Monday, March 30, 2015

The Hobbit The Battle of The Five Armies Blu-ray GIVEAWAY! (4/12) #TheHobbit

*Disclosure: The following information was provided to share with my readers in promotion of Warner Home Video.  I have not been compensated in any way.

From Academy Award-winning filmmaker Peter Jackson comes "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies," the third in a trilogy of films adapting the enduringly popular masterpiece The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien. "The Hobbit: The Battle of the Five Armies" brings to an epic conclusion the adventures of Bilbo Baggins, Thorin Oakenshield and the Company of Dwarves. Having reclaimed their homeland from the Dragon Smaug, the Company has unwittingly unleashed a deadly force into the world.
Special Features on the Blu-Ray combo pack include:

• New Zealand: Home of Middle-earth Part 3
• Recruiting the Five Armies
• Completing Middle-earth: A Six-Part Saga
• Completing Middle-earth: A Seventeen-Year Journey
• The Last Goodbye: Behind the Scenes
• Music Video
• Trailers
#TheHobbit
Own it on Blu-ray NOW
https://www.facebook.com/TheHobbitMovie/app_167888973227524

Enjoy this fun app!

Check out the video:


GIVEAWAY!

Congratulations to comment #28, Angela Nichols!

One lucky reader will win a copy of The Hobbit The Battle of The Five Armies on Blu-ray!






















To enter to wintake the "Are You Brave Like Bilbo?" Quiz and comment with your results.  Please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you're the winner!

Each household is only eligible to win One (1) Blu-ray The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies via blog reviews and giveaways. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

Extra Entries:(1 extra entry per method. Leave a comment for each.)
*Subscribe to my blog in the upper left hand corner.
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Open to U.S. residents 18 years and older. Giveaway
will end Sunday, April 12th, 2015 at 11:59 EST. Winner will be chosen shortly after and contacted via e-mail. The winner will have 48 hours to respond otherwise I will have to choose a new winner.

Wednesday, March 25, 2015

Coloring Contest Winner!

When I picked Morgan up from school a couple weeks ago, she was carrying a manila envelope and had a huge smile on her face.  She had won a coloring contest!  One third grader in each class was a winner and received a $10 gift card to Pizza Hut along with a personal pan pizza. 
We made a last-minute decision to go to Pizza Hut that night and celebrate the win as well as see her winning coloring that was on display there.  They just happened to place as at the table where her picture was. :-)
The contest was sponsored by the Farm Bureau, so each of the coloring pages was a farm scene.  Morgan's happened to be chickens!  I thought it was quite fitting with all the chickens we have running around here! :-)
Because of her win, she was in the school newsletter.  (The picture was stretched a bit...her face isn't really that wide...)
And she was also in a couple of the local newspapers! 
I think being in the newspaper was just as exciting as the actual win for her! :-)


Monday, March 23, 2015

"Easter Stories: Classic Tales for the Holy Season" Book Review & GIVEAWAY!! (4/1)

*Disclosure:  (in accordance with the FTC’s 16 CFR, Part 255: “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising”): Many thanks to Propeller Consulting, LLC for providing this prize for the giveaway. Choice of winners and opinions are 100% my own and NOT influenced by monetary compensation. I did receive a sample of the product in exchange for this review and post.


About Easter Stories: Classic Tales for the Holy Season:
Everyone who believes Easter is about more than Easter egg hunts will be grateful for this new anthology of short stories that illumine the true meaning of the season. Selected for their spiritual value and literary quality, these classic tales capture the spirit of Holy Week and Easter in a way that will captivate readers of all ages. Parents and grandparents will find that children love to hear these stories read aloud, year after year.

Easter Stories includes time-honored favorites from world-famous storytellers such as C.S. Lewis, Leo Tolstoy, Selma Lagerlof, Oscar Wilde, Elizabeth Goudge, Maxim Gorky, Ruth Sawyer, Anton Chekhov, and Walter Wangerin – as well as many you’ve never heard before. Illustrated with original woodcuts.

383 pg / multiple authors


Find out more about the book, plus read the Table of Contents, here.


