s honest.  He bares his soul.  He’s relieved of his duties so he can “pull himself together.”

Chase calls his uncle who is a priest in Italy and embarks on a journey which takes him from caves to Rome to a musical concert.  He explores faith.  He learns about St. Francis, and he develops new ideas about himself as well as God.

This is one of the best fiction books I’ve ever read.  I’ve recommended it to others, and the question that is proposed in it has haunted me.  What if faith is to be a approached as a community and not focused so much on as a personal journey.  What would that look like lived out in today’s world?

Chase takes this question to heart.  The ending surprised me, and like any good book left me wanting more.  I would hope that the author would write a sequel.  I could relate with Falson in the fact he was disillusioned with the faith he had become so comfortable with, and I’d love to see how the author would tackle living the faith in the United States that Chase embraces while following in the footsteps of St. Francis.

An added bonus to this book is you will learn more about the life of St. Francis without realizing it as these tidbits are woven seamlessly into the story. 

I have been enjoying spiritual memoirs this year, and while this book is fictional, it almost feels like it could fit into that category.  I can’t recommend this book highly enough and I’m still pondering its message and the truths it contains about life, faith, and church.

FTC disclosure:  I received an advance reading copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Woolzies Dryer Balls

I like to take time to write a good review.  Tonight I remembered this one was due.  My mother is in the hospital and I have been preoccupied for the last couple weeks, but I still have had to do laundry.  When I received the box of six Woolzies Dryer Balls I threw them in the dryer.  There they have stayed.  I have never timed how long it takes for a load of laundry so I'm not sure if that really reduces drying time or not as the company claims.  Likely it does because it makes sense to me!  I just throw a load in and get it at a later point in time and I honestly have no clue how long it takes. 

However, I have lots of allergies and I can't use fabric softener.  The Woolzies Dryer Balls were perfect for me because of that.  They make a great re-usable fabric softener.  I can't use fabric softener, but I had a house guest who said they were fantastic because they were fragrance free and they softened some fabrics that traditional fabric softeners don't.

Because of them being reusable, they are economical as they are guaranteed for 1000 loads.  How much would you spend for traditional fabric softener to do 1000 loads of laundry?  Much more than the price of a box of Woolzies.

Do I recommend this product?  Yes.  Because of the events of the last couple weeks I haven't done as much laundry as usual but I have been pleased with the way my clothes are fragrance free -- and for one of the first times ever my clothes are soft because I have never been able to use traditional fabric softener.

I received one or more of the products mentioned above for free using Tomoson.com. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will be good for my readers.

Book Review: Consuming The Word

Consuming the Word: The New Testament and the Eucharist in the Early Church by Scott Hahn

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


When I was in high school, I was the top Bible quizzer for the northern half of my state.  We had to memorize an entire book of the Bible and be able to answer some of the most obscure references out of it and give chapter and verse.  But did you realize that chapter and verses were not part of the original text?  St. Matthew wrote his book as a whole, and someone added the divisions later.  I knew that for some time.

What I didn’t realize until much later was the same is true for the Bible.  Dr. Scott Hahn in his book Consuming The Word explains that the Bible was written as a whole.  The early Christians didn’t see a huge division between the Old and New Testaments as we often do now.  I’ve heard people say, “Oh, that’s not important because it’s only in the Old Testament.”   Can we honestly say that anything in the Word of God is not important? 

Dr. Hahn explains how the Bible as we know it came to be.  This is something that growing up Protestant I never really understood.  It was just told to us that the Bible was the Word of God and for all I knew it was always in the exact form we have now.  Imagine my surprise when I saw that Catholics accept more books in their Bible than most Protestants do!  Dr. Hahn explains why this is as well as explains the lectionary, which is another thing I never knew anything about in my Protestant tradition as a child.

This is an excellent book about the Bible as the early Church knew it and how they saw the Eucharist as the New Testament.  I have enjoyed every book I have read by this author, and this one is no exception.  As someone approaching the Catholic tradition with a strong background in Scripture, this was a wonderful book for me to continue to understand how Jesus is the Word, the Word became flesh, and how the Eucharist relates.  I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in Catholic theology or if you have an interest in the early Church.

FTC disclosure:  I received a free copy of this book from the publisher.  All opinions are my own.

