Baby Bird Notebooking Pages Winner!

Our little baby cardinals have left the nest, and the Giveaway is now over.  Honestly, the enthusiasm generated by this particular giveaway was a little underwhelming.  I thought everyone would be as excited about it as I was!  But I suppose baby birds on a blog are not as exciting as babies in your very own tree!  But, I know that the winner will be very excited, because these are really great notebooking pages!

Karen is our winner!  Congratulations, Karen.  The files will be emailed to you!

Scatter Vegan Sweets – Review & Giveaway!

Did you know that in a previous life (a life before marriage, children and gluten-freedom) I used to be a cake decorator?  It’s true!  I even made and decorated my own wedding cake. 

 

My wedding cake was vegan.  No milk or eggs in it.  After I got married, I discovered just how bad sugar is for you so I started making cakes without milk, eggs or sugar.  Then I learned that baking soda and baking powder isn’t that great either, so I started making cakes without milk, eggs, sugar, baking powder or baking soda.  Then my family went on this gluten free diet and that is when I quit making cakes.  When you’re making cakes with no milk, eggs, sugar, baking soda, baking powder, or wheat… Well, it’s really not cake any more. 

I didn’t just quit making cakes.  I quit baking altogether.  I don’t want to complain, but between you and I, the worst part about being gluten free is having to eat what passes for gluten-free desserts.  People use rice flour, millet flour, potato starch and other creative concoctions to replicate wheat in recipes and just between you and I, the results leave a lot to be desired.  I mean, if it’s full of MILLET, it’s just not a donut anymore!

Then I got an email from one of my blog readers.  (Hi Nicole!)  She said, "Recently, I purchased an inexpensive cookbook that is whole foods (no raw sugars, no oils) that is vegan and gluten-free.  I think you will really enjoy it and benefit from it.  I absolutely love it and it has been such a blessing to our family.  No longer do we say, ohh that is good for gluten-free, we just say “Wow that is great!”.  It’s called “Scatter Vegan Sweets”.  The lady who authored it sells it from her website I believe, her name is Wendy Gabbe Day.”  In another email, she said, “I’ve tried MANY of the recipes and have had great success with every single one of them.”

Now, if you’ve ever tried gluten free desserts before, you’ll know what Nicole meant when she said “No longer do we say ohh that is good for gluten free.”  If you don’t know what she’s talking about, consider yourself blessed!

Needless to say, I was intrigued.  A recipe book of vegan, gluten free desserts that actually taste good?  Personally, I doubted it, but I thought I’d give it a try! 

But actually, I am not going to be able to review this cookbook.  Here’s why:

Over the past month, we’ve had a lot of visitors.  Over 30.  Almost all of them have stayed overnight, so it’s been crazy-busy around here!  (Which is why I haven’t been very active on the blog over the past couple of weeks.)  What a perfect time to review a new, fabulous, cookbook, right?

Well, maybe not.  First, I made a bowl of pudding.  I put it out on the counter, came back a little while later and all that was left was an empty bowl!  

**sigh** So I tried again.  I made brownies this time.  By the time I could take a picture, here’s what was left:

I confess to eating the crumbs (but not the brownies!) and they were pretty good!

But I still didn’t have a picture for the blog, so I tried making a cake.  Here’s the picture I ended up with:

Time and time again I would make a recipe and it would get gobbled up before I could get the picture taken!  Granola, granola bars, scones, cookies, puddings, muffins… let’s just say that someone in this house has been eating pretty well lately (and it hasn’t been me!).

Well, it’s not quite fair (or accurate) to say that nobody left any for me.  There was this one time…

(I’m pretty sure a short person who I gave birth to might have been responsible for this!)

Eventually, I learned a thing or two and I did manage to take a picture of this plate of cookies immediately after it came out of the oven.  (Good thing I took the picture quickly, because these cookies didn’t last long either!)

So, that’s why I can’t review this cookbook.  I really have no idea how everything tasted.  I’m sorry, but if you want to know whether or not these recipes are any good, you’ll just have to make some of these recipes yourself.

How can you get a copy of Scatter Vegan Sweets? 

Well, you can head on over to Wendy’s website Veg Food & Fit where you can purchase the softcover version of her book for only $10.

She also sells the e-book version for $5.

But we’re having a Giveaway!

How do you enter the giveaway? 

Mandatory:  You must, must, must go to VegFoodAndFit.com and email Wendy.  (Her address is on the contact page!)  Tell her I sent you and that you would like a free copy of the ebook version of “Scatter Vegan Sweets.” 

