Frugal Friday (a few hours early)

Voracious readers like yours truly find in paperbackswap.com an easy way to weed out the dogs in your book collection, get them out of the house, and get new (used) free books in the mail!

I learned about this site from another stay at home mom like myself. Here's what you do:

1. Weed out the books you no longer want, from your book collection.
2. Enter the ISBNs into paperbackswap.com, after opening an account.
3. When you get requests for the books you've posted, the site lets you print out a pre-formatted mailing label with the recipient's name and address.
4. For a small book, you can wrap this label around the book, tape it and mail it. For a larger book, pop it in a manila envelope or bubble envelope and tape the label on the front.
5. You get credits for free books after you post your initial batch, and you get more credits for each book received by your requestors. Over 2 million titles are available for you to request. I requested, and got, one really obscure book from the site--their catalog is deep.
6. Mail the books others requested from you. That's it! You free up space on your shelves for good stuff, and you get good stuff free.

This is a sustainable way to use a preexisting delivery service (the P.O.) to distribute books cluttering your house to people who want them, while replacing the unwanteds with books you crave! Best of all, the site is free to participate in! Yay!

Copy and paste the link below and after you sign up and post books, I will get credit as well. And you can spread the word to your friends copy the same link I have posted here, but insert your email address at the end instead of mine <3

http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php?r_by=csikatlane@yahoo.com

Wordless Wednesday

NEED WASHING??

A little girl had been shopping with her Mom in Target. She must have been 6 years old, this beautiful red haired, freckle faced image of innocence. It was pouring outside. The kind of rain that gushes over the top of rain gutters, so much in a hurry to hit the earth it has no time to flow down the spout. We all stood there under the awning and just inside the door of the Target.


We waited, some patiently, others irritated because nature messed up their hurried day. I am always mesmerized by rainfall. I got lost in the sound and sight of the heavens washing away the dirt and dust of the world. Memories of running, splashing so carefree as a child came pouring in as a welcome reprieve from the worries of my day.


The little voice was so sweet as it broke the hypnotic trance we were all caught in "Mom let's run through the rain," she said.


"What?" Mom asked.


"Lets run through the rain!" She repeated

"No, honey. We'll wait until it slows down a bit," Mom replied.


This young child waited about another minute and repeated: "Mom, let's run through the rain,"

"We'll get soaked if we do," Mom said.


"No, we won't, Mom.. That's not what you said this morning," the young girl said as she tugged at her Mom's arm.


This morning? When did I say we could run through the rain and not get wet?

"Don't you remember? When you were talking to Daddy about his cancer , you said, 'If God can get us through this, he can get us through anything!"

The entire crowd stopped dead silent. I swear you couldn't hear anything but the rain. We all stood silently. No one came or left in the next few minutes.


Mom paused and thought for a moment about what she would say. Now some would laugh it off and scold her for being silly. Some might even ignore what was said. But this was a moment of affirmation in a young child's life. A time when innocent trust can be nurtured so that it will bloom into faith.


"Honey, you are absolutely right. Let's run through the rain. If GOD let's us get wet, well maybe we just needed washing," Mom said.


Then off they ran. We all stood watching, smiling and laughing as they darted past the cars and yes, through the puddles. They held their shopping bags over their heads just in case. They got soaked. But they were followed by a few who screamed and laughed like children all the way to their cars.


And yes, I did. I ran. I got wet. I needed washing.


Circumstances or people can take away your material possessions, they can take away your money, and they can take away your health. But no one can ever take away your precious memories...So, don't forget to make time and take the opportunities to make memories everyday. To everything there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.


I HOPE YOU STILL TAKE THE TIME TO RUN THROUGH THE RAIN.

Ok so this moving thing is for the birds.

We have started moving stuff today, and it is a lot crazier than we thought it would be. We are not even half done, and our babysitters are gone for the night. So we have from 10am tomorrow morning until 3 pm to get everything moved out and into the new house and the old house cleaned. If I calculate that correctly that is only 5 hours. HA, yeah I don't see it getting done.

Loosing weight?

Loosing weight? No I am not. I am gaining it. Why? Because I am lazy. Ever since I have been on bed rest with the boys I have stayed in that "you have to be resting" mode. That is bologna. I really need to do something about this "extra weight" I am caring. I honestly have no excuse! I only gained 4 lbs, 4LBS with the boys. I lost a almost 20 lbs after I had them, and I have gained 30 back. So not only am I back to my pre-pregnancy weight I am 20 lbs over it! So this is my goal. After we get moved (which we are moving on Monday) I plan on walking/jogging in the AM or PM (depending on Kyle's schedule) 3-4 times a week. The whole house is going to start eating healthier! We all need it. Poor Adam has been on a diet for 3 months now because he had gained too much weight in the last year, and now he is in soccer. Kyle has gained weight ( I say it is sympathy weight). But everyone in the house overall needs to be healthier. So does anyone have any tips? My mom friends who have twins or more... any tips??? I will keep everyone updated on progress. I am going to go get a scale today. We will see how this all works out.

I want to set the world on fire

I wanna set the world on fire
Until it’s burning bright for You
It’s everything that I desire
Can I be the one You use?

I, I am small but
You, You are big enough
I, I am weak but
You, You are strong enough to
Take my dreams
Come and give them wings
Lord with You
There’s nothing I can not do
Nothing I cannot do

I wanna feed the hungry children
And reach across the farthest land
And tell the broken there is healing
And mercy in the Father’s hands

My hands my feet
My everything
My life, my love
Lord, use me

I wanna set the world on fire
I wanna set the world on fire, yeah

I’m gonna set the world on fire
Set the world on fire

Moving

I will be so glad once this whole move is OVER! It has been harder on me than I thought it would be. My back is still hurting pretty bad from the incident, and frankly I have no idea how much of a help I am going to be while moving the heavy stuff. OOOOMMMMM....