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You can purchase this book here:

Book Review: Why Diets Don't Work

Why Diets Don't Work: Food Is Not the Problem by Joyce Tilney

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


Losing weight is all about balance.  There’s a balance of eating right, exercise, and the spiritual aspect of it.  That said, I was excited to be able to review the book “Why Diets Don’t Work Food is Not the Problem”.  My excitement, however, was short lived.  This is nothing but a book on the spiritual aspect of losing weight.  I don’t believe you can only focus on one aspect of something and expect results.  Exercise is not mentioned until page 83 (out of 84 pages of text, not including appendices.)  Even then what is said about exercise is the author “heard the words”  (I’m assuming from God but it doesn’t say) to “walk on purpose for His purpose”  (whatever that means!) and she followed.

On page 62 she admits she has never studied nutrition.  Let me remind you the title of the book is “Diets Don’t Work:  Food is Not the Problem”.  If she never studied nutrition, I question anything she states in this book because if I am looking for information on weight loss I believe it needs to include nutritional information.  One piece of advice she has is to say aloud, “No, devil, I’m not hungry.”  (page 37)

On page 17, she asks how did we “get saved?”.  The answer she gave was based solely on Romans 10:10 but her emphasis is on us.  “The words we spoke out of our moth had the power to deliver us from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light” [sic]  While that is what Romans 10:10 says, I believe this is prooftexting because the author’s statement leads me to believe OUR words are responsible for our salvation.  If that is the case, why did Jesus even die for us?  Ephesians 2:8 tells us it is by faith we have been saved and not by works, that it is the work of God and no human can boast.  It appears she put the emphasis on us speaking rather than on God doing the actual work of giving us salvation.

This book could also use some editing.  The author never uses the Oxford comma and because of her excessive use of three items in a row that made me pause nearly every time wondering if the last two were combined or if she meant three different ideas.  The phrase “lightbulb moment” was used more than it should have been in a book this size.  A final note, if you are not familiar with Pentecostal terminology you may not find this book easy to read as she often uses phrases that are more unique to those churches, nor do I need to hear rhyming phrases.  (An example is on page 10 “A lack of perception leads to deception.”)  This book may make a good sermon with cute phrases, but as something to read, it fell short.

FTC disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are my own.

My Samsung Galaxy S 4

FTC disclosure:  I am a U.S. Cellular Better Moments Brigade Blogger and received compenstation for this post.  All opinions are my own.

U.S. Cellular offers a FREE PRINTABLE Parent Child agreement to help you discuss safety of the Internet, cell phone usage, limits, and courtesy with your teen or tween.  You don't even need to be a U.S. Cellular customer to access this, although I have been for 10 years and highly recommend them. 


I upgraded to the Samsung Galaxy S4 in June.  My friends were quite happy that I did because I had complained for about two years about my previous phone.  My Samsung Galaxy S4 is a dream.   I have used it in six states thus far and have had only great experiences with it.

Book Review: Set Free The Authentic Catholic Woman's Guide to Forgiveness

 

FTC Disclaimer:  I received a copy of this book to review from The Catholic Company.

Who do you need to forgive?  Many times the top people on the list of people we need to forgive is ourselves and our parents, yet those are often people we overlook when we start thinking about who we need to extend our forgiveness.

In this beautifully written book, Genevieve Kineke takes us on a journey of forgiveness.  In just 145 pages and seventeen chapters she shows us the healing that can take place if we but extend grace to others.  We aren't perfect, yet sometimes we expect or at least hope others to be.  

This book was a joy to read, and I believe it will help many women who are struggling with bitterness.  Just the way it was written seemed to be soothing to read as she shares her heart about how we can bring ourselves closer to God by forgiving others.  She doesn't pretend that this is easy, she acknowledges the difficulty and the heartbreak of situations that we need to fully give over to God.  She mentions sexual abuse, an accident that might be over in a minute to the person who caused it but leave behind a lifetime of pain for the victim, and she even talks about when the person who hurt you does not apologize nor acknowledge the harm that was caused.

As someone who did not grow up Catholic, I was surprised when she mentioned how if we are disappointed and hurt by our earthly mother, we can look to Mary as the perfect Mother.  I'd heard about turning to our Heavenly Father to make up for what we were lacking in an early parent, but had never heard of seeing Mary as someone who could help heal wounds.