My Review:

My children, who are 7 and 8, and I have been enjoying reading this collection of stories at bedtime over the last few weeks.  The kids and I have read many fairy tales before, but each of the stories in this book still amazed us at how 'fantastical' it could be.  The stories truly stretch the imagination, but each also has a deeper meaning that correlates to parts of the 'original' Easter Story.  The stories many times brought about questions from the kids that lead to some great discussions!  It has really been neat for us to now see how each fairy tale relates to Easter and challenges us to think about it as we read together.

I'd highly recommend reading Easter Stories, with kids or by yourself, this Easter Season!  I know I'm looking forward to finishing the rest of the stories with my little ones! :-)

Buy It!
The paperback of Easter Stories can be purchased on amazon.com for $13.32.

GIVEAWAY!

Congrats to the only entry, Sandra Davis!! :-)

One lucky reader is going to win a copy of the book, "Easter Stories"!

To enter to win leave a comment below. Please be sure to leave your e-mail address with the comment, so I can contact you if you're the winner.

Only one entrant per mailing address, per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you are not eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

Extra Entries:(1 extra entry per method. Leave a comment for each.)


*Subscribe to my blog in the upper left hand corner.
*Follow me through Google Friend Connect
*Follow me on twitter.
*Tweet this giveaway and leave the URL in your comment
*Follow me on 
Pinterest
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*Leave a comment on a non-giveaway post and let me know which post.

Open to U.S. residents 18 years and older. Giveaway 
will end Wednesday, April 1st, 2015 at 11:59 EST. Winner will be chosen shortly after and contacted via e-mail. The winner will have 48 hours to respond otherwise I will have to choose a new winner.

Wednesday, March 18, 2015

St. Patrick's Day 2015

I hadn't planned on doing anything too special for St. Patrick's Day this year, except for making a more Irish-type dinner and wearing green, but when the kids realized it was coming up, they got super excited...so I figured I should try to keep with some of our traditions.  ;-)

First thing in the morning, the kids managed to find where the leprechaun hid all the gold coin clues as to where his pot of gold was.

 In the cabinet, but which one?

After a bit of a hunt through cabinets, they found him hanging out in the Christmas village (I'll put it away before Easter) with his pot of gold (Reese's...'he' couldn't find chocolate coins to hide this year.)

 We then had some green clover pancakes.  It's usually green pancakes or Lucky Charms, but the kids seem to like this more. :-)

The kids had the two clover-shaped pancakes I made...circles were sufficient after those. :-)

Mattie unexpectedly got in on the St. Patrick's Day fun.  Doesn't she look like she's having a blast? ;-)

 Dinner was Potato Soup (crock pot recipe found on allrecipes.com) and Irish Soda Bread!  Both were delicious!  We didn't get a Corned Beef from the last steer we had processed, but with the 5 crates of potatoes still in the basement from the fall, I figured we might as well use them! :-)  

 We also had a little bit of 'luck' on St. Patrick's Day.  We lost power before leaving to take the kids to school.  I thought it might be out several hours, but it was only about an hour and a half!  The power came back on just in time to get the soup started. :-)

Monday, March 16, 2015

The Flintstones and WWE: Stone Age Smackdown Blu-ray+DVD Combo Pack GIVEAWAY!! (3/22) #FlintstonesWWE

*Disclosure: The following information was provided to share with my readers in promotion of Warner Home Video.  I have not been compensated in any way.



When Fred loses his family's vacation money, he hatches one of his hair brained plans to get it back. It's a sports entertainment spectacle that involves throwing his best bud, Barney into the wrestling ring with the likes of John Cenastone (John Cena), Rey Mysteriopal (Rey Mysterio) and even The Undertaker, with Fred himself as event promoter! The crowds roar, the "clams" are pouring in from ticket sales and even Mr. McMagma (Vince McMahon) is taking notice of all the hoopla. Including all-star appearances from The Boulder Twins (Brie and Nikki Bella) Marble Henry (Mark Henry) and Daniel Bry-Rock (Daniel Bryan), it's time to get the whole family together for hard-hitting, side-splitting laughs from the most epic event in all of prehistory!
Own it on Blu-ray Combo, DVD and Digital HD 3/10

Check out the fun paper dolls!


