Monday, November 28, 2011

Free Cyber Monday Giveaway from Two of my Writing and Publishing Conference Students/Friends


Free Cyber Monday Special Offer from my friends (and Writing and Publishing Conference students) at Loves Pockets  Linda Schwert and Sania Hamilton...  They are offering three free gift tags today, Cyber Monday, November 28, only.  They have excellent Christian cards with a button or extra item on each one also for sale and several are on specials.  Linda has been a card writer/maker for Dayspring and Hallmark in the past.  And, now with friend Sania, they have created their own Christian card company.  I love their products.   Enjoy their free Cyber Monday Special and get to know their site.  This is the instructions on their site.  For our 3 FREE Christmas Tags, go to our Contact Us page on our site and type your home address in the Comment section.*   * One set per household. You will receive the tags 5 to 7 days after your order.       http://www.lovespockets.com/


                                                      Sania and Linda, Lovespockets

Saturday, November 26, 2011

Mama's Christmas List

                           10 Gifts Mom Wants for Christmas.... 
                                                                                 What mom really gets...



1.  What mom wants for Christmas?  Christmas breakfast tea served on a real silver tray.  Brilliant.

What mom really gets...  A sryupy Styrofoam plate from McDonald's thrown at the back of her head from her crying one year old.  .


2.  What mom wants for Christmas?  Month long spa candlelight massage and jaccuzzi.  Splendid.

What mom really gets...  A hosing down by the neighbor's exotic elephant's trunk.

3.  What mom wants for Christmas?  Sitting around doing nothing.  Unscheduled. 

What mom really gets...  Free time... She can dream, can't she?

4.  What mom wants for Christmas?  Extra large gift certificate to a mom bookstore and leisurely weeks to read.  Bookworm.

What mom really gets...  All pre-owned books with 3-d popups that either moo, boo, or coo.

5.  What mom wants for Christmas?  A chick flick DVD.  Classic English literature come to life.  Pride and Prejudice.

What mom really gets...  55 seasons of the Deadliest Catch. 

6.  What mom wants for Christmas?  A 14 carat diamond necklace.  Sparkly.

What mom really gets...  14 carrots compliments of  Winn Dixie.


7.  What mom wants for Christmas?  LED lights so Christmas decorations can be environmentally friendly.   Going Green.

What mom really gets...  Blinking lights from the tow truck that is hauling her stalled car to the garage.


8.  What mom wants for Christmas?  A hand bell choir musical rendition of the Little Drummer Boy.  Pa rum pum pum pum.


What mom really gets...  Three sons beating incessantly on three drums given to them by their diabolical aunts and uncles.



9.  What mom wants for Christmas?  10,000 festive lights in the backyard on trees large and small.  Twinkly.

What mom really gets...  One used birthday candle left in the utility drawer encrusted with dog hair and molded bread crumbs.


===================================================== 

What mama wants; mama don't get.  But, mom is still sending her letter to Santa.

Wednesday, November 23, 2011

Free or Nearly Free Holiday Gifts Frugal Frugal Frugal

FREE FREE FREE FREE FREE
Walgreens Free 8x10 collage picture or 8x10 picture through Friday, November 25.
Order online and then pick up for free at your Walgreens store. Click here

I am Thankful for Parents who Celebrated a Traditional God-honoring Thanksgiving

We are mourning the loss of my father, Rev. Roy Webster,  this month.  He was a Tennessee boy but ministered from 1949-1996 in the Midwest.  


My dad went home to be with his Lord and Savior last Sunday morning. He loved to go to church and last Sunday he walked into the presence of the Lord during the Sunday morning worship hour.

He told me when I was ten years old that he wanted to make it to 80 and he passed away at 81 3/4 years. God blessed him with a long life. 

He loved football and senior year his team at Clinton High School, Clinton, TN were undefeated.



He was a young WWII Vet because he joined the U.S. Army at 14 years of age. He rode on a bus from TN on a unpaved dirt road (common in 1944) all the way to TX. The army thought he was 18. He envied his older brothers serving our country and he decided to join them. 



