• Arby’s – Sign up on their site and get an email for a special offer plus future email coupons.
• Black Eyed Pea – You get email offers and a special offer on your birthday.  Last year, I think it was a FREE dessert.  This year it’s a FREE appetizer.
• Don Pablos – Get a FREE dip sampler for joining, $10 off on your birthday, $10 off on your anniversary sign-up date, and $10 off for a ninth visit reward.
• LaMadeleines – Sign up and receive an email for a FREE petite salade or cup of soupe. They’ll also send you an email for a FREE item for your birthday.
• Qdobas – Get an email coupon for a FREE item on your birthday plus I think you get an email coupon for FREE queso when you sign up  (It’s been two or three years since we signed up so I can’t remember for sure).
• Red Hot & Blue (I just joined so I don’t know what you get for joining.   I’ve never been there so I also don’t know what their food is like.  Friends say it’s good. )
• Rockfish Seafood Grill
• Rosa’s Cafe – Receive a FREE #17 Combination Burrito with a drink purchase when you join.
• Taco Bueno – When you sign up, receive a coupon for a FREE platter with the purchase of another platter.  Receive an email coupon for an item on your birthday.
  

Children need to feel loved in order to thrive. This book gives a lot of usable suggestions for how children interpret and feel love. What makes one child feel loved might not be the same for another child. Learn the love language of your child (or children).

I am giving away a copy of this book, The Five Love Languages of Children, and will mail it within the U.S. (Sorry, money is limited and I have to restrict it to postage I can afford.)

This is all you need to do to enter the giveaway: Leave a brief comment on this post with your name (first name is fine) and your email address. Your email address will be confidential and I will not share it with anyone. Names will be disqualified who do not leave email addresses because that is how I notify the winner. I will notify the winner by email to get their mailing address. Again, the mailing address will be confidential and I will not share it with anyone.

Deadline for entry is February, 10, 2010.

Using RANDOM.ORG to determine the winner, the winner is… Maria.  Congratulations, Maria!

If you would like your name entered twice, post about this on your blog and leave a comment with the link to your post.

*Watch for another book giveaway soon: The Five Love Languages. Learn your spouse’s love language and also your love language.

Aren’t digital cameras great? I remember having to buy film, waiting until all 24 or 36 pictures were taken before getting the film developed, and then having several pictures that weren’t that good and that wasted part of the film. Now it’s so easy to pick out great pictures to print out the same day you take them, and there are options to edit them and cut out background clutter which is a feature I like.  And digital cameras are great for taking pictures of family, especially grandbabies who require a lot of different camera shots sometimes to get a really good picture!

There are all sorts of ways to save money here and there, by checking grocery ads every week and buying the specials, using coupons, checking life insurance rates and other insurance rates as well to get the lowest rate available, etc.  Also, keeping the thermostat set a couple of degrees lower in the winter and wearing a sweater in the house is another way.  I read recently where a lot of people aren’t eating out as much anymore and instead they are “dusting off their cookbooks” and eating at home.  That definitely saves money.  Saving money in several different areas does add up over time!

We had our monthly Ladies’ Fellowship at Stephanie’s home, and she made this delicious soup.  She had several requests for her recipe, so she printed up recipes for everyone who wanted one.   By the way, this recipe was featured in Ann Criswell’s Houston Gourmet Cooks cookbook at one time.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 1/2 pounds peeled, seeded butternut or other hard-shelled squash (about 2 small butternuts)
• 2 tart green apples, peeled and chopped
• 1 oinion, coarsely chopped
• Pinch of rosemary
• Pinch of marjoram
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
  
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground white pepper
• 1 quart chicken stock
• 4 tablespoons butter (I would probably use 2 T butter and 2 T olive oil since I use olive oil in most things)
• 2 tablespoons flour
• 1 1/2 cups half-and-half  (I would try fat-free)

Cut squash into large chunks.  Combine squash, apples, onion, herbs, salt, sugar, pepper and stock in saucepan.  Bring to a boil and simmer about one hour.  Strain squash and apples from the soup and puree in electric blender.   Return puree to soup, mixing well.

Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat.  Stir in flour, mixing well.  Pour the soup through a strainer over the flour mixture, a little at a time.  Stir well with a whisk.  Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and stir half-and-half into soup; heat through, but do not boil.

We eat a lot of Cheerios at our house, so I check grocery ads to find them on sale.  And if I have a coupon for them, that makes the savings even better.  Well, I found this great site where you can get 4 coupons, each worth $1.  After entering my name, address, and email on an official Cheerios website, I will be receiving four emails over the next few weeks, each email containing a $1 coupon.   That also enters me for a chance to win one of 50,000 boxes of Cheerios that they will be giving away.  Sounds good to me!

We use Hellmann’s Light Mayo, and I’m always looking for good coupons for the products we use.  If you use Hellmann’s Mayo and would like a coupon, you can get a 75 cent coupon here.

1. What’s your favorite type or shape of pasta?

Rotini and Farfalle (bow-tie pasta)
2. Where do you shop for groceries?

Several places!  I study the grocery ads every week and usually end up going to a couple of different grocery stores, maybe three, to get their specials.  I shop at Brookshires, Albertsons, and Krogers on a regular basis.  Certain things I get at Wal-Mart, Sams, or Super Target because I can get a better deal there.  And then some things I can only get at Central Market, so I go there every three or four weeks.
3. What’s your favorite mayonnaise?
Hellmann’s Light Mayo

4. What is the food in your freezer wrapped/stored in?

Usually whatever it came in.  Or if it’s casserole, I have freezer containers to freeze it in so it’s the right portion for what I need.

I didn’t write down a list of New Year’s resolutions this year.  I just want to continue growing stronger in my faith walk with God and develop an even closer relationship with Him.  And I want to lose the pounds I gained during the holidays without having to buy phenphedrine.  I plan to do this by eating healthy and getting more exercise.  So there’s my short list of resolutions.