2011 September

For sale: Ballantyne adventure library (20 hardback volumes)

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 30, 2011 By kimc

Posted by Lydia

I bought these books for my own personal use around a year ago, but I only read a few before I got distracted by other books, such as Lord of the Rings, the Inkheart trilogy, C. S. Lewis’ ‘Space Trilogy’ and other interesting but not as useful books. We have another set of such books in the house so I don’t need my own set anyway, and I’m trying to earn a bit of money so I can pay my sister back for her half of my shiny new guitar she helped me buy.

I haven’t been playing guitar long. I started at the beginning of July. The only guitar we had in the house was a rather beaten up student size, so I decided I needed a nice full size of my own. Mom has a Yamaha 12 string that was living with Grandma. We brought that one back home and I really liked it, but I still wanted something a little easier to play than a 12 string, and better than a 12 year old student size guitar. I decided I definitely wanted a Yamaha and started looking at the reviews for the different types. I settled on a FG720s. Dad took me to Guitar Center at the beginning of their huge Labor Day weekend sale and to my disappointment they were out of that particular type. The man in the acoustic room was very helpful. He showed me a slightly different and also much better guitar(fg730s). It was on sale for $250, and counting sales tax it came up to about $280 which was what I was ready to pay for the other guitar. The cool thing is this one is a step up from my first choice, and consequently normally costs up to $100 more when not on sale. All the reviews said to wait, save your money and pay the extra because this one is just that awesome. So I now have my very own sparkly.

Normally I wouldn’t be in such a rush to earn money right now but the guitar is half Deanna’s until I pay her back. I also need to buy fabric for an outfit ’cause some friends are having a medieval costume party in just a few short months. So, if you can help me out I would be much obliged.

Here’s what I have for sale:

Complete R.M. Ballantyne Adventure Library (20 Volumes)

Includes the following titles, all in Brand New or Like New condition (some have the very tiniest bit of shelf wear), suitable for gift giving:

•Blue Lights

•The Coral Island

•Deep Down

•The Giant of the North

•Red Rooney

•The Young Fur Traders

•Gascoyne, the Sandal Wood Trader

•The Dog Crusoe and His Master

•The Cannibal Islands

•The Pioneers

•The Island Queen

•Ungava

•The Lonely Island

•The Norsemen in the West

•Post Haste

•Fighting the Flames

These books usually cost $22 each, and the complete set of 20 is $330 right now. I will sell all 20 for $200 with free shipping inside the continental US.

4 Moms talk about memorization {and 2 giveaways!}

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 29, 2011 By kimc

4 Moms, 35 Kids
I’m so glad this isn’t about my own memorization. That’s not to say it shouldn’t be. We are all commanded to hide God’s Word in our hearts, and I should work harder on that. But when we agreed to talk today about memorization, I chose to assume that we were going to talk about our children memorizing stuff so that’s what you get to hear about. This is primarily because if you were going to hear about my own memorization the post would last about as long as my short-term memory, which is to say you would already have finished reading and I would have forgotten what we were talking about.

I hesitate to mention this since I haven’t actually used it, but on my phone I have a free android app called Remember Me which is designed to help with Bible memorization. It uses the theory that items are established in long term memory banks by being reviewed at predetermined intervals which gradually lengthen, so it reminds you what you need to review each day, each week, each month, etc. It also includes a wide variety of quizzes, games, etc. and is highly customizable. If you are serious about memorizing, I really recommend it. I also recommend you outdo me: after you download it, actually use it.

Over the years, we have used a couple of different techniques for memorization, but the plain truth is that memorization takes work. It certainly comes more easily to some than to others, and we all know that children can memorize circles around us old folks, but nothing happens if you don’t put some effort into it.

When I was 11-12, my Dad wanted me and one of my sisters to learn the Westminster Shorter Catechism. We failed miserably, only learning the first 25 or 30 questions. However, this is partly because he also required us to learn each and every proof text (Bible verse) with every question. I still remember those verses.

It’s also rather well established that music makes memorization easier and more effective. I still remember entire chapters of Psalms from the year that I turned 15, when we attended a church that sang from the Psalter. I probably learned more Scripture in that year than all my adult years. Who am I fooling? Just forget I said, “probably.”

Our family has done some purposeful memorization of longer passages as a group, both from the Bible and from historical documents. When we do this, we read and recite a portion at a time, doing it regularly, gradually lengthening the passage as we become more familiar with it. We don’t necessarily wait until we have one portion memorized before adding another section, because we keep working on the entire passage as we go.

More often, though, our memorization happens through singing.

We own several copies of the Psalter and use them to sing as a family. We have occasionally invited guests to sing with us as well, something we should do more often.

