Saturday, June 18, 2011

Here, Home, Hope by Kaira Rouda--Book Review

Info:

Here, Home, Hope by author Kaira Rouda is the fictional story of one woman's courageous journey through midlife crisis and personal reinvention - all told with a sense of heart and humor.

Kelly Mills Johnson becomes restless in her thirty-ninth year. An appetite for more forces her to take stock of her ordinary middle-American existence and her neighbors’ seemingly perfect lives. Her marriage to a successful attorney has settled into a comfortable routine, and being the mother of two adorable sons has been rewarding but exhausting. Meanwhile, Kelly’s own passions lie wasted. She eyes with envy the lives of her two best friends, Kathryn and Charlotte, both beautiful, successful businesswomen who seem to have it all. Kelly takes charge of her life, devising a midlife makeover plan.

Here, Home, Hope will surely appeal to readers of chick lit and other women’s fiction titles who are ready to transition into something new in their own life.

Links to check out:
Visit KairaRouda.com to learn more about the author on her bio page and read more about the novel.
Read and share what some author's are saying about Here, Home, Hope
Kaira is currently on a national book tour
@KairaRouda on twitter

Kaira Rouda Books fan page on facebook

Check out this video trailer:

My thoughts on Here, Home, Hope:
I have really enjoyed reading this book. You want to keep reading to see what is going to happen in the life of Kelly, her family, and her friends. It's a regular little "Peyton Place" going on in suburbia. Kelly has what seems to be the dream life. She gets to be a stay at home mom while her devoted and loving husband goes to his job as a lawyer each day. They live in a beautiful house in a beautiful neighborhood. They have 2 sons who are growing up.

Kelly has a scare with breast cancer and this makes her realize she wants changes in her life. I love how she uses Post-It notes to remind herself of all the things she wants to change, and how she has these notes stuck all over the house. She even has them in her vehicle--"Doug".

I'm not going to go in to any other details about the book. I will say that as you read, you can imagine yourself as Kelly. The feelings portrayed are real, and heartfelt.

I'm not going to give away the ending---I can't, as I've not finished the book. I rec'd the book in digital form for review and was confused on how to get it. Once I got it, it was hard for me to read the digital version over doing other things on my computer. Oh how I wish I had a reader! Today is the deadline to review the book.

I look forward to finishing the book in the next few days and finding out just how everything that is going on plays out. So many lives are involved in the story, and they all revolve around Kelly. I will update this post once I am done reading the book.

Disclaimer--I received a digital copy of Here, Home, Hope through one2onenetwork. com for the purpose of this review. All opinions of the book are my own.

Shop Hop Saturday 6/18/11

Good Saturday!

I've been busy this week with grandkids staying over and Bible school in the evenings in addition to the usual things I do each week. I still did manage to get some things done as far as my business goes!

I have 2 new listings in etsy:

Fabric Bag in Bright Pink Print

Double Thick Crocheted Hot Pads Set of 2 in Tropical Fruit

I didn't get any more items created in Zazzle, but I did build a squidoo lens to highlight my custom postage stamps. Zazzle Custom Postage Stamps

I will be updating this soon to take out the special that ends tomorrow as well as figuring out a different way to highlight my designs to include my own affiliate link.

I also updated my Jerky Direct Business Opportunity squidoo lens to include photos of the new products as well as highlight the pet treats.

On that note, I would like to mention that I do have a bag of the Jerky up for sale in my blujay store. If you would just like to try one bag to see how you like the Jerky, this is the way to go. I do have more than one bag available if that one sells.

Jerky Direct Natural Beef Jerky 4 oz.

That's it for me this week. I encourage you to hop along with abitosunshine and to support others who are working from home. I have a challenge to catch up on and I hope to get that done over this next week.

Friday, June 17, 2011

Loads of Coupons to Help You Boost Your Savings!!

52 Weeks of Organizing--Week 24 (Week 1 for Me)

Last week while browsing through blogs I ran across I'm an Organizing Junkie
Wishing I had known about this at the beginning of the year, I decided to jump in. We only closed on this house March 2nd of this year. I promised myself with all the extra storage and so many more rooms, that I would not allow myself to get disorganized, and not allow clutter to build up.

I did well the first 3 weeks. As I unpacked, I put things where they belonged...or where I designated them to belong. I kept all counters and tables cleared. I was doing well! It took me a bit longer to organize my craft/all purpose room, but I did get it done!

Just a few months later I am looking around and seeing junk, and more junk....piles of things in places where they don't belong. The side tables and coffee table, my desk, and my hubby's desk are just piled with stuff. My craft/all purpose room has turned in to a major mess.

With good intentions to start the 52 Weeks of Organizing challenge, I went around and took photos of the different places I want to concentrate on. My goal was to start with my desk. I did get started right away, but came to a halt. I've had 4 grandkids over all week. I've spent each evening at Bible school. I can't keep up with the extra along with my normal activities during the week!!

I still wanted to get started with my posting each week here, even without making any real progress. The kids go home after Bible school this evening. Not only that, my teen will be at Bible camp all of next week. I will still work pretty much strictly on my desk, and I promise before and after photos in next weeks post.

Frugal Friday's With Marsha 6/17/11

Welcome to another Frugal Friday! I hope you will share any frugal type blog posts you've done this past week in the linky. The linky does remain open all week.

This week has been hectic for me, to say the least. I have kept 4 of my grandchildren all week while we had Bible school each evening. Tonight is the last Bible school day and the kids will then go to their fathers.

