The Cloth Diaper Report is hosting a giveaway for Crunchy Clean natural laundry detergent (and some sprinkles) on her blog. I’m already a faithful user of this great product so I’m entering.

Yes you could make your laundry detergent but why try when Crunchy Clean has so many fabulous scents. I’ve been using the Everyday Detergent Hard Water, Diaper Detergent (no longer needed wahoo!), and linen spray in Crisp Cool Clean. I also have the deodorizing sprinkles in grapefruit which you can sprinkle and then vacuum up for a nice clean scent. Since I no longer have a laundry need for the diaper detergent I’ve been mixing with vinegar and using it to wipe down walls and flat spaces when the mood arises. It gives such a delightful scent to the home! I had also purchased the lavendar and eucalyptus in diaper detergent but since I don’t need it for that right now I want to use it on something. It is fabulously strong (I love that scent combination).

Anyway drop by The Cloth Diaper Report and follow all her detailed directions for entering numerous times. I admit I sometimes get confused with all the follow me and tweet me here and blip it twice or whatever. But I did set up a twitter account (twitter.com/momtools) and have attempted to do some things there.

Off you go now. Go enter.

It’s January and for the first time in my life when this month hit I was excited to get gardening catalogues and start my planning.

Admittedly I’ve done nothing BUT I am excited! Doesn’t that count?

This year I’ll try and do better by the onions, carrots and lettuce. I’m thinking of picking up a few more Smart Pots for those. Not too many because I’m still gardening in a small space.

I’m finally reading my copy of Momma’s Guide to Growing Your Own Groceries by Kimberly Eddy. That has me stoked even more. True this gardening guide is not written with the container gardener in mind but it is written to help you get started growing items you will actually eat (rather than just start fondly at). Having lived in Europe Kimberly’s book is great with practical advice on thinking through the placement, design and application of your garden so that your grocery budget will be reduced (the ultimate goal).

Kimberly has been at this (13 years in 2005) much longer than I have (year 2 wahoo!) so I’m counting on her advice to help me have a better harvest. We did GREAT! with our tomatoes and potatoes last year. This year I’m adding better cucumbers, lettuce, onions, carrots, and peppers to the bunch.

So are you gardening this year? And if so what are you planting?

I’m on week three of Queen of the Castle and it’s like Lynn is watching me or something. She KNOWS what is going on in my life.

You see last week I realized I needed to start taking better care of myself. I fall of the vitamin bandwagon much too often and I have the telltale signs. Listless and last night after dinner I had a cramp in my foot which can be a sign of a calcium deficiency. I’m not a big milk drinker and they had stopped carrying the yogurt I like at my local grocery store. I hadn’t bothered to find a replacement, I’m not a big organge juice drinker and I let my calcium supplements gether dust.

Well Lynn KNEW! You see week three in Queen of the Castle is all about taking care of mom. Knowing when you’re feeling run down that it’s time to take care of you. Seriously who takes care of us if we don’t?

So mom if you’re feeling a bit run down about now make a few changes. It could be a litte more sleep (it’s okay to say no). Or maybe eating a healthier breakfast for good energy. Or even just making it a regularly scheduled even to have a pampering session while someone else watches the children.

Take good care of mom.

On an average morning I get up an hour or so before my daughter and have my devotions, get things going in the house, breakfast ready etc. Dinner is planned and ready to go and  I have a bit of web work under my belt. Then she wakes up and the day begins in earnest.

But lately I have noticed a little less pep in my step.  About the last few months to be exact.  I’ve been feeling the need for a tune up.  A jump start. And no I’m not into cars.  Sometimes it’s energy but mostly I was looking for a little motivation. I know what I do is important. The little peanut growing by leaps and bounds is proof daily of that.  And so are all the emails of thanks for this tidbit or that. But still…

Being a big reader I have been browsing the homemaking book sections lately looking for something more than just your average how to organize, clean, cook book. I have tons of those and have written a bit about it myself. I wanted something more.