 While some in Hollywood boast of being married 61 days, my dad was married for 61 years mid-century (August 25, 1950) mid-America (to a Michigan girl), the love of his life Gladys Windquist, he met at Owosso Bible College in Owosso, Michigan.








They were married 61 years and here they are
at their 25th wedding anniversary party in Flint,
Michigan









He never turned on a computer, but he had more friends than most of us will ever hope to have on Facebook. He never met a person that he did not like.

My dad really did love his mom (and dad), baseball (and football), and apple pie. Oh yes, and automobiles.

He loved wining the grandfather with the most grandchildren on Father’s Day for several years in a row.

And, then to know that he had 2 great-grandsons.

He spent the last decade of his life, calling and talking with members of his former churches that he was not sure of their salvation. He would present the Gospel and give them a chance once again to respond to the claims of Christ. And, he kept calling them until they trusted in Christ as their Lord and Savior.


Raised in the hills of TN, he was blessed to minister in east Michigan where many southerners had come up to work in the hey day of the car industry. When he retired in 1996 from the pastorate, he wanted nothing more than to go back to his people in Tennessee. And, that is from where last Sunday morning, he went to be with the Lord, among the twiggy dogwod trees, soft biscuits with sweet honey, good old southern gospel quartet singing, and his people. Now he is singing with his much loved family members and friends who went on before him.

By daughter Cheryl Webster Moeller
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/knoxnews/obituary.aspx?n=roy-b-webster&pid=154621497

Thanksgiving Postcard from God Devotional

 

It was 10:00 a.m. the day before Thanksgiving. In just a few hours the doors to our inner-city church would open, and we would host our urban neighbors, many of whom were Native Americans, to a free Thanksgiving dinner.

We were making last-minute preparations when we heard a loud knock at the front door. Another interruption, we thought as we trudged toward the door. When we opened the door, we were greeted by two delivery men from Sears.

"Will you sign for this?" one of the men asked as he shoved a clipboard our way.

"Sure, what is it?"

"A freezer," he answered.

"We didn't order a freezer."

"Someone did," he said. With that, he and his burly partner pushed past us and wheeled a full-length deep freeze up the steep steps and into our church.

As we studied the invoice, we discovered a sister church, New Hope Church in Crystal, MN, had purchased the appliance for us. That's strange, we thought. They never told us it was coming.

Our minds returned to the Thanksgiving dinner. Within a few hours, the first flakes of snow started coming down. In Minnesota in late November, that can mean anything from a dusting to three-foot snow drifts. On this particular day, it meant the worst. By 4:00 p.m., the flakes had turned into a major-league blizzard. The timing couldn't have been worse. By that late hour, all the food for our dinner had been prepared—a dozen turkeys, nearly a hundred pounds of mashed potatoes, and scores of piping-hot pies.

But we had no one to eat any of it. All our food and effort was about to go to waste.

That's when we remembered the gift we had received only hours earlier. We wrapped the food and carried it upstairs to our new storage freezer. One week later we held the postponed dinner and served a hot Thanksgiving meal to a church packed with grateful neighbors and needy friends.

Looking back, we realize we received more than an appliance from a department store that day. We received a postcard from God.

What's a postcard from God? It's one of those providential, serendipitous events that appear in our lives, marriage and family—a reminder that God has not forgotten us. For us, it's like receiving a short note that reads, "Dear Cheryl and Bob, I was thinking of you today. Just thought I'd let you know. Love, Your heavenly Father."

The ways in which he sends these timely postcards are as unpredictable as they are amazing. The net effect seems always the same: to encourage and strengthen us, often when we need it the most.

Piles of unwanted junk mail are delivered daily. As catalogs, sales brochures, newspapers, and a host of other materials accumulate on our desks, our goal is to dispose of the piles as quickly as possible. In the same way, our lives, our marriages, our families, and schedules can become cluttered with carpools, shopping, taking care of kids, exercising, committee meetings, weekly deadlines, and urgent calls to make. Our goal can become simply to get through the day.

