Monday and My Plan

in , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Monday, May 23, 2011



I had a wonderful weekend with family and friends.  I am energized and ready to jump into my week.

Here's what I've got planned for this week:

1. Attend Graduation Ceremonies/ Class parties/Goodbyes at my girls school ( we got rezoned) without crying!!! Today I made it through one Graduation and the walk down the hall to grab her heavy backpack without doing it. As Scarlet O'Hara once stated: Tomorrow is another day! and I think it may be a bit harder with all those bittersweet lasts coming. Wish me and my mascara Good Luck!

2. Finalize girls summer activities: VBS, Theater, Swim, Reading Across America and get those dates on my planner and off my post-it notes.

3. Start formulating my first ever book review! This weekend,  I devoured Here, Home, Hope by Kaira Rouda and I am excited to be able to write my first review on such an Outstanding novel. Stay tuned.


4. Formulate sales/advertising strategy for husbands business for the next quarter.

5.  Celebrate my birthday!

6.  Count my blessings, everyday. If you are reading this, you are a blessing to me! I would love to hear from you, so that I can visit and connect with you.

 

I’ve partnered with Vocalpoint.com  to bring you this tasty review.  I received a coupon for a free International Delight Coffee House Breve Cream of my choice along with a handful of 55 cent off coupons to use later, or give to friends, but I may not share after we tried the Dark Chocolate cream!

 International Delight Coffee House Breve Crème comes in 3 rich flavors to choose from: Dark Chocolate Cream, Vanilla Caramel Cream and Hazelnut Cream.  For me, it was the dark chocolate all the way, but to be fair I put it to a family vote. My husband and girls all agreed that yes, we should try Moms favorite first.  I have trained them well.
We have since used every single last drop of the Dark Chocolate Cream and it is heavenly! Truly, International Delight have made THE perfect all natural cream! My coffee has never tasted so good. Chocolate-y, not overly sweet (I used one teaspoon of Splenda instead of my regular 2) and yes, it was just like the ads say:  Breve Cream is made with real milk and cream so you can enjoy that rich, creamy coffeehouse flavor at home”.
 My husband liked it as well agreeing that it was not overly sweet and was creamy without tasting milky and weak!
Of course, I couldn’t leave my girls out of this product review, so I made them mini Latte’s! I took my smallest coffee cups (about 5 oz.) filled to ¾ full with 2% milk, microwaved till warm. Then I added a healthy glug of International Delight Coffee House Dark Chocolate Cream, then a top off of coffee. The girls, who normally don’t drink caffeinated beverages, thought they were delightful!  No sweetener required!

We will definitely buy this product again and I highly recommend it!


Next we’ve decided to try the Vanilla Caramel Cream.  The girls want us to make the Ooh La French Toast. Find this recipe and coupons  by logging on to: http://www.vocalpoint.com/Breve .  We will also try it on top of our oatmeal.  Doesn’t that sound Yummy?

Also, I found this great tool at International Delights Website. It's there Savings Calculator.
  Save money and the planet with CoffeeHouse Inspirations™   Each Year I Save
$321.36
Earth Saves
 104 cups
Inpriring isn't it? Go give the Savings calculator a try at International Delight.  You'll also be able to print coupons, and learn about all their great products.
I'd love it if you'd come back here and share your savings numbers!

thredUP Kids Clothing Swap

in , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Wednesday, May 11, 2011
I was invited to join thredUp over the weekend and have just now found the time to check it out.

 thredUP is a  Kids and Moms Clothing Swap - where parents exchange gently worn, second hand & used kids clothing online.  The Average Family Saves $569/yr  swapping Kids Clothes on thredUP according to the website and it's Free to join!

Sounds Good!

 I'm very excited about this option because lately, I'm feeling just a wee bit cheated at my local brick and mortar Consignment store.

Why?

Because in March,  I brought in a large Trader Joe's grocery bag full of no-stains, really gently used, name brand,  stylish girls clothing in the much needed sizes of 7/8 and 10/12 and was given $ 4.87 store credit for the bag.
  Really? There was at least $ 100 dollars worth of Aeropostle, designer dresses, tees, blouses, etc. in that bag! This was my best bag yet, I'm thinking and I get that much?
 If I'd wanted cash it would have been even less. Hey, I know it takes alot to run a store, but still. Yeesh...

Has this ever happened to you? What are you supposed to do? Make a scene and ask for all your clothing back?

 I decided not to use those options, however appealing they seemed at the time and least see what my girls had found. There wasn't much to choose from, so it was a rather disappointing trip all around.
Always one to look for the good, I assured the girls I would find a better option.


I'm hoping thredUp will be that option. I'm going through my girls closets and will be listing items over the weekend.

I joined thredUp using a friends link. If you would like to join, I would love for you to use my affiliate link below. Thanks!

thredUP Kids Clothing Swap

Do you like consignment shopping? Have you used thredUp? I'd love to hear from you!