Download them and take the cute quiz :-)


GIVEAWAY!:

Congratulations to comment #14, apple blossom!

One lucky reader is going to win a copy of "The Flinstones and WWE: Stone Age Smackdown Blu-ray+DVD Combo Pack!

To enter to wintake the "Which WWE Stone Age Smackdown Star are You?" Quiz and comment with your results.  Please leave your e-mail address so I can contact you if you're the winner!

Each household is only eligible to win One (1) The Flintstones and WWE: Stoneage Smackdown Blu-Ray Combo Pack via blog reviews and giveaways. Only one entrant per mailing address per giveaway. If you have won the same prize on another blog, you will not be eligible to win it again. Winner is subject to eligibility verification.

Extra Entries:(1 extra entry per method. Leave a comment for each.)

*Subscribe to my blog in the upper left hand corner.
*Follow me through Google Friend Connect
*Follow me on twitter.
*Tweet this giveaway and leave the URL in your comment
*Follow me on 
Pinterest
*Pin an image from this post to one of your boards
*Leave a comment on a non-giveaway post and let me know which post.

Open to U.S. residents 18 years and older. Giveaway
will end Sunday, March 22nd, 2015 at 11:59 EST. Winner will be chosen shortly after and contacted via e-mail. The winner will have 48 hours to respond otherwise I will have to choose a new winner.

Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Vacationing Woes

**WARNING**  REALLY LONG POST!

We recently took our first 'true' family vacation.  Our friends invited us to rent a house with them in Florida and we couldn't pass it up!  The thing is, never going on a family vacation before...to Florida...Disney...taking a large road trip...all in the midst of flu season...in the winter...I was a worrisome mess!  I worried about getting sick.  I worried about the weather we'd encounter while driving and down there.  I worried about packing too much to fit in the vehicle we were renting.  I worried about Disney and all that involves.  I'm not sure there was anything I didn't worry about quite honestly!  In all that worrying, I also prayed daily that God would look out for us, keep us healthy and give us safe travels and good weather. 

All-in-all God answered every one of those prayers!  He really showed me how much He is in control and that worrying would get me nowhere.  We never got sick.  (Our friends little ones did get colds, unfortunately, but they were troopers!)  We ended up leaving early and totally missed a snow storm and had fairly uneventful travels.  The weather in Florida was beautiful as well!  The car rental place didn't have the style car we reserved, so we ended up with a minivan for the same price...ALL SORTS of room!  (I nearly cried having to return it...it was awesome!)  We couldn't have asked for a better trip.  God truly blessed us with an amazing vacation!

The thing is, I think God has a sense of humor.  I titled this "Vacationing Woes" for a reason other than all my worrying.  As wonderful as the vacation was, coming home was the exact opposite of wonderful.  Let me list the reasons:

1.  The snow storm:  Even though our awesome neighbor cleared our driveway, we still had a TON of snow to shovel and couldn't park anywhere near our door.  Rich was amazing and carried in all our stuff in from a distance, and through snow.  (I was busy with another problem that I'll tell about in a sec.)  I managed to shovel all that snow the next day...it took me an hour to clear the pavement in front of our garage...minus the spot where the car was (yet another problem I'll mention later.)

2.  Our furnace:  The chimney from the furnace has 'plates' on it...one on the kitchen side and one on the living room side.  The plates cover holes where stovepipes used to be from wood stoves.  Anyway, our furnace has been acting up.  We had to have some repair guys out twice before Christmas because it quit, but it had also been 'backfiring'.  Basically, it would start really hard and push the plate on the kitchen side out spewing soot all over.  Well, sometime while we were gone, the furnace backfired like it never backfired before.  Not only did the kitchen plate fly off and send soot across our table and down the stairs, but it kicked out the one on the living room side that was painted in place.  Soot all over the living room too!  So, needless to say, when we got home I commenced cleaning while Rich was carrying in luggage.  (It has since been fixed.  Took two consecutive days of the furnace guys coming out, but they finally got it under control.)