We just received this album of God’s Word from A to Z, 26 Bible verses set to music to help children learn them with ease, and as soon as I started playing it the little ones gathered like they do when they think I’m starting a YouTube video. The songs are short and appealing to the kids and not one bit irritating to me, which is saying a lot. :)

We also own every one of Jamie Soles’s albums except the brand new one, and I particularly love the 3 albums that are made up entirely of Psalms set to music. He is a very talented musician with a wide varieties of styles, and he uses the Scripture word for word in his songs. We also love that much of his family shares his musical talent, and they often travel and perform as a group.

GIVEAWAY

This giveaway has ended. Winning comments were from Joni and ( : David’sKate : )

I mentioned that this post would include 2 special giveaways. Well, here we are! One happy winner will receive God’s Word from A to Z, and another will receive her choice of Jamie Soles’s 3 albums of Psalms.

To enter the giveaway, do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment here for each entry.

Leave a comment on this post.
Join the Life in a Shoe newsletter mailing list. No spam, we promise. We haven’t even figured out how to send a newsletter yet. :) Note: this is not the same as subscribing to our blog posts.
Like Life in a Shoe on Facebook
Share this giveaway on Facebook.
For 3 bonus entries, blog about this giveaway. You must include a link to both this post and to each of the sponsors. Remember to leave 3 comments for this so you’ll be entered 3 times.

We will take entries until Wednesday, October 5, then choose 2 random winners. Remember to enter the giveaways on the other 3 moms’ posts to pump up your chance of winning!

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

October 6 – Keeping up with housework in the midst of homeschooling
October 13 - Tips on keeping the food budget in control as prices rise
October 20 - How do you find time for projects that need to be done, require focused attention and which the children can’t help with?
October 27 - Q&A (watch Facebook for an invitation to post your questions)

I want to be a loser, 12 weeks later

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 27, 2011 By kimc

My post today is late, and that’s because I’m distracted. I have weighty matters on my mind, and I don’t mean my own weight. But since we’re talking about me, I’ll stay on topic and confess that I think I may have torn the rotator cuff in my right shoulder.

I guess sedentary 38yo women should ease into push-ups, rather than doing 175 on each of the first 2 days.

I thought I paid for that foolishness right away, because my right shoulder was so sore I did only 100 push-ups over the next 2 days. Silly me. As it turns out, that was just a down payment. Since then the soreness has diminished and stabilized but never disappeared. It hasn’t kept me from doing 100-150 push-ups each day, but maybe it should. Go ahead and laugh at my pigheadedness. The tenderness in my shoulder now makes me hesitate before making any of several simple motions, most of which involve raising my arm over my head or reaching out to the side and up. Those symptoms just tend to confirm the diagnosis in my mind.

The frustrating thing is that I really wanted to continue with a daily regimen of 100 push-ups per day and add another similar exercise. Now I’ll probably have to give up the progress I already made. Let me be a lesson to you. I’m not sure what we’ve learned here, but let’s not do it again.

Oh, and our workout schedule has completely disintegrated. And I had ice cream for 3 of my last 5 meals. And I’m going through a lot of chocolate over the past week. Just thought you should know. But I’m a good mom. Those ice cream sessions involved not just me, but 8 people, 6 spoons, and 1/2 gallon of Blue Bell around the kitchen island. They were family time, quality time. Good times.

And because this post may come across as a bit on the glum side, here’s a laugh for you. Perry Boy just told me his favorite movie was Bambi, which his sisters bought for his birthday. ”Did you know that movie was made when my grandma was a little girl?”

His eyes widened. ”Whoa! So it’s older than you? It’s SUPER OLD!!!”

Filed Under: Everyday life 11 Comments

Vision Forum 3 day sale: save 74% on 17 items

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 26, 2011 By kimc

The Kit & Kaboodle sale is back, with all new products this year! Save 74% and get the whole package for $68 (regularly $223). There’s even a Jonathan Park album, so this one has something for everyone. It could be a good way to start your Christmas shopping…

Includes 17 separate products for a total of 21 messages and 50 episodes on 28 CDs.

Seven Secrets of Successful Multigenerational Visionaries

Jonathan Park Goes to the Amazon (3 CDs)

Adventurous Femininity: When Being “Girly” Is Not Enough (I quoted this message in a recent post about femininity vs. feminism)

Fact vs. Fiction: The Impact of the First Africans on Jamestown

The Biblical Theology of Miscarriage

History Gives Our Children Hope

Providential Battles: Victorious Christian Armies Commanded by Courageous Men of God (6 CDs) (We haven’t listened to this yet, but loved the first 3 sets on the subject!)

How Important Are Educational Choices?