Upon asking if I could go ahead and keep them for the week, I realized I would not have enough food to stretch for the week for 4 more mouths. I asked my daughter to get some food. We ended up at Aldi. I didn't really ask her to buy that much, but just enough to keep them in snacks and drinks for the week. As far as meat I just had her get us 1 lb of ground beef and a bag of chicken nuggets. In all she spent $52 and they picked up quite a few things for themselves as well.

One night for supper I made the 5 slices of ham I had in the freezer stretch to feed us all by cutting the slices in to strips. I also used up the last of the bag of potatoes that were starting to get old.

Speaking of potatoes--one of the potato eyes I planted in the garden is blooming. I've planted a few more. Other garden notes--very few of the snap peas survived, but my teen had a good time eating what did grow. I've planted more, a little off season, but if they don't grow I still have more to plant later too. The cantaloupe seeds that I planted seem to be thriving. I've used most all the onions both white and red out of the garden. I've tried planting seeds from the tops to get more, but so far I'm not seeing anything. I really need to get out today and cut down the spinach or it's going to go to seed instaed of continuing to reproduce. The tomatoes plants are blossoming but I'm sure I need to go prune them so that they can actually produce us some fruit. All of the pepper plants have blooms now, but don't seem to be growing very large as in the plants themselves. The strawberries, I'm sure, are done for the season. Now they will, or should, just spread to make more for next season.

Yesterday I stopped at the store for a few cans of cat food and seen a sale buy 5 items get $5 off. I got 5 more things for us to snack on. I should have gotten all cookies at just $1.18 a package, but I got 1 Rice Krispies Treats at $1.99 and 1 box of Cheez Its for $1.79.

Basically other than the above I've done the usual of hanging the laundry out on the line to dry and washing in cold water. I've done a lot more laundry this week though with 4 extra kids here.

I think that's it for my report this week. I can't wait to read what others have done, or tips they have to share, some good cheap recipes, coupon match ups and other things.

Thursday, June 16, 2011

I just won 25 points on the SuperLucky Button!

I just won 25 points on the SuperLucky Button!: "Superpoints is a members-only club where you earn great rewards for doing things online like taking surveys, watching videos or shopping."

Squidoo Hopping 6/16/11

Welcome to another week of Squidoo Hopping!
I'm having a busy week with 4 grandkids staying over for the week and Bible school in the evenings (along with the other things I do every week), but I got more done in squidoo than I thought I would.

I updated All About Marsha with new photos. I chose to keep the older ones in for memories. I have a few more photos to add.

I built This Day in History June 5 in honor of the birth of my newest grandchild, Zelda.

I got an email from Zazzle on a custom postage sale until June 19. This prompted me to go right in and finally build my first Zazzle lens. Zazzle Custom Postage I wish I had more than just the 3 stamps, but I know I will be creating more in the future so this lens can be updated several times. I had hopes to use the text with big picture module and be able to link to my item with my affiliate link but I couldn't figure out how to save a picture from Zazzle. Instead I used the Zazzle module. If I am correct, we don't earn from squidoo if someone buys from the Zazzle module right? Of course if they bought something of mine I would earn from Zazzle so I would still earn which is super cool.

And, if you have time, please give these 2 lenses some love. They are on the bottom of my list and in the pink because of being too low in ranking.
This Day in History April 24 and Our Homeschooling Journey 2010/2011 Part 2

I hope to see several participate this next week---I will have a lot more time for everything next week!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

WIP Wednesday 6/15/11

I so always have too many projects going at the same time! I know I'm not alone as I check out many of the other WIP blog posts with others who work exactly like me!

This is an extra busy week. I'm keeping 4 of my grandkids all week and we have Bible school in the evenings. I'm one of the group teachers. Next week my teen will be at Bible camp and my grandkids will be at their dad's for the week. I'm in hopes of a quiet week to work and work on crafts, my online projects, and to get the house back in order.

I've worked some on the double thick crocheted hot pads this past week, but not a whole lot. This is still the yarn left I have to work with. In the background is also a stack of books I am reading, or need to read for review.

I did some work on the toothbrush rug I am making for our basement floor. Not as much work as I wanted and it's looking like it's going to take me a couple more weeks to finish up the materials I have out for it. I then will have to decide if it's big enough to do or if I still want to add more to it. I had really been in hopes of making it large enough the grandkids could actually sit on it to play. If I do that, we are talking months then before it's done!

Yesterday was sewing club at church. Instead of 10-3, we shortened it to 10-1 since 2 of us are helping at Bible school. One of the gals taught me something new to do with the strip squares. You can't see it too well in the photo, but I will have another photo to show of my progress next week. On the other side of the table are the fabric bags I am working on for an order. Since taking the photo last night I have finished putting those together. All I have to do now is cut off the strings and package them up for the mail. I also got started on some of the other bags from the pile of material I showed last week.

Please click the buttons below to share your own WIP link or hop around and see what others are up to.

Monday, June 13, 2011

Mailbox Monday 6/13/11

I have quite the little stack in front of me of mail that came in this past week.

Mary Bragg CD for review and giveaway on my blog
Prefense Hand Sanitizer for review and giveaway on my blog (giveaway is up!)
$5 cash from Neilson Digital Voice
Book--Disrupted Lives by Brenda Youngerman for review
Book--The Problem with Money? by Jane Honeck for review
Book--Finance Without Fear for review
Several pieces of hausernet mail
Ok! magazine (I paid $2 for the subscription, so not free)
2- Bloomsberg Businessweek
Family Circle
Sports Illustrated
People

http://media-files.gather.com/images/d265/d970/d746/d224/d96/f3/full.jpg

Also in my email:
$8.00 paypal from beezag
$9.93 paypal from squidoo

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