Are you joining us for the 12 Months to a Healthier You Challenge? If so, it’s Friday and guess what that means? It’s time for our weekly check-in to post our progress.
January’s Challenge:
We’re focusing on developing the habit of exercising more in January. I encourage you to set a simple and doable goal for exercise and to stick with it.
My goal for January is to consistently exercise at least 5 times per week. I plan to follow the P90X workout schedule except for the days when I’m traveling/out of town. On those days, I plan to stick with cardio/running.
This Week’s Progress:
I started P90X on Wednesday, January 1, 2013. I’ve gone through the program before, but it’s been quite a while and the first day kicked my tail.
The second day wasn’t quite as bad. And today (the third day), I actually woke up excited to exercise. In fact, I rolled out of bed, changed into my workout clothes, and started exercising first thing.
I’m incredibly encouraged (albeit a bit sore!) because after just three days, I feel stronger and healthier. I am especially thankful because I’ve been feeling somewhat in a funk the past few weeks and I’ve felt so much more energetic the past three days and I really think it has to do with starting my day with strenuous exercise.
It’s amazing how much good exercise does for your overall well-being! I’m hoping my enthusiasm doesn’t wear off as the days go by!
How Are YOU Doing?
Leave a comment telling us how you did on your exercise goals this past week. If you’re blogging about this challenge, leave the direct link to your blog post about the challenge below.
Are you on social media? You can also share your progress on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest, or Twitter by using hashtag #12MonthstoaHealthierYou.
Email is often my worst enemy and it’s a close rival with Facebook as my biggest productivity killer. However, I recently discovered unroll.me, a service that helps manage your email subscriptions. I LOVE it!
Basically, it scans your inbox and gathers up all your email subscriptions in one place. You can then quickly unsubscribe via a screen in your unroll.me account — or you can choose to “roll up” the subscriptions in a daily feed-type email that gives a short snippet of all your subscriptions!
When you want to read one of the emails in your roll-up, you just click on the snippet!
The subscriptions still come to your inbox — they will just be filtered into a special “unroll.me” folder. So, if you can’t wait for your daily roll up, you can always look for your subscriptions in that folder. But, that might defeat the purpose.
Alternately, if there are some emails that you absolutely do not want to miss or wait for them in your roll-up, you can always opt to leave them in your inbox.
You can choose to receive your roll up in the morning, afternoon, or evening. I chose evening so they hopefully won’t distract me until I have finished my work for the day! -Erin
Simply upload your photos and stack these coupon codes to claim your free Photo Brag Book and get free shipping. Just use the code SMALLBOOK along with the code SHIPIT2ME at checkout.
Please note that the price of these ebooks is currently $0.00, but that could change at any time. Be sure to verify before checking out that it is still free.
Unless otherwise noted, these ebooks are specifically for Kindles, but you can go here to download a free application that enables you to read Kindle ebooks on your PC.
This twist-on-a-taco recipe has always been a hit at our house! The original recipe came from the Once-A-Month Cooking cook book – a resource my mom and sisters and I often relied on during one of our marathon freezer cooking days.
If you like making up meals ahead of time, this is a great one to have in your collection since it requires only minimal last minute preparations! Of course, you can also just make it and bake it immediately, which is what I normally do these days.
Feel free to experiment by adding other taco toppings such as salsa, onions, or black olives. If you like your Mexican food spicy, sprinkle in some cayenne pepper, or add some jalapenos on top! Yum!
Taco Pie
1 lb. ground beef
1/3 cup finely chopped onion
1 package taco seasoning mix
1 4-ounce can diced mild green chilies, drained
1 cup milk
1 cup Bisquick (I use 1 cup flour, 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder, ¼ teaspoon salt and 1 Tablespoon oil in place of the Bisquick)
2 eggs
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
2 tomatoes, sliced (I only use 1 and slice it thin)
8 ounces sour cream (or plain greek yogurt)
1 chopped tomato
Shredded lettuce
In a large skillet, cook and stir the ground beef and onion until beef is brown. Drain. Combine beef with taco seasoning mix and spread in a 9-inch pie plate. Sprinkle with chilies.
Beat milk, baking mix and eggs until smooth (15 seconds on high in a blender or 1 minute with hand beater). Pour milk mixture over beef.