What It Means to Be Noble

Live vs. Death: How Christians Should Respond When There’s Pressure to “Pull the Plug” on Grandpa

Finishing Well: Imperfect Men Who Rallied to Leave Lasting Legacies (4 CDs)

CPS vs. The Family: The State of Parental Rights

Powhatans vs. Englishmen: A Clash of Culture and Arms at Jamestown

Walt Disney: A Christian Critique (3 CDs)

The Church, the Christian Family, and the Reformation of Missions

The Future of Christianity & Healthcare in America

Church vs. State: A Defense of the Church’s Right to Discipline Free from State Intrusion

Offer ends September 28

Filed Under: giveaways & deals, Vision Forum Leave a Comment

Saturday Snapshots

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 24, 2011 By kimc

This week has been a doozy, and I’m not ready to say why. It’s bad enough to air your own dirty laundry, but when the laundry belongs to those you love it’s even worse. It took me a year to blog about our case of head lice because I didn’t want to scare our friends or embarrass our children. I had to wait until the little creeps were long, long gone. Oh, wait. I never did mention it, did I? Go figure.

Now I’m wishing our biggest concern was lice. It might be a long while before you hear about this week too, but you could pray for us nonetheless. Friends, don’t worry. It’s nothing parasitic.

Still struggling to avoid duplicates on these lists. Does anyone out there use a google reader app on their android phone to read/save items (I want the ability to add notes as I go), then a wordpress plugin to pull them into a blog post? All I need is one geeky reader. Anyone? Anyone?

Top 10 Ways to Turn Your Retired Gadgetry into the Technology of the Future
KimC says: Cool stuff here and I think we're geeky enough to pull off some of these ideas. I wonder if Perry is reading this?
With the rapid progression of technology each year, it's easy to accumulate a pile of obsolete gadgets that you just can't bear to get rid of. So don't! Here are our top 10 ways you can take the r...
What to do With the Fat from Homemade Broth
KimC says: Yet another "why didn't I think of that" moment.
The most popular post on The Happy Housewife is my whole chicken in a crock pot recipe. Not only has it been viewed over 200,000 times the post has over 200 comments! If you want to save money in the kitchen but are afraid to tackle a whole chicken...
Fun Hair Tutorials
KimC says: I love the first 2 styles. I wonder if they're easy enough to do on yourself, or if the girls and I would need to have a hair party?
CreditDirections here. CreditWhich one is your favorite? I love the Twisted Sister hairstyle! Share
Thank You! Favorite Things Mega Giveaway
KimC says: 5 fun giveaways to celebrate an anniversary. Go win something!
I have some exciting news to share! In August TidyMom turned 3 AND reached 10,000 followers on Facebook! Back on that day August 9, 2008 I don’t think I ever could have imagined where I’d be today! (funny little side note: my Whirl...
Seven Best Practices for Reading to Your Children
KimC says: I already do some of the items on this list, and really should do the rest. How about you?
There is something magical about pulling out a book and reading it aloud to the children. Whenever we pull out an old storybook or a library book, the kids huddle around to hear Mom or Dad (or big sister or brother) reveal the sense behind the colo...
What About Starving Africans?
KimC says: I love the exercise in logic, but they had me at the title.
We posted Bible verses about the blessing of children, encouraging parents to consider having another. Judging from some responses, we were asking too much. Consider this one: This blog is so judgmental and condescending. You can say that it isn’...
Eat Well and Spend Less with an Emergency Fund in your Pantry
source: marthastewart.com via Amy on Pinterest The following is from contributing writer Amy Many people prepare for an emergency by protecting the things they own, so that if something does happen, their items can, for the most part, be replaced....
Homemade Christmas Gifts
Did you know there are only 100 days left until Christmas? If your budget is tight this year and/ or you need gifts for everyone from your great aunt to the soccer coach you might want to consider a few homemade Christmas gifts. Homemade Christmas g...
Using Whole Grains
Did you know September is National Whole Grains Month? I didn’t either, but I thought since we’re celebrating (and what’s not to celebrate about whole grains) I would share with you some of my favorite whole grain recipes, cookbooks, and tips....
Meal Planning: Making Our Produce Box Work For Us
I love it that I’m getting a load of fresh produce each week. While it can be a little awe-inspiring to unpack the box, it’s been fun to enjoy such wonderful tasting fruits and vegetables each week. Last year I tried out a CSA share and it was o...
10+ Dishes and Drinks Everyone Should Know How to Make At Home (Including You)
Whether you have trouble boiling water or you know your way around an immersion circulator, there are some foods that everyone should know how to make, either because they're delicious, they're easy...
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How was your week? Care to talk about the high or low point, or the best article you found?

Filed Under: blogging & technology 5 Comments

Painless hard drive crashes from now on. We have Carbonite.

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 23, 2011 By kimc

Just to prove that I put my money where my mouth is: my free 2 week trial subscription to Carbonite ended, and I paid for my 12 month subscription (with 2 more months free!).

We’ve already lost enough hard drives to keep us from taking unnecessary chances in the future. Can you guess how many hard drive enclosures we have bought, trying to recover data from crashes?