And she will send it to you!  It’s really that simple. 

That’s right!  This is a giveaway where everyone is guaranteed to win!

It was Wendy’s idea that everyone should win a copy of the ebook! She is such an awesome Giveaway hostess!  It is not required, but it would be very cool if you would head over to her Facebook page and “like” her as a way of saying “Thank you!”

Baby Bird Giveaway!

Gotcha!  You thought I was going to give away the adorable baby birds I found last night, didn’t you?  

Well, I’m not.  They’re too sweet.  And anyway, I don’t think their mama would let me give them away any more than I would let Papa the Farmer giveaway one of the Little Farmhands!

But an event as exciting as finding our very own nest of baby birds should not be without celebration!  Debra from NotebookingPages.com has agreed to celebrate with me!

Debra has notebooking pages for all kinds of subjects…  Bible, History, Geography, Language Arts… but my favorite are her Science & Nature Study pages!  And she has graciously offered to to celebrate our baby birds by giving one of our readers a free copy of her North American Birds Notebooking Pages ebook!

This ebook is 680 pages long and has pages for 97 of North America’s most popular birds (including all 50 state birds)!  At only $8.95 it’s definitely a good deal.  I love the fact that all Debra’s pages come in multiple styles of printing lines… So your older children can fill in advanced information:

Your younger children can write on the primary printing lines:

 

and your littlest preschoolers can color the coloring pages in!

 

So, how does the Giveaway work? 

Well… I will be updating the blog every few days about our little birds’ progress.  I’ll also be posting interesting bird trivia and whatever other bird-related things I happen to think of.  When the birds leave their nest and it is obvious to us, “Ok, yeah, they’re gone now.”  I will close the Giveaway and randomly select one winner from all the entries.

That’s right… I have no idea when this giveaway will close.  How long does it take a baby bird to grow up, anyway?  2 weeks?  A month?  3 months?  I really have no idea…  I guess we’ll find out!

You can enter the giveaway in any of the following ways:

First Mandatory Entry:  You must, must, must go to NotebookingPages.com and browse their products.  Then come back here and tell me which ebook topic was your favorite!

Additional Entires:  AFTER you have picked a favorite ebook, you can earn additional entries by doing any of the following:  (If you already follow us in one of these ways, just leave a comment on this post telling me so!  It still counts!)

• “Like” NotebookingPages.com on Facebook
  
• “Like” Good Old Days Farm on Facebook
  
• Follow Us Using Google Friend Connect (link in right sidebar)
  
• Follow Good Old Days Farm on Twitter
  
• “Tweet” about our baby birds on Twitter and leave a comment here telling me about it!  (You may do this up to once a day or once a post… if I do two posts related to our baby birds in the same day)
  
• Share about our baby birds on Facebook and leave a comment here with the link! (Again, you may do this up to once a day, or once a post if I do two posts related to our baby birds on the same day)
  
• Blog about our baby birds (2 entries – leave two separate comments telling me you did this!)
• Email somebody about our baby birds, copy the email to GoodOldDaysFarm (at) gmail (dot) com and then come back here and leave a comment telling me you did this!
  
• As you follow the progress of our baby birds, leave a comment on any post on this blog related to these two baby birds.  You do not need to come back here and tell me about it.  When it is time to select a winner, I will account for all the comments before selecting to somebody.

But, what if I really like the Bird Notebooking Pages and I don’t want to wait until the baby birds leave their nest???

Well then, my friend, you can always purchase the ebook for only $8.95 right here.

I Hope You Enjoy Bird Watching With Me! 

Well Versed Family Giveaway Winner!

Thanks to all who participated in our Giveaway of “The Well-Versed Family” by Caroline Boykin!
Our winner was selected randomly, via random.org:

Congratulations to “Frugal Female”! 

If you did not win, but still would like to read “The Well Versed Family,” don’t forget that it is available at WellVersedFamily.com!  It is an excellent book and I highly recommend it for families interested in Scripture Memory!

 

Happy Memorizing!

The Well Versed Family: Review & Giveaway!

Lately, I’ve been feeling really convicted about teaching the Little Farmhands to memorize scripture.  Here at the Good Old Days farm we focus a lot on being physically healthy, but it is just as important to be spiritually healthy, too!  The Little Farmhands know tons and tons of Bible verses set to music… I know for a fact that the oldest Farmhand knows at least 150 scriptures set to music (We have some great CD’s that I’ll be telling you about later this week!)… but if anyone ever asked them what a certain verse says, they would have to sing the answer.  That’s good and we will continue to learn scripture songs, but they’re ready for the next step!