(To freeze, cover plate with foil and freeze. To prepare for serving, thaw pie.)
Bake uncovered in a preheated 400 oven for 30-35 minutes. Top with sliced tomatoes and sprinkle with cheese.
Bake an additional 8 to 10 minutes until golden brown. Top with sour cream, chopped tomato, and shredded lettuce. Serve immediately.
Makes one 9-inch pie
Brigette is a full-time wife and mother who is blessed with three amazing bundles of energy and another on the way. She enjoys music, experimenting in the kitchen, homeschooling her children, finding great deals, long-distance running, and anything chocolate.
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Don’t forget, use the coupon code JANUARY at checkout to get 60% off your scarf purchase, and get free shipping! This sale is good today, January 3, 2014, only.
I read 106 books total in 2013 (see the full list of titles here). Do you know how hard it is to pick my top 10 from that long list? Very hard!
I ended up going with the titles that most impacted me… that I gleaned from, that changed the way I thought about life, and/or that inspired me as a person. So here they are, in no particular order:
Daring Greatly — This book impacted me deeply and my life will never be the same as a result. In fact, I was so challenged by it that I had a necklace made that I wear almost all the time as a reminder.
Two caveats: the book is not written from a Christian perspective and has a lot of fairly strong language in it. However, it messed with me in such a good way and motivated me to confront the shame in my own life that I didn’t even realize I was there. Powerful stuff that has forever changed how I think and live.
What’s So Amazing About Grace? — I believe every Christian should read this book. It caused me to step back and examine what grace means to me and how I’m displaying that grace to others. It’s a very thought-provoking read — even if you don’t agree with all the conclusions.
One Thousand Gifts — I feel like I was the last person on planet earth to read this book and, after reading it, I know why it’s been recommended so highly to me. I love Ann to pieces. She’s so heartfelt, deep, and Jesus-filled. This book is a little piece of her soul… and it’s beautifully inspiring.
I didn’t expect to be so moved by the book, but I was. It challenged me to slow down, savor, and count the gifts that God has given me. And to be a noticer of the little things that we often fail to see as we rush through life.
Wild Goose Chase — Mark Batterson (the author) has a way of writing that powerfully challenges complacency. And this book is no different. I think my biggest takeaway was that we often put God in a box and believe He’s only capable of doing what seems possible to us. But He’s the God who delights to do the impossible — that way He gets the credit and glory! This book really inspired me to pray big prayers and believe God for big things in my life.
Loving the Way Jesus Loves — This book takes 1 Corinthians 13 and walks you through how Jesus exemplified each verse in His own life. The section on how Jesus loved Peter in spite of how Peter denied Him, walked away from Him, and turned his back on Him was so convicting to me in my own relationships with people in my life. It’s easy to love those who love us back, but I want to love like Jesus and love those who hurt or mistreat me.
Embracing Beauty — I royally surprised myself. Because I loved this ebook! It was breath of fresh air for me. I loved Trina’s perspective on beauty from a Christian standpoint in the beginning chapters. In fact, it really challenged some of my preconceived ideas and beliefs–which I appreciated.
This ebook inspired me to break out of some of my same-old, same-old ruts in what I wear and try new colors, styles, and looks. And believe it or not, I’ve actually found some new styles that I love — and I never would have tried them had I not read this ebook! (Read my full review of this ebook here.)
Sleep: It Does a Family Good — I was fascinated by the research in this book and it really inspired me to make sleep a higher priority in my life. My favorite part? Reading about how your body runs on a 7-day cycle and how you can make up for a bad night’s sleep by sleeping extra on another night or during the day — so long as you make it up within 7 days. I’ve been trying to go to bed early and sleeping in and napping on the weekends as a result of reading this book. (Looking for more ideas on how to get a better night’s rest? Check out this post.)
Early to Rise — I was so inspired by this book that I did a month-long challenge here based upon it. If you want to develop the habit of early rising, I think you’ll find this book to be very beneficial and helpful. Andy's ebook is not for someone who isn't willing to endure some discomfort and put forth some effort. If you're happy with how your life is and you're satisfied with your mornings and your productivity, then you probably don't need Early to Rise.