Do you own a hard drive enclosure? Have you ever needed one?

Filed Under: blogging & technology 4 Comments

Giveaway: Visionary Womanhood ebook (5 copies)

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 23, 2011 By kimc

Guest post by Natalie Klejwa

Ever feel like you’re stuck in a box? Six stifling walls closing in on you? Can’t see the sky overhead or get a breath of fresh air?

I’ve felt like that. As a young mom with several little ones, I wondered in the midst of the mundane, daily routine whether or not it would all be worth it one day. I wavered between hope, fear, boredom, and doubt.

I lacked vision.

And then, God brought me to a place in life where He broke open that box and set me free! All of my presuppositions and assumptions about various aspects of life were challenged, shaken, and then completely shifted to reveal themselves for what they really were…cultural indoctrination. They were killing me inside…and affecting my family in negative ways.

Huge paradigm shifts were taking place on all kinds of levels in my mind and heart, and it was the most fascinating, exciting, freeing thing I had ever experienced! The Word of God became fresh and powerful again as I began reading it with new eyes. I had a higher perspective. God was giving me HIS perspective on all of life. And the view was grand!

My marriage began to change. The way we were raising our children began to change. Both my husband and I began developing a long-term vision not just for our own children, but for our grand children and great grand children. We began making decisions with long term goals in mind…and our family was transformed.

Almost 5 years ago I began sharing the things I was learning with a small group of 10 women in my living room. It was a simple idea. Let’s get together once a month, pray for our posterity for 30 minutes, watch or listen to a visionary DVD or CD message, and have a discussion afterward. We loved it! And it grew! We now have over 80 women and their older daughters involved in our monthly gatherings in the Twin Cities area.

It turned out to be incredibly life-changing for so many…and the impact was reaching into their homes and the lives of their husbands too…so that I wondered if I should share the idea with others “out there”. I finally decided to turn the idea into an ebook and sell it at a low cost so that as many women as possible could read about how easy and effective a group like this is in encouraging and inspiring women and daughters…as well as growing that vision we so desperately need to find purpose and meaning in our lives.

The ebook does three things. First, it seeks to help us see the critical importance of being visionary if we want to experience joy and hope in our homemaking, help-meeting, and mothering. Without vision, we will fail.

Second, it describes the idea of Visionary Womanhood Gatherings in great detail. What we do, how we do it, the history of our group in the Twin Cities, etc. For example, you will not only read about the fact that we pray for our posterity for 30 minutes, but WHY we do that…and HOW it impacts our families and our own lives. You’ll find out what a Visionary Womanhood library is all about…and how to put one together…along with all the other components of the group.

Finally, the book gives all the nuts and bolts of how to start a group with just one or more friends and their older daughters. (We have a few grandmas in our group too…they are especially a wonderful blessing!) This includes templates for e-mail invitations, library check out sheets, and more.

I’ve also put together a two year curriculum plan that lays out all the materials a group will need to “teach itself” for two years: the CD and DVD teachings, the book titles, etc. The plan is laid it out so that each quarter the group is focusing on a different aspect of life. One quarter it might be world view stuff, another quarter on homemaking and helping our husbands, and another quarter on motherhood. You need not be a “leader-type” to start a group! All you need to be is a woman who desires to grow in being visionary…and wants to do it in community with some other women! Rather than a burden, it is a pure joy and blessing!

The ebook is called Visionary Womanhood Gatherings: A Family Strengthening Mentorship Tool for Women and Maidens, and it just launched this past Monday! Visit the link to get the first chapter free, meet me on video, read some reviews and purchase the book. You can get the book for only $2.99 (a $2 savings) through the end of the week end (offer ends Sunday night at midnight) if you use the code: LIFEINASHOE.

In addition, because Kim’s blog is one of very few I actually subscribe to (she cracks me up every day…how can I resist?) I want to give five of her readers (you all have such good taste) a FREE copy of the ebook. But you don’t have to wait to see if you win to purchase the book and take advantage of the $2 off deal. If you buy the ebook…and then find out you’re a winner…I will refund your money!

NOT ONLY THAT…but if you are a blabber, er, blogger yourself, and you would like to review the ebook for your readers…just send an email with your blog url to visionarywomanhood@gmail.com, and I will send you a free copy. The catch? Reviews need to be completed by October 7, and I’d love to link others to your blog post. Your thoughts are valuable! I always read reviews before I purchase anything online, and I want women to feel confident that this is what they are looking for before they spend the money to buy it.

I’m also looking for affiliates! Want to earn 40% of the sales generated by your blog? Visit my site to learn more about earning sales commissions from Visionary Womanhood.

