ScrapHappy

FIve Things I'd Do with $20

I was reading through the Aug. 4 edition of Woman's Day (thanks Abbie!) and the editorial staff was answering this question:

WHAT WOULD YOU DO WITH JUST $20 OR LESS TO SPEND?

Now, based on their answers I'm assuming this is more of "I found $20 in my pants pocket and am going to treat myself" versus "This is my last $20 in the world," so here are five answers regarding what I'd do with a gift $20:

1. Donate it to Monica's Virtual Food Drive.

Oh, I've got to spend it on myself? Well, in that case...

2. Buy this book. Several people have recommended it on Goodreads and it looks fab!

3. Buy this cheese grater

(I actually just ordered it from eBay for $11 plus shipping. Dave would be proud!)

4. Buy a pack of this paper: (I'm a sucker for kraft!)

5. Order some of these cards:

They're technically $21.99, but I figured I could find a coupon somewhere online!

So, what would YOU do with $20?

Five Things about Food

I am seriously thinking of changing my blog title to "5 Things." I love making lists like this so much! It makes blogging much easier. ANYWHOOO... today, I want to talk about five things about food, a subject near and dear to my heart.

1. I just finished this book.

The author, Robyn O'Brien, was a typical stay-at-home mom of four who dropped into the rabbit hole of the American food industry when her baby was diagnosed with an egg allergy. As she began to research allergies, treatments, and causes, she discovered some very disturbing things about the food we're feeding our kids every day. As a result, she made some drastic changes to her kids' diets -- and as a result of reading her book, I've made some changes around here, too (more on that another day). It's a little heavy on the science and politics, but what O'Brien found will scare you (did you know it's legal in the US to feed kids stuff that has been outlawed in most industrialized nations??).

2. I am in love with these:

They are veggie masala burgers from Trader Joe's and they are YUM. I had one for lunch with some cheese wrapped in a brown wheat or brown rice tortilla almost every day last week. Did I say YUM?

3. Over the past months I've been thinking more and more about money and food and hunger and realizing that there are a lot (A LOT) of people -- especially kids -- who don't get proper nutrition or full bellies. I also realize more and more that there seems to be a trade-off between "healthy" and "budget." If I want the organic stuff, great, but it comes at a cost -- sometimes twice as much! Right now, we can swing the increase, particularly since we've sworn off eating out. But many people can't  consistently spend a buck or two more to get the organic milk or the non-carcinogenic Mac 'n' Cheese.

This makes me incredibly sad. That's why I am going to start doing a couple things... first, I'm going to do a periodic fast like my good friend Angie and many members of the LDS Church do. One day a month I will skip breakfast and lunch and donate the money I would have spent on food for those meals to a hunger relief organization. And what better organization than...

4. ...This virtual food drive sponsored by my friend Monica? You can donate money to help end hunger (a measly dollar provides four meals!!) AND you can win one of Ella Publishing Co.'s first three books if you participate by Sunday, Sept. 6 (that's plenty of time to skip a meal or two and donate the proceeds!).

5. Want to learn more? Chef extraordinaire and sistah scrapbooker Gaynol took the King County Hunger Challenge earlier this year to create 30 meals (three meals a day for two people for five days) for a grand total of $60. You can read about her experiences (and get a great recipe or two) by going over to her blog. I linked you up to the first post in the series, and you can click forward from there.

What do you think? Can you eat healthy and cheap? Do you have to choose one or the other?  

More Good Stuff

More Summer Lovin' projects -- I've got a few kits left if you're interested! (Read the post below for details).

This one has extra letters from Doodlebug and rub-ons from Hambly, and a few arrow stickers from Sweetwater. The blue ruffle on the right is the reverse of the yellow grid patterned paper, pleated and secured under the orange patterned paper.

This one looks MUCH better in real life -- haha! I used the same blue Doodlebug stickers but everything else is from the kit.

Want one? Email me!

Summer Lovin' - Kit Available Now!

The kit is ready!
Summer Lovin' -- had me a blast!
Summer Lovin' -- happened so fast!
Met a girl crazy for me... etc. etc.

I have that ingrained on my psyche not only because it was one of the defining movies of my youth (DO "bad girls" have more fun?") but also because I was in the musical in college. Ahh.. .memories! Memories that were revived when my oldest daughter (now 9) discovered "Grease" this summer. Too funny! So it was the perfect name for my ScrapHappy kit.