So for the next week and a half or so we are going to have a Scripture Memory Theme here on the Good Old Days Farm blog!  I’ll be sharing some excellent resources that have really helped our family to imprint scripture in our minds and hearts.  I’ll also share some of our favorite tools and techniques for memorizing as well as suggest some Bible Verses to help you and your family get started!



I’ve known it was important for my children to memorize scripture, but for some reason it never occurred to me that this is something we should do together as a family.  I stumbled across Caroline Boykin’s book “The Well-Versed Family” while looking for resources to help me teach my children.  Just as the subtitle “raising kids of faith through do-able scripture memory” promises, this book makes scripture memory do-able!  It was just what I needed to get started!

Caroline Boykin makes a compelling case in the first half of her book for the need to memorize scripture.  I love the title of the first chapter!  “What’s Down in the Well, Comes Up in the Bucket!”  She gets this title from Proverbs 4:23 “Above all else, guard your heart, for it is the wellspring of life.”  Poorly guarded and polluted wellsprings (hearts and minds) leave our children defenseless against temptation.  She outlines many benefits to memorizing scripture and shows exactly how memorizing helps us to know God.  You will be inspired and challenged by Boykins’ vision for making Scripture memory a passion rather than just another project or (as she puts it) “a holy hobby”!

The second half of “The Well-Versed Family” is full of practical tips to help children memorize.  Suggestions like coming alongside your child and memorizing the scriptures with them have changed the way our family approaches memorizing!  She also gives suggestions for incentives, review techniques and helping children to understand what the verses actually mean.  She includes memory verse games and activities (such as Bible verse card games and games like “verse scramble” and “I Spy…. a verse!”), 84 scripture memory cards on perforated pages (yay!  Because I always have a hard time knowing which verses to pick to get started!) and 5 simple, but very memorable family devotions explaining how scripture memory relates to real life.

One of my favorite parts of the book is when she talks about visiting her grandparents when she was about 9 years old.  They had a goal to help her and her sister memorize 100 verses from the Bible.  One hundred verses sounds like a lot (and it is more than many people memorize in a lifetime!) but they did it!  Boykin talks about what a wonderful gift those verses were and how now that her grandparents are deceased, those verses continue to bless her. It inspired me to give the same gift to my children! 

“The Well-Versed Family” was easy to read (even for this sometimes sleep-deprived mommy!), but hard to put down.  If you are considering starting (or reviving!) a scripture memory program in your home, I strongly recommend this book!

You can read more about “The Well-Versed Family” (including testimonials about how this book has inspired other families!) by visiting the Well-Versed Family website or preview it on Amazon. 

You can purchase “The Well-Versed Family” at Tate Publishing for $12.99 for the paperback edition and $7.99 for the ebook downloadable edition, or you can purchase it through Amazon for $12.73

Or

Win an autographed copy of “The Well-Versed Family”!
Caroline has donated a copy for one of our blog readers!
To enter, do any (or all) of the following.  If you do more than one, leave a separate comment for each entry:

• Spread the word!  Post about this giveaway on Facebook and leave a comment here telling me
• Tweet about this giveaway on Twitter and leave a comment here telling me you did so.
• Blog about this giveaway for 2 entries.  Leave two comments here with the link.
• “Like” the Good Old Days Farm on Facebook, and leave a comment here saying that you follow us there
  
• “Follow” the Good Old Days Farm on Twitter and leave a comment here
  
• “Follow” us through Google Friend Connect (link on right sidebar) and leave a comment here
  
• Subscribe to this blog via email (link on right sidebar) and tell me about it here
  
• Leave a comment suggesting a Bible verse or passage you think would be good for a family to memorize together!  (I will compile all the suggestions and post it for everyone to share so please try to pick a verse that hasn’t already been suggested!)

Giveaway closes at midnight on April 12, 2011.  Open to US Residents Only.  Please be sure to leave a way for me to contact you if you win!
This is not a paid review,  It is my personal opinion based on reading “The Well-Versed Family.”  A big thank you to Caroline Boykin for donating a copy of the book for the review and the giveaway!

We have a Winner!

A big “Thank You”
to all who participated in the Dryerballs Giveaway over this past week! 

It has been so much fun to read 

everybody’s comments!

 

I want to welcome those of you who have found our farm through this giveaway!  I've had so much fun “meeting” all of you!  As spring comes to the farm, I look forward to our posts becoming more about actual farm life and I'm also planning more great giveaways in the very near future!