Finally, I will be putting together some helpful support structures for women who plan to start up new groups. The Visionary Womanhood blog is slowly being revamped to be a support blog for Visionary Womanhood gatherings across the country. We will have a Facebook group starting up soon, and other things “in the works”, so you’ll want to get those updates at visionarywomanhood.com.

I look forward to linking arms with you as we seek to see all of life from the highest perspective possible…God’s.

THE GIVEAWAY

As Natalie mentioned, she has agreed to give a free copy of her ebook to 5 readers. To enter the giveaway, do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment here for each entry.

Leave a comment on this post telling why you would like to win.
Subscribe to the Visionary Womanhood blog.
Life Life in a Shoe on Facebook
Share this giveaway on Facebook.
Join the Life in a Shoe newsletter mailing list. No spam, we promise. We haven’t even figured out how to send a newsletter yet. :) Note: this is not the same as subscribing to our blog posts.
For 3 bonus entries, blog about this giveaway. You must include a link to both this post and to Visionary Womanhood. Remember to leave 3 comments for this so you’ll be entered 3 times.

We will take entries until Friday, September 30, then choose a random winner!

This giveaway has ended. Winners are Jessica, Kim, Lainie, Julie, and April. You should be hearing from Natalie very soon!

Filed Under: giveaways & deals 45 Comments

4 Moms Q&A: the attack of the shoe monster, socialized homeschoolers and more

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 22, 2011 By kimc

We 4 Moms were doing Q&A sessions every 4th Thursday of the month, but the last one was a special LFL edition so it’s been 2 months since we had a regular old-fashioned Q&A. Since I’ve totally lost track of whether I had any old questions waiting for answers, I posted on Facebook asking what you wanted to know. The responses are below.

Kimberly Harris-Dill wants to know what to save.

Kimberly, I made a deal with my kids yesterday. Every day that they can fill the trunk of the car with donations for the thrift store, I will go drop off the donations and bring back 44 oz. cherry limeades from Sonic.

If you’re starting to think you asked the wrong person, you might be right.

But we do try to thin our belongings regularly. Having limited space forces us to live a little on the lean side, and we quickly begin to drown in stuff if we don’t stay on top of it.

When it comes to saving things for sentimental value – which is where I think your original question was pointed – we do a lot of photos and blogging, and save most of our memories that way. Our sentimental stuff is mainly in cyberspace and in our heads. We talk about memories and simply don’t feel the need for a lot of physical props.

Paperwork is easy too: nearly everything can be saved digitally if you suspect you might need it someday. Just scan it or even take a digital photo and save it somewhere safe. We use Dropbox a lot, but I’ve recently started using Catch on my phone (love the ability to tag!), and many people find Evernote addictive. All 3 options work both on the web and on mobile devices. All 3 are free and there are endless alternatives if none of those is your cup of tea.

Clothes are more difficult. We have 2 big obstacles: one is our hard water. It’s very difficult to remove spots and stains, so clothes don’t last nearly as long as I feel they should. It’s not practical for us to reduce to just a few outfits per child because in 3 weeks they would have nothing presentable. The other obstacle is that someone smaller always needs your castoffs. I can’t just give away the things they outgrow because there’s always somebody who will need them in a year or two. Can you guess what we’re overflowing with here? It’s not paperwork, photos, or toys.

Caroline Allen asks, How to keep a house clean when your house is on the market? Just kidding, I’m running around like crazy getting ready for a showing. The house is a mess, we haven’t had a showing in a few weeks!

I’m wondering if this is the Caroline Allen aka The Modest Mom, but it’s not my turn to ask questions.

Caroline, my answer would be to keep the house. See? Problem solved. Duct tape could provide an interesting alternative, but we used to be friends with a police officer who got in trouble for inappropriate use of duct tape so maybe not a great idea…

Jen Ballaro is wondering, But- what do you do with all your shoes?

Jen, maybe we should have called our blog Life Under Shoes, or Life Among Shoes. We have 4 teen daughters with 2 more fast approaching that age. Our shoes are overrunning us. Megan just took a quick count, and we have well over 100 pairs of shoes. That’s not counting the bag of shoes I dropped off at the thrift store yesterday.

We keep them in shoe cubbies
, on over-the-door shoe racks, on stacking shoe shelves
, and in shoe baskets in the closet. I just realized if we started sleeping in shoes we could get by with storage space for 12 less pairs. Don’t worry; we’re not that desperate. Not yet.

Kimberly Malone Hardaway asks, How do you discipline/teach your toddlers? My 1-year-old does not respond to the word no (probably because his sisters say it to him 100 times a day). When I try to discipline him, he just smiles and laughs. He’ll even spank his own little hand and laugh. Can’t wait until this little guy can finally understand English!

Kimberly, your toddler can learn to respond to the word no when it comes from you, no matter how many times his sisters say it to him. The sooner he learns this lesson, the better – and he is plenty old!