It's an adorable mix of bright, happy patterned papers, coordinating cardstock, two packs of alphas (yippee!) and lots of extras.

Here's what you'll get:

(4) 12 x 12 double-sided sheets of patterned paper (two have super-duper varnish accents for a little bit of shine)

(6) 12 x 12 sheets of cardstock in White, Pool, Leaf, Carmen, Apricot, and Sunflower

(1) pack of orange Thicker alphas

(1) pack of green letter stickers

(3) yards of ribbon in red, orange ric-rac and green ric-rac

(1) orange glitter pen

(1) red coin envelope

(1) orange card and envelope

(1) orange round card and green square envelope

(2) 12-inch yellow Doodlebug frills

(5) large brads in Leaf

(5) mini brads in Apricot

(4) Bling photo corners

(4) Bling flower accents

(3) pieces of acrylic flowers/leaf

Not pictured:

(1) acrylic folder

The kits are $30 including shipping (international extra).

I have taken preorders on this kit, but I do have a few extras. If you're interested, email me ASAP! If you preordered, please mention that in your email so I can keep track of inventory.

ETA: Here are two page ideas for you. First, a nice summer layout:

And next, a winter page! See, even though it's a summer kit, you can make it work for any season. Can you say "Versatility?" ;)

Five Books

Thinking in fives... here are five books recently on my nightstand:

1. In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. I like food. A lot. I read about food. A lot. This book was a great overview of the growing (no pun intended!) issues within the American food industry. He touches on topics like organic farming, nutrition, "whole" foods, "real" foods, and obesity. If you are at all concerned about what you or your kids eat, you need to read this. He breaks it down into laymen's terms so you can actually understand the science and issues behind the industrialization of our food.

2. Mitten Strings for God by Katrina Kenison. I wish Katrina Kenison lived next door to me so she would invite me over for a cup of tea when I was feeling particularly harried (um, like NOW??). She has a way of reducing things to their most important denominators and forgoing all the rest. A great book full of mini-reflections on what it means to be a mom, and what we can do to bring a calmness and centeredness to our family.

3. The Total Money Makeover by Dave Ramsey. I know, I already told you about this one. But it's good. Really good. THAT good.

4. Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Siegfried Engelman. Don't let the 70s-era illustration on the front fool you -- this book works! In fact, in clinical testing by mothers (at least, this mom), this program met with success in 66% of the children (we won't talk about my third child). I'm being flip, but it's true. I taught my oldest and am using it with my youngest now. It's amazing how much they'll absorb in about 15 minutes a day. My little one likes it so much she wakes me up every morning saying, "It's reading time!" We're about halfway through now, and she's reading like a champ.

5. 40 Top Tips for Better Photos by Rebecca Cooper. What, you haven't heard of this one? Well, maybe because it isn't out yet -- but it will be soon! This is one of Ella Publishing Co.'s first three titles. I'll tell you more about the other two soon. In the meantime, make sure you're registered at www.ellapublishing.com. You can win a year's worth of free e-books if you give us your email by 8/30!

What are you reading that you love? Or hate? We're talking about Jennifer Weiner over at the Goodreads book club. Join us!

Make Me Smile.

I've decided I like lists of five. Five people in my family. I'm the fifth in my FOO (Family Of Origin). Five is nice and round, and kind of even at the same time. So we'll be doing a lot of lists of five around here, I have declared.

What's making me smile:

1. Watching Ben at football.

 

I'm sorry, but he's just too stinkin' cute for words. This is his first year in Pop Warner (tackle) football, though he's played flag football for years. He thinks he's the bee's knees in his pads and helmet and will even put the helmet on as I drive him to practice. At least if we get rear-ended he's got added head padding.

2. Lemonade stands.

 

But be careful if you live in NYC. Some Grinches might just slap you with a $50 ticket for selling lemonade without a permit. Seriously.

3. This website. I think I may be writing a post or two for them in the near future - stay tuned!

4. Ella Publishing Co.'s Grand Opening Ellabration! More details coming soon, but reserve the week of Sept. 7. You won't want to miss this! (Grand prize is a year's worth of eBooks. Get two shots at winning by signing up for our email list before 8/30!).

5. Stacy. I just love her and am thrilled to be co-authoring a book with her for Ella. Look for an October release date! (Ain't digital grand? We're talking THIS October, not NEXT year. Now. Like in, six weeks! Wow!).

What's making you smile lately? Do tell!

Have You Seen Me?

