Angie – Page 1003 – Luv Saving Money

Book Review: Mind Your Own Mortgage

In a January blog post I mentioned my new year’s resolution was to pay down my debt. I’m still working on. My husband and I have both been reading financial books. As a member of Booksneeze.com I found “Mind Your Own Mortgage” by Robert J. Bernabe.

This book guides you through a money saving process of researching, obtaining, refinancing (if ever) and paying down a mortgage. I was relieved to find clear descriptions of financing terms. Robert Bernabe goes on to explain further the reasoning behind his advice and what the alternatives are. He refers frequently to a website in the book to obtain tools to better help your mortgage process. Robert Bernabe is a christian author and occasionally refers to christian beliefs in the financial process.

This book changes many people’s ideas of how to shop for a mortgage. I, myself, learned a few things. I found myself saying “oh my gosh that’s true, I never thought of that”.

If I did have disappointment in that book it’s that I wish there were more information regarding paying off a mortgage. There is of course some information regarding this late in the book. Another, detail I would like to point out is that this is not a book to sit and read easily on your lunch break etc. In order to understand effectively the information you will need to access the website to refer to forms and other tools Mr. Bernabe refers to.

If you are someone who is considering starting your first mortgage, buying another house, or refinancing I would certainly recommend this book. I wish I would have read this book when my husband and I were house shopping. This book requires you to actively participate to get the full benefit. It is apparent that Robert Bernabe is well versed in the ways of the mortgage industry and feel this book would be of great benefit to the home buyer or someone looking to refinance.

***I received a free copy of this book from www.booksneeze.com to review on my blog.***

Make these popular jewelry pieces yoursefl

I was looking at new posts from blogs I follow on my dashboard. I came across this post from http://craftedition.blogspot.com/
to make your own stamped washer necklace.

I’ve seen similar necklaces around for sale several different places. I thought it would be nice to get one customized with all of my kids’ names on it. Now with this post I can make my own.

She tells you where to get the supplies and for convenience even made up little kits to buy with all the hardware you need so you can make your own. How great is that! Follow the link below to see what I’m talking about.

http://craftedition.blogspot.com/2010/05/stamped-washer-necklaces.html

ORIGINAL blog post with even more pics: http://notsoidlehands.blogspot.com/2010/04/jumpin-on-bandwagon-late-againwith_14.html

eBeanstalk Toys review

I have a couple of babies in my family that will be turning 1 soon. One happens to be my youngest child. When I look for gifts for children, whether it’s my own, a family member, or because one of my kids were invited to a party, I want to find something unique. It’s hard to know if you’re niece already has this, or would little Johnny like that, or Didn’t my brother get him one of these last year?

I like to find unique places to buy gifts. I have to admit, I stumbled onto http://www.ebeanstalk.com by accident. I was looking for information for my blog. I started exploring the website. I found myself thinking “Isn’t that cute?” “I’ve never seen one of those before.” “I bet ______ doesn’t have one of those.”

http://www.ebeanstalk.com makes it easy to find the toys by having the toys broke down into age categories as well as being able to narrow it down to boys, girls, and top sellers.

For instance:
Baby toys I go to the website and click on Baby Toys on the left hand side. I list of cute little toys like these ones come up:

Big Buzz E Bee $29.95
Sights, sounds, peek a boo activities and more with this one. Click the link to read what all it does.

Melissa and Doug Fill and Spill Mailbox $26.95There’s a few fill and spill toys on the market. All very cute. This is the first one I’ve seen.

Moving on there are a lot of other age categories to choose from. Even up to 12 years and older:
Toys by Age
Looking through the 12 years and up section I see this:

Tin Can Robot $14.95 on eBeanstalk
Definitely unique. I bet it would be a lot of fun too. Making mental note of this one for later. It’s a kit that includes the parts. All you need is a soda can to turn a used can into a neat toy.

Maybe you’re thinking that you just want a plain old trampoline, or bike, or whatever. They have that too.

The site also offers birthday reminders, wishlist maker, and a section with expert advice on toys for the best learning and developmental toys. This makes me happy being that I’m an Occupational Therapy Assist. They even have links to articles:
http://www.ebeanstalk.com/experts.php

What do I think eBeanstalk can work on? Well if you’ve been reading my blog, you’ll know it’s the prices. eBeanstalk can we do something with that? I did look at the clearance section on the site: http://www.ebeanstalk.com/clearance.php that’s a pretty good start. I can’t say the prices will detour me from purchasing because they do offer unique toys I personally haven’t found anywhere else. I’ll watch for deals though. Also I found out that if you sign up for their newsletter: eBeanstalk newsletter sign up you can safe 15% and free standard shipping if your order is $65 or more.

All in all I will be back to the site. Leave your comment and tell me what you think.