If he smiles and laughs at you, you’ll need to communicate better. He needs to clearly understand that you are not playing with him. Use a firmer voice, and if you are smacking his hand, smack it harder.

I don’t know what your particular struggle is with your guy, but I have posted about a few specific toddler training issues in the past:

Lana Celmer (whose father baptized me and my sibs, lo, these many long years ago) wants to know, Do your kids ask to visit friends as often as my tiny family? I only have 3 kids, 11yr old Boy, 8 year old girl an 2 year old boy. My kids seem to be pretty?lonely? lacking in playmates.

Lana, ours don’t ask very often. This is partly because they understand that gas costs money, so we live a very home-centered life. But I think it’s also because they have built-in playmates at home the way some people have built-in bookcases.

In spite of the fact that we don’t go a’visitin’ very often, we do plenty of socializing. We host a fellowship every Tuesday, attended by large families with children of nearly every age. Our church also has a fellowship meal after the service every Sunday, so the kids get plenty of time to visit with friends and acquaintances. Perry and some of the older 6 have been playing soccer every Saturday with people from church and the community. The girls love to ride to town with their dad so they can go help other mothers who are recovering from childbirth, surgery, or just have their hands full and enjoy the company of a happy, helpful teen. And because Perry works at a very family-friendly company, the children take turns going to work with him.

Our kids are quite possibly the most socialized homeschoolers ever.

That’s not to say they never ask. I have siblings just the ages of my 4 oldest children, and they have been best friends since birth, so they love to visit their aunts and uncles at Grandma’s house. My brother lives nearby with his wife and 3 children, just the ages of 3 of my middle/younger children, so they are always excited to get together with cousins. We’ve been getting together every week for a long lunch date.

For the most part, they are surrounded by friends and very satisfied with the busy social life they lead, and I think being part of a larger-than-average family has contributed to this.

Lindsey Page England asks, Do your kids attend pool parties, slumber parties, sleepovers, etc.? If yes – How do you handle gift giving and the siblings who aren’t invited?

Lindsay, we don’t do slumber parties or sleepovers, and the people in our circles don’t seem to do birthday parties with any regularity so this isn’t something we’ve had to deal with often. However, we wouldn’t have a problem with allowing just a few children to attend a party for their friends, while those who weren’t invited stayed home. If it was older children with their own money, they would buy the gift. For younger ones, we would “help,” which might or might not mean picking up the entire bill. Quite honestly, the gas would cost more than the gift anyway since we live far outside town.

and Cindy Dyer is just plain sweet: I’ve been reading you for so long you’ve already answered pretty much all of my questions.

Cindy, I love you.

Do you have questions for our next Q&A? Leave your question in the comments on this post, or to improve my chance of finding your question, wait for the Facebook request for questions next month.

The other moms are answering questions too:

Upcoming topics for 4 Moms:

September 29 – {surprise}
October 6 – Keeping up with housework in the midst of homeschooling

Economic wisdom

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 21, 2011 By kimc

I came across this quote and had to share. I would like to tatoo it to the forehead of every politician we elect for the next 20 years. If we did it in mirror image, they could read it every morning when they stand in front of the mirror, and maybe something would soak in.

Google attributes it to Dr. Adrian Rogers, though I could not find any single source that struck me as particularly reliable. It sounds more like the founding fathers of America or something from the Anti-Federalist papers. Maybe he was quoting them?

You cannot legislate the poor into freedom by legislating the wealthy out of freedom.

What one person receives without working for, another person must work for without receiving.

The government cannot give to anybody anything that the government does not first take from somebody else.

When half of the people get the idea that they do not have to work because the other half is going to take care of them, and when the other half gets the idea that it does no good to work because somebody else is going to get what they work for, that, my dear friend, is about the end of any nation.

You cannot multiply wealth by dividing it.

~Dr. Adrian P. Rogers, three-time president of the Southern Baptist Convention

I also found that all 5 sentences were nearly always quoted as a single paragraph, but they seem to me more like unconnected excerpts. What do you think?

The lines above remind me very much of The Law by Frederic Bastiat which I read in high school, and this quote which I thought came from Bastiat’s book but is instead attributed with some uncertainty to Alexander Tytler.

No republic has long outlived the discovery by a majority of its people that they could vote themselves largesse from the public treasury.

Filed Under: news & politics 10 Comments

Does morning sickness predict baby’s gender? {poll}

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 21, 2011 By kimc

Friends, we may be in record territory. As far as I know, I’m not currently expecting. But if I’m not pregnant already, then my next duedate will be over 2 years from the birth of my last child.

Because of this and because my sister-in-law just announced that she’s pregnant, and because we were all just at a baby shower for another sister who is due in December, pregnancy is very much on my mind. It’s so much on my mind that I just ordered a 25-pack of pregnancy tests on Amazon
. At just over $5 for the whole box (with free shipping and no sales tax), they’re far cheaper than buying them one at a time from the local Everything’s A Dollar Store.

