Chance to win a little ebook on…

……Staying Trim Over The Holiday Season.

This is a pdf report on how to stay trim over the upcoming holiday season. It is packed full of great advice to keep sane in the food department.

Here’s what you have to do to gain this ebook – just leave a comment on how you stay trim, what motivates you to lose weight or keep healthy. Have you got any great ideas for looking great and staying healthy over the Christmas season?

Hear from you soon! (leave your email address so I can contact you with the freebie)

Living On A Dime St Patricks “Savin’ O’ The Green” SALE!!!

You have got to check out the Living On A Dimes St Patricks “Savin’ O’ The Green” SALE!!! It is such good value for money.
For this week only, get the “Savin’ O’ The Green” e-book Package, including 13 of the popular Living On A Dime e-books (normally valued at $87) for only $17!
That was only $17 – that’s right just $17 for the following ebooks

Money Management e-book
Grocery Savings e-book
Cleaning Cents e-book
Kids Cents e-book
Debt Free Holidays e-book
Gifts In A Jar e-book
Menus On A Dime e-book
Plan Ahead Leftovers e-book
Quick Dinners e-book
Menus That Make Cents e-book
Pretty for Pennies e-book
Moving On A Dime e-book
Valentine’s Day On A Dime e-book

That was $17 for 13 books!

tid=MDXN6ZK1″ target=”_top”>Click Here to find out what is in each ebook!

BUT THERE IS MORE! you also get-

Free Bonus Offers

“Shopping Cart of Grocery Savings Tips” e-book from Ed Hladkowicz at MyGroceryDeals.com and from Gary Foreman at TheDollarStretcher.com

“Birthday Traditions” e-book from Shiloah Baker at HomemakingCottage.com

“God’s Word on Communication” e-book from JoJo Tabares at ArtofEloquence.com

“What To Do When Your Daughter Hates Being in the Kitchen” e-book from Kathy Brodock at TeachingGoodThings.com

You get all this, including 17 money-saving e-books, a $119 value for only $17 when you purchase the “Savin’ O’ The Green” package during this special promotion!

PLUS Here are 2 additional St. Patrick’s Day e-books just for fun!

Extra St. Patrick’s Day Free Bonus

“St. Patrick’s Day: Not Just for the Irish” e-book from Nicole Dean at MenuPlanningCentral.com

“St Patrick’s Day Coloring Pages” e-book from Nicole Dean at MenuPlanningCentral.com

This is the best deal that I have come across – here is the link again to view more details and how to buy now-

tid=MDXN6ZK1″ target=”_top”>Click Here!

Remember that this is only good for this week! – ends March 21st 2008.

Happy Valentines!

My Secret For Achieving The Best Year Yet!

I hope that the Christmas and New Year break has been a relaxing and a rewarding one, spending time with family. Apparently we have had the driest summer on record! The grass is proof of that – brown as.

Today, I want to stir you up to expect and dream for this coming year. We all have dreams, some of them are unspoken, some have been discarded, and some we are yet to imagine. Without a dream or vision, we are just getting through life; basically surviving. God doesn’t want us to JUST survive – He wants us to dream and move towards an aim or goal in our lives.

What are your aims this year?
What would you like to achieve?

I usually have loads of aims and things that I would like to do. BUT I never seemed to get around to doing anything or maybe life just got in the way. Every year I would sit down and review my past efforts and become very discouraged. What is the point in even writing down goals? I never seem to achieve even a portion of what I dream about.

Over the past few weeks, I have spent quite a lot of time talking to God about this. He has shown me a SECRET to achieving my dreams. I will get to the SECRET in a moment. But first I want to share with you what I was doing wrong. God revealed it to me while I was reading James 1 v 6b – 8

For the one who wavers (hesitates, doubts) is like the billowing surge out at sea that is blown hither and thither and tossed by the wind. For truly, let not such a person imagine that he will receive anything [he asks for] from the Lord,[For being as he is] a man of two minds (hesitating, dubious, irresolute), [he is] unstable and unreliable and uncertain about everything [he thinks, feels, decides]. Amp

Two words literally jumped off the page. “Dubious” and “irresolute”. They aren’t words that we use freely these days are they? So I took the time to look them up-

Dubious: hesitant, uncertain, doubtful, sceptical, unsure, undecided, irresolute.