Or, if you're a mom who has young ones and you're thankful for every second of sleep you can get, you also probably don't need to read this ebook. {The last thing you need is to feel guilty for getting sleep that your body desperately needs!}
However, if you struggle to get up in the morning and you struggle to be productive during the day wish you could regularly get up earlier and get more done in the mornings, Early to Rise will challenge and motivate you. It's broken down into easy, manageable steps to get you started on the path to consistent lifelong early rising. Even though I typically get up fairly early, I was re-inspired by it to make early rising even more of a priority in my life.
The Myth of Multi-Tasking — This book is a really simple and quick read, but it's very thought-provoking. I always thought I was a pretty good multitasker. Now I'm not so sure. You see, according to the book — and I'm beginning to be persuaded it's true — there is no such thing as true multitasking.
Instead, the author makes the case that what we call "multitasking" is really just an inefficient way of switch-tasking. When we are trying to do two things at once, we're really just switching back and forth between two different things — taking a much longer time to do both.
The author does say that there's such a thing as background tasking, where you are listening to music while cleaning, etc. But when it comes to tasks that require concentration, he makes a strong case that multitasking is a misnomer.
The more I’ve been testing this theory out in real-life, the more I’m beginning to believe that it’s true. And reading this book has caused me to step back and evaluate how I’m spending my time and how I can be more productive by not trying to multi-task but instead just concentrate completely on one task at a time.
Bread & Wine — I loved reading Bread & Wine. It moved me. It inspired me. It challenged me. And it made me want to spend more time in the kitchen and around the table.
However, the phrase that stuck out to me most was: Present Not Perfect. Shauna shares how we can get so wrapped up in trying to make life perfect — to get all our ducks in a row and keep them that way — that we miss the present.
We rush through life with our plans, our goals, and our lists. We check things off. We pat ourselves on the back for being a powerhouse of productivity. And we forget to breathe. To slow down. To soak up the moments. To savor the here and now.
The winner of last week’s giveaway is Brittany (brittanydinkins85@). Congratulations!
Welcome back to the Say Goodbye to Survival Mode Book Launch Party! Over the next few weeks, we’ll be giving away one BIG giveaway every single week. And trust me, you’ll want to enter to win each and every one of them!
I’m so excited about releasing this book — writing it was hard but oh-so-good! And I believe the message of the book is going to change lives in powerful ways.
The book shares my story of pulling out of the pit of survival mode and the practical steps I've taken to be living a life filled with meaning and purpose. It's raw, vulnerable, and authentic — and it delves much deeper into my story and personal journey than I've had the space to do here on the blog.
I poured hours, days, weeks, and months into this project. And I'm truly thrilled with the final product — and I believe wholeheartedly that you will be blessed and encouraged by reading it.
Here’s more on it from the book description:
Calling the super busy, the stressed out, the overtired.
You know you’re made for a more fulfilling life. With this book, you'll know where to start.
You wake up tired. Your to-do list is too long. The commitments—and the laundry—are piling up, but your energy keeps dwindling. You feel like you’re simply making it through the days, not living or enjoying any part of them.
In Say Goodbye to Survival Mode, you’ll find both practical ideas and big-picture perspective that will inspire you to live life on purpose. As a wife, mother of three, and founder of the wildly successful blog MoneySavingMom.com, Crystal Paine has walked the road from barely surviving to living with intention. With the warmth and candor of a dear friend, she shares what she’s learned along the way, helping you:
feel healthier and more energetic by setting priorities and boundaries
eliminate stress with savvy management of your time, money, and home
get more done by setting realistic goals and embracing discipline
rediscover your passions—and the confidence to pursue them
Packed with straightforward solutions you’ll use today and inspirational stories you’ll remember for years, Say Goodbye to Survival Mode is a must for any woman who’s ever longed for the freedom to enjoy life, not just survive it.
We’re Celebrating You!
You all have been my cheerleaders on this journey. Your comments and emails have been the catalyst for so much personal growth in my life. And you all have inspired me to become something I never believed I could be — a writer.
You all show up here every day. You listen, you share, you comment, you inspire… and you keep showing up, even when I don’t always get posts up in a timely manner and even when it takes me longer than I hope to finish series. You keep showing up. And you tell your friends. And you leave beautiful comments. And you send me emails of encouragement.