I had one very odd experience when it comes to predicting the gender of a baby, and plenty of people think they can guess by the shape of a pregnant woman’s belly. Our mom says that with her 14 children she never found a pattern or symptom that helped her accurately predict the gender of a child. At the baby shower, we talked a little about morning sickness, and didn’t come to any solid conclusions.

Now I’m wondering…

I think I had less morning sickness with my boys than with my girls, but it also seems that I had less morning sickness as I got older. Maybe it had nothing to do with the baby’s gender.

What do you think?

There is a poll below. Feed subscribers may need to click through to this post to see the poll.

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Did you find other signs or symptoms that seemed to help predict the gender of your babies or those of other people you know? I would love to hear your thoughts!

Filed Under: pregnancy/labor, questions 60 Comments

I want to be a loser, 11 weeks later

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 20, 2011 By kimc

Maybe it’s time to change the title of these weekly updates. I’m not losing any weight; in fact, I have gained back a bit. Maybe it’s partly Parker’s fault; he is nursing more instead of less, and I always hold some extra weight while nursing. But hubby and the kids tell me I’m looking better than I have in a long time, so I’m not worried about the insults being hurled at me by the scale. I hardly even step on the scale now. Instead, I try on clothes from my teenage daughters’ closets. :)

We’re still doing P90X in theory, but when life is crazy it can be well-nigh impossible to squeeze in a 60-90 minute workout, especially for Perry when he’s gone 13 hours a day or more. When we manage, we love it. When we don’t, we feel frustrated and/or guilty. Or maybe that’s just me.

I am *loving* this push-up challenge. I think I mentioned last week that several members of our family and a much bigger circle of friends and acquaintances are working toward 3,000 push-ups for the month of September. When we started, I could do 17 push-ups. For the first 25 years of my life I couldn’t do a single one so I felt pretty good about doing 17.

But now, after 19 days (minus Sundays, on which we rest), I can do sets of 40! I never expected to increase so quickly, so I’m honestly delighted! I think it has helped that with each set I push until I can’t do another, then I rest just a few seconds (5 or less) and do as many more as I can. I have done up to 200 in a day (but usually more like 120), and Perry has done 450 on some days! Kaitlyn and Lydia are in it too, though they could both exercise circles around us if they wanted to. We’re all seeing big changes in ourselves and each other, and it’s so much fun to encourage and challenge each other.

I’m also doing more with the kettle bell. Usually I have to be careful not to push too hard because I end up crippled 48 hours later, but it seems that the regular exercise has strengthened and conditioned me so that I can push myself harder without injury. Instead of the 12-20 that I usually start with, I’m doing 50 swings at a time now, and plan to start doing 2 sets/day. My legs are noodles by the end, but that’s to be expected. Here’s the great part: I don’t feel a thing the next day.

I’m still a little apprehensive about how cold weather will affect my appetite. I always tend to gain weight in cold weather, and while I’m much less concerned about the numbers now, I still don’t want to lose the ground I’ve gained over the past 11 weeks.

Do you tend to gain weight in cold weather? How do you combat the appeal of hot food in cold weather? I’m thinking soups will be very helpful – warm and filling, and not necessarily packed with carbs or calories.

Filed Under: Everyday life 9 Comments

Menu challenge

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 19, 2011 By kimc

OK, friends. I have some stuff in my pantry that just isn’t moving, and I want your help.

These are some items that I didn’t buy, so they don’t fit my typical meal plans. What would you do with them? Extra points for emphasis on low/slow carb meals, meatless/low cost, and for using more than one item below in the same meal.

vermicelli (2 small bags)
pasta stars (1 small bag)
crunchy Chinese noodles – We often do fried rice or stir fry over rice, so we could easily use these under or over. Would you do something more creative?
corn bread stuffing mix (3 largish bags)
french fried onions – I’ve only ever used these in Thanksgiving green bean casserole, but surely there are other options.
croutons – We’re big on salads, so we could do the obvious. But again, maybe you have a better idea?
oyster crackers – Soup weather is just around the corner, but do you have an idea that is appealing during hot weather?
stove-top stuffing (3 bags of the store brand)
quinoa (3 cups) – I tried this for the first time ever a couple of weeks ago and enjoyed it, but most went bad in the fridge waiting for inspiration on what to actually do with it.
taco shells – Tacos, of course. Maybe lentil or bean?

Filed Under: food 68 Comments

Winner: New Creation Apparel

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 17, 2011 By kimc

Wow! Thank you for the best-ever response to last week’s giveaway for a skirt from New Creation Apparel! I promise we’ll have another giveaway from them soon; we’ve already shaken hands on the deal.