The Heart-Smart Diabetes Kitchen Cookbook Giveaway

www.canolainfocooks.org and the American Diabetes Association (ADA) have developed “The Heart-Smart Diabetes Kitchen: Fresh, Fast and Flavorful Recipes made with Canola Oil” cook book. There will be seven bloggers from the CanolaInfo team preparing all 151 recipes and sharing there info with you on the www.CanolaInfoCooks.org blog. Each blogger will give a different perspective. From Culinary experts to moms with children, and young city dwellers learning the kitchen.

In reading the cookbook, I found a lot of interesting and helpful information in the beginning of the book. For instance, “The Heart-Smart Diabetes Kitchen cookbook” explains the good and bad fats. The benefits of good fats and why bad fats are….well…bad. It gives information on healthy cooking habits and more.

I have to admit. When I think healthy cooking I don’t always think of flavor and variety. In reading the recipes in “The Heart-Smart Diabetes Kitchen: Fast and Flavorful Recipes made with Canola Oil” I found myself saying. “oh that looks good”, “I’m going to have to try this recipe”, “I bet I could make this and no one would even realize it’s good for them”. I work in the health field for a living. I see the consequences of people not taking a more healthy approach to their life. This cookbook makes it easy to find and prepare a healthy meal for your family.

With recipes like: Turkey-Swiss Panini, Lime-Zested Tomatillo-Black Bean Salad, Chicken with Roasted Red Pepper Sauce, and a whole lot more. Vivid pictures of recipes in the book really make it appealing. Oh did I mention there is a Chocolate Fondue recipe as well? Just throwing that in there. 🙂

You can check out some of these recipes for yourself in the mean time. Go to: www.CanolaInfoCooks.org to see for yourself. You can also find CanolaInfoCooks on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/CanolaInfo

As if that wasn’t enough to make you think you’d like to check out this book, All proceeds from the sales will go to the American Diabetes Association. This book is $18.95 in the U.S. and is availabe through the American Diabetes Association: http://store.diabetes.org , 1-800-232-6733, and Amazon.com

as well as Barnes and Noble, and many other bookstores.

This cookbook is not just for people living with Diabetes. Healthy cooking is for everyone! Heart Disease is the leading cause of death around the world. The ADA recommends that people with Diabetes should use healthy oils, like canola oil, instead of other types of fat when cooking. This cookbook is full of recipes using healthier canola oil.

“The Heart-Smart Diabetes Kitchen: Fresh, Fast, and Flavorful Recipes Made with Canola Oil” cookbook is laid out very well. With an easy to read contents section broke down into meals: lunch, dessert, salads for instance and an alphabetic index making it easy to find say: Chocolate Mint Pie with Espresso Sauce (sorry can’t help myself).

And here is the exciting part for my readers: I’m giving away a copy of “The Heart-Smart Diabetes Kitchen: Fresh Fast and Flavorful Recipes Made with Canola Oil” Here on my blog. The winner will also receive a 2010 “The Heart-Smart Diabetes Kitchen” Calendar with colorful pictures each month of some of the delicious recipes found in the cookbook.

Thanks to www.CanolaInfoCooks.org for letting me offer my readers such a great giveaway!

Now the giveaway rules:

Mandatory for initial entry:

1. Go to: www.CanolaInfoCooks.org and leave a comment telling me which recipe on their blog is your favorite and why.
2. I’ll need a way to contact you if you win. for instance: a link to your blog with your contact info, leave your email in the comment, or whatever you feel comfortable with.

Optional bonus entries (Mandatory must be done first in order for bonus entries to count)
1. Follow me on Twitter: @angiewith3 and tweet about this giveaway with this link:
http://bit.ly/HSDKgiveaway
2. Leave a thoughtful comment on one of my other blog posts. Then tell me on this post that you commented on another post.
3. Post about this giveaway on Facebook using this link: http://bit.ly/HSDKgiveaway
4. Follow my blog

A winner will be chosen Friday May 14, 2010

UPDATE **and the winner is…….Barbara***

Free Birthday Club from Growing Tree Toys for kids AND adults

Growing Tree Toys offers a Free Birthday Club. You can sign up, up to 5 children. It includes a surprise for your child and exclusive offers for you. It will arrive in your email 2 weeks before the birthdate.

Growing Tree Toys Birthday Club

Growing Tree Toys offers a variety of toys for children of all ages. They offer educational toys, baby toys, toddler toys, ride on toys, games musical toys, and much more. They even make them easy to find with their categories and even age group search.

educational toys
baby toys
toddler toys

Looking over the site some of my favorite and more unique toys:

Harley Davidson Roaring Rocker
Also a favorite of my boys on the site. They loved looking over the toys here.

Praying Mantis Pagoda science kitMy older boys saw the butterfly habitat advertised on tv and have been bugging me for one. Growing Tree Toys has it. That is, until, they saw the Praying Mantis Pagoda. Now they want this.

Snuggle Pod Lil’ Peanut Baby Doll

I just thought this was the cutest thing. I’ve not seen one of these before. I may have to get one for my baby.

I could post about 100 unique and cute toys on this blog but it would just be easier for you to use one of the links I included in this post to see for yourself.