In the midst of sorting through such clutter, it's easy to overlook the simple notes our heavenly Father sends to remind us of his love. When we take the time to sort through "coincidences" of my life, we discover simple but much-needed messages reminding us, "I love you. I haven't forgotten you."

Signed, Your God.



By Cheryl and Bob Moeller

Friday, November 18, 2011

Now, also on Kindle by Momlaughs (Cheryl Moeller) - Creative Slow Cooker Meals: Use Two Slow Cookers for Tasty & Easy Dinners

Pre-Order Creative Slow Cooker Meals:  Use Two Slow Cookers for Tasty & Easy Dinners

Or, on Kindle

From the celebrated coauthor of The Marriage Miracle comes a new kind of cookbook and a new attitude toward planning meals. With an eye toward the whole menu, not just part of it, columnist Cheryl Moeller teaches cooks to use two crockpots to easily create healthy, homemade dinners .
Don’t worry about your dinner being reduced to a mushy stew. Each of the more than 200 recipes has been taste-tested at Cheryl’s table. Join the Moeller family as you dig into:
  • Harvest-time Halibut Chowder
  • Salmon and Gingered Carrots
  • Mediterranean Rice Pilaf
  • Indian Chicken Curry
  • Apricot-Pistachio Bread
  • Shrimp Creole
  • Rhubarb Crisp
… and many more! Perfect for the frazzled mom who never has enough time in the day, Creative Slow-Cooker Meals gives readers more time around the table with delicious, healthy, frugal, and easy meals!

From the Author

Using two slow cookers to make dinner gave me back my life and it can do the same for you.  This plan is just perfect for a frazzled mom with no time in her day.  It also works for my single friends that just want to cook once a week.  In my book I not only give you perfect recipes, but I also plan your entire dinner menu.  I'm a wife, mom, sister, daughter, granddaughter, cousin, niece, aunt, and friend just like you.  I can't make more time in my day; it just doesn't exist.  But, I can use Creative Slow-Cooker Meals to solve my dinner dilemma early in the day.        Momlaughs (Cheryl Moeller)


A perfect Christmas present for all the adults on your list -
1.  Pre-order  Creative Slow Cooker Meals:  Use Two Slow Cookers for Tasty & Easy Dinners
2.  Buy them one or two crockpots (they need two).
(You can print out the info on  Creative Slow Cooker Meals:  Use Two Slow Cookers for Tasty & Easy Dinners and stick it in a Christmas card in the crockpot to show them they will be receiving in January.)

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

Free or Nearly Free Holiday Gifts Day #3 Frugal Frugal Frugal

Free or Nearly Free Christmas gift day #3. Free 8x10 Canvas Picture (made with your photo) but you do have to pay the $14.96 shipping. Lisa Jungheim and I have both ordered these in the past and we were very happy with the finished gift. The nice thing is that you don't have to buy a frame - the photo gift is on canvas with a thin wooden frame behind it, that it's stretched over, so it hangs perfectly on the wall with that. I found average on the internet for this product was about $30 plus paid shipping. They claim their product is worth $44.99 plus paid shipping. So, you are getting a free wall canvas 8x10 and then just have to pay the shipping. It makes a nice gift and you can ship it right to someone else or yourself. Also, if you make completely separate orders, you can order/buy more than one. I don't know when this special ends, so seize the day.  
Some photos I am going to use - these are only the photos NOT made up on the canvas yet.
 



 


Tuesday, November 8, 2011

More Free Stuff Day #2

FREE or Nearly FREE Gifts for the Holidays from Momlaughs. Today's free gift is an E-Cookbook for the holidays. It's free just for you from The Barn Door: Seeing the World Through Midwestern Eyes, one of the 15 sites that carries Cheryl's monthly columns. The blog is one of a kind midwest reading for people who love the midwest and all it has to offer from MN to OH! Enjoy the free e-cookbook as a gift from the writers of The Barn Door. 