Was I sceptical about achieving my goals? Was I so full of doubt that I didn’t really believe that I had it in me to gain the victory? It started to look like sabotage – I was sabotaging my own dreams! Let’s move onto the word “irresolute” -

Irresolute: unable to make up your mind.

Well, I thought – that is strange, I thought I HAD decided to accomplish certain things. Hadn’t I wanted to lose weight? Hadn’t I wanted to write? Hadn’t I wanted a closer relationship with my husband? Wasn’t that making up your mind? But this was only half the meaning – the negative side. I then looked up the flip side –the meaning of resolute.

Resolute: unshakeable, unwavering, unswerving, determined, single-minded, firm

Ah! Now the lights were turning on! If I had made up my mind on a goal or made a decision to do something then I would have been UNSHAKEABLE – nothing could change MY course of action. I would be so determined to achieve -it would be inconceivable that I would fail. If my “mind was made up” then I wouldn’t be in “two minds” that James is talking about. Being in “two minds” is disastrous. You can not achieve anything in “two minds”.

Now here comes the secret – this is what God wanted me to know, the reason why some people achieve and others don’t. It comes down to …DETERMINATION!

Wishing and wanting just doesn’t cut it. Desires and dreams just stay a “what if?”, when there is no determination behind it. Here’s a great verse which has great imagery –

“Never lag in zeal and in earnest endeavour, be aglow and burning with the Spirit serving the Lord” Romans 12 v 11

That sure sound determined to me! Okay so what does “determine” mean?

Determine: to settle ultimately, to fix on, to settle or establish, and to resolve

Now there is no argument here, this meaning is pretty clear – to determine is to SETTLE FOR GOOD on what you want to have happen. That is determination! You have made up your mind to inject love into your marriage relationship and nothing is going to get in your way. That is determination! You have resolved that you will lose x amount of pounds this year and that chocolate calling your name is not going to get you. (Now for some reason, yummy fattening food like chocolate is my biggest downfall and I can get determined about most things …but losing weight and giving up chocolate is hard but with God’s help nothing, NOTHING is impossible – watch this space!)

You (and I – I so need this as well) MUST get so determined about the dreams that God has placed in your heart that you decide once and for all and then set your mind on it – you get so fixated on making it happen. God talks about this in Colossians 3 v 2 “Set your minds and keep them set on what is above (the higher things) not on the things that are on earth”

You are not in this alone, God has promised to help you and inject determination into your hearts and strengthen your minds so they can be set upon achieving your goals.

So stir yourself up, sharpen those pencils, and write down those dreams and goals. Pick ONE DREAM, ONE GOAL and become completely determined to achieve it!

To give you a head start,YOU are INVITED to type in your one DREAM or GOAL in the comments area below. I would LOVE to hear what you all are aiming for! Let’s encourage each other towards achieving at least one dream or goal in 2008.

Here’s to the best year ever!
Rachel Larkin

Looking For A Healthly Master Salad Recipe?

2008 is the year for me to transform my eating habits! I am determined to adopt a permanent healthy lifestyle!

To tell you the truth about salad eating – I am so lazy that most of the time my salads are just sliced lettuce, grated carrot, chopped cucumber and tomato chunks! In fact that is what we have had with every meal this week.

The thing that I have to watch with my salad eating is the cheese. It is so easy to grate a whole pile of cheese and smother the top of the salad with it. I can’t trust myself with the cheese so I have to omit it from my salads.

Here is a Master Salad Recipe that you can adjust to your likes and dislikes.

For ONE serving (adjust for how many people you have to cook for)

100 grams cooked chicken cut into chunks (this is the protein bit – you can choose anything really – feta cheese, cottage cheese, salmon etc)

Vegetables – like 1 sliced spring onion, 1/4 cucumber cut into chunks, small wedge of cabbage thinly shredded goes nicely with the chicken – but you can choose whatever you have in the fridge

Herbs – roughly chopped mint goes great with chicken – but you could do anything like parsley with salmon or tuna.

DRESSING – this is where we can get into trouble and pour on heaps but this dressing is low in fat and you still get that creamy flavour.