3. The car:  Rich tried starting the car sometime after we got home to make sure it still started after sitting for nine days.  It wouldn't start.  He tried jumping it.  It wouldn't start.  Rich had to work the next day and I had to get the kids to school, but we only had one vehicle.  He took the truck and I borrowed my mother-in-law's car while she was at work.  Rich bought a battery and, after many troubles, he managed to switch out the old with the new and we were seemingly good to go.  Not the case, though.  The next day, when Rich went to leave work, the car wouldn't start again!  He got a jump and made it home.  It turns out that the heated seat was draining the battery.  (The thing seriously would not shut off...on high all the time!) Rich disconnected the heated seat and it's been good ever since.

4.  Fuel oil:  Our furnace runs on fuel oil.  I am usually really good about making sure we don't run too low and have to worry about running out.  The thing is, the company that we buy it from sent a letter in the fall telling us that the minimum buy went from 100 gallons to 150 gallons, which means we have to get below 1/4 tank before we can order.  So, before we left, I checked the gauge and we were just above a 1/4 tank.  I didn't think it was low enough to meet the minimum, so I decided we better wait to order when we got back.  We got back, after just nine days, and the fuel oil was dangerously low.  It was too late to order that day, so I waited until the next...barely sleeping, listening to make sure the furnace was still kicking on...and called and asked for same day delivery.  They wanted to charge me an extra $50!  I let them know the reasoning on us waiting was due to their new minimum order (not my proudest moment because I totally lost my composure) and I got out of the $50...thankfully!

5. The truck:  We had been having troubles with the truck shaking as we drove, so we decided to drop it off at our mechanic to have fixed while we were gone.  They fixed one thing that was wrong (over $400 and it was mostly for the part), but they told us the main problem was the rear passenger tire had thrown a belt.  The tires are fairly new (tread was still good) and we just replaced the rear driver side tire for the same reason.  So another $500 for the two new tires.  I've been in contact with the tire company about the issues and hopefully they can work with us!  At least the truck isn't shaking anymore and I can drive it without thinking a tire is going to fly off! ;-)

Before the trip:
6: The Stove:  Our stove was a used one that was a haul-away from when my brother worked as a delivery guy for Best Buy.  Only 3 burners worked, the time never worked, the inside was a mess that as much as I tried, it wouldn't come clean.  Over Christmas the spring in the door broke, so the door would just fall down when you tried to open it and it wouldn't sit tightly closed.  The last straw was when it tried electrocuting me...we knew we needed a new one!  Thankfully my brother sold us another used one for only $100 (instead of having to pay $500 or more for a new one).  We picked it up right away...and then realized I wouldn't be able to help carry it in.  So we continued to use the old stove cautiously until a couple weeks after vacation.

A week after the trip:
7. The sump pump:  I noticed that water was backing up into the basement more that usual while Rich was away at a conference after our vacation.  The water would go away and it was too cold to deal with the sump pump outside, so we waited.  (Our basement is wet 90% of the time anyway...)  Within the last week, it started getting worse and the water didn't seem to be leaving as well.  With the weather warming, Rich dug through the frost to get to the sump pump and found that it was working fine (thankfully!).  BUT, the pipe from the basement to the sump pump was clogged.  He managed to get that cleared out fairly easily and we thought we were good to go.  A couple hours later I see that the kitchen sink is backing up.  So Rich figures out what was going on and clears another drain to the sump pump and we think we're home free again.  No such luck!  As Rich was working on the sink, he noticed that as the sump pump was pumping out water into the pipe that goes to the ditch, the pipe was spewing water back to the sump pump!  We decided to take it easy using water until Rich had more time.  (I had to be careful with doing dishes and laundry.)  Even though I hardly used any water, it was still backing up into the basement and Rich managed to get to again yesterday.  After snaking it, he thinks there is a fairly substantial 'clog'.  At this point in time, the sump pump is pumping the water onto the lawn until we can figure out what needs to be done.  At least I can do dishes and laundry! ;-)

8.  The Refrigerator:  We've been told this is a fairly easy fix, but our fridge is also currently leaking.  Rich hasn't had time to get to it with the sump pump draining issues, and I haven't braved figuring it out on my own.  I thought it was time for a new fridge, but thankfully not the case.