Monday, November 7, 2011

Free Stuff for the Holidays



A beautiful website is offering a free $30 off code for their website until Sunday, November 13.


The free $30 off code is H2SHOLIDAY.

You do have to pay for the shipping for each gift separately.  It varies from about $6 to $12, depending on large the gift.

We were able to buy several things shipped to the same address, but we had to pay the shipping for each item separately.  But, this is a great value.

If you buy something for under $30, your gift will be free plus you pay for shipping.
If you buy something for over $30, then apply the $30, pay the rest plus you pay for the shipping.

This is high quality gifts similar to the quality of Hallmark.  I know because my friend Lisa Jungheim and I have ordered various items for people on our Christmas lists.  Here's part of Lisa's Christmas list recipients.


 



 


Cheryl and Lisa highly suggest it.
Click here to start shopping and don't forget to use the free code:  H2SHOLIDAY.  Click here

Saturday, November 5, 2011

I'm Chillin' While I'm Grillin'






Marinate your boneless, skinless, chicken breasts during the day
in one cup of olive oil, 1/4 C. balsamic vinegar, and 1/4 cup sugar.
Sprinkle with oregano and garlic.

Place your chicken on a low temperature grill.

Open a 16 oz. can of Bush's grilling baked beans.
Please put them on the grill in the can with the lid off.

Open a 16 oz. can of artichokes and leave the water in.
Please put them on the grill in the can with the lid off.
Drain, only when cooked, before serving.

Corny Cornbread.
If your grill has an upper rack, it's best to cook the corn
bread there. Spray PAM really well on a cast iron skillet
or use two 9 in cake pans stacked on top of each other (to
make the pan thicker.)
1 3/4 C. cornmeal
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. baking powder
2 TB sugar (optional)

Mix and then add:

2 eggs
2 C. buttermilk
1 can of corn, drained (optional)

Mix but only until everthing is combined (don't overmix)

Bake on low grill with the grill cover closed for about
20 minutes. Watch it carefully.

Get Read for Cheryl's New Cookbook that can be preordered now.

Frugal Gifts

Maybe you don't have as much money as you did last year to spend on gift giving? Did you know the best gifts are homemade gifts? Maybe we need to be reminded of
that this year? Share your heart with others on a deeper level this year through homemade, personalized gifts for everyone on your list.

During the Great Depression, everyone HAD to use their ingenuity to create gifts conveying their heartfelt love. Here's some ideas to get you thinking. You could even make a couple of these homemade gifts for each person on your list.

10 Free or Nearly Free Christmas Gifts to Make & Give
Maybe you don't have as much money as you did last year to spend on gift giving? Did you know that truly the best gifts are homemade? Maybe we need to be reminded this year. Share your heart with others on a deeper level this year through homemade, personalized gifts for everyone on your list.

During the Great Depression, everyone HAD to use their ingenuity to create gifts conveying their heartfelt love. Here's some ideas to get you thinking now, during the Great Recession. You could even make a couple of these homemade gifts for each person on your list.

1. Know a child learning Spanish? Save several sizes of clean tin cans with unique labels in Spanish, with any jagged points bent safely down. Fill with slightly used pens, sharpened pencils, paintbrushes, markers, and dried flowers. These make great decorative storage for your el esponol student's desk or dresser top.

2. Write a letter to your child, niece, or nephew telling them how excited you were before they were born, about their upcoming birth. You could even frame the letter, for a gift, showing your anticipated love.

3. Print out your favorite Bible verse as a small poster. Add a label at the bottom that reads, "Mom's Legacy Bible Verse" or "Dad's Legacy Bible Verse." Others, including your children, love to know what's on your heart and in your head. Share yourself with them at this level and they will cherish your gift.

4. Give a gift of a picture of you and the gift recipient. Write at the bottom of the frame, "You are Loved." It could be Grandpa/Grandson, Mom/Dad/You, Daughter/Mother.