So when Lynn Bowen Walker contacted me to take a look at Queen of the Castle: 52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged or Just Plain Tired Homemaker I jumped at the chance and am glad I did.

What a great read! And I mean that sincerely.

It’s not just that she added all those wonderful vintage (and some modern) quotes from books I know and love.

It’s not that the book is arranged so that each week’s focus is timely to the season and time of year and even possibly how you’re doing right about that time in this big job of homemaking.

Nor her new words for the week that gets a nod ’cause I can soooo relate.

Not even for the timely scripture at the end of each chapter or prayer example to remind you what this homemaking is all about and Who you ultimately serve by giving it a go.

It’s that this book is a big hug for women out there who need to know that the work they do at and for the home and home life is truly important.

And YES! there are homemaking tips in there. These are practical application tips and even recipes that Lynn has learned along the way and is passing along.

Designed for the Christian homemaker (and by the way whether single, married, with children and without if you have a home of any size and/or description (palace, to studio) you are a homemaker) this book is a year long, 52 week long advice book on picking up your chin and being proud of what you do.

Right now I’m on Week Two where I am reminded to Give Homemaking My Best. There is the suggestion, especially if you have children or a spouse who may not quite understand, to give it your all and then take a vacation. One that takes you off the premises so others in the household may understand all you do I do this now and again.  Also incorporated is the reminder that no one is super woman.  This is perfect wisdom for one of close friends who is struggling with feelings of inadequacy on not being able to work part-time, raise two children and foster for two more who are under the age of five. This in addition to being a wife and very active in her church’s music ministry. It’s okay to say no. To only do the amount you can do well. When we start giving less than our best it’s time to cut back. No comparison to anyone else. No other homemaker, blogger woman, business executive etc.

See how inspiring the book is?

Although listed as 52 Weeks of encouragement you’ll read through each chapter (which is for the week) rather quickly and be tempted to jump ahead. My advice? Read your chapter at the beginning of the week and use that week to digest and apply the tips Lynn provides. As with a foreign language, which this may be for some of us, it sometimes takes digestion over and over to get the message.

You can also visit Lynn on her recipe blog at Queen of the Castle Recipes. Did I mention there are recipes in the book?

Queen of the Castle: 52 Weeks of Encouragement for the Uninspired, Domestically Challenged or Just Plain Tired Homemaker

As much as I love reading and writing about homemaking stuff. And even doing much of it. There are quite a few things I’m just not into and so these ares suffer. Here are the ones I can remember…

1. Washing dishes with the water on full tilt. I know this is sooo bad. It stems from my childhood. My lovely mother only gave my sister and I one chore and that was to wash the dishes each night. How we ever got away with so little I’ll never know. I’m trying to make it up to her now. When we washed we would run the water the whole time. Once we were staying with my grandmother and we were washing the dishes after dinner. She lost it when she saw our “method”. I’ve been much better in my old age but I noticed lately I’m back to that bad old habit. I try to reign it in often. Something about that rushing hot water running over my hands is so soothing.

2. Folding laundry. I detest this and so we often have laundry baskets full of laundry in various bedrooms. Occasionally my husband will have pity on me a pull out his military background to whip the piles into shape. I even bought the
flipfold which makes the laundry neater but doesn’t make me do it more often.

3. Washing up the dishes at night. I’m much better at this now but when we first got married we would leave a whole sink full of dinner dishes (cooking and eating) over night and not do them until we got home from work the next night. Ooooh! My coworkers were aghast when I confessed. I don’t do this anymore simply because with my being home we are cooking more and there more mouths eating and my goodness it would be hideous! But you still may find a stray dish or two come morning.

Well okay there is probably a lot more because nobody is perfect.

Just felt like sharing.

*DRUMROLL….The winner is #6 Kelly! I will be contacting you for your addy so look for an email. Thanks for entering!

*Thank you for all the participants. The Giveaway has now ended. Be back in a jiff with the winner….

Time for another giveaway. This one is sponsored by Pillsbury for their Honey Butter Biscuits.