Another passage from this book that really stuck with me was how the author mentioned that some churches are excellent in trying to keep people from sinning, but only the Catholic Church has a way for them to express their guilt and know they are forgiven.  As someone who didn't grow up going to confession this is something that really rang true to me.  I remember once thinking how wonderful it would be to have someone say to me that I was forgiven of my sins.  Although I know that God forgives sometimes hearing it does wonders, and I liked that she made that point.

I highly recommend this book and give it five stars.  If you or someone you know is struggling with trying to forgive someone, this is the book for you.

This review was written as part of the Catholic book reviewer program from The Catholic Company. Visit The Catholic Company to find more information on Set Free.   The Catholic Company is the best resource for all your seasonal needs such as First Communion Gifts as well as ideas and gifts for the special papal Year of Faith.

Are You Pressing the Lever on McDonald's Monopoly?

I love entering sweepstakes.  I love the thrill of winning, the hope of winning, just imaging I might win.  It's McDonald's Monopoly time again, and so I will eat at McDonalds maybe once or twice with the hope of winning something.

But did you know that you can send off for free game pieces?  Do the math.  You can send off for game pieces with a self-addressed stamped envelope, costing around $1.00 in postage, plus the cost of the envelopes.  Or get the same amount of game pieces by buying large fries ($2.09).  Of course you would get the fries, but who needs almost half a day's amount of calories to get a couple game pieces?

The rules say 1 in 4 win.  Last year I sent off for a number of game pieces, as I have done in years past.  In previous years I won more food than I could eat (and ate more than I should!)  I won nothing larger than an Extra Value Meal, but I still won tons of food when I sent for thousands of game pieces.  (Of course this was YEARS ago when they had the Best Buy dollars with the pieces and I had quite a bit I was able to spend at Best Buy, but I'm talking just the Monopoly section of game.)  This meant I ate at McDonalds a lot more often, and in so doing that wasn't a good choice nutritionally to eat there so much even if it was free.  After all, keep in mind the results of the University of Wisconsin study that showed that while upsizing a meal costs 67 cents at the register, over a lifetime it costs up to $7.72 in added medical costs.  Is that really a value for your 67 cents?  You can read that study here.

This week I had some free egg white McMuffin coupons if you made a purchase.  So I decided that my mother and I would use them.  We each ordered a hash brown, and an egg white McMuffin.  We did this two different days.  We did not order drinks.  Had we not had the coupons, I would have paid right about $15 for four muffins and four hash browns.  So paying $4.24 wasn't bad in terms of financial outlay when we got breakfast.

Each food item had two game pieces on it, for a total of sixteen pieces.  From those, I won three medium fries.  (value $1.69 if you are going to be eating fries.  I'm trying to go for healthier options overall these days.  This size fries has 380 calories in it.)  I also played all my codes online and won a Redbox movie rental.  (Value $1.50, but I won't use it so will give it to a friend.) 

The odds of winning are remote.  I think many times people don't realize how remote it is because there's the "reward" of free fries.  I studied psychology in school and I remember a study where if a rat was fed at random times when it pressed a lever,  it would press the bar much more often than a rat that was fed when it pressed the lever every X number of times.  So we peel a game piece, win free fries, and we're ready to press the lever again, so to speak, since we're rewarded at random intervals.   What if we knew that we'd only win every other time we visited?  Or every third time?   In addition, there's the collect and win, and while I know people who have won cars, cash, trips in sweepstakes I don't know ANYONE who has won in the collect and win portion of McDoanlds Monopoly.  But we peel a game piece and we get excited because we don't have Pacific yet, and we faithfully paste it to our board feeling accomplished even though we'll likely never see the rare game piece that will allow us to win a sports trip we probably might not even want to pay taxes on.  You will also see posts on Facebook with people asking for a rare game piece and saying they have the others in the grouping and if you have the piece they need, then they will split the prize with you.  (Having a rare game piece is the only reason I would say to start eating at McDonalds until you get the other pieces you need, but the easiest prize to win in the collect and win game has odds of 1 in 152,520,645.  It goes up to 1 in 5,945,378,686.)  That's almost one in six billion.  Your odds of winning Powerball are much better than that!

Read the rules of a contest, see what the odds are then enter wisely.  With no Best Buy dollars on this one anymore, I might decide to eat at McDonalds during the Monopoly game, but it's not going to make me eat at McDonalds more often.