For ONE serving

1/4 cup natural yogurt
1 tsp mayonaise
condiment – like 1/2 tsp grated root ginger OR 1/2 tsp seed mustard OR 1/4 -1/2 tsp curry powder etc according to your taste and what protein you used in your salad.

Mix the dressing through your salad ingredients.

To make this into a full meal (you already have the greens and the protein) all you need is a carbohydrate. Maybe you could have hot crusty bread OR hot potato (or kumara) chunks OR couscous OR rice OR pasta and mix them through (well maybe don’t mix the bread through the salad!)

Enjoy!!
p.s. The inspiration for this master recipe came from Carolyn Gibbson from Kiwi Kiss weight loss program and other health recipe books.

Rachel Larkin

Don’t Have Enough?

Do you think that you DON’T have enough? You don’t have enough money – always seem to be struggling?

Do you think that you DON’T have enough energy?

What about your parenting? – Never enough patience or wisdom to deal with those daily issues that pop up?

How about the homeschooling? – Do you feel like you are not making it? You haven’t got enough resources or knowledge of what to do next?

What about you and God? Do you feel inadequate to obey Him? Is there a lack of desire to read His word? to worship Him?

Well, have I got the verse for you today -

And God is able to make all grace abound to you, that ALWAYS having ALL sufficiency in EVERYTHING, you may have an ABUNDANCE for EVERY good deed

2 Corinthians 9 v 8 NASB

That is the truth – As a child of God you have enough and even MORE to perform your daily tasks. He has promised us that in everything – homeschooling, parenting, healthy eating – EVERYTHING that HE has given us what we need. He is our source of energy, power, strength, wisdom, knowledge to get what we have on our to-do list done.

SO why are we not accessing this sufficiency in Christ?

Maybe you are trying to do everything in your own steam. Have you asked God daily to plan your day? Have you put Him first in your homeschool, in your day?

Maybe what you are trying to do isn’t what God would have you do – maybe it is the wrong task or maybe it is the wrong timing.

Let’s get back to God’s plans – because when we are fulfilling God’s daily calling on our lives then we will have everything we need to work it out. EVERYTHING – we will be lacking for nothing in fact we will have extra left over for more good works – AWESOME!

Rachel Larkin

20 Foods That Will Help You Relax! – Part Four

Here are the final five foods that will help you relax!!!

16. The B vitamins and Vitamin C are important anti stress nutrients that help calm the nervous system. Try tangerine and raspberry juice or carrot, beansprout and cranberry juice.

17. Lettuce based juices are excellent for helping you relax at bedtime. Lettuce has a strong flavour so mix it with carrot juice.

18. All fruit and vegetables are rich in antioxidants. These help preventing age-related brain degeneration. They are also our main source of potassium an important mineral for soothing the nerves. Eat 5 portions of fresh fruit and veg daily.

19. Mint is a herb that helps lower feelings of anger and nervousness. Add it liberally to salads or sprinkle it on vegetables.

20. Zinc and iron are essential for optimum brain function, mental health and mood balance. They are found in lean meats, seafood, nuts, seeds, whole grains and legumes (peas, beans, lentils, soybeans and alfalfa)

Well that’s that – 20 foods that will help you to be calm! Which one has worked for you?

Chocolate beats it hands down for me (he he)

Rachel Larkin

20 Foods That Will Help You Relax! – Part Three

Here are the next five!

20 Foods That Will Help You Relax – Part Three

11. Selenium is great for mataining mood balance. Brazil nuts are rich in this mineral and 3 or 4 a day will be enough, as well as providing a handy snack. Other selenium rich foods include rice, wheat, seaweed and seafood especially shrimp and tuna. I never knew that – I’m off to buy some Brazil nuts!

O12. Oily fish are rich in omega-3 essential fats. One of these fats, DHA is found in the brain in large quantities. Fish oils have been shown to alleviate depression and hyperactivity.

13. Magnesium-rich foods are vital to help calm the mind and balance moods, particulary if you are prone to PMS. Green leafy vegetables are rich in magnesium; other sources include dried fruit, nuts , seeds and legumes.

14. Pear, celery and ginger juice is a good mood booster. Pear is rich in potassium for brain function, celery is used by herbalists as a nerve tonic and ginger peps you up.

