♪♫ Online Christmas Boutique ♪♫ ~Special Weekend E-Mealz Giveaway!

3 Winners Will Be Chosen!

~And the FIRST winner is: Hannah!
~our SECOND winner is: charity/ccboobooy!
~our THIRD and final winner is: Marianna!

We will Choose ONE MORE WINNER!!

I am sooo very excited to announce that I have spoken with Judy, Marketing Director from E-Mealz (founded by her sisters, Jane and Jenny) and they are partnering with us to give away Meal Plans and Holiday Meal plans for the next 3 weekends during our Online Christmas Boutique!!!(click on the banner to go to the E-Mealz website)

If you haven't heard about E-Mealz.com before, this is a fantastic find for Moms on a budget! Dave Ramsey, founder of  the "Financial Peace University" endorses E-Mealz and says this:

A friend gave me a subscription to E-Mealz for my birthday so I, personally,  have been using E-Mealz for the last few weeks! It has been wonderful!  E-Mealz plans out 5 dinners for each week and includes your entire shopping list and total grocery cost. Recipes are included for each day as well. You have MANY different meal plans to choose from: Meal plans for 2, Meal plans for large families, Meal plans for those on Weight Watchers, Low-Carb Meals, Low-Fat meals and MORE! The food is delicious, the grocery list makes things easy and the price list and total budget amount makes budgeting for meals a snap! It only costs $15 per 3 months of Meals and if you use the coupon code: Dave , you'll save even more!
Click on the E-Mealz banner above to check out the E-Mealz website!

Judy gave me permission to post one of the recipes that my family enjoyed recently:

Santa Fe Soup (low fat meal plan for 2-3 people)

3/4 pound extra lean ground beef, cooked

3 cans diced tomatoes

1 can pinto beans

1 can kidney beans

1 can whole kernel corn

1 pkt taco seasoning

1 pkt ranch party dip

In large soup pont, combine all ingredients. Do not drain cans. Heat thoroughly; then simmer 20 min. Garnish soup w/ sour cream.  (copyright E-mealz.com 2009)

~We had family in town and this recipe was SOO easy and everyone just loved it! It is definitely a new family favorite!

The Giveaway:

1 (3-Month) Meal Plan Option and 1 Holiday Dinner Plan!


Weekly meal plans based on your grocery store sales...provided with a complete aisle-by-aisle grocery list. Just print and go! Each one of these plans represents hours of planning, shopping and recipe testing for only $5 a month! Choose which is best for you. All of these plans are designed with your whole family in mind, even the plans created for weight management! You choose the store... we provide the plan each week! ($15 for 3 months)

The Holiday Plan includes a traditional Thanksgiving feast for up to 12 people including dessert and all the trimmings! Shopping list and grand grocery total included!



To Enter:


Leave a comment on this blog along w/ a way for us to contact you.




EXTRA CHANCES TO WIN!!:

(IMPORTANT: leave a comment for EACH task you complete!)

1. Follow E-Mealz on twitter: @EMEALZ

2. Tweet this on twitter: RT @MariLeeParrish Enter to win a 3 month E-Mealz plan: recipes & grocery list http://www.reallyworkingfromhome.blogspot.com/  (@EMEALZ)

3. Find your favorite pattern from http://www.craftybearcrafts.com/ and comment about it back here!

4. Follow this blog!

5. Become a facebook fan of ReallyWorkingFromHome.com (www.facebook.com/ReallyWorkingFromHome.com.fans )

6. Make a purchase on our Online Christmas Boutique and receive 10 extra entries!!!!!




Would you like to win an INSTANT Mommy Bag full of goodies??

add our Christmas Boutique button to your blog! (To do this, copy our holiday boutique button on the sidebar and paste it in your blog. Make sure you link it back to http://www.reallyworkingfromhome.com/ )

Every mom who does this will receive an automatic prize. To claim your Mommy Bag, You must e-mail me at marilee@reallyworkingfromhome.com with your name and a link to where the button is posted. Your links are checked randomly throughout the month. Our button must appear on your site the day we check your links to qualify for the Mommy Bag.



3 Winners will be chosen!!!  Entries will be accepted until Sunday 12/13/09 at 10:00pm MT. Winners will be announced and e-mailed by Monday 12/13/09

Saving $$ on Groceries!

A friend of mine recently sent me a gift certificate for E-Mealz and it is absolutely awesome...so I wanted to share it with you!

It costs $15 for 3 MONTHS OF MEAL PLANS!! Saving you time and money! They even have low-fat meal plans, low-carb meal plans and weight watchers meal plans! They are family and kid-friendly foods....and I hope you'll take a minute to try it out!

Dave Ramsey (founder of Financial Peace University) endorses them, AND as an added bonus, if you use the coupon code:Dave, you'll get an extra discount!