The winning comment randomly chosen from 499 entries is:

Tori says:
September 9, 2011 at 7:07 am
I would guess your new skirt has at least one pocket…that or a built-in extra hand or memory bank. I would personally love to have the maternity signature indigo skirt. Super-cute and would go with anything.

Tori, congratulations on winning! I’m emailing you details on how to claim your gift. Also: you were absolutely right. My new skirt has pockets, and I can’t understand why pockets are so rare on skirts!

If you didn’t win this one (or even if you did!), be sure to enter to win a skirt or $50 gift certificate from Marie Madeline Studio. Remember, blogging about it gives you 3 extra entries!

Filed Under: giveaways & deals 1 Comment

Saturday Searches

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 17, 2011 By kimc

I think our search engine traffic is increasing, because every time I look there’s something new and crazy. Or maybe our blog is just getting crazier over time and like attracts like. But that’s not how magnets work: opposites attract. I refuse to take responsibilities for all the crazy search terms that bring people to our blog.

Just in case you’re curious, I’m linking these to show where I think google took the searcher. I hope they found what they were looking for, but in some cases I doubt it.

my belly button popped out – Yours too, huh? I don’t recommend the bandaid belly button fix unless you’re really, really desperate.
toddler blanket training – I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this was immediately followed by yet another search about how to remove a toilet tank. I wonder what the toddler flushed this time.
pregnancy hormones quotes – It’s a brave man who will speak aloud on that subject. Wiser men use body language, like the handing over of chocolate. Then they roll their eyes and mutter under their breath as they walk away, thinking we don’t notice.
little brother names – When my brothers were little we called them Monster and Butthead. I’m not condoning it, but they deserved it.
patience when kids fighting chaos in mor – Can’t you just hear this one trailing off as the chaos moves closer? It’s like a zombie apocalypse, and they broke through the door just as the last despairing plea for help went out.
frappuccino recipe gallon – Why didn’t I think of that?! And all this time I’ve been making one glass at a time.
reason to have children, immediately followed byscripture verse for patience for mothers – Do ya think somebody’s kids are acting up today?
scorpion under your pillow – Did you sleep in a fetal position for the rest of the night? I did.

Do you ever check the search terms that lead visitors to your blog? What’s the best one you’ve seen recently?

Filed Under: blogging & technology 7 Comments

Giveaway: Marie Madeline skirt or $50 gift certificate

No current giveaway. Shocking, right?

September 16, 2011 By kimc

[This giveaway is now closed. Scroll down to see who won.]

Oh, can you see how excited I am?!

Route 66 skirt from Marie Madeline Studio

Your response to last Friday’s giveaway by New Creation Apparel was so good, I just knew it was time to do another giveaway from Marie Madeline Studio, and the lovely Long ladies agreed!

We’ve met the Long ladies in real life, and they are just as sweet as their fabrics!

Most of their skirts come with a below-knee length and an ankle length option. Which would you prefer?

custom crafted gracie ruffle skirt- mid calf length

custom crafted gracie ruffle skirt- knee length

If you hurry over right now, you can still catch the end of their huge birthday bash, an annual sale to celebrate their sweet mother’s birthday. They have different collections at 45% off each day, ending tomorrow (Saturday, September 17). Many of the patterns are 50% off until Saturday, too!

Our house is bursting with color from Marie Madeline Studio, and we think yours should be too! Skirts for grown-up girls and little ones, aprons, bags, quilts…what’s your favorite? Or would you buy fabric and patterns to craft your own treasures?

Would you choose something sweet and beautiful for your little girl, or would you be overcome with longing for something sweet and pretty for yourself?

Maybe something pretty yet grown up, like this:

Black and White

Or this denim collection:

denim

But don’t you love the way the brights play with the browns in these prints?

It's a Hoot

And these are so warm and happy:

Fun Flowers

Oh – more chocolate here:

Carmen

Somebody stop me!

Dream On

fun prints

Innocent Crush

Whew! Ready?

ENTER THE GIVEAWAY – 8 ways to win!

Marie Madeline Studio has agreed to give Life in a Shoe reader the skirt of her choice or $50 to buy whatever she wants from the site! You probably know the routine by now, but here are the details on extra entries to help you pump up your chance of winning!

One very happy winner will receive her choice of a skirt or a $50 gift certificate from Marie Madeline Studio. To enter the giveaway, do any or all of the following. Please leave a separate comment here for each entry.

Look around Marie Madeline Studio and leave a comment on this post telling what you would choose if you win.
Like Marie Madeline Studio on Facebook
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Share this giveaway on Facebook.
Join the Life in a Shoe newsletter mailing list. No spam, we promise. We haven’t even figured out how to send a newsletter yet. :) Note: this is not the same as subscribing to our blog posts.
For 3 bonus entries, blog about this giveaway. Remember to leave 3 comments for this so you’ll be entered 3 times.