Feb 24 2012

FIRST Wild Card Tour: Creative Slow-cooker Meals by Cheryl Moeller

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!

Today’s Wild Card author is:

Cheryl Moeller

and the book:

Creative Slow-Cooker Meals:
Use Two Slow Cookers for
Tasty and Easy Dinners [Spiral-Bound]

Harvest House Publishers; Spi edition (February 1, 2012)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Cheryl Moeller is a seasoned mother and a standup comic. She is also a syndicated columnist with her own blog (www.momlaughs.blogspot.com) and contributes monthly to several online parent websites. Cheryl has coauthored two books on marriage with her husband and has written for www.mops.org and Marriage Partnership. Cheryl does comedy for parenting classes, MOPS groups, wedding or baby showers, church retreats, women’s conferences, and those in line at the grocery store.

Visit the author’s website.

SHORT BOOK DESCRIPTION:

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!

Product Details:
List Price: $14.99
Spiral-bound: 272 pages
Publisher: Harvest House Publishers; Spi edition (February 1, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0736944915
ISBN-13: 978-0736944915

AND NOW…THE FIFTH CHAPTER (click on pages to enlarge):

Feb 23 2012

How do you dress for work?

I’ve always been a very casual kinda girl. I don’t like to dress up. I’ve been that way forever – even before I gained all this weight and became self-conscious about how I look.

One of my first jobs was working at a bank. We had to dress up every day except Friday. I’m sure I looked nice, but it was a chore to wear those clothes all day long. I’ve just never been comfortable in dressy clothes.

Before that I worked at McDonald’s where I had to wear a uniform. While I hated wearing a uniform, at least I got to wear the same clothes every day. I didn’t have to think about what to wear all the time.

Shortly after that, I worked at Progressive for about 3 years. We could dress down unless we had visitors. That meant jeans and shorts were okay. I had a co-worker who would come to work in pajamas. I was embarrassed for her. That was taking it too far.

When I had my own insurance agency I wore business casual clothes as well.

Today the dress code is business casual (no shorts), but I still prefer my jeans on a daily basis. I think I need to step it up a notch. I wear the same earrings and watch every day. Maybe I need to change them up. That would at least change up my look, but without a lot of effort, don’t you think?

I could shop for Citizen Eco drive watches and some other gold earrings, and without spending a lot of money I could have a new look.

How do YOU dress for work? If you dress up, is it because you have to, or because you like to?

Feb 22 2012

In-store Demo #DialNutriSkin #CBias

Have you planned a shopping trip around an in-store demo? I have. Three times. The first was several years ago, when we still lived in Ohio, at a store inside a local upscale mall. The store sent out “exclusive” invitations, and if you weren’t invited, then you couldn’t participate. You had to register, then get to the mall on-time for the in-store demo of their new product line. I had to get up early in the morning, only to get to the store, where they opened late. The demo was cool, if a bit boring, but they did pass out a goodie bag of products. And the store was crowded.

The 2nd time was at a larger, big box store, and I couldn’t find the demonstration table to save my life. I asked every sales associate I knew, and no one knew what I was talking about. I went online later when I got home, and people all over the country were experiencing similar issues.

Just this weekend, I attended an in-store demo for Dial™ NutriSkin™ lotions. The girls and I all have our sensitivities. I seem to be affected the most by laundry detergents. Change it up on me and I will itch and scratch until I can’t itch and scratch any more. Coco has the most sensitive skin of all of us. Change the laundry detergent, soap, or lotion and her skin will be scaly, and itchy, and rough. It’s awful. Lulu has the least sensitive skin but clothing textures and materials will make her itch all over. So it’s crazy in my house trying to find products that will suit all of us.

So, I’m generally not one to change it up when it comes to skin care products, but since I was already familiar with the Dial™ NutriSkin™ line, I thought I’d give it a try.

I’ve been using Dial™ NutriSkin™ for just over a year now. I have the extra dry lotion for myself and it’s been doing a pretty good job. For the girls I’ve actually been using jojoba oils on their skin, but that gets expensive very quickly, so when the opportunity came up for us to attend an in-store demo, I jumped at the chance to find something that’ll work for the girls.

Finding the demo table was easy – as soon as I walked into the store, there it was! There wasn’t anyone taking the opportunity to try out the different lotions, so we were able to step right up. And, as you can see, Coco was eager to try out a new lotion that she could use herself. I don’t allow them to touch the jojoba oil since it’s runny and can mess up my carpet in an instant LOL! She’s rubbing on the Sensitive Skin one which is both fragrance free and hypo-allergenic. Plus, when the nice woman gave us a $1 off coupon, that sold the deal. We’re currently using the lotion now, and we’ve had no problems so far. Both girls are excited that they get to pump their own lotion out of the bottle, while I’m happy for them to be more independent while getting dressed. One small step at a time. If only Coco could get her shirts over her own head every once in awhile…

So I thought it was a good idea to have the demo table right at the front of the store. I didn’t have to go searching for it, and once we did the demo, I was free to continue with the rest of my shopping at Walmart. Which included stopping at a demo for Starburst. Which my girls couldn’t pass up. Or wouldn’t pass up. Go figure. But since they passed out a coupon as well, I was a little bit relieved. They fill my girls with sugar, but give me a discount to make the dental bills easier to swallow. And then they also got vitamins. Notice the purse on Coco? I think she keeps every dollar she puts in that thing. But somehow she seems to walk out of the stores with more bags than I have. I’m missing something here. Or doing something wrong!

Check out my google + page for more shopping fun!