Have you seen this email? If I knew a quick and easy way to create a digital milk carton, I would...

 

If you signed up for the Ella Publishing Co. email list (or the "top secret" email list via this blog) you should have received this yesterday.

BUT... you know that thing about me and technology? The one where the computer gremlins try their hardest to thwart me at every turn (I don't think I've ever used "thwart" before, but I like it!)?

Well, we had an "oops" moment -- and honestly, I had nothing to do with it. Really and truly.

Somehow about 1/3 of the email addresses entered into our database did not make it when we transferred the database from storage to our email manager.

I told you, OOPS.

So, I have a favor to ask. If you signed up for the list and DID NOT receive the adorable email as pictured above, would you be so kind as to return to www.ellapublishing.com and re-enter your address? And would you tell your friends to do the same? We don't want anyone to miss out on all the fun stuff!

And in return, everyone whose addresses are entered by Aug. 30 will have a chance to win a YEAR'S WORTH OF FREE E-BOOKS! HOW COOL IS THAT?

This is definitely something worth tweeting, writing, emailing, and smoke-signaling about.

So sorry about the confusion. But seeing as a real mother elephant has to carry her baby for a year and then give birth to a 250 lb. calf, I think a few email glitches aren't really that bad.

P.S. It really really really and truly wasn't my fault.

Edited to add:

Thanks to the darling Cori-Lyn:

It's Official.

I've become my grandmother.

 

I never knew her, but I imagine she had a laundry line somewhat like this. Although hers was likely in back of the farm house, instead of on the deck.

Why the old-fashioned approach to laundry? Largely because I read this book:

Often when I think about "saving the environment," it's simply too overwhelming. How can the actions of one person help change the world? But according after reading The Green Book, I saw exactly how my actions, minute though they may be, can make real change. And they are pretty darned simple. Some examples:

*Every one pound of beef takes 2,500 gallons of water and five pounds of grain to produce. Skip meat one night a week and you'll save 130,000 gallons of water and 260 pounds of grain over the course of one year.

*Take only the paper napkins you need. Americans use an average of 6 napkins each per day. If all of us took just one fewer napkin per day, more than a billion pounds of napkins would be kept out of the landfills each year.

*Hang your clothes out to dry. "Electric dryers are often among the top energy-uses in a home, right behind refrigerators, lighting and water heaters. Because the average dryer uses 875 killowatt hours of electricity a year, it's a prime target for reducing global warming pollution and saving money on your utility bill." (That last bit of info came from Treehugger.)

Easy. Fun. And way, way depression-era chic! ;) AND it will make a great layout, don'tcha think?

Hey... want another way to save the planet? Buy eBooks! Electronic books are totally green, totally fun, and totally Ella. We're launching to our friends and family later this month... to get an invite, you'll need to be on our mailing list. Join now!

silhouette for sale!

Anyone interested in buying my Silhouette? $120 including brand new cutting mat, four new rolls of vinyl, and a whole mess of adhesive cardstock/patterned paper strips. Email me at lainehmann(at)comcast(dot)net.

[Posted with iBlogger from my iPhone]

What I'm Loving Right Now

Thanks to all of you we had over 1500 people sign up for our mailing list in under a week! Wowzers! As we move towards launch at the end of this month, those on the list will get behind-the-scenes info, special deals, and more! You can also follow us on Twitter and join our Facebook friends group.

I've been busy (as you can imagine!) but I wanted to share a few things I'm loving right now.

1. Stacy's summer bingo... a way to keep the kids busy while I get some of that long long long to-do list done!

 

2. Dave Ramsey's Total Money Makeover. We're on a tight budget while we're in start-up mode, so we're looking to financial guru Dave Ramsey to help us along the way. (I was even on his radio show on 7/20 -- asking a question, not answering one!). If you have not listened to his show, or read his book, check it out. You'll be revved up to start saving!

3. The Daily Plate. This is a free online tool through Livestrong.com that allows you to track all your calories and exercise. It makes it clear how much I've eaten -- and studies show that those who write down everything they eat consume 25% fewer calories than those who don't. Cool, huh?

4. My weighted hula hoop. This teeny tiny girl behind me in line at the auditions for Deal or No Deal said she uses hers for only a few minutes a day and has lost inches off her waist. I've been trying it. Not sure if it's the Daily Plate (see above) or the hula hooping, but I feel skinnier! I have to tell you, I was a bit black and blue on my hip when I started, but it's become very easy.

What are you loving these days?