Archives for April 2014

Green Your Mom giveaway featuring Lina Jake bags

Disclosure: I received this bag to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

Green Your Mom giveaway - enter to win a LinaJake bag -- savingsinseconds.com

Welcome to the Green Your Mom Giveaway Hop! This event is hosted by Happy Mothering, Easy Green Mom and Brittleby’s Corner through the Green Moms Network.  Each of blogs linked below is offering a prize package to help you turn Mother’s Day GREEN this year! We hope you’ll get some great gift ideas and win some fabulous prizes. Enter my giveaway then hop around to enter all of the other giveaways linked at the bottom of this post!

Yes, my kids are both older than 5 years old and I still carry a diaper bag.  That’s because this fabulous Lina Bag is perfect for carrying just about everything! [Read more…]

MamaLOVE giveaway featuring Hallmark

Disclosure: I received product samples; the opinions shared here are 100% mine.

MamaLove giveaway -enter to win a prize pack from Hallmark : savingsinseconds.com

Welcome to the MamaLOVE giveaway hop – this event is hosted by MamaNYC.  You won’t want to miss the fun giveaways offered by my blogger friends; this hop that will give you lots of great gift ideas!  After you enter my giveaway, visit the linky at the bottom of the post and keep on entering.  You never know, you just might find the perfect gift after all!

I am that person who stands in the back of the Hallmark store and laughs out loud at the funny cards.  For Mother’s Day, though, I reach for those special sentimental cards that have me weeping before I finish reading them.   [Read more…]

Love comes first, second comes marriage isn’t always the rule

FTC Disclosure Statement: I received this book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.   This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. 

There are many childhood memories that come to mind now that my kids are school age.  They get a real kick out of learning that our video games were the old Atari type.  Playing on the Gameboy meant investing some hard-earned piggy bank money in batteries.  When my kids play Minecraft, it reminds me a bit of the old style games, what with the pixelated images and all.  If your kids are into Minecraft, too, you can pick up a cool new tee for summer in this sale Crazy 8 — the tops are only $14.88!  My kids might think twice about making fun of my Atari games after that.  Well, probably not.

Stickers used to be so much fun when I was a kid.  Did you have a sticker album?  Mine was full of scratch and sniff, puffy, glittery, velvety, and all other kinds of stickers.  It went with  me everywhere.  When did iPads take over for sticker albums?!  Those were the good old days.

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I remember the First Ride home with both of my sweet children

Disclosure: This post is brought to you by the #FirstRide campaign. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

#FirstRide #sponsored savingsinseconds.com

The first ride home from the hospital is always momentous but completely ordinary at the same time.  With my first child, we had that moment of panic because the car seat, although purchased, wasn’t yet installed.  Cut us some slack; she was a preemie and we just weren’t prepared!  When my son arrived, it was with great relief. For one thing, we had some difficulties with conceiving in the first place.  Then there was gestational diabetes and a host of other problems, so getting home was an enormous relief.  I’ll always cherish this photo because it was an extra special moment.  My mother-in-law saved my husband’s going-home outfit from 33 years ago.  When my son came home from the hospital, he wore his daddy’s going home outfit.  Isn’t that special?!   [Read more…]

What do moms seek in the seasons of their lives?

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links. I got this product as part of an advertorial.

A few weekends ago, my family was in Nashville for a competition in which my daughter participated.  We tried to make the most of the trip by hitting some of the tourist spots like the Opryland Hotel (pics of that to come!)  My mom drove down from Kentucky to spend the day with us, since Nashville was a closer drive than the regular 7 hours she would travel to our home.  The kids asked if we could go to the Opry Mills Mall, and we thought, Why not?   Let me tell you, I felt like a regular country bumpkin after visiting that place. It was unreal.  The crowds were unbelievable and the stores.  Oh my, the stores!!  I used to be able to shop ’til I dropped, but after having kids I’m just not used to shopping in a “real” mall, especially in the part of Tennessee where we live.   Trying to keep both families together and happy the entire time meant that I didn’t get to do any real shopping; mostly we just walked around and looked in the doorways as we passed. [Read more…]

Richard L. Mabry does it again! Critical Condition book review

Disclosure: I received this book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

I never thought I’d enjoy medical thrillers. That is, until I read Stress Test by Richard L. Mabry a few months ago. That book took me up a roller coaster and threw me back down, then laughed in my face. I was ready for it this time with Critical Condition. At least, I thought I was!

I liked the little details in Critical Condition that made me feel like an insider in the game of hospital politics. [Read more…]

What if heaven isn’t for real – would it change how I live?

Disclosure: I received this book for review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

Happy Easter, everyone! Amid the bunnies, eggs, and chocolate, our family stopped to remember that Jesus and his resurrection is the true reason that we celebrated today. It was upon my heart today to ponder: What if heaven isn’t for real? Would it change how I live?

You’ve probably seen the ads for the movie Heaven Is For Real.
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Dystopian in teen fiction takes hold

Disclosure: I received this book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

In recent years there’s been a huge shift from movies geared toward adults to books-turned-movies that appeal to teens, too. Teen fiction is taking hold in a bold new way, revealing fascinating yet terrifying ideas about the future.  Remember the days of 1984?  I do.  That book always seemed more than a bit creepy, albeit ridiculous with the walking/talking animals.  Books like The Hunger Games or Divergent don’t seem so ridiculous to me, though, and that’s maybe even more terrifying.  When I reviewed Aquifer, it gave me the same chill factor.

Aquifer - hot new dystopian in the young adult genre. #sponsored savingsinseconds.com [Read more…]

The Accidental Socialite book review and tour

FTC Disclosure Statement: This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking on my links.  I received this book to review; the opinions shared here are 100% mine.

The Accidental Socialite-tour banner

Book tour for The Accidental Socialite by Stephanie Wahlstrom

the accidental socialite

Release Date: 04/15/14
Swoon Romance

My take on this book:

This is a fun book for 20 somethings (or even 30 somethings).  Girls just wanna have fun, right?  Paige is the endearing kind of friend whose suitcase bursts open to evict her washworn undies and Aunt Flo stuff.   Plus, I always love a girl who likes to eat hollandaise sauce without mentioning the calories. [Read more…]

God Bless Our Easter – Easter Giveaway Hop featuring Tommy Nelson books

Disclosure: I received this book to review. The opinions shared here are 100% mine.

God Bless Our Easter - win a copy at savingsinseconds.com thanks to @TommyNelson - Ends 4/24

 

Easter is one of the sweetest times of the year. It’s visually breathtaking, with God’s reminder of life’s continuous renewal.  The air even smells fresh!  For me, Easter is the holiday that gives me the most hope.  I serve a risen savior, one who defeated death and loves me like no other.  How can those ideas be shared with my children?  God Bless Our Easter, a new board book from Tommy Nelson, is a beautiful way to gift my children with these beliefs. [Read more…]

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