5. "I love you all year long." Write a letter about the year just ending. Make it twelve paragraphs long for each month. Tell the person just how much they meant to you each month of 2008, including a special memory from each month and a canister of homemade granola (granola takes a long time to eat)!

6. "What I'm going to Change, to Love you More." Write a card to those on your list, with something that you intend to change/improve, with God's help, about yourself, in your life this year. Make it something that will make you an easier person to live with. (Now, that will be a welcomed surprise gift to the recipient, a gift that keeps on giving all year!)

7. Shine everyone's shoes for Christmas morning. Under the tree, have everyone's shoes lined up looking brand new. It's an act of service that will be appreciated. Or, give another act of service, such as car detailing. "Borrow" someone's car a day or two before Christmas and detail it for them by hand for a Christmas morning surprise.

8. Give a gift of your professional services. Maybe you are a teacher and could offer to tutor. Maybe you are an accountant and could offer tax services as a gift. How about a plumber, carpenter, or electrician for some home repair services? Perhaps you are a great writer and could help a family member with an updated resume.
Perhaps, you have nice handwriting and can address envelopes as a gift.

9. Regift books you have already read. Wrapping it up beautifully, adding a small letter, detailing why this book was special to you and why you want to bless them by sharing it.

10. Give each person on your list, a souvenir of your life or heirloom. Give them something of your's, that they would enjoy having. Clean it up, fix it up, and wrap it up.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Ten Fantastic Frugal Homemade Fall, Thanksgiving, Hanukkah and Christmas Gifts



1. Christmas Candy Crunch Ice Cream Topping


Chocolate Candy Crunch Ice Cream Topping
1 stick butter
1/4 c. cocoa
1/2 c. milk (use regular milk)
2 c. sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla
1/2 c. peanut butter
3 c. oats
Boil butter, cocoa, milk, sugar, vanilla and peanut butter for 1 ½ minutes. Add oats and mix well. Spoon out onto wax paper. Let sit out over night on your counter. Crumble slightly and place in jars. Include a little card that says, “Cocoa Candy Crunch Ice Cream Topping” Best kept in refrigerator.

Or you can make:

Peanut Butter Christmas Candy Ice Cream Topping
2 cup sugar
1 stick butter
1/2 cup milk (use regular milk)
3 cup quick oatmeal
3/4 cup peanut butter
1 Tbsps. vanilla
Boil butter, milk, sugar, vanilla and peanut butter for 1 ½ minutes. Add oats and mix well. Spoon out onto wax paper. Let sit out over night on your counter. Crumble slightly and place in jars. Include a little card that says, “Peanut Butter Candy Crunch Ice Cream Topping” Best kept in refrigerator

2. “Lemon Pie” Ice Cream Topping

6 Tbsps. Butter
1 cup sugar
4 Tbsps. lemon juice
2 beaten eggs
Melt butter. Take off heat; add sugar, lemon juice and beaten eggs. (The eggs must be beaten very well or they may curdle). Then put back on heat, cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Cool. Pour sauce over ice cream. Include this on a tag: “Lemon Pie” Ice Cream Topping
Do not heat in this jar. Keep this jar in the refrigerator. Will keep fresh for one week in the refrigerator.
3. German Chocolate Ice Cream Topping

1 c. evaporated milk
1 c. sugar
3 egg yolks
½ c. butter
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/3 c. coconut
1 c. pecans
Combine evaporated milk, sugar, egg yolks, butter and vanilla in small saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until thick, about 12 minutes. Cool slightly. Stir in coconut and pecans.
Include Tag that says: “German Chocolate” Ice Cream Topping. Serve Hot or Cold on Ice Cream. Do not heat in this jar. Keep this jar in the refrigerator. Will keep fresh for one week in the refrigerator.