15. Selected herbs steeped in boiling water for 10 minutes provie a useful antidote for tension headaches. For 2 cups, use 1 1/2 tsps of mixed dried skullcap (a mild sedative), lavender flowers (soothing) and lemon verbana (calming). Strain and sweeten the mixture with a little honey. NB of course please make sure you check out with your doctor before drinking this if you are pregant or have any health problems!

Only 5 more to go!

Let us know what you think!

Rachel Larkin

20 Foods That Will Help You Relax! – Part Two

How did adding protein, calcium foods (milk), oats and basil help you relax?

Just a note on the calcium foods – apparently eating large quantities of cheese is not good for relaxing even though it is high in calcium. Mature cheeses in particluar are not good for relaxing. They contain Tyramine which sometimes induce migraines and nightmares! So no cheese and crackers for supper!

Ok here’s the next 5 foods!

20 Foods That Will Help You Relax – Part Two

6. Calming herb teas. Stay away from the coffee! The author suggests – chamomile, lemon balm and lavender.  The BEST herbal tea that I have tasted is Red Bush Tea OR Rooibos Tea from South Africa. It actually is the closest tasting to regular tea that I can find BUT it is also VERY calming and induces sleep – It really works. Apparently it is a very tradditional remendy for those babies crying in the night – either the mum drinks the tea and breastfeeds her baby or you mix some in with the milk.

7. Molasses is high in minerals, including calcium and magnesium which balance out the nervous system. It has a strong flavour so only use a small amount. Hands up those who rememeber their mother giving them molasses on a spoon? – Now I know that she was only trying to calm my nervous system (or maybe hers!)

8. Other sugar subsitutes – like Honey (Manuka honey is high in compounds that fight infections), dried fruit which is high in magnesium and iron and sweet fruits like bananas (high in nerve-balancing potassium) .

9.CHOCOLATE – guess which is my favourite calming food!  Eat a modest (now that is hard!) amount of high-quality chocolate, one with 60 – 70 % cocoa solids. It certainly makes me relax but NOT if I eat it after 7pm – it is hard to get to sleep. So here is my fix on that – eat the chocolate and relax then have a Red Bush tea before bed and sleep!!

 10.Lose the alcohol and choose orange juice with sparkling water.  I have to be careful with the orange though – it seems to induce headaches for me. I love the Soda water with a twist of lemon or lime – not sure whether this does the same thing or not!

Well that’s the second five calming foods – What do you think? What food works for you?

Rachel Larkin

20 Foods That Will Help You Relax! – Part One

I came across a cute book called “101 Ways To Simplify Your Life” by Suzannah Olivier. Some ideas were not for me but here’s some healthy tips to help you relax. I have added my own comments to the list. I will start with the first five and finish them over the next week – so come back regularly to obtain the complete list!

 20 Foods That WIll Help You Relax! – Part One

1. Include protein in your meals. E.g. legumes, nuts, fish, meat and cheese. Why? they have sources of tryptophan which is a relaxing brain chemical. If you are like me (a typical homeschool mum) and has mood swings – just add some protein to each meal.
2. Oats are the classic relaxation food and have been used by herbalists for centuries as a calming remendy. As a whole grain they also help to balance blodd sugar. In addition, like other carbohydrates , help the brain to process typtophan. We love porridge in the morning especially on soccer days – it fills up the tummy!
3.  Milk which is rich in calcium, has calming properties. The book suggests having a nightcap of hot milk. I have found that it produces more problems – like extra mucous in the morning – so it’s not on my list.
4. The author suggests that if you are dairy intolerant to have calcium enriched soya milk or rice milk -  that is a good alternative – but doesn’t quite taste the same does it?
   
5. Basil is a highly calming food and can help to induce sleepiness. Keep a plant pot of basil handy to snip leaves off and put into your salads. Another great way to gain the benefits of Basil is to use Pesto Sauce (the one made out of basil that is!) – this will give you a strong sleep inducing boost. How about adding basil to your tomato soups!  Now I never knew that – Basil is now on my shopping list!

As busy mums and wives, a bit of relaxation goes a long way towards gaining sanity! – these foods help our bodies to naturally relax.

I would love to hear what foods are on your list as ones that help you relax – do any of these “do it” for you?  

Pop back for the next 5 foods!

Rachel Larkin