This morning, our winners were selected via random.org.
And the winning entries are…
 

Entry # 24 - “Luv2Praise”

Entry # 14 - “StrongMamaof5”

Congratulations to you both!  I will be emailing each of you shortly to get the mailing address where you would like Nellie’s All-Naturals to send your dryerballs!

The Laundry Quandary Giveaway! (**Giveaway Closed**)

Edit:  This Giveaway is Now Closed.  Thank you to all who participated!  Watch for more giveaways coming soon!

 
Yesterday I posted about my friend’s laundry system that has absolutely revolutionized how I approach the laundry problem at our house!   (Click Here to read that post if you missed it!)

One of my personal favorite laundry products is Nellie’s Natural Dryerballs.  I stumbled across these in a grocery store 6 years ago and have been using the same set ever since.  I love them!  They bounce around the dryer with your clothes.  Here’s what Nellie’s website says:  “The unique design of the Dryerballs lift and separate fabrics while relaxing fibers. The result is less lint and wrinkles, softer clothes, more absorbent towels and a reduced drying time of up to 25% - saving you moolah! Best of all, it's toxic-free, environmentally friendly, and guaranteed to last up to 2 years. That's equivalent to a whole lotta dryer sheets.”

(Only guaranteed 2 years??? Mine have been through an average of 15 loads a week for 6 solid years and they still look and work great!  Trust me, these are not like the cheapie versions you can buy that fall apart!)

How can you get a set of dryerballs? 

Well, you can buy them at www.NelliesAllNatural.com

or

Win them!

Nellie’s All-Natural has offered to give a set of dryerballs to TWO of my blog readers!

To enter, just leave one comment on yesterday’s post saying what you like about Pam’s Laundry System, then come back here and leave a comment saying you did so. 

Be sure to leave a way for me to contact you on each entry!

Extra Entries!

After you have commented on the laundry post, you can get extra entries, by doing any of the following:

-Browse www.NelliesAllNatural.com and then leave a comment here telling me what your favorite product is!
-“Like” Good Old Days Farm on Facebook and leave a comment here telling me you’ve become (or still are) a fan!
-Subscribe to our blog via email and leave a comment here telling me you are subscribed
-Follow us on our blog using Google Friend Connect (link on right sidebar… if you did this in the past, it still counts as long as you leave a comment telling me you are connected!)
-Share about this giveaway on Facebook and leave a comment with the link
-Blog about this giveaway and leave the link in the comments below.  (2 extra entries – leave 2 comments saying you did this)
-Leave a comment on a non-giveaway post (that is relevant to that post) here on the Good Old Days Farm blog.  Then return here and tell me which post you commented on. (Note - Commenting on Pam's Laundry System is your initial entry.  For extra entries, you must comment on a different post!)

Giveaway will end on Thursday, March 24, 2011 at midnight.

We have a Winner!

A big “Thank You”
to all who participated in the Motivated Moms Chore Planner Giveaway over this past week!


 

This has been our first giveaway!  I want to welcome those of you who have found our farm through this giveaway.  I've had so much fun meeting all of you!  As spring comes to the farm, I look forward to our posts becoming more about actual farm life and I'm also planning more great giveaways in the near future!

This morning, our winner was selected via random.org.

And the winning entry is…

 

#18!

Congratulations, Caroline!  

Motivated Moms and I wish that everybody could win a free chore planner! 

So, as her gift to you, Deann, the original Motivated Mom, is giving 

$1 off any chore planner to all Good Old Days Farm Blog Readers!

To claim your $1 off, just click here:

Add the planner of your choice to your shopping cart, then type FARM as your discount code!

Thank you to all who participated, and thank you to Motivated Moms for donating the prize planner for the winner and the discount code for all our blog readers!

 As before, if  you purchase something from Motivated Moms by clicking on one of my links, I will receive a small commission.  If that bothers you, you can go directly to the Motivated Moms website by using the URL:  www.MotivatedMoms.com  The Good Old Days Farm donates a percentage of all our income to spreading the Gospel in third world countries.

Motivated Moms Review & Giveaway!

I confess.  Housekeeping is not my favorite thing to do.  There are so many other fun things I’d rather be doing and sometimes it just feels like I spend all my time cleaning the same rooms over and over again and not enough time enjoying my children.