About Dial™ NutriSkin™

Get your daily dose of healthy skin nutrition with Dial™ NutriSkin™ lotion. The unique BioNutrient Complex replenishes your skin with a fast-absorbing blend of vitamins, minerals and nutrients that lasts for 24 hours and leaves skin feeling hydrated and never greasy.

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Disclosure: This shop has been compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. All of the opinions expressed above are my own.

Feb 21 2012

#giveaway–2 tickets to Progressive Int’l Motorcycle Show–Charlotte, NC–Ends 02/23/12

The World’s Largest Motorcycle Show will be in Charlotte, NC this weekend from Friday, February 24th to Sunday, February 26th. Enter to win 2 tickets to Sunday’s show! Kids 11 and under are free on Sundays, so you might be able to take your whole family for free!

Show Information

Charlotte Convention Center
501 South College Street
Charlotte, NC 28202

When:
February 24-26, 2012
Friday 4pm to 9pm
Saturday 9:30am to 8pm
Sunday 10:00am to 5pm

The Giveaway

One lucky Arms of a Sister reader will win 2 tickets to the Progressive International Motorcycle Show for Sunday, February 26, 2012. The giveaway ends Thursday, February 23, 2012.

Easy entries!

1. Answer this question: What’s your favorite motorcycle? 1 comment, 1 entry.

2. Like this post (at the top of the page). 1 comment, 1 entry.

3. Like Arms of a Sister on facebook. 1 comment, 1 entry.

4. Follow Arms of a Sister on twitter.com. 1 comment, 1 entry.

5. Subscribe to Arms of a Sister by email (in the right sidebar). 1 comment, 1 entry.

Disclosure: I’m going to the motorcycle show this weekend. My tickets are free.

Feb 21 2012

Single Parenting and Homework

I’m a single mom with two elementary school-aged girls. The hardest part of single parenthood right now is trying to fit in dinner, homework, play time, showers, and family time from 5pm (the earliest that I get home in the evenings) and 9pm (the latest the girls go to bed during the week). When I only had one child in school, it seemed easier to manage, for some reason. Now that both my daughters are in school and have homework, I’m still struggling with this 6 months into the school year.

I’ve long thought it would be helpful for our schedule if the girls could get started on their homework when they get home from school, but before I get home from work. Then I could just review the work with them when I get home. It would require them to work on it on their own, before turning to me for assistance. I think it would foster a bit of independence. But, I also don’t want to leave with no place to turn. If they could access tutors online, I think it would be beneficial. I don’t want the tutors to do my job as a parent, but to have a 3rd party available would be nice. Sometimes all it takes is another perspective for the child to start to understand what the lesson is all about. And since I wouldn’t be home when they start their homework, they wouldn’t be left waiting for me. As the parent I could pay the online tuition and a tutor would be available to assist my child.

Although the homework issue could potentially be resolved, dinner still has to be made. Do you think on my income I could find someone to take care of that for me as well? Sigh…

Feb 21 2012

Recipes for Fun: Wacky Science #RecipesForFun

I’m so glad the weather is getting better. The girls and I have so many experiments going on, it’s hard to keep track. Last year we grew lemons (2 lemon trees), green peppers, and tomatoes in containers on the back deck. It doesn’t get a lot of sun back there, but we were anxious and we got some results. I wouldn’t call us green thumbs yet, but we’re getting there.

This year we’ve got a worm compost bin going, and we’re trying to grow many more things – strawberries, spearmint, garlic (from bulbs and bulbils), tomatoes, lemons (we’re up to 4 trees now), limes, and onions from cut spring onions.

The worm bin has been fun so far. We’ve been savings our veggies, instead of throwing them away, and feeding the worms with them. We even saved our lemon slices from the water we got at a restaurant to give to the worms. I think it’s great that the girls are thinking before throwing things away. They stop to think if the worms could recycle the product instead of just throwing things out. We’ve put egg shells, paper, and toilet paper rolls in there as well. We’ve had a few escapees and the neighbors keep begging us for worms to play with. We haven’t seen the results yet – it hasn’t been long enough – but we’re having a good time learning about composting and using worms to speed up the process.

Growing fruits and vegetables has been fun so far, too. During December and January the lemon trees started flowering. This means that, lemons will start to form where the flowers were. On one of the trees we had over 40 flowers! I can’t imagine growing 40 lemons on one container plant, but we’ll have to keep looking to see if it really happens. And then our friend Ms. Carol gave us grow pots to start strawberry seeds in. We’ve watered and planted them, and are waiting to see the seeds turn into plants. You’ve got to have patience with these things.

The most fun thing to watch has been the spring onion plants. Someone told me that if you put the white part of the onion with the root in a glass of water, that it will start to regrow. Well, when we put the onions in the glass, the stem was less than an inch long. In 7 days we had shoots sticking out of the top of an 12-ounce glass! Now that’s some seriously wacky science! Wouldn’t you agree? You can duplicate this wacky science experiment in your own home. And you’ll see results FAST. I promise. This weekend we planted those onions and will eagerly watch them continue to grow. And now we know that we can simply cut off the tops of the onions when we want to use them to flavor our dishes.

I think these experiments have been more fun for myself than for the kids, but the girls have a GREAT time showing the neighborhood kids what we’re growing in our backyard. In containers.

Clorox Clean-Up Recipes For Fun

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Disclosure: I wrote this blog post while participating in the SocialMoms and Clorox Clean-Up Recipes for Fun blogging program, for 8,000 My SocialMoms Rewards Points. For more information on this program, click here and see the Terms link.