4. M & M’s Hot Cocoa

Hanukkah Theme Craft
“Single Hot Chocolate Gift Bags”
Supplies:
See-through Hanukkah decorated party bag
or see-through plain party bag, Hanukkah stickers to decorate
Box of packets of hot chocolate mix
Royal blue (color of the Israeli flag) M&M’s
White M&M’s

Using one see through party bag, open and pour in six dry hot chocolate packets.
Add twenty white M&M’s and twenty royal blue M&M’s
Tie bag closed with a silver twist tie and arrange a small driedel in the closed twist tie as the package décor. Write on a gift tag: Happy Hanukkah! Mix with boiling hot water. Serves three!

5. Caramel Apple Hot Cider

Combine dry Apple Hot Cider Mix and wrapped Kraft Caramels (unwrapped). Place this mixture (dry cider mix and unwrapped caramels) in a cute see-through jar with a cute lid or cover with ribbon. Wrapped up with a cute mug, this makes a great fall gift.

6. Christmas Bread in a jar

Zuc – coconut quick bread dough with a few maraschino cherries mixed in.
Spray a wide mouth Ball jar with non-stick cooking spray. Then, fill it half full, but no more than half full. Now, you must place all the jars you have
filled on a cookie sheet (the jars should not be touching). Don’t put more than 6 – 8 on one cookie sheet. The jars must be placed on a cooking sheet or they will crack up in the oven. Bake for 20 – 30 minutes, depending on the size of the jar. Then seal with the lid while the jars are still hot and put the whole top on. Decorate with a cute piece of material. Add a tag: Christmas Bread in a jar. Keep refrigerated. Use within one week.


Recipe for Zuc – Coconut Bread

3 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups white sugar
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsps. Vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 cup vegetable oil
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup shredded coconut or shredded flaked coconut
2 cups raw unpeeled grated zucchini
1 cup of maraschino cherries, drained and cut (optional)


Mix together the first nine ingredients. Then fold in the coconut and zucchini.
Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes to 30 to 40, depending on the size of Ball jar that you use. Whether it’s a big or small Bar jar, just make sure it’s wide mouth.


7. Children’s Handprints

As a cute grandma or mom gift you can buy some fabric, and cut with patterned scissors. Then have each of your kids put their handprint and write their own name (if they can) and then date it - all in fabric paint. You can do it any size - and any fabric. So you can do it as a tablecloth, table runner, doilies size, or as a wall hanging. It's especially clever as a grandma gift if you get all the grandkids in on it - not just your
own.

8. Placemats for grandparents

“Leaf Placemats”
These are placements Grandpa and Grandma will love. This is a good craft project to do when the leaves are changing in the fall with your children. Find and collect some colorful fresh leaves on the ground around your neighborhood. Take a picture of your preschooler near a tree. Write on a small index card the Bible verse - Hebrews 13:5b - God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." Cut four pieces of wax paper about 16 inches long. Lay two pieces of wax paper, wax side up, on your work table. Situate several colorful leaves on the paper right side up, leaving at least a one inch border around every side of the wax paper. Situate the Bible Verse card and the photograph of the preschooler near the tree right side up, also. Lay the other piece of wax paper upside down so the wax is touching the leaves. Make sure the two pieces of paper are the same size and match up or cut accordingly. (You need an adult to help with this part.) With a hot iron but a light touch, quickly iron the two pieces of wax paper together.)


9. Penguins on Ice (as an appetizer or a gift). Arrive at your holiday party with a tray of these cute little Penguins for the guests or the hostess gift. For the tray, use a mirror to pretend like it's a skating rink for the penguins.

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cream-Cheese-Penguins/Detail.aspx

10. Buttons, Buttons, Buttons The big thing for Christmas gifts this year is buttons, buttons, buttons. Hot glue gun buttons to barrettes, flip-flops, magnets and cardboard (frame in a cute picture frame).

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

Two Free E-Cookbooks by Gold Medal and Betty Crocker.

FREE
Cupcakes and Cakes e-cookbook by Betty Crocker

FREE
Whole Wheat Cooking e-cookbook by Gold Medal