Four Words That Make Life Worthwhile by Jim Rohn

in , , , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Tuesday, May 10, 2011
I wanted to share this article by Jim Rohn today because it has such a powerful message.
 It helped validate my efforts to date and put me back on course.
 My Plan has always been to earn a part time living from home while balancing the work/family dynamic.
Over the last few months I've been trying out additional income streams along with my direct sales business.
While I won't call them failures, I will say I didn't get a good return on my investment. For the most part, I felt I wasn't working at optimum levels on any project.
 I found this saying, recently used by the Co-Founder of Willow House to be very fitting:
"You can't ride two horses at the same time".
So what's a WAHM to do? Live, learn, laugh, and pick one horse to ride! My choice?  Willow House! Afterall, I did receive a commission check from them this week!  Lesson learned.

I hope this article inspires you as much as it did me. 

Four Words That Make Life Worthwhile by Jim Rohn
Over the years, as I've sought out ideas, principles and strategies to life's challenges, I've come across four simple words that can make living worthwhile.

First, life is worthwhile if you LEARN. What you don't know will hurt you. You have to have learning to exist, let alone succeed. Life is worthwhile if you learn from your own experiences-negative or positive.
We learn to do it right by first sometimes doing it wrong. We call that a positive negative. We also learn from other people's experiences, both positive and negative. I've always said that it is too bad failures don't give seminars. Obviously, we don't want to pay them, so they aren't usually touring around giving seminars. But that information would be very valuable. We would learn how someone who had it all, messed it up. Learning from other people's experiences and mistakes is valuable information because we can learn what not to do without the pain of having tried and failed ourselves.
We learn by what we see, so pay attention. We learn by what we hear, so be a good listener. Now, I do suggest that you should be a selective listener. Don't just let anybody dump into your mental factory. We learn from what we read, so learn from every source. Learn from lectures. Learn from songs. Learn from sermons. Learn from conversations with people who care. Always keep learning.

Second, life is worthwhile if you TRY. You can't just learn. Now you have to try something to see if you can do it. Try to make a difference. Try to make some progress. Try to learn a new skill. Try to learn a new sport. It doesn't mean you can do everything, but there are a lot of things you can do if you just try. Try your best. Give it every effort. Why not go all out?

Third, life is worthwhile if you STAY. You have to stay from spring until harvest. If you have signed up for the day or for the game or for the project, see it through. Sometimes calamity comes; then it is worth wrapping it up and that's the end. But just don't end in the middle. Maybe on the next project you pass, but on this one, if you signed up, see it through.

And lastly, life is worthwhile if you CARE. If you care at all, you will get some results. If you care enough, you can get incredible results. Care enough to make a difference. Care enough to turn somebody around. Care enough to start a new enterprise. Care enough to change it all. Care enough to be the highest producer. Care enough to set some records. Care enough to win.
Four powerful little words: learn, try, stay and care. What difference can you make in your life today by putting these words to work?

Read more from Mr. Rohn here



Which of these four simple words resonated most with you?
My choice? Care.

Blogger and my Milestone

in , , , , , by Linda A Kinsman, Friday, May 06, 2011
Today is a great day! It's Friday, the sun is shining, butterflies are landing on my Peonies,  all the people I love in this world are safe and for the most part happy. The Lord is Good and has blessed us with safety and health.





Butterfly


 Sure, we could all use a little more of this and that ( money, time off, new shoes, peace of mind). BUT, this glass - is- half- full lady is counting her blessings and doing a happy dance because of my blessings and this lil' blog that could!

You see, My WAHM Plan has reached a milestone! Sometime in the last 24 hours I got a new follower that put me at 100!! I am so happy and excited and.... what?
 I can't actually see my followers on my blog? I see the magic number on my dashboard, but nothing on my front page. Can everybody else see my followers??

 Arrggh... So off to Blogger help I go, I do all they suggest:
Remove and re-install Followers, clear my cache, rub my stomach and head at the same time... okay I added that one for a bit of levity because according to Blogger help, this has been a HUGE problem for quite some time here in blogger world.

Arrggh... I love my blog, I want her to succeed, so should I move her? Probably.
Will I?
Eventually.
It makes my palms sweaty just thinking about a Move of any kind. House, blog... yuck. Then of course there is the money thing. Free is good for me right now!

Maybe I have overlooked the solution and this snafu will work it's self out. Or maybe I should just use another follower platform!
That might be the ticket because I don't like moving, period!


Do you use something other than Google Friend on your blogger blog? If so, please leave me a comment and I'll check out your link.

If you are my 100th follower, please comment with a link back so I can come say Hi and thank you.

Remember to smile, it makes the world a better place and when you feel you are at the end of your rope, tie another knot!
© My WAHM Plan · THEME BY WATDESIGNEXPRESS