The truth is, I’ve never really come up with an effective cleaning system. 
When we first got married I made a list of everything that needs to be done to keep a house really clean. The list was 4 pages long!  I was so overwhelmed that I didn’t even attempt to start it.  I tried getting books out of the library, but it discouraged me to read advice like, “Use a toothpick to clean the dust out of the screws in door hinges.”  (Really?!?!  Do people do that?)   I tried setting up a housekeeping card-file system and that worked really well until it got knocked onto the floor and cards scattered everywhere.  (I never had the courage to put the system back together again.)  I signed up for one of these online cleaning systems…. but that was like giving a drunk a drink…. Giving me an excuse to spend more time on the computer did not help anything!

What I need is a mother… or maybe a drill sergeant.  Someone to just tell me what I need to do next.

Then, I found Motivated Moms!

Motivated Moms is a printable chore-planning system that I love, love, love!  It involves doing a few basic daily jobs (like “make beds” and “wash dishes”) and 4-6 extra tasks each day.  Some of the extra tasks are related to cleaning (“clean one shelf of the refrigerator”), some are seasonal reminders (“check your credit report”) and some are fun assignments (“spend time on a craft or hobby” or “pamper yourself”).  Imagine that.  Somebody telling me to go pamper myself!

Above is this week’s checklist.

 

Honestly, the first time I looked at the checklist I thought, “This will never work.”  I just didn’t see how I could keep the whole house as clean as I wanted without spending hours and hours working on it. 
But you know what?  It does work!  I’m the kind of person who likes checking things off a list and since none of the tasks take very long I am motivated to get each job done.  The plans are already laid out so I don’t need to worry about whether or not I am forgetting to do any obscure jobs.  It’s set up like a day planner, so if I miss a day, I can just cross the whole day off and move right on to the next day.  No Guilt!  I can easily look at my checklist and delegate tasks to the Little Farmhands.  The daily lists are so short that I am never overwhelmed.  And as you can see in the picture above, there’s plenty of space to add in little reminders to myself like “send Thank You cards” or “order horse manure” (something the rest of you probably don’t do!).

Know what I like best about Motivated Moms?  When I get to the end of the check list, I have permission to stop… even if the house isn’t perfect.  I’ll do more tomorrow.  This one key has given me so much peace and joy in my life… and more time to spend with my sweet little farmhands!

And you know what?  The house is clean!

Now, how can you get a copy of the Motivated Moms chore planner for yourself?

If you’re like me and just want a little direction, you definitely want this planner!  The planner is available in several different formats.  It’s all the same list of chores, but you can buy it in different sizes, different formats (page per day or week per day) and with or without Daily Bible Readings.  There’s even a really cool iphone app for those of you who are more technologically savvy than me!

Buy it 

by going over to Motivated Moms and buying it for only $8. 

(Seriously!  That’s 66 cents a month…2 cents a day.  It is so worth it!)

Or

Win a free copy!

MotivatedMoms.com has graciously offered to give away one ebook chore planner to one reader!  To enter, just go to the MotivatedMoms.com website, browse their products then come back here and leave me a comment telling me which of their chore planners you would like to win!

Edit:  You must complete this first step, first!  In your comments, be sure to leave a way that I can reach you if you win!  For example, leave your email address in the following format:  

GoodOldDaysFarm (at) gmail (dot) com

Extra Entries!

 

After you have completed the first entry, you can do any of the following for extra entries.  Be sure to leave a separate comment for EACH thing you do.  If you already follow us in one of these ways, that still counts as an extra entry, as long as you comment on this post that you are still following us. 

1. Follow Motivated Moms on Facebook.

2.  Follow Good Old Days Farm on Facebook.

3. Subscribe to our blog via email.

4. Follow us on our blog using Google Friend connect!  (Link on right side bar).

5. Share about this giveaway on your Facebook page, and leave a comment with the link.

6. Blog about this giveaway and leave the link in the comments below.  (2 extra entries - leave two comments saying you did this).

7.  Leave a comment on a non-giveaway post (that is relevant to that post) here on the Good Old Days Farm blog.  Then return here and tell me which post you commented on (Limit 1 entry for doing this).

 












This giveaway will end Wednesday, February 23rd at midnight, and a winner will be chosen via random.org and posted the following day. We will notify the winner and they will have 36 hours to respond! Failure to respond will result in another winner being selected. 





This post is an honest review of the Motivated Moms Planner basely solely on my own opinion.  A big “Thank You” to Motivated Moms for supplying the product for the review and giveaway.  If you purchase something from Motivated Moms by clicking on one of my links, I will receive a small commission.  If that bothers you, you can go directly to the Motivated Moms website by using the URL:  www.MotivatedMoms.com  The Good Old Days Farm donates a percentage of all our income to spreading the Gospel in third world countries.