This book deal never would have happened without you. So months ago when we started dreaming up ideas about a book launch, my heart’s desire was to bless you all and knock your socks off with giveaways and other fun things — as a small way for me to express how grateful I am for each of you.
Enter to Win a A Year of FREE House Cleaning!
We’re giving away a year of free house cleaning this week to one randomly chosen winner! The winner will get one house cleaning session every single month in 2014. We’ll work with you to book and pay for these through a maid service in your area. You don’t have to do anything to enter other than leave your name and email address — just like all our other giveaways.
If you wanted to do something to help us launch this book, we’d love that. But know that it’s not required.
2. Sign up for the FREE 7-Day Say Goodbye to Survival Mode Course(see the orange banner at the top of the page here or click the check box in the giveaway form below). This course is packed with encouragement and practical tips to help you live with more purpose and joy.
Again, if you don’t have time to do any of these three things, just skip straight to signing up for the year of house cleaning below. One winner will be chosen and posted next Wednesday. I hope you win!
If you want a structured way to turn your goals into daily tasks that you actually get done, then you'll want to check out the Goals & Priorities Diaryfrom Get Organized Wizard. It's available for just $4.95 right now!
It contains:
Monthly Goals Planners that guide you to set and plan your goals for the month
Daily Priorities Planners that help you focus each day on your top priorities first
Goals Lists for you to brainstorm your goals for the current and next year
Goals Achieved And Rewards Log that help you recognize and celebrate successes.
It's a simple but powerful approach that helps you spend timewhere it counts, and have more time for goals that genuinelymatter.
The Goals & Priorities Diaryis interactive – you can type, save, search, and edit. Save it to your desktop so you're reminded every morning to open it and get to work on your goals and priorities. You can also view your Goals & Priorities Diary from your iPhone or iPad.
Or print it out and write in it, if you prefer pen and paper.
The Goals & Priorities Diary is a structured and motivating way to organize your life, achieve your goals, and get important things done.
Want to get organized in 2014 but feel cramped for time? Get Organized Wizard has a fantastic resource to help you out — and it's available for just $4.95 right now!
The Organize-In-5 Diary gives you a 5-minute organization task for each weekday in 2014 and then you'll get a 5-minute relaxation task for Saturdays. This plan tackles your home, closets, computer, health, finances, work, time management, relationships, family, and more! Even if you have a very full schedule and little extra time, you can still get your home and life in order with the Organize-In-5 Diary.
Here are the best deals at Walmart right now with thanks to Heather from Passion for Savings for her help in compiling them. The prices below are based on Northwest Arkansas region. Please keep in mind that Walmart deals vary by region so the prices listed here will not be valid at all stores.
Hormel Chili – $1 Buy 2 and use $0.55/2 printable $0.62 each after coupon
Nestle Carnation Evaporated Milk – $1.08 Buy 2 and use $0.50/2 printable $0.83 each after coupon
Goldfish Mac & Cheese Pasta – $0.98 Buy 2 and use $0.55/2 printable $0.71 each after coupon
Snickers, Twix, M&M’s, Dove, Milky Way, 3 Musketeers or Bites – $0.68 Buy 3 and use Buy 2 Get 1 Free printable $0.45 each after coupon
Challenge Butter Tubs – $1.84 Use $1/1 printable $0.84 after coupon
Old Orchard Frozen Juice Concentrates – $1.22 Buy 2 and use $1/2 printable $0.72 each after coupon
Ivory Bars – $0.97 Buy 2 and use $1/2 coupon from the 12/29 P&G insert $0.47 each after coupon
Did you find a great deal at Walmart? Just post about it on your blog and leave your link below. To make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Walmart deals post. Links going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog besides the direct link to your Walmart deals post will be deleted.
Here are the best deals at Walmart right now with thanks to 
Did you find a great deal at Walmart? Just post about it on your blog and leave your link below. To make it easy for everyone to navigate quickly through the links, your link must link directly to your Walmart deals post. Links going to the homepage of your blog or any other part of your blog besides the direct link to your Walmart deals post will be deleted.
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