If you’re craving a more fulfilling breakfast to start your day Pillsbury says these easy to bake biscuits are a great new option for a warm, hearty breakfast that you and your whole family will love!

So after a generous donation (coupons and a butter dish) from the Pillsbury people we gave these biscuits a test drive one morning.

First the details…

For the allergy conscious these biscuits are not soy, milk, or wheat free. Hence I myself could not eat them and had to rely on my only too happy family for the results.

My little four year old and husband easily laid out the 8 biscuits to bake in the oven. They baked up very quickly but not very high. If you ever make biscuits by hand you know how high they can rise. These maybe gained half of their original height.

I had also received some Peach Melba jam for my birthday (another post) so we decided to pull that out. Mistake…

The name of the biscuits are Honey Butter so anything else that is sweet (such as the jam) is not needed nor recommended. My daughter loved them. Bread is her forte. My husband thought they were a little sweet. Since I bake most all of our breads from scratch they could of course taste the difference.

We also pulled out the butter dish, a gift from Pillsbury, that was also not needed. The biscuits had a butter taste (and it is listed in the ingredients). My family relayed this information to me.

My husband thought they were okay.  But he felt that some meat (he’s a meat man) inbetween these would be a good thing. He said they were sweet but they tasted okay. He’s not a bread person but he could eat these with some meat. His words.

Since I could not taste them I had my aunt stand in for me. She felt they were too sweet and did not want sweet in her biscuits. She also immediately put butter on them and then regretted that as they already had butter in them. All in all she passed on them.

As I said my daughter loved them. She ate her’s plain and wanted more. She also wanted them the next day. Hmph! So much for my baking from scratch!

All three testers are sweet tooths. My husband likes things that most people usually don’t like sweet, sweet (rice, broccoli ick). My aunt likes candy, cake etc. My daughter likes cake and cookies as much as the next child, we’ve never fed her candy and she will pass up all of the above for fruit especially a banana.

Giveaway

So one lucky winner will received a prize package containing two coupons for free cans of Honey Butter Biscuits along with a butter dish and knife (see pic) from Pillsbury.

Honey Butter Biscuit Prize Pack

Here are the simple entry details.

1. Leave a comment on what you currently serve your family (or self) for breakfast or if you need help here.
2. One entry per person. I don’t twitter, etc so this is it.
3. Open to U.S. addresses only please (sorry)
4. You will have to give up that old address so if this makes you uncomfortable please don’t enter. Also don’t leave your address in your comment. If you win I will get it then (just from you to me and then I give it to the Pillsbury fulfillment people and I forget it entirely).
5. My lovely assistant (my Peanut 4 year old) will be picking the winner using the pick-a-number-out-of-her-leggo-box method based on the number of entries. Yes we put a bit of work into it but it’s a great learning tool (counting and all).
6. Contest Ends Tuesday January 5th sometime after I wake up.
   

   Pillsbury Honey Butter Biscuits

   

   Butter Dish

   

   Raw biscuits just before baking.

   

   The baked biscuits ready for consumption

So I have no picture of them broken in half or anything. Seems once they got on the plates no-one was interested in taking pictures anymore….Sorry!

I had a lot of Barbies as a child. I had Japanese Barbie, Superstar Barbie, Christy actually and when Darci came along I snapped her up too. More interested in their surroundings than the dolls themselves I made sure Barbie had a decked out home choosing to make her furniture myself from cardboard, fabric and such rather than buy the plastic pieces.

My sister was the complete opposite. She actually didn’t like dolls much at all but would consent to play with me as long as she could do all the dressing and hair styles.

Fast forward 30 years (good grief!) and my young 4 year old daughter has discovered a rogue Barbie in her grandmother’s home. She has taken to endlessly changing her shoes and helping her with her hair. She decided that Barbie’s clothing was a bit innappropriate (we said nothing) and asked her grandmother  and aunt to help her do something about it.

This is the result (hair by 4 year old).  A sweater created from a pattern in Nikki Epstein’s book Knits for Barbie Doll
and some pants made on the fly with more outfits to come.