Has anyone else figured out what they have spent at McDonalds above what they normally would have during Monopoly and what they have won from that?  Yes, some people will win, but to me it's not a wise financial move nor wise health move to be eating at McDonalds more often than I normally would in hopes of winning. 

You can check out my other related blog posts here:

How to Win Sweepstakes and Prizes
How to Win a Skill Contest
How to Win a Voting Contest
How to Win in Twitter Parties
How to Win Amazon Giveaways
How to Win Blog Giveaways
Where to Find Sweepstakes to Enter
What to do when you wi n a prize.
Should You Keep the News of Winning a Contest Prize a Secret or Tell Everyone?
Are People who Win Prizes Just Lucky Ducks?
Entering Sweepstakes and Public Assistance Like SSI and and Disability
WIN your Christmas
Are you Pressing the Lever on McDonalds Monopoly?

Prize Winner of Defiance Ohio Book Read Along -- Start here -- Chapter One

World's Ugliest Pinata Take Two

I turned a significant birthday this year.  (Here's a hint -- it ends in a zero!  Yikes!)  Each year I host an annual party and this year I decided to make it the weekend of my birthday because I could "turn old" by myself or "turn old" with friends, and I decided it would be best with friends.

Each year I wrap stuff I've gotten free through the year.  It could be something I won in a sweepstakes when aiming for a different prize, something that I got free with coupons, or some other way that I came across an item with no cost.  I take all these, wrap them up and we play the "Dirty Santa" game with them.  I draw a name out of a hat, person 1 can choose from all the wrapped gifts.  Person 2 can steal from person 1 or choose any of the wrapped gifts.  Most people play this game with "three steals and it's out" but we play unlimited steals because the gifts aren't that expensive and there will be no hard feelings.  This year's most stolen items were a box of shredded wheat cereal, a pie plate, and a package of men's 2XL boxers.  (Both people stealing them were women!)

I also made a pinata.  I found a homemade pinata idea on Pinterest last year and mine was a far cry from that one. 

Here is last year's pinata:

Well, this year I didn't have a large paper bag.  I think one of my friends was a bit embarassed by the pinata I rigged this year.  But the kids care about what is inside, right?  This is what I came up with this year:

Someone told me they liked the multiple bag idea because when they were a child they were blindfolded, the pinata broke apart on the first try and they got no candy because they were blind folded.  We had ages 4-10 so it worked well because all kids got some candy or small toys as the bags were broke open at different times!

The most special part of my party this year was I invited a former teacher of mine.  She was a resource teacher and I had her from the time I was 8 until I was 12 when she moved away to get married.  I have stayed in touch with her but haven't seen her since I was 12.  She lives an hour and a half away, and on Friday I received an e-mail telling me she was coming!  It was so nice to see her again.

Next year I'll likely move my annual party back to August or September as that's usually when I have it, but I think I'll keep the Sunday afternoon date.  It seemed a better day of the week than Saturdays when I have had my party in the past.

I just can't believe I've hit the big (mumble)-zero.

Book Review: Plastic Donuts

Plastic Donuts: Giving That Delights the Heart of the Father by Jeff Anderson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


FTC disclaimer:  I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.  All opinions are my own.

This is a short book at only 109 pages, but it's full of thoughts and ideas about giving.  Most of us who have been in church for any amount of time have heard things like "To NOT tithe is to rob God." or on the opposite side "The tithe is an Old Testament mandate and we live under grace."   Author Jeff Anderson doesn't take either of these approaches, but rather the approach of Christians should give God their plastic donuts.

What does that mean?  His daughter gave him a toy piece of food from her kitchen set one day and he saw the delight she had in giving him what she was able to give freely and willingly.  He came to the conclusion that is how our giving should be to God.

This would be an excellent book for a small group discussion or to make into a sermon series at your church.  I'm not sure the average person would pick this up on their own because, honestly, money is a topic that is shied away from in many churches.  What pastor likes to get up and teach on giving?  It's a hot topic and certainly one that can ruffle feathers of the flock.  But the way Anderson approaches it, it's a Biblical concept that doesn't dictate what you should do except to give joyfully.  THAT is something I think all Christians can agree is a great idea. 

I think it's great this book is out there as a resource for both individuals and churches, and I hope that the ideas within Plastic Donuts become the attitude of giving we see in western Christianity.

   Plastic Donuts by Jeff Anderson by WaterBrook Multnomah

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