9.  The Computer:  It basically stopped working last week.  It made me realize how much I use it when I didn't have it!  A local computer place found the troubles with it over this past weekend and fixed it all up for me.  It's not 'as good as new', but it is working WAY better than it has worked for months, so I couldn't be happier with it!  'New' would have been cool, but we tend to use things until they absolutely NEED to be replaced. :-)

I'm sorry for such a LONG post, but I couldn't help but want to document the craziness that has been happening over the last month.  Mostly all as we got back from vacation.  More than I'd like, but so thankful none of these situations were any worse...because I know that they all could have been!  God has blessed us in our trials as well, which is awesome to realize! :-)

Monday, March 2, 2015

"Dashing Dish: 100 Simple & Delicious Recipes for Clean Eating" Cookbook Review

*Disclosure: I received a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.  I was not compensated in any other way.

About "Dashing Dish" by Katie Farrell:
From the creator of the wildly popular cooking and healthy lifestyle website DashingDish.com, comes a clean eating cookbook designed to give home cooks a healthy start to 2015. Dashing Dish: 100 Simple and Delicious Recipes for Clean Eating (Nelson Books) by Katie Farrell combines delicious and simple recipes with easy tips for incorporating clean eating habits for a healthier lifestyle.  As a registered nurse, Farrell has spent years teaching others about nutrition, health and overall well-being. Since its inception, her hit website DashingDish.com has garnered more than 25,000 monthly subscribers who access her recipes, cooking videos and fitness plans.
For readers new to clean eating, Dashing Dish makes it easy to transition by providing lists of valuable pantry, fridge and freezer items helpful for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The book also includes important conversion charts and offers clean substitutes for some popular unhealthy foods, making the jump to clean eating as simple as possible. 
The recipes I tried:
I was so excited to receive this cookbook that I could not wait to try the recipes!  I made a BUNCH, but I still haven't made all the ones that sounded good to me...which is pretty much all 100...but I'm working on it!  (My pictures aren't nearly as pretty as what the cookbook shows.)
Giant Breakfast Cookie
 Strawberry Protein Pancake with Yogurt Filling
 Cookie Dough Overnight Oatmeal
 Cinnamon Bun for One
 Brownie for One in Minutes
 Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies
 General Tso Slow Cooker Chicken
 French Toast Protein Muffins
 Slow Cooker Honey Sesame Pork
My Review:
I think part of the reason I was so excited to try these recipes, is because of how simple they are!  I absolutely loved that I really only had to go out and buy a few ingredients that I didn't already have on hand. Those same ingredients were used throughout many of the recipes. (I had to buy protein powder, Stevia and Greek yogurt.)  I'll admit that I didn't always use exactly what was called for because I did want to use what I had...like using 2% milk instead of almond or our own whole eggs (free-range) instead of 2 egg whites.  (I fully understood that it would change the nutrition information that was listed for each recipe as well.)
As far as like the recipes, so far I only REALLY liked a few.  I could eat the Cookie Dough Overnight Oatmeal every morning!  The Strawberry Protein Pancakes were quite good as well and the kids loved the Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies.  The French Toast Protein Muffins DID NOT turn out at all!  They were suppose to bake for 30-35 minutes, but I could smell them burning within the first 10 minutes and it was obvious they weren't cooked in the middle.  I'd like to try them again though, at a lower temperature, because underneath the burnt layer, they were quite tasty!
As for the rest of the recipes, they weren't 'bad'.  I think I'd have to get used to not eating sugar, butter, flour, etc., and I'm sure they'd taste better to me.  I don't know that I'd take any of them to share at gatherings without feeling the need to explain that they're 'healthy', because the texture and flavor are just a lot different that what most people (that I know) are used to.
All-in-all, the "Dashing Dish" cookbook is a keeper!  I love that the recipes are healthy and I don't feel guilty eating anything that I make from it.  It also has given me ideas on how to make healthier versions of other meals I already make! :-)
Buy It!:
Visit dashingdish.com to find more recipes and see where you can purchase the cookbook!  The hardcover cookbook is currently $18.35 on amazon.com.  The e-book version is also available and currently $15.29 at amazon.com.
 
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