Monday's Mommy Minute

Today is the first time we're hosting
"Monday's Mommy Minute."
Each week we'll be featuring a Christian Mom and sharing a little bit about her faith and business.
So, I thought I would start it off with an amazing woman and friend: Shara Lawrence-Weiss.

Shara is the owner of Mommy Perks and the founder and owner of Personal Child Stories. Mommy Perks is an online community for moms to receive "Perks & Discounts, Reviews, Giveaways and More!"  Mommy Perks offers some amazing PR packages to help you brand and get the word out about your business! Mommy Perks offers FREE listings for non profits and mom's groups, too!

 Personal Child Stories are hand-crafted books using your own personal photos and information that can be created "for children of every learning stage, including children with special needs." Price ranges from $20-30 depending on number of photos and pages.  After Shara's young son was diagnosed with Glaucoma and had to have his eye removed, he was having some trouble adjusting to the changes in his life. Read the rest of the story:


"My mother suggested that I create a personal book for our son, addressing each issue. I searched for a company that might be able to help me, but came up empty. I decided to create two books at home. One book addressed the issue of my son’s new eye, the other focused on his need to keep his glasses on in order to protect his left eye. Each story page featured photos from our personal collection: photos of the prosthetic eye, of our son, of family members who love him. Photos of his glasses, of family and friends who also wear glasses, and of the objects and items that could potentially damage his left eye if his glasses were not worn. I had each book laminated and bound.

I read the books to my son daily. They impacted his behavior dramatically and we soon passed through that season of our lives…and into another. When our son entered preschool, I requested that his teacher read the prosthetic eye story to the class – in order to open up the lines of communication between my son and the other students.

Oftentimes fear of the unknown is all that separates us from those we do not understand.

Again the book was read in Kindergarten and in first grade. By second grade, all of my son’s friends were well aware of his situation; so much so that it no longer mattered to any of them. It was old news.
The books have been an invaluable tool in our son’s life. If you choose to order a Personal Child Story, it is our hope that it (or they) will also bless your child’s life in countless ways."




Interview with Shara

Share a little about your faith:
"I was raised in a home of faith but did not fully embrace that faith, myself, until after my first son was born. My father was (is) a minister and missionary. He ran a homeless shelter for about 3 years during my youth. My three sisters and I had prayer, faith and generosity modeled for us from the time we were born. I spent quite a bit of time attempting to reject the faith that my parents modeled but in the end, God pierced my heart and left me reeling with His truths and promises. I haven't looked back since :-) "


How does your faith help you in business?
"Honestly, I could go on and on and on about this. However, I will touch on the one main key philosophy that has gotten me through countless difficult days:
I try to remember, at all times, that every person is hurting in some way or another. Every human heart has been broken and needs mending. Every person on this earth is fighting some sort of battle inside. From anger or depression to porn or shopping addictions. From self loathing or rage to past childhood burdens or gambling addictions. Christ's job is to mend those hearts - my job is to simply model His love. I can't fix people. I can't be responsible for healing them and I can't TAKE it personally when they don't behave the way I want them to. It's not about *me.* It's about their own journey through this broken world & all I can do, and all I am called to do, is to be a witness to them in love. To model for them what Christ has done for me. The rest...is up to God.
That viewpoint, in and of itself, has allowed me to carry on day after day. In business, in my community, in my home and in this world."
 
Please take a moment and check out Shara's links. She is an awesome Christian mommy and she would be happy to help you in any way she can!

I beat my Grocery Savings Record!! :-)

I am so excited to tell you that I beat my Grocery Savings Record last night at Safeway & Walgreens! On my way out the door my husband said "so, how much are you going to save us today?" And I was determined!  Here's what I do:

My total bill at Safeway for a 2 week supply of my everyday groceries was    $238.95
I use couponmom.com (free) and it helps me match the items that are on sale
with coupons that I find in my local paper...to get the cheapest prices! I plan
all of my meals around what is on sale for the next 2 weeks. So my total savings
with coupons and sale items was.................................................................... $98.95!

                                                                                                  So I only paid $140.00!!!


I did the same thing at Walgreens. I had to buy some cosmetics, some batteries, Nutrigrain bars were on sale (which my son eats for a snack everyday) refills for my swiffer, and some other things. 

                                                                                        My total bill came to $68.60

                                           But matching my coupons to their sale flier I saved $29.60!

                                                                                          and paid a total of $39.00!


Coupons are FREE MONEY MOMS!! Throw out your coupons and you are throwing free money in the garbage! (P.S....did you know that people sell coupons on ebay? If you're not going to use them PLEASE let someone else!)

**Here's the key....coupons only save you money when you are buying things that YOU ALREADY USE! Not things that you think you COULD use...that's where you get into trouble and buy things you don't really need. If you plan your meals around the sale fliers that match your coupons...you will save HUNDREDS of dollars a month!!  I do! REALLY!

Find more $$ saving ideas like this on our website. Click on "Ideas That Work" on the homepage.