My aunt is the family knitter. We all have tons of socks, sweaters, gloves and hats from her. She drags me to a few knitting expos every few years where I tend to pick up the knitters hand lotion rather than anything else. The Knits for Barbie Doll is one she has been dragging around the last several weeks and the clothes in it are SO CUTE!

But I digress. Seeing how much my daughter is enjoying the doll I started thinking ahead to her birthday and how she might enjoy one. But being only four I wanted to get her a something a little less well endowed. Voila! The Only Hearts Club dolls

These cute dolls look like little girls so sssshhhh! I’m going to get her one of these

Missed out on my giveaway? Well I hope to have more soon.

In the meantime there are plenty more and one is Life as Mom: Energize Me! A Review and Giveaway. She is hosting a review and giveaway for a free Energizer re-chargeable battery and charger set.f

Good Luck!

Just what I needed. More things to eat. In this season of gastrointestinal distress through a family member I discovered these great Whoopie Pies from Trader Joe’s.  Not only that but the apparently there is no soy in the recipe so I can eat them! Oh woe is me.  I swiped one from said family member and thoroughly enjoyed it! I don’t think I’ve ever had a Whoopie pie before. There was some sad moon pie thing I ate as a child but that was store bought and preservative full.

A cakey, chocolatey, filled with cream bite of delightfulness these things have a big Maine history and is of those baking issues where each Maine grandma has her own secret recipe.

So next on the quest was to find a recipe that sounded good and didn’t use cake mix.

1. Taste of Home of course was my first stop. But I didn’t try their recipes.

2. About Southern Food had a great recipe and this is the one I ended up making.

3. You know Martha Stewart has a recipe. Her recipes tend to be very involved so I skipped on this.

4. And just in case you’re not into baking you can buy Whoopie Pies in various flavors online here, here, here, and here.

For the filling I really made do. I didn’t have marshmallow creme but I had half a bag of marshmallows. I melted those and mixed them with some buttercream frosting and used that. I had this feeling it was going to be too sweet so I filled half of them with ice cream. My husband prefers that addition.

WWhoopW

Winner: Congratulations! Number 5, Lynne Kinsey was chosen randomly out of the hat (well big empty lego box). It was interesting to read all the posts and I’m glad the winner wasn’t chosen by the one that tugged my heart the most because that would have been too hard to choose.  This was a really useful giveaway and my thanks out to Amy at  The Couponizer for sponsoring this.

Lynne contact me at home (at) homemakingorganized.com with your mailing information.

UPDATE-UPDATE: Thank you to everyone who entered! You all deserve to win but…. My lovely assistant is jumping up and down to pick a winner so we’ll be back shortly (waiting music here)…

UPDATE: A reader has kindly pointed out to me mistake in contest dates. My excuse is we have a lot going on at home (birthdays, anniversaries, holidays, etc) and even though in my mind the contest was supposed to end today I have been saying yesterday the 7th. So in case you wanted to enter but thought it was over I’m extending the giveaway until tomorrow (Wednesday December 9th and I looked at the calendar and checked with my husband to make sure) at noon.

My deepest apologies…

It’s a wild time to be having a giveaway but Amy over at Couponizer.com is feeling generous so let’s partake!

What is a Couponizer? 

A Couponizer is a complete coupon organizing system to help you organize and actually use the coupons you may see on a daily basis. After MUCH trial and error and a specific desire for something small and compact I enjoy my Couponizer. I have had it for some time. You can read my review here and see a couple of my personal pics here. And yes I became an affiliate. So my links within this post to the site are affiliate links (which does not change the cost).

Giveaway Details
One lucky winner will receive a Couponizer courtesy of Couponizer.com

1. Leave a comment about your coupon organizing needs and/or solutions. Or trackback from your own blog.
2. One entry per person.
3. Winner chosen at random. I’ll let my daughter pick a number between 1 and how ever many enter. She’s 4.
4. Contest ends Wednesday, noonish, December 9th 2009
5. The winner will need to provide a mailing address so if you’re not comfortable with that (if you win) please do not enter.
6. Open to US residents only.